2018 Los Angeles Gladiators season explained

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Team:Los Angeles Gladiators
Year:2018
Division:Pacific
Record:25–15
Division Place:2nd
League Place:4th
Coach:David Pei
Owner:Kroenke Sports &<br />Entertainment
S1playoffs:Did not qualify
S2playoffs:Did not qualify
S3playoffs:Semifinals
S4playoffs:Semifinals
Playoffs:Quarterfinals
Earnings:$200,000
No Prevseason:true

The 2018 Los Angeles Gladiators was the first season of the Los Angeles Gladiators's existence in the Overwatch League. The team finished with a regular season record of 25–15 – the fourth best in the Overwatch League.

Los Angeles qualified for the Stage 3 and Stage 4 Playoffs. The team lost in the Stage 3 semifinals to the Boston Uprising.[1] In the Stage 4 semifinals, the Gladiators lost to the Los Angeles Valiant.[2] The team also qualified for the Season Playoffs, but lost to the London Spitfire in the quarterfinals.[3]

Preceding offseason

On November 2, Gladiators unveiled their initial 7-player inaugural season roster, consisting of the following players:[4] [5]

The team revealed that the players were picked from a conglomeration of professional Overwatch esports teams to suit an "aggressive and fun" playstyle the team hoped to emulate as a reflection of their personality.

Review

Regular season

Their debut match was a 4–0 victory over the Shanghai Dragons.[6] They finished Stage 1 with a 4–6 record in 8th place.

Heading into Stage 2, the team announced the transfer of tank player Baek "Fissure" Chan-hyung from the London Spitfire.[7] Following the acquisition of Fissure, the team finished the stage in fifth place with a 6–4 record, including a 4–0 sweep over the Valiant.[8]

Between Stages 2 and 3, the Gladiators acquired Ted "silkthread" Wang from the Valiant and Kang "Void" Jun-woo from Kongdoo Panthera.[9] [10] However, visa issues would cause Void to completely miss out on Stage 3.[11] The Gladiators finished Stage 3 with a 6–4 record in fourth place, which, beginning with the third stage, was the final stage playoff spot.[12] The top-seeded Boston Uprising, undefeated in Stage 3, selected the Gladiators as their first round opponent. On May 6, the Uprising swept the Gladiators 3–0.[13]

The Gladiators, now regularly using Void in their lineup following his visa being approved, finished with a league-best 9–1 record in Stage 4, including a reverse sweep over back-to-back stage champions New York Excelsior.[14] However, the team would unexpectedly choose the second-seeded Valiant as their semi-final opposition.[15] The Valiant would subsequently defeat the Gladiators in the Stage Playoffs by a score of 3–2.[16] They would end the season with a 25–15 record, good for 4th place and a spot in the postseason where they would face against the London Spitfire.

Season playoffs

On July 11, the first day of the season's playoffs, the fourth-seeded Gladiators took a 1–0 series lead after defeating the fifth-seeded Spitfire 3–0 in their first ever playoffs match. The Gladiators made headlines by surprisingly announcing on the day of the first match that main tank Fissure would be benched in favor of Luis "iRemiix" Galarza Figueroa.[17] [18] Later on the same day, Fissure was revealed by Blizzard as the runner-up in the inaugural Overwatch League season MVP vote.[19] Two days later, the Gladiators would be eliminated from the playoffs after the Spitfire shut out the Gladiators in back-to-back matches to win the series 2–1.[20]

Final roster

Transactions

Transactions of/for players on the roster during the 2018 regular season:

Standings

Record by stage

Stage
1 10 4 6 16 26 0 -10 8
2 10 6 4 25 16 1 +9 5
3 10 6 4 25 19 1 +6 4
4 10 9 1 30 11 1 +19 1
Overall 40 25 15 96 72 3 +24 4

League

Game log

Playoffs

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Boston Uprising crush Los Angeles Gladiators to end their OWL stage 2 playoff hopes . March 24, 2018 . Lingle . Samuel . Dot Esports.
  2. Web site: Los Angeles Valiant beats New York Excelsior in Stage 4 final . June 17, 2018 . ESPN.
  3. Web site: Spitfire shuts down LA Gladiators, advances to OWL semis . July 14, 2018 . ESPN.
  4. News: L.A. Gladiators To Feature 'Aggressive, Fun' Playstyle In Overwatch League. Newman. Heather. 2 November 2017. Forbes. 23 June 2018.
  5. News: Players from Cloud9, Kungarna, and Team Gigantti make up the LA Gladiators roster. Carpenter. Nicole. 2 November 2017. Dot Esports. 12 July 2018.
  6. News: Dynasty survives Fuel, Valiant tops Shock, Gladiators squashes Dragons as OWL regular season begins. Donigan. Wyatt. 15 January 2018. ESPN. 12 July 2018.
  7. News: Fissure transfers from London Spitfire to LA Gladiators. D'Orazio. Nick. 20 February 2018. Inven Global. 28 June 2018.
  8. News: Seoul Dynasty keeps unbeaten Stage 2 going with win over Shanghai Dragons. Waltzer. Noah. 8 March 2018. ESPN. 13 July 2018.
  9. News: Los Angeles Gladiators add Void, reuniting KongDoo tank pair. Lingle. Samuel. 26 March 2018. Dot Esports. 23 June 2018.
  10. News: Silkthread switches from Los Angeles' Valiant Overwatch League team to Gladiators. Carpenter. Nicole. 3 April 2018. Dot Esports. 23 June 2018.
  11. News: Void is ready to play for the Los Angeles Gladiators. Tahan. Chelsey. 23 May 2018. Overwatch Wire. 13 July 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181021182336/https://overwatchwire.usatoday.com/2018/05/23/void-is-ready-to-play-for-the-los-angeles-gladiators/. 21 October 2018. dead.
  12. News: Here is everything you need to know about the Stage Three playoffs. Tahan. Chelsey. 6 May 2018. Overwatch Wire. 13 July 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181021200950/https://overwatchwire.usatoday.com/2018/05/06/here-is-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-stage-three-playoffs/. 21 October 2018. dead.
  13. News: New York Excelsior earns back-to-back stage titles. Waltzer. Noah. 7 May 2018. ESPN. 13 July 2018.
  14. News: Good, bad, and ugly from the Gladiators' reverse sweep of New York. Nash. Anthony. 8 June 2018. Overwatch Wire. 13 July 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181021173456/https://overwatchwire.usatoday.com/2018/06/08/good-bad-and-ugly-from-the-gladiators-reverse-sweep-of-new-york/. 21 October 2018. dead.
  15. News: The Gladiators have picked the Valiant as their Stage Playoff opponent. Baker. Harry. 16 June 2018. Overwatch Wire. 13 July 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181021181750/https://overwatchwire.usatoday.com/2018/06/16/the-gladiators-have-picked-the-valiant-as-their-stage-playoff-opponent/. 21 October 2018. dead.
  16. News: Los Angeles Valiant beats New York Excelsior in Stage 4 final. Donigan. Wyatt. 18 June 2018. ESPN. 13 July 2018.
  17. News: L.A. Gladiators dominate London Spitfire in their first quarterfinals series. Baker. Harry. 12 July 2018. Overwatch Wire. 13 July 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181021170752/https://overwatchwire.usatoday.com/2018/07/12/the-gladiators-dominate-the-spitfire-in-quarterfinals-series/. 21 October 2018. dead.
  18. News: Gladiators dominant in opening playoff match vs. Spitfire. Nguyen. Steven. 12 July 2018. ESPN. 13 July 2018.
  19. News: New York Excelsior's JJoNak Named First Overwatch League Regular Season MVP. Mejia. Ozzie. 11 July 2018. Shacknews. 12 July 2018.
  20. News: London reverse sweep two back-to-back series against Gladiators, head to semifinals. Baker. Harry. 14 July 2018. Overwatch Wire. 16 July 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181021191347/https://overwatchwire.usatoday.com/2018/07/14/london-reverse-sweep-two-back-to-back-series-against-gladiators-head-to-semifinals/. 21 October 2018. dead.
  21. Web site: Sources: LA Gladiators to acquire Fissure . Wolf . Jacob . February 13, 2018 . ESPN.
  22. News: Lingle . Samuel. Los Angeles Gladiators add Void, reuniting KongDoo tank pair . March 26, 2018 . Dot Esports . June 29, 2019.
  23. Web site: Silkthread switches from Los Angeles' Valiant Overwatch League team to Gladiators . April 3, 2018 . Carpenter . Nicole . Dot Esports.

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