The 2016 Standings: Magic Numbers, Tragic Numbers, and Standing on the Shoulders of Others

Ick rewarded!

VAN 1 @ SEA 2

 

Week #24 is in the books, and there's lots of results, occasional bouts of futility, and (finally) a couple of eliminations in the east - but only because those teams lost, rather than the 8th seed in the east taking care of business.

First off, to the WC scores of the week...

Monday: POR 1 @ SEA 2
Wednesday: OKC 1 @ STL 1, SAN 1 @ SPR 2, LA2 2 @ AZU 1
Friday: VAN 1 @ SEA 2
Saturday: RGV 2 @ SPR 0, LA2 0 @ COS 3, TUL 1 @ SLC 1, OCB 1 @ SAC 2
Sunday: AZU 1 @ SAN 1, OKC 0 @ POR 4
Monday: SEA 2 @ VAN 2, STL 1 @ CIN 2

Winner of the Week: S2. The Mini-Flounders went 2-0-1 on the week, did the entire WC a huge solid by beating Vancouver on Friday and then tying them tonight, and they vaulted themselves onto level points (but down a tiebreak) with OCB. Seattle has been classified as toast for a couple of weeks now, but they may be one of the few teams that cross the Lazarus line back into playoff contention.

Loser of the Week: OKC Energy FC. The schedule lined up just right for them, with a game at middling STL and at WC co-doormat Portland, and Energy took all of one point between the two matches. A few weeks ago OKC had the top max potential points in the WC, now they're #3 and sinking.

To the tables!!!



Sacramento retains its perch atop the WC, with RGV hard on SRFC's heels and a game in hand. Both teams have also now officially punched their tickets for the post-season. Seattle was the team that made the big move this week, and are now one point off playoff contention. SLC probably has a better claim to the Lazarus Prophecy, but that'll require actually winning the game they have in hand. The Hierarchy of Toast is quite clear: Once you are toast, you remain toast, until you actually get back into playoff position. No new eliminations this year courtesy of Portland beyotch-slapping OKC on Sunday afternoon.




Well, it took about four weeks to finally make it official, but the EC Hosers are now officially dead. The remaining EC toastees still retain their collective puncher's chance at acing out Orlando for the privilege of getting squashed by the Pink Calves in the first round.



With NY2's win this week, they keep pace in front of Louisville in the race for Top Seed overall. It sucks however, that the 8th seed in the East would be the 12th seed out west. Again, the unbalanced schedule sucks balls.

Remaining schedule for the WC goes as follows:



Coming up this week in the WC:

Friday: OCB @ SLC
Saturday: STL @ SAN, TUL @ SPR, SAC @ LA2, POR @ RGV
Sunday: COS @ VAN, SEA @ OKC

Pretty light week, but some important games nonetheless.

Until next time!!!

 

To get there, SLC has to win out, and one of those wins would be against either OCB or SAN. As a result, there's no mathematical way right now for Toros to miss the playoffs.

The table is automatically programmed to go "blue" when the magic number is zero or negative.

 

All right, you ugly buggers. Week #25 is in the books. No new eliminations, one new clinch in the west, and the playoffs now officially go through the Pink Calves.

First, the WC scores on the week...

Friday: OCB 2 @ SLC 0
Saturday: STL 3 @ SAN 1, TUL 0 @ SPR 3, SAC 1 @ LA2 1, POR 1 @ RGV 0 (!)
Sunday: COS 2 @ VAN 0, SEA 2 @ OKC 2

Winner of the week: COS. The Switchbacks officially punched their ticket to the post-season with their victory over the reeling Vancouver Whitecaps 2, and in so doing climbed back into second place. Honorable mention goes to T2, who did the WC (and particularly SRFC) a YUUUUGE solid by beating RGV down in Edinburg.

Loser of the week: Hate to do it, but that honor goes to RGV Toros. When you're gunning for the top spot in the conference, you can't let a 1.08 PPM team come into your house and punk you like that. Honorable mention goes to WFC-2. When I started this thread, the 'Caps were 9-2-5; they have since gone 2-6-4 - that's 10 points over 12 matches, and they posted another home loss to a playoff team.

To the tables!!!



RGV's inexplicable loss to Portland combined with SRFC's tie with LA2 gets the Republic three points clear of the Toros with one more match played, and two points clear of the Switchbacks with equal number of matches played. Both SRFC and RGV maintain the top max in the west. No new eliminations in the west this week.



Congrats goes out to NY2, who have now officially clinched home-field advantage in the east as well as whatever the equivalent of the Supporters' Shield is in the USL. This week we get the strange case of teams that are eliminated from the post-season above a team that is not. It's just a matter of time and games for the Riverhounds, though, even though no one can doubt Orlando's ineptitude over the past few weeks - they're now on a 0-5-1 skid, and have allowed teams that are by all definitions toast to remain mathematically alive. Orlando finishes on the road at BET and RIC, while Wilmington is at HAR then home to RIC. The Lazarus Toast may yet occur in the east, and Praise Be to Toast Jesus, for He is all-knowing and all-forgiving.



As we see, NY2 has clinched the top seed for playoffs. Tulsa, meanwhile, has a pretty good death grip on the Wooden Spoon, and two of its competitors were able to notch points this week in the east, while the Roughnecks continue to lose.

Coming up next week:
Tuesday: POR @ AZU
Wednesday: SAN @ SLC , RGV @ LA2
Saturday: LVL @ STL, RGV @ OCB, TUL @ SAN, SEA @ COS, LA2 @ SAC, SLC @ AZU
Sunday: POR @ VAN, SPR @ OKC

Big games this week, and lots of teams at the top of the table will lose their games in hand.

Until Next Time!!!

 

Updated WC table...



Tuesday: POR 2 @ AZU 1
Wednesday: SAN 0 @ SLC 2, RGV 0 @ LA2 1

By dint of their loss to Portland and their inability to best the current 8th place team on the games won tiebreaker, AZU is now effectively eliminated, if not mathematically yet so. San Antonio seems dedicated to making life difficult for itself, and both SLC and SEA are nearing the Lazarus line.

LA2 is now officially through to the playoffs after their win over RGV.

All the cards seem to be landing right for Sacramento. So why am I so nervous about that?

 

Still waiting for all the results to come in, but Sacramento has the trap game to end all trap games coming up on Saturday.

 

Week #26 Update

All righty then. Two more teams have been officially euthanized in the west, one team in the west and one in the east are still making serious runs at the Lazarus Line, three more teams punched their post-season ticket in the west.

First, the WC scores on the week:

Tuesday: POR 2 @ AZU 1
Wednesday: SAN 0 @ SLC 2, RGV 0 @ LA2 1
Saturday: LVL 5 @ STL 1, RGV 1 @ OCB 0, TUL 0 @ SAN 2, SEA 1 @ COS 2, LA2 1 @ SAC 1, SLC 2 @ AZU 3
Sunday: POR 2 @ VAN 0, SPR 3 @ OKC 0

Winner of the week: T2. Portland's gone on a hot streak at just the right time. Two months ago, the Mini-Timbers were 5-11-3 and duking it out with Tulsa for rights to the Spoon. Since then, they've gone 6-3-1 in their last 10 matches (1.9 MPG) including a current three-game win streak. Honorable mention goes to the Spork Rangers, who thumped OKC 3-0 in OKC tonight. They've solidified themselves into a legit 5th seed, and have a chance at a home playoff game if LA2 stumbles.

Loser of the week: Vancouver, again. If they take care of business against Portland this evening, they go back up into the top half of the bracket. Instead, they lose 2-0 at home, and their run of form over the last 10 matches is 1-5-4 (0.70 PPM), and that's Tulsa bad.

To the tables!



Colorado Springs jumps to the top of the table via the games won tiebreak. SRFC got a fortunate tie by way of LA2 bringing along its team supply of stupid pills, while the Switchbacks beat the soon-to-be-eliminated mini-Flounders. LA2, SPR, VAN and OKC all made it official this week primarily through SAN and OCB screwing up, while AZU and STL were both tossed off the island for keeps. And look at Portland - they're now actually ahead of OCB on goal diff, one point off of 8th place. Considering how far down they were a couple of months ago, that's a pretty good achievement.



I honestly have no idea what to make of Orlando City B right now, or what its parent club may be thinking. When I started looking at the EC, ORL was 8-7-7, and everybody else below them in the EC was well-burnt toast. Since then, the one remaining contestant (WIL) has gone 1-2-4 - and gained points on Orlando. You never want to say that shit ain't possible, but I'm sorry - that shit ain't possible...and yet it's happened. Good news for Orlando, though: Wilmington now has to beat Richmond on Saturday to force Orlando's hand. But, if the Hammerheads beat the Kickers, then Orlando will be in a must-win situation at Bethlehem on Sunday as the final game of the regular season. Just a bit of pressure there.



So there it is - the current second-to-last seed in the west is now above the 8th seed of the east. We're not quite ready to hand out the Spoon yet, but Tulsa has two glorious opportunities to grasp it this week. Montreal has a pretty easy matchup at home with Harrisburg on Saturday which could also land the Spoon squarely in Tulsa's lap.

Coming up this week in the west:

Wednesday: SPR @ TUL, OKC @ VAN
Saturday: STL @ OKC, SEA @ SPR, SAN @ RGV, SLC @ LA2, AZU @ POR, COS @ OCB, and SAC @ TUL

COS, SAC and RGV are all guaranteed home games in the first round of the playoffs. The Spork Rangers have a golden opportunity to put themselves into fourth, and conceivably even third if RGV stumbles. SAC has to hope that OCB will actually do something worthwhile in their miserable lives AND make sure they themselves take care of business against Tulsa.

Until next time!!!

 

Wednesday: SPR 3 @ TUL 1, OKC 1 @ VAN 2

 

Sporks and Mini-Caps move up with their victories on Wednesday evening.

Scenarios:
COS: Win the game, win the conference. Worst-case is third place.
SAC: Needs COS to not-win at OCB, and also avoid the trap in Tulsa. Worst-case is third place.
RGV: Can still win the conference, but need both COS and SAC to lose. Worst case is fourth place.
SPR: Can get up to third if they make up 13 goals of GD and RGV loses, otherwise enjoy fourth place.
VAN: Done for the season, could tumble down to 6th depending on what LA2 does.
OKC: In the playoffs, could finish either 6th or 7th.
SAN: If they win, they're in - but only in 8th place.
POR: Beat AZU and hope RGV beats SAN. Can also tie AZU and go through on the games won tiebreak vs. SAN. Right now, T2 is one of the more dangerous teams in the west.
OCB: They need to beat COS (yes, please!) and they also need to run up the score because they're down on the GD tiebreak to POR. Can also advance with a tie against COS (works just as well!) and a SAN loss based on games won tiebreak.
SLC: They need to beat LA2, and also need SAN, POR and OCB to lose. Not impossible, but it's a bit of a hard-six to roll.
SEA: Yes, they're still in it, and here's what has to happen - - hope that SLC, OCB, POR and SAN all lose, AND make up a current 16-goal GD deficit relative to SAN at the Spork Rangers on Saturday evening.

And with that, my friends, I believe that's a wrap on this here thread. Next table update will be the final update, and we'll be talking about the playoffs.

Go Bears!

 

Saturday:
STL 2 @ OKC 2, SEA 0 @ SPR 2, SAN 0 @ RGV 3,
SLC @ LA2, AZU 2 @ POR 3, COS 0 @ OCB 4, SAC 4 @ TUL 0




SRFC wins the west!

OCB goes through on goal diff after putting it to COS (Thanks, guys!)

Playoff pairings:
8) OCB @ 1) SAC
7) OKC @ 2) RGV
6) VAN @ 3) COS
5) LA2 @ 4) SPR