Standings
The Akasaka Drivens remain at the top of the standings with some big gains, though with a slightly smaller lead. The team had a very strong week with three 1sts. Even with the one 4th place by Taro on Friday, he was able to make up for it with a bigger 1st place on Monday. With their results, they make it up to +631.0pts, only the second team in M-League history to break the +600.0pts mark in the semifinals.
The U-Next Pirates continue to make waves and gain some ground on the Akasaka Drivens. On Thursday, Yu had a huge double duty daily double to gain +161.7pts in a single day, the second-biggest double duty daily double in M-League history. Yu’s result put the team above +600.0pts, the first team to break the +600.0pts in the semifinals in M-League history . They also moved above the Akasaka Drivens, ending the reign that the Akasaka Drivens held since mid-November. With Mizuhara and Nakabayashi adding points to the team’s total on Friday, the team now has a 91.67% rentai rate, going 11/12 games with either a 1st or 2nd.
The Sega Sammy Phoenix make some gains and move a bit further away from the borderline. They weren’t able to get a 1st this week, but three 2nds pushed them up a bit. Daigo finished his game with 47,000, but it was difficult to overcome the 80,700 by Yu. And for Genta, he was very close to 1st place, but was beat by 200 because he was hit with the dealer penalty. Though they are more than 300.0pts from the top 2, the team is also 300.0pts above the borderline, boding very well for their finals chances.
Team Raiden stick to 4th place, but both their hold and their points are shrinking. It was very tough for the team with two 3rds on Friday and a double duty daily 4th by Honda on Monday. Their drop of -144.2pts this week by the team now moves them within 69.4pts of falling out of a playoff spot.
The Konami Mahjong Fight Club falls into the negatives. They were unable to get a 1st place in their past four games with a 0/1/2/1 record and -115.2pts loss. However, even though they are now at -15.8pts, they are closer to a playoff spot with Team Raiden’s misfortunates. A good 1st place could get the team into 4th place.
And finally, the Shibuya Abemas are still very deep in the hole even as they get their first 1st of the playoffs (by the struggling Matsumoto, no less). The two 4ths and Ooi’s big -10,000 3rd place more than displaced the 1st place by Matsumoto and the team is now at -416.8pts. Before Matsumoto’s 1st place, the team fell to as low as -471.3pts, the lowest any team has hit in the semifinals. The team will need many miracles to make it to the finals, sitting almost 500.0pts from 4th place.
And that’s all for this article! We are already more than halfway through the semifinals. Only 6 more games day, 12 more games remain before our final four are decided. Will the Akasaka Drivens or the U-Next Pirates finish on top in the semis, or will another competitor make a surprise? How intense will the battle for 4th play out? As always, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Intro | Standings
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