MLB Tournament of Champions: Regular Season Round 7

It's the final week of April, and in both Major League Baseball and the Tournament of Champions, we're starting to see a little separation in the standings.

The '86 Mets have taken over the top spot in the tournament with a 14-6 mark, a game up on the '70 Orioles and '16 Cubs overall. On the flip side, the '93 Blue Jays have the worst record at 5-13. They are coming off a bye and hopefully will be refreshed to challenge the field a little more.

I did have to tweak the standings a little bit, as I realized I had given Colorado a win in a game they lost. The standings should be correct now. I also took the time to undertake a necessary project as a part of this and set up a spreadsheet with all the pitchers of record. This will be much easier than trying to sift through what is now six tabs but will be 29 by the time we get to the end of the regular season portion of the tournament. My computer will thank me later.

This round, we have a fairly clean schedule. There are no doubleheaders, and we didn't have any wraparound weekend series. We also only have one divisional matchup this time around, but there are a few teams who will get Monday as an off day. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's take the field!

2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs Second Round Predictions

Two weeks ago, I was super excited. Playoff hockey was upon us and I was looking forward to a run at a fourth Cup for the Blackhawks. Instead, they became an absolute dumpster fire. I almost didn't want to write this post. But I pressed on last year after a Game 7 heartbreaker in St. Louis, and I will press on this year even after a sweep at the hands of the freaking Predators.

MLB Tournament of Champions: Regular Season Round 6

It's kind of hard to believe we're three weeks into the baseball season at this point. Major League Baseball has had some good stuff happen already, the 2016 Cubs received their championship banner and rings, and the Minnesota Twins are playing well. Baseball is weird.

The Tournament of Champions is progressing as well. The 1970 Baltimore Orioles have overtaken the best record in the tournament at 12-5, half a game up on the aforementioned Cubs as well as the 1986 New York Mets. Meanwhile, the 1993 Toronto Blue Jays have the worst mark in the tournament at 5-13.

We've got another batch of games to go through today from the weekend though. We have one doubleheader this round as one of our six matchups between division rivals. All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play ball.

MLB Tournament of Champions: Regular Season Round 5

We're a good two weeks into the MLB Tournament of Champions, and we have a little bit of separation in the standings.

The 2016 Cubs lost their three game set in the last round, but they're the best team in the tournament still, and were the first to 10 wins. They've built a solid division lead through two weeks, and are up a game on the '86 Mets for the best record. On the other end, the 2005 White Sox have the worst record through two weeks at 3-8. We still have another three months of baseball left to play though, so it's way too soon to judge them as being awful.

Last round had some schedule quirks with wraparound weekend series, so there are some teams that aren't playing this round's games until Tuesday. But there are no doubleheaders on tap this round and only one game between division foes.

There is one weird thing just with the way the schedule got put together that I'm not crazy about, but I had no choice with. The Atlanta Braves are off Monday and begin their series on Tuesday, but that series marks the beginning of 34 days in a row. I'm not happy about it, and I'm pretty sure it would go against the collective bargaining agreement, but it's how things fell. Fortunately, there are no doubleheaders in this span.

All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get started.

MLB Tournament of Champions: Regular Season Round 4

I hope you all had a blessed Easter! Normally, I would have run this piece yesterday, but the holiday and the schedule allowed me to push it back a day.

We have a number of teams in pretty good shape thus far, but none better than the blessed 2016 Cubs, who have won seven in a row and boast the best record in the Tournament to date at 9-1. Four other teams sit at 7-3 through three rounds of action. On the opposite end, our current worst team is the '71 Pirates, who have just one win to their name, due to a combination of a bye and facing the aforementioned Cubs.

We've got another doubleheader in this go around, and I was also forced to build in another scheduling quirk in this round with a wraparound weekend series, hence the one day delay. I'll have a couple more of those built in over the next few weeks, but I think once we're past the first week of May I'm done with them.

All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play some baseball.

MLB Tournament of Champions: Regular Season Round 3

We're onto our second week of the MLB Tournament of Champions, and even though it's early, we're starting to see a little separation.

No one is undefeated and no one is winless at this stage, but the 1970 Baltimore Orioles and their lack of designated hitter at home seems to be doing them a favor, as they boast the best record in the tournament at 6-1. The 2016 Chicago Cubs and 2005 Houston Astros are right in the mix though at 5-1. But with every team playing a total of 92 games in this tournament, we still have a long way to go.

We have five divisional matchups over the next few days, all in the National League, including one matchup that forced a scheduled doubleheader on Tuesday.

All simulations are provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's get to the action.

2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs Predictions

Today begins one of the most fun and most stressful (if your team is in it) times of year: playoff hockey is upon us.

16 teams begin their quest in the next two days for the greatest trophy in all of sports. The next two weeks will be crazy though, with eight series playing out.

Today's post will focus on the first round, but at the end I will make my pre-postseason Cup prediction.