Playoff Predictions: S2 Finals

Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood's picture
Submitted by Hadrian Mertins... on Fri, 2019-04-26 15:50

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Only one week remains in the 2018-19 Parity Season! Read on for the favourites in an exciting set of close matchups, and make sure you come early (or stick around late) on Monday to watch the finals at 8:20pm!

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Week 9: Prequarterfinals (April 8)

❌✅✅✅✅

Week 10: Quarterfinals (April 15)

✅✅✅❌❌

Week 11: Semifinals (April 22)

[SF] Tied Pod Challenge (Jon) vs. Live Free or Tie Hard (Travis)
Prediction: 20-22 | Result: 23-21 ❌

[SF] Wu-hoo! (Heather) vs. Higher Seed (Jaime)
Prediction: 23-21 | Result: 23-22 ✅

[5th SF] Pad Tie (Nat) vs. Even (Adam)
Prediction: 18-16 | Result: 21-16 ✅

[5th SF] Shantay, You Stay (Laura) vs. #TimesUp (Kindha)
Prediction: 23-17 | Result: 21-24 ❌

[7th play-in] TooTrains TootFurious (Al) vs. S2: E9 Bedlam in the Big Top (Rachel)
Prediction: 19-20 | Result: 18-25 ✅

Despite a mess of missing players and substitutions, the predictions were better than a coin flip this week bringing the overall record to 10-5.

In a dramatic upset, Jon's 9th-seeded Tied Pod Challenge took down Travis' 5th-seeded Live Free or Tie Hard to advance to finals where they'll meet Heather's #1-seeded Wu-hoo. In the other upset, the wheels continued to fall off for pre-playoff favourite Laura who dropped her second consecutive game to an underdog.

Week 12: Finals (April 29)

[1st] Tied Pod Challenge (Jon) (24) vs. Wu-hoo! (Heather) (23) *universe*
[3rd] Live Free or Tie Hard (Travis) (21) vs. Higher Seed (Jaime) (20)
[5th] Pad Tie (Nat) (20) vs. #TimesUp (Kindha) (17)
[7th] Shantay, You Stay (Laura) (18) vs. S2: E9 Bedlam in the Big Top (Rachel) (17)
[9th] Even (Adam) (20) vs. TooTrains TootFurious (Al) (21)

The final is really too close to call, but since that's a cop out, I give the narrowest edge to Jon in a universe point thriller over Heather. Both teams are strong offensively and mediocre defensively so we can look forward to a high-scoring affair.

I expect the higher seeds to hold the rest of the bracket, which means Travis rebounds for a podium spot, Nat claims 5th, Laura stumbles to 7th and Al avoids a third straight loss to finish 9th. All of the games should be closely contested though.

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Fun fact! Only three players are still in the running for back-to-back championships after winning Session 1 with Big Love: Jessie Robinson, Karen Kavanagh and Chris Castonguay. All three of them are playing for Jon in this final, so we're either going to have three double champs... or none!

Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood's picture

Hadrian Mertins...

Tue, 2019-04-30 10:18

[1st] Tied Pod Challenge (Jon) vs. Wu-hoo! (Heather)
Prediction: 24-23 | Result: 20-22 ❌

[3rd] Live Free or Tie Hard (Travis) vs. Higher Seed (Jaime)
Prediction: 21-20 | Result: 23-19 ✅

[5th] Pad Tie (Nat) vs. #TimesUp (Kindha)
Prediction: 20-17 | Result: 27-18 ✅

[7th] Shantay, You Stay (Laura) vs. S2: E12 Nowhere to Hyde (Rachel)
Prediction: 18-17 | Result: 17-24 ❌

[9th] Even (Adam) vs. TooTrains TootFurious (Al)
Prediction: 20-21 | Result: 21-26 ✅

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In the final week of playoffs the Effectiveness Rating-based predictions go 3-2 once again, bringing the overall prediction record to 13-7 (65%) for this playoff and a combined 23-12 (66%) for both Parity playoffs this year. I believe this is enough evidence to now confidently adopt the motto: "Better than a coin flip."

The final was closely fought with our underdog heroes firmly in the lead until the #1 seed went on a 7-point run late in the game to seal the championship. As a result, there are no double champs in Parity this year! In the other missed prediction, a resurgent Rachel benefited for the second straight game from a short bench with favourable substitutions to blow out their game.

Thanks to everyone who followed along with the predictions this year. I hope it added another layer of excitement to your Parity experience!