After a two week hiatus with my power rankings - and many trades later - I'm back to give the people what they want.  And what they want is an analysis of their playoff chances. 

Granted, not everyone wants to read that.  Namely, those who are eliminated from the playoffs already.  But fortunately for you guys, my interest hasn't waned in the slightest yet, despite my team's circumstances.  I'm still pumped to live vicariously through the people I want to win the championship, and will be paying attention intently. 

So below you'll find a breakdown of everyone's playoff chances, from best odds to worst odds.  You'll see that although he's clinched a spot, I'm still bringing up Bryan because of playoff seeding, so that'll be included too.  Let's start with the aforementioned Mr. Wendel -

Bryan
Remaining schedule: vs Jose, vs Dan

Bryan's already clinched a playoff spot.  And, realisticially, no one can challenge his points scored.  So Bryan's scenario is pretty simple:  win one game, and he's the one seed.  But even then, Dan has to outscore him by 100 points the next two weeks.  Not to mention that Bryan's matchup is pretty favorable this week against yours truly.  Let's not beat around the Reggie Bush: Bryan will finish the regular season in first.

Dan
Remaining schedule: vs Siems, vs Bryan

Has anyone noticed that Dan has lost three in a row and four of his last five?  His team started like hot fire, but with bye weeks and no Jordan Cameron to trumpet, he's gone cold.  Fortunately for him, he's scored enough points and won enough games to give himself a good cushion.  But there's an outside chance it might not be enough.  Get this:  Joe is now .5 games behind Dan, with Danny and Tim one game behind him. 

That's right, there's an outside chance Dan doesn't make the playoffs. 

Dan does control his own destiny though.  A win and he knocks Danny out of the equation and can fight off Tim and Joe.  If Joe loses, then Danny can't pass him based on points scored and it would knock Joe back, clinching Dan's spot.  If Tim wins and Dan wins, however, Tim would have an outside shot at passing Dan in the standings.  But at that point, Dan would be in the playoffs regardless. 

Katarya
Remaining schedule: vs KC, vs Tim

Katarya's team has streak its way to the top, and with his big trade with Baron, he's got the ammunition now to really put up some numbers.  Leveon has been a nice boost, Megatron is always awesome, and Antonio Brown has been a monster.  I still contend he's been a bit lucky (relying on Titans players for example), but he's become more consistent.  I don't think anyone's noticed, but Brown Kat now has more points scored than Joe and has an outside shot of passing Dan in that category. 

In terms of his playoff situation, he wins and he's in.  But he could end up all over the board.  Assuming he wins, he'll clinch the third seed and take on the Wyatt Justice division winner.  If he loses, then a whole bunch of fun can be had. 

A loss and a Joe win and Katarya finds himself in fourth.  If Tim wins as well, Katarya would be one game ahead of Tim with a massive points scored difference.  So if Tim beats Katarya the final week, Tim would actually vault Arun under this scenario.  Meanwhile, since this scenario assumes Joe won, a final week win over Jeff would actually knock Katarya out of the playoffs.

But if Danny beats Joe this week, then a Katarya loss would still put him ahead of Danny (based on points scored).  And depending on if Tim wins, Katarya would basically be in the same position as in the previous scenario. 

Basically, he should be rooting for a win, but if not, a Tim loss.  That would clinch him a spot. 

He'll be 3 or 4 seed though once he does make the playoffs. 

Joe
Remaining schedule: vs Danny, vs Jeff

It's not going out on a limb here to say that the game of the week this week is between Joe and Danny.  In Lehman's terms, whoever wins has the inside track on the playoffs, with the loser on the outside looking in.  But for Joe's sake, if he wins, he knocks Danny out and stays a half game ahead of Tim.  If Tim loses, Joe's in.  Looking back at all I've written, it seems like a Joe win plus a Tim loss would set up our playoff contestants. 

But let's say, for argument's sake, that Joe loses.  He'll be behind Danny and possibly Tim.  At that point, he would have to defeat Jeff and hope that both those two lose.  It wouldn't be impossible based on strength of schedule the final week, but it would definitely be an uphill battle. 

Joe has the inside track if he wins out, but even one loss would make the odds much, much more difficult.

Danny
Remaining schedule: vs Joe, vs Baron

As the Panthers go, so goes Danny.  With enough Panthers players to fill a press event, Danny's team has suddenly shot up the standings and has a VERY real prospect of making the playoffs.  Let's start with the obvious though:  If Danny loses this weekend, he's out of the playoffs.  He would be too far behind Katarya in points scored and he'd be 1.5 out of Joe.  So let's not even entertain that. 

If Danny wins, like I said in Joe's writeup, he'd be the four seed and control his own destiny.  What's more, he'd be playing Baron the final week, so odds would at least be on his side.  If Danny wins and Tim loses, then Tim's out of playoff contention, but if Tim wins, he could still pass Danny the final week of the season.  Again, I can't stress enough how crucial this game is for Joe and Danny.

Tim
Remaining schedule: vs Jeff, vs Katarya

He's been snakebitten all year, but unbeknownst to all (maybe even Tim too), Tim gets to play the crazy wild card of the playoff picture.  Get this, if Tim wins this week, he still has a chance to make the playoffs.  If he loses of course, then he's 100% out of the picture.  A matchup against Jeff is favorable, but Jeff's team has had some big games.  What's especially exciting about all of this is that a Tim win would actually put him in halfway decent position to overtake someone.  He wouldn't control his own destiny, but it's the next best thing. 

The loser of Joe/Danny would fall behind Tim if he won.  And if Tim wins the next week and the other loses, then voila, he's in.  What's even more fun is that if Katarya loses, then Tim has a chance to actually pass him in the standings next week in their Windy City Throwdown next week.  But if you want to make it simple, he absolutely has to win his next two, and get some luck on his side.

Jose, Baron, Jeff, KC

You know, I thought I was still mathematically in it, but then I just checked and there's no way.  So us four are officially eliminated.  We'll be watching with gusto to see who makes it.  Ok, actually it might just be me, but whatever, I still excite. 

On to the power rankings!