NYY 4, BOS 0; Yankees move on

Not the outcome I necessarily predicted -- or the journey to it, tbh; this Schlittler kid is good, but knowing you have to put your and team/its "bullpen" "management" on your back is one thing; doing it at the Stadium in October is another.

And it's the least disruptive to the pool, thanks to the other outcome I didn't predict: a couple of Sox hitters straight-up vanishing, including one of my picks, Ceddanne "Buster" Rafaela. 

The points from the last wild-card tilt:

Bregman 0
Duran 0
Rafaela 0
Story 1

Bellinger 2
Chisholm Jr. 2
Judge 0
Rice 0
Stanton 2

Jazz and Giancarlo dodging the LVP themselves; nice series for Story. Goldie could have a shot at the Victorino if the Yanks keep going.

Not sure they will -- but that's a problem for the weekend! For now, your full standings before the LDSes get underway and the four bye teams change the landscape:

32 Bauer Snoozical
20 DGB and the AKs
18 Mectomy

Everyone else after the jump.

CHC 3, SD 1; Cubs move on

Well, the umpiring didn't help, and Darvish didn't help, and it being a best-of-3 didn't...etc. etc. Again, not a lethal outcome for the pool, but usually Machado pickers can at least rely on him for double digits before the Padres depart. Not so much this year...

Machado 0
Merrill 6

Busch 6
Hoerner 2

And those italics mean these gents are out.

Merrill's probably our MVP here; Manny wasn't bad, but is still the LVP. Carson Kelly probably the Victorino here.

Money looks like this for now:

32 Bauer
20 DGB, AK Dos
18 Mectomy, AK Uno

Bingham Emo, Cameron First, Drake 1, and Brady trailing. No real point getting granular until BOS/NYY is final, though, so hold onto your butts and I'll see you for that update later.

DET 6, CLE 3; Tigers move on

Had to follow this one on my phone thanks to my work schedule today. Feel like I've picked JRam before and it didn't work out -- and here we are again. I did wonder if the Guards' momentum would be enough, and it wasn't. But that's what makes the BPP fun! Well, infuriating, really, but you can't spell that without "fun"...?!

Anyway: the points.

Carpenter 2
Greene 2

Kwan 2
Ramirez 1

Not really a fatal outcome for anyone, but the CLE picks in italics are out.

Most valuable pick in this short series is Greene; JRam only notched 2 points to end up the LVP; and Javy Baez might end up in the Victorino conversation?

No substantive change to the money --

32 Bauer Snooze
20 DGB
18 AK Uno and Mectomy

16 Bingham Emo
15 Cameron 1st and Drake 1

-- but I expect pool outcomes to get increasingly histrionic as the night wears on. Good luck!

LAD 8, CIN 4; Dodgers move on

This series, at least in the 8th innings, reminded me of an older sibling functionally ending a scrap by getting a palm on the younger one's head. Yeah, the younger one threw a couple good haymakers earlier, but once the older one gets sick of their shit and gets a locked-elbow hold...the littler one's arms are too short to reach.

Of course, this comp doesn't entirely work given the word "arms" and the...melodramatic, shall we say, Dodger bullpen. But we'll see how it goes when L.A. has to pick on a DH their own size.

Points!

Friedl 1

Betts 7
Freeman 0
Hernandez, T 2
Ohtani 1
Pages 0

Teoscar is your MVP for this series; Pages is the LVP; and the Victorino of this short series -- the Micro-rino? -- is something called a Rordvedt.

You old hands know what the italics mean: that pick is out. Only one picker taking that hit, and all slates still alive...which may not be the case in 12 hours, so enjoy it.

Your Day 2 money:

32 Bauer Snooze
20 DGB
18 AK Uno and Mectomy

Everybody else after the jump...

NYY 4, BOS 3

This one didn't look like it would go the Bombers' way as of midway through -- but it did. More interesting, to me, was that a third wild-card series is going to the do-or-die game.

...Well, the points weren't UN-interesting.

Bregman 1
Duran 1
Rafaela 0
Story 5

Bellinger 1
Chisholm 0
Judge 2
Rice 5
Stanton 0

Wild that a couple of these guys aren't showing better, points-wise, but we do have some separation at the top, at last:

22 Bauer Snoozical
17 AK Uno
15 Bingham Emo

14 Cameron First
13 Drake 1
11 DGB, Dunn 2, the Izzi, Cameron Second
10 Mectomy

9 Mopsiukas 1 and Brady
8 Green, MArbour 1, Shotwell 2, Wonsetler 1
7 AK Dos, Wonsetler 2, O'Reilly, Bingham Prime

4 Shotwell 1, Reid Omega, SDB Prayers, Mospiukas 2, Yuhan
3 Drake 2 and Fell 2
1 The Estros

That's the board for right now; everyone else either has bye picks, or..."quiet" picks. As we're watching the Dodger offense find the higher gear like always, take a minute to check my math. (Just based on the bottom of the 6th in this nightcap, said math won't look the same in five minutes. Or...five seconds.) I'll see you in the AM for the final Day 2 update.

Day 3, the schedule looks the same as it has unless/when the Dodgers win, in which case everyone's start time moves up a slot -- so, DET/CLE starts at 3 ET instead of 1, etc. Good luck!

SD 3, CHC 0

Didn't expect a shut-out of the Cubs at Wrigley, tbh...the Cubs are a strange prospect in this post, to me. The team's been good enough all year, always in the conversation technically, but at the same time nobody really talked about them -- they weren't as dominant as the Crew, they weren't flailing theatrically either? idk. That could just be Mets-centrism talking. No idea what tomorrow brings, but if San Diego can notch another early lead, that could do it.

Didn't notch a ton of points, but Manny seldom disappoints at this time of year.

Machado 4
Merrill 0

Busch 0
Hoerner 1

We'll have some Yanks-heavy slates making themselves felt -- one way or another; possibly one way AND the other -- later this evening. For now, the money is the customary early-days hugger-mugger:

22 Bauer Snoozical
13 Drake 1, Cameron First
11 DGB, Dunn 2, Izzo 1

10 AK Uno, Bingham Emo, Mectomy
9 Mopsiukas 1, Cameron Second

And then a whole mess of slates after those. If you're a new BPP-er, don't freak out; you really can't tell much until the LDSes start. But...it can get late early if you picked a full slate of a wild-card team.

But...don't freak out! All tied in the Bronx rn; see you in a bit. Good luck.

CLE 6, DET 1

The Guardians stay alive and the series goes to a third game -- and weirdly, the unpicked Cleveland Naylor had more points today than JRam, though the latter walked three times. Baseball, man.

Points!

Carpenter 2
Greene 2

Kwan 2
JRam 0

No substantive change to the money, plus as I was typing this Manny Machado just hit one to Evanston, so I'll wait for that dust to settle before a full update.