Standings

The top team in this week’s performance rankings is the U-Next Pirates. Just like in the semifinals and finals, the Pirates seem to do the best under the most pressure. This week, they went 3-1-0-0 and earned +187.4pts. With these results, they were able to bring the team up to 5th place, a great relief compared to the 8th place spot they’ve been occupying for a while. Over the last 24 games, the Pirates have gone 6-9-8-1. With only one 4th place over the last 24 games, that’s a 4.167% 4th place rate/95.833% 4th place avoidance rate. Thursday will be the an important game for the team, facing the Drivens, Phoenix and Konami MFC.

The Kadokawa Sakura Knights take 2nd place in this week’s performance rankings. The Kadokawa Sakura Knights end off the week in 2nd place with +194.3. With an assumed average point rate of 60/10/-20/-50, the team would have to lose most, if not all, of their games in order to not make the playoffs. Therefore, it’s safe to say that unless the Kadokawa Sakura Knights do worse than what they did in the 2019 Finals, the team has qualified for the semifinals. An interesting thing to note is that the team will be facing the Team Raiden for 6 of the last 8 games, meaning that these games will control how far ahead the team will be going into the semis and possibly decide the fate of Team Raiden in regards to qualifying for the playoffs.

In a surprising twist, the 3rd place team in this week’s performance rankings went negative. The Sega Sammy Phoenix end the week off above the border at 6th place. Though their performance this week didn’t exactly impress, their flat score kept them from falling further. On one side, they will be happy that they only have to face the top team, the Shibuya Abemas, 2 more times in the next 8 games. On the other, it means that the pressure for the rest of their games is amplified with more at stake for both them and the other teams. Their game against the Drivens, Pirates and Konami next week Thursday will be the greatest and most important battle.

4th place in the performance ranking is the Konami Mahjong Fight Club. Though the team rose up to 4th place in the overall rankings, the teams below them are getting closer and closer. With only +89.8pts separating them and 7th place, they still need to keep their wits about to survive the last two weeks. Just like the Pirates and the Phoenix, Thursday is when the team next to bring their very best. Expect Sasaki to make more appearances over the next two weeks, possibly up to the point on playing at least once every day.

5th place in the performance rankings is the Shibuya Abemas. For the 2nd week in a row, the team had a net negative result. Doesn’t matter too much for them, as they are already guaranteed to make the playoffs. The only thing the team will do over the next two weeks is to ruin the other teams’ chances and to get some practice in themselves.

The Akasaka Drivens end off the week at the bottom of the rankings at 8th place. Though they are in the worst position possible, they do have some hope with all the remaining teams having such low scores. Just like the Phoenix, the Akasaka Drivens’ best chance at advancing will be Thursday’s game against the Phoenix, Pirates and Konami MFC.

The EX Furinkazan end up 7th in the overall standings this week. The team is high in the standings, but close to dropping out in terms of point value. Monday’s games will be the most important games for them, facing both the Pirates and the Drivens in their last meetup against these two teams. If the EX Furinkazan can win against both of these teams at least once, their chances of making the playoffs is almost guaranteed.

And finally, placing last in this week’s performance ranking, we have Team Raiden. Even with trying to get the whole team to help out, none of the three players could get the team out of the rut. With the results they had this week, it dropped them down from 4th to 7th. With the next few game being very important for the team, don’t expect 30th place Hagiwara to show up too often. The team will have to bring their very best, as they will be facing the Kadokawa Sakura Knights for all 4 games next week and the Abemas for two of those games.

This Week’s M-League Stats

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That’s all for this week! There are two more weeks left in the season and we only have 2 teams who are basically confirmed to make the semis. That means that there are still 4 more spots left to be taken! Even though Monday and Thursday will be the two big games of next week, all the games will have a big effect on the standings. Can the Drivens dig themselves out of the hole? Can the Phoenix pursue a playoff spot? Can Team Raiden rise up to the occassion? Can the Pirates ride the wave of success? Can Konami Mahjong Fight Club fight their way out of danger? Can the EX Furinkazan play as fierce as fire? As always, we’ll just have to wait and see! See you all next week!

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