[StLee]

Analysis

There are two weeks left in the season, and still we only know ONE playoff team at the moment. The Oberland T-51s took off from Week 1 and never backed down all season. They are now officially the 2297 Railroad League champions and Erin Reische can get started on their banner.

The T-51s also have a magic number of 1 when it comes to clinching the first overall seed in the CBO playoffs. At 39-15, Oberland has a six-game lead with six to play over the Brotherhood League's The Slog Ghouls and and the Minutemen's League the Goodneighbor Hancocks for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. The Ghouls and Hancocks are still in a battle for their league titles, though the Ghouls are close with a magic number of 2.

In the Brotherhood League, the Nordhagen Beach Party Boys look to have made their move in the playoff race, lining themselves up nicely with six to play, as long as they can remain steady on their second half progress. The Boys are now 15-9 in the second half of the season, best in the BL and tied for third-best in the CBO with Sunshine Tidings behind the RL's T-51s (17-7) and Fairline Hill Estates Yao Guai (16-8). The Party Boys also have a chance to delay The Slog's quest for a league title should they find a way to sweep at Tarberry Field Forever. Overall, though, their main goal needs to be getting a series win so that they stay up in the wildcard race.

In the Institute League, the Lexington Synths have surged ahead of the pack with their sweep of one-time league darling Starlight. The Killers, currently on an eight-game losing streak and a league-worst 5-19 in the second half of the season, can almost be counted out of the playoff race. They are not eliminated, but also do not look likely to turn it around. On the flip side, the Chemists have been hot of late, though they did drop Game Three of their series to stop a seven-game winning streak. With the series win, though, they are two games up on Abernathy, Fort Hagen, and Starlight for the wildcard spot. With the Shroud traveling to Sunshine Tidings, we will see if the playoff chase gets more irradiated.

The Minutemen League appears to be a two-team race for the league crown, thus the playoffs, but silly things could happen if there are some sweeps. In fact, fourth-place University Point is still mathematically in contention for the wildcard spot, but they would need to go 6-0, need Quincy to go 3-3, and Warwick to go 0-6. That is unlikely, and the Gunners will have a hard time catching up to either the Mirelurks or Goodneighbor. We will feature the battle for first when Warwick travels to South Boston to take on the Hancocks to see if one or both have finally pulled away from the rest.

Finally, the Railroad League is only about the race to a wildcard now, and it is not much of one. The Yao Guai currently hold a three-game lead over Vault 81 for the spot, with Shaw technically still alive for a tie for 2nd. Like the Deathclaws' situation, the Knuckle Punchers would need to sweep Diamond City and Egret, have the Yao Guai get swept by Oberland and Vault 81, and have the Dwellers swept Egret. Like University Point's chances, the Punchers aren't really in this fight. For the Dwellers, if they can remain within three games of the Yao Guai, those two teams face off in Week 20 where the wildcard spot would be on the line. For this week, Fairline is trying to avoid the sweep against the T-51s, so we will be in the Circle to catch that action.