2018 Is Almost Gone… And Pretty Much Nothing Is Resolved With 1 Week To Go! Especially in the FSDL

11/27/18 – Karen Page, Beat Reporter [*CDL possibilities Corrected @ 10pm 11/27/18] - Once again time flies. It seems like just yesterday the 2018 was just about to start and here we are and the 2018 is just about to end, well with the regular season at least. And by all available measurables this is been the most competitive season in recent memory and at the same time the least competitive from the top teams to the next teams. Let’s break it down league by league, starting in the CDL.

In the granddaddy league, the CDL has 3 teams at the top, all tied at (10-2). All are fighting for the #1 seed and 2 of the 3 are fighting for a division. Meaning that it is possible that 3 teams could end tied at (11-3), be 3 games clear of the next best team and one would be a wild-card team! Of the 3 divisions, only 1 – the Lombardi-Brown – has been decided with the Tanzmanian Devils (10-2) clinching the division after Week 9! Yeah, this one was never close. The other 2 divisions on the other hand are the complete opposite with both the Shula-Landry and Madden-Knox having a tie for 1st place between 2 teams. In the Shula-Landry we get the ultimate drama as the schedule makers apparently saw this coming and the 2 teams at the top, the Killer Tomatoes and Brahma Bulls both at (7-5), play each other in the regular season finale. Winner takes the division and a 1st round bye. The loser is effectively out, in multiple ways. If the 3rd place Madden-Knox Goldrush Hounds get an upset win in the finale against one of those (10-2) teams, the Kashyyyk Kommandos, they would win the last wild card outright at (8-5) but if they lose to the Kommandos they seem to have all the tie breakers wrapped up against both the Tomatoes who they haven’t played head to head but currently have a 200 point scoring edge for the points scored breaker and if the Bulls end up tied with the Hounds, the Bulls lost head to head so they are out. *However, IF the Hounds lose AND the California Eclipse (6-6) win the Hounds AND the loser of the Bulls/Tomatoes game would be out and the Eclipse in with 3 teams at (7-6) and with the Eclipse having the division tie breaks over both the Brahma Bulls (season split but would have a better division record) as well as the Tomatoes (due to season sweep) meaning they would tie break against the Hounds which the Hound lose to their loss to the Eclipse this past week (Week 12). BUT the other (10-2) team, the Uncanny X-Men, really hopes that the Hounds are in as that is the only chance they have to get a 1st round bye since the only 2 losses they have on the season are at the hands of the Kommandos, consequently their 2 lowest scoring weeks of the year. If both the Kommandos win or both lose the X-Men are the 4th seed and will play most likely the Hounds. If the Kommandos lose and the X-Men win it may go down as one of the most amazing division comebacks in BSL history as the Kommandos after Week 9 were not just undefeated but had a 2 game lead in the standings with 4 games left and it would effectively be a 3 game lead with 4 left since they swept the season series from the defending champion X-Men and they would need to win the division outright by record or they lose on tie breaks. So the moral of this story, other than the Devils… BIG DRAMA in the CDL.

On to the FSDL, where we have 2 teams at the top at (10-2), the Jedi Knights and the Hebrew Hammers, fighting for the top seed. Both have already claimed their divisions and a bye, now it is all just seeding. As for the other division and the 2 wild card spots that is where things get… well… CRAZY! The FSDL has 7 of the remaining 10 teams within 1 game of each other. The Sinister 36ers, Lucky Dog, Toad Lickers and Crazy Bisons all go into Week 13 at (6-6) with TBD, the Midway Monsters, and Vanquishers of Valhalla all at (5-7). We haven’t gone thru all the possible tie breakers yet but as far as we can see with 1 game left in the FSDL, we only have 2 teams actually eliminated from the playoffs. The team with a leg up is the current leader of the Halas-Noll division, the China Open Faces who sit at (7-5). While the Open Faces control their own destiny with a win, a loss looks like they could be out. A Week 13 loss by the Open Faces means a win by the Sinister 36ers and it appears it would hand the division to the 36ers by virtue of division record even if Lucky Dog also wins and all 3 teams end up (7-6). But if Lucky Dog and the Open Faces both end up at (7-6) that would mean a (3-3) division record for the Dogs and a (2-4) record for the Faces meaning the Faces could go from possibly winning the division to possible out of the 2nd wild card spot depending how the rest of the (6-6) teams fare. So in closing… Faces Win and they win the division and a bye. Lose and the commissioner’s office is really not looking forward to the tie breaker meeting!

Finally we have the TLSL where like the FSDL the are 2 clear top teams. Unfortunately for the #2 team, the (10-2) Evil Empire, are in the same division as the still undefeated (12-0) #1 team, the Electric Mayhem. The Mayhem wrapped up the division this week (fun note to ponder… that the (10-2) Devils in the CDL wrapped up their division 3 games ago while the still unbeaten Mayhem didn’t claim their division until Week 12!) as did the Clown Show in the Gibbs-Parcels division. There the Clowns and last year’s champs, the FL Nittany Lions (7-5) had been separated by no more than 1 game all season until this week. The Lions have lost 3 straight games the push they out of the division title contention. They are still however very much alive for the final wild card spot and actually appear to have clinched all but officially. If they can turn it around and win in Week 13 vs the Omaha Players they would take the 2nd wild card spot by having the only (8-5) record for a non-division record. However even if they lose they seem to be safe again the 2 other teams that could end up (7-6). In the Ditka Division, The Avengers (7-5) take the division over the Magical Fish (6-6) with a Week 13 win and/or a Fish loss. If they lose and the Fish win (likely since they are playing the winless (0-12) Sea Dragons) then the Fish take the Ditka by virtue of the division record tie breaker since the Avengers and Fish split their series. If the Avengers and Lions end tied at (7-6) for the last wild card, the Lions advance vs the Evil Empire since the Avengers lost to the Lions in Week 8. So the Fish are also in a must win spot or they are out and could be out anyway even with a win since a win vs the Dragons with an Avengers win over the Minutemen (5-7) would leave them tied with the Lions in record at (7-6). If the Fish and Lions end up tied at (7-6) the Lions take the tie breaker on total points (pretty likely as the Lions have a 100 point lead with 1 game left) since the 2 teams didn’t play each other this season.

We did tell you that very little has been settled didn’t we? Oh and it is even possible to have back to back seasons with an undefeated team? We will all be watching the TLSL to see how the Electric Mayhem wrap up the 2018 season. Week 13 means more this season than it has in a LONG time across all 3 teams as a whole. It will be a fun end to a crazy 2018 regular season. Bring on the playoffs!!

*Commissioner’s CDL Note: there was a glitch in the scheduling this season that we were unable to fix as it wasn’t discovered until the week of the game, but the Killer Tomatoes and MLT Predators played each other 3 times this season. The Week 7 game should have been a non-division “Rivalry Week” matchup and somehow the two teams were in the database to play each other. By rule, week 7 is defined as a “Non-Division” game for Rivalry Week and therefore that game will NOT count toward division record for the purpose of tie breaks. All teams play 6 division games so the Week 7 win by the Tomatoes over the Predators will be removed from the division record but still count as an overall win for the Tomatoes.

The Occasionally Intermittent Bugle