Part of the beauty of the playoff format in baseball, whether MLB or fantasy baseball, is its unpredictability. A team that dominated during the season can get undone with a couple of bad starts… at least, that’s my excuse.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
In the Champions League, only Adam Nicholson could keep up with my near-unbeatable form this year, and we finished the regular season first and second, with Adam edging ahead in the last couple of weeks.
However, as the top two seeds, we find ourselves trailing in our respective matchups after the first week in Round One of the playoffs. The two-week format allows Adam an opportunity to claw back the 21-point deficit he currently faces against David Runciman. My season, however, seems to have been ended prematurely by Mark Blakemore, who carries a 100+ point advantage into the second week. And to think, I gave Mark a Luis Severino bobblehead after my trip to NYC.
AL NORTH DIVISION
With a staggering 456 points, Manc Baseball has opened up an almost unassailable 140-point lead to clear a route to the final. It is all to play for in the other tie, where regular-season leader Chris Jones enjoys a 50-point lead over Josh Salter.
AL CENTRAL DIVISION
Great British Fantasy Baseball Superleague’s only 20-game winner, Michael Garmston, finds himself trailing at the halfway stage of Round One to Steve Pardoe. The 26-point gap gives Steve a great opportunity to unseat the most dominant team of the regular season.
Jason Toms carried his hot streak of seven straight wins into the playoffs and has opened up a decent 70-point lead over Matthew Robinson.
AL EAST DIVISION
This is one of the few divisions where Week One went to form, with both of the top two seeds taking an advantage into the final week. Regular-season division winner Dan Roach put up an impressive 402 points against Harry Broster, while Bat Flips & Nerds hold the narrowest of 25-point leads over Mr Baseball Brit (Joey Mellows).
AL WEST DIVISION
The playoffs are not the time for your players to go AWOL, but that seems to be what happened to Martin Osbourne, whose team scored just 242 points against division winner Chris Deeley. In the other tie, just 12 points separates Paul Dearnley and Steve Jones, setting up a nail-biting Week Two.
BASEMENT DIVISION
Utilising a trio of SPARPs (starting pitchers as relief pitchers) in Javier Assad, Cole Ragans, and Logan Allen, Ash Smith scored a magnificent 420 points to open up a 67-point margin over Mal Balmford. Division winner Jon Lansdown holds a slight 25-point advantage in his tie.
NL CENTRAL DIVISION
Nothing can stop Richard Davison’s dominance in this format, as the highest point scorer across the entire GBfbs again put up a 400-point week to open a 129-point lead over Neil Littlewood. Larger differentials have been overturned in the second week of playoffs, so Richard won’t be celebrating his place in the final just yet.
The other matchup is far tighter, with a mere five points separating Bat Flips & Nerds Atlanta Braves correspondent Charlie Deeks from… the Bat Flips & Nerds team.
NL EAST DIVISION
The top two seeds remain on schedule to meet in the final as a 65-point lead after the first week gives Marc Collins a comfortable margin ahead of Week Two. Mark Finbow ended the regular season with an eight-game winning streak and has continued this form with a 60-point halfway advantage over James Poppleton.
NL NORTH DIVISION
Martin Wood took the division and has stormed into a lead over Tom Drake, thanks to a marvellous 411-point week. Timothy Burtt, who like Martin, finished the regular season with six straight wins, is also looking good to progress to the final with a 50-point advantage after Week One.
NL WEST DIVISION
It is difficult to imagine two closer matchups than the NL West is providing. Division winner Luke Kendrick finds himself trailing by just three points to Baseball Softball UK’s Chris Knoblock, while Tom Lock has a narrow six-point advantage going into the final week.
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Featured image of Will Benson and Elly De La Cruz by Dylan Buell/Getty Images
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