Let’s get into this week’s best performances and closest matchups. Feel free to take a closer look at our rosters, transactions, and matchups by following these links: Legacy League, Prodigy League, Futures League. Likewise, if you’d like to read the previous weeks’ reviews, follow this link.
Legacy League
Well, the legacy league playoff picture is finally taking shape, but there’s a lot still to be determined. After twenty weeks of jostling, only two teams have cemented their spots: Max Posner (14-5-1) and Alex Fast (11-3-6), while four teams sit 3.5 games behind Max- Ian Post, Rick Graham, Ben Palmer, and our fearless leader Nick Pollack. Rather than review the best performance and closest matchup of last week, I’m going to look ahead at two critical matchups this week. Before we do, the legacy league prepares to say goodbye to Stephen Honovich and Ben Pernick, who will finish in 11th and 12th and be relegated to the Prodigy League.
#6 The Bear and the Maiden Faria (Nick Pollack) vs. #7 Ze Wankers (Nic Gardiner)
After a tumultuous first six weeks to the season, Nick roared back into the playoff picture, finally getting back into 6th place in Week 19. Nic is similarly trying to avenge his 0-5 start, after which he has gone 10-4-1, winning our “Best Performance” last week. Neither team has a two-start pitcher this week, so they’ll have to each rely on individual talent. Who will win the offensive battle? Nick’s Machado, Baez, Blackmon, and Cruz or Nic’s Soto, Correa, and Rizzo? Will Jacob deGrom or Walker Buehler steal the pitching show? If Nic can unseat Nick, he’ll sneak into the playoffs and knock our fearless leader into the consolation bracket. Fortunately for him, relegation has already been decided.
#8 This One Time at Band Kemp (Dave Cherman) vs. #3 Ian’s Pornogriffey (Ian Post)
Just four weeks ago, my team sat in third place with only one loss over 14 weeks. Since then, three consecutive losses dropped me out of the playoff picture and needing a big win to stay in. Ian may sit in 3rd place, but he has just two wins the last six weeks, making this matchup particularly interesting- a win thrusts me into the playoffs for a chance at the title. With both teams slumping, this matchup could have interesting playoff implications- a win by Ian makes him the highest seeded team to not receive a bye, but he’ll be just 3-4 over 7 weeks heading into the playoffs.
Prodigy League
PLAYOFF UPDATE
Quarterfinal 1- #5 good Kris, m.A.A.d. Robbie (Jason Dunbar) vs #4 The Gregorius D.I.Di. (Jeff Davis)
After facing a huge deficit through one week, Jeff rallied his forces to force a tie going into Sunday night baseball. Jason was able to get a clean inning from Zach Britton, which lowered his ERA just enough to earn the 6-4 victory and send our medical expert home packing.
Quarterfinal 2- #6 Syndergaarden Cop (Jonathan Metzelaar) vs #3 DothRockies Horde (Austin Bristow II)
If you recall, these two were tied last week also! In fact, the two only traded batting average and wins over the two weeks resulting in a 5-5 tie. As you’ll notice, there’s no winner bolded in the total category. The tiebreaker for playoff matchups is head-to-head record in the regular season. Well, as luck would have it, these two each won one of their regular season matchups, creating ANOTHER tie. Unfortunately for my podcast partner Jon Metzelaar, the second tiebreaker is playoff seed, which thrusts Austin into the semifinals.
Semifinal 1- #5 good Kris, m.A.A.d. Robbie (Jason Dunbar) vs. #1 Killer B’s (KV)
Semifinal 2- #3 DothRockies Horde (Austin Bristow II) vs. #2 Walker Buehler’s Day Off (Myles Nelson)
Best of luck to all four of these teams, as they embark on Week 1 of their two-week semi-final. We’ll take a closer look at the midpoint of the matchups. Remember, the top 2 finishers in this league join the Legacy League next season, while, Mark Weston and Jake Bridges will be relegated to the Futures League.
Futures League
With a 9-1 victory over Brennan Gorman, Mike Haas’s Lunch Angle has forced its way into the 6th spot in next week’s playoffs. This puts Brennan in a precarious position, as he has to hold off the 7th seeded Morristown Frackers (Nate Von Benken) in order to keep his playoff spot. Meanwhile, Tim Acree, Ben Chang, and Austin Perodeau have locked up their playoff spots, with Austin sitting 0.5 games behind the others, hoping to leapfrog his way into a bye this week. The first step towards the Legacy League awaits six teams in one week- two will advance, two will fall.
