What’s at stake for each team in MPL X as part of their Playoff chase:
1) Transformers (14 points) had already qualified for the MPL X Playoff’s, prior to today’s match vs. Justice League. With today’s win over Justice League, Transformers will finish the round-robin stage of MPL X as the number 1 ranked team.
Transformers thus have a lock on one of the top two spots and have qualified for Qualifier-1 on Wednesday, August 8th.
Transformers have one match still remaining in the round-robin stage. The result of this match does not impact their position in the Table at the end of the round-robin stage.
2) Justice League (11 points) and Incredibles (11 points) are through to the MPL X Playoff’s, with one match remaining in the round-robin stage for each – vs. Avengers and Suicide Squad, respectively.
Both teams are fighting it out for a chance to finish in the second spot, and is likely to come down to results (win/loss) in their last round-robin matches, coupled with Net Run Rate (NRR).
3) Suicide Squad (9 points) have one foot into the MPL X Playoff’s, but are not yet through. They have a number of ways to get into the Playoff’s, and some ways to get out of the Playoff’s as well.
Two wins by good margins in their remaining two matches could get Suicide Squad into the second spot. Two wins will leave the Suicide Squad ranked at least third at the end of the round-robin stage.
Potentially, one win by a good margin and one wash-out could also get them into the second spot – a win by a good margin for Suicide Squad vs. X-Men, a Justice League loss to the Avengers, and a wash-out in the Suicide Squad vs. Incredibles match.
One win and one loss will suffice for Suicide Squad to make it to the MPL X Playoff’s – as either the third ranked team, or as the fourth ranked team.
Two loses for Suicide Squad may still get them into the MPL X Playoff’s – X-Men having bested Suicide Squad will need to lose to Transformers in their last round-robin match.
Two loses for Suicide Squad, coupled with two wins for X-Men, will cost the Suicide Squad a spot in the MPL X Playoff’s.
Two loses for Suicide Squad, coupled with one win and one-loss for X-Men, opens the door for Avengers.
4) Avengers (7 points) are on the other side of the spectrum as compared to Suicide Squad, in that they are not quite out of their hunt for a spot in the MPL X Playoff’s, but need a lot to go their way to get there.
Avengers will need to win very big in their last match against Justice League, and need other results to go their way.
If Avengers win by 60 runs, they will need:
* X-Men to defeat Suicide Squad,
* Transformers to defeat X-Men, and
* Incredibles to defeat Suicide Squad.
In this process, the combined margin of runs in the two loses for Suicide Squad must be 112 runs or more, for the Avengers’ NRR to improve over that of Suicide Squad, with the two teams potentially tied on 9 points.
5) The X-Men (6 points) MPL X Playoff hunt is also in a spot of bother.
They have two matches remaining. They need two wins in these two matches, and then need the Incredibles to defeat Suicide Squad. This scenario gets the X-Men into the MPL X Playoff’s as the fourth ranked team.
Potentially a win for X-Men by a large margin vs. Suicide Squad, coupled with a wash-out in the X-Men vs. Transformers match, along with a loss for Suicide Squad vs. Incredibles, can also get the X-Men into the MPL X Playoff – this scenario could see two (X-Men, Suicide Squad), or even three teams (Avengers being the third team), tied on 9 points, with NRR breaking the tie.
However, with the X-Men vs. Transformers match being scheduled on the same day as the Suicide Squad vs. Incredibles match, a wash-out in only one match is unlikely.
If the X-Men vs. Suicide Squad match is washed-out, it is game over for the X-Men (and the Avengers).
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