All righty, friends -- everyone I don't live on the same block as has gotten paid. Congratulations again to our wise winners, and thanks again to everyone for playing this year! Can't wait to see you guys again in 10.75 months.
xo, SDB
https://springtrainingcountdown.com/#sthash.xCweR48x.dpbs
One of the pleasures of this time of year is watching "civilians" realize how great baseball is -- how dramatic, how communal, grand and goofy. I got to do it last night, in a pro-Jays "pod," texting frantically with one hand and turning newbies' hats inside out with the other, and it didn't go our way...but man, what a month we've had.
G., plaintively, as the Dodgers rushed onto the field: "Now what do we do?"
Welp, if you're me, you walk down to the corner to root on the runners in the marathon, and then you dust off the Carolina gear and over-invest in college hoops until the days get longer.
But first, you review some points and you pay some people, so let's do it.
Betts 0
Freeman 1
Hernandez T 0
Ohtani 2
Pages 0
Bichette 5
Guerrero Jr. 2
Kirk 2
Schneider 0
Springer 3
MVP of the 2025 BPP is 100 percent Vladdy. Fifty-eight total bases. LVP...I don't know, it seems uncharitable to hang it on a guy who's not getting at-bats, but then, Pages didn't get at-bats because he...wasn't hitting, so. You could hang it on Betts for the expectation gap, I guess, but then again, the Dodgers won. idk.
And the Shane Victorino Honorary Flyin' Hawaiian Award for best performance by an unpicked player goes to Ernie Clement. Vlad Jr. had the most TB in the post; Ohtani had the second most; Clement was not far behind him with 41.
And for the last time, here's the money:
168 Izzo
129 Bauer Snoozical
126 Quinn 2 and Mopsiukas 1
A tie for third still makes those slate a little money; nice to see a mix of old and new BPPers finish in the top. (Need a refresher on the payouts since the playoffs started like five years ago? That's here.)
Eeeeeverybody else after the jump...
One of the weird things about watching the postseason as a middle-aged lady is the weird protective feelings that develop for certain "kids" -- specific to this World Series, last night I was like, "I want the Jays to win but I don't want them to do it off Sasaki," who has a birthday on Monday but still won't be old enough to rent a car.
Well, they didn't do either thing so we're getting max Classic this year. Love that for us!
A little thin on the ground, the points, which I don't love, but I also felt relieved for Mookie -- it was only the one, but it was THE one.
Betts 1
Freeman 0
Hernandez T 0
Ohtani 2
Pages 0
Bichette 1
Guerrero Jr. 2
Kirk 0
Schneider 0
Springer 2
As noted in a previous update, this is now a fight for second and third. The same five slates have been crabs-in-a-barreling for a week now, and going into the last game of 2025, here's where they are:
160 Izzo
126 Bauer Snoozical
124 Quinn 2
122 Mectomy and Mopsiukas 1
120 MArbour 1
From my perspective, it's nice to see this mix of new players and old heads, with the defending BPP champ in the mix too.
Everyone else after the jump!
The Dodgers look a little tight mentally, making some yips-y mistakes out there. Not to take anything away from the kid, though. What a great story. Yesavage has made like three times as many postseason starts in the majors as regular ones or something? Love it.
Dodgers pickers, less so; not a terribly point-ish evening, although everyone look out, Quinn 2's makin' a run!
Bichette 1
Guerrero 4
Kirk 1
Schneider 4
Springer 0
Betts 0
Freeman 0
Hernandez, T 2
Ohtani 0
Pages 0
Definitely cross-check these numbers -- my spreadsheet basically ran out of road; the tweak worked AFAIK, but if something looks off, leave a comment! -- but here's the money going into the last travel day:
154 Izzo
123 Bauer Snoozical
122 Quinn 2
119 Mectomy
118 MArbour 1 and Mopsiukas 1
112 Dunn 2
Betts is kind of a problem for non-Izzo slates that want to compete. It doesn't seem like he's having that terrible a postseason, until you remember that he has one more TB than a guy on the Cubs who hasn't touched a bat in weeks.
Everyone else after the jump!
What a watchable Series we have in 2025. What a well-matched pair of teams. What a mitzvah that they're tied up and we get at least a couple more games.
What an interesting points array...
Bichette 1
Guerrero Jr. 5
Kirk 0
Schneider 0
Springer, not in the line-up 0
Betts 1
Freeman 2
Hernandez T 1
Ohtani 0
Pages 0
Perfectly creditable outing from Ohtani, but Dave Roberts thinks Blake Treinen is...anything, and that belief put it out of reach.
The BPP money going into the final game in Los Angeles...
150 Izzo
121 Bauer Snoozical
119 Mectomy
118 MArbour 1 and Quinn 2
114 Mopsiukas 1
112 Dunn 2
So there's not zero drama here.
97 Fell 1
95 Drake 2
91 Green
80s Cameron First, Wonsetler 1, DGB, AK Dos, and the Shotwells
70s Bingham Prime, AK Uno, and Reid Omega
60s Dunn 1 and Cameron Second
50s Drake 1, Bingham Emo, the Estros, and the Arbours
40s Tormey and Mopsiukas 2
22 Quinn 1
The simultaneous fun and torture of the pool is sitting in front of the spreadsheet when I have other work to do, wool-gathering about paths to the money for the un-bolded slates. I need to stop it with that now, so let's all speculate groundlessly about tonight's pitching matchup instead, Yesavage v. Snell. Everybody's tired, everybody's seen everybody else's pitch array, one of the bodies started the year eating cheese sandwiches on a creaky bus, but you just never know at this time of year.
You do know to check my math, though, so do that, get stretched out for Game 5 at 8 ET, and good luck!
I stayed up for ENOUGH of this one that my eyes feel all gritty today -- but only managed to get to the bottom of the 14th before, well, "Enter Sandman" and all that. I kind of wish I'd managed to watch the entire thing, as a badge of honor...even though a lot of the baseball was weird at best, there was another "bunting is absolutely inexplicable, why would anyone" etc. etc. incident, pinch-runners were in that shouldn't have been, Springer hurt himself mid-at-bat, the determined tag everyone was talking about was glued to Ohtani's nuts, on and on.
But watching my Bluesky feed populate with variations on "what the crispy fuck was THAT" over and over again was a delight for as long as I could keep my eyes open.
Plenty of points on tap, too, although maybe not as many as you'd hope given they, you know, played two full games? But that's part of the story, too, that neither of these bullpens is, er, especially well-regarded, and they both stuck in for another nine.
That's going to have ripples tonight, but for today, the points:
Betts 1
Freeman 5
Hernandez, T 7
Ohtani 12 again (is a thing I get to type)
Pages 0
Bichette 2
Guerrero Jr. 2
Kirk 5
Schneider 1
Springer 0
And with that, the 2025 pool functionally becomes a fight for place and show.
143 Izzo
118 MArbour 1 and Mectomy
117 Bauer Snoozical
113 Quinn 2
110 Dunn 2
109 Mopsiukas 1
Everyone else after the jump...
Tonight's game felt a bit more like a game, versus the barely-controlled bottle rocket of adrenaline of last night's. Good storylines, good performances.
And the...JoBros? Why does Manfred have to be like this, I'm sincerely asking. There is no halftime show in baseball. Please go run a sport you don't despise.
No great segue from that to the somewhat subdued points, so let's get to those:
Betts 0
Freeman 2
Hernandez, T 0
Ohtani 1
Pages 1
Bichette 0
Guerrero 1
Kirk 0
Schneider 0
Springer 2
As established in my update on the previous post, you should check my math/inputting, but provided I got it right this time, here's the money going into the travel day:
124 Izzo
111 Quinn 2
106 MArbour 1
105 Mectomy
95 Mopsiukas 1
93 Dunn 2
92 Bauer Snooze
90 Fell 1
And everyone else after the jump!
