Championship Showdown!
Our third champion will soon be crowned.
Yo! Sorry for being MIA on these articles during the playoffs, work has been killer. Anyways, thank you everyone for another awesome year of the D|League. As always, I’ll have some articles over the offseason to keep you thinking about fantasy football 365 days of the year. First things first though, we have our last week of the playoffs to cover! Let’s take a look at the four teams left and how they got here.
Third Place — (2) Binh vs (5) Mikey
Binh (9–4, 1789.67)
Last Year’s Finish: 3rd
Preseason Ranking: 1st
“After two consecutive years of placing 3rd, Binh’s team puts it together in 2018 for a championship.”
Mid Season Ranking: 1st
“Binh has the record and immense scoring output to separate himself into his own tier. I’m excited to see how Binh somehow still ends up in 3rd place at the end of the season.”
2018 MVP: Todd Gurley (RB 1, 361.60)
Binh was the man to beat from the get-go, ranking 1st in my preseason rankings and keeping that placement at the mid season mark. He shattered the season points record by 192.25 points and looked ready to finally make his way to the Championship with a 1st Week Playoff Bye.
And yet…once again, Binh finds himself playing for 3rd place. Whereas 2017 saw an unlucky 163.00–187.18 loss to Tani in the semis (still an absolutely absurd match-up), this year he just put up a straight dud of 86.76 points. It is equally impressive and disappointing how close he’s gotten every year.
Mikey (8–5, 1459.48)
Last Year’s Finish: 14th
Preseason Ranking: 12th
“A number of players do feel like they’re ranked too low, so don’t be surprised if Mikey overshoots this projection.”
Mid Season Ranking: 4th
“[Mikey’s] championship odds seem doubtful. However, Amari can’t be any worse in Dallas…so Mikey has reasons to be hopeful heading into the second half.”
2018 MVP: Saquon Barkley (RB 3, 300.40)
Last year Lando made it to the 3rd place game after a preseason ranking of 12th, and Mikey duplicated that feat in 2018. Mikey was justified in his belief that FantasyPros was sleeping on his team but there were plenty of in-season changes that helped Mikey along the way, specifically him trading for Matt Ryan as well as the Amari to Dallas move that boosted both Amari’s and Dak’s production.
It all came together for him in the Playoff Quarterfinals, where he erupted for 178.43 points and looked like he was going to roll his way to a potential Championship. Unfortunately his stars didn’t produce the following week and he went away from Matt Ryan at the worst possible time. Ultimately Mikey should be pleased with the jump his team made this year, but I’m sure this playoff loss will sting for a while.
Championship Game — (1) Kevin vs (6) JR
Kevin (10–3, 1698.41)
Last Year’s Finish: 5th
Preseason Ranking: 8th
“Kevin has a good team…don’t be surprised if he proves [FantasyPros] wrong for the second year in a row.”
Mid Season Ranking: 3rd
“Kevin has slowed down a bit… [but] is one of the most explosive teams in the league.”
2018 MVP: Patrick Mahomes (QB 1, 462.02)
Kevin outperformed expectations yet again thanks to breakout performances by a number of his players, the most notable of course being Pat Mahomes. After a slight mid-season lull, Kevin exploded down the stretch averaging 144.54 points in Weeks 9–12 and claimed the best record in the league despite dealing with more injuries to his players than anyone other than Tani.
Melvin Gordon is returning just in time for this Championship match-up and gives Kev a chance to cap off this season with the ultimate prize. And even though fantasy can be a fickle beast with championship windows closing abruptly, Kevin’s team looks like a problem for years to come.
JR (7–6, 1584.46)
Last Year’s Finish: 6th
Preseason Ranking: 9th
“JR’s starters are in the top half of the league…however a lack of depth could submarine this team. This year the pendulum swings back the other way to 6–7.”
Mid Season Ranking: 5th
“JR seems to alternate big weeks with duds…Depth is still a concern but JR is firmly in the mix.”
2018 MVP: Christian McCaffrey (RB 2, 305.20)
Kevin might be the underdog this week according to Yahoo projections, but JR is the true underdog story of the playoffs. After an up-and-down season, he squeezed his way in the Championship bracket at the last second after Week 13. From there, JR took down the former champ in the Quarterfinal and dominated Binh’s goliath team in the Semi’s.
Now JR has a chance at a championship and seems to have most of the league rooting for him since there’s still no physical proof that Kevin exists outside of J Tong’s burner phone.
Will JR complete his playoff underdog story and take down the No. 1 Seed?
Or will Kevin cap off a dominant season and finally reveal himself to claim a trophy next draft weekend…
It all comes down to Week 16.
That’s all folks! Merry Christmas, and have a great weekend with your friends and family!
