2019 Atlanta Blaze season

The 2019 Atlanta Blaze season will be the fourth season for the Atlanta Blaze of Major League Lacrosse. Liam Banks enters his second season as head coach, after leading the Blaze to their best record in franchise history (7–7) in 2018. It will be the team's first year at Grady Stadium in downtown Atlanta, after spending its first three years at Fifth Third Bank Stadium in Kennesaw.[1]

2019 Atlanta Blaze
LeagueMajor League Lacrosse
2019 record8-8
General ManagerSpencer Ford
CoachLiam Banks
StadiumGrady Stadium
Atlanta Silverbacks Park
← 2018
2020 →

On July 28, due to maintenance at Grady Stadium, the Blaze announced they would be playing their last three home games at Atlanta Silverbacks Park[2]

On September 7, the Blaze clinched their first playoff berth with a 15-14 win over the Dallas Rattlers. It also gave them a franchise-best eighth win of the season.[3]

Transactions

Offseason
  • September 21, 2018 - The Blaze announce the signing of a core group of players: Tommy Palasek, Liam Byrnes, Justin Pennington, and Chris Madalon.[4]
  • January 21, 2019 - Attackman Randy Staats is reacquired in a deal with the Dallas Rattlers. In exchange, the Blaze will send their third and fourth round picks in the 2019 Collegiate Draft to the Rattlers.[5]

Collegiate Draft

The 2019 Collegiate Draft was held on March 9 in Charlotte, North Carolina at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Inside Lacrosse gave the Blaze a "C" in their team-by-team draft grades.[6]

The Blaze began their rookie signings with a bang on May 15 with the announcement that #1 overall draft pick (who they acquired when the Ohio Machine folded in April) Alex Woodall, face-off specialist from Towson had chosen the Blaze over Whipsnakes Lacrosse Club and the Premier Lacrosse League.[7]

The next day, the Blaze announced four of their top six draft picks, Brendan Sunday, Dylan Gaines, Colton Jackson, and Eddie Bouhall had agreed to contracts. This group joined other rookies TJ Comizio, Brett Craig, and Jack Mangan.[8]

Round Overall Pick Player School Position Signed
2 13 Brendan Sunday Towson Attack Yes
2 14 Dylan Gaines Denver Defense Yes
3 26 Colton Jackson Denver Midfielder Yes
5 39 Brett Craig Seton Hill LSM Yes
5 41 Tyson Gibson Robert Morris Midfielder
6 49 Eddie Bouhall Lehigh Defense Yes
7 58 Jake McCulloch Cornell Midfielder

Schedule

Regular Season
Date Opponent Stadium Result Attendance Record
June 2 Denver Outlaws Grady Stadium W 14-12 1,523 1-0
June 8 Denver Outlaws Grady Stadium L 16-18 1,607 1-1
June 21 Dallas Rattlers Grady Stadium W 13-11 2,078 2-1
June 29 at Chesapeake Bayhawks Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium W 19-10 7,128 3-1
July 6 at Chesapeake Bayhawks Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium L 13-16 5,200 3-2
July 7 New York Lizards Grady Stadium W 12-11 1,927 4-2
July 11 at Denver Outlaws Sports Authority Field at Mile High L 17-18 5,126 4-3
July 13 Boston Cannons Grady Stadium L 16-17 1,333 4-4
July 20 at Boston Cannons Veterans Memorial Stadium W 15-12 4,083 5-4
August 3 Dallas Rattlers Atlanta Silverbacks Park L 14-16 2,163 5-5
August 10 at Boston Cannons Veterans Memorial Stadium W 14-13 3,726 6-5
August 17 at New York Lizards James M. Shuart Stadium W 14-13 (OT) 4,119 7-5
August 24 Chesapeake Bayhawks Atlanta Silverbacks Park L 13-16 1,548 7-6
September 7 at Dallas Rattlers Ford Center at The Star W 15-14 5,146 8-6
September 14 Boston Cannons Atlanta Silverbacks Park L 9-19 1,737 8-7
September 21 at New York Lizards James M. Shuart Stadium L 15-21 5,747 8-8

Standings
2019 Major League Lacrosse Standings
W L PCT GB GF 2ptGF GA 2ptGA
Chesapeake Bayhawks 10 6 .625 - 211 3 186 5
Denver Outlaws 9 7 .563 1 206 15 205 3
Boston Cannons 9 7 .563 1 217 8 211 5
Atlanta Blaze 8 8 .500 2 227 2 228 9
Dallas Rattlers 7 9 .438 3 192 7 202 7
New York Lizards 5 11 .313 5 195 2 216 11
Playoff Seed
gollark: I don't use EIO now because I disagree with the changes it made in the 1.12 update.
gollark: Ferroboron can't be made in an induction smelter, oddly.
gollark: I don't want tiny compact-machine-fitting things (well, I kind of do, but separate to giant, awe-inspiring ones incorporating fusion plasma injectors of death, hopefully), I want giant ones requiring huge amounts of infrastructure to support it, with cool visual effects, massive (actually fitting, you know, a *fusion* reactor) power output (ideally via steam turbines), that sort of thing.
gollark: Also, I hope the new fusion reactors take inspiration from ReactorCraft.
gollark: The mekanism ones are a bit crazy. If you want oxygen, feeding the separator RF from its own hydrogen run through a gas-burning generator, *it works fine*.

References
  1. Blaze move to Grady Stadium
  2. Atlanta's pro lacrosse team may not last long in Midtown
  3. Atlanta Blaze playoff bound for first time in team history
  4. Blaze, Atlanta. "Atlanta Blaze Re-Sign Core Group". Atlanta Blaze.
  5. Randy Staats returns to Atlanta
  6. 2019 MLL draft team-by-team draft grades
  7. Alex Woodall signs with Atlanta
  8. Four rookies sign with Blaze
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