Playoff Picture: Feb 3

With four weeks left in the regular season, the postseason picture is starting to clarify, and also get bunched up! Remember, our new playoff format is: "Top eight teams in the Power Rankings are re-seeded, irrespective of conference. Each playoff round and consolation round will be re-seeded as well."

Barring big collapses, six of the spots are probably locked up, three each from Russell and Chamberlain Conference. Swamp Dragons, Chunky Monkeys, Fat Jubas from Russell and Squirtle Squad, Spade, and Sour Snails from Chamberlain.

There are also four certain Toilet Bowl participants, as Snack Bears, Hilt the Stilt, Team Cameltoe, and Another Bad Creation have all locked up appearances in the upcoming losers tourney

That leaves six teams on the bubble for two spots, teams with records ranging from 9-7 to 7-9, with a slew of possibilities in-between. Right now Team Thien and Funk Coalition are in with their dual 9-7 records but with another month of games to go, anything could happen. Let’s take a look at what’s ahead for our bubble teams.

Team Thien (9-7)
Boogie Time is mired in a 2-5 tailspin, especially after a WK16 loss to three-win Another Bad Creation last week. The return of DeMarcus Cousins — and the shocking productivity of Jahlil Okafor — helps but remaining matchups against three ten-win teams and a final week versus So Buckets could lead to Thien missing the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Playoff Chance: 20%

Funk Coalition (9-7)
After suffering through two losses to ten-win teams, Funk picked up a short-handed win versus So Buckets last week and will now cruise into a soft last month of games, highlighted by matchups versus fellow bubble teams IL Conceived and LA Buffy, and then two of the surefire Toilet Bowl teams. The playoffs should be a lock! Playoff Chance: 90%

Fob Stars (8-7-1)
With a 7-1-1 record in the past two months, Fob Stars have been pretty much the hottest team in the league. The schedule toughens up considerably down the stretch though as they face Squirtle Squad, Sour Snails, and Spade to clean up the regular season. Fob has been through this gauntlet before though, and emerged from WK10-12 with two wins and a tie versus the exact same opponents, so it’s quite possible Fob has the firepower to compete with the best, assuming Jamal Murray returns from injury soon! Playoff Chance: 70%

So Buckets (8-7-1)
Since becoming a father in early December, So Buckets attention has been reasonably focused on their new responsibilities. Even though they sport one of the league’s best defenses, Buckets has been a little erratic week to week and while they have an easy matchup against Snack Bears this week, it’s likely their playoff hopes will come down to a WK20 matchup versus Team Thien, assuming they can beat one of Swamp Dragons or Fat Jubas in the coming weeks. Playoff Chance: 40%

LA Buffy (7-9)
Our league leader in Games Played, Buffy has been scrapping hard all year to stay in the playoff picture and they’ll need to keep fighting if they want to get into the playoffs. Three games against winning teams remain, including one each versus Chunky Monkeys and Swamp Dragons. Buffy will likely need three wins to enter the playoff picture and that is going to be awful difficult. Still, they’re statistically still in it! Playoff Chance: 10%

IL Conceived (7-9)
Left for dead after a 2-7 start, IL Conceived has somehow become an offensive powerhouse after being a defense-first team for most of the season. With key wins versus Fat Jubas, Team Thien, and Chunky Monkeys in the past month, IL Conceived now find themselves riding a 4-1 streak and could sneak into the playoff picture despite a tough last two weeks of the regular season. Still, with Luka Doncic on board, anything is possible! Playoff Chance: 15%