The Gold are the main cog in this mess. In the beginning of the year, the Gold got out to an impressive start, going 4-1 sitting on mountains of points, having as many Power Points as the #2 (5-0) Empire. Then the losses started piling on afterwards, it is now at 4 in a row. The thing about the points system is that it is so much harder to lose points than to gain them. In turn, the Gold find themselves sitting on 40 points and ranked #8, still, after so many losses and now a losing record. They face the #1 Empire at home in the final game to try to squeeze into the playoffs which they seemed to have in their grasp early on. A win would guarantee play-in, if they lose, they will only lose about 20 points and miss the dance altogether.
There is where the potential problem for teams as well as league image overall is encountered. The Dragonfish, Cat's, Diamonds, and Gremlins can all finish the season with a +.500 record. This would guarantee more competition in normal circumstances except for the stipulation of being forbidden from post-season play if they sit behind a team with a losing record in the ranking system. This team would be the Gold. If the Gold win, everyone is just on their own to get to the dance, and it would actually clinch the (5-4) Dragonfish in, in a weird way. But if the Gold lose it produces interesting scenarios:
Dragonfish: (5-4) 40 points
They are tied with the Gold in points, but are behind them because of past standings. If they win, regardless of the Gold they will easily be in. If they lose to the Scarlet Ember, they would have to lose better than the Gold, which should not be hard because the Gold are on a loss streak, at home, whereas the Dragonfish are opposite. It would be a shame if they finished with the same amount of points but past hierarchy prevented them from entering the playoffs.
Diamonds: (4-5) 10 points
The Diamonds have been on a crash course just like the Gold. They have the #2 Seadogs coming to town. A win should put them where they need to be, but if they scrape by and the Gold don't lose too poorly, then they could tie in points or have less and be thrown out of the conversation.
Cat's: (4-5) 5 points
The Cat's have the easiest opponent to face going into week 10 in the Reapers. They would need to win very well in case the Gold lose, maybe some Coaches poll help too. They are a caliber team, it would be a shame if they missed out.
Gremlins: (4-5) -10 points
The Gremlins have it the worst. They have to watch to Western teams this week. The (3-6) Pharoahs are somehow ahead of them in points. They need the PHA to lose or win badly and definitely a Gold win because it would take a miracle for them to muster that many points from a home win and not tie but beat the Gold in points.
Commissioner Hasheem Halim has been pondering this curious situation ever since week 9 concluded. "If the worst case happened, there would only be 2 teams battling (South-West), in a Conference Finals game, for goodness sake! And the North-Midwest would have a PLAY-IN! The higher-ups here at the DBL have been brainstorming ways to let the 5-5 teams keep battling. We may have to pass a 'Gold Rule' to let there be a fair playoff."
The Gold Rule would please many people right now, but the problem would be a total dismantling of the current (AP + People's) Power Ranking system which has had its history of problems and changes before this long period of effectiveness. The Gold Rule would allow eligible teams to leapfrog the losing record teams if cases like this season. The problem is, the sole reason for the points system is to arrange teams in order for playoff positioning. The Power Ranking Company has released a statement saying: "Any changes made to the effectiveness or rules of our tried and true system will result in pulling out of providing the DBL our services indefinitely". Now, the league doesn't want to do this because there is much money and services tied up in the partnership of that company and the DBL. Along with the Ranking system there would be a removal of: the All*Star selection system, the Combine points system, and the Player of the Year awards selection system.
Wow, and all of this possible shake-up traces back to one team that got too many points early on. The Gold are no stranger to giving headaches to the ranking system people. Back in 2008-2 the Gold were the catalyst of the AP Ranking system overhaul as they were (4-6) but ranked #7! This called for the back-up ranking system (People's) to be combined with the AP to sort it out and in the end the Gold were #9 and missed the playoffs.
There was also one other time where there was less than 4 teams on each side in the 16 team era. In 2008-3, all the Silverbacks had to do was beat eventual Champion Pharoahs in the 10th week. Every big wig was on hand to watch this live. It came down to the last throw and the Pharoahs came out victorious. This year, every big wig will be in the Dodgeball Capital to witness how the Gold will deal with this new potential ranking system headache.
