HOU 6, NYY 5; Astros move on

Before the game, Brady and I didn't have much hope that the Yankees could hang on. We don't follow the team that closely, but the team had seemed to lack resilience, starting with that midsummer slump -- not that they weren't good, just also not very tough. (Mets had the same problem towards the end of the season; no bounce-back left.) They only had so many comebacks in them last night, and the Astros had that many plus one.

MVP, points-wise, goes to Alvarez by a nose, though nobody in our picks list looked as good as Shanes Victorino Peña and Bader. LVP is Altuve, but maybe he's heating up just in time.

The point totals illustrate the issue, to an extent:

Altuve 2
Alvarez 3
Tucker 1

Judge 0
Stanton 1

You know what those italics mean.

As the maitre d'pool, it's hard to say which is a bigger nightmare scenario when you're down to only one team picks-wise. Yes, the Astros win knocks out a lot of slates with only Yankees left, but since -- with the exception of Brady -- everyone had that one pick, is it any more interesting to watch a lockstep march of more people* than it is to watch the daily shuffling of fewer people? 

*provided Judge hit a lick, which didn't seem guaranteed

Enough philosophizing; here's the money, with full standings after the jump. (If your slate is in italics, you will not appear in future updates unless you're still rattling around in the top three.)

52 Reid 2
43 Yuhan 1
40 Rogge

37 O'Reilly, Brady, and -- finally dropping out of the money after a WEEK -- Crase
36 Drake

32 Sung
30 Bingham, Cayenne, and Cameron 1

29 Tormey
28 Cameron 2
27 JArbour
26 DGB

25 Reid 1 and Yuhan 2
24 Dunn

21 Quinn

19 Stempel

18 Fell
15 Shotwell
14 SDB

I'm sorry it shook out like this; thank you all for playing and hopefully I'll see you next year (or grumbling in the comments this year -- there's still a whole Series left, after all). 

What happens now? A whole lot of nothing until Friday when said Series starts, but Reid 2 could still take home a whack of money if Alvarez doesn't hit much. And we have two slates still active with two picks, but unless the series goes seven and Altuve and Tucker hit nothing but bombs, they're probably a minor threat.

But we'll see how much Phillie pitching has left in the tank. Check my math, get some rest, see you this weekend!