Today, the Boston Uprising has cemented their place in history within the league in one of the worst ways possible; as the second-worst team within the league, ever.
The only team that managed to do worse within a singular season is, of course, the Shanghai Dragons, who were known for consistently looking out of sorts (and mildly confused) in the inaugural season of the Overwatch League.
Boston Uprising’s official record for 2020 (season three) of the Overwatch League is (2/17), or two wins and seventeen losses. Of those wins, one was against the Los Angeles Gladiators where they strangely only managed to win Control maps, while struggled with everything else.
They’ve honestly looked viable more than once across the entirety of the season, with the May Melee offering the closest they were able to get to achieving victory via perseverance and impressive skills; it was thought to be their catalyst for growth, which ended up frustrating fans when they returned to their generally rough showings.
Many are pointing the blame squarely at Vytis ‘Mineral’ Lasaitis whose record is admittedly abysmal for coaching: his personal coaching record is fifteen wins, and seventy-four losses spread across two seasons with Florida Mayhem and now the 2020 season with Boston Uprising.
A tough end to the series, but we'll be back for the play-ins. pic.twitter.com/pkR6e2DC5a
— Boston Uprising (@BostonUprising) August 21, 2020
There’s only so many times you can plausibly point at the head coach for a rampant string of losses, but Mineral does seem to invite catastrophe in the teams that he leads. The Florida Mayhem are currently sitting at a wild card spot for the playoffs with (15/6) recorded thus far.
Yet the Boston Uprising, again, had a sex scandal this year that saw the loss of a prominent player after allegations surfaced of him grabbing girls’ hands in public places, and generally being aggressive. He was cut shortly after with little ceremony, implying that staff saw enough merit within the allegations to remove the player.
A multitude of allegations being thrown across the internet aside, it’s been a very rough season for the Overwatch League as a whole.
The pandemic proved to be the frosting on top of a disastrous start that all seemingly began with Blizzard siding with China in the Hong Kong controversies with Blitzchung, then reversing the notion to not take place in political sides with the BLM movement and Pride months that seemed to hurt their pocketbook less than turning against China would.
With online matches taking place that brings their own unique versions of frustrations (along with the loss of a stage), owners stating that they wish they didn’t invest in the Overwatch League, and a mass exodus of DPS players over to Valorant, perhaps we should be sated with the idea that they managed to finish the season with the majority of their roster intact.
