ARI 4, LAD 2

Not as grim a march as the other night, but last night's Snakes/Dodgers game wasn't a TON of fun to watch either. Most of the L.A. picks finally did get on the board, but not the guy everyone's talking about for MVP (the other guy everyone's talking about, Acuña? also posting zero as of this writing). The Dodgers are running out of time, and playing like they're maybe a little relieved about that.

We'll see on Wednesday if they can muster up a win in the desert and not decimate the picks. In the meantime, last night's points:

Carroll 1

Betts 0
Freeman 1
Martinez 5
Muncy 1

Not many JD Martinez pickers, but that five-spot did tweak the top of our standings.

30 Crase
26 Wonsetler 1
25 SDB 2

24 Fell 2 and YOLO Joe
23 Tormey
22 SDB 1
21 Yuhan

Everyone else after the jump. 

19 Dunn
18 Stempel and Bingham 1
17 Winklepleck

16 Bauer Spoon, O'Reilly, Bingham 2, and Cayenne 2

13 Shotwell 2 and Quinn
12 The MArbours and Cameron 1
11 Richardson
10 Brady

9 Cayenne 1, Wonsetler 2, and LyonCorn
8 Cameron 2
7 Bauer Spice and Shotwell 1

5 Fell 1
4 Wakefield's Ghost
3 Chalky Joe and Stuart-Hodges

Yeah, look: it's grim. There's a lot of the sweaty "MLB needs to change the playoffs to favor regular-season 'challenge monsters' better AND DO IT RIGHT NOW" rhetoric flying around the baseball blogosphere (not to mention the TV booths), and I don't know if that's the answer -- I don't dislike the new/current postseason structure per se. But we did see a variation on this in 2022, and BPP is supposed to be fun for most of the pool for most of the postseason, so I have to give more serious thought to additions or swaps between rounds in future. Hell, I may have to give it more serious thought in like two days. I've got no kick with a Minnezona World Series, but...you know. 

So, let's all think about what that might look like. We each start with three picks, then add one each round? Or only add before the DSes and CSes? Any constraints on the additional picks? (Can't pick the current BPP "MVP," can't pick ANY player already slated, that kind of thing.) If you don't get a new pick in, do I designate a "default" and you get that guy? 

...Or do we just live with the chaos? Mull it over, let me know your thoughts. I'm a little pressed for time today, but at some point before the LCSes, I'll put together a ghost-slate spreadsheet and see what it looks like.

And there is in fact pertinent baseball today! A 4:07 start for HOU/MIN on FOX, with the Birds in Texas to fight off elimination at 8:03, also on FOX. Good luck, and I'll see you here later.