The regular season has ended, folks. Say goodbye to Rocky Mountain High and Danger Zaun. RMH slipped behind the Rookies in the points race and lost the tiebreaker for the final playoff berth. The other team at 8-10 was the Fresh Fish, who finished the regular season third in points. Meanwhile, DZ took over first place in the points race but won't participate in the postseason. It's been a strange 18 weeks, gang.
Playoff matchups
1. Ryan's Rangers vs. 8. Rookies
2. E-3 vs. 7. Fresh Fish
3. Pitch You Blockhead vs. 6. Misfits
4. Arbitration Losers vs. 5. Tanana in the Tailpipe
1. Danger Zaun (3,083 points, 7-11, last week 2): These guys finally put together a good week late in the season (199 points), but it was too late to matter. We wonder whether the DZ pitchers on the disabled list (J. Fernandez, Cashner, Garcia, Alvarez) are better than the healthy DZ pitchers (Strasburg, Bailey, Wheeler, Morton).
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Can Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu lead the Fresh Fish
to an upset win in the first round of the playoffs? Would it
really be an upset? After all, the Fish have the most points
of any playoff team. |
2. Fresh Fish (3,067 points, 8-10, last week 3): Congratulations, Rick! You barely made the playoffs, and your reward is a matchup against E-3. And since E-3 is the No. 2 seed, you'll have to win both weeks in the first-round matchup to advance. Can Clayton Kershaw pitch every day?
3. Ryan's Rangers (3,016 points, 11-7, last week 4): Bill's team was the only one of the four previously 10-7 teams to win this week. Thus, Bill gets the No. 1 playoff seed. The Rangers got 23 points from Anthony Rendon and 18 from Adeiny Hechavarria (yes, really) to beat Arbitration Losers.
4. E-3 (3,006 points, 10-8, last week 1): A disastrous 109-point week led to Adam's team tumbling 4 spots in the rankings. E-3 gets a tough first-round matchup against the dangerous Fresh Fish, and the starting rotation suddenly looks wobbly. Josh Beckett, Joe Kelly and A.J. Burnett combined for 7 points in 5 starts. Matt Cain is on the DL, and Jason Hammel has imploded.
5. Arbitration Losers (2,964 points, 10-8, last week 5): Tim's team lost more than a single matchup this week. It looks like AL will finish the season without Cliff Lee, who's out with more arm trouble. Good thing Jacob deGrom has stepped up into ace-like shoes. Tim will need more of that in his first-round matchup against the tough pitching staff of Tanana in the Tailpipe.
6. Tanana in the Tailpipe (2,947 points, 9-9, last week 6): Matt's team posted an easy win against Rocky Mountain High in the regular season's final week and will draw Arbitration Losers in the first round of the playoffs. Matt will rely heavily on Adam Wainwright and Cole Hamels, especially with his outfield continuing to disappoint.
7. Pitch You Blockhead (2,923 points, 10-8, last week 7): Scott's team has the No. 3 seed for the playoffs and will need Jay Bruce, Martin Prado and Marcell Ozuna to produce more if PYB is to advance past the surging Misfits. Look for those double-start weeks from Zack Greinke and Jeff Samardzija, too.
8. Misfits (2,860 points, 9-9, last week 8): Reid's team busted through the 200-point barrier this week and got double-digit efforts from every player except Francisco Rodriguez. Don't fall asleep on the Misfits — this is a dangerous team to face in the postseason.
9. Rookies (2,821 points, 8-10, last week 10): The Rookies made a late charge to make the postseason, but it's going to be a tough duel against Ryan's Rangers without Paul Goldschmidt around. It's going to be up to the Braves to carry the load for Henry's team, which must win each of the next two weeks to advance.
10. Rocky Mountain High (2,770 points, 8-10, last week 9): Injuries to Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez doomed Jon's team, and the continued awfulness of Pedro Alvarez and Dan Haren sure didn't help.
