The playoff race is officially on! The trade deadline has passed and it was definitely one of the most active in Franchise history. We had a record deals in the 7 days between the barbeque and midnight Sunday night. My Breakdown of the trades will come later this weekend, just wanted to give an update on what’s at stake this week.
The trade deadline has turned into one of the most entertaining periods of the year for this league, but don’t lose focus, the real show begins now, it’s a race to the playoffs followed by a sprint to the championship, and the pace is starting to pick up.
The top 5 remains the top 5, although 4 of the top 5 faced off against each other in week 17. Commish continues to hold off all challengers to the #1 spot, battling Johnny to a 5-5 tie and keeping 8 games between him and second place. However, Mark was able to significantly narrow the gap (which was 12 games last week) after trouncing Keeves 9-1. Mark is now firmly entrenched in the second bye week spot with a 6.5 game lead over Dan in third, but Dan has not taken his foot off the gas, with an 8-2 victory in week 17 over the rebuilding Richie. Because of the big wins for Mark and Dan, John’s draw hurt him more than it should have, and he now finds himself well out of the bye week (11 games) in fourth place. Keeves is still in good shape in 5th place, but after the big loss to Mark, he is now within striking distance of the 4 teams battling for the #6 seed, holding a 5.5 game lead over Eddie.
As for the rest of the league, the 6th spot remains wide open. Perka, Brad, Greg, and Pflanz are within 5 games of each other, all battling for that one spot. Greg continued his hot streak by defeating Perk 5-4 and picking up half a game, while Brad and Pflanz fell at the hands of the two of the league’s bottom 3 teams, losing to Bryan and Andy respectively, both by a 7-3 margin.
Richie, Bryan, and Andy, the league’s basement dwellers, actually still have a shot at the last playoff slot, albeit a long one. Bryan and Andy are 8 back of 6th place, and Richie is 9 back. There is still hope, but Richie and Andy were heavy sellers at the break, and Bryan inexplicably made no moves at all (which shouldn’t be a big surprise, as he hasn’t made a move since June. Some are questioning the rookies commitment to the league, the Commish has been notified, and Bryan’s activity has now been placed under close watch).
On to this week’s slate, Russell and his new look offense takes on Brad’s re-vamped roster. Russ isn’t in much danger here but Brad has to avoid a big loss, he can’t afford to keep declining like this, especially after dealing so many picks at the break.
In the only matchup between two of the top 5 teams, Mark will try to stay hot against Johnny D. Mark has been on a roll lately while John has been in close battles for the last two weeks. John has a chance to close the growing gap between his team and the bye week so his new pieces have got to step up here. Meanwhile, Mark is creeping closer and closer to fantasy rival Russell, and if he keeps up these winning ways, he could usurp the top spot before season end.
Dan has a chance to knock Pflanz out of playoff contention while furthering himself in a quest for the #2 bye week spot. At this point however, the notion of a bye week seems improbable for Dan, as he needs the two winningest managers in Franchise history to squander the leads they have built up. Pflanz has a lot at stake this week, as he is the farthest out of the teams who have a realistic shot at the 6 seed. This could be his last meaningful week if he ends up on the wrong end of a blowout.
Keeves, on a two week losing streak, is facing off against Andy, who has lost just once since week 11. Read that again. Andy, currently in 11th, has lost just once since week 11. That really speaks to what an awful start he got off to this season, but it also says a lot about what direction he’s going – or “was” going, until he started selling at the break. Keeves should be able to capitalize on Andy’s newly depleted roster, but I’m not so sure he’s the same team that he was two weeks ago. The fact that he stood pat at the deadline, despite the two week losing streak does not give me confidence in his squad down the stretch, Keeves need this win badly to keep the distance.
The last two match-ups this week are very similar, a couple opf fringe playoff teams will battle teams in the basement. Eddie will try to stay atop the race for the 6th playoff spot against Bart, while Greg will try to catch him against Richie. Bryan’s team has played tough lately, while Perka is struggling along. Eddie made just one move at the break, and normally that wouldn’t seem like enough, but none of the teams in the hunt for the last playoff spot look overly impressive right now. He could theoretically and plausibly lose to Bart and still retain the 6th spot at this point.
Greg has been hot lately, but no one made more deals at the deadline, and all were rebuilding moves. He has all but packed it in this season, then again, Richie made the second most deals and his team too has gone into full rebuilding mode, so a win for Greg is very plausible, and would keep in the hunt, for now at least.
Last 5 weeks of the regular season! plenty of good story lines. Stay tuned for the trade deadline review. Hopefully I can get that going over the weekend.
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