Standings

The top-performing team these past few days has been Shibuya Abemas. They started off Tuesday sitting in 4th place, the last playoff spot. The team needed points to have a stronger hold. Tuesday did not go as well as they would like, losing points and going below +100.0pts. However, Thursday featured the ShoMatsu duo and they brought their A game. After a close game with no wins for himself, Shiratori was able to win the last and most important hand of the game to steal 1st place. In a very close game with Nakabayashi, Matsumoto was able to break the M-League record of highest 2nd place ever. With their gains, they move up to their beloved 3rd place.

Next is the EX Furinkazan. Finally, the team is reversing course and gaining points. After falling below +200.0pts, the team got its act together at the right time. On Tuesday, Rumi was able to get her first-ever post-season win. With the rest of the team avoiding 4th, the team moved back above +200.0pts and stayed there in 2nd place. As long as they don’t make any big mistakes, they will be moving on.

The last gaining team over the past six games is Team Raiden. This team seems unstoppable. Over the course of 16 games, they have gained +279.9pts and have risen up from 5th to 1st. On Friday, Hagiwara won his first post-season game in over three years. With over a 250.0pts lead over 5th place, they are almost certainly advancing. All they have to do is focus, advance and aim to make their mark in their first finals in team history.

Our first dropper is the U-Next Pirates. Things were looking very good for the team at the end of the day Thursday. Yu had gotten a respectable 2nd and Nakabayashi was able to win the final hand to steal uma and win big, getting the team to near +100.0pts. Unfortunately, the luck seemed to run out. On Friday, Mizuhara dealt in while with a mangan hand in one hand and ran out of safe tiles in another to fall into 4th. In the other game, Kobayashi dealt in twice while in riichi to fall into 4th as well. They ended up losing everything they gained on Thursday and fell back into the negatives. They now sit 148.8pts away from a spot in the finals. With 1st place and some good results against the right teams, they may be able to steal a spot and make it to their second finals in team history.

5th in the performance rankings is the Konami Mahjong Fight Club. The good news is that they’re still in a playoff position. The bad news is that they are in 4th. Given the circumstances that they played in, they didn’t do too badly. On Thursday, Takizawa won 5 hands and avoided dealing in to counter Takamiya’s 4th and gain points. On Friday, Hisato avoided being Uchikawa and stayed in a solid 3rd place to avoid losing too many points. They are still above +100.0pts in the standings, but they will have to beware the hungry U-Next Pirates. If the team can place above them in both their games on Tuesday, they will be in a good spot to advance.

And finally, we have the Kadokawa Sakura Knights. They needed some luck, but luck wasn’t on their side. In Uchikawa’s game, almost every time he was in riichi or had a good hand, he ended up dealing in. With so many losses, he ended up with the lowest score in M-League history. Shibukawa managed to get a first in the team’s last game Friday, but it may be too little too late. Still, nothing is impossible. If they win all four of their next games and they have a little bit of luck, they may be able to overcome the ~400.0pts gap between them and 4th place. All they can do is hope.

This Fifth’s M-League Stats

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And that’s all for this week! Only three more game days, six more games left in the M-League 2022-23 Semifinals! The top four seem to be in a good spot, but anything can happen. Which team will finish on top? Can the U-Next PIrates get some 1sts to steal a spot? Can the Kadokawa Sakura Knights absolutely clobber the competition and do the impossible? As always, we’ll just have to wait and see!

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