[collegesportsfanms]

ok, sorry for the delay folks, real life gets in the way, and I wanted to concentrate a bit on my 2 FBCB projects since those are Interactive.

The groups are ready to be announced, and again, all 5 groups have had the 6 involved teams seeded by final 2011 MLB record. Here we go:

Group A

#1- Arizona Diamondbacks (94-68)
#2- St. Louis Cardinals (90-72)
#3- Boston Red Sox (90-72)
#4- Oakland Athletics (74-88)
#5- New York Mets (77-85)
#6- Minnesota Twins (63-99)

St. Louis won a coin toss to get the #2 seed in the group, but really, the seeds don't matter other than the order of when you'll play each team.

Group B

#1- Philadelphia Phillies (102-60)
#2- Detroit Tigers (95-67)
#3- San Francisco Giants (86-76)
#4- Cincinnati Reds (79-83)
#5- Toronto Blue Jays (81-81)
#6- Houston Astros (56-106)

The seedings in this group have been completely screwed up, as in my spreadsheet I had Toronto and Cincinnati switched around for some reason. Probably because it is one of those situations where Cincinnati finished 3rd in their division while Toronto finished 4th. For this Group only, a team with a better record will be seeded under a team with a worse record. Cincinnati will remain the 4 seed despite winning 2 games less than Toronto in the actual 2011 season. It'll just make things easier in the long run.

Group C

#1- Milwaukee Brewers (96-66)
#2- Tampa Bay Rays (91-71)
#3- Chicago White Sox (79-83)
#4- Florida Marlins (72-90)
#5- San Diego Padres (71-91)
#6- Seattle Mariners (67-95)

Just an ugly group here, as 4 of the 6 teams have sub .500 records. That means 1 team (maybe even 2 teams if Group C gets the wildcard spot) with a sub-.500 record in the real 2011 season will make it to the 16 team championship bracket here. Should be interesting.

Group D

#1- Texas Rangers (96-66)
#2- Washington Nationals (80-81)
#3- Cleveland Indians (80-82)
#4- Colorado Rockies (73-89)
#5- Pittsburgh Pirates (72-90)
#6- Baltimore Orioles (69-93)

On paper, Texas is the overwhelming favorite to win this group, and should do so easily. Washington lucks into the #2 seed in the group by having a game cancelled during the real 2011 season. Either way, they still would have been a #2 or #3 seed, so no big deal.

Group E

#1- New York Yankees (97-65)
#2- Atlanta Braves (89-73)
#3- Los Angeles Angels (86-76)
#4- Los Angeles Dodgers (82-79)
#5- Kansas City Royals (71-91)
#6- Chicago Cubs (71-91)

Kansas City won the coin flip for the #5 seed. All that means is that they get to avoid the Yankees in their first game. All 3 of the teams I follow (KC, Atlanta, Cubs) are in this group, and 2 of the 3 are likely to be in the consolation bracket. How fitting is it that not only are both the Dodgers and Angles in the same group, but that they will open up against each other? I didn't plan it that way, that's just how the dice rolled.

So there you have the groups, I'll be glad to take predictions on the 3 teams advancing out of each group, the wildcard, and so on.

Round 1 of Groups A and B are completed. I'll post Group A Round 1 results soon, and probably won't have time to get to the Group B Round 1 results until tomorrow.