This. Is. It. After a couple of hundred matches, a few thousand overs, almost 20,000 runs and 1,000 wickets – it’ll all come down to the eighth week of the regular season to determine the eight teams to advance to the playoffs, starting Sept. 25. For the other 19 teams, it’ll be time to start thinking about 2022.
Three teams remain in contention in the Eastern, arguably the deepest division in the league this season. The Titans are clear favorites to qualify at the top of the standings (a 79% probability according to our Power Rankings), while the Stallions seem likely to claim second spot – but don’t count out The Philadelphians, who have shown plenty of fight and Foo-power to keep in the hunt.
Philly will need to beat bottom-place New England on Saturday and hope the Stallions lose to the Yorkers (who are not mathematically eliminated yet), which would set up a winner-goes-to-the-playoffs contest on Sunday between The Philadelphians and Stallions.
We expected the Southern Division to be wrapped up by now, and the Fire certainly did their part, clinching a playoff spot and top place in the standings last weekend. The Cardinals, though, lost both games and left the door ajar for the Param Veers: they will play two games this weekend against their Atlanta-region rivals the Fire, and need to win both to knock Morrisville out. That, obviously enough, is a tall task: the Fire have only lost two games all season. But don’t count the Param Veers out just yet.
Over in the Central, it’s also a long shot that the top two qualifying won’t look like it does right now: Austin has clinched, and Houston only needs to not lose to Irving on Saturday to go through. But if they do lose, the Cricket Stars will need to beat the Blasters twice to qualify and eliminate the Hurricanes.
In the West, it’s set up for a weekend to remember for the first games to be played in Davis, home field for the already-qualified Golden State Grizzlies. The two teams battling for the number two spot, the Blazers and Strikers, play each other first on Saturday; the former can essentially seal their playoff path with a victory. But if the Strikers win, we’ll have a super Sunday as both teams will face the Grizzlies with that last playoff spot in the league on the line at that point.
How will this all shake out? Watch all the matchups live on YouTube to find out!
