A Useless Exercise (aka Nationals "Predictions")

Seeds for all divisions were posted yesterday, and running through all 60 teams it looks like there could be some fireworks.

Masters
Last year's champions Throwback didn't make it but the Double Happiness/Bay Area team Troubled Past took the #1 seed. I'd expect OLDSAG to definitely break seed and possibly take a berth in the semis. I can also see Boneyard moving into the quarters. My semifinalists: BIGS, DoG, OLDSAG, and OaITW. Masters is always contentious and there are almost always pool play tiebreakers that give some team a harder road.

Open
I can't see any opening-day pool play upsets except in Pool D, where Chain will try to avenge their Chesapeake loss to Truck Stop and regain their semifinal form against Furious and Sub Zero. Power pools look interesting, and I think GOAT's O will struggle against Bravo but they'll take the 3rd seed out of the power pool and avoid prequarters, where Condors will have to face a determined foe in the Pool H winner - almost certainly the 3rd placed team from Pool D. On the other half, Pool F looks like the Sockeye-Furious rematch again, and this time both teams know that it counts. It looks like Boston will be forced down into the play-in and unenviable game against a scrappy Doublewide team, only for the privilege of facing the Jam-Bravo winner.

Likely quarterfinal matchups pit Bravo against Boston, Sockeye against Condors, GOAT against Furious, and Jam against Sub Zero or Chain. Boston beat Bravo at ECC, but that looks like the only potential upset. Jam-Sockeye looks like a potentially blockbuster semi, and the NW looks super-strong with three teams in the semis. Again.

Women
Everyone's goal is to stop the juggernauts Fury and Riot from meeting in the finals once again, but do any teams really have what it takes? Safari thinks so, and Brute Squad and Capitals will be out to prove that east coast teams can hang with the big dogs. The bottom 9 teams are all capable of beating each other depending on how they deal with the Sarasota wind and big game pressure. The battle for 9th will be immensely entertaining, and possible more interesting than the upper bracket. I'm pulling for Loose Cannon - they're much stronger than a 15 seed.

Mixed
Shazam Returns (what a terrible name, by the way) beats out Fury for Most Dominant Team in Any Division. They've won every tournament they've entered, and since their loss to Brass Monkey - the sole blemish on their record - they've beaten them twice since then. But there is a large group of teams that can cause an upset, and the Flycoons have an intriguing pool play matchup against Slow White, one that is definitely winnable for them. Every single pool except Pool C looks like the 2-3 game will be incredibly close, and the difference between going into the upper pool 0-1 and the lower pool 1-0 is immense. And again, except for Pool C, all of the bottom-seeded teams are relatively unpredictable and could make a name for themselves with an upset that sends Day 1 into disarray. But in the end, the NW teams look the strongest, and only they look capable of taking home the title.

(Why, NW, why? At least you might not win Masters)