"The first year franchise, the New Orleans Specters, are the team to beat in the West"

Against.

If the regular season showed us anything, its that there isn't a clear cut "team to beat" in the West. Every single team has holes, and we all beat up on each other. I firmly believe that ANY of the 5 teams in the West could end up in the Challenge Cup finals. We may have more TPE overall than most of the other teams (i think), but when it comes to the playoffs, anything is possible, especially with Simon T. This year doesn't have the feeling of last, where we kind of knew Edmonton was going to walk through the West. And even then, they barely beat Texas.