2020 Los Angeles Gladiators season

The 2020 Los Angeles Gladiators season was the third season of Los Angeles Gladiators's existence in the Overwatch League and their third season under head coach David "dpei" Pei. The Gladiators planned to host two homestand weekends in the 2020 season,^[1] but all homestand matches were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2020 Los Angeles Gladiators season
Head coach	David "dpei" Pei
General manager	David "dpei" Pei
Owner	Stan Kroenke Josh Kroenke
Conference	Pacific
Division	West
Region	North America
Results
Record	11–10 (.524)
Place	North America: 6th League: 9th
May Melee	Quarterfinals
Summer Showdown	Knockouts
Countdown Cup	Quarterfinals
Season Playoffs	NA Lower Round 1
Total Earnings	$85,000
← 2019 Los Angeles Gladiators 2021 →

The Gladiators finished the season with 11 wins and 10 losses to claim the sixth seed in the North America region.^[2] On September 4, Los Angeles advanced to the season playoffs after 3–2 win over the Toronto Defiant in the North American Play-in tournament.^[3] In the first round of the North American playoffs, the Gladiators were swept by the Philadelphia Fusion, sending them to the lower bracket.^[4] They lost to the Florida Mayhem in the first round of the lower bracket, which eliminated them from the playoffs.^[5]

Preceding offseason

Organizational changes

In September 2019, both head coach David "dpei" Pei and assistant coach Seetoh "JohnGalt" Jian Qing announced that their contracts lapsed with the Gladiators and were seeking other opportunities.^[6] The following month, JohnGalt signed with the Washington Justice's as their new head coach,^[7] while Pei signed a new contract with the Gladiators as their head coach and general manager.^[8] The team signed former Guangzhou Charge assistant coach Rohit "Curryshot" Nathani to their coaching staff in late October.^[9]

Roster changes

Free agents

Role	Player		Contract status	Date signed	2020 team
	Handle	Name
Damage	Hydration	João Pedro Goes Telles	Free agent	October 18	Houston Outlaws[10]
Damage	Surefour	Lane Roberts	Free agent	November 4	Toronto Defiant[11]
Tank	Void	Jun-Woo Kang	Free agent	November 25	Shanghai Dragons[12]
Legend   Re-signed/Retained by the Gladiators.   Departed from the Gladiators.

The Gladiators enter the new season with three free agents, six players which they have the option to retain for another year, and no players under contract.^[13] The OWL's deadline to exercise a team option is November 11, after which any players not retained will become a free agent. Free agency officially began on October 7.^[14]

Acquisitions

The Gladiators' first offseason pick-up was off-tank Indy "SPACE" Halpern, who they acquired from the Los Angeles Valiant on October 23.^[15] In early November, former London Spitfire DPS Kim "birdring" Ji-Hyeok signed with the team.^[16] Later that month, the team signed DPS Chris "MirroR" Trinh from Boston Uprising's academy team Uprising Academy and added former Mayhem Academy support player Nolan "Paintbrush" Edwards.^[17]

After the Gladiators traded off-tank Aaron "Bischu" Kim to the Guangzhou Charge in the middle of the 2019 season, Bischu re-signed to the Gladiators from free agency on November 15.^[18] A month later, on December 5, Los Angeles signed former Paris Eternal main tank Roni "LhCloudy" Tiihonen.^[19] The team announced their final signing of the offseason on December 12, with the addition of DPS Jason "Jaru" White from Team Envy.^[20]

Departures

On October 18, the Gladiators agreed to transfer main tank Gye "rOar" Chang-hoon to the Washington Justice, pending approval from the league.^[21]

DPS João Pedro "Hydration" Goes Telles, who had been with the team since its inception in 2017, was the first of the Gladiators' free agents to leave the team, signing with the Houston Outlaws on October 18.^[10] Following him was DPS Lane "Surefour" Roberts, as he signed with the Toronto Defiant the following month.^[11] On November 25, off-tank free agent Kang "Void" Jun-woo signed with the Shanghai Dragons.^[12] It was confirmed on December 5, after the disbandment of their academy team Gladiators Legion, that two-way tank player Lee "Panker" Byung-ho's option was not picked up for the 2020 season.^[22]

Player trades

The Gladiators' first player-for-player trade of the offseason took place on October 29, when they traded flex DPS Jang "Decay" Gui-un to the Dallas Fuel in exchange for main tank Son "OGE" Min-seok.^[23]

Roster

2020 Los Angeles Gladiators roster
Players	Coaches
Role No. Handle Name Nationality Damage 20 birdring Kim Ji-hyeok South Korea Damage 18 kevster Persson, Kevin Sweden Damage 7 MirroR Trịnh, Gia Huy Vietnam Damage 77 Jaru White, Jason United States Tank 2 OGE Son Min-seok South Korea Tank 27 LhCloudy Tiihonen, Roni Finland Tank 16 SPACE Halpern, Indy United States Tank 31 Bischu Kim Hyung-seok South Korea Support 0 BigG00se Isohanni, Benjamin Finland Support 52 Shaz Suovaara, Jonas Finland	Head coach David "dpei" Pei
Legend: (I) Inactive (S) Suspended (2W) Two-way player Substitute Injury / Illness	Latest roster transaction: June 20, 2020.

Transactions

Transactions of/for players on the roster during the 2020 regular season:

• On June 6, the Gladiators acquired DPS Josh "Sideshow" Wilkinson from the Florida Mayhem on a 14-day contract.^[24]
• On June 7, the Gladiators transferred support Nolan "Paintbrush" Edwards from the Dallas Fuel.^[25]
• On June 16, the Gladiators signed DPS Kevin "Kevster" Persson.^[26]

Standings

Pos	Con	Team v t e	Pld	W	BW	L	PCT	MW	ML	MT	MD	Qualification
1	ATL	Philadelphia Fusion	21	19	5	2	0.905	59	19	0	+40	Advance to playoffs
2	PAC	San Francisco Shock	21	18	7	3	0.857	56	17	2	+39
3	ATL	Paris Eternal	21	15	4	6	0.714	50	31	0	+19
4	ATL	Florida Mayhem	21	14	3	7	0.667	48	30	0	+18
5	PAC	Los Angeles Valiant	21	11	1	10	0.524	41	41	0	0
6	PAC	Los Angeles Gladiators	21	11	0	10	0.524	43	39	5	+4	Advance to play-ins
7	ATL	Atlanta Reign	21	10	0	11	0.476	43	35	0	+8
8	PAC	Dallas Fuel	21	9	0	12	0.429	35	44	0	−9
9	ATL	Toronto Defiant	21	7	1	14	0.333	32	48	0	−16
10	ATL	Houston Outlaws	21	6	0	15	0.286	32	50	3	−18
11	PAC	Vancouver Titans	21	6	0	15	0.286	23	48	0	−25
12	ATL	Washington Justice	21	4	0	17	0.190	21	54	1	−33
13	ATL	Boston Uprising	21	2	0	19	0.095	14	61	4	−47

Source: The Overwatch League
Rules for classification: 1) Wins plus bonus wins 2) winning percentage (excluding bonus wins); 3) map differential; 4) head-to-head record; 5) head-to-head map differential

Game log

Regular season

2020 game log (Regular season record: 11–10)
February–April: 3–3 1 February 08 Los Angeles Gladiators 2 – 3 Vancouver Titans Arlington, TX 2:00 pm PST     Esports Stadium Arlington Hosted by Dallas Fuel 2 Nepal 1 2 King's Row 3 0 Hanamura 2 2 Dorado 1 0 Lijiang Tower 2 2 March 28 Los Angeles Gladiators 3 – 1 San Francisco Shock Online 11:00 pm UTC     3 March 29 Los Angeles Gladiators 0 – 3 Seoul Dynasty Online 10:00 pm UTC     4 April 04 Los Angeles Gladiators 3 – 0 Dallas Fuel Online 10:00 pm UTC     5 April 13 Los Angeles Gladiators 0 – 3 San Francisco Shock Online 12:00 midnight UTC     6 April 17 Los Angeles Gladiators 3 – 2 Los Angeles Valiant Online 1:00 am UTC
May Melee qualifiers: 1–2 7 May 03 Los Angeles Gladiators 3 – 1 Toronto Defiant Online 11:00 pm UTC     8 May 09 Los Angeles Gladiators 1 – 3 Paris Eternal Online 7:00 pm UTC     9 May 16 Los Angeles Gladiators 2 – 3 Boston Uprising Online 10:30 pm UTC
Summer Showdown qualifiers: 2–1 10 June 13 Los Angeles Gladiators 3 – 1 Atlanta Reign Online 11:00 pm UTC     11 June 20 Los Angeles Gladiators 1 – 3 Houston Outlaws Online 11:00 pm UTC     12 June 28 Los Angeles Gladiators 3 – 1 Washington Justice Online 1:00 am UTC
Countdown Cup qualifiers: 1–3 13 July 18 Los Angeles Gladiators 3 – 0 Vancouver Titans Online 7:00 pm UTC     14 July 26 Los Angeles Gladiators 0 – 3 Paris Eternal Online 7:00 pm UTC     15 July 26 Los Angeles Gladiators 2 – 3 Philadelphia Fusion Online 1:00 am UTC     16 August 02 Los Angeles Gladiators 1 – 3 Florida Mayhem Online 9:00 pm UTC
August: 4–1 17 August 14 Los Angeles Gladiators 3 – 0 Dallas Fuel Online 9:00 pm UTC     18 August 15 Los Angeles Gladiators 3 – 0 Boston Uprising Online 11:00 pm UTC     19 August 21 Los Angeles Gladiators 1 – 3 Florida Mayhem Online 9:00 pm UTC     20 August 22 Los Angeles Gladiators 3 – 1 Atlanta Reign Online 11:00 pm UTC     21 August 23 Los Angeles Gladiators 3 – 2 Los Angeles Valiant Online 11:00 pm UTC

Midseason tournaments

2020 midseason tournaments game log
May Melee: 1–1 Knockouts May 22 Los Angeles Gladiators 3 – 0 Washington Justice Online 10:00 pm UTC     Quarterfinals May 23 Los Angeles Gladiators 1 – 3 Philadelphia Fusion Online 11:00 pm UTC
Summer Showdown: 0–1 Knockouts July 04 Los Angeles Gladiators 1 – 3 Washington Justice Online 1:00 am UTC
Countdown Cup: 1–1 Knockouts August 08 Los Angeles Gladiators 3 – 2 Toronto Defiant Online 1:00 am UTC     Quarterfinals August 08 Los Angeles Gladiators 0 – 3 Philadelphia Fusion Online 9:00 pm UTC
Bonus wins awarded: 0

Postseason

2020 playoff game log
North America Play-ins: 1–0 Round 1   First-round bye   Round 2 September 04 Los Angeles Gladiators 3 – 2 Toronto Defiant Online 7:00 pm UTC
North America Bracket: 0–2 Upper Round 1 September 05 Los Angeles Gladiators 0 – 3 Philadelphia Fusion Online 7:00 pm UTC     Lower Round 1 September 06 Los Angeles Gladiators 0 – 3 Florida Mayhem Online 7:00 pm UTC

References

1. Richardson, Liz (August 20, 2019). "Here is the full Overwatch League 2020 season schedule". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
2. Richardson, Liz (September 2, 2020). "How do the 2020 Overwatch League playoffs work?". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
3. Richardson, Liz (September 4, 2020). "Four more teams eliminated in Overwatch League playoffs". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
4. Miller, Chris (September 5, 2020). "Overwatch League – Los Angeles Gladiators Face The Philadelphia Fusion Surprisingly Quick". Happy Gamer. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
5. Field Level Media (September 6, 2020). "Fusion, Shock hold form at OWL NA playoffs". Reuters. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
6. Richardson, Liz (October 2, 2019). "Overwatch League offseason trade tracker". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
7. Howard, Brandon (October 10, 2019). "Washington Justice Find New Head Coach". TheGamer. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
8. Scrubasaurus (October 11, 2019). "Gladiators bring back dpei as head coach and GM". over.gg. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
9. Hudsen (October 31, 2019). "Curryshot joins the Gladiators". over.gg. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
10. Samples, Rachel (October 18, 2019). "Houston Outlaws sign Hydration ahead of the 2020 Overwatch League season". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
11. Samples, Rachel (November 4, 2019). "Toronto Defiant sign Surefour". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
12. "Dragons and Spitfire set rosters for OWL 2020 season". ESPN. Reuters. November 26, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
13. Morello, Matt (July 30, 2019). "2020 Team Needs and Player Contract Status". Overwatch League. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
14. Richardson, Liz (October 4, 2019). "Overwatch League reveals player contract status for entire league". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
15. Stenzel, Zach (October 23, 2019). "Space Joins Los Angeles Gladiators". The Game Haus. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
16. "Los Angeles Gladiators add former Spitfire DPS birdring". ESPN. Reuters. November 6, 2019. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
17. Field Level Media (November 14, 2019). "Gladiators add MirroR, Valiant release FCTFCTN". ESPN. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
18. Richardson, Liz (November 15, 2019). "Bischu returns to the Los Angeles Gladiators". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
19. Peres, Pedro (December 5, 2019). "Los Angeles Gladiators sign LhCloudy". Dot Esports. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
20. Samples, Rachel (December 12, 2019). "Los Angeles Gladiators sign Jaru ahead of 2020 Overwatch League season". Dot Esports. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
21. Richardson, Liz (October 18, 2019). "Washington Justice acquire rOar from Los Angeles Gladiators". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
22. Scrubasaurus (December 5, 2019). "Gladiators sign lhcloudy". over.gg. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
23. Magelssen, Tommy (October 29, 2019). "Dallas Fuel ship OGE to Los Angeles Gladiators for Decay in blockbuster trade, more moves appear on the horizon". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
24. Howard, Brandon (June 8, 2020). "Florida Mayhem Trade Sideshow To Los Angeles Gladiators". TheGamer. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
25. Samples, Rachel (June 7, 2020). "Dallas Fuel acquires Paintbrush from Los Angeles Gladiators". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
26. Richardson, Liz (June 16, 2020). "Los Angeles Gladiators acquire flex DPS Kevster". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 16, 2020.