Post by St. Louis Sting on Apr 18, 2023 22:03:30 GMT -5
We have officially reached the "quiet" period here at 4-Sport Mayhem following the end of the NHL and NBA seasons a few weeks ago. Now everyone has a chance to catch their breath, enjoy some baseball, and prepare for the chaos that comes again each fall. We always find that this time brings the most change to our league standings with NHL and NBA ending their seasons at about the same time, so let's see what happened this year!
Even though the NBA season technically ended first, we are going to start with NHL (mostly because I just want to brag about my championship). This is the fourth NHL title for the Sting, who surprisingly have never managed to win a trophy in any of the other sports in the league's nearly 9 seasons in existence. The Sting managed what was essentially a wire-to-wire victory, carrying the best regular season record for the majority of the season and marching their way to a championship despite tie with Pensacola in the semi-final matchup. It turns out that the seeding tiebreaker is important sometimes! The Las Vegas Strips, who themselves ended the season with the #2 seed, fought the Sting in a championship that was much closer than the 8-3 final score indicates. In the regular season there was a very clear divide between the playoff teams and those that missed the dance, with a whopping 12.5 games separating the #6 and #7 seeds. At the bottom of the barrel there was a race for potential generational-talent Connor Bedard between Norwich and BSHU, and BSHU "won" the first overall pick. Unfortunately for Tom, though, that pick had previously been moved to the same Nemesis team who now hold the top two selections in a loaded draft class. Don't be surprised to see the Nemesis making a charge up the standings in the near future!
On the court we witnessed the Grizzlies capture their second NBA title (fourth individual sport championship) in a dominating championship performance that ended with an 8-1 score over the Pelicans. It's unfortunate ending for the Jim and his Pelicans, who finished the season with the best regular season record, as he had to watch the supremely talented team that he had assembled get decimated by injuries and flounder in the big game. The Sting captured the second bye but fell to the eventual champion Grizzlies in a close semi-final bout. Really any of the top 5 teams had legitimate chances to run their way to a championship, with very little talent and record difference between those squads. There was a dramatic fall-off after those 5 as we saw the Canucks and their sub-.500 record edge the Warriors for the final playoff spot. The Canucks were scrappy in their playoff matchup, though, taking the Grizzlies to the brink in a tie. Who knows what would have happened if London had pulled that one off? Much like the NHL, there was another race to the bottom for the opportunity to draft uber-prospect Victor Wembanyama. This race was between the same BSHU squad and the Buffalo Wings, and in dramatic fashion that race ended in a tie for last place! I'll be completely honest with you all: I don't know how Fantrax breaks ties like this but they determined that Buffalo had "earned" the last place finish and first overall pick. Not that it really mattered to BSHU anyways, as they had once again traded that premium pick to the Nemesis who were reaaaallly rooting for the chance to get Bedard and VW in the same season.
With their NHL championship and strong NBA performance, the Sting have taken a commanding lead in the 2022-23 league standings as they attempt to capture their third overall league championship. The Pelicans and Patriots are well within striking distance, though, and both appear to have MLB rosters capable of picking up a whole lot of points during the final sport of the league season. It would be a big surprise to see any other team walk away with the title at this point but the Clippers, Grizzlies, and Strips have had respectable showings to this point. Perhaps the biggest surprise this season has been the Syracuse Warriors, who are typically among the league leaders but for now remain in single-digits in a down year.
That down year has allowed the Strips to pull just one point behind Syracuse for 4th overall in the all-time league standings. The top three remains unchanged, but the Sting extended their lead to create some breathing room while Pensacola is now within striking distance of the Grizz for 2nd place overall! The rest of the standings haven't seen a big shift, though the Patriots continue to make some noise as they make a charge towards the top half. There still hasn't been enough time to judge our new crop of owners on their performance but their early involvement and activity level bode well for future success for their respective franchises. Now we watch as the MLB season wraps up the 9th league year before we begin the 10th anniversary in a few months!
Even though the NBA season technically ended first, we are going to start with NHL (mostly because I just want to brag about my championship). This is the fourth NHL title for the Sting, who surprisingly have never managed to win a trophy in any of the other sports in the league's nearly 9 seasons in existence. The Sting managed what was essentially a wire-to-wire victory, carrying the best regular season record for the majority of the season and marching their way to a championship despite tie with Pensacola in the semi-final matchup. It turns out that the seeding tiebreaker is important sometimes! The Las Vegas Strips, who themselves ended the season with the #2 seed, fought the Sting in a championship that was much closer than the 8-3 final score indicates. In the regular season there was a very clear divide between the playoff teams and those that missed the dance, with a whopping 12.5 games separating the #6 and #7 seeds. At the bottom of the barrel there was a race for potential generational-talent Connor Bedard between Norwich and BSHU, and BSHU "won" the first overall pick. Unfortunately for Tom, though, that pick had previously been moved to the same Nemesis team who now hold the top two selections in a loaded draft class. Don't be surprised to see the Nemesis making a charge up the standings in the near future!
On the court we witnessed the Grizzlies capture their second NBA title (fourth individual sport championship) in a dominating championship performance that ended with an 8-1 score over the Pelicans. It's unfortunate ending for the Jim and his Pelicans, who finished the season with the best regular season record, as he had to watch the supremely talented team that he had assembled get decimated by injuries and flounder in the big game. The Sting captured the second bye but fell to the eventual champion Grizzlies in a close semi-final bout. Really any of the top 5 teams had legitimate chances to run their way to a championship, with very little talent and record difference between those squads. There was a dramatic fall-off after those 5 as we saw the Canucks and their sub-.500 record edge the Warriors for the final playoff spot. The Canucks were scrappy in their playoff matchup, though, taking the Grizzlies to the brink in a tie. Who knows what would have happened if London had pulled that one off? Much like the NHL, there was another race to the bottom for the opportunity to draft uber-prospect Victor Wembanyama. This race was between the same BSHU squad and the Buffalo Wings, and in dramatic fashion that race ended in a tie for last place! I'll be completely honest with you all: I don't know how Fantrax breaks ties like this but they determined that Buffalo had "earned" the last place finish and first overall pick. Not that it really mattered to BSHU anyways, as they had once again traded that premium pick to the Nemesis who were reaaaallly rooting for the chance to get Bedard and VW in the same season.
With their NHL championship and strong NBA performance, the Sting have taken a commanding lead in the 2022-23 league standings as they attempt to capture their third overall league championship. The Pelicans and Patriots are well within striking distance, though, and both appear to have MLB rosters capable of picking up a whole lot of points during the final sport of the league season. It would be a big surprise to see any other team walk away with the title at this point but the Clippers, Grizzlies, and Strips have had respectable showings to this point. Perhaps the biggest surprise this season has been the Syracuse Warriors, who are typically among the league leaders but for now remain in single-digits in a down year.
That down year has allowed the Strips to pull just one point behind Syracuse for 4th overall in the all-time league standings. The top three remains unchanged, but the Sting extended their lead to create some breathing room while Pensacola is now within striking distance of the Grizz for 2nd place overall! The rest of the standings haven't seen a big shift, though the Patriots continue to make some noise as they make a charge towards the top half. There still hasn't been enough time to judge our new crop of owners on their performance but their early involvement and activity level bode well for future success for their respective franchises. Now we watch as the MLB season wraps up the 9th league year before we begin the 10th anniversary in a few months!