RL - 2024 SEASON WRAPPED

How it went down + first look at 2025 divisions

Sy Gallimore

Jan 03, 2025

D1: Legacy – A Deserving Champion

It’s official. Our third-ever champion of our 36-team league is now crowned:

Congratulations to J.B. & Jonathan’s Amazing Team for leading a competitive division throughout the season and coasting through a never-a-doubt playoff run to the final. Average margin of victory through the playoffs: 49 points.

First Round

The #1 v #8 matchup was never in doubt, but all of the rest of the matchups had some drama.

#7 Ryan Johnson’s Rad Team upset #2 Special Brownies by 9 in a game where Special Brownies played a squad that was 16 points less than what would have been possible if they had played 3 players on their bench.

#6 Slim Pickens won a shootout over #3 Sweet Carolina with Tyjae Spears (of all players) scoring 16 points over projection in a 13 point win.

#5 Maye Cause Drowsiness upset #4 U-Digg-it? 7-11, but largely because U-Digg-it? 7-11 played Tua, who scored 8 points less than his benched QB in a 4 point loss.

Semi-finals

All of those upsets led to semifinal matchups of #1 Jonathan’s Amazing Team v. #7 Ryan Johnson’s Team and #5 Maye Cause Drowsiness v. #6 Slim Pickens. Original projections showed just a 1-point-spread, but Jonathan’s Amazing Team ballooned to a 70 point win over Ryan Johnson’s Team by the time it went final. Maye Cause Drowsiness and Slim Pickens slogged out a snooze fest, with Maye Cause Drowsiness coming out on top, though the tables could have turned if Slim Pickens had played Cole Kmet and Xavier Worthy over a pair of Bills pass catchers.

Finals

Those finals led to a Relegation Football League bronze medal match between #6 Slim Pickens and #7 Ryan Johnson’s Rad Team. The game resulted in a blowout, with #7 Ryan Johnson’s Rad Team riding a surprising run to 3^rd place.

The championship was similarly undramatic. Tee Higgins scored 29 for Maye Cause Drowsiness, but needed about 60. Jonathan’s Amazing Team had six players well over 10 points, and won by 31.

J.B. (Jonathan’s Amazing Team), Keaton Smith (Maye Cause Drowsiness), and Ryan Johnson (Ryan Johnson’s Rad Team) all podiumed, finishing first, second, and third out of 36 teams this year.

D2: Mettle – A Cinderella, a TIE, and a Missed Promotion Opportunity

First Round

After pacing the league all season, Lisan al QB went into the playoffs as the #1 seed, facing #8 Rugyday Spoughaday. The two teams proceeded to have the first playoff tie (yes, really) in Relegation Fantasy League history, each scoring exactly 108.9 points. The kicker? Rugyday Spoughaday was one of 4 teams to steal a win from Lisan al QB in the regular season. That head-to-head result meant that we had an 8-seed-tiebreaker-UPSET on our hands.

That wasn’t the only upset, though. #7 Ian’s Ingenious Team also knocked off #2 Dak Dak Goose in a first round landslide. Late-season-bloomers #3 Deck the Hall with Murr and #4 Hobnobbin with Tomlin also picked up wins in the first round.

Semi-finals

The semis proved to be apt matchups. #3 Deck the Hall with Murr and #8 Rugyday Spoughaday both had 120-point performances, but it was the #8 seed once again pulling off the upset. #4 Hobnobbin with Tomlin and #7 Ian’s Ingenioius Team also managed to have a close matchup, but under 85 points each. Ian failed to field a decent second RB and lost to Hobnobbin.

This set up two surprising finals: the championship game between #4 Hobnobbin with Tomlin and #8 Rugyday Spoughaday, and the 3^rd place-and-final-promotion-spot match between #3 Deck the Hall with Murr and #7 Ian’s Ingenious Team.

Finals

In the 3^rd place game, Ian’s Ingenious Team failed to swap out CeeDee Lamb on IR and was projected for only 74 points. In spite of that, their roster produced 112 points, but ultimately still came up short to Deck the Hall with Murr who scored 124. Ian’s Ingenious Team might be kicking themselves – they could have replaced CeeDee Lamb with Xavier Worthy, who sat on the bench with a potential game-winning 14 points. Deck the Hall earned the final promotion spot to Legacy next season.

The Mettle championship was a landslide. #8 Rugyday Spoughaday completed their miracle run from last-in-the-playoffs to top-of-the-league.

Jimmy Bunch (Rugyday Spoughaday), Nathan Clute (Hobnobbin with Tomlin), and Ben Musselman (Deck the Hall with Murr) will be moving up to Legacy next season.

D3: Bedrock – A Final That Saved a Trainwreck

We finally got an opportunity to put this hot mess of a division in the rearview mirror. Only about 5 teams in the league regularly checked their lineups. Those 5 had differing fates.

Love Thy Nabers – one of the 5 – made a late season run to climb out of the bottom quarter of the league and into the playoffs as #6. They managed to win their first playoff game against #3 Jayson’s First-Rate Team handly.

They would be joined in the semis by Jordanian Putters, another of the 5, who has paced the league all season and cruised to a win over #8 ATL Lemon Peppas.

#2 Destroyers auto-drafted one of the best rosters I’ve ever seen, but was spotty on changing lineups all season and inexplicably stopped setting lineups just before the playoffs began. In the first round of the playoffs they matched up with #7 Not Your Average Joe, didn’t set their lineup, and still managed to win.

The #4 Stevie Kicks v. #5 Bijan Frise matchup promised to be a good one since both of these players were actually keeping up with their rosters. Bijan Frise rode his namesake, Bijan Robinson, and James Cook to an upset over #4 Stevie Kicks who managed just a hair under 5 points from Brock Purdy. #5 Bijan Frise would play #2 Destroyers in the semis. This game kicked off a 3-game losing streak for Stevie Kicks in the playoffs.

The semi-finals were a form of justice, with the three teams who actually cared about their lineups (#6 Love Thy Nabers, #1 Jordanian Putters, and #5 Bijan Frise) all scoring above 110 (#2 Destroyers again didn’t set their lineup). Unfortunately, someone had to lose the #6 v #1 matchup, and Love Thy Nabers would have to fight for promotion against #2 Destroyers in the 3^rd place game.

That 3^rd place game was a wipeout - as it should have been - with Love Thy Nabers taking care of business and securing promotion to Mettle next season.

The championship match had all of the fervor you could hope for, coming down to the Monday night game, ATL @ WAS. It looked like Jordanian Putters had it in the bag, but Terry Mclaurin choked, getting just 0.5 points. Bijan Frise needed 19.9 points from Bijan Robinson to win and got 21.8. True to their name, Bijan Frise became our Bedrock champion, eeking out a 1.92 point victory over Jordanian Putters. Both teams secured promotion.

Campbell Wurl (Bijan Frise), Jordan Putt (Jordanian Putters), and Daniel Monnier (Love Thy Nabers) will be promoted to Mettle next season.