MIL 3, SD 2

A somewhat unpleasant game to look at, strictly visually -- the combination of the odd lighting at the Brewers' park and those "iconic" Pads unis just felt nightmarish; trying to backseat-drive that home run that wasn't, forget it -- but a fun one in terms of gameplay. The folks who get paid to write about this stuff think this series is the closest contest on paper so we may get a full five of close games like this one.

No shortage of points, either...

Bauers 2
Chourio 4
Contreras the Younger 4
Mitchell 1
Turang 0
Yeli 1

Bogaerts 1
Cronenworth 0
France 1
Merrill 0
Tatis 1

...but the less said about Machado hogging all of them, the better, probably. ("No, say more." - Aaron)

Every slate is now nominally on the board. No huge changes to the leaderboard since last night, but here's the money currently:

28 Bauer 2
25 Yuhan 2
22 Fell 2 and Winklepleck

21 Crase
19 Izzo 1, Stempelson, O'Reilly
18 Wonsetler Heart

Everyone else after the jump...

TB 1, NYY 0

Nice moment for Rasmussen, we all love a regular-season pitchers' duel...but a low-scoring game is annoying for the BPP, lbr. 

Yankee picks: 0

Caminero: 0
Diaz, Y: 1

No substantive change to, well, much of anything, except a couple more slates got on the board -- but we should see some significant shuffling once SD/MIL goes final. I'll have that update and complete standings tomorrow morning.

LAD 5, ATL 3

Skubal wasn't completely untouchable on a scorching day at Chavez Ravine, but the Dodger line-up did what it does for a fairly routine win.

Baldwin 1
Harris 0
Olson 0

And [huge inhale]...

Betts 1
Freeman 1
Hernandez, K 0
Hernandez, T 5
Muncy 4
Ohtani 1
Pages 0
Smith 0
Tucker 5

It never fails; I'm like "surely THIS is the deranged one-off pick that blows up in Bauer's face" and then that slate leaps right over everybody. Every year! Anyway: welcome back, Kyle Tucker.

Here's the money halfway through today's schedule:

28 Bauer 2
23 Yuhan 2
21 Crase, Fell 2

19 Izzo 1, Winklepleck
18 Stempelson
17 LoPorto 1

And even more slates climb into the fray; the last five need the Brewers to take the field.

No score yet in Tampa in the middle of the second. Good luck, check my math, see you later tonight.

CHW 3, CLE 0

A subdued start at the plate for the AL Central champs; everything the Guardians tried to get going seemed to happen with two outs.

Sox still producing, though:

Meidroth 0
Montgomery 3
Murakami 5
Vargas 1

DeLauter 0
Kwan 0

A couple of slates join us thanks to Vargas, and the money looks a bit different after our first game:

22 Yuhan 2
21 Crase
20 Fell 2

Izzo 1, Winklepleck, Bauer 2, and Stempelson just off the pace, and plenty of point opportunities in the ATL/LAD game underway right now (which I think I'll leave on mute). See you around dinnertime ET...

ATL 6, PHI 2; Barves move on

That's a wrap on the WC round -- an uglier one than we usually see. A wide range of picks team-wise is interesting, and protects us from having to re-pick at the Classic, but the flip side is that you might have a bunch of slates staggering into divisional play...and losing PCA and Kyle Schwarber in the first round leaves us with a handful of "Mario Celeste"s going into the LDSes.

The points:

Baldwin 0
Harris 4
Olson 4

Harper 1
Schwarber 2
Stott 0

Italicized picks are out, of course. Harris II, a known Met-killer, is the pick MVP this round but the Schwarb wasn't far behind. Nobody really sucked, but Stott didn't do what we hoped. Albies making a case for the Victorino (usually he and Acuña get decent action if they're available; feels like nobody really believes it for Atlanta this year).

No games today, so here's a look at the money while we wait.

22 Yuhan 2
20 Fell 2
19 Winklepleck, Izzo 1

18 Bauer 2, Stempelson
17 LoPorto 1

Everyone else plus Saturday's sked after the jump...

SD 4, CHC 1; Padres move on

I can't say I expected quite such a brisk dismissal of the North Side team, even from a scorching San Diego team. CHC picks were 0 for last night --

Bregman 0
PCA 0

-- and 0 for BPP 2026, aaaaand are out. Not great news for the pool broadly; PCA was a very popular pick.

In happier news,

Bogaerts 3
Cronenworth 0
France 3
Merrill 2
Tatis 0

Bogey's your MVP for this match-up. I would propose Machado as a future Shane Vic, but those are guys nobody would have thought to pick, versus Machado, who tends to burn us...except when he doesn't.

Here's a look at the money:

22 Yuhan 2
19 Winklepleck, Izzo 1
18 Bauer 2, Stempelson

Everyone else after the jump...

NYY 9, BOS 2; Yankees move on

Off to Tampa for the Yankees, who were more or less untroubled by the Sox. The pool, less so -- one pick was felled by injury last night; Contreras excepted, the others did little to help -- but the players in italics below are out:

Abreu, W 0
Anthony 0
Contreras, Wi 5
Rafaela 0

Better news for the Bomber pickers:

Bellinger 5
Chisholm 2
Garcia 6
Rice 1

Here's where the money is as we wait to see whether the CHW/SD series is going to break the pool...

19 Yuhan 2 and Izzo 1
18 Stempelson and Bauer 2
14 Fell 2

13 Winklepleck, Reid Dumb, LoPorto 1, DGB
12 Crase, Green, Wonsetler Head
10 Izzo 2, Wonsetler Heart, O'Reilly

9 Brady
7 AK 2
6 Quinn 2, Reid Smart, Yuhan 1, Cameron 2

5 Drake's Dis Track
4 Bingham 2
3 LoPorto 2

2 Tormey, AK 1
1 Cameron 1, SDB Goliath

It seems like maybe a Gol-Dunn Sombrero is in play for this go-round? Lord, I hope not. Corrections, log 'em in the comments and I'll see you later/tomorrow for the CHI/SD wrap.