Semis links! Finals set - all invites out! Congrats to all!

Mid-season report

In our league 1, parity is the rule. Probably 10 teams still have a chance to make the playoffs (no more than 7 games out of a playoff spot). The parity is within each division. The best record in the East (41-40) is equal to the worst record in the Central (the East's early combined road record was an ugly 43-80!!). Thus, almost all of the teams needing to win a championship to make the Final 12 still have a shot. The transaction list is 10 pages long so there aren't many untried players.

In league 2, it appears to be much more spread out. Takanahana, TaxChiefs and Jimmy C are in the playoff hunt and currently aren't in the top 12.

In the race for final 12, spots 10 through 12 look open. Waynick is desperately hanging on and there is a log jam in the 11-17 spots (it sure looks like at least a playoff appearance will be required for these 11-17 ranked owners - Takanahana, and ed1447 currently sit in league playoff position if we ended today). Of course, it almost looks like a 50% chance that one owner in the 11-22 range will win a championship (TallEd and taxchiefs also would be in the league playoffs if we ended today), and certainly a chance for both leagues to have that.

It should be exciting!

And down the stretch they come, 6 games to go. Here's my analysis of the bubble teams:

1 through 8 are locks to make the Champions League. 9 and 10 is where it starts getting interesting. I believe gritch (on a rough 6-17 streak against the brutal Central division) and waynick will make it but there is still work to do and neither is making their league playoffs. Tonight's games really helped them as there is now a 7 point spread between #10 and #11.

#11 - der geist - recent hot streak ended tonight getting swept by TallEd, who is only 1 game behind in the wild card race in league #1. Must make the playoffs and possibly need to make it to the Finals.

#11 - fakesportsfan - won't make the league playoffs. Probably needs to go 6-0 and then have all but 1 of the bubble teams implode at the end and not win in the playoffs.

#13 - Jimmy_C - in line to make the playoffs but only has a 1 game lead in the wild card race with 2 others 2 games behind. Must make the playoffs and possibly makes it to the Finals.

#14 - ed1447 - will make the league playoffs. Make it to the finals and be within 10 points of gritch or waynick would make him a virtual lock. If der geist makes the playoffs, he will meet ed1447. Thus only one of those teams will get 10 points but at least 1 is guaranteed 10 points.

Teams that must make the playoffs and win the championship for the automatic bid - taxchiefs (virtual lock to make the playoffs), Takanahana (2 games out of the wild card), and TallEd (suddenly within 1 game of der geist, just swept him and plays him in the last 3 games of the season.

As far as seeds locked in, only franky35 is and that is the #1 pick.

With 6 games left to go in the Semis, there are still a lot of players on the bubble.
9. gritch 553 - practically in but a 0-6 finish could be trouble
10. waynick 552 - I really whiffed on waynick in my preseason predictions but a 2-4 finish ought to be good enough to squeak in
11. fakesportsfan 545 - 5 games back in Wild Card chase and needs a good finish
12. der geist 545 - 1 game lead in Wild Card; must hold on to Wild Card and then is in good shape; geist and TallEd meet on Friday in the season-ending series.
13. Jimmy C - 544 - currently 1 game up in the race for the Wild Card; holding onto the Wild Card should clinch a spot in Finals
14. Ed1447 - 542 - clinched the Division, so really this team is in 11th at 547
17. taxchiefs - 532 - 5 game lead in division but still needs to advance in the playoffs and probably needs to win world series
18. takanahana - 531 - 2 games back in the Wild Card chase; must win Wild Card and probably needs to win world series
19. TallEd - 530 - currently in a 5 game win streak but still 1 back of Wild Card and then needs to win world series

As a finals note - Willie Mays will be the 1st overall draft pick.

3 games left

Takanahana is eliminated.

TallEd must sweep der geist in League 1. Even winning 2 would leave them 12-12 HTH and der geist wins the run differential.

Jimmy_C and der geist currently tied in points. Jimmy_C wins the tie-breaker. Very important if both of these teams make the playoffs and lose in the first round.

If der geist is in the playoffs, that first round matchup with ed1447 could decide who makes the Champions League.

taxchiefs winning a title knocks someone out, maybe even gritch or waynick yet.

Waynick and Gritch are in. Three other teams can’t finish at 555+. Taxchiefs is a very long shot at this point and needs some folks to lose in the first round of playoffs.

Reminder on this rule:

The two teams that win the championships in the semi-final round automatically go to the championship final regardless of where they are positioned within the top 24 after 6 rounds.

Forgot about that. Yikes as I may not be in. Waynick has tiebreaker over me.

Regular season complete

TallEd wins 2 of 3 but loses the wild card tiebreaker to der geist. TallEd is eliminated.

Jimmy_C wins 2 of 3 and gets the wild card by 1 game over Lee300.

waynick and gritch are tied at 556. Waynick wins the tiebreaker and is in.

der geist and ed1447 meet in the playoffs in League #1. The loser is eliminated.

A der geist win and he's in the Champions League.

ed1447 gets in with a win in the first round if taxchiefs doesn't win the title in League #2 or Jimmy_C loses in the 1st round.

Jimmy_C gets in with a win or taxchiefs doesn't win the title.

taxchiefs must win the title to get in.

gritch has to have all these things go wrong to not make the Champions League - 1) taxchiefs wins the title, 2) Jimmy_C wins the 1st round and 3)either der geist wins the 1st round or ed1447 wins a title.

Locked seeds - franky35 #1, djkalle #2, brifas #6, jaywalker72 #7.

I am more than capable of the Reverse Franky (when he made finals playoffs and eventually won the championship on a 1/64 shot the last day of the season). Good luck to some. Ben

Finals Invites have been sent out - if you haven't received it, and you are supposed to, reach out to me over Inbox or DM.