First

As in, this is the first time that no one has clinched a playoff spot 13 weeks into the season.  It's also the first time there's been a FIVE-WAY tie for first place after 13 weeks, and the first time there's been this many teams with 8 or more wins (and we'll probably pick up one or two more during this week's games).

And yes, I'm going to point out that if the playoffs started today THE MIGHTY NINJAS would be the #1 seed.  And I'm pretty sure this is the first time a team has run off an 8-game winning streak after starting 0-5.  And if I can run this streak up to eleven (how hard can it be?), it will be the first time a team claimed the title after starting 0-5.

All of this, of course, with the caveat that I'm not a league historian, so I could be wrong about some of this.  But isn't it amazing that I was down 74-16 to Jody at 7:00 PM Sunday, and then Romo, Bryce Brown, Garcon and Tynes put together 64 points, which means they would have beaten Kevin, Levi, Merrill, Kubicek, Aaron, Adam and Pete all by themselves?

Anyway, there's still a logjam at the top, but fortunately with only one game left in the season, it's pretty easy to paint the playoff picture.  There are five 8-5 teams, and since Merrill and Kevin play each other this week, only four of us can finish 9-5.  Therefore, for all of the 8-5 teams, a win gets you in, with seeding to be determined by point totals.

Things really only get interesting when considering the 7-6 teams, all of which need a win and help to clinch a playoff spot.  They break down as follows:

Air Apparent still holds the lead in points scored by a substantial margin, which means that Taylor will almost certainly claim a playoff spot with a win if any of the Ninjas, Eagles or Strike Team loses --- and odds are that at least one of them will.

Leviathans play the Ninjas this week, and only trail the Ninjas by 7 in the point totals.  So the Leviathans will clinch a playoff spot if they beat the Ninjas by 8 or more points AND Air Apparent loses.  They can also clinch a spot if they beat the Ninjas by a smaller margin, or if Air Apparent wins their game, but that involves various permutations of losses by the Eagles or Strike Team.

Team Datanator scored a historic first weekly win this week, but they still trail in points badly enough that they will only get into the playoffs with a win and losses by Strike Team, Air Apparent AND Leviathans.

As for the four teams out of playoff contention, Jody, Pete and Adam have all clinched a spot in the end-of-season tournament to avoid last place.  Kubicek needs to beat Nick by 6 or more points to avoid taking the final position in that playoff bracket.

For all of this, I don't remember what the tiebreaking rules are if Levi beats Ninjas by exactly 7 points, or Kubicek beats Nick by exactly 5, so I'll resolve that if/when it happens.

Go Ninjas!!!

P.S.  Of course, there are a couple of other 'firsts' to mention.  This is the first time we're going to determine final season standings by using multiple playoff brackets, as well as the first time the final standings for this year affect what happens next year (draft order, loser 'prize').  After I first posted this, I realized that Nick is in a unique position, because with a win and a lot of help, he could end up in the playoff bracket and ultimately take the league title, while a loss by more than 5 points will drop him into the loser bracket and thus he could ultimately finish the season dead last.  Makes this weekend's games more interesting for him than for anyone else, potentially.