40+ Geezer Playoffs looming and the slots are set… At least mostly…. Please Sir, Can I have some playing time?

Playoffs are approaching.  It is time for captains to begin to plan their playoff lineups.  As I was once told, the good captains are separated from the bad ones based on if they are cold blooded.  Captains almost always have a guy that is the 14^th best player on the roster but that player is convinced he is deserving of playing time.  The better captains can borrow a line from Nancy Reagan and “Just Say No!!!” to their playing time begging players.

The question looms, who are the lesser captains? 

As the season really winds down, we can go through the likely playoff  teams and try to decide who the sucker captains will be.  Please comment on who you think and why they will be the sucker captains of the playoffs.

I will be making my never too early playoff predictions here.  These might change.  After all, leagues are on a spring break hiatus.  Some take a week and others two weeks off.  I have no idea why the various layoffs.

The Heavyweights

4.5+ - I really don’t have a lot to add in the way of current updates because of weather and DTA lack of scheduling.  The playoff schedule is the top 2 teams from each flight advance to a round-robin.

Flight A – It is still a two team race.  Lakes/Wagner and Greenhill/Sweeney.  They are both undefeated and must play each other twice.  All this will be irrelevant if Greenhill beats Gleneagles/Juhn this week.  That will take them to 7-0 (taking their unreported match default from Canyon Creek).  That is 4 losses for Juhn and gameover.  Lakes has their two matches against Greenhill left and two matches against bottom feeders.  For all intents and purposes, they should clear their calendar.

I still think Greenhill is a little stronger but not by a great amount.  Rich and Correia are some very good 5.0s. 

Flight B – This is a three team race.  Greehill/Rossouw has a very good team on life support.  I know his real team is in Fort Worth but in Dallas, he is in a must win situation this week against first place TBar/Fikes.  Not only must he win this, he must win convincingly.  Before the season started, I thought Dick’s team was the best in this flight and I still think so.  I see a very good Greenhill team being eliminated.  To make matters worse for Greenhill, Brookhaven/Harllee looms the following week.  Brookhaven sits with the same record as Dick’s team.  Brookhaven has a bottom feeder this week.

In the end, I think TBar edges Brookhaven on lines.  While not as confident on this flight as I am on Flight A, it is pretty much decided.  Greenhill would have to have two extraordinary weeks.  They have a good roster but that is asking a lot from two other very good rosters.

4.5+ Playoffs – The teams I expect to advance are (1) Greenhill/Sweeney, (2) Lakes/Wagner, (3) TBar/Fikes and (4) Brookhaven/Harllee.  Your projected order of finish is…  Please comment with your thought…

The Middleweights

4.0 – This one appears to be done.  While it appears TBar/Beckner still has a score to post to edge Canyon Creek/McHugh.  I know a number of those TBar guys and they aren’t losing to a bottom feeder team.  The top 2 teams from each flight advance to a round-robin playoff.

This makes the four teams (1) McKinney/Peterson, (2) Greenhill/Kayser, (3) High Point/Wiley and (4) TBar/Beckner.

Flight A – Almost every person had McKinney/Peterson in the playoffs before the season started.  The question was who would be the other team…  In week 1, that question was answered with a monumental upset of McKinney/Peterson.  Greenhill/Kayser knocks them off and takes a meaningless loss in the last match of the season which was a makeup from weeks earlier.

McKinney is still the better team.  They have better depth but Greenhill has some very good doubles lines.  Both teams will be tough outs.

Flight B – This was suppose to be the epic battle between Titans Canyon Creek/McHugh and High Point/Wiley.  High Point held up their end but Canyon Creek slipped against the party crasher TBar/Beckner.  I know a lot of those TBar guys and I think they shocked everybody except myself. 

Canyon Creek has to be wondering what happened.  They had a great roster.  In the two matches they lost, every line lost was a third set tiebreaker.  That has to be a heart breaker.  That is a very solid team that sits home watching teams that they had chances to beat.   

The question is how would they have done in Flight A?  Before the season started, I was in the camp that Wiley couldn’t retool High Point so quickly.  In the end, he put together a better team than last year. 

4.0 Playoffs – It will be tough.  High Point has to be the early favorite.  They ended undefeated in a tough flight.  TBar is the wildcard of these four.  If you look at the lineups TBar played High Point and the one Canyon Creek played, they are noticeably different.  High Point definitely drew a more favorable opponent.  McKinney has great singles with Schwartz and Hutchison.  Their doubles are also good.  They are another tough out.  Finally, Greenhill has three rock solid doubles lines but they have little depth.

My early prediction that is subject to change—(1) High Point (2) TBar (3) McKinney (4) Greenhill.  All of these teams can beat each other.  Should be a very competitive playoff but High Point’s depth wins out. 

I look at the High Point lineup with players like Smithheisler & Zackary in singles, those are tough outs.  Long time 4.0/4.5 bump up/bump downs like Bearden, Corcoran, Sampson, Wiley, Clark, Campos, Shanks, Pearson and Wayles; he may just have too many options. 

3.5 – I am really stepping out my element here but will give it a stab.  Fretz 2/Bender is undefeated but must hold of High Point/Gardner.  Third place is Stonebriar/Dickey.  My guess is Fretz 2/Bender wins this.

Feel free to tell me why I am right or wrong