Week 22: Playoff Preview

Arthur evacuated from Hurricane Irma to Atlanta this weekend and took in a Braves game while he was here. Welcome to Atlanta

It’s over, it’s finally over. No not Irma. Irma is taking down power lines in Georgia and flooding Michael’s home again…sigh…no it’s the regular season that’s over. It was an incredible final week of the season that literally came down to the Sunday night game to determine who would be getting into the playoffs. Dean was sitting pretty most of the week putting a smack down on Max, but Max had a big weekend and took enough categories from Dean to make it interesting. On Sunday morning it was looking like Arthur and Michael were the ones on the bubble but both had a big day Sunday to lock in their playoff spot. Cory played his heart out and had some big numbers in the first half of the week, but was just not enough to spoil Michael’s season. Arthur and Dave’s matchup was nothing to marvel at, both hit less than .260 with a combined 15 HRs, but Arthur had just good enough pitching to win enough categories to make Dave start his pitcher late Sunday. Dean needed his Francisco Lindor to get 2 RBIs without striking out and Zach Britton to get a win or a save, Dave just needed 3 pitching strikeouts and either a win from his Trevor Bauer or Dean not to get his things to happen. In the end, Dean came up a bit short on the night. His dream first half of the season coming crashing down at the end. He played a very tough schedule which robbed him of a number of points along the way.

TOTAL			HITTING			PITCHING				Manager	Team
1	Brian/Josh	3.71	1	Dean	2.75	1	Michael	2.83		Max	Poorly* Managed
2	Michael	3.93	2	Brian/Josh	3.38	2	Dave	3.33		Dean	Bitter Ender
3	Dean	4.36	3	Arthur	3.63	3	Brian/Josh	4.17		Arthur	PURE DOMINATION
4	Arthur	4.71	4	Michael	4.75	4	Matt	4.83		Paul	South Florida Gators
5	Max	5.57	5	Max	5.13	5	Cory	5.83		Dave	I Hate Fantasy
6	Dave	5.71	6	Keith	5.63	6	Max	6.17		Cory	Hebrew Nationals
7	Cory	6.29	7	Cory	6.63	7	Arthur	6.17		Keith	Bourbon Street Blues
8	Keith	6.29	8	Paul	7.25	8	Dean	6.50		Brian/Josh	Smoak Ish
9	Matt	6.57	9	Dave	7.50	9	Paul	7.00		Matt	615 for the win
10	Paul	7.14	10	Matt	7.88	10	Keith	7.17		Michael	Pic'em Pelham'ed

Brian and Josh ended up winning the Power Rankings this year. A strong 17 HRs and 2.75 ERA was enough to re-overtake Michael who had to chase Cory with streaming pitchers all week. Congratulation team, don’t BJ it up these next two weeks. On the strength of schedule side, Max roared back to take the toughest schedule crown…by far. Michael had the second toughest schedule and then Dean was the only other team with a strength of schedule power ranking better than 5.0. Yeah, Max caught the brunt of it this year. Thanks for taking one for the team.

This week we’ll preview the Championship Bracket and then next week we'll talk about the Bourbon Street Championship teams.

Brian and Josh have the number one seed heading into the playoffs this year. The team peaked in the power rankings in week 14 after a very good June and first part of July. Around that time, Jose Altuve, Jose Abreu, Jose Ramirez, Edwin Encarnacion, and Corey Seager were all clicking. Things were good. Things have cooled off since then but this team still has plenty of offensive firepower to break out any given week. Pitching has been their weakness all year, instead they often live vicariously through streaming Starting Pitchers, some times better than others. Their best move on the year was the addition of Justin Smoak fairly early in his breakout, he has been one of the few breakout hitters that has kept it going. For BJ to make a run in the playoffs they will need an offensive breakout and good streaming. They are a strong contender.

Dave, as the blog has been very vocal about, has not had the greatest season, so we won’t harp on him here….after we point out that Max beat him in the power rankings. Boom. A number of Dave’s keepers such as Carlos Correa and draft picks such as Jonathan Lucroy either got hurt or just didn’t pan out, but he does have a very good pitching staff. The problem is that good pitching staffs are often subdued in playoff matchups via inevitable streaming. The extra innings water down the impact of good starters and relievers. For Dave to make a run he will likely need to get lucky with a free agent or two pickup that catches fire, or a sudden breakout from one of his rostered players. May the Force Be With You.

Michael ended up the two seed after half the league attempted to write him off in early July. So you guys can suck it. A strong July and August led into a quieter September, but Michael has still put up good numbers the last few weeks. The Summer breakouts of Eric Hosmer, Andrew McCutchen, Dustin Pedroia, and Manny Machado have slowed down, and now James Paxton and Chris Archer are injured. Michael has made some good moves to stop the September bleeding with the additions of Dansby Swanson and Luke Weaver. The best move Michael made all year was the Manny Machado and Dustin Pedroia buy low. The trade was looking iffy for the first few weeks, but then these two caught fire and fueled Michael’s run up the standings. For Michael to make a run in the playoffs he will need some of his July and August offense to resurrect and to piece together enough pitching to put up a fight.

Arthur was a big ol’ hot mess this year. He had one extended stretch from week 9 to 12 where he was riding the Paul Goldschmidt, Aaron Judge, and Bryce Harper high and he was the best team in the league. Since then each week has been an unpredictable roller coaster. Some weeks he puts up a dud hitting .240, other weeks he breaks out to hit 290 with 20 HRs. You just don’t know which team you’re gonna get week to week. Arthur is not healthy right now, which is certainly going to drag on production. Harper is on the DL, Paul Goldy is battling his wrist, and Aroldis Chapman is…well who knows. This team is very powerful offensively with a couple of good pitchers to go along with it. The best move Arthur made this year was Jonathan Schoop. A career replacement-level player, Schoop made an adjustment as a poster boy for this year’s fly ball revolution and Arthur rode that wave all year. He has been a focal point. For Arthur to make a run he will need some of his late season pickups to carry the load from his struggling or injured studs. Jake Lamb, Joey Gallo, and Ozzie Albies can all be big producers here.

As I say every year, may the hottest team win.