Week 19's installment of the DDWPIPOTCFFBE (Diamond Dynasty Weekly Preview In Pursuit Of The Chalice For Fantasy Baseball Excellence)

Week 18 – Colin jumps, Kurt slides, and TJ says hello, bye

The Match Up: James (10^th) vs Jarrett (9^th) *5*

In a week chock full of HUGE match ups, this one is the only snoozer. The two last-place teams are a combined 1-6-3 since week 14, and neither teams will be in the playoffs. James hasn't won since his big upset over then-first place Adrian 6 weeks ago, and Jarrett last won in week 15 against Colin. Since I started keeping stats to help write these articles, neither of these teams have been better than 9^th place, and Jarrett had the best sniff of the playoffs, just 7.5 games out after the aforementioned victory over Colin. Not surprisingly, but still interestingly, the match-up of the J's has resulted in two ties: 5-5 in weeks 1 and 10.

The Match Up: Drew (1^st) vs Colin (4^th) *4*

Hard to believe I'm rating this as the 4^th best match up this week, but the contests are really THAT good. Colin had a great week, upsetting Adrian 8-2 AND jumping two spots to 4^th. He's the only one to jump two spots in one week (since I started keeping stats week 11) and he's done it twice; the other time was in week 11, when he went from 7^th to 5^th. Hard to imagine that he posted an 0-2-1 record over the past month against Richie (8^th) Jarrett (9^th) and James (10^th), and then turns around and beats the pants off of Adrian (then 2^nd). Makes no sense. While Colin won't be sniffing a bye spot, he can't take his foot off the gas pedal yet as there's still a month to play. He'll take on Kurt (5^th) Alex (6^th) and Richie (8^th) to end the year. Drew has extended his winning streak to an incredible 8 weeks, edging out Alex, 5-4. After this week, he'll most likely have another titanic match up (the other was week 15 against Adrian, who he beat 6-2) for first place against TJ (2^nd). Jarrett (9^th) and Ben (7^th) close out his season, so if he needs those couple extra wins at the end of the year, he might be able to squeak them out. Drew beat Colin 8-2 in week 1, and Colin beat Drew 6-4 in week 10 (season: Drew 14-6).

The Match Up: TJ (2^nd) vs Adrian (3^th) *3*

I ranked this one third because while a bye week is at stake, both of these squads are in the playoffs. The other two match ups could yield a completely different playoff picture. After a 7 week absence, TJ is back in a bye spot. He's won 3 weeks in a row and it looks like his squad is peaking at just the right time. He's got one of the tougher schedules to end the year, going up against Drew (1^st), Kurt (5^th), and Alex (6^th) to end the year, and as far as I'm concerned it's a total toss-up for the two byes (between Drew, TJ, and Adrian). Adrian got his doors blown off by Colin last week, losing 2-8 and dropping to third place. Luckily for him, he closes the year with Jarrett (9^th), Ben (7^th), and James (10^th), so the schedule definitely lines up favorably for a late season push. Adrian has beaten TJ 6-3 in both weeks 1 and 10. These two are only separated by 2 games, so this should be a great match up, not unlike......

The Match Up: Kurt (5^th) vs Alex (6^th) *2*

Kurt's struggles continued last week as he could only manage to tie Richie (8th), 5-5. He's 0-2-2 in his last month and he finally dropped out of 4^th place – he was the only one to keep his exact spot in the standings since I started these articles. 6 weeks ago he was fighting for a bye, and now he has to fight just to make the playoffs. He's 2 games up on Alex (6^th) and 6.5 games up on Ben (7^th) for the final playoff spot. After this week he's got Colin (4^th), TJ (2^nd), and Jarrett (9^th) – certainly not an easy ride home, despite getting Jarrett to close the season. Alex put up a good fight against Drew's (1^st) great squad last week, dropping a tough 4-5 decision. A blowout there would have been big trouble, as he has to take on Richie (8^th), Colin (4^th), and TJ (2^nd) to end the season. He's got a 4.5 game lead over Ben (7^th) and a 5 game lead over Richie for the last spot in the 2011 playoffs, and I expect – nay, hope – that the picture gets foggier before it gets clearer (sorry boys, you understand). Kurt has held his own against Alex this year, beating him 6-2 in week 1 and 7-3 in week 10 (season: Kurt 13-5). With all the pressure on both teams to avoid a heart-breaking late season collapse, what could possibly be a more heart-wrenching, cut throat, desperate match up than that?

The Match Up: Richie (8^th) vs Ben (7^th) *1*

It's my fucking article, of course my game is the most important! Richie trails Ben by a mere .003 percentage points – Richie with one more tie, one less win. He trails ziggy by .5 games, and they're both trying to figure out if they'll be playing for 2011 or 2012. Ben has had a lot of trouble since the midway point of the season, going 1-6-2 since week 10. He tied Jarrett (9^th) last week, but he really needs to win this week – he finishes the season with James (10^th), Adrian (3^rd), and the unlucky short straw – Drew (1^st). Richie has been on a mirage-like streak, posting a 6-3-1 weekly record since week 10 (not bad!) but a 42-43-15 category record (not great!). He closes the year with Alex (6^th), James (10^th), and Colin (4^th), so he remains foolishly hopeful that he won't be on the outside looking in a month from now. Ben beat Richie 8-2 in week 1, but Richie came back with a 6-4 win in week 10 (season: Ben 12-8).

This week and next week have some fantastic match ups with huge playoff implications. Weeks 21-22 don't have the big head-to-head games, but everyone's going to be so close to each other in the standings that every single match-up, every category, every retarded RBI and WHIP percentage point is going to matter (as I type this sentence, I'm watching the Red Sox pound the shit out of Joe Nathan. Owwwwww). I've heard more chatter this year than any other regarding the trade deadline. We've already had a couple moves earlier in the year. This is turning out to be one of the best regular-season finishes that I can remember. As the great Kenny Blankenship and Vic Romano used to say, “DON'T! GET! ELIMINATED!”