TEX 5, TB 1

Huh. Okay. Your points:

TEX - 3

Crawford, C - 1
Cruz, N - 4
Hamilton, J - 1
Longoria, E - 1

Lee, C - 17
Price, D - 14.67

Price pickers snag a bunch of points despite a meh performance from their man; Aaron looks like a genius for picking Nelson Cruz. Something of a surprise, but it's early yet.

John sets the pace with 21, Maria I trailing at 17, a hugger-mugger of 15.67s (Sam II, Hilary, Keith, Ben II, Jeremy, and Jill's Hate Slate), Aaron with that spicy 4, and Joe with 1.

Nobody else on the board. CIN at PHI in 8 minutes.

Reminder: How The Points Work

TEAM POINTS

each game won = 3 pts.
games won by blow-out (5 runs or more) = 2 pt.
games won in extra innings = 2 pt.

division series = 6 pts.
championship series = 10 pts.
World Series = 15 pts.

sweep/division = 2 pts.
sweep/championship = 5 pts.
sweep/World Series = 8 pts.


PLAYER POINTS/TOTAL BASES

single, walk, HBP/other = 1 pt.
double = 2 pts.
triple = 3 pts.
home run = 4 pts.


(NB: I'm using MLB.com for TB; they do not appear to count BB/HBP/PB as bases, and therefore neither will I.)


PITCHER POINTS

each K = 1 pt.
each inning = 1 pt. (yes, thirds of innings will be counted)
throws a complete game = 3 pts.
throws a no-no/perfect game = 10 pts.

Aaaaaaand go

In just a few minutes, we begin. The BPP celebrates its 100th post with a review of today's sked:

TEX at TB, 1:37 PM ET
CIN at PHI, 5 PM ET
NYY at MIN, 8:30 PM ET

All on TBS -- now with 100% less Chip Caray! Sweet!

Look for our first scoring update at around happy hour.

Good luck, everyone.

The Picks

Below, the picks. For the first time, we have duplicate slates, so if those slates win, their pickers will have to divide the money evenly between them.

Philadelphia is by far the most popular pick, team- and player-wise, with Doc Halladay leading the way and Chase Utley not far behind. Atlanta, meanwhile, got exactly one pick, and I don't feel very good about it, either.

Full list of picks after the jump. If you see any mistakes, please email or comment ASAP so I can update my sheets before the games start.

Last-Minute No Help At All

Deadspin's "Hater's Guide to the MLB Playoffs," which I laughed at for 20 minutes, especially the Nick Punto bit. You'll know what I mean. Enjoy.

Last-Minute Odds Help

If you put any stock in what Vegas thinks, here's a breakdown of the line for the DSes. Of course, in this pool, you also want to have picks other people don't.

Pick deadline is in about 5 hours; money madness begins at 1:37 PM ET tomorrow.

Postseason schedule finally set

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Amj.bS725df44FrPJhhjTCcRvLYF?slug=ys-playoffschedule

The short version:

AL is Rangers v. Rays and Twins v. Yankees
NL is Giants v. Braves and Phillies v. Reds

More on who has home-field and when each game is set for at the link above. I'll look for your picks by Tuesday at 8 PM ET.