This isn't how I was expecting to end this season of XFL football when I put up my ratings on Monday, but here we are: the XFL, following the lead of major sports leagues, has cancelled the rest of the regular season for the time being, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
What does this mean? It's hard to tell at this point, to be honest. We don't know just how long it will take for this virus to go away. It's understandable that the next five weeks are up in the air.
I know that the league is committed to returning in 2021. Additionally, they may be looking to see if a playoff or at least a championship game is an option at this point.
The main issue I have is that players have already been released from their contracts to sign with the NFL or other leagues. My ratings assume that teams generally remain the same over the course of a season. But it would be bad for me to expect players to stay with the XFL and put my silly interests over theirs.
If the league decides to hold some sort of postseason at this point, that's fine, but you can toss my ratings and anyone else's out a window, if the teams aren't going to be the same.
This is how the playoff picture would look after five weeks. The Defenders and Renegades miss out, despite their conference records, because the XFL's preferred tiebreaker is net touchdowns, or touchdown differential.
If they wanted to avoid a controversy over team selection, I'd just do a championship game between the Roughnecks, the best team with the best record, and the BattleHawks, who arguably have the biggest fanbase.
I want to be clear that I don't consider the Houston Roughnecks a league champion. As far as I'm concerned, a team becomes a champion by winning a championship game. The XFL has no 2020 champion. It has a best team with a better record than any other team; I'm totally willing to concede that, but I don't think that makes them a champion. I've tracked enough other leagues to know the best team doesn't always win in the end.
EDIT: I've been reminded that head-to-head record was actually the first tiebreaker in the standings. Therefore, the Defenders, who had a 2-0 record against the Guardians and BattleHawks, and the Renegades, who had beaten the Wildcats, would be in the playoffs. Houston would host Dallas and St. Louis would travel to DC.
What does this mean? It's hard to tell at this point, to be honest. We don't know just how long it will take for this virus to go away. It's understandable that the next five weeks are up in the air.
I know that the league is committed to returning in 2021. Additionally, they may be looking to see if a playoff or at least a championship game is an option at this point.
The main issue I have is that players have already been released from their contracts to sign with the NFL or other leagues. My ratings assume that teams generally remain the same over the course of a season. But it would be bad for me to expect players to stay with the XFL and put my silly interests over theirs.
If the league decides to hold some sort of postseason at this point, that's fine, but you can toss my ratings and anyone else's out a window, if the teams aren't going to be the same.
This is how the playoff picture would look after five weeks. The Defenders and Renegades miss out, despite their conference records, because the XFL's preferred tiebreaker is net touchdowns, or touchdown differential.
If they wanted to avoid a controversy over team selection, I'd just do a championship game between the Roughnecks, the best team with the best record, and the BattleHawks, who arguably have the biggest fanbase.
I want to be clear that I don't consider the Houston Roughnecks a league champion. As far as I'm concerned, a team becomes a champion by winning a championship game. The XFL has no 2020 champion. It has a best team with a better record than any other team; I'm totally willing to concede that, but I don't think that makes them a champion. I've tracked enough other leagues to know the best team doesn't always win in the end.
EDIT: I've been reminded that head-to-head record was actually the first tiebreaker in the standings. Therefore, the Defenders, who had a 2-0 record against the Guardians and BattleHawks, and the Renegades, who had beaten the Wildcats, would be in the playoffs. Houston would host Dallas and St. Louis would travel to DC.
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