Announcement | November 19, 2014
The final week of the regular season is in the books, and the playoffs are ready to begin! Some tough matches this last week had heavy influence on the final playoff seeding.
Thanks to a close win over Thank You, Enjoy the Show, The Terrorwrists managed to hold onto their the top spot in the standings and will host their first match at Jackbar on December 1st. They will play the Compadres who, despite struggling the last couple of weeks, edged Flipped Out for the fourth playoff spot in the Left Orbit Division division. Meanwhile, the Mutants grabbed another win which secured their second place finish and some momentum going into the playoffs. They will host the tough third place finishers, Thank You, Enjoy the Show.
In the Right Orbit Division, Factory of Sadness finished strong and easily held onto first place. They will face The Usual Suspects whose decisive win at home combined with Lost In the Zone’s tough rode loss in the final week landed them the fourth seed in their division. Meanwhile, the first round will feature a rematch of the final week of the season as Hard Plunge will once again square off against New York City Flipper Sport Association. While Hard Plunge has earned home field advantage, they will be playing away from home the first round as Upright Brew House has made the sad decision to remove its pinball machines (BOO, HISS!). This will no doubt lead to a very interesting home-away-from-home match for the second place finishers.
In both divisions of the Lower Playfield, there was some last minute shuffling in the standings which will, no doubt, have a strong impact in the first round. In the Left Flipper Division, The Aristocrats win at home against Chillers Only, combined with wins by both the Cartel and Special When Lit, sent the then number two Chillers Only down to fourth place in the standings. This means that the Cartel finishes second and will host the third place finishers, Special When Lit at the Kettle of Fish in the first round. Meanwhile, Chillers Only are now forced to return to Bar Great Harry for a rematch against the first place finishers, the Aristocrats.
The Right Flipper Conference also saw late shuffling in the standings after the final week. While the Pinbabes had been in first going into the final week, a loss to Autosave sent them down to fourth place, narrowly edging out their opponent for the final spot in playoffs. The Roseanne Jackbar’s win over the More or Lesser Players catapulted them into first place, but the More or Lesser Players managed to hold their spot and finish in third place. Another win by Danger Danger assures them home field in the first round as they finished in second place. The first round will see matches at Jackbar and Mission Dolores.
Remember, there are two very important variations in the rules for playoff matches. During playoff matches Starters need only play one game, not the usual two. This does not, however, trump the rule which limits individual play to once per round. That is to say, sitting a Starter in the Singles Rounds, for instance, does not open up the door for an individual to play two Singles games in a single round. Also note that the “Ringer Rule” will not be in effect during the playoffs. All other rules remain the same.
Despite a few hiccups this season, I am very impressed with how it all turned out. With 32 teams, various machine failures, new teams, new bars, new rules, etc, I think it all went pretty smoothly. I appreciate everyone’s commitment to the league and the good sportsmanship that ultimately prevails. Good luck to everyone participating in the playoffs, and I hope to THE ENTIRE LEAGUE at our end of season party.