(by Steve Hopkins)
The top of the TTBL seems secure for the Borussia Dusseldorf in the top position and Saarbrucken as the second seed. Barring a complete meltdown, these two teams will host semifinal playoff matches in a few weeks when the season concludes. The early matches of this 18th weekend were played today and both Dusseldorf and Saarbrucken won easily. For Dusseldorf, they topped ASV 3-0 and Saarbrucken topped Neu-Ulm 3-0.
Fulda passed Muhlhausen today to claim the third position. They do still have to play Muhlhausen, but in each of their final four matches they will be favored. They are one win ahead of Muhlhausen, Ochsenhausen, and Bergneustadt – and should be in the driver’s seat for finishing third.
The final playoff spot will likely come down to the aforementioned Muhlhausen, Ochsenhausen, and Bergneustadt squads. Muhlhausen, who had been third for weeks, was upset today by Bergneustadt and has now fallen to fourth place. Muhlhausen will be highly favored against last place Homburg on Sunday – but then Muhlhausen will play Dusseldorf, Bremen, Fulda, and Saarbrucken to finish out the season. That is, their final four season matches includes a match against each of the top three seeds.
After this weekend, Bergneustadt only plays one squad ranked ahead of them – Saarbrucken. Ochsenhausen has an even easier schedule – not playing a single team with a winning record in their final run.
Still, the fortunes of these teams will be made in the final 4 weeks as they all jockey for the final playoff spots.
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