CLE 5, BOS 4

Ah, the vagaries of the pool. This looked like a game that would let everyone "eat" points-wise, but the Boston picks LOB-bed us big-time.

Beaneaters:
Betts -2
Bogaerts -2
Bradley -1
Ortiz -2
Pedroia 2
HanRam 4

Porcello 10.33
Uehara 1

Wahoos:
Santana -1

Bauer 10.67

...Hmm. I seem to be occupying the top two spots so I must have made an arithmetic error (now as in the past, please bring any math cock-ups to my attention). Broad standings after the jump...

TOR 10, TEX 1

I did get to watch this curb-stomping on the plane, in fact. My attempt to shorthand why I was excited about it for pool reasons to my seatmates didn't go well.

Plenty of points, but not all of them in the positive column....

Andrus 5
Beltran 1
Odor -1
Hamels 1.33 (oof)

Bats 9
Duck Donaldson 10
Encarnacion 1

So after the cocktail-hour contest we have Yuhan Deuce in the lead with 11, a huggermugger of Donaldson pickers at 10, some other people, and everyone else waiting to get on the board. Stand by for the nightcap.

Here we go!

Welcome, new poolies! Welcome back, old hands. BPP 2016 is now underway!

A few notes before I huck the laptop into my bag:

- we don't appear to have any dupe slates, somehow, despite some very popular picks like...

- Kris Bryant (our most popular) and Max "Ol' Husky-Eye" Scherzer (most popular pitcher pick, trailing KB by just one)

- y'all seem equally dubious about Washington (only four players represented) and Cleveland

BPP veterans well know that betting with your heart (i.e., on the Cubs) frequently sees a decimated pool population by Week 2, but almost nobody DOESN'T have a Cubbeenie on his/her roster, so let's hope things go differently this year, for a bunch of reasons.

Any early nominations for the Shane Victorino Memorial "THAT Guy?!" pick nobody made? Somebody wised up and picked Justin Turner this year so he's out (hi Lauren!). It's going to be some goddamn backup catcher, I bet.

Snap of the picks after the jump. Good luck, everyone!

NL Wild Card: SF 3, NYM 0

Well: yeah. The 2015 postseason was exhilarating for a Mets fan, but also exhausting, and the 2016 campaign had its pleasant surprises but, if only for recuperative purposes, needed to end so everyone could go lie down with a green shake and let their bones knit.

Now it's on to BPP 2016 and hoping the Cubs finally win this fucker so we, and they, can stop talking about it.

Do I think that will happen? ...I don't. But that's why they play the games, and that's why WE have the BPP.

Picks are due at noon ET. 

Because I'll be over Nebraska somewhere when this shit gets rolling, start times et al. after the jump...

AL Wild Card: TOR 5, BAL 2 (11) and a reminder

No, I don't get the Britton thing either. Yes, that means we have seven out of eight potential teams in play, to wit:

BOS
CHC
CLE
LAD
TEX
TOR
WSH

Reminder: points do not accrue on wild-card games. The clock starts with the first division series; it did not start yesterday. A few of you have submitted picks that may not survive the day. bunting at tomatonation dot com if you have questions or need to make adjustments.

And of course the deadline, which is tomorrow, October 6, at noon ET. I am traveling tomorrow but I will do my best to respond in a timely fashion.

BPP 2016: How it works

Hey, all. With 162 in the books (more or less), the 2016 postseason officially gets underway tomorrow (that's Tuesday 10/4) with the AL wild card game. NL's wild card game is Wednesday.

You're welcome to wait and see who makes it out of the play-in; you're also welcome to send picks in now. Just a reminder in case you've forgotten/misplaced the email about the points and whatnot, after the jump.

Anything changes due to rainout/what have you, I'll let you know.

[tap tap] Is this thing on?

[kaff] Heyyyy ever'buddeh. It's getting to be that time again! And: "great" news, the Cubs have returned to inflict the agonies of head-vs.-heart pool-picking upon us for another year!

Watch this space (and your inboxes) for the specifics, but as of last night, we do have all six division winners in place, so you may pick from

WSH
CHC
LAD

BOS
CLE
TEX

or you may wait until the last possible moment to see what the wild-card action looks like.

Said last possible moment as of this writing is Thursday, October 6 at noon ET.