MLB CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW

Playoff Matchups

Championship Game

• Wait ‘Til Next Year (2) vs Sporty Strauss (5)

3rd-Place Game

• Win’s Up Doc (1) vs $traight Cash Homie (3)

Consolation Championship Game

• The Pullies (7th) vs The BamO’s (8th)

9th-Place Game

• Las Cabras (9th) vs MN Moose Knuckles (10th)

Season-Long Standings (Min/Max)

• Sporty Strauss (CLINCHED FIRST PLACE)

• Win’s Up Doc

  • Minimum of 27 points

  • Maximum of 28 points

• Wait ‘Til Next Year

  • Minimum of 25 points

  • Maximum of 28 points

• Las Cabras

  • Minimum of 21 points

  • Maximum of 22 points

• Ornery Otters

  • 21 POINTS (FINALIZED)

• The BamO’s

  • Minimum of 18 points

  • Maximum of 19 points

• MN Moose Knuckles

  • Minimum of 17 points

  • Maximum of 18 points

• DTC Porkchop Express

  • 16 POINTS (FINALIZED)

• Cooper Troopers

  • 15 POINTS (FINALIZED)

• The Pullies

  • Minimum of 15 points

  • Maximum of 16 points

• SG Choppers

  • 15 POINTS (FINALIZED)

• $traight Cash Homie (CLINCHED LAST PLACE)

ROUND 2 RECAP

PLAYOFFS

Win’s Up Doc (1st) - 524
Sporty Strauss (5th) - 507

Notes: 17 measly points this week separates a likely $4000. 17 points. Now, Sporty Strauss is victorious. It’s heartbreak for Win’s Up Doc, who put chips in the table for this season, and it’s elation and relief for Sporty Strauss. Both of these squads are trending downwards next season, so they should revel in a cash out now.

However, Win’s Up Doc is not out of the woods of this season’s League of Leagues. Not at all. Instead of the $4000 for first place, he’s now looking to simply hold onto a tie of 2nd right now. Sporty Strauss has 1st clinched and can add another $400 and Champion’s Club tickets next week by winning the MLB Championship game. Win’s Up Doc is fighting for 3rd place MLB and another $100 in his budget for the year.

The MVP of this game for Sporty Strauss is Alex Bregman and his 23.5 point single game performance. Bregman scored 38 points total on the week – a mammoth number that will be hard to replicate in the championship. So he’ll have to find other players to step up.

In general, there is a lot to glean from Sporty Strauss’ (and Win’s Up Doc’s) roster construction. First, both of these teams’ hitting was remarkable similar. Despite that performance from Bregman, Sporty Strauss only scored 10 more points in the lineup than Doc. Second, neither of these teams had many awful hitting performances outside of Carlos Correa on Doc. However, Sporty Strauss had more high-powered hitting weeks like he got from his big 3. Mookie and Machado also performed very well. Another takeaway is that Strauss had big games from some trade acquisitions. Justin Turner, Alejandro Kirk and Charlie Blackmon were all solid, each of whom made the difference between winning and losing if someone else had scored zero in his stead.

Elsewhere, Sporty Strauss was actually outscored in the rotation. His starting pitchers were serviceable, but Doc’s were still better (even though the Alex Wood start (-2 points) will haunt Win’s Up Doc for the rest of his life. However, when it’s all said and done, this game was lost by Oat in relief. Sporty Strauss scored 55 points from his relief pitchers whilst Win’s Up Doc only scored about 40. That near 15-point difference is remarkably close to the 17-point spread between a winner and loser.

On that note, the LVP of this matchup is clearly Rafael Montero, a pitcher for the Houston Astros. Montero came in to replace an Astros starter in the middle of the 8th inning on Monday with 2 outs with a 2-0 lead against the White Sox. Montero proceeded to give up two straight doubles that tied the game. Then he walked two more batters to load the bases before Yoan Moncada hit a single to give Chicago the lead. Montero never even got an out. It was a -13-point game. If he had just gotten an out and gotten the hold, Win’s Up Doc would be in the playoffs right now. That performance set the tone for the week, and sent Oat reeling.

So relief pitching just decided the League of Leagues. There were other bad breaks for Win’s Up Doc, for sure. Oat sat Jose Berrios who scored almost 34 points in place of Alex Wood. That would have flipped the matchup as well. Even starting one of Alex Cobb’s two starts would have swung the matchup.

But what happened to Rafael Montero and Alex Cobb will live on in Oat’s heart forever. He will never forget about one random relief appearance in the middle of the dog days of MLB August, and that is the power of fantasy.

Wait ‘Til Next Year (2nd) - 537 points
$traight Cash Homie (3rd) - 443 points

Notes: This result is a perfect example of why Wait ‘Til Next Year will ALWAYS have an advantage in the League of Leagues. Nobody is going to put in comparable research into MLB. Nobody else knows or cares about Major League Baseball. Wait ‘Til Next Year’s team is banged up and his lineup is quite bereft, yet he still beat a very good team by triple digits just by finding spot starters in all three phases of the fantasy game..

In the relief pitching category, Wait ‘Til Next Year absurdly scored 50 more points than $traight Cash Homie. That means the smallest scoring category in baseball accounted for about half of Kyle’s win. It’s where Kyle put his research to the test. He found multiple relievers who started multiple innings, including Ryan Yarbrough who got a win after coming in for an opener and Taylor Hearn who earned a 3-inning save. If Wait ‘Til Next Year continues to do this in future weeks and future years, the rest of the league stands little chance of competing with him without a super team. And even if they had a super team like Strauss or Doc do right now, the odds of winning are still up in the air. Kyle would have beaten Oat this week and JUST barely lost to Strauss.

In the hitting category, Win’s Up Doc won by about 60 points, despite having a vastly inferior hitting lineup. This was due to research as well. He put Jake Fraley into his lineup the last couple of days and ended up with 26 points from a nobody. He got 25 points from Jose Miranda. He pulled the strings for spot starts like throwing in Michael Massey for a game that got 7 points. Basically, he watched pitching matchups and played splits, and this shows you why MLB is an inherently unbalanced League of Leagues sport. In both NFL and NBA, one player makes all the difference. In MLB, it doesn’t matter much. No matter if you have stars or average guys, there will always be a player on the waiver wire to pick up and improve your odds, even if you are benching a good player. Kyle has the best MLB team going forward, but he also will know the value of spot starts more than anyone else as well. With so many teams tanking every year and tanking rules become more lax next season, it’s going to be so easy for good teams to just pick up players and compete on a weekly basis in baseball.

In the rotation, this edge belonged to $traight Cash Homie, but not by much. Jack had stellar pitching matchups and should have dominated this category. But he made too many bad decisions this week. Starting Frankie Montas (3 points) was one of them. On the bench, he left 30 points from Jose Urquidy, 25 points from Dane Dunning and 54 points from Patrick Sandoval. On top of that, he mismanaged his hitters. He ignored 30 combined points on from Austin Hays and Anthony Santander, his Orioles duo.

If had managed his team better and did the research that Wait ‘Til Next Year did, there was a lineup he could have set this week that got him a win. Instead, he CLINCHED last place in the League of Leagues. Jack doesn’t deserve it based on the effort he did put in during the MLB season despite being the clear contender to get last place, but now has to go to a restaurant all day without his phone.

At this point, however, Jack might be content to do so. Winning could have meant slipping down to the 5th or even the 8th Strauss selection, and Jack NEEDS NBA help more than any other team. Now he gets to choose between Chet Holmgren and Paolo Banchero (or field some trade offers). It’s a tough beat, but it’s the best result for the Homies. No pain. No gain. And there is much gain to be had for Jack next season.

LAST PLACE GAME

SG Choppers (11) - 355 points
DTC Porkchop Express (12) - 300 points

Craig did it! He sucked so hard that it’s honestly impressive. He barely cleared 300 points on the week. He became the second most inept team in the history of the League of Leagues, following shortly after $traight Cash Homies’ NBA squad.

His hitting was disastrous, 30 points worse than the Choppers. He had a couple of okay starts and then some absolute stinkers. Pablo Lopez is his MVP/LVP with -2. Detmers. Cole Irvin. Zach Thompson. Keegan Thompson. All of those pitchers sucked massive cheeks.

For Dye at least this means he avoided last place, but now he’s on a dead-on tie with the Cooper Troopers and potentially The Pullies for 9th place. They are all tied for the rights to the 2nd overall Strauss selection. By winning this game, he might have just blown his chance on Chet or Paolo, but setting for Jabari or Ivey will be just fine.

5TH-PLACE GAME

Cooper Troopers (4) - 500 points
Ornery Otters (6) - 540 points

CONSOLATION PLAYOFFS

The Pullies (7) - 395 points
MN Moose Knuckles (10) - 335 points

The BamO’s (8) - 535 points
Las Cabras (9) - 390 points

The rest of this is just Strauss Seeding and missed opportunities. And speaking of those missed opportunities, The BamO’s (8) should be feeling sick about not making the playoffs now. They would have scored the high score of the week had they hit 10 SP plays. The Ornery Otters (6) came in second. Had Korey snuck past round one, he’d be in the championship game. He’d be in the exact same scenario as Wait ‘Til Next Year. He should have made more moves to bolster his first-round pitching staff, but he’s probably content to potentially stay in front of Las Cabras (9) for Strauss picks.

The MN Moose Knuckles basically completed their meaningless tank. Hall was almost always destined for the 6th and 7th Strauss Picks from the time that the DTC Porkchop Express become a shell of team. Hall will have to wait and see how it unfolds with both he and The BamO’s’ picks in the middle of the Strauss draft.

Elsewhere, the Cooper Troopers and The Pullies are just breathing a huge sigh of relief after not taking last place. Now The Pullies await whether or not they are tied with the Choppers and Cooper Troopers for the 2nd Strauss Pick or tied with DTC Porkchop Express for 4th.

There are still mysteries to unearth in the final week of the playoffs.

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Wait ‘Til Next Year (2) vs Sporty Strauss (5)

Wait ‘Til Next Year: Projected… 500 points
Sporty Strauss: Projected … 515 points

GAME LINE: Wait ‘Til Next Year +15 vs Sporty Strauss

Wait ‘Til Next Year Lineup:

C – Willson Contreras (3.2 ppg)
1B – CJ Cron (3ppg)
2B – Jean Segura (2.8ppg)
3B – Jose Miranda (2.6ppg)
SS – Jake Cronenworth (2.8ppg)

CF – Brandon Nimmo (2.8ppg)
CO – Juan Soto (3.4ppg)
CO – Kyle Schwarber (3.1ppg)
DH – Christian Yelich (2.9ppg)

UTIL – Jake Fraley (2.9ppg)
UTIL – Harold Ramirez (2.4ppg)
UTIL – Evan Longorio (2.4ppg)
UTIL – Alek Thomas (2ppg)

SP1 – Shane McClanahan (LAA) – 31 proj. points
SP2 – Gerrit Cole (@OAK) – 28 proj. points
SP3 – Jacob deGrom (@NYY) – 22.5 proj. points
SP4 – Kyle Wright (@PIT) – 28 proj. points
SP5 – Dakota Hudson (@CHC) – 16.5 proj. points
SP6 – Domingo German (@OAK) – 16 proj. points
SP7 – Marco Gonzales ©E) – 14.5 proj. points
SP8 – Eduardo Rodriguez (@TEX) – 14 proj. points
SP9 – Jeffrey Springs (LAA) – 18 proj. points
SP10 – Jeffrey Springs (@BOS) – 13 proj. points

RP1 – Devin Williams (5.5ppg)
RP2 – Pete Fairbanks (5.8ppg)
RP3 – Taylor Hearn (5ppg)
RP4 – Garrett Whitlock (5ppg)
RP5 – AJ Minter (4.8ppg)
RP6 – Andres Munoz (4.7ppg)

Sporty Strauss Lineup:

C – Alejandro Kirk (2.7ppg)
1B – Alex Bregman (3.3ppg)
2B – Jon Berti (2.9ppg)
3B – Manny Machado (3.5ppg)
SS – Amed Rosario (2.8ppg)

CF – Mike Trout (3.3ppg)
CO – Mookie Betts (4ppg)
CO – Charlie Blackmon (2.9ppg)
DH – Andrew McCutcheon (2.8ppg)

UTIL – Taylor Ward (2.8 ppg)
UTIL – Justin Turner (2.7ppg)
UTIL – JP Crawford (2.4ppg)
UTIL – Nick Castellanos (2.3ppg)
UTIL – Nolan Gorman (2.3ppg)

SP1 – Justin Verlander (MIN) – 28 proj. points
SP2 – Dylan Cease (@BAL) – 27 proj. points
SP3 – Adam Wainwright (@CHC) – 25.5 proj. points
SP4 – Brandon Woodruff (CHC) – 25 proj. points
SP4 – Edward Cabrera (@OAK) – 24 proj. points
SP5 – Tony Gonsolin (MIL) – 23 proj. points
SP6 – Dylan Cease (ARI) – 22 proj. points
SP7 – Chris Bassitt (COL) – 21.5 proj. points
SP8 – Josiah Gray ©N) – 21.5 proj. points
SP9 – Lance Lynn (@BAL) – 20 proj. points
SP10 – Nick Lodolo (@WAS) – 18.5 proj. points

RP1 – Ryan Helsley (7ppg)
RP2 – Kenley Jansen (6ppg)
RP3 – David Robertson (5.1ppg)
RP4 – Alexis Diaz (5ppg)
RP5 – Evan Phillips (4.7ppg)
RP6 – Craig Kimbrel (4ppg)

Notes: This is as even as you get for a championship matchup, and it will be fascinating. Wait ‘Til Next Year (2) has EVERYTHING to play for, because he could jump up to 2nd place with a WIN and a Win’s Up Doc LOSS. If both win, they tie for 2nd and share a $1500 cut. If Kyle loses, he takes 3rd place.

Both championship lineups are a little bit of a mess towards the back-end of the would-be-starters, but that’s because both sold out to find pitching last week. Sporty Strauss (5) definitely has a better lineup, and it should only be improved if Mike Trout can reclaim his pre-injury form and Bregman can stay hot, continuing his pursuit of a League of Leagues MVP trophy.

But the Wait ‘Til Next Year research factor is real. He’s finding players all over the board to supplement his core, and Sporty Strauss should do some research of his own to play some defense, though he might not be as motivated to do so without a LoL title on the line.

In the rotation, Sporty Strauss has a CLEAR edge with a really spectacular pitching projection this week. It’s far better than last week. His top-9 pitchers are all no-brainer plays with no bad matchups between them. He gets a two-start weeks from Cease as well as a possibly Verlander game against the Orioles if the Astros move him up a day. Wainwright and Cabrera could pitch twice as well. Pitching will give Sporty a solid baseline for the week.

On the other side, Wait ‘Til Next Year only has 4 bonafide starters, but they all have EXCELLENT matchups. So this isn’t going to be a runaway victory for Strauss. Kyle has already picked up an array of 5 or 6 other starters with great matchups to spot into his lineup in the championship. It’s all about matchups, and Kyle is being smart about his rotation. He never traded for any help, because he knew he could out-research folks to win an MLB Championship.

3RD-PLACE GAME

Win’s Up Doc (1) vs $traight Cash Homie (3)

Win’s Up Doc: Projected… 530 points
$traight Cash Homie: Projected … 480 points

GAME LINE: Win’s Up Doc -50 vs $traight Cash Homie

Win’s Up Doc Lineup:

C – William Contreras (2.7)
1B – Freddie Freeman (3.7ppg)
2B – Jose Altuve (3.4ppg)
3B – Nolan Arenado (3.7ppg)
SS – Xander Bogaerts (2.8ppg)

CF – Jarren Duran (2.3ppg)
CO – Kyle Tucker (3.4ppg)
CO – Luis Arraez (3ppg)
DH – Josh Bell (3ppg)

UTIL – Jose Abreu (3ppg)
UTIL – Wilmer Flores (2.8ppg)
UTIL – Hunter Renfroe (2.8ppg)
UTIL – Carlos Correa (2.6ppg)
UTIL – Jeremy Pena (2.4ppg)

SP1 – Yu Darvish (WAS) – 29 proj. points
SP2 – Tyler Anderson (MIA) – 26.5 proj. points
SP3 – Michael Wacha (@BAL) – 24.5 proj. points
SP4 – Max Scherzer (@ATL) – 23 proj. points
SP5 – Carlos Rodon (ARI) – 22.5 proj. points
SP6 – Jose Berrios (BAL [or @NYY]) – 21 proj. points
SP7 – Merrill Kelly (@SF) – 21 proj. points
SP8 – Merrill Kelly (STL) – 21 proj. points
SP9 – Alex Cobb (ARI) – 15 proj. points
SP10 – Kevin Gausman (@NYY) – 15 proj. points

RP1 – Edwin Diaz (6.5ppg)
RP2 – Emmanuel Clase (5.4ppg)
RP3 – Paul Sewald (4.8ppg)
RP4 – Rafael Montero (4.5ppg)
RP5 – Chris Martin (3.6ppg)
RP6 – ???

$traight Cash Homie Lineup:

C – Keibert Ruiz (2.1ppg)
1B – Vladimir Guerrero (3.3ppg)
2B – Brendan Rodgers (2.8ppg)
3B – Austin Riley (3.4ppg)
SS – Andres Gimenez (2.9ppg)

CF – Aaron Judge (4.5ppg)
CO – Yordan Alvarez (3.9ppg)
CO – Anthony Santander (2.9ppg)
DH – Christian Walker (2.9ppg)

UTIL – Christopher Morel (2.6ppg)
UTIL – Austin Hays (2.6ppg)
UTIL – Gleyber Torres (2.4ppg)
UTIL – Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (2.4ppg)
UTIL – Oneil Cruz (2.1ppg)

SP1 – Zac Gallen (@KC) – 27 proj. points
SP2 – Jose Urquidy (BAL) – 25 proj. points
SP3 – Sean Manaea (@KC) – 25 proj. points
SP4 – Luis Castillo (CLE) – 22.5 proj. points
SP5 – Nick Pivetta (TB) – 17.5 proj. points
SP6 – Martin Perez (@COL) – 17 proj. points
SP7 – Patrick Sandoval (@TB) – 16.5 proj. points
SP8 – Andrew Heaney (MIL) – 16 proj. points
SP9 – Frankie Montas (NYM) – 11 proj. points
SP10 – Dane Dunning (@COL) – 9.5 proj. points

RP1 – Daniel Bard (5.3ppg)
RP2 – Wil Crowe (4.4ppg)
RP3 – Anthony Bass (4.2ppg)
RP4 – Camilo Doval (4.2ppg)
RP5 – Ian Kennedy (3.4ppg)
RP6 – Aroldis Chapman (2.9ppg)

Notes: Similar to the first-place game, one team has nothing to play for and the other is fighting for money. $traight Cash Homie is the former. He clinched last place in the League of Leagues, but he can still get the $100 3rd place prize this week… all of which would probably pay for his drink bill at whichever restaurant Sporty Strauss picks for the last-place punishment.

In this matchup itself, Win’s Up Doc should be favored by a country mile. He’s still the best team in the league, and his pitching matchups are far better than Jack’s. Last week was a missed opportunity for $traight Cash Homie – his best pitching slate all season was lost. Now, after a plethora of two-start SPs in Round 2, all of his pitchers only play once and he won’t be able to pick and choose.

Jack is probably a bit depressed after last week’s game and won’t be as motivated to set his lineup as Oat is, so all-in-all, one should expect Win’s Up Doc to rebound in a big way after his own tough loss and his relinquishing of the League of Leagues to his bitter rival.

CONSOLATION CHAMPIONSHIP

The Pullies (7) vs The BamO’s (8)

The Pullies: Projected … 450 points
The BamO’s: Projected… 465 points

GAME LINE: The Pullies +15 against The BamO’s

Notes: After The BamO’s crushed last week, they stand better odds of beating The Pullies than not. Lineups aren’t listed for these games, but Sam and Ez have SMASH pitching matchups. Both these teams would probably prefer to lose this matchup, but The Pullies would prefer to lose more than The BamO’s.

With a LOSS, Pete and Eric can TIE the Choppers and the Cooper Troopers for 9th place in the League of Leagues, which means that the 2nd overall Strauss Pick would be up to drawing cards. The Pullies could move up a little bit in the Strauss Draft and take Paolo/Chet if they wanted to or use that asset to trade down in the Strauss Draft for more assets in any sports.

Now that The Pullies don’t have to worry about last, it’s time to actually commit to a tank. They are still required to set their best lineup, but this is what they should have done all along. It’s a perfect landing spot for The Pullies after a disappointing season.

9th-Place Game

Las Cabras (9) vs MN Moose Knuckles (10)

Las Cabras: Projected… 445 points
MN Moose Knuckles: Projected… 480 points

GAME LINE: Las Cabras +35 against MN Moose Knuckles

Notes: These teams have tried their darndest to suck in the playoffs, and they finally suck-ceded last week. There’s not much at stake for the MN Moose Knuckles now who are locked in at 6th or 7th place with The BamO’s whose first round picks Hall owns. Las Cabras are still “trying to” fend off the Ornery Otters for 4th place in the League of Leagues and would do so with a win. But those quotation marks are there because Las Cabras probably would just prefer to lose and try to get a higher Strauss selection in the tiebreaking procedures.

$500 is meaningless in the League of Leagues, but an elite asset in the Strauss Draft could mean everything next season.

PROJECTED STRAUSS DRAFT

1. $traight Cash Homie (clinched)

2. (tie for 2nd) SG Choppers

3. (tie for 2nd) Cooper Troopers

4. (tie for 2nd) The Pullies

5. DTC Porkchop Express

6. MN Moose Knuckles

7. MN Moose Knuckles (from the BamO’s)

8. (tie for 8th) Las Cabras

9. (tie for 8th) Ornery Otters

10. Wait ‘Til Next Year

11. Win’s Up Doc

12. Sporty Strauss (clinched)

MLB Round 2 Preview

Playoff Matchups

2nd Round

Win’s Up Doc (1) vs Sporty Strauss (5)
Wait ‘Til Next Year (2) vs $traight Cash Homie (3)

5th Place Game

Cooper Troopers (4) vs Ornery Otters (6)

Consolation Playoffs

The Pullies (7th) vs MN Moose Knuckles (10th)
The BamO’s (8th) vs Las Cabras (9th)

Last-Place Game

Shepherd Goods Choppers (11th) vs DTC Porkchop Express (12th)

Season-Long Standings (Min/Max)

• Sporty Strauss

  • Minimum of 31 points

  • Maximum of 37 points

• Win’s Up Doc

  • Minimum of 27 points

  • Maximum of 33 points

• Wait ‘Til Next Year

  • Minimum of 22 points

  • Maximum of 28 points

• Las Cabras

  • Minimum of 21 points

  • Maximum of 24 points

• Ornery Otters

  • Minimum of 20 points

  • Maximum of 21 points

• MN Moose Knuckles

  • Minimum of 17 points

  • Maximum of 20 points

• The BamO’s

  • Minimum of 16 points

  • Maximum of 19 points

• DTC Porkchop Express

  • Minimum of 16 points

  • Maximum of 18 points

• Cooper Troopers

  • Minimum of 15 points

  • Maximum of 16 points

• $traight Cash Homie

  • Minimum of 13 points

  • Maximum of 19 points

• The Pullies

  • Minimum of 13 points

  • Maximum of 16 points

• SG Choppers

  • Minimum of 13 points

  • Maximum of 15 point

ROUND 1 RECAP

Las Cabras (9th) - 455 points
DTC Porkchop Express (12th) - 370 points

MN Moose Knuckles (10th) - 485 points
Shepherd Goods Choppers (11th) - 395 points

Notes: Tanking works!! That’s the big takeaway here in this first round of the playoffs. Las Cabras (9) and the MN Moose Knuckles (10) played hardball in trades, not willing to ship their players off unless they got prime value. The SG Choppers (11), on the other hand, were the first team to sell, and they were rewarded in the tanking race. Not only did they get the best returns for their MLB players, but they sucked enough early on to build a team of absolute incompetence. It takes some time to experiment with tanking, and the Choppers and DTC Porkchop Express (12) both got a head start over the MN Moose Knuckles and Las Cabras this season.

We will see if it ends up with the Choppers taking last place (and the first overall draft selection) or if DTC Porkchop Express actually moves up into the top-5 Strauss selections. Either way, committing to the tank early in these seasons paid off.

DTC and the Choppers would surely like to send big shout-outs to their very best tankers on their rosters. For DTC Porkchop Express, Seth Brown, Bobby Witt Jr., Raimel Tapia, Jonathan India, Austin Gomber, Nabil Crismatt, and PARTICULARLY Zach Thompson are his most valuable least valuable player. For the Choppers, Sean Murphy, Joe Ryan, Jorge Lopez and Tanner Scott contributed to his L with Joe Ryan probably being the primary reason he lost.

On the other side of the tanking coin, someone has to win. The Moose Knuckles got too much out of Shane Bieber (70 points!) and both Michael Harris and Vinnie Pasquantino, each of whom were in the 30s on the week, far higher than anything on the opposing Choppers side. Las Cabras can thank their win to Steven Kwan (30 points) and their starting pitchers, many of whom had close to over over 30 points on the week. Too bad those teams didn’t sell more of those players for next-to nothing or else they’d have had a chance to outpace the 11th or 12th seeds.

$traight Cash Homie (3) - 480 points
Ornery Otters (6) - 410 points

On the flipside, $traight Cash Homie (3) had every reason to tank for the #1 overall Strauss pick, but he’s now gunning for the MLB Championship. With a win this week, he effectively ends the possibility of getting last place, BUT if he loses and both the Choppers and the Pullies win, he’d STILL clinch last place, absurdly enough.

Led by guys like Aaron Judge (30 points this week), $traight Cash Homie just had too good of a draft, even with a bounty of busts. He has several key acquisitions balling for him too, and its a well-built roster that should compete next year as well.

But the Ornery Otters (6), who lost in this matchup, are in complete no-man’s land. The best they could expect to happen is to tie for 4th place with Las Cabras and get a measly $250, but even then they’d need help. Likely, they’ll finish as the 5th place team, which is the worst place to be in the League of Leagues – the worst Strauss Pick for a team that didn’t place at the end of the season.

Sporty Strauss (5) - 550 points
Cooper Troopers (4) - 445 points

But we’re burying the lede here! After all of this… this year long endeavor into fantasy sports, we have the biggest matchup to date. A matchup that COULD decide who wins the League of Leagues. A matchup of legend. A matchup of titans. A matchup of bitter rivals.

We are FINALLY getting the Sporty Strauss (5) vs Win’s Up Doc (1) showdown.

Scenarios are outlined below, but Strauss should be thanking his lucky ‘Straurss’ for Alex Bregman (41 points), Manny Machado (39 points), Chris Bassit (58 points) and an assortment of starters who didn’t suck. This team is still very good, and he absolutely put a pounding on Mr. Wedding Man.

ROUND 2

Win’s Up Doc (1) vs Sporty Strauss (5)

Win’s Up Doc: Projected… 530 points
Sporty Strauss: Projected … 500 points

GAME LINE: Win’s Up Doc -30 vs Sporty Strauss

Win’s Up Doc Lineup:

C – William Contreras (2.8ppg; 5 plays) – 14 proj. points
1B – Freddie Freeman (3.8ppg; 7 plays) – 26.6 proj. points
2B – Jose Altuve (3.4ppg; 7 plays) – 23.8 proj. points
3B – Nolan Arenado (3.6ppg; 6 plays) – 21.6 proj. points
SS – Xander Bogaerts (2.9ppg; 6 plays) – 17.4 proj. points

CF – Jarren Duran (2.3ppg; 0 plays)
CO – Kyle Tucker (3.2ppg; 7 plays) – 22.4 proj. points
CO – Luis Arraez (2.9ppg; 6 plays) – 17.4 proj. points
DH – Josh Bell (3ppg; 7 plays) – 21 proj. points

UTIL – Jose Abreu (3ppg; 7 plays) – 21 proj. points
UTIL – Wilmer Flores (2.8ppg; 7 plays) – 19.6 proj. points
UTIL – Hunter Renfroe (2.8ppg; 7 plays) – 19.6 proj. points
UTIL – Carlos Correa (2.7ppg; 6 plays) – 16.2 proj. points
UTIL – Jeremy Pena (2.4ppg; 4 plays) – 9.6 proj. points

SP1 – Yu Darvish (WAS) – 29 proj. points
SP2 – Tyler Anderson (MIA) – 26.5 proj. points
SP3 – Michael Wacha (@BAL) – 24.5 proj. points
SP4 – Max Scherzer (@ATL) – 23 proj. points
SP5 – Carlos Rodon (ARI) – 22.5 proj. points
SP6 – Jose Berrios (BAL [or @NYY]) – 21 proj. points
SP7 – Merrill Kelly (@SF) – 21 proj. points
SP8 – Merrill Kelly (STL) – 21 proj. points
SP9 – Alex Cobb (ARI) – 15 proj. points
SP10 – Kevin Gausman (@NYY) – 15 proj. points

RP1 – Edwin Diaz (6.6ppg x2) – 13.2 proj. points
RP2 – Emmanuel Clase (5.2ppg x2) – 10.4 proj. points
RP3 – Seranthony Dominguez (5.1ppg x2) – 10.2 proj. points
RP4 – Rafael Montero (5ppg x2) – 10 proj. points
RP5 – Paul Sewald (4.8ppg x2) – 9.6 proj. points
RP6 – Raisel Iglesias (4ppg x2) – 8 proj. points

Sporty Strauss Lineup:

C – Alejandro Kirk (2.7ppg; 5 games) – 13.5 proj. points
1B – Joey Votto (2.3ppg; 6 games) – 13.8 proj. points
2B – Jon Berti (3ppg; 6 games) – 18 proj. points
3B – Manny Machado (3.5ppg; 6 games) – 21 proj. points
SS – Amed Rosario (2.8ppg; 7 games) – 19.6 proj. points

CF – Mookie Betts (4ppg; 7 games) – 28 proj. points
CO – Charlie Blackmon (2.9ppg; 6 games) – 17.4 proj. points
CO – Taylor Ward (2.9 ppg; 6 games) – 17.4 proj. points
DH – Alex Bregman (3ppg; 7 games) – 21 proj. points

UTIL – Andrew McCutcheon (2.8ppg; 7 games) – 19.6 proj. points
UTIL – Justin Turner (2.7ppg; 6 games) – 16.2 proj. points
UTIL – Isaac Paredes (2.6ppg; 7 games) – 18.2 proj. points
UTIL – JP Crawford (2.4ppg; 4 games) – 9.6 proj. points
UTIL – Nick Castellanos (2.3ppg; 0 games)

SP1 – Justin Verlander (@CHW) – 28 proj. points
SP2 – Dylan Cease (@CLE) – 22.5 proj. points
SP3 – Tony Gonsolin (@MIL) – 22 proj. points
SP4 – Josiah Gray (CHC) – 21.5 proj. points
SP5 – Chris Bassitt (@PHI) – 21.5 proj. points
SP6 – Johnny Cueto (@CLE) – 21 proj. points
SP7 – Adam Wainwright (@ARI) – 20 proj. points
SP8 – Dylan Cease (HOU) – 17.5 proj. points
SP9 – Brandon Woodruff (LAD) – 15.5 proj. points
SP10 – Edward Cabrera (SD) – 15 proj. points

RP1 – Ryan Helsley (7ppg x2) – 14 proj. points
RP2 – Kenley Jansen (6ppg x2) – 12 proj. points
RP3 – David Robertson (5.1ppg x2) – 10.2 proj. points
RP4 – Evan Phillips (4.7ppg x2) – 9.4 proj. points
RP5 – Craig Kimbrel (4.4ppg x2) – 8.8 proj. points
RP6 – Will Smith (3ppg x2) – 6 proj. points

Notes: The scenarios are very simple here: if Sporty Strauss (5) WINS this matchup, he clinches victory in the inaugural season of the League of Leagues. Then, if Win’s Up Doc (1) WINS all of MLB, he wins the League of Leagues. There’s no middle ground here. This matchup is huge for each team, but it is NOT over if Win’s Up Doc takes the victory. We’ll still have one more showdown after this.

For the matchup itself, the projection is still very close despite all of Sporty Strauss’ injuries. Win’s Up Doc clearly has the better lineup, but that margin isn’t significant, especially if Machado and Bregman keep up their hot streaks. The main difference between the squads is the SP matchups. Sporty Strauss simply does NOT have any great starters with plus matchups, and he has some tough decisions on his hand towards the bottom of his SP list for the week. Luckily, he does have choices, because he built his team with a bounty of SP depth for this particular scenario.

Win’s Up Doc has some great matchups, but not quite as much depth. He might be forced into some unadvantageous situations, especially if Berrios draws the Yankees instead of the Orioles. The difference in playing those lineups can’t be understated, so the Blue Jays’ choice of starters in those games could make all the difference in this massive LoL showdown.

No matter what, get the popcorn out. Every night is going to be dynamite between these two teams. Every start matters. Every relief appearance matters. This is what it’s all about, so congratulations for all of us on the entertainment.

Wait ‘Til Next Year (2) vs $traight Cash Homie (3)

Wait ‘Til Next Year: Projected… 485 points
$traight Cash Homie: Projected … 535 points

GAME LINE: Wait ‘Til Next Year +50 vs $traight Cash Homie

Wait ‘Til Next Year Lineup:

C – Willson Contreras (3ppg; 5 plays) – 15 proj. points
1B – CJ Cron (3.1ppg; 6 plays) – 18.6 proj. points
2B – Jean Segura (2.8ppg; 7 plays) – 19.6 proj. points
3B – Jose Miranda (2.5ppg; 6 plays) – 15 proj. points
SS – Jake Cronenworth (2.8ppg; 7 plays) – 19.6 proj. points

CF – Brandon Nimmo (2.8ppg; 7 plays) – 19.6 proj. points
CO – Juan Soto (3.5ppg; 7 plays) – 24.5 proj. points
CO – Kyle Schwarber (3.1ppg; 7 plays) – 21.7 proj. points
DH – Christian Yelich (3ppg; 7 plays) – 21 proj. points

UTIL – Darick Hall (3ppg; 7 plays) – 21 proj. points
UTIL – Nico Hoerner (2.5ppg; 7 plays) – 17.5 proj. points
UTIL – Mike Yastrzemski (2.3ppg; 7 plays) – 16.1 proj. points
UTIL – Marcell Ozuna (2.2ppg; 0 plays)
UTIL – Alek Thomas (2.2ppg; 0 plays)

SP1 – Shane McClanahan (KC) – 31 proj. points
SP2 – Gerrit Cole (TB) – 24 proj. points
SP3 – Jacob deGrom (@ATL) – 23.5 proj. points
SP4 – Marco Gonzales (@OAK) – 20 proj. points
SP5 – Gerrit Cole (TOR) – 19 proj. points
SP6 – Kyle Wright (NYM) – 18 proj. points
SP7 – Kyle Wright (HOU) – 18 proj. points
SP8 – Adrian Sampson (@BAL) – 16.5 proj. points
SP9 – Aaron Ashby (@CHC) – 15.5 proj. points
SP10 – Yusei Kikuchi (SEA) – 15 proj. points

RP1 – Devin Williams (5.5ppg x2) – 11 proj. points
RP2 – Pete Fairbanks (5.1ppg x2) – 10.2 proj. points
RP3 – Ryan Yarbrough (5ppg x2) – 10 proj. points
RP4 – AJ Minter (4.7ppg x2) – 9.4 proj. points
RP5 – Andres Munoz (4.4ppg x2) – 8.8 proj. points
RP6 – Ryne Stanek (3.6ppg x2) – 7.2 proj. points

$traight Cash Homie Lineup:

C – Keibert Ruiz (2.1ppg; 5 plays) – 10.5 proj. jpoints
1B – Vladimir Guerrero (3.3ppg; 7 plays) – 23.1 proj. points
2B – Brendan Rodgers (2.8ppg; 6 plays) – 16.8 proj. points
3B – Austin Riley (3.5ppg; 7 plays) – 24.5 proj. points
SS – Andres Gimenez (2.6ppg; 7 plays) – 18.2 proj. points

CF – Aaron Judge (4.6ppg; 7 plays) – 32.2 proj points
CO – Yordan Alvarez (4.1ppg; 7 plays) – 28.7 proj points
CO – Anthony Santander (2.9ppg; 7 plays) – 20.3 proj points
DH – Christian Walker (2.8ppg; 7 plays) – 19.6 proj points

UTIL – Christopher Morel (2.8pp; 6 plays) – 16.8 proj proj points
UTIL – Austin Hays (2.7ppg; 7 plays) – 18.9 proj points
UTIL – Oneil Cruz (2.7ppg; 6 plays) – 16.2 proj points
UTIL – Gleyber Torres (2.6ppg; 1 plays) – 2.6 proj points
UTIL – Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (2.5ppg; 0 plays) – 0 points

SP1 – Luis Castillo (@LAA) – 28 proj. points
SP1 – Luis Castillo (@OAK) – 28 proj. points
SP2 – Sean Manaea (@MIA) – 23 proj. points
SP3 – Sean Manaea (WAS) – 23 proj. points
SP4 – Martin Perez (@MIN) – 22 proj. points
SP5 – Nick Pivetta (@PIT) – 21.5 proj. points
SP6 – Nick Pivetta (@BAL) – 21.5 proj. points
SP7 – Zac Gallen (@SF) – 20 proj. points
SP8 – Jose Urquidy (@CHW) – 19 proj. points
SP9 – Dane Dunning (OAK) – 19 proj. points
SP10 – Frankie Montas (TOR) – 16 proj. points

RP1 – Daniel Bard (5.4ppg x2) – 10.8 proj. points
RP2 – Wil Crowe (4.3ppg x2) – 8.6 proj. points
RP3 – Anthony Bass (4.1ppg x2) – 8.2 proj. points
RP4 – Camilo Doval (3.9ppg x2) – 7.8 proj. points
RP5 – Ian Kennedy (3.6ppg x2) – 7.2 proj. points
RP6 – Aroldis Chapman (2.8ppg x2) – 5.6 proj. points

Notes: Don’t ignore the stakes in this game either. $traight Cash Homie (3) clinches NOT getting last place with a win in this game, and he’s got the projection to boot. In general, this matchup will be a fascinating referendum on two different approaches, Wait ‘Til Next Year (2) elected not to trade ANY draft capital away for MLB assets this year, even SPs, instead trusting his MLB knowledge to find spot starts this week with favorable matchups.

$traight Cash Homie, on the other hand, traded for the best MLB asset to change hands this season – Luis Castillo who has TWO (!!!) plus matchups this week. That trade could singlehandedly win Jack this fascinating showdown, and the rest of his starting pitching is ROCK SOLID. With Frankie Montas projected as his SP10, that is by far the best SP10 on the week and it’s why $traight Cash Homie has such a high projection – favored to win by 50 points.

But Wait ‘Til Next Year won’t go quietly. In season-long, Kyle still has a range of outcomes from 2nd place to 4th place. With a win AND a Win’s Up Doc loss, Wait ‘Til Next Year could procure 2nd place (or a 2nd place tie) by winning all of MLB in the championship game. If he loses this week, now he’d need to fend off Las Cabras for 3rd. There’s a lot of $$ on the line for Kyle right now, so expect him to use his bag of tricks and compete hard with Jack in this pivotal League of Leagues showdown.

This is going to be fun.

5TH-PLACE GAME

Cooper Troopers (4) vs Ornery Otters (6)

Cooper Troopers: Projected… 435 points
Sporty Strauss: Projected … 475 points

GAME LINE: Cooper Trooper +40 against Ornery Otters

Notes: What a fitting 5th-place game! Both of these teams probably deserved to make the playoffs (though people will still quibble with the Cooper Troopers’ points output), but neither were as good as the other 4 teams, so these landing spots are spot on.

Now, both squads face off in a game where one team has more on the line than the other. The Cooper Troopers (4) are still VERY MUCH ALIVE for last place if they lose this game and the SG Choppers win! They’d both be tied with 15 points and would await what would happen to The Pullies and $traight Cash Homie. If both of those teams win this week, a joint tie for last place would ensue.

For the Otters, there’s not much at stake other than potentially tying Las Cabras for 4th place and getting a $250 payout… and that is what the projections foretell here!

CONSOLATION TOURNAMENT

The Pullies (7) vs MN Moose Knuckles (10)

The Pullies: Projected … 460 points
MN Moose Knuckles: Projected… 500 points

GAME LINE: The Pullies +40 over MN Moose Knuckles

Notes: The MN Moose Knuckles (10) are somehow favored to win this game despite a 2-start week from Shohei Ohtani. Slightly unfortunately, that forces The Pullies (7) to bench Ohtani twice from their lineup, which really shows the great weakness of this team. The Pullies seemed to put very little effort into improving their squad this season whether by trade or on the free agent wire, and it really shows right now.

And they have much to play for! A loss in this game, based on all of the other projections out there could CLINCH last place for The Pullies. That gives the MN Moose Knuckles something to play for. Making The Pullies take last place would be a sweet treat to an otherwise forgettable Moose Knuckles season.

So make no mistake about it… based on this week’s projections, The Pullies are projected to take last place with either 13 or 14 points season-long.

The MN Moose Knuckles would probably still like to lose this game, but they won’t be moving around the standings all that much with a win. All bets are off in this strangely fun Consolation Battle.

The BamO’s (8) vs Las Cabras (9)

The BamO’s: Projected… 495 points
Las Cabras: Projected… 460 points

GAME LINE: The BamO’s -35 over Las Cabras

Notes: Another strangely intriguing matchup! Las Cabras are now caught in a little bit of no-man’s land as tankers with a minimum points total the same as the Ornery Otters. This means that Las Cabras have OFFICIALLY cashed out this season. They’ll go no lower than a tie for 4th place. This means that they should turn their sights towards 3rd place, which they could CLINCH a tie of with a WIN this week and a Wait ‘Til Next Year LOSS. Then they’d be playing to take 3rd place next week.

The BamO’s don’t have anything to play for, but they also don’t have their own draft 1st round picks. So they’ll try to make their season seem a little bit better by winning a couple games, depriving Hall of a stellar asset and proving that their year wasn’t as bad as it seems.

LAST-PLACE GAME

Shepherd Goods Choppers (11) vs DTC Porkchop Express (12)

Shepherd Goods Choppers: Projected… 450 points
DTC Porkchop Express: Projected… 420 points

GAME LINE: SG Choppers -30 over DTC Porkchop Express

SG Choppers Lineup:

C – Adley Rutschman (2.8ppg)
1B – Andrew Vaughn (2.9ppg)
2B – Ramon Urias (2.3ppg)
3B – Yandy Diaz (2.6ppg)
SS – Bo Bichette (2.7ppg)

CF – Trent Grisham (2.1ppg)
CO – Teoscar Hernandez (2.9ppg)
CO – Eloy Jimenez (2.3ppg)
DH – Sean Murphy (2.4ppg)

UTIL – Kyle Farmer (2.4ppg)
UTIL – Luis Gonzalez (2.3ppg)
UTIL – Yuli Gurriel (2.3ppg)
UTIL – Jesus Aguilar (2.1ppg)
UTIL – Rougned Odor (1.9ppg)

SP1 – Lance McCullers Jr. (@ATL) – 24 proj. points
SP2 – Sandy Alcantara (SD) – 23 proj. points
SP3 – Sandy Alcantara (@LAD) – 23 proj. points
SP4 – Joe Ryan (KC) – 22 proj. points
SP5 – Justin Steele (@WSH) – 18.5 proj. points
SP6 – Mitch Keller (CIN) – 18 proj. points
SP7 – Joe Ryan (TEX) – 17 proj. points
SP8 – Spenser Watkins (CHC) – 17 proj. points
SP9 – Jordan Lyles (BOS) – 15 proj. points
SP10 – Justin Steele (MIL) – 13.5 proj. points

RP1 – Eli Morgan (5.1ppg)
RP2 – Mitch White (5ppg)
RP3 – Jorge Lopez (4.6ppg)
RP4 – Cionel Perez (4.4ppg)
RP5 – Colin Poche (4.3ppg)
RP6 – Luis Garcia (4ppg)

DTC Porkchop Express Lineup:

C – Jose Trevino (2ppg)
1B – Matt Olson (3.1ppg)
2B – Jorge Polanco (2.8ppg)
3B – Gio Urshela (2.4ppg)
SS – Bobby Witt Jr. (3ppg)

CF – George Springer (3.3ppg)
CO – Seth Brown (2.3ppg)
CO – Aledmys Dyaz (2.3ppg)
DH – Thairo Estrada (2.8ppg)

UTIL – Daniel Vogelbach (2.4ppg)
UTIL – Jonathan India (2.3ppg)
UTIL – David Peralta (2.2ppg)
UTIL – Emmanuel Rivera (2.2ppg)
UTIL – Owen Miller (2.1ppg)

SP1 – Julio Urias (@MIL) – 22 proj. points
SP2 – Julio Urias (MIA) – 27 proj. points
SP3 – Cole Irvin (SEA) – 18 proj. points
SP4 – Reid Detmers (@DET) – 22 proj. points
SP5 – Jose Quintana (COL) – 15.5 proj. points
SP6 – Jose Quintana (@ARI) – 15.5 proj. points
SP7 – Zach Thompson (CIN) – 13 proj. points
SP8 – Pablo Lopez (SD) – 12.5 proj. points
SP9 – JT Brubaker (BOS) – 12.5 proj. points
SP10 – Keegan Thompson (MIL) – 12 proj. points

RP1 – Brooks Raley (4.6ppg)
RP2 – Zach Jackson (4.2ppg)
RP3 – Nabil Crismatt (4ppg)
RP4 – Dillon Tate (3.9ppg)
RP5 – Michael Fulmer (3.9ppg)
RP6 – Joe Mantiply (3.6ppg)

Notes: It all comes down to this. Two teams that have been circling each other in the toilet all season finally take the plunge into the Toilet Bowl game. Both of these teams are AWFUL, but that is mostly by design. DTC Porkchop Express began tanking before the MLB season began, offloading vet NBA talent to build for the future. The SG Choppers both botched their MLB Draft and a plethora of young talent. As a result, he sucked even though he had dozens of stellar pickups on the waivers throughout the year.

Now, these squads finally face each other with quite a bit at stake. With a LOSS, the SG Choppers clinch AT LEAST a tie of last place and would have to do the punishment. With a WIN, the DTC Porkchop Express will have a season-long output of 18 points which could easily put him in the top half of the league when it’s all said and done – that’s no-man’s land.

Craig wants desperately to improve his Strauss Pick, perhaps to get a top-4 or even potentially even top-2 NBA bad boy. But it hasn’t been easy. The Choppers have been just as bad every step of the way once he sold off.

In terms of the matchup itself, DTC Porkchop Express definitely should be favored to LOSE, but the current projection margin seems a bit wide. In a stroke of strange intrigue, BOTH of these teams aces have 2-matchup weeks. But for Dye, Sandy Alcantara has two very bad matchups while DTC’s Julio Urias has two very plus matchups. That could make the difference in this matchup, bringing things far more even.

DTC Porkchop Express probably has a better lineup too, especially if George Springer comes back which my projections are taking into account. But where Craig separates from the Choppers is rotation depth. Craig has truly AWFUL starters and even his okay ones have bad matchups. The Choppers largely have favorable pitching matchups outside of Hurricane Sandy.

As a result, it seems more likely than not that Dye will win this game and perhaps force a massive standings pileup towards the bottom of the league where The Pullies or Cooper Troopers could tie him for last place.

MLB Round 1 Preview

Final Regular Season Power Rankings

      Tier 1
1- Win’s Up Doc (14-3) [-]

       Tier 2
2- Sporty Strauss (10-7) [-]
3- Wait ‘ Til Next Year (11-6) [-]
4- $traight Cash Homie (10-7) [-]
5- Cooper Troopers (11-6) [-]
6- Ornery Otters (9-8) [-]

        Tier 3
7- The Pullies (10-7) [-]
8- The BamO’s (7-10) [-]
9- Minnesota Moose Knuckles (6-11) [+1]
10- Las Cabras (7-10) [-1]
11- Shepherd Goods Choppers (5-12) [+1]
12- DTC Porkchop Express (3-14) [-1]

Playoff Matchups

BYES – Win’s Up Doc (1st) and Wait ‘Til Next Year (2nd)

$traight Cash Homie (3rd) -55 vs Ornery Otters (6th)
Cooper Troopers (4th) +40 vs Sporty Strauss (5th)

CONSOLATION BYES – The Pullies (7th) and The BamO’s (8th)

Las Cabras (9th) -15 vs DTC Porkchop Express (12th)
MN Moose Knuckles (10th) -30 vs Shepherd Goods Choppers (11th)

What a wild ride! You have all successfully made it through three (!!!) League of Leagues regular seasons. It’s an accomplishment everybody should oat themselves on the back for, but that oat should have varying degrees of firmness depending on how teams have done throughout the year (particularly for Oat himself).

And while all teams are patting themselves on the back, a few teams are breathing HUGE sighs of relief as they enter the MLB playoffs. Chief amongst them is Wait ‘Til Next Year (3) who was on the knife’s edge of, indeed, waiting until next year to get a League of Leagues BYE in the playoffs. At the end of the NBA season, Kyle’s BYE slipped from his grasp, and history was looking to repeat itself in MLB when Wait ‘Til Next Year needed to beat Las Cabras (easy) OR for the Cooper Troopers (5) to lose to the MN Moose Knuckles this past week, which should have been a layup. But Kyle’s team hit a hard rut in goat grass early in the week before Las Cabras’ team absolutely fell apart over the weekend.

As a result, Wait ‘Til Next Year obtains the 2-seed, but they aren’t a particularly inspiring 2-seed. If Kyle had lost last, he’d have been 50-50 towards making ANY money at all this season in the League of Leagues because Las Cabras would have secured a Consolation BYE in that case. Now, with a minimum of 9 MLB points in his back pocket, Wait ‘Til Next Year is hoping for 2nd place while he has 3rd or 4th all but locked up.

But in general, what happened this last week should be a lesson to ALL League of Leagues teams. This week saw 3 or 4 teams falter in dramatic ways, each of whom elected NOT to make win-now trades despite having at least something to play for. Wait ‘Til Next Year was one, but The Pullies (7) and Las Cabras (10) were two others. Those pitiful Pullies have overtaken Las Cabras as the ‘worst team to trade with’ in the League of Leagues, and it showed at the end of the season here. When it was all said and done, they made ZERO (!!!) baseball trades all season, hoping to just ride it out. But that only caught them in no-man’s land… where they simply just conjured a Consolation BYE. With a few moves, they could have won one more game, won the division, claimed the Fhima’s gift card and got the honor of playing the Ornery Otters’ terrible lineup pitching lineup this week. In fact, based on the matchups in the playoffs, they could have placed top-4 with a run into the Championship game.

Instead, they get nothing and are now playing to avoid last place. Still, this is probably a better long-term situation for The Pullies, because they need NFL help more than any other team and a higher Strauss pick gives them so much flexibility and trade power coming into and out of the Strauss Draft. The max they can score now is 16, which will almost undoubtably land them in the top-4 Strauss picks and probably NFL1.

Las Cabras’ situation is even worse. As mentioned before, if they had beaten Wait ‘Til Next Year this week and locked up a Consolation BYE whilst knocking Kyle to the opening round of the playoffs, they could have gotten 3rd place EASILY, especially if they were a win-now team versus all of these tanking Consolation teams. Trading players for measly little picks or Anthony Rendon-type keepers likely cost Las Cabras $500 total. They should have had 3rd place almost wrapped up by now.

And so, as a result of these decisions from teams to not chase a nice bit of money, the playoff field is set. The chess pieces are in their final squares, ready for a last dance of epic proportions in the League of Leagues’ first year. The main item of delightful anticipation to watch is whether Win’s Up Doc (1) and Sporty Strauss (2) play each other in Round 2. This would require wins from both Sporty Strauss (obviously) over the Cooper Troopers (5) and $traight Cash Homie (4) over the Ornery Otters (6).

Right now, 5 teams are competing for the top-4 cash outs in the league of Leagues:

• Win’s Up Doc (1)

  • 18 CURRENT points

  • MAX of 33 points

  • MIN of 27 points

• Sporty Strauss (2)

  • 22 CURRENT points

  • MAX of 37 points

  • MIN of 29 points

• Wait ‘Til Next Year (3)

  • 13 CURRENT points

  • MAX of 28 points

  • MIN of 22 points

• Ornery Otters (6)

  • 13 CURRENT points

  • MAX of 28 points

  • MIN of 20 points

• Las Cabras (10)

  • 18 CURRENT points

  • MAX of 24 points

  • MIN of 18 points

With the two lowest season-long seeds in the MLB Playoffs – the Cooper Troopers and $traight Cash Homie – the payouts will undoubtably come from four of these five teams, likely with the last of these two battling it out for 4th and a $500 payout.

Beyond that, there’s a lot of Strauss Draft implications towards end of season standings, so every game is important in some way shape or form. The absolutely pitiful Consolation teams will put on a show of horrific play that might never been seen again in the League of Leagues. The last 4 teams are rougher than the boys on their way back from Cooper’s bachelor party.

ROUND 1

$traight Cash Homie (3) vs Ornery Otters (6)

$traight Cash Homie: Projected… 505 points
Ornery Otters: Projected … 450 points

GAME LINE: $traight Cash Homie -55 vs Ornery Otters

$traight Cash Homie Lineup:

C – Keibert Ruiz (2.1ppg; 5 plays) – 10.5 proj. jpoints
1B – Vladimir Guerrero (3.3ppg; 6 plays) – 19.8 proj points
2B – Brendan Rodgers (2.8ppg; 6 plays) – 16.8 proj points
3B – Austin Riley (3.5ppg; 5 plays) – 17.5 proj points
SS – Andres Gimenez (2.6ppg; 6 plays) – 15.6 proj proj points

CF – Aaron Judge (4.6ppg; 6 plays) – 27.6 proj points
CO – Yordan Alvarez (4.1ppg; 6 plays) – 24.6 proj points
CO – Anthony Santander (2.9ppg; 7 plays) – 20.3 proj points
DH – Christian Walker (2.8ppg; 7 plays) – 19.6 proj points

UTIL – Christopher Morel (2.8pp; 6 plays) – 16.8 proj proj points
UTIL – Austin Hays (2.7ppg; 7 plays) – 18.9 proj points
UTIL – Oneil Cruz (2.7ppg; 7 plays) – 18.9 proj points
UTIL – Gleyber Torres (2.6ppg; 6 plays) – 15.6 proj points
UTIL – Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (2.5ppg; 0 plays) – 0 points

SP1 – Jose Urquidy (OAK) – 24.5 proj. points
SP2 – Zac Gallen (PIT) – 23.5 proj. points
SP3 – Martin Perez (@HOU) – 23.5proj. points
SP4 – Luis Castillo (@TEX) – 22.5 proj. points
SP5 – Andrew Heaney (@KC) – 23.5 proj. points
SP6 – Patrick Sandoval (@OAK) – 21.5 proj. points
SP7 – Jose Urquidy (TEX) – 20proj. points
SP8 – Sean Manaea (SF) – 19.5 proj. points
SP9 – Zac Gallen (@COL) – 19 proj. points
SP10 – Frankie Montas (@BOS) – 18 proj. points

RP1 – Daniel Bard (5.4ppg x2) – 10.8 proj. points
RP2 – Wil Crowe (4.3ppg x2) – 8.6 proj. points
RP3 – Anthony Bass (4.1ppg x2) – 8.2 proj. points
RP4 – Camilo Doval (3.9ppg x2) – 7.8 proj. points
RP5 – Ian Kennedy (3.6ppg x2) – 7.2 proj. points
RP6 – Aroldis Chapman (2.8ppg x2) – 5.6 proj. points

Ornery Otters Lineup:

C – Travis d’Arnaud (2.7ppg; 5 games) – 13.5 proj. points
1B – Paul Goldschmidt (4ppg; 6 games) – 24 proj. points
2B – Brandon Drury (3.3ppg; 6 games) – 19.8 proj. points
3B – Rafael Devers (3.8ppg; 6 games) – 22.8 proj. points
SS – Jose Iglesias (2.4ppg; 6 games) – 14.4 proj. points

CF – Luis Robert (3.4ppg; 7 games) – 23.8 proj. points
CO – Ronald Acuna Jr. (3.1ppg; 6 games) – 18.6 proj. points
CO – Ian Happ (2.6ppg; 6 games) – 15.6 proj. points
DH – Anthony Rizzo (3.6ppg; 6 games) – 21.6 proj. points

UTIL – DJ LeMahiau (3.2ppg; 6 games) – 19.2 proj. points
UTIL – Dylan Carlson (2.4ppg; 6 games) – 14.4 proj. points
UTIL – Carlos Santana (2.4ppg; 6 games)– 14.4 proj. points
UTIL – Jesse Winker (2.3ppg; 6 games) – 13.8 proj. points
UTIL – Didi Gregorius (1.6ppg; 2 games) – 3.2 proj. points

SP1 – Max Fried (@MIA) – 29 proj. points
SP2 – Marcus Stroman (WAS) – 20 proj. points
SP4 – Tyler Mahle(@LAA) – 17 proj. points
SP5 – Triston McKenzie (@TOR) – 15 proj. points
SP6 – Kyle Freeland (STL) – 15 proj. points
SP7 – Robbie Ray (NYY) – 14 proj. points
SP8 – Brady Singer (CHW) – 12 proj. points
SP8 – Brady Singer(LAD) – 12 proj. points
SP9 – Zack Greinke (CHW) – 12 proj. point
SP10 – Sonny Gray (@LAD) – 11 proj. points

RP1 – Jhoan Duran (5.3ppg x2) – 10.6 proj. points
RP2 – Taylor Rogers (4.6ppg x2) – 9.4 proj. points
RP3 – Keegan Akin (4.5pg x2) – 9 proj. points
RP4 – AJ Puk (4.5ppg x2) – 9 proj. points
RP5 – Giovanny Gallegos (4.4ppg x2) – 8.8 proj. points
RP6 – Corey Knebel (3.4ppg x2) – 6.8 proj. points

$traight Cash Homie: Advantage at 18/30 positions
Ornery Otters: Advantage at 12/30 positions

Notes: Ironically, FanTrax has this game with the opposite type of projection with the Ornery Otters smoking $traigh Cash Homie, but these projections are better. Outside of a Fried start versus Miami, a Stroman start against Washington and maybe a Ray start against the Texas, the Ornery Otters’ pitching is a disaster. It’s just bad matchups. Maybe Mahle moving to another team (Twins debut) will help him more than he’s being given credit for, but this is a very tough group of starters that the Otters elected not to improve at the deadline.

The stakes of this game are massive too. With a loss, $traight Cash Homie CLINCHES last place and a punishment to boot whilst a loss for the Ornery Otters likely lands him at 5th place season-long, the worst place to be in if you’re a League of Leagues team. With a win, the Ornery Otters have the potential for 3rd place if Wait ‘Til Next Year loses in the second round of the playoffs. And Jack could fight himself out of last place with a run.

This is a game to watch for certain.

Cooper Troopers (4) vs Sporty Strauss (5)

Cooper Troopers: Projected… 485 points
Sporty Strauss: Projected … 525 points

GAME LINE: Cooper Trooper +40 against Sporty Strauss

Lineups:

Cooper Troopers Lineup:

C – JT Realmuto (2.8ppg; 5 games) – 14 proj. points
1B – Rhys Hoskins (3ppg; 6 games) – 18 proj. points
2B – Josh Rojas (2.8ppg; 7 games) – 19.6 proj. points
3B – Jose Ramirez (4.1ppg; 6 games) – 24.6 proj. points
SS – Corey Seager (3.1ppg; 6 games) – 18.6 proj. points

CF – Julio Rodriguez (3.2ppg; 4 games) – 12.8 proj. points
CO – Josh Naylor (3ppg; 5 games) – 15 proj. points
CO – Adolis Garcia (3ppg; 6 games) – 18 proj. points
DH – Jurickson Profar (3ppg; 6 games) – 18 proj. points

UTIL – Brandon Lowe (2.8ppg; 5 games) – 14 proj. points
UTIL – Kolten Wong (2.7ppg; 5 games) – 13.5 proj. points
UTIL – Brian Reynolds (2.7ppg; 7 games) – 18.9 proj. points
UTIL – Alex Verdugo (2.4ppg; 6 games) – 14.4 proj. points
UTIL – Javier Baez (2.2ppg; 6 games) – 13.2 proj. points

SP1 – Zack Wheeler (MIA) – 29 proj. points
SP2 – Kyle Gibson (MIA) – 21.5 proj. points
SP3 – Graham Ashcraft (CHC) – 21.5 proj. points
SP4 – Nestor Cortes Jr. (@SEA) – 20.5 proj. points
SP5 – Drew Rasmussen (BAL) – 19.5 proj. points
SP6 – Zack Wheeler (@NYM) – 19 proj. points
SP7 – Jake Odorizzi (@MIA) – 19 proj. points
SP8 – Eric Lauer (@STL) – 18.5 proj. points
SP9 – Jesus Luzardo (ATL) – 13 proj. points
SP10 – Cal Quantrill (@TOR) – 12 proj. points

RP1 – Brock Burke (6.2ppg x2) – 12.4 proj. points
RP2 – Tanner Houck (6.1ppg x2) – 12.2 proj. points
RP3 – Clay Holmes (5.1ppg x2) – 10.2 proj. points
RP4 – Nick Martinez (5ppg x2) – 10 proj. points
RP5 – Felix Bautista (4.5ppg x2) – 9 proj. points
RP6 – Adam Cimber (3.8ppg x2) – 7.6 proj. points

Sporty Strauss Lineup:

C – Alejandro Kirk (2.7ppg; 5 games) – 13.5 proj. points
1B – Joey Votto (2.3ppg; 6 games) – 13.8 proj. points
2B – Matt Carpenter (3.6ppg; 6 games) – 21.6 proj. points
3B – Manny Machado (3.4ppg; 6 games) – 20.4 proj. points
SS – Tim Anderson (2.8ppg; 6 games) – 16.8 proj. points

CF – Mookie Betts (4ppg; 5 games) – 20 proj. points
CO – Charlie Blackmon (2.9ppg; 6 games) – 17.4 proj. points
CO – Taylor Ward (2.9 ppg; 6 games) – 17.4 proj. points
DH – Alex Bregman (2.9ppg; 6 games) – 17.4 proj. points

UTIL – Andrew McCutcheon (2.8ppg; 5 games) – 14 proj. points
UTIL – Amed Rosario (2.8ppg; 6 games) – 14 proj. points
UTIL – Isaac Paredes (2.6ppg; 5 games) – 13 proj. points
UTIL – Nick Castellanos (2.3ppg; 6 games) – 13.8 proj. points
UTIL – JP Crawford (2.3ppg; 6 games) – 13.8 proj. points

SP1 – Justin Verlander (TEX) – 28.5 proj. points
SP2 – Tony Gonsolin (@KC) – 27 proj. points
SP3 – Dylan Cease (@KC) – 27 proj. points
SP4 – Chris Bassitt (CIN) – 26 proj. points
SP5 – Johnny Cueto (@KC) – 26 proj. points
SP6 – Taijuan Walker (CIN) – 23.5 proj. points
SP7 – Chris Bassitt (PHI) – 21 proj. points
SP8 – Brandon Woodruff (TB) – 20 proj. points
SP9 – Adam Wainwright (MIL) – 19 proj. points
SP10 – Lance Lynn (DET) – 19 proj. points

RP1 – Ryan Helsley (7ppg x2) – 14 proj. points
RP2 – Kenley Jansen (6ppg x2) – 12 proj. points
RP3 – David Robertson (5.1ppg x2) – 10.2 proj. points
RP4 – Evan Phillips (4.7ppg x2) – 9.4 proj. points
RP5 – Craig Kimbrel (4.4ppg x2) – 8.8 proj. points
RP6 – Will Smith (3ppg x2) – 6 proj. points

Cooper Troopers: Advantage at 14/30 positions
Sporty Strauss: Advantage at 13/30 positions

Notes: Wild Card games are where Sporty Strauss loves to hang. As the only team to make the playoffs in all 3 sports, he never once secured a BYE. He never once got the opportunity to miss this game. He never even got higher than a 5-seed in the playoffs.

Now, he has the opportunity to correct his grievances in a game against a significantly inferior opponent – the Cooper Troopers. As was a discussion point all year, the Cooper Troopers weren’t even in the top half of scoring. However, that has picked up in recent weeks, including a high score last week.

The Cooper Troopers are getting hot at the right time, and Sporty Strauss has to feel little tingles of nervousness, especially because two of the Cooper Troopers’ starters and his best reliever were traded from Sporty Strauss’ own roster at the trade deadline. If Kyle Gibson and Jake Odorizzi crush – and they do have great matchups – this trade could come to haunt Mr. Strauss more than any other bad trades he made – of which there is high competition for.

Sporty Strauss himself is dealing with some injuries on the offensive side of the ball, but his pitching looks OUTSTANDING this week. Contrary to the Ornery Otters’ predicament, his pitching should carry him through to a Round 1 victory.

But a 40-point line isn’t crazy, and any random delicious SP plays from the Cooper Troopers could draw this matchup closer. We know Win’s Up Doc will be watching this game with bated breath, but no matter what happens, the most entertaining outcome is an Oat-Strauss K.O. matchup in Round 2.

CONSOLATION TOURNAMENT

Las Cabras (9) vs DTC Porkchop Express (12)

Las Cabras: Projected … 330 points
DTC Porkchop Express: Projected… 315 points

GAME LINE: Las Cabras -15 over DTC Porkchop Express

Notes: These posts get long and the tanking teams haven’t necessarily put in the time to setting their lineups, so we won’t be detailed these matchups as much as the others.

Even still, there’s a lot at stake between these two pitiful teams. If Las Cabras loses, their chances of placing and making some $$ go down substantially. If they win, they get a chance to play for potentially 3rd place. For DTC Porkchop Express, he’s still hoping to lose as much as he possible can to get a better draft pick. But it might be too little, too late there. 16 points won’t get him higher than 4th place unless craziness happens.

With Las Cabras still having something to play for, it will be fascinating to see how this suckfest unfolds. With a game line of 15 points, this one is projected to be the closest of all matchups in the first round.

MN Moose Knuckles (10) vs Shepherd Goods Choppers (11)

MN Moose Knuckles: Projected… 400 points
Shepherd Goods Choppers: Projected… 370 points

GAME LINE: Choppers -100 over Cooper Troopers

Notes: Compared to the other Consolation matchup, both of these teams probably want to lose. However, the Choppers know very well that a loss could lead to a last place punishment, but Dye seems to be the man most willing to accept that. The MN Moose Knuckles just want to grab a better draft pick. They still clearly have the better team, but don’t be surprised if the Choppers have one of their random hot weeks which they are wont to do from time to time.

But we’re off the races! Three weeks left of setting some lineups and then everybody can move on towards football.

NBA Championship Round Preview

Playoff Matchups

CHAMPIONSHIP:
MN Moose Knuckles (3) -50 vs Win’s Up Doc (4)

3RD PLACE GAME:
DTC Porkchop Express (1) vs The Pullies (2)

CONSOLATION CHAMPIONSHIP:
Las Cabras (7) vs Ornery Otters (8)

9TH PLACE GAME:
The BamO’s (9) vs Shepherd Goods Choppers (10)

FINALIZED POINTS:

5th - Wait ‘Til Next Year: 8 NBA points (13 total)
6th - Sporty Strauss: 7 NBA points (22 total)

11th - Cooper Troopers: 2 NBA points (8 total)
Last - $traight Cash Homie: 0 NBA points (4 total)

Notes: This week went exactly according to plan. Almost every favorite won. Almost every underdog lost. Most importantly, the NBA Toilet Bowl has officially been claimed by $traight Cash Homie (12). After his massive sell-out, this was expected. But it’s another thing to formally award the Toilet Bowl to Jack. Now, he knows for sure that he needs to score 5 points or more than the Cooper Troopers (11) to avoid doing the last place punishment in the League of Leagues.

The only game that didn’t go according to projections was the 5th Place Game where Sporty Strauss (5) lost to Wait ‘Til Next Year (6). Sporty Strauss had a disappointing showing, and it really wouldn’t have mattered whether or not he would have made his trades or not. Sporty Strauss ends up with the worst point total that he could have by making the playoffs, leaving an icky feeling in Strauss’ stomach.

Win’s Up Doc (4) and the MN Moose Knuckles (3) make the Championship, a really interesting matchup by teams that have a 1-point difference from football. Both teams have given themselves a chance this season, but the winner could be within 4 or 5 points of Sporty Strauss for the season-long wins tally.

In the Consolation Championship, both Las Cabras (7) and the Ornery Otters (8) were victorious and now face off to score 6 points, the highest in the Consolation Bracket. Las Cabras (7) pull themselves within 4 points of Sporty Strauss towards the end-of-season total.

In the 9th-place game, the Choppers (10) play The BamO’s (9), who suffered one of the most frustrating weeklong playoff losses in the League of Leagues to date after Steph Curry’s injury and a really bad lineup drown. The BamO’s really need to keep their points total as high as possible, whereas the Shepherd Goods Choppers are preparing for next season.

Now, we just need to see who can finish strong this season, including the Championship Game this week.

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Win’s Up Doc (4) vs MN Moose Knuckles (3)

Win’s Up Doc: Projected … 1400 points
MN Moose Knuckles: Projected… 145 points

GAME LINE: Win’s Up Doc +50 vs MN Moose Knuckles

Lineups:

PG1 – Luka Doncic (48ppg - 4 plays) vs Terry Rozier (32ppg - 4 plays)
PG2 – Dejounte Murray (46ppg - 2 plays) vs Markelle Fultz (22ppg - 3 plays)

SG1 – Desmond Bane (27ppg - 3 plays) vs Devin Booker (36ppg - 3 plays)
SG2 – Kevin Porter, Jr. (24ppg - 4 plays) vs Devin Vassell (21ppg - 2 plays)

SF1 – Scottie Barnes (30ppg - 3 plays) vs RJ Barrett (25ppg - 4 plays)
SF2 – Herbert Jones (23ppg - 4 plays) vs Terance Mann (25 proj. ppg - 2 plays)

PF1 – Kristaps Porzingis (34ppg - 3 plays) vs Julius Randle (36ppg - 4 plays)
PF2 – Brandon Clarke (22ppg - 3 plays) vs Wendell Carter (31ppg - 3 plays)

C1 – Jonas Valanciunas (34ppg - 4 plays) vs Joel Embiid (50ppg - 3 plays)
C1 – Mo Bamba (26ppg - 3 plays) vs Rudy Gobert (41ppg - 4 plays)

FLEX1 – Jordan Poole (25ppg - 4 plays) vs Bobby Portis (29ppg - 3 plays)
FLEX2 – Malik Monk (21ppg - 3 plays) vs Aleksej Pokusevski (30 proj. ppg - 3 plays)
FLEX3 – Kevon Looney (20ppg - 4 plays) vs Jarred Vanderbilt (24ppg - 4 plays)

FLEX4 – Daniel Gafford (21ppg - 4 plays) vs Jae Crowder (20ppg - 3 plays)
FLEX5 – Caleb Martin (19ppg - 2 play) vs Isaac Okoro (18 proj. ppg - 3 plays)
FLEX – N/A vs Justice Winslow (16 ppg - 2 plays)

Win’s up Doc: Advantage at 5/14 positions
MN Moose Knuckles: Advantage at 9/14 positions

Win’s Up Doc INJURIES: Jarrett Allen (O - Hand), Eric Gordon (Q - Rest), Lamarcus Aldridge (O - Hip)
MN Moose Knuckles INJURIES: Joel Embiid (Q - Back), Cam Johnson (Q - Quad), Rudy Gobert (Q - Foot), Jalen Suggs (Q - Ankle), Jarred Vanderbilt (Q - Quad), Gabe Vincent (Q - Foot)

Notes: A close line for the Championship – a fitting turn of events for two teams that are largely even. The big factor in evening these teams out this week is Dejounte Murray’s 2-play week. It’s hugely unfortunate for Win’s Up Doc (4) to lose one of his two superstars to a 2-play week, and even one more game from Murray and this whole like looks much closer.

On the other side, the MN Moose Knuckles injuries aren’t all getting better. In fact, now they’re getting worse. Joel Embiid is OUT to start this week with a back injury – the real fear of having Embiid as your primary player. If Embiid doesn’t come back, that’s enough to give Win’s Up Doc the edge.

In general, this matchup is what it’s all about in the League of Leagues. Both teams crushed the draft. Doc was the best team all season and deserves to be here. But the MN Moose Knuckles put their chips on the table to win this year. There’s no real luck here – both teams DESERVE this. With only 3 points in NFL from Win’s Up Doc, and only 2 points for the MN Moose Knuckles, it’s pretty amazing that they’ve been able to do as well in NBA this season. Congratulations to both teams.

Projected Season Long Points:

1- Sporty Strauss: 22 POINTS
2- Las Cabras: 18 points (NBA proj. finish: 7th)
3- MN Moose Knuckles: 17 points (NBA proj. finish: 1st)
4- DTC Porkchop Express: 16 points (NBA proj. finish: 4th)
5- Win’s Up Doc: 15 points (NBA proj. finish: 2nd)
6- The BamO’s: 14 points (NBA proj. finish: 9th)
7- Wait ‘Til Next year: 13 POINTS
8- Ornery Otters: 13 points (NBA proj. finish: 8th)
9- Shepherd Goods Choppers: 12 points (NBA proj. finish: 10th)
10- The Pullies: 10 points (NBA proj. finish: 3rd)
11- Cooper Troopers: 8 POINTS
12- $traight Cash Homies: 4 POINTS

NBA Round 2 Preview

Playoff Matchups

PLAYOFFS:
DTC Porkchop Express (1) +300 vs Win’s Up Doc (4)
The Pullies (2) +70 vs MN Moose Knuckles (3)

5TH PLACE GAME: Sporty Strauss (5) -200 vs Wait ‘Til Next Year (6)

CONSOLATION:
Las Cabras (7) -80 vs Shepherd Goods Choppers (10)
Ornery Otters (8) -15 vs The BamO’s (9)

LAST PLACE GAME: Cooper Troopers (11) -155 vs $traight Cash Homies (12)

Notes: In one of the most tightly-contested games in League of Leagues history to date, Win’s Up Doc (4) secures a crucial victory over Sporty Strauss (5). Not enough praise can be heaped upon Win’s Up Doc’s management of his team this year. It’s one of the more impressive team-building exercises ever put together in fantasy sports – from the draft to shrewd free agent pickups to a bunch of non-moves at the end of his season. Win’s Up Doc had a handful of trades to consider before the deadline that he turned down, including a huge offer from Sporty Strauss for Dejounte Murray that would have flipped this matchup. Win’s Up Doc built a team that could withstand injuries. He just opened a gigantic window for the entire League of Leagues this season.

For Sporty Strauss (5), now he knows he needs to fight hard in baseball to win the league this year. To be clear, he’s still the favorite, and he should win the 5th-Place game against Wait ‘Til Next Year and score 8 points in NBA League of Leagues for a total 23 points in two sports – not too shabby. Nobody else in the League of Leagues can score more than 18 points besides DTC Porkchop Express’ corpse of a roster. He’ll likely have at least 5-point edge going into baseball, and here’s a few things for him to watch:

(1) Las Cabras being the second biggest threat, especially if they can win the Consolation Tournament. The BamO’s enter this conversation with a Consolation Victory as well. Sporty Strauss needs to keep an eye on this.

(2) The winner of NBA poses a significant threat to Sporty Strauss’ reign. The Pullies and Win’s Up Doc, in particular, have had excellent MLB Drafts thus far. The MN Moose Knuckles are TBD on that front, but might put some chips in the table to build a solid MLB roster if he wins in NBA. BUT, luckily for Sporty Strauss, the max points any of these teams can have after the NBA Finish is 18 points for Win’s Up Doc.

Sporty Strauss can’t feel amazing about his trades at this point, but they aren’t as bad as one might think. He didn’t truly mortgage his future, and he’s doing a good job building an MLB roster despite a loss of assets. He’s just going to have to dig deep and really try to go far in MLB to win.

Elsewhere in the league, the MN Moose Knuckles (3) took Wait ‘Til Next Year (6) to task, as expected. Hall started to get nervous about his injuries before this week happened making the Jae Crowder trade, but he still dominated for the most points in the league this week. He draws The Pullies (2) in what should be a much tighter matchup, but the Championship showdown looks like it could be between Win’s Up Doc and the MN Moose Knuckles. That’s be the betting favorite right now.

The BamO’s (9) advanced in the Consolation Tournament despite some lineup snafus. SG Choppers (10) did the same. These teams finished 3rd and 4th in NFL, so they have all the motivation in the world to win this week and advanced to the Consolation Finals.

And we finally have our toilet bowl game between $traight Cash Homie (12) and the Cooper Troopers (11). What makes this an intriguing matchup is that these two are favored to finish bottom-2 at the end of the entire season. One of these guys will have to do the loser’s penalty. If the Cooper Troopers win, they’ll have a 4-point edge over $traight Cash Homie going into the baseball season. If Jack wins, they’ll be tied.

The League of Leagues doesn’t want them to be tied. The League of Leagues wants Cooper and Jack to tie for last place so they BOTH have to do a last-place penalty.

ROUND 2

DTC Porkchop Express (1) vs Win’s Up Doc (4)

DTC Porkchop Express: Projected … 1080 points
Win’s Up Doc: Projected … 1380 points

GAME LINE: DTC Porkchop Express +300 against Win’s Up Doc

Lineups:

PG1 – DeAaron Fox (33ppg - 4 plays) vs Luka Doncic (48ppg - 3 plays)
PG2 – Patty Mills (19ppg - 3 plays) vs Dejounte Murray (46ppg - 4 plays)

SG1 – Zach Lavine (33ppg - 3 plays) vs Desmond Bane (27ppg - 3 plays)
SG2 – De’Anthony Melton (22ppg - 3 plays) vs Kevin Porter, Jr. (24ppg - 3 plays)

SF3 – DeAndre Hunter (18ppg - 4 plays) vs Scottie Barnes (30ppg - 4 plays)
SF4 – Jaden McDaniels (18ppg - 3 plays) vs Herbert Jones (23ppg - 3 plays)

PF1 – Damontas Sabonis (40ppg - 4 plays) vs Kristaps Porzingis (34ppg - 3 plays)
PF2 – PJ Washington (22ppg - 3 plays) vs Brandon Clarke (22ppg - 3 plays)

C1 – Jakob Poeltl (33ppg - 4 plays) vs Jonas Valanciunas (34ppg - 3 plays)
C1 – Clint Capela (31ppg - 4 plays) vs Mo Bamba (26ppg - 3 plays)

FLEX1 – Isaiah Hartenstein (19ppg - 3 plays) vs Jordan Poole (23ppg - 3 plays)
FLEX2 – Shake Milton (17ppg - 4 plays) vs Kevon Looney (20ppg - 3 plays)
FLEX3 – Naz Reid (16ppg - 3 plays) vs Malik Monk (21ppg - 4 plays)

FLEX4 – Rudy Gay (15ppg - 4 plays) vs Daniel Gafford (21ppg - 4 plays)
FLEX5 – Damion Lee (13ppg - 1 play) vs Garrison Matthews (17ppg - 3 plays)
FLEX5 – N/A vs Caleb Martin (19ppg - 1 play)

DTC Porkchop Express: Advantage at 2/14 positions
Win’s Up Doc: Advantage at 12/14 positions

DTC Porkchop Express: Josh Giddey (O - Hip), Chris Paul (O – Hand), Gordon Hayward (Q - Ankle), Lu Dort (O - Shoulder)
Sporty Strauss INJURIES: Jarrett Allen (O - Hand), Eric Gordon (Q - Rest), Lamarcus Aldridge (O - Hip), Dennis Schroder (Q - Illness)

Notes: In retrospect, drawing Sporty Strauss in the first round of the playoffs was the best-case scenario for Win’s Up Doc. If he had lost, his season was likely over no matter what. If he won, he has an EASY path to the Championship game after DTC Porkchop Express (1) gutted his roster to build for next season. Plus, Win’s Up Doc put a ceiling on Sporty Strauss’ season-long points.

Now, Win’s Up Doc can rest easy with a practical BYE this week. There’s no way he loses to Craig.

The Pullies (2) vs MN Moose Knuckles (3)

The Pullies: Projected … 1430 points
MN Moose Knuckles: Projected… 1500 points

GAME LINE: The Pullies +70 vs MN Moose Knuckles

Lineups:

PG1 – Ja Morant (41ppg - 3 plays) vs Terry Rozier (32ppg - 3 plays)
PG2 – Kyle Lowry (30ppg - 2 plays) vs Jalen Suggs (22ppg - 3 plays)

SG1 – Darius Garland (33ppg - 4 plays) vs Devin Booker (36ppg - 4 plays)
SG2 – Gary Trent, Jr. (27ppg - 4 plays) vs Devin Vassell (21ppg - 4 plays)

SF3 – Anthony Edwards (32ppg - 3 plays) vs RJ Barrett (25ppg - 3 plays)
SF4 – Bojan Bogdanovic (22ppg - 4 plays) vs Terance Mann (25 proj. ppg - 3 plays)

PF1 – LeBron James (48ppg - 4 plays) vs Julius Randle (36ppg - 3 plays)
PF2 – Kevin Durant (45ppg - 3 plays) vs Wendell Carter (31ppg - 3 plays)

C1 – Montrezl Harrell (23ppg - 3 plays) vs Joel Embiid (50ppg - 4 plays)
C1 – Thaddeus Young (15ppg - 2 plays) vs Rudy Gobert (41ppg - 4 plays)

FLEX1 – Patrick Beverly (24 proj. ppg - 3 plays) vs Bobby Portis (29ppg - 3 plays)
FLEX2 – Monte Morris (22 ppg - 4 plays) vs Aleksej Pokusevski (30 proj. ppg - 4 plays)
FLEX3 – Dorian Finney-Smith (21ppg - 3 plays) vs Jarred Vanderbilt (24ppg - 3 plays)

FLEX4 – Jordan Clarkson (21ppg - 4 plays) vs Cam Johnson (20ppg - 4 plays)
FLEX5 – Luke Kennard (19ppg - 3 plays) vs Raul Neto (20 proj. ppg - 2 plays)
FLEX – Deni Avdija (17ppg - 1 play) vs N/A

The Pullies: Advantage at 8/14 positions
MN Moose Knuckles: Advantage at 6/14 positions

The Pullies INJURIES: Anfernee Simons (O - Knee), Anthony Edwards (Q - Knee)
MN Moose Knuckles INJURIES: Cam Johnson (Q - Quad), Rudy Gobert (Q - Foot), Jalen Suggs (Q - Ankle), Jarred Vanderbilt (Q - Quad)

Notes: This game, on the other hand, could go down to the wire. The MN Moose Knuckles are the favorite, but the team can simply not get fully healthy. Whether or not Hall gets games from Cam Johnson or Jarred Vanderbilt this week could tilt this matchup, and he absolutely needs Rudy Gobert to play in all four games. The Moose Knuckles are ridiculously deep, but they’re getting tested in all the worst ways.

The Pullies, on the other side, have gotten much healthier over the last couple of weeks. They do have Anfernee Simons out for this week, but that’s it. They’re headlined by Kevin Durant and LeBron James, in that order right now. In general, this matchup has the most star power we’ve seen in any matchup in a long time. With Embiid on the Knuckles, that’s 3 of the top-6 players in fantasy basketball in one matchup.

This one will be fun to watch.

5TH-PLACE GAME

Sporty Strauss (5) vs Wait ‘Til Next Year (6)

Sporty Strauss: Projected… 1520 points
Wait ‘Til Next Year: Projected… 1320 points
GAME LINE: Sporty Strauss -200 against Wait ‘Til Next Year

Lineups:

PG1 – Ben Simmons (30 proj. ppg - 3 plays) vs Trae Young (41ppg - 4 plays)
PG2 – Mike Conley (26ppg - 4 plays) vs Tyrese Maxey (29ppg - 4 plays)

SG1 – DeMar DeRozan (39ppg - 3 plays) vs Kyrie Irving (37ppg - 2 plays)
SG2 – Derrick White (27ppg - 3 plays) vs Ayo Dosunmu (27ppg - 3 plays)

SF3 – Brandon Ingram (33ppg - 3 plays) vs Will Barton (26ppg - 4 plays)
SF4 – Andrew Wiggins (27ppg - 3 plays) vs Marcus Morris (23 ppg - 3 plays)

PF1 – Pascal Siakam (40ppg - 4 plays) vs Jayson Tatum (40ppg - 3 plays)
PF2 – Draymond Green (30ppg - 2 games) vs Jaren Jackson Jr. (30ppg - 3 plays)

C1 – Giannis Antetekounmpo (51ppg - 3 plays) vs Andre Drummond (23ppg - 3 plays)
C1 – Deandre Ayton (32ppg - 4 plays) vs Mason Plumlee (22ppg - 3 plays)

FLEX1 – Al Horford (27ppg - 3 plays) vs Oshae Brissett (24 proj. ppg - 3 plays)
FLEX2 – Franz Wagner (25ppg - 3 plays) vs Isaiah Stewart (22ppg - 3 plays)
FLEX3 – Cameron Payne (25+ proj. ppg - 4 plays) vs Royce O’Neal (21ppg - 4 plays)

FLEX4 – Reggie Jackson (25ppg - 3 plays) vs Evan Fournier (21ppg - 3 plays)
FLEX5 – Kevin Love (24ppg - 4 plays) vs Justin Holiday (17ppg - 4 plays)
FLEX6 – Dillon Brooks (25ppg - 1 play) vs Goran Dragic (15ppg - 1 play)

Win’s Up Doc: Advantage at 10/14 positions
Wait ‘Til Next Year Advantage at 2/14 positions

Sporty Strauss INJURIES: Ben Simmons (Q for 3/13 – Mental Health), Draymond Green (O - Back), Dillon Brooks (Q - Ankle), Victor Oladipo (P - Knee)
Wait ‘Til Next Year INJURIES: Anthony Davis (O

Notes: This matchup is far less fun for those involved. In fact, this matchup is often the saddest of the season. At least last place teams know their chances of competing are dwindling. These teams could have succeeded in winning NBA, but it wasn’t in the cards.

Sporty Strauss should dominate this matchup based on how deep his team is. He’s getting healthier and healthier, and we could see the return of Ben Simmons on the court this week. Altogether, it will likely make Strauss feel even sadder when he dominates this week for potentially the highest score in the league this week.

It’s a tough beat for Sporty Strauss, but nobody in the league crying about it. That’s for certain.

CONSOLATION TOURNAMENT

Las Cabras (7) vs Shepherd Goods Choppers (10)

Las Cabras: Projected … 1375 points
SG Choppers: Projected… 1295 points
GAME LINE: Las Cabras -80 over SG Choppers

Lineups:

PG1 – S. Gilgeous-Alexander (37ppg - 4 plays) vs T. Haliburton (38ppg - 3 plays)
PG2 – Cole Anthony (30ppg - 3 plays) vs Spencer Dinwiddie (25ppg - 3 plays)

SG1 – D’Angelo Russell (32ppg - 3 plays) vs Fred VanVleet (38ppg - 4 plays)
SG2 – Seth Curry (24ppg - 3 plays) vs Klay Thompson (25ppg - 3 plays)

SF3 – Jerami Grant (28ppg - 3 plays) vs Jimmy Butler (40ppg - 2 plays)
SF4 – Saddiq Bey (24ppg - 3 plays) vs Talen Horton-Tucker (18ppg - 4 plays)

PF1 – Harrison Barnes (27ppg - 4 plays) vs Tobias Harris (32ppg - 4 plays)
PF2 – Lauri Markkanen (23ppg - 4 plays) vs Kelly Olynyk (20ppg - 3 plays)

C1 – Nikola Jokic (55ppg - 4 plays) vs Karl-Anthony Towns (42ppg - 3 plays)
C1 – Steven Adams (25ppg - 3 plays) vs Robert Williams (32ppg - 3 plays)

FLEX1 – Coby White (21ppg - 3 plays) vs Jalen Green (19ppg - 3 plays)
FLEX2 – K. Caldwell-Pope (21ppg - 4 plays) vs Ish Smith (19ppg - 4 plays)
FLEX3 – Chris Boucher (20ppg - 4 plays) vs Lonnie Walker (17ppg - 4 plays)

FLEX4 – Grayson Allen (19ppg - 3 plays) vs Isaiah Roby (17ppg - 4 plays)
FLEX5 – Chimezie Metu (18ppg - 2 plays) vs Jeff Green (16ppg - 3 plays)

Las Cabras: Advantage at 9/15 positions
SG Choppers: Advantage at 6/15 positions

Notes: If only the Shepherd Goods Choppers bench were better than it is, this could be a really competitive matchup. Instead, Las Cabras are favored because of their bench. But the Choppers are still feisty. Jordan has so much top-end talent on his team when healthy that he could give the Cabras a run for their money.

Both teams have plenty at stake, having finished top-4 in football. A Consolation Championship would mean a ton to both squads, though it probably means more to Las Cabras who now have a chance to win it all with Sporty Strauss’ loss. The SG Choppers’ baseball draft might be hard to salvage at this point, and the waiver warrior is going to have to be ON IT this season.

Ornery Otters (8) vs The BamO’s (9)

Ornery Otters: Projected … 1350 points
The BamO’s: Projected… 1325 points
GAME LINE: Ornery Otters -15 over The BamO’s

Lineups:

PG1 – LaMelo Ball (38 ppg - 3 plays) vs Steph Curry (40ppg - 3 plays)
PG2 – Russell Westbrook (33ppg - 4 plays) vs Jrue Holiday (34ppg - 3 plays)

SG1 – Malcolm Brogdon (33ppg - 3 plays) vs CJ McCollum (33ppg - 2 plays)
SG2 – Cade Cunningham (29ppg - 3 plays) vs Jalen Brunson (27ppg - 3 plays)

SF3 – Jaylen Brown (33ppg - 3 plays) vs Josh Hart (29ppg - 4 plays)
SF4 – Mikal Bridges (25ppg - 4 plays) vs Bogdan Bogdanovic (23ppg - 4 plays)

PF1 – John Collins (31ppg - 4 plays) vs Miles Bridges (35ppg - 3 plays)
PF2 – Keldon Johnson (25ppg - 4 plays) vs Kyle Kuzma (31ppg - 4 plays)

C1 – Mitchell Robinson (25ppg - 3 plays) vs Bam Adebayo (36ppg - 2 plays)
C1 – Ivica Zubac (23ppg - 3 plays) vs Daniel Theis (16ppg - 3 plays)

FLEX1 – Aaron Gordon (25ppg - 4 plays) vs Marcus Smart (26ppg - 3 plays)
FLEX2 – Tre Mann (22 proj. ppg - 4 plays) vs Buddy Hield (22ppg - 3 plays)
FLEX3 – Hassan Whiteside (22ppg - 4 plays) vs Carmelo Anthony (22ppg - 4 plays)

FLEX4 – Precious Achiuwa (18ppg - 4 plays) vs Davion Mitchell (17ppg - 4 plays)
FLEX5 – N/A vs Duncan Robinson (17ppg - 2 plays)
FLEX5 – N/A vs Austin Reaves (17ppg - 4 plays)

$traight Cash Homie: Advantage at 4/14 positions
The BamO’s: Advantage at 7/14 positions

Ornery Otters INJURIES: John Collins (Q - Finger), Malcolm Brogdon (Q - Concussion), Aaron Gordon (Q - Foot), Lonzo Ball (O - Knee)
The BamO’s INJURIES: Paul George (O - Shoulder), Jusuf Nurkic (O - Foot)

Notes: The BamO’s have the worst lineup luck I’ve ever seen this week. With a Heat-heavy lineup, he only gets two plays from Bam and Duncan Robinson. Then NONE of his his big guns (Steph, Bridges, McCollum, Jrue) have 4-game weeks. He’s going to have to rely on some newfound depth to pull this one out, but the line is razor-close.

The Ornery Otters have some minor injuries, but at this point in the season, who doesn’t?

A fun part of this matchup: the Bridges brothers, both of whom had nice seasons, are squaring off against each other.

The stakes for this game are much higher for The BamO’s who put chips into this year to try to compete. He still has a chance, and making in to the Consolation Championship game would be a huge victory for him.

The Ornery Otters seem to be more playing for next year while trying not to absolutely suck. Korey likely doesn’t completely care where he finishes in basketball, though winning the Consolation Tournament would certainly put him in contention, especially to get 3rd or 4th place.

Plenty at stake in BOTH of these Consolation Tournament games.

LAST-PLACE GAME

Cooper Troopers (11) vs $traight Cash Homie (12)

Cooper Troopers: Projected … 1170
$traight Cash Homie: Projected… 1015 points
GAME LINE: Cooper Troopers -155 over $traight Cash Homie

Lineups:

PG1 – James Harden (45ppg - 4 plays) vs Donovan Mitchell (37ppg - 4 plays)
PG2 – Devonte’ Graham (21ppg - 3 plays) vs Tyler Herro (27ppg - 2 plays)

SG1 – Khris Middleton (32ppg - 3 plays) vs Caris LeVert (28ppg - 4 plays)
SG2 – Kevin Huerter (20ppg - 4 plays) vs Gary Harris (17ppg - 3 plays)

SF3 – Kelly Oubre (24ppg - 3 plays)vs Jae’Sean Tate (24ppg - 3 plays)
SF4 – Darius Bazley (22ppg - 4 plays) vs Malik Beasley (17ppg - 3 plays)

PF1 – Christian Wood (33ppg - 3 plays) vs Robert Covington (22ppg - 3 plays)
PF2 – Evan Mobley (31ppg - 4 plays) vs Maxi Kleber (20ppg - 3 plays)

C1 – Nikola Vucevic (40ppg - 3 plays) vs Jaxson Hayes (16ppg - 3 plays)
C1 – Onyeka Okongwu (21ppg - 4 plays) vs Dewayne Dedmon (16ppg - 2 plays)

FLEX1 – Jae Crowder (21ppg - 4 plays) vs PJ Tucker (19ppg - 2 plays)
FLEX2 – D. DiVincenzo (19ppg on SAC - 4 plays) vs Danilo Gallinari (18ppg - 4 plays)
FLEX3 – Alperen Sengun (19ppg - 3 plays) vs Cedi Osman (17ppg - 4 plays)

FLEX4 – Javonte Green (17ppg - 3 plays) vs Jonathan Kuminga (14ppg - 3 plays)
FLEX5 – Jalen Smith (16ppg - 1 play) vs Rui Hachimura (15ppg - 3 plays)
FLEX6 – N/A vs Grant Williams (15ppg - 3 plays)
FLEX7 – N/A vs Corey Kispert (12ppg - 1 play)

The BamO’s: Advantage at 12/14 positions
$traight Cash Homie: Advantage at 1/14 positions

Notes: As mentioned before, this game could very well decide who has to do the last-place penalty. The Cooper Troopers are favored heavily in the matchup and gain a coveted 4-point lead over $traight Cash Homies going into baseball. This gives Coop, who has a really solid MLB team so far, a nice cushion. A playoff berth probably prevents the Cooper Troopers from losing unless $traight Cash Homie’s team is better than expected.

Right now, Jack is the odds-on favorite to have to do the last-place punishment.

NBA Round 1 Preview

Final Regular Season Power Rankings

Tier 1
1- Minnesota Moose Knuckles (11-8) [+2]
2- Sporty Strauss (12-7) [+3]
3- Win’s Up Doc (14-5) [-1]
Tier 2
4- The Pullies (12-7) [+2]
5- DTC Porkchop Express (15-4) [-4]
6- Wait ‘ Til Next Year (11-8) [-2]
7- Las Cabras (10-9) [+1]
Tier 3
8- Ornery Otters (10-9) [-1]
9-  The BamO’s (7-12) [-]
10- Shepherd Goods Choppers (5-14) [-]
11- Cooper Troopers (4-15) [-]
12- $traight Cash Homie (3-16) [-]

Playoff Matchups

BYES – DTC Porkchop Express (1) and The Pullies (2)

MN Moose Knuckles (3) -130 vs Wait ‘Til Next Year (6)
Win’s Up Doc (4) +75 vs Sporty Strauss (5)

CONSOLATION BYES – Las Cabras (7) and Ornery Otters (8)

The BamO’s (9) -220 vs $traight Cash Homies (12)
Shepherd Goods Choppers (10) -85 vs Cooper Troopers (11)

Notes: The regular season is over! The longest season in the League of Leagues (by a significant amount this year) has concluded in thunderous fashion with some big time trades at the end here. The season had the twists and turns of a good film. It started out with an unheralded, underdog team in the draft, Win’s Up Doc (3), putting all league of leagues teams in an air fryer and just pounding them. He won the first 8 games of the season, only to get wracked with COVID-19 issues halfway through. Ever since then, his team hasn’t been the same. There’ve been some injuries. Some regression to the mean. And somehow someway, Win’s Up Doc didn’t even get a BYE. Despite being the top-scoring team the entire season, Win’s Up Doc was supplanted by DTC Porkchop Express down the stretch.

DTC Porkchop Express (5) lost the first two games of the season, but then went 15-2 the rest of the way… an absurd run. But they lost CP3 late in the season, and GM Craig McCall simply didn’t think he had the horses to win it all. He sold his players in the last week of the season. He decided to wait until next year.

Speaking of that namesake, Wait ‘Til Next Year (6), that was another team that got off to a hot start but faltered down the stretch. A four-game losing streak in late December and early January doomed him to the 6-seed, and his team looked poor in the last week of the season, generating serious concern about his ability to contend in the playoffs.

But not all of these stories are sad. The Pullies (4) had a miraculous season! Despite being last in football they, got some win-now players that led them to the other BYE. They might not be the best team in the playoffs, but it’s a remarkable stories for two beleaguered GMs who needed something positive to carry them through this season.

Another positive is the MN Moose Knuckles (1) who came second to last in football. But that 2-point difference gives Hall a serious chance to contend in the League of Leagues as a whole. The MN Moose Knuckles Embiid-led, deep roster and easier path to the finals gives him the top seed in the League of Leagues going into the playoffs despite a short-term Devin Booker COVID illness.

But all of this likely means little if Sporty Strauss (2) wins or just makes the Championship Game. He has the league by the balls right now. If he wins, the winner of the entire season might already be decided. But this is no guarantee. The first-round matchup between Sporty Strauss and Win’s Up Doc is one for the books.

But those are the teams that made the playoffs. There’s 6 teams that didn’t. $traight Cash Homie (12) set a league record for futility this NBA season as Zion Williamson and other injuries destroyed a team that looked promising after the draft. But it all might work out for him if he can make the most out of his extra NBA assets next season to rebuild and reload.

The Cooper Troopers (11) and Shepherd Goods Choppers (10) proved how much a bad bench can sink your season. The top players for both of these rosters are solid – even great at times – but horrible snake drafts doomed them to horrific seasons.

But The BamO’s (9), the Ornery Otters (8) and Las Cabras (7) all fought hard this season. The BamO’s were rocked by injuries, but still have a competent enough team to win the Consolation Tournament. And they want to. After finishing 3rd in NFL, the BamO’s have a chance to place this season with a good end-of-season push.

The Ornery Otters (8) and Las Cabras (7) got unlucky. They both finished with winning records but couldn’t sneak into the playoffs. Hopefully these teams are better prepared for next season.

Now, all that’s left is to watch the playoffs unfold, and it’s going to be oh so exciting.

ROUND 1

MN Moose Knuckles (3) vs Wait ‘Til Next Year (6)

MN Moose Knuckles: Projected… 1465 points
Wait ‘Til Next Year: Projected … 1335 points

GAME LINE: MN Moose Knuckles -130 vs Wait ‘Til Next Year

Lineups:

PG1 – Terry Rozier (32ppg - 3 plays) vs Trae Young (41ppg - 4 plays)
PG2 – Jalen Suggs (22ppg - 4 plays) vs Tyrese Maxey (29ppg - 3 plays)

SG1 – Devin Booker (36ppg - 2 plays ???) vs Kyrie Irving (37ppg - 2 plays)
SG2 – Devin Vassell (21ppg - 2 plays) vs Ayo Dosunmu (27ppg - 3 plays)

SF3 – RJ Barrett (25ppg - 4 plays) vs Will Barton (26ppg - 4 plays)
SF4 – Terance Mann (25 proj. ppg - 4 plays) vs Marcus Morris (23 ppg - 4 plays)

PF1 – Julius Randle (36ppg - 4 plays) vs Jayson Tatum (40ppg - 3 plays)
PF2 – Wendell Carter (31ppg - 3 plays) vs Jaren Jackson Jr. (30ppg - 3 plays)

C1 – Joel Embiid (50ppg - 3 plays) vs Andre Drummond (23ppg - 3 plays)
C1 – Rudy Gobert (41ppg - 4 plays) vs Mason Plumlee (22ppg - 3 plays)

FLEX1 – Bobby Portis (29ppg - 3 plays) vs Oshae Brissett (24 proj. ppg - 3 plays)
FLEX2 – Aleksej Pokusevski (30 proj. ppg - 3 plays) vs Isaiah Stewart (22ppg - 4 plays)
FLEX3 – Jarred Vanderbilt (24ppg - 4 plays) vs Royce O’Neal (21ppg - 4 plays)

FLEX4 – Jae Crowder (22ppg - 4 plays) vs Evan Fournier (21ppg - 4 plays)
FLEX5 – Raul Neto (20 proj. ppg - 1 plays) vs Moses Moody (20ppg - 3 plays)

MN Moose Knuckles: Advantage at 8/14 positions
Wait ‘Til Next Year: Advantage at 6/14 positions

Wait ‘Til Next Year INJURIES: Kyle Lowry (Q - Personal), Anthony Davis (O - Ankle)
MN Moose Knuckles INJURIES: Devin Booker (Q - COVID), Wendell Carter (Q - Illness), Jalen Suggs (Q - Ankle), Raul Neto (Q - Ankle), Cam Johnson (Q - Right Quad Contusion), Devin Vassell (Q - Groin)

Notes: Wait ‘Til Next Year HAS to be salty about the MN Moose Knuckles squeaking in last minute for that Fhima’s gift card and division bonus. But Wait ‘Til Next Year could be even saltier after this week’s matchup. Division Rivalries is the theme of the first round of the playoffs, and these two teams are no exception. They’ve been circling each other for the division win all season long, and now they matchup.

These teams have been heading in different trajectories over the last two weeks. In fact, Wait ‘Til Next Year won a matchup a mere 3 weeks ago. But that was before the Embiid trade. Embiid only has 3 games this week, but that’s 150 points right there. Embiid is almost singlehandedly the difference between the projections.

Looking deeper, Wait ‘Til Next Year has a poor allotment of plays this week. Jayson Tatum, Jaren Jackson and Tyrese Maxey all only have 3 games this week. Trae Young still has 4, and Kyle needs a massive week out of him. Looming larger than you’d think is Kyle Lowry’s mysterious absence from his team. If he doesn’t play this week, Wait ‘Til Next Year is REALLY stretching to find players at the back of his bench.

For the MN Moose Knuckles, the big question is when does Devin Booker come back from the COVID list. Right now, projecting him to miss two and play in two seems prudent, but it could go either way. There are a lot of other injuries on this team too, but they all are minor. Wendell Carter. Jalen Suggs. Devin Vassell. Another sneaky one is Cam Johnson. If Booker misses time, Johnson would be in line to receive some of those minutes. Contrary to his opponent, however, the MN Moose Knuckles have a good bench. They have players to draw from, and the last minute trade for Terance Mann seems to be helping his projection more than one would have thought. The Moose Knuckles just can’t have all of these players missing time.

Win’s Up Doc (4) vs Sporty Strauss (5)

Win’s Up Doc: Projected … 1430 points
Sporty Strauss: Projected… 1505 points
GAME LINE: Win’s Up Doc +75 against Sporty Strauss

Lineups:

PG1 – Luka Doncic (48ppg - 4 plays) vs Mike Conley (26ppg - 4 plays)
PG2 – Dejounte Murray (46ppg - 4 plays) vs Cameron Payne (25+ proj. ppg - 4 plays)

SG1 – Desmond Bane (27ppg - 3 plays) vs DeMar DeRozan (39ppg - 3 plays)
SG2 – Kevin Porter, Jr. (24ppg - 4 plays) vs Derrick White (28ppg - 3 plays)

SF3 – Scottie Barnes (30ppg - 3 plays) vs Brandon Ingram (33ppg - 4 plays)
SF4 – Herbert Jones (23ppg - 4 plays) vs Andrew Wiggins (27ppg - 3 plays)

PF1 – Kristaps Porzingis (34ppg - 2 plays) vs Pascal Siakam (40ppg - 3 plays)
PF2 – LaMarcus Aldridge (22ppg - 3 plays) vs Al Horford (27ppg - 3 plays)

C1 – Jonas Valanciunas (34ppg - 4 plays) vs Giannis Antetekounmpo (51ppg - 3 plays)
C1 – Mo Bamba (26ppg - 4 plays) vs Deandre Ayton (32ppg - 4 plays)

FLEX1 – Jordan Poole (23ppg - 4 plays) vs Franz Wagner (25ppg - 4 plays)
FLEX2 – Brandon Clarke (22ppg - 3 plays) vs Kevin Love (24ppg - 3 plays)
FLEX3 – Malik Monk (21ppg - 4 plays) vs Reggie Jackson (24ppg - 4 plays)

FLEX4 – Kevon Looney (20ppg - 4 plays) vs Alec Burks (21ppg - 4 plays)
FLEX5 – N/A (already hit his plays) vs Chuma Okeke (21ppg - 1 plays)

Win’s Up Doc: Advantage at 2/14 positions
Sporty Strauss: Advantage at 12/14 positions

Win’s Up Doc INJURIES: Jarrett Allen (O - Hand), Dejounte Murray (Q – Calf Contusion), Dennis Schröder (Q - Ankle), Michael Porter, Jr. (O - Back)
Sporty Strauss INJURIES: Ben Simmons (Q for 3/13 – Mental Health), Draymond Green (O - Back), Dillon Brooks (Q - Ankle), Victor Oladipo (P - Knee)

Notes: Win’s Up Doc never thought he’d be in this position – projected to lose his first-round playoff matchup. And the over/under of this matchup is almost 3,000 points. Whoever loses this game likely beats any other team this week. It’s going to be a tough pill to swallow. For Win’s Up Doc, this is his season. With only 3 points in football, he needed a big point total to sneak into contention. Now, he’s in danger of only scoring 7 or 8 points compared to the 15 he was banking on as the presumptive favorite.

For Sporty Strauss, all of this is perfectly clear. Two championships in the first two sports essentially puts the league on ice. It’d make it so he’d clinch the league of leagues with a Consolation BYE in baseball depending on how other teams score. It’d allow him to start preparing for next season in all of his sports. It’s no wonder he’s making moves to win this game.

And whoever wins faces either DTC Porkchop Express’ white flagged team or The Pullies who are banged up and are generally inferior competition. DTC Porkchop Express given up on getting a championship and is content with whatever points he gets. The Pullies aren’t concerned with keeping up with the arms race of the League of Leagues. They have their BYE that could prevent them from getting last, but they don’t stand a chance against these juggernauts of teams.

The game itself could be decided by injuries. The Jarrett Allen injury is just a killer for Win’s Up Doc and swing the line by 45 points. He absolutely needs Murray to play all 4 games this week.

There are some favorable matchups for Doc as well. Jordan Poole and Kevon Looney should crush tomorrow while all the Warriors players are sitting out the front end of a back-to-back. Both Luka and Dejounte have 4 plays this week. Kevin Porter Jr is getting hot and has 4 plays. Kristaps Porzingis could get 3 plays this week and looked great, but odds are they’ll play it conservative in his return.

On the Sporty Strauss side, his depth is unbelievable right now. He has 3 really good players sitting out right now (Draymond, Brooks, Simmons), and he doesn’t really need them. His lineup is laced with competitive starts, and he has a super high floor this week. He could even find some matchups for some of his bench players that are plus. The main downside is that newly-acquired DeMar DeRozan only plays 3 games, so he’s not as much of a game-changer as he could have been.

Strauss will miss a rest day by Wiggins but avoid one from Mike Conley who sat out tonight. And who knows when Devin Booker is back, creating all the opportunity in the world for Cameron Payne to continue dominating that backcourt.

CONSOLATION TOURNAMENT

The BamO’s (9) vs $traight Cash Homie (12)

The BamO’s: Projected … 1360 points
$traight Cash Homie: Projected… 1140 points
GAME LINE: The BamO’s -220 over $traight Cash Homie

Lineups:

PG1 – Steph Curry (40ppg - 3 plays) vs Donovan Mitchell (37ppg - 4 plays)
PG2 – Jrue Holiday (34ppg - 3 plays) vs Tyler Herro (27ppg - 4 plays)

SG1 – CJ McCollum (33ppg - 4 plays) vs Caris LeVert (28ppg - 3 plays)
SG2 – Jalen Brunson (27ppg - 4 plays) vs Gary Harris (17ppg - 4 plays)

SF3 – Josh Hart (29ppg - 4 plays) vs Jae’Sean Tate (24ppg - 4 plays)
SF4 – Bogdan Bogdanovic (23ppg - 4 plays) vs Malik Beasley (17ppg - 4 plays)

PF1 – Miles Bridges (35ppg - 3 plays) vs Robert Covington (22ppg - 4 plays)
PF2 – Kyle Kuzma (31ppg - 3 plays) vs Maxi Kleber (20ppg - 4 plays)

C1 – Bam Adebayo (36ppg - 4 plays) vs Myles Turner (30ppg - 3 plays)
C1 – Daniel Theis (16ppg - 2 plays) vs Jaxson Hayes (16ppg - 4 plays)

FLEX1 – Marcus Smart (26ppg - 2 plays) vs PJ Tucker (19ppg - 4 plays)
FLEX2 – Buddy Hield (22ppg - 3 plays) vs Danilo Gallinari (18ppg - 4 plays)
FLEX3 – Carmelo Anthony (22ppg - 4 plays) vs Cedi Osman (17ppg - 3 plays)

FLEX4 – Davion Mitchell (18ppg - 3 plays) vs Jonathan Kuminga (14ppg - 1 play)
FLEX5 – Duncan Robinson (18ppg - 4 plays) vs N/A (already hit his plays)

The BamO’s: Advantage at 12/14 positions
$traight Cash Homie: Advantage at 1/14 positions

The BamO’s INJURIES: Paul George (O - Shoulder), Jusuf Nurkic (O - Foot), Steph Curry (Q - Rest)
$traight Cash Homie INJURIES: Myles Turner (O - Foot), Zion Williamson (O - Foot), Jonathan Isaac (O - Hand), Bradley Beal (O - Hand), Maxi Kleber (Ankle)

Notes: This will likely be an absolute shellacking. We won’t spend too much time on this, but The BamO’s are projected more points than two playoffs teams. They’re hitting their stride and this is as close to a BYE matchup as you can get. For The BamO’s, Sam should be looking forward to week two and optimizing his lineup for a showdown against the Ornery Otters, the 8th best team in the league of Leagues who sold an asset away last week. The BamO’s are primed to make the Consolation Championship. Maybe PG13 is back by then.

Shepherd Goods Choppers (10) vs Cooper Troopers (11)

Shepherd Goods Choppers: Projected… 1340 points
Cooper Troopers: Projected … 1240 points

GAME LINE: Choppers -100 over Cooper Troopers

Lineups:

PG1 – Tyrese Haliburton (38ppg on IND - 3 plays) vs James Harden (45ppg - 3 plays)
PG2 – S. Dinwiddie (25ppg - 4 plays) vs Devonte’ Graham (21ppg - 4 plays)

SG1 – Fred VanVleet (38ppg - 3 plays) vs Khris Middleton (32ppg - 3 plays)
SG2 – Klay Thompson (25ppg - 4 plays) vs Kevin Huerter (20ppg - 4 plays)

SF3 – Jimmy Butler (40ppg - 4 plays) vs Kelly Oubre (24ppg - 3 plays)
SF4 – Talen Horton-Tucker (18ppg - 4 plays) vs Darius Bazley (22ppg - 3 plays)

PF1 – Tobias Harris (32ppg - 3 plays) vs Christian Wood (33ppg - 4 plays)
PF2 – Kelly Olynyk (20ppg - 3 plays) vs Evan Mobley (31ppg - 3 plays)

C1 – Karl-Anthony Towns (42ppg - 4 plays) vs Nikola Vucevic (40ppg - 3 plays)
C1 – Robert Williams (32ppg - 3 plays) vs Onyeka Okongwu (21ppg - 4 plays)

FLEX1 – Jalen Green (19ppg - 4 plays) vs Richaun Holmes (18ppg - 3 plays)
FLEX2 – Lonnie Walker (17ppg - 4 plays) vs Kyle Anderson (20ppg - 3 plays)
FLEX3 – Isaiah Roby (17ppg - 3 plays) vs Alperen Sengun (19ppg - 4 plays)

FLEX4 – Jeff Green (16ppg - 4 plays) vs Donte DiVincenzo (19ppg on SAC - 3 plays)
FLEX5 – N/A (already hit his plays) vs Javonte Green (17ppg - 2 plays)

Cooper Troopers: Advantage at 9/14 positions
Shepherd Goods Choppers: Advantage at 5/14 positions

Shepherd Goods Choppers INJURIES: Fred Van Vleet (Q - Knee)
Cooper Trooper INJURIES: Damian Lillard (O - Abdomen), Nikola Vucevic (Q - Hamstring), Kevin Huerter (Q - Shoulder)

Notes: This matchup is interesting. A lot relies on the health of Fred Van Vleet. If he doesn’t play, this is as close to an even line as you can get. And his healthy is VERY up in the air.

For the Cooper Troopers, a win puts a lot of distance between him and $traight Cash Homie for last place. The Troopers could still mini-tank in MLB if they win this game, targeting assets that are better for future years than this year. With 6 points in football and a minimum of 3 points in NBA with a win, that’d be a 6-point difference at the minimum between he and Jack. A loss and that drops down to 5 point if he can beat Jack in the loser’s game and only 3 if he loses that dreaded last place game.

For the Shepherd Goods Choppers, a consolation run gives them a chance to compete this year. After getting 4th in NFL, they could sneak into placement with a run.

The winner of this game likely plays Las Cabras who look hot right now. The magic of a Consolation run could end there.

NFL Championship Week Preview

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Las Cabras (2) -8 vs Sporty Strauss (6)

QB1 – Josh Allen (QB1 – ATL) vs Tom Brady (QB3 – @NYJ)
QB2 – Kyler Murray (QB9 – @DAL) vs Trevor Lawrence (QB27 – @NE)

RB1 – David Montgomery (RB5 – NYG) vs Najee Harris (RB8 – CLE - MNF)
RB2 – Darrel Williams (RB15 – @CIN) vs AJ Dillon (RB25 – MIN - SNF)

WR1 – Deebo Samuel (WR4 – HOU) vs Davante Adams (WR2 – MIN - SNF)
WR2 – Jarvis Landry (WR38 – @PIT - MNF) vs Tee Higgins (WR8 – KC)

TE – George Kittle (TE3 – HOU) vs Kyle Pitts (TE9 – @BUF)

FLEX1 – Javonte Williams (RB19 - @LAC) vs Brandin Cooks (WR21 - @SF)
FLEX2 – Chase Edmonds (RB21 – @DAL) vs Jakobi Meyers (WR40 - JAC)

D/ST – Patriots (D1 – JAC) vs Bears (D5– NYG)

Las Cabras: Advantage at 7/10 positions
Sporty Strauss: Advantage at 3/10 positions

It all comes down to this. Both teams are remarkably competent and even. Both teams have one position player ranked outside starter territory (Landry for Las Cabras; Meyers for Sporty Strauss). But the main difference is that QB2 spot. Both Kyler and Lawrence have bad matchups, but Lawrence has been awful all season long. Other than that position, you can go down the line and and find even players between both teams.

The place where Sporty Strauss could have an edge is his WR2. Tee Higgins has been unreal lately and is firmly a top-10 WR at this point. Another big game from Higgins is the best way to make up the ground lost from Kyler to Lawrence.

Las Cabras is starting the Pats D against Trevor Lawrence, but that could very well be where this game is won or lost. If Lawrence can only be not horrible, Sporty Strauss has an excellent chance to win 15 points in the League of Leagues. Otherwise, he’ll be going home with 12 points. This 3-point difference is huge.

3rd-Place Game

The BamO’s (1) -17 vs Shepherd Goods Choppers (5)

QB1 – Aaron Rodgers (QB4 – MIN - SNF) vs Patrick Mahomes (QB2 – @CIN)
QB2 – Russell Wilson (QB13 – DET) vs Jalen Hurts (QB6 – @WAS)

RB1 – Dalvin Cook (RB4 – @GB - SNF) vs Cordarrelle Patterson (RB22 – @BUF)
RB2 – Aaron Jones (RB11 – MIN - SNF) vs Dontrell Hilliard (RB49 – MIA)

WR1 – Diontae Johnson (WR9 - CLE) vs Hunter Renfrow (WR16 – @IND)
WR2 – Michael Gallup (WR36 - ARI) vs Cole Beasley (WR56 – ATL)

TE – Evan Engram (TE20 – @TEN - TNF) vs Zach Ertz (TE7 – @DAL)

FLEX1 – Josh Jacobs (RB12 - @IND) vs Hunter Henry (TE10 – JAC)
FLEX2 – Boston Scott (RB30 – @WAS) vs Zay Jones (WR53 – @IND)

D/ST – Colts (D7 – LV) vs Rams (D12 – @BAL)

The BamO’s: Advantage at 7/10 positions
Shepherd Goods Choppers: Advantage at 3/10 positions

The SG Choppers are in rough shape. Injuries have destroyed this team, leaving Way Jones in this starting lineup. 8 players that have seen time for him this season are on IR, and that’s impossible to overcome. The BamO’s are a clear favorite in this matchup even with a weak second FLEX and TE. Expect Sam to get 10 points in this game unless Mahomes and Hurts go banana sandwiches.

CONSOLATION CHAMPIONSHIP

Wait ‘Til Next Year (10) +9 at Cooper Troopers (9)

QB1 – Justin Herbert (QB7 – DEN) vs Dak Prescott (QB8 – ARI)
QB2 – Mac Jones (QB18 – JAC) vs Tua Tagovailoa (QB15 – @TEN)

RB1 – Ronald Jones (RB9 – @NYJ) vs Rashaad Penny (RB16 – DET)
RB2 – Dare Ogunbowale (RB28 – @NE) vs D’Andre Swift (RB18 – @SEA)

WR1 – Antonio Brown (WR7 – @NYJ) vs Cooper Kupp (WR1 – @BAL)
WR2 – CeeDee Lamb (WR12 – WAS) vs Amari Cooper (WR19 – ARI)

TE – Foster Moreau (TE16 – @IND) vs Travis Kelce (TE2 – @CIN)

FLEX1 – DeVante Parker (WR32 – @TEN) vs Tyler Boyd (WR34 – KC)
FLEX2 – Rex Burkhead (RB29 – @SF) vs Marvin Jones (WR48 – @NE)

D/ST – Saints (D3 – CAR) vs 49ers (D6 – HOU)

Wait ‘Til Next Year: Advantage at 7/10 positions
$traight Cash Homies: Advantage at 3/10 positions

This is excellent Consolation Championship matchup! Both teams have good rosters with some shrewd pickups that will play big roles in the outcome. For Wait ‘Til Next Year, getting a starting player like Dare Ogunbbowale in week 17 is a boon. There are certainly holes on this roster, but it looks light years ahead of the team’s quality a month ago. For the Cooper Troopers, this is the type of team he envisioned when his started the season.

This is a fun matchup to look up and down. Herbert vs Dak. Mac vs Tua. Lamb vs Amari Cooper. The Cooper Troopers really need a big game from Travis Kelce, and that might be the difference in what should be anticipated as a close matchup.

$traight Cash Homie (7) +16 vs Win’s Up Doc (8)

QB1 – Sean Mannion (QB30 – @GB - SNF) vs Andy Dalton (QB28 – NYG)
QB2 – Tim Boyle (QB – @SEA - QB31) vs Courtland Sutton (WR44 – @LAC)

RB1 – Sony Michel (RB10 – @BAL) vs Austin Ekeler (RB3 – DEN)
RB2 – Justin Jackson (RB43 – DEN) vs Ezekiel Elliott (RB13 – ARI)

WR1 – Tyreek Hill (WR3 – @CIN) vs Tyler Lockett (WR15 – DET)
WR2 – Ja’Marr Chase (WR11 – KC) vs Darnell Mooney (WR31 – NYG)

TE – Dawson Knox (TE6 – ATL) vs Gerald Everett (TE13 – DET)

FLEX1 – Michael Pittman (WR20 – LV) vs Elijah Mitchell (RB20 – HOU)
FLEX2 – Marquez Valdes-Scantling (WR39 – MIN - SNF) (WR39 – MIN - SNF) vs Saquon Barkley (RB23 – @CHI)

D/ST – Browns (D16 – @PIT - SNF) vs Bills (D4 – ATL)

$traight Cash Homie: Advantage at4/10 positions
Win’s Up Doc: Advantage at 6/10 positions

This might be the worst QB matchup in League of Leagues history. Sean Mannion/Tim Boyle vs Andy Dalton is so gross. Beyond that, this matchup lives or dies with the perceived strength of Win’s Up Doc’s 4 stud running backs. 4 RBs in the top-24 is a lot, and they consistently outmatch Jack’s bad backfield situation. But $traight Cash Homie’s WRs are stellar and should make a game of this.

With Jack’s QB pickups, this could be another tight matchup in the last week of League of Leagues NFL.

NFL Round 2 Preview

LAST-PLACE MATCHUP

MN Moose Knuckles (11) -17 vs The Pullies (12)

QB1 – Taysom Hill (QB12 – MIA - MNF) vs Joe Burrow (QB11 – BAL)
QB2 – Taylor Heinicke (QB24 – @DAL - SNF) vs Carson Wentz (QB22 – @ARI)

RB1 – Nick Chubb (RB3 – @GB - Sat) vs Devonta Freeman (RB30 – @CIN)
RB2 – Duke Johnson (RB36 – @NO - MNF) vs Mike Davis (RB40 – DET)

WR1 – DK Metcalf (WR16 – CHI) vs Justin Jefferson (WR3 – LAR)
WR2 – Amon-Ra St. Brown (WR21 – @ATL) vs Stefon Diggs (WR10 – @NE)

TE – Mark Andrews (TE3 – @CIN) vs Rob Gronkowski (TE4 – @CAR)

FLEX1 – Christian Kirk (WR25 – IND - Sat) Odell Beckham Jr (WR29 – @MIN
FLEX2 – Dalton Schultz (TE9 – WAS) vs Nyheim Hines (RB56 – @ARI - Sat)

D/ST – Chiefs (D4 – PIT) vs Broncos (D12 – @LV)

MN Moose Knuckles: Advantage at 5/10 positions
The Pullies: Advantage at 5/10 positions

A last-place matchup for the ages. The Pullies and the MN Moose Knuckles, the worst teams in the League of Leagues. Each team made terrible, awful, woeful decisions in the draft and have lived with those consequence for the entirety of their existence in the League of Leagues. Their seasons started out as disasters, and have continued on that way (except a fun last month of the regular season for The Pullies). When it’s all said and done, one of these teams deserves last place. And one of them will get it in a war of attrition and absolute fantasy football disaster. The rest of the League of Leagues looks down on them with awe in their ineptitude, and warm, fuzzy, Christmas feelings about how the other ten teams aren’t last. But either The Pullies or the MN Moose Knuckles will go down in League of Leagues history as the very first team to lose a league, and they’ll have to bear that mark of shame for the rest of their tenure.

PLAYOFFS

The BamO’s (1) -3 vs Sporty Strauss (6)

QB1 – Aaron Rodgers (QB5 – CLE - Sat) vs Tom Brady (QB7 – @CAR)
QB2 – Russell Wilson (QB13 – CHI) vs Trevor Lawrence (QB27 – @NYJ)

RB1 – Dalvin Cook (RB3 – LAR) vs Najee Harris (RB7 – @KC)
RB2 – Aaron Jones (RB13 – CLE - Sat) vs Antonio Gibson (RB11 – @DAL)

WR1 – Diontae Johnson (WR7 – @KC) vs Davante Adams (WR2 – CLE - Sat)
WR2 – Michael Gallup (WR36 – WAS - SNF) vs Tee Higgins (WR11 – BAL)

TE – Evan Engram (TE21 – TEN) vs Kyle Pitts (TE8 – DET)

FLEX1 – Josh Jacobs (RB14 – DEN) vs Jakobi Meyers (WR46 – LAC)
FLEX2 – Melvin Gordon (RB19 - @LV) vs AJ Dillon (RB25 – CLE)

D/ST – Colts (D15 – @ARI - Sat) vs Dolphins (D19 – @NO)

DTC Porkchop Express: Advantage at 5/10 positions
Sporty Strauss: Advantage at 5/10 positions

The BamO’s INJURIES: Mike Evans (D - Hamstring), Julio Jones (D - Hamstring), Alexander Mattison (O - COVID), TJ Hockenson (IR)
Sporty Strauss INJURIES: Brandin Cooks (Q - COVID), Elijah Moore (IR), Kadarious Toney (Q - COVID), Chris Carson (IR)

A three-point line in a semi-final matchup!? It doesn’t get better than that! All things considered, Sporty Strauss has to feel encouraged by this draw. The BamO’s two QBs have a broken toe or are struggling immensely, but one of Sporty Strauss’ QBs is struggling more than maybe any other starting QB. Strauss continues to win in spite of Trevor Lawrence, and Tom Brady just lost all his top pass-catching options. This isn’t a bad draw for The BamO’s as well.

This matchup likely comes down to the running backs. The BamO’s finally get to use their new 1-2-3 punch of Dalvin Cook, Aaron Jones and Josh Jacobs, but Strauss also counters with 3 top-25 running backs this week.

Each of these teams have also lost a WR (likely) this week. COVID claimed Brandin Cooks, and with a bench filled with defenses and backup QBs, Strauss doesn’t have great backup options. Michael Gallup isn’t a terrible replacement for Mike Evans, but Sam needs his best players available with a mortgaged future.

One thing that’s confusing: why do both of these teams have low-ranked defenses. The BamO’s had the BYE to think ahead and make moves for a better defense or two, while Strauss has 4 defenses on his roster. One of these teams likely get lucky with the D, but neither team should expect much from the D/ST. And there should be no “D/ST brags” after this matchup.

Las Cabras (2) +2 vs Shepherd Goods Choppers (5)

QB1 – Josh Allen (QB3 – NE) vs Patrick Mahomes (QB2 – PIT)
QB2 – Kyler Murray (QB4 – IND - SAT) vs Jalen Hurts (QB8 – @WAS)

RB1 – David Montgomery (RB9 – @SEA) vs Cordarrelle Patterson (RB6 – DET)
RB2 – Javonte Williams (RB10 – @LV) vs James Robinson (RB8 – @NYJ)

WR1 – Deebo Samuel (WR5 – @TEN - TNF) vs Hunter Renfrow (WR13 – DEN)
WR2 – Mike Williams (WR22 – @HOU) vs Adam Thielen (WR18 – LAR)

TE – George Kittle (TE1 – @TEN - TNF) vs Zach Ertz (TE6 – IND - Sat)

FLEX1 – Hollywood Brown (WR20 – @CIN) vs Jamison Crowder (WR45 – JAC)
FLEX2 – Chase Claypool (WR37 – @KC) vs Craig Reynolds (RB40 – @ATL)

D/ST – Cowboys (D1 – WAS - SNF) vs Rams (D13 – @MIN)

Las Cabras: Advantage at 6/10 positions
Shepherd Goods Choppers: Advantage at 4/10 positions

Las Cabras INJURIES: Kareem Hunt (Q - COVID/Ankle), Jarvis Landry (Q - COVID, Sam Darnold (Q)
Shepherd Goods Choppers INJURIES: Adam Thielen (P - Ankle), Cole Beasley (O - COVID), JD McKissic (IR - Concussion) Christian McCaffrey (IR), Corey Davis (IR), Kenyan Drake (IR), Mark Ingram (IR), Deonte Harris (S), DJ Chark (IR)

Another less-than 3pt line in the battle of the QBs! 4 top-8 QBs this week play in this game and will likely make up a significant portion of the points for each team. And while Las Cabras have the best roster in the League of Leagues, that is built on three premises. (1) That they have better QBs than the opposing team, which isn’t necessarily true with the matchups this week. And (2) that they have the depth to withstand any injuries. And (3) they’ll have superhuman performances from George Kittle.

The Shepherd Goods Choppers simply have EXCELLENT matchups this week all across the board, and Las Cabras should have a little bit of fear hanging in their balls. Somehow, the Shepherd Goods Choppers are FAVORED in this matchup with Cordarelle, James Robinson, Jamison Crowder and Craig Reynolds each being immensely playable assets this week.

Don’t crown Cabras kings yet. Dye has something yet to say about it.

5TH-PLACE GAME

DTC Porkchop Express (3) +16 vs Sporty Strauss (6)

QB1 – Jimmy Garoppolo (QB15 – @TEN - TNF) vs Matthew Stafford (QB6 – @MIN)
QB2 – Ryan Tannehill (QB20 – SF - TNF) vs Jared Goff (QB25 – @ATL) / Tyler Huntley (@CIN)

RB1 – Alvin Kamara (RB5 – MIA - MNF) vs Jonathan Taylor (RB1 – @ARI)
RB2 – Joe Mixon (RB28 – BAL) vs Devin Singletary (RB29 – @NE)

WR1 – Keenan Allen (WR6 – @HOU) vs Terry McLaurin (WR21 – @DAL)
WR2 – Jaylen Waddle (WR14 – @NO - MNF) vs AJ Brown (WR25 – SF - TNF)

TE – Jonnu Smith (TE27 – BUF) vs Dallas Goedert (TE7 – NYG)

FLEX1 – Jeff Wilson (RB24 – @TEN - TNF) vs Jerry Jeudy (WR41 - @LV)
FLEX2 – Brandon Aiyuk (WR28 – @TEN - TNF) vs Chubba Hubbard (RB36 – TB)

D/ST – Chargers (D7 – @HOU) vs Buccaneers (D2 – @CAR)

DTC Porkchop Express: Advantage at 6/10 positions
Ornery Otters: Advantage at 4/10 positions

DTC Porkchop Express INJURIES: Michael Carter (Q - COVID)
Ornery Otters INJURIES: AJ Brown (Q), Chris Godwin (IR), Michael Thomas (IR) Jameis Winston (IR), DeAndre Hopkins (IR), Damien Harris (Q)

This feels like cruel punishment to make these teams play a 5th place game when they got their hearts shattered by poor performances last week. Now they drag their banged up rosters to battle over a difference in 1-point in the season-long tally. Hopefully, the winner feels a little bit better about their teams going forward.

CONSOLATION TOURNAMENT

Wait ‘Til Next Year (10) -22 at $traight Cash Homie (7)

QB1 – Justin Herbert (QB1 – @HOU) vs Kirk Cousins (QB13 – LAR)
QB2 – Matt Ryan (QB21 – DET) vs Sony Michel (RB23 – @MIN)

RB1 – Ronald Jones (RB11 – @CAR) vs James Conner (RB17 – IND - SAT)
RB2 – Clyde Edwards-Helaire (RB16 – @LAC) vs Miles Sanders (RB20 – NYG)

WR1 – CeeDee Lamb (WR8 – WAS) vs Ja’Marr Chase (WR9 – BAL)
WR2 – Antonio Brown (WR14 – @CAR) vs Michael Pittman (WR19 – @ARI)

TE – Foster Moreau (TE26 – @DEN) vs Dawson Knox (TE5 – @NE)

FLEX1 – DeVante Parker (WR31 – @NO - MNF) vs Russell Gage (WR27 – DET)
FLEX2 – Gabriel Davis (WR33 – @NE) vs Tyreek Hill (WR4 – PIT) / Darrell Henderson (RB31 – @MIN)

D/ST – Saints (D5 – MIA) vs Ravens (D23 – @CIN)

Wait ‘Til Next Year: Advantage at 8/10 positions
$traight Cash Homies: Advantage at 2/10 positions

On their League of Leagues bingo card, who had Wait ‘Til Next Year’s (previously) sorry-ass squad with the highest projected spread in any playoff game? It’s a shocking turnaround led by smart roster moves and some a deep bench. Ronald Jones and Antonio Brown stepping into 1A roles at each position on the Buccaneers is the prime reason for this spread. Expect Wait ‘Til Next Year to roll over the likely Lamar-less $traight Cash Homies roster.

The winner plays for the Consolation victory. The loser plays for 9th or 10th place.

Cooper Troopers (9) -5 at Win’s Up Doc (8)

QB1 – Dak Prescott (QB9 – WAS - SNF) vs Justin Fields (QB16 – @SEA)
QB2 – Tua Tagovailoa (QB17 – @NO) vs Cam Newton (QB23 – TB)

RB1 – Rashaad Penny (RB20 – CHI) vs Ezekiel Elliott (RB14 – WAS)
RB2 – Jamaal Williams (RB36 – @ATL) vs Saquon Barkley (RB18 – @PHI)

WR1 – Cooper Kupp (WR1 – MIN) vs Tyler Lockett (WR12 – CHI)
WR2 – Amari Cooper (WR26 – WAS - SNF) vs Darnell Mooney (WR34 – @SEA)

TE – Travis Kelce (TE2 – PIT) vs Gerald Everett (TE17 – CHI)

FLEX1 – Marvin Jones (WR45 – @NYJ) vs Austin Ekeler / Joshua Kelley (RB8 – @HOU)
FLEX2 – Myles Gaskin (RB39 – @NO - MNF) vs Courtland Sutton (WR51 – @LV)

D/ST – Eagles (D2 – NYG) vs Packers (D6 – CLE - Sat)

Cooper Troopers: Advantage at 7/10 positions
Win’s Up Doc: Advantage at 3/10 positions

Cooper Troopers INJURIES: Travis Kelce (Q - COVID), Harrison Butker (Q - COVID), D’Andre Swift (D), Emmanuel Sanders (D)
The Pullies: Leonard Fournette (IR), Tyler Higbee (Q - COVID), Baker Mayfield (Q - COVID)

COVID is hitting these teams hard. Kelce and Ekeler’s presence or absence looms large on each side of this matchup. However, Coop still has 2 rock solid starting QBs whereas Win’s Up Doc’s QBs are playing poorly or don’t even have a guaranteed snap share. Luckily, the Cooper Troopers have Cooper Kupp starting against one of the worst secondaries in the league. Coop should be favored in this game by more than the line suggests, and might prevent himself from finishing in last place, which is all he cares about.

The winner plays for the Consolation victory. The loser plays for 9th or 10th place.

NFL Round 1 Preview

DTC Porkchop Express (3) -1 vs Sporty Strauss (6)

QB1 – Jimmy Garoppolo (QB16 – ATL) vs Tom Brady (QB3 – NO - SNF)
QB2 – Ryan Tannehill (QB20 – @PIT) vs Trevor Lawrence (QB28 – HOU)

RB1 – Alvin Kamara (RB4 – @TB) vs Najee Harris (RB8 – TEN)
RB2 – Joe Mixon (RB10 – @DEN) vs Antonio Gibson (RB12 – @PHI)

WR1 – Keenan Allen (WR13 – KC) vs Davante Adams (WR2 – @BAL)
WR2 – Brandon Aiyuk (WR28 – ATL) vs Tee Higgins (WR17 – @DEN)

TE – Pat Freiermuth (TE8 – TEN) vs Kyle Pitts (TE10 – @SF)

FLEX1 – Aaron Jones (RB13 – @BAL) vs AJ Dillon (RB23 – @BAL)
FLEX2 – Michael Carter (RB36 - @MIA) / DJ Moore ( vs Brandin Cooks (WR23 – @JAX)

D/ST – Cardinals (D3 – @DET) vs Dolphins (D1 – NYJ)

DTC Porkchop Express: Advantage at 5/10 positions
Sporty Strauss: Advantage at 5/10 positions

DTC Porkchop Express INJURIES: Jaylen Waddle (WR20 – NYJ), Aaron Jones (Q - MCL), DJ Moore (Q - Hamstring)
Sporty Strauss INJURIES: Tee Higgins (Q - Ankle), Elijah Moore (IR), Kadarious Toney (Q - COVID), Chris Carson (IR)

A dead-draw for what is surely the most anticipated matchup of the entire season. These teams played each other twice this season, each with a win. Now they square off one last time (in NFL) with all the chips on the line.

QB advantages are split – with DTC having two mid-tier QBs and Strauss having one good and one bad. DTC has the edge at RB, but not by some crazy amount. Kamara, Mixon and Jones are one helluva hydra that’s for sure. WR goes to Strauss. Adams and Cooks have been consistent all season, and Higgins has come around as of late. TE is a cute matchup between two excellent rookie TEs, though Pitts has been a disappointment. To top it all off, these two teams have 2 of the top-3 ranked defenses of the week.

Injuries weren’t a massive factor this week until Waddle caught COVID. That moved the line a couple of points, and puts multiple players in Craig’s lineup that have health concerns. Both squads deserve to be in the playoffs, but only one can advance with much on the line for season-long play. If DTC Porkchop Express wins this game, they are the odds-on favorite to win it all. If Sporty Strauss wins, he will be favored 2nd or 3rd.

Ornery Otters (4) +9 vs Shepherd Goods Choppers (5)

QB1 – Matthew Stafford (QB8 – SEA) vs Patrick Mahomes (QB5 – @LAC - TNF)
QB2 – Jared Goff (ARI) vs Jalen Hurts (QB9 – @WAS)

RB1 – Jonathan Taylor (RB3 – NE - SAT) vs Cordarrelle Patterson (RB9 – @SF)
RB2 – Chubba Hubbard (RB30 – @BUF) vs James Robinson (RB22 – HOU)

WR1 – Chris Godwin (WR7 – NO) vs Hunter Renfrow (WR16 – @CLE - SAT)
WR2 – Terry McLaurin (INJ) (WR25 – @PHI) vs Cole Beasley (WR38 – CAR)

TE – Dallas Goedert (TE11 – WAS) vs Zach Ertz (TE10 – @DET)

FLEX1 – Van Jefferson (WR27 – SEA) vs Jamison Crowder (WR48 – @MIA)
FLEX2 – Damien Harris (RB34 – @IND) – Jerry Jeudy (WR36 - CIN) vs Dontrell Hilliard (RB37 @PIT) / Adam Thielen INJ (WR47 – @CHI - MNF)

D/ST – Buccaneers (D6 – NO) vs Steelers (D20 – TEN)

Ornery Otters: Advantage at 6/10 positions
Shepherd Goods Choppers: Advantage at 4/10 positions

Ornery Otters INJURIES: Terry McLaurin (Q - Concussion), AJ Brown (IR), DeAndre Hopkins (IR) Damien Harris (Q - Hamstring), Tony Pollard (Q - Foot), Michael Thomas (IR), Jameis Winston (IR)
Shepherd Goods Choppers INJURIES: Adam Thielen (D - Ankle), James Robinson (P - Knee/Heel), JD McKissic (Q - Concussion), Jalen Hurts (P - Ankle), Christian McCaffrey (IR), Corey Davis (IR), Kenyan Drake (IR), Mark Ingram (IR), Deonte Harris (S), DJ Chark IR

This has officially become the #InjuryBowl. Long laundry lists mar the rosters on both sides of this contest, somehow making Shepherd Goods Choppers the favorite. THAT is the power of an excellent QB duo in the League of Leagues. It doesn’t get much better than Mahomes-Hurts in terms of fantasy QBs – only Las Cabras have it better. And that is Jordan’s clear edge. Stafford and particularly Goff don’t quite cut it as good QB options in the League of Leagues playoffs.

However, the Ornery Otters have Jonathan Taylor on the other side, one of the scariest players to play against. However, a bad matchup for JT puts his whole week in doubt. Without a stellar performance from his MVP, the Otters might bead dead in the water with the injuries that have absolutely destroyed his WR position.

Jordan is just a player down in this matchup. With Emmanuel Sanders out, Cole Beasley is an excellent play this week. Jamison Crowder isn’t the end of the world if Thielen is trending downward. McKissic would even be an okay fill-in, but Dye could certainly be better. No team is in better position to make a little trade this week other than potentially Korey, who needs QBs and some injury fill-ins to stay alive and fight another day when hopefully his team is a little bit healthier.

CONSOLATION MATCHUPS

Cooper Troopers (9) -11 vs The Pullies (12)

QB1 – Dak Prescott (QB7 – @NYG) vs Joe Burrow (QB13 – @DEN)
QB2 – Tua Tagovailoa (QB15 – NYJ) vs Carson Wentz (QB22 – NE)

RB1 – Jamaal Williams (RB34 – ARI) vs Leonard Fournette (RB7 – NO - SNF)
RB2 – Rashaad Penny (RB26 – @LAR) vs Devonta Freeman (RB24 – GB)

WR1 – Cooper Kupp (WR1 – SEA) vs Justin Jefferson (@CHI - MNF)
WR2 – Amari Cooper (WR18 – @NYG) vs Stefon Diggs (CAR)

TE – Travis Kelce (TE2 – @LAC) vs Rob Gronkowski (TE3 – NO)

FLEX1 – Marvin Jones (WR45 – HOU) vs Mike Davis (RB35 – @SF)
FLEX2 – Rashod Bateman (WR52 – GB) vs Ty Johnson (RB45 – @MIA)

D/ST – 49ers (D10 – ATL) vs Saints (D22 – @TB)

Cooper Troopers: Advantage at 6/10 positions
The Pullies: Advantage at 4/10 positions

In the Consolation playoffs, we’ll pay a little bit more attention to what’s a stake than the matchup itself. For the Cooper Troopers this all comes down to not getting last place. A loss here and he becomes the far-and-away favorite for last place in the League of Leagues. For The Pullies, this is all about giving themselves a chance to compete. The Pullies feel like the Vikings or the Bears right now – perpetually in the middle of the league. They have enough young players to be average in NFL and the vets to compete in NBA, but they’ll just never be bad enough to draft great talent and never good enough to actually compete.

Right now, The Pullies just have no depth, whereas Cooper Troopers have some. The OBJ COVID situation has put The Pullies’ chances of winning in serious jeopardy, because they don’t have replacements. If only The Pullies were willing to make a fair trade throughout the course of this season. The only trade they’ve made so far is for Gus Edwards, so they’ve likely become cowards after that move.

Wait ‘Til Next Year (10) +4 vs MN Moose Knuckles (11)

QB1 – Justin Herbert (QB2 – KC) vs Taysom Hill (QB10 – @TB)
QB2 – Matt Ryan (QB25 – SF) vs Teddy Bridgewater (QB23 – CIN)

RB1 – Clyde Edwards-Helaire (@LAC) vs Nick Chubb (LV – SAT)
RB2 – Royce Freeman (RB41 – @JAC) vs Alex Collins (@LAR)

WR1 – CeeDee Lamb (WR9 – @NYG) vs DK Metcalf (@LAR)
WR2 – DeVante Parker (WR28 – NYJ) vs KJ Osborn (@CHI – MNF)

TE – Foster Moreau (TE24 – @CLE – SAT) vs Mark Andrews (TE4 – GB)

FLEX1 – Gabriel Davis (WR47 – CAR) vs Christian Kirk (@DET)
FLEX2 – Kenny Golladay (WR56 – DAL) vs Allen Robinson (MIN – MNF) / Dalton Schultz (@NYG)

D/ST – Vikings (D9 – @CHI) vs Chiefs (D14 – @LAC)

Wait ‘Til Next Year: Advantage at 7/10 positions
MN Moose Knuckles: Advantage at 3/10 positions

This game is massive for Kyle and doesn’t mean a whole lot for the MN Moose Knuckles. If Kyle wins this and has a chance to compete for 5 or 6 points in NFL, he’s the favorite. If he loses and could score 0 in NFL like the quality of his team actually deserves, that leaves a wide, wide opening for DTC Porkchop Express, Sporty Strauss, The BamO’s, Ornery Otters and potentially a mystery team!

For the Moose Knuckles, they might prefer not to take last, but their NBA team will be responsible for keeping them out of the gutter. If he wanted to, Hall could make some moves to improve what is by far the worst keeper situation in the League of Leagues so far. But he’s just going to get better value after this week.

Kyle made a savvy move to pick up Royce Freeman for a measly $2, a move any team could have made. Instead, teams like DTC Porkchop Express, Ornery Otters, BamO’s and Doc are leaving $30+ on the table in a league where little moves like this can play a huge role in season-long scoring. Not to mention The Pullies, who have multiple owners, left $93 on the table and have won of the worst keeper situations.

As always, dividends are paid in fantasy sports to teams that do the research whether or not the waiver wire is thick or thin. Kyle spent his final $2 on a player who can contribute, and it’s a move that could potentially win him the league or help his placement in the top-4. If he does, you only have yourselves to blame for not making or preventing moves like this.