1) This week will see the S26 Ultimus and Ultimini races begin in earnest. How did each team arrive at the playoffs? Were there any dark horse teams that went unexpectedly far, or any presumptive favorites that fell flat? Who do you think will win the final? If you’re writing this after the finals were decided, were you surprised by the outcome?
Background - My player is Mario Messi, the wide receiver of Pythons. I will just adopt the player's perspective and describe the trajectory of Pythons in this season. But at a high level, it was an amazing season for Pythons, although the ending was really not perfect. I think a story without a perfect ending might be a strong story, at least in the long run.
People in Pythons - This season, Pythons put together a really amazing team. At the end of the season, you can see eight players from Pythons capped at 250 TPEs. Besides my player (Mario Messi), there are seven other great players: Christiansen, Jaxson, Skeeter, Jones, LBJ, McGrady and Miler. Six of them came from the same S26 cohort - what a great choice the manager made in the S26 draft! These players deliver very effectively in the games; for example, our star QB LBJ III ranks as the first QB among all the eight major QBs. Messi ranks as the third in receives and yards, and the first in TDs. We also have great S27 cohorts - six of them were fairly active users, and three of them obtained more than 200 TPEs at the end of the season. With these players, it would not be surprised that Pythons got great records in S26. (A big thank you to the great manager SouthPaw)
Pythons Regular Games - Pythons dominated the 14 games in the regular season. In the preseason games, we won three out of the four games, sending out a great signal as the starting point. The only game we lost is to Grey Ducks, and it was a very close game with the scores ending at 23-20. For the regular games, the Pythons won 13 out of the 14 games, and we only lost once to Buccaneers (sadly the second time was in the finals). On the offense side, Pythons got 308 points in total, and it ranks second in the league. Pythons had pretty balanced running vs. rushing plays. The main running back Christiansen is gigantic and powerful, so he can always penetrate the defensive line. The rushing plays were led by the amazing QB LBJ, and two great WRs (Messi and McGrady; oh, I do want to see Messi and McGrady play real games together). Both WRs have fairly high TPEs, and rank as the third and seventh in the final receiving stat by yards. On the defense side, Pythons' defense was just astonishingly effective, lost only 174 points in the whole season. It ranks the best in all 8 teams. In fact, simply comparing the lost points of Pythons to the second (Buccaneers), we lost 87 fewer. In many individual games, Pythons were quite dominant, such as the 42-14 win over Grey Ducks, 29-13 win over Seawolves; but some of the games were also pretty close - particularly the games against Buccaneers: we got a 17-16 win and a 10-13 loss.
Other Teams - Since the Pythons lost to Buccaneers in the final, I would like to check Buccaneers' records more. TPE wise, Buccaneers is a much older team than Pythons, since they have six players older than S25, and four of them come from S24, as opposed to Pythons, which has only one person from S25. Buccaneers have accumulated about nine players capped at 250 TPEs, and six others accumulated 100-250 TPEs. While Buccaneers had more capped players (nine) than Pythons, four of them come from S25 and S24. I think it is a bit unfair to Pythons to play against a team like this, due to the age difference. Buccaneers did not have a great starting point in S26 - they lost four games out of the first seven games (to Pythons, Royals, Seawolves, and Grey Ducks). I am not sure about the underlying reasons, to be honest. But in the second half, Buccaneers was particularly strong - they won five out of the seven games, although still lost to Birddogs and Grey Ducks. The losing pattern of the Buccaneers is not very clear. I guess they might have adjusted their gaming strategy during the half of the past season. Overall, Buccaneers has many more older players than Pythons, but its S27 and S26 cohorts are not as good. I know that the league has limitations on non-active players - but can the league also consider some limitations on the number of old players in DSFL? It seems hard to compete with a team that has a lot of seasoned players.
Pythons Playoffs - Pythons beat London in the semi-final, but Pythons lost to Buccaneers in the final. The point was a 17-20 loss. Note that the average points of Buccaneers in the regular games is: 24 - 18, while the average points of Pythons are: 22 - 12. It is clear that Pythons underperforms on both the offense and defense sides. The two regular games between Pythons and Buccaneers are L13-10 and W17-16. The games between Pythons and Buccaneers have been very close in the regular season, so it would not be a big surprise by the final point. What surprises me is the process of the final. Pythons got a 17-0 lead in the first two quarters, but then we experienced a painful comeback and lost by 17-20. Even in the final quarter, during which I believe Pythons still had some chance to get 3 points through a field goal, but the Sim just arranged a lot of running plays that cannot work out for the Buccaneers' defense. No real team would play the last quarter like that, given the only 3 points behind - we only needed one more field goal to drag the game to overtime. But I guess this is what it is. The final end is still acceptable, within the margin of errors based on the past records between the two teams.
Salute to all the great players in Pythons. I will move to Hawks now, but I will miss everyone in Pythons.
Words: 1002
Background - My player is Mario Messi, the wide receiver of Pythons. I will just adopt the player's perspective and describe the trajectory of Pythons in this season. But at a high level, it was an amazing season for Pythons, although the ending was really not perfect. I think a story without a perfect ending might be a strong story, at least in the long run.
People in Pythons - This season, Pythons put together a really amazing team. At the end of the season, you can see eight players from Pythons capped at 250 TPEs. Besides my player (Mario Messi), there are seven other great players: Christiansen, Jaxson, Skeeter, Jones, LBJ, McGrady and Miler. Six of them came from the same S26 cohort - what a great choice the manager made in the S26 draft! These players deliver very effectively in the games; for example, our star QB LBJ III ranks as the first QB among all the eight major QBs. Messi ranks as the third in receives and yards, and the first in TDs. We also have great S27 cohorts - six of them were fairly active users, and three of them obtained more than 200 TPEs at the end of the season. With these players, it would not be surprised that Pythons got great records in S26. (A big thank you to the great manager SouthPaw)
Pythons Regular Games - Pythons dominated the 14 games in the regular season. In the preseason games, we won three out of the four games, sending out a great signal as the starting point. The only game we lost is to Grey Ducks, and it was a very close game with the scores ending at 23-20. For the regular games, the Pythons won 13 out of the 14 games, and we only lost once to Buccaneers (sadly the second time was in the finals). On the offense side, Pythons got 308 points in total, and it ranks second in the league. Pythons had pretty balanced running vs. rushing plays. The main running back Christiansen is gigantic and powerful, so he can always penetrate the defensive line. The rushing plays were led by the amazing QB LBJ, and two great WRs (Messi and McGrady; oh, I do want to see Messi and McGrady play real games together). Both WRs have fairly high TPEs, and rank as the third and seventh in the final receiving stat by yards. On the defense side, Pythons' defense was just astonishingly effective, lost only 174 points in the whole season. It ranks the best in all 8 teams. In fact, simply comparing the lost points of Pythons to the second (Buccaneers), we lost 87 fewer. In many individual games, Pythons were quite dominant, such as the 42-14 win over Grey Ducks, 29-13 win over Seawolves; but some of the games were also pretty close - particularly the games against Buccaneers: we got a 17-16 win and a 10-13 loss.
Other Teams - Since the Pythons lost to Buccaneers in the final, I would like to check Buccaneers' records more. TPE wise, Buccaneers is a much older team than Pythons, since they have six players older than S25, and four of them come from S24, as opposed to Pythons, which has only one person from S25. Buccaneers have accumulated about nine players capped at 250 TPEs, and six others accumulated 100-250 TPEs. While Buccaneers had more capped players (nine) than Pythons, four of them come from S25 and S24. I think it is a bit unfair to Pythons to play against a team like this, due to the age difference. Buccaneers did not have a great starting point in S26 - they lost four games out of the first seven games (to Pythons, Royals, Seawolves, and Grey Ducks). I am not sure about the underlying reasons, to be honest. But in the second half, Buccaneers was particularly strong - they won five out of the seven games, although still lost to Birddogs and Grey Ducks. The losing pattern of the Buccaneers is not very clear. I guess they might have adjusted their gaming strategy during the half of the past season. Overall, Buccaneers has many more older players than Pythons, but its S27 and S26 cohorts are not as good. I know that the league has limitations on non-active players - but can the league also consider some limitations on the number of old players in DSFL? It seems hard to compete with a team that has a lot of seasoned players.
Pythons Playoffs - Pythons beat London in the semi-final, but Pythons lost to Buccaneers in the final. The point was a 17-20 loss. Note that the average points of Buccaneers in the regular games is: 24 - 18, while the average points of Pythons are: 22 - 12. It is clear that Pythons underperforms on both the offense and defense sides. The two regular games between Pythons and Buccaneers are L13-10 and W17-16. The games between Pythons and Buccaneers have been very close in the regular season, so it would not be a big surprise by the final point. What surprises me is the process of the final. Pythons got a 17-0 lead in the first two quarters, but then we experienced a painful comeback and lost by 17-20. Even in the final quarter, during which I believe Pythons still had some chance to get 3 points through a field goal, but the Sim just arranged a lot of running plays that cannot work out for the Buccaneers' defense. No real team would play the last quarter like that, given the only 3 points behind - we only needed one more field goal to drag the game to overtime. But I guess this is what it is. The final end is still acceptable, within the margin of errors based on the past records between the two teams.
Salute to all the great players in Pythons. I will move to Hawks now, but I will miss everyone in Pythons.
Words: 1002
