Playing for a Cause: Haiti Relief

The play-in games this year will carry much more significance than in previous years. But this time its for a greater cause. The DBL has decided to turn these games into a charity event for the city of St. Louis and DBL fans everywhere.

Commissioner Halim had this to say:
"The DBL is taking this opportunity to focus on the more important things in life. There is much suffering going on in Haiti right now, and the DBL is doing all it can to help. The admission tickets will to the cause, the merchandise sales from now until the 31st, and the auctioning of the special "Aide Haiti" edition uniforms after the games are over will all go towards the cause. We are happy to be in St. Louis, one of the great Dodgeball towns to depend on helping us in our efforts. They have always been a great community. We hope to have great games, and aid in this Haiti situation as best we can."

The theme of the games will be the color red to support the cause. T-Shirts will go on sale during the play-in games in Meteor Gym and on-line at DBL.com. Here are the special uniforms that will be worn:

Wild Wild West(ern)

Week 10. The final jockeying for the coveted homefield advantage, playoff spot, of even a chance at a play-in game. The race this year is to avoid the play-in game. The craziest race comes in the West including the Texas Toros. All of these teams are 5-4 going into week 10. Depending on what goes down this week, each of these teams could be seeing homefield advantage for the first round, a #3 spot, or have to fight it out in the "play-in" game. Here are the scenarios for each of these wild west teams.

Diamonds: Rank #4 80pts
The Diamonds host the Gremlins. This team can be easily beaten by getting out Silvio, or very hard to overcome if this is neglected and Donte has a good game. They need to beat the Gremlins and they pretty much wrap up the #2 seed. They can lose and still get a #3 seed if 2 of the others lose.

Silverbacks: Rank #6 70pts
The Silverbacks host the Interceptors this week. This can be a deceptively hard game. Salem and Travis have been getting hot as of late and could cause a nail-biter. If they win this game, at least a #3 seed is almost guaranteed. If they lose, they have to depend on a loss by the Gold and Toros to stay at #3.

Gold: Rank #7 60pts
The Gold host the hot Scarlet Ember in the Flex game of the week. This should be a good test to see if the Gold are a true playoff team. They need a good game out of Doug and Leo to extinguish that 'fire'. If they win, they still need a loss from either the Diamonds or Silverbacks to get a #2 or #3 seed. If they lose, it is pretty much a guaranteed play-in game, unless the Silverbacks lose horribly at home.

Toros: Rank #9 40pts
The Margays welcome in the Toros to their new stadium. This looks like an easy win, but they cannot be too careful, Darren needs to get back involved with the team. If they win, they need a loss from the Gold and Silverbacks most likely, as the Diamonds might have to many points even with a loss to fall under the Toros. A loss is a certain play-in game.

In conclusion, any of the western rat-pack can win the division. Any of these teams can get HOMEFIELD advantage. Any of these teams can MISS the playoffs. And don't forget, the Cat's can pull some magic and mess everything up, just like the Gremlins on the other side of the league.

Week 9