STL 7, SD 4

 Ah, those halcyon days of yesterpool, when I picked Goldschmidt and his points kept me alive for a week...

But this is 2020, and one of the many weird things about this postseason, at least for me, is how familiar I weirdly was with, like, the Orioles but then it's like "what's an NL West?" Some of these matchups, I'm just not sure what to look for.

Cards didn't have that problem, but the pool still picked up some points:

Machado 1
Myers 1
Tatis 1

No change to the money but a bunch of slates now alive.

Not sure when/if this NYY/CLE game finishes, thanks to the late start and rain delay, so you may not see me until the AM, but I'll have a full standings update then regardless.

TB 8, TOR 2; Rays move on

Ugh, well, that was over before it started, it seemed like -- and was probably predictable. And yet, I did not predict it! Why do I still suck at this!

Points:

Lowe: 1

Guerrero: 1
Hernandez: 1

And we lose Guerrero, Gurriel, and Hernandez, sigh.

Very slight change to the money, with O'Reilly moving up to a tie for second and all the five-pointers in third. But buckle up, we've got a crap-ton of picks in play for these last three games, especially the nightcap. Good luck, everyone!

OAK 5, CWS 3

 That got unnecessarily nail-bitey at the end there, but [if you have a Buntsy Dad Joke bingo card going, get that stamper out] Athletic supporters can now exhale as the A's even up the series.

Just the one point, from Abreu (my guy didn't even play; great pick, Nana), but now the money looks like this:

9: Cameron 2
7: Yuhan 1
6: O'Reilly

Back shortly, I fear. 

ATL 1, CIN 0 (13)

Couldn't have happened to a nicer Bauer. And despite the soccer score, a couple of Brave picks got on the board.

Points:

Acuña 2
Freeman 1

So the money looks like this:

8: Cameron 2
6: Yuhan 1
5: O'Reilly, Dunn, Bingham 1, DGB [NB: three of the four had Cruz]

Five people at 4; a cast of dozens at 3, 2, and 1; NL West pickers still waiting to get on the board.

Going to write a book review and probably won't return for a couple hours, as the Marlins-Cubs series isn't in play for us, and the likely TOR/TB outcome is, frankly, too grim to contemplate right this second. Hang in there, everyone!

HOU 3, MIN 1; Astros move on

Oof, the Twins. Not the result you want from a pool standpoint, as we've lost two picks in the first update of Day 2. Not the result you want as a human being as you watch this franchise flail out of another postseason.

Couple of points available...

Cruz 2

And a couple of picks departing...

Cruz
Sanó

No real change to the leaders, except that Dunn moved into a tie for second...and is now set to drop like a hot rock since he had both those dudes. 

We finally have a result for CIN/ATL; back in a moment!

NYY 12, CLE 3

There's a Justin Bieber joke here, but I'm too tired. Yanks probably are too, with all that hitting they did. All eligible hitters got points:

Ramirez 2

LeMahieu 2
Voit 3

And now our standings after the first day of play, although not all slates have "come to bat" yet:

8: Cameron 2
5: O'Reilly, Yuhan 1
4: JArbour 2, Bingham 2

3: Dunn, the Cayennes, SDB 1, Brady, Yuhan 2

2: Lund, Bingham 1, DGB, Winklepleck, Fell 1, Bauer 2, Barboot 2

1: Fell 2, Bauer 1, Tormey

and everyone else waiting to get on board with the NL games tomorrow.

...Guys! So many games tomorrow! Allllll the games tomorrow. It's basically on the hour every hour starting at noon ET with Reds/Braves. Buntsy prom! I'm off-site for a bit tomorrow so updates might be sporadic; stay tuned.

TB 3, TOR 1

There is an individual named Rowdy Tellez! This pleases me. This should not surprise me -- the Mets played the Jays like 10 times -- but you take the little Ws. 

Speaking of: points.

Lowe 1

Gurriel 3

About half the pool now on the board; leaders basically stable with O'Reilly, Yuhan 1, and Cameron 2 tied for the top slot.

The nightcap doesn't have much momentum here in the 7th but it beats the debates, so that's what I'm watching. See you shortly with the first-day wrap-up.

HOU 4, MIN 1; CWS 4, OAK 1

Welp, we've had the first data-sort snafu of the year! Glad I caught it early, but as it's unlikely to be the last, please, check my work. (A reminder: I use MLB.com box scores for the TB counts.)

For the opener, points-getters were:

Springer 1
Cruz 2
Sano 1

The second afternoon game was just Abreu, but he spotted his pickers 5.

Early returns:

O'Reilly, Yuhan 1, and Cameron 2 with 5
Dunn with 3
Lund, Bingham 1, and Dave Sr. with 2
Fell 2 with 1

Goose eggs for the rest so far; see you back here after the evening slate!

BPP 2020 now has the force of law

 (Narrator: "It doesn't.")

Welcome back, everyone! Welcome to a couple new faces; welcome back to a couple old hands. I'm just glad we're all here. I'll tell you frankly, I didn't think they'd get even this whole truncated season in, much less to the postseason, but if I'd had to run some damn dice-baseball Zoom thing to keep the BPP going, I'd have done it. 

Fortunately (?), MLB hauled itself and us to October (ish). With 31 minutes to the opening bell, let's have a look at the picks:

Speaking of 31, that's how many slates we've got going this year; that's $217 for our first-place finisher, $62 for second, and $31 for third. Only one duplicate slate that I can see.

Heaviest action team-wise is on the Dodgers; Mookie Betts leads individual picks handily, with Freeman and Ozuna not far behind. But what's really interesting here is that, while three of the NL teams were picked heavily, the other five weren't picked at all. (Even I finally learned my lesson with Votto.) At least one pick from every AL team, but the NL Central may as well not even exist at this school. Which means we know where the Flyin' Hawaiian Trophy is coming from this time around...

HOU/MIN starts us off after 2 PM ET, followed by CWS/OAK at 3, Jays/Rays at 5-ish, and the marquee matchup, Yanks/Spiders, at 7. Check the picks, email/comment with any mistakes or other mental anguishing, and good luck! 

BPP 2020: Rules rundown

 Hello friends and fans of baseball (and money),

Welcome (back) to Bunting's Postseason Baseball Pool -- the postseason pool for everyone! You don't need to know a lot about baseball; you just have to know who's in the playoffs, and how to count. And that last one is optional, now that I think about it.

The set-up and instructions for entry appear below. Looking for changes since last year? Ctrl-F ** (there's not much different but, as with everything else in this hideous year, we've got some adjusting to do). 

For an overview of previous years' action, feel free to browse around the BPP blog, http://buntingspostseasonpool.blogspot.com.

Think I left someone off the dist list? Forward at will; the more the merrier!

Deadline for picks/payment is TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 at NOON (12 PM) ET.

[arranges BPP masks in fan shape by the door]

 ...Well, hello. I hope you are all safe and well, or getting by at least. I thought about bagging the pool this year, but if MLB could bring us this weird season, this weird pool should show up to see it out, no? Not to mention it's a low-risk activity with no quar reqs. 

Email's going out in a bit. Any questions, you know where to find me.