2024 postseason bracket is set

 ...finally! You can find it here. 

Deadline for picks is tomorrow (Tue 10/1) at 11 ET but feel free to submit earlier; again, zero wiggle room on this deadline, as play begins for the AL wild-card teams at 2:32 PM...and I'm in headphones for work tomorrow starting at 1 PM.

Questions, corrections, lamentations about the Hit King all go in the comments.

Reminder re: revised deadline

Good morning, friends. Since the last full day of "regulation" did not give us a complete Wild Card slate for the NL, the new deadline for picks is Tuesday October 1 at 11 ET. No exceptions. The first wild-card rounds kick off at 2:32 (sigh) PM ET tomorrow, and I've got spreadsheet automations to write. 

Again, you don't have to wait until the NYM/ATL doubleheader's business is concluded -- but that's why I've pushed the deadline back.

Said doubleheader gets underway at 1 PM ET, in theory. Thoughts and prayers, see you back here tonight.

Rules/FAQ for 2024

Hello friends and fans of baseball (and money),

Welcome (back) to Bunting's Postseason Baseball Pool -- the postseason pool for everyone! You don't need to know a lot about baseball; you just have to know who's in the playoffs, and how to count. And that last one is optional, now that I think about it.

The set-up and instructions for entry appear below. No substantive changes since last year, but if you're new or have any questions, LMK.

For an overview of previous years' action, feel free to browse around the BPP blog, http://buntingspostseasonpool.blogspot.com. (You'll also find a postseason schedule here: https://www.mlb.com/news/2024-mlb-playoff-and-world-series-schedule)

Think I left someone off the dist list? Forward at will; the more the merrier!

Deadline for picks/payment is MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 AT 9 (nine) PM ET.  

(Yeah, it snuck up on me too.)


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THE SCORING

It works like this: you pick four (4) position players; points come from total bases.

single, e.g. = 1 pt.
double = 2 pts.
triple = 3 pts., etc.


For example, in the game linked here, Shohei Ohtani notches 7 points: https://www.mlb.com/gameday/rockies-vs-dodgers/2024/09/22/746092/final/box


 

THE MONEY

Entry is $10 a pop. PayPal it to bunting at tomatonation dot com (or Venmo/sarahdbunting).

Winner takes 70 percent of the pot; second place takes 20 percent; third place takes 10 percent. In the event of a tie, the money will be divided evenly between/among players with the same point totals.

 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

"Do my players have to be on the same team as each other?"  No.

"CAN all my players be on the same team as each other?" Yes.

"Can I duplicate other people's picks?" Yes. (You won't see everyone else's picks until all the picks are in anyway.)

"Can I play a half slate for half the money?" No. Too complicated.

"Can I play more than one slate?" You can play two (2) slates max. Your slates must be different from each other. Each slate is $10.

"Can I pick my slate early and just risk it re: the wild-cards/byes?" Yes, you can turn in your picks now if you like. 

"But...you don't think I should." Real talk: I don't know. This is quite literally why they play the games; we don't know what's going to "work" until Halloween, usually, so go with your gut.   

"What if everybody's out by the World Series?" This is, historically, unlikely; should it occur, everyone will receive one (1) amnesty pick, with previous points carrying. We'll jump off that bridge when we get to it.

"How am I supposed to keep track of all these stats?" You aren't; I do that. Do feel free to check my work, though! 

"Can I forward this to my friend/loved one/co-worker?" Please do! If they've got the ten bucks, they're welcome to play. 

"Who won last year?" YOLO Joe Reid is your incumbent, with his eyes on a three-peat.


 

HOW TO ENTER

Give me $10 and your picks by MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 AT 9 (NINE) PM ET.  bunting@tomatonation.com is my PayPal; sarahdbunting is my Venmo. 9/30 at 9 PM is the deadline and is not negotiable. If we are related by blood or marriage, you may hand me a sawbuck. Everyone else needs to use PayPal or some other electronic means. 

When you send your pool money, I will send you an email confirming your picks and receipt of the money. I'll also post the points breakdown on the blog on a daily basis (or as close as possible to that); once again, that's here: http://buntingspostseasonpool.blogspot.com/.

You must pay to enter; you are not entered until you get an email from me saying so; you may not enter late. $10 by 9/30 at 9 PM ET.

Have fun! Questions/edits/human frailties, email me.

Sarah 

Ba-dee-ya, poolin' in September

[Swiffering fixtures] Hey, y'all. Hope everyone's well! Email's going out shortly for the 2024 BPP; no changes to the rules, really.

You can send me picks now if you like, I suppose, but we won't have a full schedule picture for a few days yet, as you can see here -- https://mlb.com/postseason -- so in the meantime, feel free to jump in friends/family/co-workers, start working on your slates, etc.

Everyone's paid (except Juan Soto)

Morning, BPPers! Money just went out to our top three; congrats again to them, and to the Rangers for celebrating this historic moment by planning a Pride Night next season. Just saying!

...Anything's amiss math-wise here, let me know as soon as possible. Otherwise, thanks again for playing, be safe, and I'll see you next year -- same Bunt time, same Bunt channel. 

TEX 5, ARI 0; Rangers are World Champs

I don't hate this outcome; I like a first-time winner! I like Bochy. I'm glad Travis Jankowski gets a ring; why not. (I hated seeing it all come apart for the Diamondbacks like that at the end, but that's how it goes sometimes.)

The final points of the BPP season:

Seager 2
Semien 5

Carroll 1

And Semien going on an eleventh-hour tear means Joe repeats as pool champ:

129 YOLO Joe
120 Wonsetler
109 Fell

Congrats to all our top finishers! Joe walks off with $231, Wonsetler $66, and Fell $33. 

I'll send payouts tomorrow morning when I'm not dead on my feet; gives everyone time to check my math one last time. Until then, the full final standings:

A bit ironic that, last year, the last round was kind of subdued because nobody picked the Phillies...and this year it was kind of subdued because so many did. Still, a pretty wild and fun pool year overall. Our MVP is Corey Seager, passing Alvarez on the last day of play for 44 TB at the end of the post. (MLB.com has him at 45. I'm sure that's correct, but it doesn't really affect anything, so: stet. But as I said, if you see any other errors, lmk.)

LVP, wellllllll: Mookie Betts. He's not the only pick who hung a collar this year, but he's the only one who did that and decided to defend Trevor Bauer the other day. No thanks.

With a little more time, Ketel Marte might have locked up the Flyin' Hawaiian Memorial Award for the most valuable un-picked player, but this year, it's indisputably Adolis Garcia. Hat tips to Marte and Josh Jung, though.

And to all of you! Thank you so much for playing, commenting, and making this fun, this year and every year. Hope I'll see you (and anyone you drag into this annual lunacy!) again in 2024.

xo

SDB

TEX 11, ARI 7

Thanks to either a surge of post-Scherzer/Garcia-news adrenaline; Snakes pitchers just being worn out; or both, Texas jumped all over Arizona early. Bochy made some weird choices with the pen and kiiiind of cracked the door for Arizona, but they couldn't come all the way back.

Not the case in the pool! At last, Semien outdid Seager in points (barely; and Seager is now tied for the pool's overall points lead). That means we have a new leader and that Zombie Crase got chased out of the money. Sorry, friend; I thought you had a shot at a payout here.

Here's what we've got after Game 4:

122 YOLO Joe
118 Wonsetler
102 Fell

100 Crase

86 SDB

63 Bingham

58 MArbour
53 Cayenne

38 Tormey

That's probably that as far as the money finishers; Fell could move up if the series goes a full seven -- but I don't think it's going to. I think I'm probably paying people tomorrow morning. There's all sorts of clichés that fly around the various booths at this time of year about how long the season is, it comes down to who's less banged up/gets hot in October, the postseason works differently...all in varying proportions of truth to "gassing on to fill airtime," but time itself doesn't work differently, and the postseason started, functionally, a month ago. That's a long time for an 84-win team with that many young players to not just get hot, but either stay hot or figure out how to grind it out. The Rangers to me seem better built to hang in and make something happen.

I've made predictions like this before -- I said something similar in 2015 when the Mets got out over the canyon and looked down; it happens, kind of a lot -- but I've been wrong before too (also kind of a lot). Eovaldi and Gallen face off tonight at 8:03 ET, and in theory, that's a hard one to call. But in practice, the Diamondbacks look nearly cooked, and I will call it for the Rangers.

We'll see either way, as we always do. Good luck to all and I'll see you back here after Game 5!