Playoff Picture 8/1/18
Happy Hump Day! This week on the Eastern Conference Playoff Picture report we have a few interesting stories:
FCC pulls away
The Congested middle
Cellar-Dwellers
But first, let’s take a quick look at the midweek games and how they affected the table at the time. Indy’s win and Nashville's win both helped them maintain control over their playoff hopes. The loss by Atlanta made the playoffs harder to reach and I would not consider them to be part of the pack any more. The Bethlehem loss did not hurt them as much however they are now even on games played with the conference leaders and the teams in front of them have 2 games in hand. Bethlehem would need to secure a few victories against those teams to raise their chance of making the playoffs.
Let’s take a look now at the three top story-lines. Even as FC Cincinnati welcomed RCD Espanyol to Nippert for their mid-season International friendly the Orange and Blue find themselves in a better position at the top of the table than they did this time last week. Thanks to a Pittsburgh loss FCC finds themselves three points clear of all other teams in the points possible column with 83 points. Though, FCC needs to stay focused as they have games against both Louisville sitting on 80 points possible and Pittsburgh on 79 points possible. These games could prove to be important 6 pointers in the race for the top spot.
Looking to sneak into the playoffs this year? That’s going to be a challenge. Currently, we have 4 teams (NYRBII, PENN, TBR, NC) sitting in the 8th spot, on 68 points possible. Not to mention Ottawa just one point ahead of them with 69 points possible. While NYRBII are currently sitting in a playoff spot, they need to be careful if they want to stay there. Of the five teams I just mentioned, RBII are the only team with 22 games played and every other team has 20. A slip up from the Baby Bulls could prove the difference in the race for 8th.
As the season ticks on it is becoming more evident who is going to find themselves left out of the playoff picture. Right now, Charlotte (64 PP, 22 GP), Richmond (63 PP, 19 GP), and Bethlehem (63 PP, 22 GP) would need to string together quite a run of games to put themselves back into the playoff picture. Look at the Richmond v. Bethlehem game coming up this Saturday to see is one of them can get back into the picture.
With all those story-lines, don’t let that distract you from the fact that TFC2 pulled off their first victory against Nashville this past Saturday! Still, with that win, Toronto only has 6 points. While they are not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs it would take them 8 wins for them to reach 8th. Will their win against Nashville light a fire under them? Only time will tell.
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Pete Wietmarschen