Captain’s Log, April 24th, 2016

This is the final week of the Spring Session. It is extremely important to get your score sheets mailed back the day following your league match so that we can have up to date standings to calculate the final standings and get the playoffs posted. Divisions with 12 or more teams will have a double playoff. A bye is not considered a team. First place teams go straight to the Blast. 2^nd, 4^th, 6^th and a wild card make up playoff #1 and 3^rd, 5^th, 7^th and a second wild card make up playoff #2. Each team that wins both weeks of playoffs advance to the Blast. Divisions with 6 to 11 teams have a division standings winner that goes straight to the Blast, and 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th and a wild card will have a two week playoff to determine the playoff champion. The playoff champion also goes to the Blast. Divisions with 5 teams do not have a division standings champion. 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and a wild card will play a two week playoff to determine the division champion. The division champion goes to the Blast. Teams that are already qualified for Cities do not participate in the Blast. We do pass down eligibility to the Blast to teams that have the highest finish in the playoffs, but behind an already qualified team. See our bylaws for a more detailed explanation of how that works. There is at least one wild card draw for every division. To be eligible for the wild card, your team must have missed earning a spot into the playoffs, be caught up with your paperwork and league fees, and have no more than 5 individual forfeits for the session. The wild card draw will take place on the following dates: 

Sunday and Monday Divisions- Thursday, April 28^th

Tuesday Divisions- Friday, April 29^th

Wednesday and Thursday Divisions- Monday, May 1st 

In the event of a tie when calculating the final standings, we determine how the teams did against each other during the regular session. There is a section in the APA manual that explains in detail how ties are broken if 2 or more teams are tied. Sometimes the tiebreaker determines whether a team wins the division standings. Sometimes the tiebreaker determines playoff position for each team. And sometimes the tiebreaker eliminates a team from the last playoff spot. We don’t like to exclude any team from the playoffs, but tiebreakers are sometimes needed, and we follow the manual exactly as it says for us to do it. Players must have a minimum of 4 matches played with the team for the Spring Session to be eligible for the playoffs. 

We will post the playoff matchups on the normal division schedule on the same dates listed for the wild card draw. There will also be a playoff page that shows the match ups, but the schedule page will be posted first. There will be a newsletter explaining how the playoffs work for all teams competing in the playoffs. 

MVP’s and Perfect Session awards won’t be calculated until all divisions have completed the final week of the regular session. 

The Summer Session begins the week of May 15^th. If you haven’t registered your team yet, pleaselet us know your team’s intentions for the Summer Session. 

Once all of the playoff matches have been completed, we will draw the Blast schedule. The Blast will determine the last group of teams that will advance to the City Championships. The City Championship draw will take place immediately following the Blast tournament. We do it on site for anyone who wishes to see how this process works. All 64 teams are randomly drawn onto however many boards we have for each format. There will be 4 boards for 9 Ball and 5 for 8 Ball. The winners of each City Championship board will advance to the APA World Pool Championships in August. We also have 5 slots for the Ladies 8 Ball Championships in Las Vegas. We will discuss more about the City Championships as we get into the next session. 

Good luck to those of you that make the playoffs. We hope to see all of you back for the start of the new session. Good luck also to Marakai Fellows and John “LJ” Pasquarella as they compete in theAPA Poolplayer Championships in Las Vegas this week. They qualified in 8 Ball and 9 Ball. Load up the CompuSport app on your smart phone and follow along on their progress! 9 Ball starts April 27 and 8 Ball starts April 29.

Shoot Pool Good!

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