Volume 5

Vol. 5 March 22, 2025

NBA Playoff

The NBA season is at the 70 game-played mark (there are a total of 82 games in the season). With that the playoff race becomes more important. Before a four game losing streak, the Cavaliers were nine games ahead of the Celtics, and are currently ahead five games. The Knicks are 12.5 games behind the Cavs and need a win tonight to keep their very low one seed chances alive (the Knicks have played 69 games not 70). The Central Division has four teams in playoff position and the Atlantic Division has two. So what does that mean for the Southeastern Division? It means the Hawks and Magic are a game apart for their division lead. Unlike the NFL, NHL, and MLB, the NBA division winners do not get an automatic-bid into the postseason. The Play-in Tournament is where the teams ranking 7th through 10th in conference play to see who makes the playoffs as the seven and eight seeds. The Hawks and Magic are currently seventh and eighth in the conference. The Pacers are fourth, the Bucks fifth, the Pistons sixth, the Bulls ninth, and the Heat tenth. In the Western Conference the Thunder have already clinched the one-seed as they are 12.5 games ahead of the second in the conference Rockets. The Rockets have played one more game than the Thunder. There are only three teams eliminated from playoff contention, the Washington Wizards (15-54), the Utah Jazz (16-55), and the New Orleans Pelicans (19-52).

First Round Upsets

Through round one there have been plenty of upsets in March Madness and hopefully more to come. In the south there were two upsets, the nine seed Creighton Blue Jays beat the eighth seeded Louisville Cardinals, and ten seed New Mexico took down seven seed Marquette. In the East the only upset was nine seed Baylor taking down eight seed Mississippi State. In the West there were three upsets, 12 seed Colorado State beat five seed Memphis, 11 seed Drake beat 6 seed Missouri, and ten seed Arkansas beat seven seed Kansas. In the Midwest the only upset was 12 seed McNeese beating five seed Clemson.

March Madness Higher Seeds

Seed	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Projected Record	4-0	4-0	4-0	4-0	4-0	2-2	2-2	4-0
Real Record	4-0	4-0	4-0	4-0	2-2	3-1	2-2	2-2

NHL Playoffs

The Washington Capitals became the first NHL team to clinch a postseason berth this year. The Wild Card race is still going strong. In the East, the Penguins are 14th in the Conference and are six points behind Montreal. Montreal holds the Second wild card spot. In the West there are fewer teams close together for Wild Card spots. The Utah Hockey Club, who are currently 11th in the conference, are four points behind the St. Louis Blues. The Blues hold the second Wild Card spot. The battle for the spots will come down to the wire. Every team in the league has between 11 and 15 games remaining. The Blackhawks and Sharks are the only eliminated teams.

NHL Teams Wild Card Chances

WAS	MET1	7%	NYI	MET4	61%	WPG	CEN1	7%	VAN	PAC4	61%
CAR	MET2	8%	NYR	MET5	54%	DAL	CEN2	15%	CAL	PAC5	61%
FLA	ATL1	10%	CBJ	MET6	54%	VGK	PAC1	11%	UTA	CEN6	58%
TOR	ATL2	10%	DET	ATL6	52%	COL	CEN3	31%	ANA	PAC6	40%
TB	ATL3	15%	BOS	ATL7	43%	EDM	PAC2	15%	SEA	PAC7	33%
NJ	MET3	13%	PIT	MET7	39%	LAK	PAC3	23%	NSH	CEN7	28%
OTT	ATL4	91%	PHI	MET8	36%	MIN	CEN4	82%	CHI	CEN8	0%
MTL	ATL5	73%	BUF	ATL8	34%	STL	CEN5	61%	SJ	PAC8	0%

MLB Tokyo Series

This week the Dodgers and Cubs played a two-game series in Tokyo, Japan. The Dodgers won the Series 2-0 with scores of 4-1 and 6-3. This marked the Start of the Regular Season. Shohei Ohtani went 2-5 in the first game with a single and a double and 1-3 in the second game with a solo HR.