2025 Divisional Round Dynasty Recap: What Happened?
It seems most of you playoff teams forgot how to score points. What happened? If you need a lesson on how to put points on the board again, several of us consolation bracket teams can help you out. Here’s the recap below:
PLAYOFF BRACKET
#4 Fear Itself 149.30 over #1 Michael Style 107.52
Several things to unpack here. First, Fear Itself just became the first #4 seed to make the championship. Second, Alex is the first #1 seed since Fear Itself in 2020 to fail to make the championship. Third, by Yahoo’s preseason prediction history, Nathan should not have made the championship, but he did, making him the first team to make it after Yahoo projected them to win 11 or more games. The only other thing I’ll say about this one is Puka Nacua called game on Thursday night and it stuck.
#2 ay_Bilat 110.04 over #3 Shadow Legion 64.66
Trey got the win plain and simple. It doesn’t matter that his opponent completely collapsed. Trey’s score wasn’t great, but you can’t point the finger at Mahomes being hurt and Rodgers having to step up, which is a good sign, maybe the problem children can fix themselves before the championship! Anthony, the team made it way further than they were expected to, they just ran out of steam.
5th PLACE GAME
#6 Ferocious Felines 111.48 over #5 Fantasy Fairies 102.10
Fred said, “We can’t have the 6 seed and not win at least one game,” and his team came out and got the job done. Just a little disheartening after seeing how Michael Style played compared to your team this week right? Ashton Jeanty attempted to push Ryan to his first playoff bracket victory, but Ryan didn’t seem to concerned with trying to win.
CONSOLATION BRACKET
#8 Space Rangers 139.76 over #10 Storm Surge 100.00
The Space Rangers go 2-0 against the Storm Surge on the year!!! The bet will be paid out in September of next year, and I will get plenty of pictures, don’t worry. I guess the pep talk worked on half my team, but that’s all I really needed. Thank you Burrow, Robinson, Walker, Chase and Fannin! Dad, better luck next year.
#7 Bolt Battalion 152.28 over #12 Kade’s Dawgs 101.18
Crazy to think that had Matthew made it to the playoffs, he would be in the championship right now. His team has blown up in back to back weeks now (yes, he didn’t play last week, but you can still see how many points his players scored). Every one of his guys, except Collins, went for double digits this week. It was like all of the pressure from the regular season was gone and they could just run wild. Curt’s loss was further shadowed by the dark cloud that rolled in with the Judkins injury. Brutal way to end the season.
11th PLACE GAME
#9 NUKEM 137.86 over #11 The Empire 89.14
No worst of the worst for NUKEM, that honor will belong to The Empire until further notice. Even with an injured Woody Marks in the lineup, Rob’s team still put up their highest point total of the entire season. Chase Brown continued his double digit game streak (now at 9 straight) with his best performance yet, and Trevor Lawrence is proving to be quite the late season pickup! Bryar is about as done with Lamar Jackson as he can be. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has him running killers until someone calls and says they’ll take him off his hands.
NEXT UP…
Championship: #2 ay_Bilat (11-3) vs #4 Fear Itself (10-4)
Head-to-Head, Nathan leads 6-4. In championships against each other, Nathan leads 1-0, with his second championship coming over Trey in 2022. Nathan is 2-1 in championship games, Trey is 1-1. The two winningest coaches in league history meet once again to see who will return that crown to their heads, and who will head home in tears.
3rd Place Game: #1 Michael Style (11-3) vs #3 Shadow Legion (10-4)
Alex won the only game between these two, putting him up 1-0. Don’t worry Anthony, this is unfamiliar territory for Alex as well. He’s won a championship, sure, but the other two years he made the playoffs he lost in the opening round, so this will be his first 3rd place game appearance.
Consolation Title: #7 Bolt Battalion (6-8) vs #8 Space Rangers (5-9)
Matthew is up 1-0 after our only meeting this year. I’ve made one consolation championship appearance in the past, back in 2020, and I lost to Simon. I better get my win now while I can, cause I don’t plan on ever being in this bracket again.
9th Place Game: #10 Storm Surge (3-11) vs #12 Kade’s Dawgs (3-11)
Joel leads this series 4-0. Curt, you gotta win one eventually right? So, why not now? These two of course go much further back than this league, and at this point that rivalry is engrained into their bones, which makes this one a fun one to watch.
That’s all for this week, good luck to everyone on championship weekend!
