Playoffs, baby! From 32 players in September, we now have the 12 that rose above the pack and made it to this all-important point.
The best of the best get a break this week, having earned that all-important first-round bye allowing them to sit back and relax while the others fight for their shot to play in the Divisional round. This season we have Brenda's Bulldogs, Vlad M, Monster Rain and Secretly Victorious getting to watch from the sideline this week.
A loss now is no fun at all -- you need to pick up a win here in order to finish in the money. So now it's time to see how these week's matches break down:
AFC 3rd Seed Yellow Jackets vs. AFC 6th Seed Lacie Belles:
Well this is a familiar one -- a look at last year's playoffs shows us a mirror image of this match. Last time around Lacie Belles was the three seed and Yellow Jackets was ranked sixth. Lacie Belles moved on in that match, but it was Yellow Jackets who came out on top when they met again earlier this season. So now it's time to see which carries more weight between these two -- Yellow Jackets' 2-0 record in regular season matches, or Lacie Belle's 1-0 record in playoff matches.
AFC 4th Seed Big Blue vs. AFC 5th Seed Mike C:
Ah, the vagarities of playoff positioning. Thanks to the way things came together, here we have an 8-8 player hosting an 11-5 one. For much of the season it seemed like a forgone conclusion that Mike C would be relaxing this weekend, enjoying a bye week for the second year in a row. But one loss, combined with a huge surge by Vlad M, pushed Mike C down into a Wild Card spot. Now he'll face off against Big Blue, who has been putting together an impressive win streak of his own. It's been a month since he's seen a loss, so now it's time to see who can close the deal -- the player who started hot (including a Week 1 win over Big Blue), or the player who closed out the season on a winning run.
NFC 3rd Seed Rabid Ferrets vs. NFC 6th Seed Evil Squad of Evil:
Evil Squad Of Evil has the distinction of having the most consecutive playoff appearances -- he's made every postseason since he joined the league in 2008. For the past two years, he's been one-and-done. His only postseason win was in his rookie year of 2008, where he won a Wild Card match against Lacie Belles. However, he was knocked out the following week in a Divisional Round match again...Rabid Ferrets. He's beaten Rabid Ferrets twice during the regular season (in '08 and '09) -- now it's time to see if he can bring some of that regular season mojo into the postseason.
NFC 4th Seed Ragesters vs. NFC 5th Seed Mike W:
Both of these players started out the season on pretty shaky ground, but both managed to get hot at the right time and snag a playoff spot as the season came to a close. There's not much of a history between these two -- Ragesters joined the league in '06, which was Mike W's final year until rejoining this year, and they didn't meet that time around. Their only head-to-head matchup was a Week 7 match this year, where Ragesters came out on top via MNF score. Now we see who can make this opportunity count and grab a spot in the Divisional round.
Ok, that's it for the early preview. If you're one of these eight players, then make sure you get those picks submitted by 8:00pm Eastern on Friday. Also, keep in mind that the high-seeded player picks two consecutive numbers for the second tiebreaker (the Giants/Falcons game), so as to prevent the possibility of a tie as noted here -- good luck all!
First, both the Yellow Jackets/Lacie Belles and Ragesters/Mike W matches will come down to the total of the Steelers/Broncos game. Yellow Jackets will win with a score of 41 or under while Lacie Belles needs 42+, while Ragesters needs the defense to keep it to 40 or under while Mike W is looking for a total of 41 or up.
In addition to picking the same winner for all four games, Big Blue and Mike C both picked a total of 38 for the Pittsburgh/Denver game -- that means they're automatically going to be coming down to the total of the Giants/Falcons game. Here, Big Blue is looking for these teams to combine for a score of 45+, while Mike C needs a total of 44 or under.
Our final match is the only one which might not come down to score. Seven of our eight wild card players picked these games the same way -- Texans, Saints, Giants and Steelers. Evil Squad Of Evil was the only one to go away from the favorites, picking the Bengals and Falcons. If he's right on both, he wins. If he's right on neither, he loses. And he splits them, then he and Rabid Ferrets will come down to the total for the Giants/Falcons game -- Evil Squad Of Evil needing a total of 49 or under and Rabid Ferrets looking for them to put up 50+ points.
Ok, that's it for the preview. None of these matches can end on Saturday, so check back on Sunday to see who advances to the divisional championship round. Enjoy the weekend!
We now know the lineup for next week's matches:
AFC:
Brenda's Bulldogs vs. Lacie Belles
Vlad M vs. Mike C
NFC:
Monster Rain vs. Mike W
Secretly Victorious vs. Rabid Ferrets
Good job to everyone who made it this far -- check back later to this week for the Divisional Championship preview, and have a great week, all!
Hi All, and welcome to the Divisionals! This is where you start making your money back -- sure, you might have won a Player of the Week award or two, and maybe you picked up $25 for winning your division, but now is when the payouts start building. A win this week locks you in to at least $75, and even a loss will net you $30. So then, let's see who we have facing off to try and make it to the Conference Championships:
AFC 1st Seed Brenda's Bulldogs vs. AFC 6th Seed Lacie Belles:
This is familiar territory for Brenda's Bulldogs -- she was the also the #1 seed in the AFC in her debut season back in 2009. That year she took her winning streak all the way to the Super Bowl before finally being knocked off. Now she'll be trying to make a return to where found her rookie success and take it all the way this time. For her part, Lacie Belles is trying to make her way to her first AFC Championship -- she's make the postseason twice before and was in this spot just last year before being knocked out by Mike C. Now she'll be trying to take her 3-2 lifetime record against Brenda's Bulldogs to the next level.
AFC 2nd Seed Vlad M vs. AFC 5th Seed Mike C:
If you take his regular season performance over the eight seasons this league has been in existence, you'll find that Mike C is a .500 player. However, one could make the argument that there have been two Mike C's throughout the history of the pool. There is the Mike C who played to a 25-38-1 record with no playoff appearances from '04-'07, and there's the Mike C from '08 to this year who posted a mirror-image 38-25-1 while making the playoffs three of those four years. He sprinted out to an terrific 7-0 run en route to his 11-5 finish, but by the end of the season he was caught by his divisionmate Vlad M. With an 11-5 finish of his own, these are certainly two of the best in the league this season and Vlad M couldn't have caught fire at a better time. Vlad M has made the playoffs in '04 and '09, and each time he was eliminated in this round -- now it's time to see if he can get over the Divisional Championship hump and make it to the AFC title match.
NFC 1st Seed Monster Rain vs. NFC 5th Seed Mike W:
It wasn't that long ago that the NFC South was one big knot of players all jostling for a postseason spot. At the end of Week 15, only 1.5 wins separated first place from last. But as the season drew to a close, it was these two who fought their way to the top. Both put up lengthy winning streaks in the second half, but there was one key factor to look at here -- Monster Rain won the division, but he was also swept this season by Mike W. In fact, all signs point toward Mike W being the favorite here -- he's made the playoffs three of his four seasons while this is Monster Rain's first playoff game after five years in the league. However, the fact remains that Monster Rain came out of this season with the better record. Will he find a way past Mike W when it really counts, or will Mike W complete the sweep en route to his first NFC Championship match appearance since 2004?
NFC 2nd Seed Secretly Victorious vs. NFC 3rd Seed Rabid Ferrets:
Secretly Victorious is a rookie who came out strong and clawed her way to a first-round bye straight out of the gate. Rabid Ferrets is a year-one veteran with two 1-On-1 Super Bowl appearances and one championship under his belt. Oh, and they live together so any prize money won here is going in the same pot anyway. But no matter about that, this is all about pride...and the ability to say "Ha! Kicked yer butt! Neener!" So, how do they stack up? Well, let's put it this way -- if Secretly Victorious has picked a Week 17 MNF total of 47 instead of 46, then it would've been Rabid Ferrets earning the first-round bye and Secretly Victorious would have had to fight through the Wild Card round. In other words, these two just about as closely matched as can be. Anyone's game, here.
Ok, huge match this week! Make sure you get those picks submitted by 8:00pm Eastern on Friday. Brenda's Bulldogs, Vlad M, Monster Rain and Secretly Victorious -- you'll be putting "double picks" for the Texans/Ravens game (if you think it'll be 35, then put in either 34/35 or 35/36. Everyone else, just pick one number.
That should do it for this part of the preview -- have a great week, everyone!
And that's about it for the preview -- check back on Saturday afternoon to see how our first match turns out. Good luck, all!
To those who fell short this week, well, you can console yourselves with the $30 runner-up prize and build on this for next season. For those who chalked up wins, here's how the all-important Conference Championships line up -- next week, it'll be:
--AFC 1st Seed Brenda's Bulldogs vs. AFC 2nd Seed Vlad M
--NFC 1st Seed Monster Rain vs. NFC 3rd Seed Rabid Ferrets
Check back later in the week for the Conference Championship preview -- have a great week, all!
 |
 |
 |