BPP 2022: It's on

Welcome (back) to Bunting's Postseason Pool for year...16?! Amazing. We've got a couple new faces in the crowd, a couple of past masters returning, and a LOT of slates this year: 35 total. That's a $350 pot on deck; the 70/20/10 split gives $245 to this year's winner, $70 and $35 to the 2nd- and 3rd-place slates.

And that's as good a segue as any into my constant BPP refrain: if you see mistakes/think I bonked the inputting, let me know. It's happened before, it will happen again, I'm just a poetry major standing in front of a legacy Excel spreadsheet asking it not to hate her, etc. etc. If you suddenly have -17 points, let me hear from you.

Let's have a look at that spreadsheet, shall we?

I was interested prior to input to see how the extra pick would affect the breadth of picks; it seems roughly proportional to previous years. Heaviest action this year, unsurprisingly, is on your new AL home-run record-holder, Aaron Judge, with LAD's Betts and Freeman not far behind, and plenty of interest in NYM's Alonso/Lindor/McNeil, Houston's Altuve and Álvarez, Dodger Trea Turner, and Barve Dansby Swanson.

There's one triple-dupe slate of all Dodgers; there's also a pleasant seasoning of "what do they know that I don't" singles to keep things interesting.

More after the jump...

Mariner loyalists gave SEA the largest number of picks on the board (8); ATL, LAD, and NYM also have broad support. A Shane Victorino winner from a couple years back, Randy Arozarena, is the lone Rays rep. No Phillie picks.

I've gotten a couple queries as to what happens if rosters screw over a slate or someone on a bye team punches a fan over the weekend; I don't really have an answer beyond "let's hope that doesn't happen," tbh, but if Freddie Freeman fights a grizzly or everyone's out by the LCSes, we'll figure it out. Tweaks I make to BPP in response to MLB's postseason changes have to be QCed "at speed," so we'll...see? Let's try to get to Monday in one piece and see where we are...

...because today, it's on. I use MLB.com schedules and box scores for my updates; you can find those here. Said updates come at least once a day in the early going; today, you'll probably see me around cocktail hour with the first bulletin. (All games in this round can be found in the ABC/ESPNiverse. I'm probably rocking local radio via the app.)

Relevant play starts at 12:07 ET, Rays at Guardians on ESPN; then it's Phils at Cards at 2ish, Mariners at Jays at 4ish, and Padres/Mets are the primetime game at 8ish. 

Good luck!