Bad News Bears lose two heading into player break

Bad News Bears have announced that AWPer Christopher "Swahn" Swahn and coach Nathan "madcow" Retterath will be departing the squad. These moves comes after the team secured their spot in ESEA Challenger League Season 42 after a rough ECL Season 41 sent the squad to relegation for the second time in a row.

Swahn's decision to step down from Bad News Bears marks the end of his seven-month tenure with the team. Swahn joined the Bears in January of this year, alongside Khizar "Momo" Rehman and Saad "Pluto" Siraj, as the squad underwent a rebuild after the end of ESEA Premier Season 39. madcow's time with Bad News Bears was considerably longer, having joined the squad as a coach in February of 2021 as a replacement for Matthew "mCe" Elmore after he left to pursue a career in VALORANT.

Since the addition of the trio of Swahn, Momo, and Pluto, Bad News Bears have struggled to produce good results both internationally and domestically. In both ECL Season 40 and ECL Season 41, the Bears were knocked down to relegation after subpar regular-season showings. Although the Bears kept themselves alive through relegation both times, this squad that can barely cling on to an ECL spot is a far cry from the Bad News Bears of 2021. Internationally, Bad News Bears have likewise been unable to make a name for themselves. The team qualified for the Americas RMR in Bucharest, Romania, but bowed out in last place with an 0-3 record after losses to Case, Sao Caetano, and 9z.

Following this unfortunate result at the RMR, Bad News Bears announced they would be undergoing a six-week European bootcamp, where the team participated in a handful of online European events with no results of note. Upon returning stateside, the Bears were unable to convert their European ventures into domestic success, garnering only two series wins in ECL, along with one forfeit win over Party Astronauts.

Following Swahn and madcow's departure, Bad News Bears are now:

• Gabe "Spongey" Greiner

• Alan "Shakezullah" Hardeman

• Saad "Pluto" Siraj

• Khizar "Momo" Rehman

Bad News Bears will have just about a month to sort out both their fifth player and their coach, as ECL Season 42 is not set to start until August 16th.