If the Playoffs Were Today ... (With WHYDFML 7 Game Index)

 One of my favorite bits when I was younger was to look at the standings in a sport and proclaim: 'What If the Playoffs were Today?".  

Here in Chicago. much has been made lately of the fact that the Bears are now tied for the best record in the National Football Conference.  Of course that may all change this weekend when the Bears take on the hated Packers.  Every Tuesday from now until the playoffs actually begin,  I hope to show you what the first round of the NFL playoffs would look like if the playoffs would actually begin on that day.

I will also include a stat called the What Have You Done For Me Lately (WHYDFML) 7 Game Index.

The index assigns 1 point for a win and -1 point for a loss over a 7 game period.  It then weights those wins and losses from 7 to 1 most recent to least recent.  The New England Patriots have won all 7 of their last games.  

W W W W W W W

7   6   5   4   3  2   1  

When you add this up they have 1 7 Game WHYDFML of 28

The Bears have won their last 5 games since losing to the Baltimore Ravens and had won the game previous to that so their WHYDFML looks like this:

W W W W W L W

7   6   5   4   3 -2 1

Which makes their index +24

There are many different WHYDFML indices that I use but the 7 game one is very front loaded.  If the Packers prevail against the Bears this weekend, their index will plummet from +24 to +12.  The Packers will not only jump a 1/2 game ahead of the Bears in the standings, but their WHYDFML will increase from +14 to + 18.  

Confused?  It will grow on you.  Or it won't. But until we're sure, here is the NFL Playoff Schedule if the Playoffs Began today...

AFC

1st Round Bye New England Patriots (#1 Seed) AFC East Division Champion (11-2) +28 

Buffalo Bills (#7 Seed) #3 AFC Wild Card (8-4) +6 @ Denver Broncos (#2 Seed) AFC West Division Champion (10-2) +28

Indianapolis Colts (#6 Seed) #2 AFC Wild Card (8-4) -6 @ Jacksonville Jaguars (#3 Seed) AFC South Division Champion (8-4) +14

Los Angeles Chargers (#5 Seed) #1 AFC Wild Card (8-4) +12 @ Baltimore Ravens (#4 Seed) AFC North Division Champion (6-6) +12

NFC

1st Round Bye Chicago Bears (#1 Seed) NFC North Division Champion (9-3) +24

San Francisco 49ers (#7 Seed) #3 NFC Wild Card (9-4) +16  @ Los Angeles Rams (#2 Seed) AFC West Division Champion (9-3) +14

Green Bay Packers (#6 Seed) #2 NFC Wild Card (8-3-1) +14 @ Philadelphia Eagles (#3 Seed)  NFC East Division Champion (8-4) Even

Seattlle Seahawks (#5 Seed) #1 NFC Wild Card) (9-3) +18 @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (#4 Seed) NFC South Division Champion (7-5) -6

Instant Analysis:  The AFC home teams (division champs) all have a higher or equal WHYDFML # than their opponents. The NFC home teams all have a lower WHYDFML than their opponents.

I'll be back next Tuesday with another exciting installment of ...

If the Playoffs were today  ...

Full documentary: The Edmund Fitzgerald (2025)

50 Years ago today the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior. The disaster inspired Gordon Lightfoot's 1976 hit "The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald"

If You get a chance you may enjoy this hour long documentary.

The Storm Before The Calm - Poetry Friday

Today is Poetry Friday. I haven't been blogging very much at all recently, let alone writing poetry.  But this morning   I was playing with the phrase "storm before the calm" and inverted it to" calm before the storm" which I have used before.  

While I was walking  towards my Mom's room in the nursing home she's been staying at since August, "The Poet That Lives Inside of Me" was helping me assemble this poem which I typed here as soon as I could get to my I-Pad.  

 I didn’t go to work this week

To spend time with my Mom

Was it the calm before the storm

Or the storm before the calm?

During Co-vid we saw glimpses 

That she wasn’t aging well

And we are all quite resistless

To that upcoming death knell

But hospice and declining

Are new vocab to see

And since I’m her med POA

A lot of weights on me.

So I've been here each morning

To feed her and observe

I'm not sure what to tell her

And I do not have the nerve 

For now, she is in rehab

Hope she relearns to walk

Walking could restore her

But that seems like idle talk

What I know of rehab

Is that it builds from day to day

So if you can’t remember rehab

What more is there to say?

Most times she does remember me

At times thinks that I'm Dad

But He’s a good role model

So that’s not all that bad

He calls her every morning

Cross town - both stuck in bed

I tell her I am David Charles

And he is David Fred

They’ve been apart since August

When they found a blood clot in her lung

Hospital and rehab ever since

It’s really not that fun

The plan: 4th week November

At last, it’s coming soon

There will be much Thanksgiving

When they finally share a room

And then with Christmas looming large

We'll  be forging a new norm

Will it be the storm before the calm

0r the calm before the storm?

Laura Purdie Salas is hosting the roundup this week join her by clicking here.

1977 Green Bay Packers Team Season Highlights

Ed Farmer's birthday: Hear Him call A Triple Play

Stats Sunday: Most Improved Baseball Teams of 2025

 The Regular season of MLB came to an end last month some would say that for the White Sox  it did so mercifully.  I would  beg to differ. 

Me (In my best Dickensonian pauper's voice) : Please Sir, may I differ? Please?!? Could I kindly differ?

When you lose 100 or more games in a season  3 years in a row as my beloved South Sliders (misspelling intended) have it would  ostensibly make sense for anyone covering the team to write  an end of the season review as a post-mortem.  Over the past few weeks I have read many that looked just like that,

However,  as I mulled it over in my mind, I realized that the 2025 record of 60 wins paired with 102 losses ,  an abysmal 21 games below .500, was in actuality 19 wins better than their record setting (in a bad way) 2024 season total.  This made me wonder how the White Sox would match up to the rest of the league in terms of most improved win total from 2024 to 2025.

2025 MLB Teams (Listed from most improved  to least improved regular season from 2024 to 2025)

     Team                          2024      2025   

1. Toronto Blue Jays      74-88    94-68 +20 

2. Chicago White Sox    41-121 60-102 +19

3. Miami Marlins           62-100 79-83   +17

4. Los Angeles Angels   63-99    72-90  +9

5. Chicago Cubs             83-79   92-70   +9

6. Boston Red Sox         81-81    89-73   +8

7. Athletics                     69-93    76-87   +7

8. Cincinnati Reds         77-85    83-79   +6

9. Seattle Mariners         85-77   90-72    +5

10. Milwaukee Brewers  93-69   97-65   +4

11. Texas Rangers            78-84   81-81  +3

12. Detroit Tigers             86-76   87-75  +1

13. Philadelphia Phillies   95-67  96-66   +1

14. San Francisco Giants  80-82  81-81   +1

15. New York Yankees      94-68   94-68   E

16. Houston Astros            88-73    87-75 -1.5

17. Tampa Bay Rays          80-82    77-85 -3

18. San Diego Padres         93-69    90-72 -3

19. Kansas City Royals      86-76    82-80 -4

20. Cleveland Guardians    92-69    83-74 -4.5

21. Washington Nationals  71-91    66-96 -5

22. St. Louis Cardinals       83=79  78-84  -5

23. Pittsburgh Pirates          76-86   71-91 -5

24. Los Angeles Dodgers    98-64   93-69 -5

25. New York Mets              89-73  83-79 -6

26. Arizona Diamondbacks  89-73 80-82 -9

27. Minnesota Twins            82-80 70-92  -12

28. Atlanta Braves                89-73 76-86 -13

29. Baltimore Orioles           91-71 75-87 -16

30. Colorado Rockies           61-101 43-119 -18

Analysis: I marked each record in bold if that team went to the playoffs the year listed.  Of the 7 teams that made the playoffs in 2024 and 2025, three did so with more wins than the previous year, 1 team had the identical record each campaign, and 3 won more games in 2024 than they did this year.  

Of the 3 cities with 2 teams , Chicago was the only city that had both teams improve let alone be in the top 5 of improved teams.

Top 10 most improved home and road teams. (Teams in bold are in tp 10 in both categories)

Home                       Road

Blue Jays +15          White Sox +9    

Red Sox + 10            Athletics +9

White Sox + 10        Marlins +9

Marlins + 8               Blue Jays +5

Angels +7                  Mariners +3

Padres +7                   Mets +3

Yankees +6                Cubs +3

Cubs + 6                    Angels +2

Reds + 6                     Guardians +1

Brewers +5                 Nationals +1

Pirates + 5                  Giants + 1

So, yes the improvements from one year to the next for our Chicago teams is something to be celebrated.   Similar improvements next year are not impossible dreams.  If  The Cubs improve  by 9 wins next year they would be past the 100 win mark.  If the Sox win 19  more games next year they would only finish 2 games below .500.  Will that happen, who knows?  But steps in the right direction are signs of life not cause for a post-mortem.