Locking this future play in now because I think it has great value.
LA Sparks to win the Title +700
My reasons;
Sparks are in 4th right now, currently at 12-8 with 14 games to go. They have 9 remaining home games and just 5 on the road, which is a great advantage to have in the back run of the season. Their road games are against Wings, Sky, Mystics, Fever and Aces. They have a great schedule coming up as well at home, they play 3 games straight coming up against Storm and then Mercury (discussed their injury woes) and then play the Sky before they head to play the Wings and Sky. They come back home for the Lynx, Fever and Sun before heading back out for Mystics, Fever and the Aces. They finish their season on 3 straight home games which are against Dream, Storm and Lynx. Predicting that the Sparks (if they stay healthy) can finish on 23-11 record, maybe 22-12.
Sun
They are first with 15-6 record, so they have 13 games left and out of those 13 games they have 8 road games and 5 home games. The Sun have shown their are dominant at home, holding down a nice 11-1 record but their road form is just 4-5. If they win say 4 out of their last 5 at home, and maybe 5 out of 8 road games, they would finish around 24-10 record which is a great record.
Mystics
No doubt, this team is balling and by far the hardest team to play in this league when EDD is fit. They are at 14-6 right now, have played 11 road games (so only 6 left) and are 6-3 at home so they have 8 home games. IMHO, they will clinch the top seed if EDD stays healthy and sickness free. The Sun has the tie-breaker over them if they do finish on the same amount of wins but I don't see the Mystics losing more than 3 games in their last 14 games of the season as they face Mercury tomorrow who are injured, Fever x 2, Wings x 2 and the Liberty x 2. So there is already 7 games you would think they can win. The other games are against Lynx x 2, Sky x 2, Sparks and the Storm. Don't forget, they play the Aces again on Monday starting from the 2nd half up 51-36. You would think they can manage to hold onto that lead given so really, by the end of Monday night they could be 16-6 and tied with Sun.
Aces
Sitting at 15-7, only 12 games to go and that includes Monday's game which they are down by 15 at half time. So really, you would think 15-8 with 11 games to go which includes 5 home games and 6 on the road. No A'ja Wilson for sometime and Cambage is just being Cambage. They are lucky they have Hamby. Still, their schedule isn't easy as they play Sky, Sun, Lynx, Fever, Dream and Mercury in their remaining 6 road games whilst they have Sky, Sun, Dream, Mercury, and Sparks at home. They start a nice 3 game homestand after this game on Monday vs the Mystics but then endure a terrible 3 game road trip before returning home for one game vs the Sparks and then back on the road to finish off the reg season for 2 games.
Sky
I like this team a lot, praised Wade all season long and I think they will get better and better as the season progresses but their lack of defense is alarming and they are turnover machines. They are at 12-9 right now, having played 11 at home and 10 on the road. Well balanced team but have a bad schedule coming up with a game vs NY followed by back to back games for the Sparks and Aces. They also have to play Washington x 2 and Mercury x 2. They have sole games vs Fever, Lynx, Wings and Dream but I cant see them scraping a top 4 spot with that schedule
6th and below
Storm, Mercury, Lynx and the others. Well they have all been hit with big injuries, Storm are 12-10, Mercury are 10-10 and the Lynx are 10-11. I dont not see any of these teams going on great runs to try and nab a top 4 spot either.
So that then brings me to the playoff system for those that don't know.
Single elimination games would be (highest seed gets home court)
5 x 8
6 x 7
The losers go home, the winners continue onto another single elimination game vs the 3rd and 4th seeds.
With my predictions, I am stating that the Sun and Mystics take the top 2 seeds and Sparks and Aces get the 3rd and 4th.
So the winners from the first round will face Sparks and Aces, too very hard teams to beat and the Sparks have so much experience in the playoffs compared to those teams who finish 5-8.
The winners of that then head to either the 1st or 2nd teams home court and have a 5 game series against them. Predicting that would be Sun and the Mystics. Both teams hard to beat at home, but Sun lack playoff experience and the Mystics well they will be hard to beat on their day and they do have good experience in their team and have the clutch players needed to win big playoff games. Really hoping that the Sparks draw the Sun and the Aces draw the Mystics.
I am predicting we see a Sparks/Mystics WNBA Finals, and with this value I have on the Sparks, It does present great value for possible hedging later on.
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