Yeah its mad late. STFU.

Week 23's installment of the DDWPIPOTCFFBE (Diamond Dynasty Weekly Preview In Pursuit Of The Chalice For Fantasy Baseball Excellence)

Week 22 – Yahoo!'s tiebreaker system ruins a fantastic finish to the regular season

The Match-Up: Adrian (3^rd) vs Ben (6^th)

After a confusing end to the regular season, Ben has apparently secured 6^th place and the right to play for the Chalice. When I started keeping stats in week 10, Ben was in 5^th place. By week 12 he was in 7^th, and didn't regain sole possession of 6^th until this week! Pretty good timing by Mr. Ben. But boy, did he earn it! With 5 weeks left in the year, Ben was staring down a 4.5 game playoff deficit and rose to the occasion, posting a 3-0-2 (32-18) record to edge out Alex (7^th) for the final spot in the playoffs. That end of season record included a 5-5 tie against Adrian (then 3^rd) in week 21, and an uber-clutch 8-2 beat down over Drew (then 1^st) in the final week of the season.

Adrian endured tale of two seasons: 9-0-3 in the first 12 weeks, and 3-6-1 in the final 10. His early season play afforded him the late season struggles, and he was really on an island for 3^rd place – 7 games out of a bye, and 7 games up on 4^th. He only has one win over the past 5 weeks, and that was against James (10^th). He was never worse than 3^rd place all year, pretty impressive. It'll be interesting to see if Adrian has been underachieving, or if he was playing over his head earlier in the year. Ben's playing well and Adrian is struggling – if there was an upset to be had, I think this would be it. These guys went at it 3 times in the regular season; week 3 (Adrian 8-2), week 12 (Adrian 6-4), and week 21 (Tie 5-5) (season: Adrian 19-11).

The Match-Up: Kurt (4^th) vs Colin (5^th)

Kurt held 4^th place for the majority of the season, losing it briefly to Colin before regaining it 2 weeks later. The Commissioner has been pretty steady all season, without any major winning or losing streaks to his record. It's hard to say exactly what we'll see from Kurt over the playoff run. He beats the good teams just as often as he loses to the bad teams. Last week's loss to Jarrett (8^th) was his first loss since losing back to back weeks to Drew (1^st) and Adrian (then-2^nd) in weeks 16 and 17. I can't seem to find any outlying statistics that can tell us just how good he is – we'll have to see what kind of noise he can make in the playoffs. We'll see if his activity at the trade deadline pays off.

Colin rebounded from a rough start (0-4) to prove that he is a worthwhile contender. He propelled himself to the middle of the pack with solid mid-season play, and played .500 ball to close out the year. August was feast or famine for Lancey, with weekly scores of 8-2, 8-2, 1-8, 2-8, and 9-1. As far as I'm concerned, this match is a toss up. Can't wait to see who makes it to the final four! Kurt has taken 2 of their 3 match ups this year, but they're at a stalemate (season: 14-14). This weeks winner will take the season series and move on to the next playoff round.

Nice Knowin' Ya

And now, a weekly salute to the managers eliminated from their quest for the 2011 Diamond Dynasty Chalice for Fantasy Baseball Excellence.


Nice knowin' ya...

James Maimonis (10^th place) – A difficult year for the defending champion who suffered the always embarrassing first-to-worst transgression. He finished the year with one winning week over the final 2 months of the season, and never climbed higher than 9^th place in the second half of the year. He finished the year 36 games behind first place and 20.5 games out of the playoffs. With older, albeit quality keeper choices and the first overall pick, James could be a dangerous team in 2012. Let's take a closer look at his season arc:

Weeks 1-7: 1-5-1

Weeks 8-15: 2-4-2

Weeks 16-22: 1-5-1

Streaks: 1W, 2W/T, 7L, 8L/T

Nice knowin' ya...

Richie Travers (9^th place) – Travers could never get going all year, constantly attempting to manage around keepers and high draft picks that were either injured or under performing. Acquiring Felix Hernandez at the deadline set him up for 2012, but at the expense of the 2011 season (did not win any match ups after the trade). He never made it higher than 7^th place in the second half of the year. Richie ended the regular season 31.5 games behind first place and 16 games out of the playoffs. He has young keepers (never thought we'd see the day) and the second overall draft pick, and is looking forward to 2012. Let's take a closer look at his season arc:

Weeks 1-7: 3-4-0

Weeks 8-15: 5-3-0

Weeks 16-22: 1-5-1

Streaks: 3W, 3W/T, 4L, 5L/T

Nice knowin' ya...

Jarrett Staff (8^th place) – Jarrett's squad just waited too long to be good this year! Over the last 5 weeks of the season, he picked up 10 games on first place and 4 games on the playoff contenders. If he wasn't so mediocre for the first 2/3 of the year, he would have probably been in that clusterfuck that was 4^th-7^th place this year. That being said, he ended the year 23 games behind first place and 7.5 games out of the playoffs. He should be able to add a premier player with the 3^rd pick next year. Let's take a closer look at his season arc:

Weeks 1-7: 1-3-3

Weeks 8-15: 3-4-1

Weeks 16-22: 3-3-1

Streaks: 2W, 3W/T, 2L, 4L/T

Nice knowin' ya...

Alex Gentili (7^th place) – The latest victim of Yahoo!'s tiebreaker system, Alex mortgaged a part of his future (Felix Hernandez) for a run at a 2011 championship. Despite having the 6^th highest winning percentage in the regular season, he did not qualify for a ticket to the big dance. In fact, it's the first time in 10 weeks that Alex isn't in at least 6^th place. He finished 15.5 games behind first place and mere percentage points out of the playoffs. Alex is only the third team since week 11 to move 2 places in the standings in just one week. Let's take a closer look at his season arc:

Weeks 1-7: 3-4-0

Weeks 8-15: 2-4-2

Weeks 16-22: 3-4-0

Streaks: 2W, 5W/T, 4L, 4L/T