Last week of the regular season and the heat is on!
We'll start with the most meaningful storyline, as two Grafton Ave natives battle for the final playoff spot. Greg is currently 3 games up on Brad for the 6 seed and will try to coast into the playoffs with a win over Andy. The magic number for Greg is 7, if he can find a way to take 7 categories from Andy, he's playoff bound. Brad will go head to head against Pflanz in a matchup where he needs to win at least 4 categories to stay in it. However to actually have a shot, I think Brad needs to take 7 or more categories this week.
The wrench thrown into all of this is Pflanz, who is only 4 games behind Greg and also fighting for the 6 seed. If Pflanz can beat Brad by a significant margin, and Greg takes a beat down at the hands of Andy, Pflanz could see yet another Franchise playoff berth.
So these three teams will be battling, Although none of them have looked overly impressive lately:
Greg is ice cold, just 4-15 in his last two weeks, but keep in mind that was against Mark and Russ, he should have an easier time with Andy, who is 6-10 in his last two weeks against lesser opponents.
Brad hasn't won since week 14, but has forced ties in the last two weeks to keep him in the hunt. He's been sliding down a slippery slope since The All-Star Break, yet he still has a shot at this.
Pflanz has looked the best out of the three as of late, but 16-13 over the last three weeks isn't exactly scaring anyone. Plus, at 4 games, he's the furthest out of the three, and would need the biggest break to get in.
If I'm making prediction, I'm sticking with my Greg choice. I don't think he will even win this week, but Brad and Pflanz will play each other close enough to negate each other and Greg will get in thanks to his red hot July/beginning of August, despite losing the last three weeks of the season. As exciting as this race has become however, we should face facts, the seed is NOT making it out of round 1.
I say that because there is a true clear-cut denomination between the top 5 this year and the rest of the league. I Started writing these short weekly recaps in week 17, and since then, the top 5 has never even been in question. Finally, next week we get to start taking each other out, this week will determine who gets first dibs at the guillotine.
The second most meaningful storyline this week is the battle for the 3 seed. Whoever can emerge victorious will have the good fortune of playing Greg, Brad, or Pflanz (not quite terrifying opponents, see above) in round one. And as long as they don't screw that up, they will go on to play Mark in round 2, which is no cakewalk, but who wants to play Russ right now? He's 5 wins away from having the best record of all time!
Right now John sits at #3, but Keeves is just 1.5 games behind him, and Dan is only 2 behind that. Dan may be the furthest out of the 3 seed, but he has the easiest opponent this week in Perka, a team that's totally out of it. Perka has lost 5 out of 6 weeks, but Dan has only been 11-18 in his last three, coughing up the semi-tight hold he had on third just weeks ago.
This may leave the door open for the winner of the Keeves-Johnny matchup to slide into third. John is 14-6 in his last two and has only lost once since week 14, this team has been hot. All he has to do is keep this a one point game, just stay within one category and he has the three seed.
Matt is coming off a big 10-0 shutout and is making a beeline to the third seed. A week ago I wrote him off as a lock for the 4 or 5, now, I think he's taking the third seed and clinching the garaunteed weaker first round opponent.
The final storyline this week is my shot at the record books. 4-5-1 and I tie the record, anything better than that and the best regular season ever will be in the books. Did I mention I'm playing the last place team?
Some other things to point out: Richie has the #1 lottery pick slot locked up by 9 games, with Andy at #2, then Bart and Perka half a game apart for the #3 spot.
Good luck to everyone with something to play for this week! Get some smack talk started for the playoffs!
