2020 Power Rankings-Week 13

## Introduction

In some ways, the current state of the standings in the LOC seems surprising. Shotti and GBM, the two most dominant regular season teams from 2015-2018, have four combined wins. Their fall from grace is embarrassing and emblamatic of a chaotic year of fantasy.

On the other hand, maybe the standings shouldn't be surprising at all. The first and second place teams are the 2018 and 2019 Glory Bowl champions. In third place is the team with the most total wins in LOC history. The two bubble teams, Stupid Idiots and momma said, are the same bubble teams as last season and the season before that. Papa, who struggled early on, has once again stacked wins late in the season as is tradition for the Posse.

And then there is RIPDab and Pain Train, perennial contenders just waiting to see how their season comes to a tragic end. They are hanging around, lurking just outside a bye spot, hoping for the right combination of results this week to slide into that coveted 2-seed.

Momma's win in week 12 may have eliminated Papa's Posse, but there is plenty of drama remaining in the final week of the season.

What is the wildest scenario we could see in week 13? How about RIPDab (5-1 in their last 6) being the first 7-win team to not make playoffs? How could that be possible?

* Momma defeats GBM (likely)

* RIPDab loses to Pain Train (projected to lose by 41)
* Nick defeats Papa (maybe?)
* Nick outscores Nate by just 60 points (he outscored Nate by 150.03 last week)

This would be the biggest upset in the history of the league, and I personally hope we don't witness it because I know it will be the death knell for Nate's fantasy career. On the other hand, RIPDab can also clinch a bye. Full breakdown of scenarios below.

## The 2020 Commissioner's Cup Champion

One race carries no drama this week, and that's because it's over.
Congratulations to Paddock 9, the winner of the Commissioner's Cup. This is the symbolic award given to the team that finishes first in the regular season standings. With his win in week 12, Paddock 9 reached 9 wins for the first time in LOC history. Even though there is one team who has a chance to tie Paddock 9 with a win this week (Sweet Dee), P9 holds a point advantage of 336.68 points.

Duck Punchers (3) has won the most Commissioner's Cups. For most of the season it was looking like he would be the first team to win the prize in back-to-back years, but late season struggles opened the door for the first new team to top the standings since GBM in 2016.

Three Commissioner Cup winners have gone on to win the Glory Bowl (bold below).

## Who's Hot, Who's Not?

Scoring Over Last Three Weeks
 Papa's Posse
 Pain Train
 The Stupid Idiots
 RIPDab
 Garoppoblow Me
 Duck Punchers
 The Shotti Bunch
 ma ma momma said
 Sweet Dee

For the second year in a row, momma and Dee are the two lowest scoring teams from weeks 10-12, yet both are on track to reach the playoffs this year. One may even end up with a bye.
Papa, meanwhile, is the league's second highest scoring team over that span yet can finish no higher than 7th.

## Stat Chat

* Week 12 was the first time in LOC history that the four teams with the most combined wins all lost and the four teams with the least combined wins all won.
* Stupid Idiots has tied their record for most wins in a single regular season (6). This makes them the third team to match or exceed their best regular season record (Sweet Dee & Paddock 9).
* GBM becomes the 2nd team to reach 80 combined losses (Papa's Posse).
* Paddock 9 ties ma ma momma said for the third longest streak of consecutive regular season games of 200 points (11).
* The Shotti Bunch has broken their record for longest streak of games without back-to-back wins. Previous held at 11 from week 8 2012 - week 5 of 2013, the streak now stands at 16 (week 11 2019 - week 13 of 2020). We will see if he can break that streak in 2021 (even an upset win this week would not end the streak, he would have to then win week 1 of next season).
* Shotti has now been in last for more weeks than RIPDab.

## Seasons of 8 or More Wins by Team

Seasons of 8 or more Wins by Each Team
 Duck Punchers
 Pain Train
 ma ma momma said
 RIPDab
 Garoppoblow Me
 Papa's Posse
 Paddock 9
 Sweet Dee

## Seasons of 10 or More Losses by Team

Updated 12/6/20

Seasons of 10 or more Losses by Each Team
 ma ma momma said
 Papa's Posse
 Paddock 9
 RIPDab
 Sweet Dee
 The Stupid Idiots
 The Shotti Bunch
 Duck Punchers

## Matchup Recaps

* Stupid Idiots refuses to go down without a fight in a slugfest victory vs. Pain Train (2-4).
* Papa's Posse ties up the most contentious rivalry in the LOC, knocking off Duck Punchers (9-9).
* Momma keeps playoff hopes alive in a split of the season series with RIPDab (7-10).
* Sweet Dee sweeps the season series against GBM (8-5).
* Business as usual, with Paddock 9 beating Shotti Bunch (5-8).

## Playoffs??

With his win this week, momma retained control of their own destiny and sent Papa's Posse (and his improbable playoff run) packing.

two teams have officially, by Yahoo standards, clinched the playoffs. Five are in the hunt for the final four spots.

### Magic Number

A Winning Magic Number is the number of consecutive upcoming games a team must **win** to guarantee winning a given playoff spot. These take into account scoring differentials deemed to be significant.

^ - Means Team will Finish Better Than this Playoff Spot

X - Means Team Cannot Win This Playoff Spot

C - Clinched

Number - Indicates the total number of upcoming games the team must win in order to guarentee this spot.

DNCD - Means team Does Not Control Its Destiny, and thus even after winning all remaining games they need help from other teams, be it with scoring or victories.

* - Indicates First Round Bye

### Elimination Number

An Elimination Number is the number of consecutive upcoming games a team must **lose** to guarantee losing a given playoff spot.
Due to the necessary points required, it is mathematically impossible for Duck Punchers to miss playoffs. Therefore, we assume he will finish no worse than the 6-seed.

^ - Means Team will Finish Better Than this Playoff Spot

X - Means Team Cannot Win This Playoff Spot

Number - Indicates the total number of upcoming games the team must lose in order to guarentee losing this spot.

MW - Means team Might Win this spot even if they lose the rest of their games.

* - Indicates first round bye

## Week Thirteen Scenarios

NOTE: Though Commish has certified Duck Punchers as a playoff team due to his point advantage, we will run his clinching scenario anyway. Also included is his elimination scenario for context.

* **Sweet Dee** clinches a bye with:
	+ **Win**

* **Duck Punchers** clinches a playoff spot with:
	+ **Win** or
	+ **Loss** by The Stupid Idiots or
	+ **Loss** by ma ma momma said or
	+ **Maintain point advantage** over The Stupid Idiots (175.97 advantage)
* **Duck Punchers** clinches a bye with:
	+ **Win** *and* Sweet Dee **loss** *and* **maintain point advantage** of winning team in RIPDab (115.97 advantage) vs. Pain Train (46.32 advantage).
* **Duck Punchers** will be eliminated with:
	+ **Loss** *and* ma ma momma said **win** *and* Stupid Idiots **win** *and* **outscored** by Stupid Idiots by over 175.97 points *and* **outscored** by loser of RIPDab (by 115.97) vs. Pain Train (by 46.32). That's a lot of *and*s.
* **Pain Train** clinches a playoff spot with:
	+ **Win** or
	+ **Loss** by The Stupid Idiots or
	+ **Loss** by ma ma momma said or
	+ **Maintain point advantage** over The Stupid Idiots (129.65 advantage).
* **Pain Train** clinches a bye with:
	+ **Win** *and* Sweet Dee **loss** *and* Duck Punchers **loss** or
	+ **Win** *and* Sweet Dee **loss** *and* **outscore** Duck Punchers by 46.32 points

* **RIPDab** clinches a playoff spot with:
	+ **Win** or
	+ **Loss**by The Stupid Idiots or
	+ **Loss** by ma ma momma said or
	+ **Maintain point advantage** over The Stupid Idiots (60 advantage).
* **RIPDab** clinches a bye with:
	+ **Win** *and* **loss** by Sweet Dee *and* **loss** by Duck Punchers or
	+ **Win** *and* **loss** by Sweet Dee *and* **outscore** Duck Punchers by 115.97 points.
* **ma ma momma said** clinches a playoff spot with:
	+ **Win** or
	+ **Loss** by The Stupid Idiots
* **ma ma momma said** is eliminated with:
	+ **Loss** *and* **win** by The Stupid Idiots
* **The Stupid Idiots** clinch a playoff spot with:
	+ **Win** *and* **loss** by ma ma momma said or
	+ **Win** *and* **outscore** loser of RIPDab (outscore by 60) vs. Pain Train (outscore by 129.65)
* **The Stupid Idiots** is eliminated with:
	+ **Loss** or
	+ ma ma momma said **win** *and* **failure to pick up point advantage** of losing team in RIPDab vs. Pain Train

So the key matchup for the bottom half of the playoff hopefuls is RIPDab vs. Pain Train and how many points they score in their showdown. All four 7-5 teams will also have their eyes on Paddock 9 vs. Sweet Dee to see if a door can open to the two-seed.

## Trade Tracker

Starts:

* Mixon: 1
* CEH: 6

Hey, it could be worse...

Starts (Pain Train):

* Metcalf: 7

Starts (Sweet Dee)

* Chark: 6
* Kelley: 1
* Slayton: 6

DK Metcalf leads the league in reception yards.

Starts:

* Patterson: 3
* Bernard: 5

Chan has gotten more points on average from trading Cordarrelle Patterson than she did from trading DK Metcalf. And she's in second place. Fantasy Gods be wildin'

## Week 13 Through the Ages

Week 13 is packing a punch yet again this season.

Let's take a look back at some of the most memorable week 13 showdowns.

### 2011 - A Legend is Born

At 6-6, Papa needed a win *and* a loss by either GBM or Brak and Yellow to make playoffs. Meanwhile, Pain Train (9-3) was facing RIPDab (9-3). The winner was getting a bye, the loser was playing in the quarterfinals. Let's take a look at the results:

7th > 2nd
 Papa's Posse

9th > 5th
 bob's bananas

With those two results, Papa jumped from 7th to 6th and Brak and Yellow fell from 5th to 7th. Papa would go on to win the Glory Bowl by defeating Duck Punchers again. Meanwhile...

1st > 3rd
 RIPDab

Tied for first heading into the week, Pain Train is defeated handily by RIPdab and is forced into the 3-seed, where they would lose in the opening round to none other than Papa's Posse.

### 2012 - First 6-7 Team Ever Clinches Playoff Berth in Upset Victory

Pain Train (4-8, 7th) almost became the first and only 5-8 team to make the playoffs. They needed a win and a loss by Why am I doing this (5-7, 6th). In one of the most surprising performances and playoff berths in history, "Why am I doing this" upset the soon-to-be Glory Bowl II champion MMMS (9-3) in week 13, knocking Pain Train into the consolation tourney. Pain Train had outscored WAIDT on the season by close to 400 points.

6th > 2nd
 Why am I doing this

### 2013 - Pain Train Takes Down the Momma Dynasty

All six playoff spots were decided by week 13, with 6th place IAMGROOT (6-6) two games ahead of 7th place Paddock 9 (4-8). But at the top of the standings, a powerhouse showdown determined the 2-seed in the league. Defending champion momma (9-3) took on Pain Train (8-4), with the winner getting a first round bye and the loser forced to play in the quarterfinals.

3rd > 2nd
 Pain Train WOO WOO

With an absolute beatdown of MMMS, PT won the bye spot while momma would go on to defeat IAMGROOT in the quarterfinals, only to be taken down again by Pain Train in the semifinals. Pain Train single-handedly vanquished the potential momma dynasty that year.

### 2014 - IAMGROOT Clinches by Less than 1 Point

Paddock 9 (5-7, 7th) was in a race against IAMGROOT (6-6, 6th) yet again. This time, Paddock needed a win against momma (10-2, 1st) and a Groot loss against Sweet Dee (2-10, 10th) and they would be in. The odds were stacked against them and these two games proved to be the most close, exciting showdowns to determine a playoff spot...ever.

7th > 1st
 Paddock 9

6th > 10th
 IAMGROOT

IAMGROOT makes the playoffs by less than 1 point. Despite the victory, Paddock 9 finished in 7th, a game back. They still managed to unseat momma from the 1-seed, which was taken by Duck punchers. DP went on to defeat momma in Glory Bowl IV.

### 2015 - History Repeats Itself: Papa & Duck Play Win-or-Go-Home

For those who don't remember just how storied the rivalries in this league are, hopefully this section has served as a reminder.

Duck (5-7, 7th) owned the points tie-breaker with Papa's Posse (6-6, 6th). The two faced off in week 13, with the winner guaranteed a playoff spot and the loser guaranteed the Consolation Tournament. It is one of the few pure win-or-go-home games we have ever seen in week 13.

Papa took care of business and sent the defending champion packing.

6th > 7th
 Papa's Posse

This would be the first (and still only) time that Duck Punchers missed the playoffs, though their legacy still has not completely recovered.

### 2017 - Three Teams, Two Spots.

This year's race for the Festival of Champions did not disappoint. Garoppoblow Me (5-7, 7th) was in a tight race all season with ma ma momma said (6-6, 6th) and now the two teams would go head-to-head, with the winner punching their ticket to the big dance. Meanwhile, Paddock 9 (6-6, 5th), was at risk of falling into 7th if they lost and got outscored by momma (momma was only 8 points behind them for the point tie-break).

7th > 6th
 Garoppoblow Me

5th > 4th
 Paddock 9

Momma was sent, once again, into the consolation tournament. P9 and PT faced off again in the quarterfinals, where Pain Train won the rematch. GBM made it to the semis, where they were curb-stomped by Glory Bowl VII champion, The Shotti Bunch.

And as we have seen, defending Glory Bowl champions do not fair well in bubble games...

### 2018 - The Death of a Dynasty

The Shotti Bunch (6-6, 7th) faced Duck Punchers (6-6, 5th), with the winner automatically in. Sweet Dee (6-6, 6th) was also guaranteed entry into the Festival of Champions if they could win against Papa's Posse (3rd, 8-4), but also gets in if they could retain season scoring leads over the loser of the TSB vs. DUCK mega-match.

Papa wouldn't even consider throwing the match to help block one of the two former champions. They had an outside shot at a bye spot, if Pain Train (9-3, 2nd) were to fall to rival Paddock 9 (7-5, 4th).

5th > 7th
 Duck Punchers

3rd > 6th
 Papa's Posse

2nd > 4th
 Pain Train

Sweet Dee lost week 13, but caught a break when Duck defeated Shotti on a garbage time 40+ yard completion from Tom Brady to James White. With both Shotti and Sweet Dee losing, it came down to a score tie-breaker. Sweet Dee had the edge by over 100 points, so for the second time in LOC history, Dee clinched the 6-seed as a sub-.500 team.
Duck, with their victory, had helped decide the 2018 Glory Bowl champion. Had they lost, they would have been 6-7 but owned the tie-breaker over 6-7 Sweet Dee. They'd have been the 6th seed, with Shotti as the 5th and Dee eliminated. Instead, that one play to James White got Dee into the tournament. And the rest is history.
This week 13 marked the end of the league's biggest dynasty ever. The Shotti Bunch's shocking fall from grace after three straight Glory Bowls changed the history of the league forever.

### 2019 - Deja Vu All Over Again

If 2018 ended the greatest post-season stretch of dominance, 2019 ended the greatest regular season stretch of dominance (and also the greatest regular season stretch of sucking).

Ma ma momma said (8th seed) went up against GBM (6th seed) for the final playoff spot.

GBM had won 5 of their last 7 heading into the final two weeks of the season and just needed to beat either the 5-6 Stupid Idiots in week 12 or the 5-7 momma in week 13.

After falling to Stupid Idiots, GBM entered worst case scenario territory...

Momma owned the points tie-breaker by 2 points. If Momma won, they would be tied with GBM in the standings at 6-6 but have the edge in points.

Meanwhile, RIPDab (5-7) could also make the playoffs. They needed to win and hope for a GBM loss. That would create a 3-way tie at 6-7 between RIP, GBM, and MMS. RIP owned the tie-breaker in points over both teams and would have finished 6th. But their opponent that week was first place Duck (9-3) who would clinch the Commissioner's Cup with a win.

8th > 6th
 ma ma momma said

1st > 7th
 Duck Punchers

They were two of the biggest choke jobs in week 13 history. For GBM, his second lowest score of the season. For RIPDab, the lowest score of the season in the entire league.
GBM's streak of top-four finishes was snapped at four seasons, while MMMS made playoffs for the first time since losing the Glory Bowl in 2015.
Duck won his third Commissioner's Cup.

## 2020 - Will a Bad Team Spoil the Bunch?

This year, week 13 is as much about the team's fighting for playoff spots as it is about the team's there to spoil the fun.

Once again, MMMS (7-5) and GBM (2-10) face off. GBM is eliminated but can potentially spoil Momma's season. If Momma wins, they are automatically in. If they lose, they could be eliminated and replaced by The Stupid Idiots.

The Stupid Idiots (6-6) is up against a bitter Papa's Posse (5-7) who happens to be the second-hottest team in the league. Idiots needs a win and a Momma loss to clinch the playoffs. Papa would be more than happy to finish 6-7.

If The Stupid Idiots wins, it will be the first time a 7-win team did not make the playoffs in the ten team era (2012-2020).

Meanwhile, the two previous Glory Bowl champions/two bye spot teams are going at it. Sweet Dee (8-4) can clinch a bye with a win over P9 (9-3). Both already have had their best regular seasons of all time and are trying to become the second team to win multiple championships. But Duck (7-5), who renews his week 13 rivalry with Shotti (2-10), will be looking to slide into that bye spot with a win and loss by Sweet Dee.

There is, as discussed in the intro, a potential scenario where RIPDab (7-5) loses his game against Pain Train (7-5) and goes from maybe claiming a bye to actually being eliminated. It would require a MMMS win and a Stupid Idiots win and some scoring magic. In that scenario, Stupid Idiots would jump into 6th while RIPDab fell from 5th to 7th.

In all, there are four teams playing for one bye spot and four teams playing for three playoff spots. Someone is going home sad at the end of this week.

### 3(6). Sweet Dee

This team is pretty good and improving at the right time.

### 4(3). Duck Punchers

This team is pretty good but getting worse at the wrong time.

### 5(7). Papa's Posse

This team is average but hot but it doesn't matter because a shitty team won last week and eliminated them.

### 6(5). The Stupid Idiots

This team is average but also hot and it does matter because they can make the playoffs if the shitty team I talked about earlier doesn't win again this week.

### 7(2). RIPDab

This team is average but might be cooling down at the wrong time.

### 8(9). Ma ma momma said

This team is shitty but plays another shitty team with a chance to clinch playoffs this week so look for them to be slightly less shitty than the other team.

### 9(8). Garoppoblow Me

This team is shitty and possibly even shittier than the shitty team the face this week.

### 10(10). The Shotti Bunch

Shit would be insulted if compared to this team.