Overwatch League 2020 Schedule: Best Teams To Bet On
The 2020 Overwatch League season kicks off February 8th at the NYXL and Dallas Fuel Homesteads. The new season features a whole new system and a complete overhaul of how the competitive system works.
The Blizzard Burbank Arena is no longer the default venue for the Overwatch League as teams have moved to a Home/Away system. This also entails Overwatch changing the competitive system and slightly changing the way we perceive and bet on Overwatch League.
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The Overwatch League 2020 Schedule Winners
All 28 Overwatch League Teams will host a Homestead weekend on their turf during the 2020 season. Some teams had the lucky chance of hosting multiple weekends at their home arena. The complete schedule is available HERE. Key takeaways come when closely examining each Homestead weekend and how it will impact the teams and potential Overwatch live betting.
The Washington Justice is the absolute schedule winner of the Overwatch League 2020 Season. The team hosts five homestead at The Anthem and The Entertainment and Sports Arena (ESA). Additionally, they play 18 out of 28 matches in a close 500 mile range from their home city. On top of this, they play a lot of games as host and almost a half less against other homestead hosts. Pairing that with their recent roster changes, and Justice suddenly becomes a formidable team to bet on this season.
Atlanta Reign are also winners of the Overwatch League 2020 Schedule raffle. 24 matches out of their 28 are in close proximity to their home town making them the absolute “time zone” winner. The team won’t suffer jet lag and will benefit from increased preparation times. Pair this with the roster changes and recent pickups of SharP and Edison further solidify Reign as a top contender this season.
Vancouver Titans round out the winner list for the best Overwatch League 2020 Schedule. The team has a grueling travel schedule as part of the Pacific Conference, however, in their entire season they never play a Homestead host while facing single opponents in most of their competitive weeks. Considering the level of the team and their 2019 performance, Titans are in the best position out all teams in the tougher Conference this season.
The Overwatch League 2020 Schedule Losers
In contrast to the teams with the ideal schedule, there is a bunch of teams that will suffer greatly due to their travel.
The Hangzhou Spark have the worst travel opportunities out of all Overwatch League teams. Their schedule is grueling similarly to all Chinese teams, however, Hangzhou based players also suffer from horrible travel options and long layovers to just get to their match venues. The extended travel times put preparation at grave risk for the 4th place finisher of 2019.
The Seoul Dynasty suffer from a grueling schedule themselves. They go back and forth between China and the USA for their weekends on top of their own Homestead in Korea. A lucky turn in a very unlucky situation is the recent Coronavirus outbreak that would cause Chinese based homestead to be played in the US and potentially mitigate some of their travel pains.
Finally, London Spitfire is the last team on our schedule roundup. We sincerely hope Spitfire bases their operations in North America especially since their travel schedule forces them to travel all over the place constantly. A recent “quickmath” points towards a potential 76,000 mile road trip for Spitfire if they were to travel from London and back to accommodate their schedule. Pair that with the complete overhaul of the roster and miserable Power Rankings by most analysts, and Spitfire suddenly becomes the team you should definitely not bet on this year.
Conclusion
There has been huge criticism going around towards the League and Commissioner regarding the new system. Player burn-out in esports is a serious problem and the newest Overwatch League Schedule is not helping the case. With some teams spending more than 30% of their time traveling and the rest jetlagged, the quality of the League might sharply decline this year.
It remains yet to be seen how the Overwatch League teams adapt to the new circumstance. If the travel schedule and player health are put into question we might need to urge Blizzard to reconsider their decision. From an Overwatch League betting stand point, keep away from the Pacific Conference unless you are betting on Titans and Shock.
