Revisiting crystal ball and predicting playoffs

Alright, well after a fun and dramatic regular season of frisbee, here we are! Unfortunately, after having a season of relatively good weather, our last games of the season were rained out, which is pretty lame. Either way, it has been a really fun season of throwing that disc around. It appears my crystal ball might’ve had a small crack in it as my original predictions may have been a tiny teensy bit off of what actually happened. Be warned….this is going to be a bit of a marathon article, so be prepared!

Original predictions:

8) Skyblue
7) Purple
6) Brown
5) Green
4) Teal
3) Blue
2) Red
1) Coral

Alright, now to the actual standings, where we assess what went wrong and went right for our many teams this season.

8) Coral
Oof…..I was way off with this one. Even though Coral only won one game this season, I wouldn’t count them out the playoffs. This team has been absolutely riddled with injuries and is starting to gain momentum. Ben has had a lingering hamstring (I think?) issue, Allison was out for a while, G has been hurt, and Davis has been gone doing who knows what?

7) Purple
Was right on the money with this one. Devon got 2 wins this season, astronomically better than his winless season last season. Picking up Ricardo pre-season was an absolute game-changer for this team and the Kadustin pair has proved to be a nightmare for other teams. I think this team just lacks experience that many others have, which leads to careless turnovers.

6) Green
I predicted this team to finish 5th and Brown to finish 6th, and I just had them reversed, so I’m calling these both wins for me. Green has all the weapons to have a great team, but the loss of the almighty Logan Diehl has been tough for them.

5) Brown
Despite having the best team name in the league with the Pooh Bears, Brown has had a bit of a disappointing season. With Max, Cooper, and Natalie, I feel like this team should be near unstoppable. I know this is another team that I’ve seen with injuries and absences, so I feel this team could make a run in the playoffs.

4) Skyblue
I think this was the surprise of the season. I was not the only person to rank them at the bottom of the leaderboards preseason. Sorry for putting you guys 8th seed. In the words of Shaq, I wasn’t familiar with your game. Between the experience of Jenny, Aaron, Dan, and Anton mixed with the youth and freakish height of people like Thomas, this team has everything. Looking back, I don’t know what I was thinking putting them in the 8 seed.

3) Red
I predicted this team would be the 2 seed, so not too far off. Looking at their roster, Red has the best team in the league. They have arguably the best cutter in the league in Luke paired with super experienced handlers like Matt, Schimmel, and Jared. Pair that with elite ladies in Jess and Jill and this team can put together the greatest 7-person line of all time. I feel their 2 losses came from their own mistakes and Red can still win the whole league.

2) Teal
This is a team I feel everyone knew would be elite in the regular season. With the loss of Sam and Nes, the real question is how far can they go in the playoffs? They’ve shown they can compete with the best teams in the league, so Teal is another team I could see winning it all.

1) Blue
Again, another team everyone knew would be at the top of the leaderboards. Looking back at the draft, it is still bonkers to me that Zach was able to snag Bhagya. This is another team that can and may win it all and I think that is a 3-way race to win between Blue, Teal, and Red. These 3 teams have been the best all season.

So that’s that. Overall, I’d say my predictions were pretty solid. I was WAY off with Skyblue and Coral, but everything else was pretty close to accurate. But I’m still not revealing my identity, so sorry folks. This now takes us into part 2 of this unnecessarily long article, predictions for playoffs!!

1st Round:

Blue vs. Coral:
Now I know what everyone is thinking here. An 8 seed vs. a 1 seed. This should be a blowout right? Wrong. Coral has been gaining momentum this season, getting a win 2 weeks ago and being up big last week in the cancelled game. Also, Coral scored 13 against Blue earlier in the season, and I hear that the magnificent Bhagya will be out for this game. Hot take here. Coral is going to pull a Miami Heat and beat the 1 seed on Universe point. It seems silly to bet against the 1 seed, especially when it’s Zach’s team, but I’m feeling extra ~spicy~ today, so let’s see what happens. 15-14 Coral.

Teal vs. Purple:
This will be Teal’s first challenge to overcome without 2 of their star players. Even though Purple has had an underwhelming season, they also were having a great game against Blue last week during the cancelled game. Last time these 2 teams played, it was a blowout by Teal. I think Purple will player better during this game, but Teal will still win 15-10.

Red vs. Green:
Sorry to Green because I really love you guys, but I think this will be the biggest margin of victory in the first round. Without Logan, the matchups on Red will be too much and I think their suffocating zone will overwhelm Green, who is lacking elite handlers. Give me Red over Green 15-7.

Skyblue vs. Brown:
This is an interesting matchup. I think the top players on Brown are better, but Skyblue definitely has more depth than Brown. I think this’ll be a close game because of a heroic effort from Natalie, but they will unfortunately come short and end up losing. I think this is a very winnable game as Skyblue has had their struggles this season, but I think Skyblue will end up winning 15-12.

2nd Round:

Coral vs. Skyblue:
This very well could be Blue vs. Skyblue in a blue battle, but we’re just going to assume I know what I’m talking about. If Blue does win their matchup against Coral, they will win this game and advance to the finals and win the championship as I think Bhagya will be back. With the Coral vs. Skyblue matchup, I think this will be a very close game with Skyblue edging it out because of their depth. They have the deepest roster of really solid players and that is their greatest strength. I think these games are to 11, so give me skyblue over Coral 11-9.

Teal vs. Red:
This will be the most electric match of the playoffs. The first time Teal and Red faced off was a super close game and this will be no different. With 2 of the most explosive cutters in Billy and Luke, you can expects lots of deep shots. Red has run a zone most of the season, and although Teal has appeared to do well in the zone, the Sam and Nes duo will be a detrimental loss. I think Teal will still steal this game through grit and hard-fought defense. Give me a universe point win for Teal 11-10.

Finals: 

Teal vs. Skyblue:
Uhh yeah…someone is going to have to put on some white jerseys for this game, because this won’t work. This will be a really fun finals with lots of highlight plays. Teal is another team with great depth, and I think this will be why Skyblue and Teal make the finals. In this crazy hot weather, having valuable reps from everyone is the key to success. Although Skyblue has the experience and will probably have less turnovers, Teal has shown to be outstanding on D. Even though Teal will undoubtedly turn the disc over more than they should this game, they will come back with aggressive D and end up taking this game 11-9.

So yeah…that’s about it. Did I probably just waste an hour of my life on predictions that certainly won’t happen? Yes. Do I regret it? Absolutely not. If you’ve made it this far and read the whole thing, you’re a real one. I really REALLY hope there’s no rainouts for playoffs. This has been a really good season and I really think the championship is up for grabs. Only time will tell and I’ll see you guys all next week. Bye!!