(S47) PT #5 - April Madness Brings May Sadness

[Raven]

Code:

Written option: The regular season is almost over! Whether you want to focus on the ISFL or the DSFL, how do you see the league's playoffs shaking out? Who will be the ultimate victor, and why do you believe that team has the best shot at everlasting glory? Who will they face in the title game? Outline your scenario and how you think the Ultimus or Ultimini will play out.

Looking at the ISFL playoffs we see that the following teams have made it:

Arizona Outlaws - ASFC Wild Card - Home Team - Last Ultimus: S46
Baltimore Hawks - NSFC Wild Card - Home Team - Last Ultimus: S43
Cape Town Crash - NSFC Wild Card - Away Team - Last Ultimus: S41
Chicago Butchers - NSFC Conf. Final - Home Team - Last Ultimus: S34
San Jose Sabercats - ASFC Conf. Final - Home Team - Last Ultimus: S25
New Orleans Second Line - ASFC Wild Card - Away team - Last Ultimus: S21

We see a mixture of teams who have won the Ultimus as recent as 6 seasons ago all the way down to two teams who's last Ultimus win was in the 20's. Of those two teams the San Jose Sabercats have a nice path to adding a throphy to their cabinet. Being the ASFC's BYE into the conference finals and having home field advantage through the rest of the playoffs. The Saberkitties have destiny in their hand.

Looking at the two teams they can face in the conference final, the first is New Orleans Second Line, who wild also be trying to add an Ultimus to their record for the first time in 26 seasons. The Saberkitties won both matches against the Second Line this season with a comfortable 34-27 home win and a spicy 21-24 win in New Orleans. The other team they could face is the Arizona Outlaws. The Saberkitties and Outlaws swapped wins this season, both earning the dub in the opponents stadium.

Of these two teams, the Second Line would be the more favourable match up due to the history this season.

No matter who they get though, we will be cheering for the Sabertcats to add an Ultimus to their name.

[284 words]

[Honoredmexican]

There is only one team I want to see at the top and that is the Orange County Otters this year. I will say that I am biased since they drafted me. Even you I am still playing in the DSFL level with the Norfolk Seawolves, I want nothing but great success for them. Long time general manager Beck will be leaving us after serving an amazing tenure at the end of this season. The Otters want to make sure we send them off with a bang. The only way we can truly do that is by winning the big hardware (Ultimus). The Otters were fighting tooth and nail all the way to the end of the season for their chance at a playoff berth. New Orleans Second Line was also fighting for that same spot. I believe that Otters will continue to fight tooth and nail against some strong playoff teams and even make it to the finals.

[Muford]

While you could call it homerism all you want, It really does look like the San Jose Sabercats have a shot at glory this season. Besides the fact that they finished with the best record in the league at 13-3, They finished with one of the best defenses in the league. They were run on a bit, but passing, they allowed the 4th least amount of yards, 1st in the conference at 242.9 yards per game. The Defense really carried the offense in that aspect, and the offense wasn't a slouch, but not the greatest. They were middle of the pack in pass yards and rushing yards, but overall they were 4th, and they were 3rd in the league in points scored. The Defense was 1/1 in Conference and League for points scored as well. The offense finally showed up while the defense has continued to do its thing. Overall, the San Jose Sabercats are on a roll and hopefully they can take that into the playoffs and win it all.

[SwankyPants31]

As the Baltimore Hawks general manager, I’ll be a bit of a homer here and say that I think we have a real shot at winning it all. While the wheels seemingly fell off the team after beating another Ultimus contender at Arizona at home, I believe we are due for our luck to turn around. Things haven’t been looking great based on the streams recently, but as the primary person doing the testing for Baltimore I can say that the numbers have still been looking good and in our favor, things just haven’t been falling our way. The Cape Town Crash and Chicago Butchers are both good teams, but I believe we’ll beat them having gotten our bad luck out of the way in the final few games of the regular season. On the ASFC side, Arizona always has a shot to go all the way but I think the Ultimus berth is the San Jose Sabercats spot to lose.

[Crunk]

Right then, for a set of playoff predictions handed down from the sim heavens:

(Note: it's DDSPF, anyone can beat anyone in a single game, literally everything here might turn out wrong, it is what it is.)

ASFC Wildcard

 @

It's kind of nice to see NOLA be competitive after so many seasons of very high draft picks (when they weren't trading them away) but I think Arizona are the better team here and should win this home game.

Winner:

NSFC Wildcard

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Baltimore are probably the best team in the NSFC, regardless of what the standings say. I'm not a fan of the way this Cape Town team is set up, now and for the future. Hawks make the championship game.

Winner:  

ASFC Championship

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This is probably the best roster the Sabercats have put together in my team in the league (S24 onwards). Don't remind me about them simming the league the whole league twice around then - this lot are the real deal. That said, even with home advantage, I don't think they are favoured here.

Winner:

NSFC Championship

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I don't rate Chicago at all. I have no idea how they won as many games as they did. I'm going Baltimore here.

Winner:

Ultimus

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It's not really a stretch to say that the ASFC is the stronger division this season, and I think whatever ASFC gets this far will win it all. That said, it's Arizona here, so...

Winner:

[Argonisi]

I’m focusing on the DSFL, because it is only right since I am but a small lad, a rookie if you will. I think the Portland Pythons are going to win the Ultimini ultimately. Maybe I’m biased, and maybe that isn’t possible because both the Pythons and the Royals are 8-5, I don’t actually know, but the Pythons are on a hot winning streak, and that momentum will carry us through some tough competition in the playoffs, I just know it. We have too deep a roster, with future stars like American Dream and Kurt Wagner as the backups to some pretty stellar players as first strings, like Tyler Higbee II. Plus, don’t you know that snakes would beat noble lords like Royals, and naturally eat dowl like Grey Ducks? Luchadores would be tricky, but they’d need fast reflexes to beat our serpentine skills! I’m calling it that Pythons will win a close game 28-21 vs the Tijuana Luchadores. A controversial holding call in the fourth quarter may go our way, but referees never get it wrong!

[177 words]

[xenosthelegend]

The regular season has ended, and every playoff team is thanking the sim gods that Schrodinger's juggernaut the Yellowknife Wraiths are not in the playoffs. Now for the teams that have made it, we will start with the 3 seeds:

The Cape Town Crash finished the regular season at 9-7, barely beating the Sarasota Sailfish and Baltimore Hawks at home. Now they go on the road to Baltimore where I believe their playoff run will end.
The New Orleans Second Line finally make the playoffs at 11-5, and have to face a monster at Arizona immediately. I believe their playoff run ends at Arizona.

Now for the 2 seeds:

The Baltimore Hawks were in first place until the final week of the regular season when they lost to Cape Town. Baltimore really started falling off towards the end of the season, but I believe they find their form again and beat Chicago to go to the Ultimus.
The Arizona Outlaws had yet another double digit win season. Fortunately for the rest of the league, I believe they fall to the ASFC 1 seeded San Jose Sabercats here.

Now for the 1 seeds:

The Chicago Butchers win about 5 more games than anyone thought they would and somehow got the 1 seed in the NSFC. I view them as a fluke team, and lose their game hosting Baltimore.
The San Jose Sabercats were without a doubt the most dominant regular season team this season. I predict they make right what happened in week 15, and defeat Arizona.

How I see the Ultimus going:

San Jose vs Baltimore
I predict Baltimore takes an early lead and maintains it for the entire game. Final score Baltimore wins 27-24.

[Fno]

SHL affiliate FnoRespect
https://simulationhockey.com/showthread....pid3507272

[ForSucksFake]

Man, it hurts me so badly to say that Baltimore has a better chance of losing in the first round than making it to the Ultimus. After starting the season 8-1, a stretch of inconsistent to bad games ended up costing the Hawks the number one seed. With teams like CTC and Chicago out of the NSFC and four 10+ win teams in the ASFC, it’s a bleak outlook for the pre-season favorites. Their path to victory starts with the Chicago Yellowknife game. Outside of having to win their own matchup, BAL needs the Butchers to knock off the Wraiths, who beat them twice in the regular season. This puts Baltimore against Chicago with the butchers having home field advantage. Should Baltimore make it to the Ultimus, a talented ASFC presents them with some big problems. If it’s Arizona or SJS in the Ultimus, there’s just no way the Ultimus comes back to Baltimore. Anything is possible but Baltimore got cold at the worst time.

[Mossed26]

Well now that the playoffs or set, It's interesting to see how the season played out. I'm usually not too informed about the league in the preseason, so it was surprising to see the Sabercats as a 1 seed. Everything in the NSFC made sense but the ASFC was chaos. I did not expect a 10-6 team to miss the playoffs or the Copperheads and Silverbacks to regress so much. I expected a bit of a fall off, but didn't think both teams would hit double digit losses. But now that I've talked about how we got here, I think I know my title pick. It's kind of boring and predictable, but it's Arizona. Did you expect anyone else? They had the number 1 offense and number 2 defense, they have unlimited sim testing and some emperor Palpatine type power that keeps them alive and prevents them from losing. Final Ultimus prediction: Arizona 35, Baltimore 18.