bukie

There's a decent argument to be made that Molina is the most important catcher on the Cardinals this month.

Actually, the Big 12 is the highest rated conference in KP history this season, with all 10 teams in the top 70 overall. As you can see in the conference ratings, there's a giant gap this year between the top 6 conferences and anyone else, such that it's nearly impossible for anyone outside those conferences to build a viable at large profile.

I can't believe how bad this team ended up. Defensive intensity is non existing, offensive strategy is 20 years behind.

As for the way I see it, there's clearly a top 3 of C, K and L in some order, followed by a clear next 3 of A, H and Q. After that things get subjective.

And yes, I know you can tell which one is Gonzaga.

Top 18 nitty gritty, randomly sorted, blind poll: Team AdjEM 1-25 26-50 51-100 101-200 200+ R/N Conf A +27.85 6-3 4-2 5-1 2-1 7-0 8-5 +19.26 B +27.81 3-5 4-3 7-1 4-0 4-0 10-5 +17.30 C +30.14 2-2 7-1 10-0 7-0 2-0 14-2 +14.81 D +23.85 4-2 1-0 5-1 8-0 9-0 12-2 +9.90 E +25.06 1-2 3-0 6-2 9-0 7-0 9-4 +6.24 F +24.51 1-3 8-1 6-1 4-0 6-0 10-4 +13.78 G +23.59 2-2 2-0 11-2 6-0 5-0 10-4 +9.90 H +27.78 6-3 5-2 5-1 5-0 3-0 11-6 +17.30 I +27.06 4-5 6-2 3-0 7-0 3-0 8-6 +17.30 J +27.13 2-4 5-0 10-1 5-0 4-0 11-3 +12.29 K +26.66 8-2 6-1 6-0 5-0 3-0 14-2 +19.26 L +32.92 6-0 0-0 3-1 11-0 12-0 17-0 +1.25 M +27.19 1-4 4-3 10-0 4-0 3-0 15-6 +12.29 N +23.07 4-2 8-2 1-2 6-1 5-0 6-7 +17.30 O +24.00 4-4 7-3 4-0 5-1 4-0 9-7 +17.30 P +22.56 2-2 3-0 5-2 8-0 9-0 9-4 +6.24 Q +25.72 6-4 7-2 5-0 1-0 5-0 10-4 +19.26 R +21.70 1-4 2-0 5-0 14-0 4-0 12-3 +9.90 AdjEM is the adjusted efficiency margin of the team taking into account margin of victory and schedule strength. The various records are vs KP top 25/50/100/200/+ and Road/Neutral record Conf is the relative conference rating compared to the average conference. Today, figure out the top 12 among that list, and start sorting through the rest of the at-larges. I'm midway through a nitty gritty for the one bid leagues (that looks hilariously different from this), but I'll get to is after work.

#32: Rizzo Keeps it Rolling Early Why on the list? - Though the Cubs had just rolled in Game 4 after Rizzo finally got things going offensively, the series was still tied here going into game 5 in LA. In a huge game, the Cubs got the offense rolling immeidately as Rizzo doubled home Fowler in the first inning for his fourth consecutive hit, as the Cubs would never trail again in the series.

Being loose and having fun during a series clinching game is not a negative, just for information. Rizzo did no such thing because he was having fun with it too. You completely missed the point of the moment.

#33: Cubs Continue to Have Fun on Defense Why on the list? - Even the announcers didn't really notice this, but during the game 6 mastery, the right side of the Cubs' infield continued to have a blast in the field, having fun with popups here as first Baez calls of Rizzo on a ball right at Rizzo, then later Rizzo waving off Baez (who was about 100 feet away at the time) on another popup in about the same location. The guys were having fun while the Dodgers looked inept and helpless.

I have to be perfectly honest, I would have a really hard time ranking those teams without pouring through the resumes of each one. I might have to sit this step out :( That seals it, doing a nitty gritty on every one bid league.

Clemson lost to Duke in the ACC second round.

Fun fact: In 2018 the B1G wanted to have the conference tournament at MSG, but it was booked for the Big East tournament, so instead, the B1G tournament is being bumped up a week in 2018 so it can be at MSG.

I have to be perfectly honest, I would have a really hard time ranking those teams without pouring through the resumes of each one. I might have to sit this step out :( What would your next 12 be on the board after the 18 liated?

That was some game. In the under card, Pulisic scored his first UCL goal and got 2 assists as Dortmund overcame a 1-0 deficit to win their tie.

I'm going to set up a blind poll based on nitty-gritty numbers for each protected seed potential, but won't get it until this evening. Until then the next steps are to rank the one bid entrants from the bottom and start sorting through the remaining at large bids.

Big board as of this morning: Here are the current auto bids (11 of 32 set): ACC: America East: Vermont/Albany American: A-10: Atlantic Sun: Florida Gulf Coast Big 12: Big East: Big Sky: Big South: Winthrop Big Ten: Big West: Colonial: UNC-Wilmington CUSA: Horizon: Northern Kentucky Ivy: MAAC: Iona MAC: MEAC: MVC: Wichita State MWC: NEC: Mount St. Mary's OVC: Jacksonville State Pac-12: Patriot: Bucknell/Lehigh SEC: SoCon: East Tennessee State Southland: SWAC: Summit: South Dakota State Sun Belt: WAC: WCC: Gonzaga At large pool (57 potentials for 36 to 47 bids): ACC: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Louisville, Miami FL, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest American: Cincinnati, Houston, SMU A-10: Dayton, Rhode Island, VCU Big East: Butler, Creighton, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall, Villanova, Xavier Big 12: Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, West Virginia B1G: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, Wisconsin CUSA: Middle Tennessee MVC: Illinois State MWC: Nevada Pac-12: Arizona, California, Oregon, UCLA, USC, Utah SEC: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt WCC: St. Mary's Protected seed potebtials: Gonzaga Villanova Kansas North Carolina Kentucky Duke Baylor Louisville West Virginia Virginia UCLA Arizona Oregon Purdue Florida Florida State SMU Cincinnati

What an odd take. "Way over the top" for a clutch home run in the postseason? Hmm ok I appreciate his enthusiasm, his tone is just hard to listen to. His call of Rajai Davis' homerun was too much. The Arrieta call was pretty good. The Davis home run was the 3rd biggest hit by WPA in world series history. Bigger than the Mazeroski HR. The only way to think it's too much is willful ignorance.

Gonzaga wins the WCC.

Northern Kentucky wins the Horizon.

10 I'd remove: Charleston Akron Boise State Clemson Indiana TCU Texas Tech Alabama BYU Tennessee

It goes the other way too. With every bad AB suddenly everyone becomes a swing doctor and tries to pick apart his failures. The only thing that bothers me are the people actively rooting for him to fail because they want to be proven right in their opposition to his acquisition.

Using Chapman in game 6 like he did was not a reasonable decision. A HR is not a low percentage occurrence given he used Chapman like that. Using Lester in that situation was not a good decision, he could have used another pitcher. It doesn't matter, I supposed. They won. However, I don't understand the backbends to justify terrible managerial decision that Maddon made. If they lost, he would be legendary for stupid decision making, mostly because it is so out of character for him. It's all anyone would have talked about all winter and would be brought up like Bartman and the billy goat every year. You were more wrong in this post than Maddon was in the entire playoffs. You are so wrong it's not worth my time to show you how.

It's certainly in the running for best game in Wrigley history, along with the mostly disappointing World Series games last year and in the WWII era.

#34: Contreras and Rizzo Break Kershaw, Put Game 6 Away Why on the list? - Not that Hendricks was going to even allow 3 runs in this game, but with the score already 3-0 thanks to a fun first inning, the Cubs kept tacking on against Kershaw in a game where the Dodgers had no other options. They went to Jansen for 3 innings and he shut down the Cubs in impressive fashion, but by then it was too late, as the Cubs had done more than enough damage, and these HRs were just to keep the crowd jumping through the whole game.

So from that, who are your top 16, and what 10 teams can safely be eliminated from at-large consideration (since even eliminating 10 teams from that list leaves at least 9 too many)?