User blog comment:FairyRaven/Fairy Tail vs. Alvarez Empire! Place your bets!/@comment-24264679-20150917035729/@comment-5268982-20150918092342

They are not weaker, they lost because plot demanded them to. Minerva perfectly explained it, when she said that the only reason that Sting lost to Natsu was because he didn't have a reason to fight aka was a bad guy or some shit.

Next time they appear(and they WILL appear) they'll save FT's asses, I guarantee it.