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@all HGL managers:
If you still haven't filled match scores to your box score post on Regular Season 5 matches, now is time to do it!


@all HGL managers who finished to top12 on the Season 5 league table:

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Note: this post has also been published on Main HGL-Thread, so you don't need to read it again there if you read it here, I just sent it there as well so that everyone surely sees this.
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It is Playoff time, so it's time to take all your extra cunning strategies from the drawer and see if they could cause some upsets on this Season's Playoffs! Maybe proving me wrong provides an extra motivation for underdogs, so maybe I'll make a guess, that home teams will win on this Season as well... ;)

You all know the drill, but as a quick reminder:

- Teams on top4 positions rest the first week (next Sunday) - congratulations for your free ticket to Second Round!

- All playoff matches are played on home/away court only !)

- Organize Season 5 Playoff matches at the same time that all your other HGL matches seem to have been played when you take at look your BB schedule!

- Note: Publish your Playoff match links as soon as match has been organized!


Here below are the matchups for First Round of Season 5 Playoffs;

please let me know if you find any faults/mistakes in ORSR-rankings, or Playoff matchups - I have done as careful work as I can, yet we are all human, so I appreciate if some eyes in our community occasionally do some double checking/scanning to spot any possible errors (before they'd cause any harm/inconvenience).
As I said, I've tried to do as careful work as possible, so I'd almost promise to eat my hat if you'd spot any critical errors from these First Round matchups, but better safe than sorry, yes? :)

PO Round 1 (teams ranked 5th-12th; 8 teams play): Sunday, June 28th, 2026
Rank #5 EOS vs. #12 HB *Waiting for match link!*
Rank #6 LMS vs. #11 MAD *Waiting for match link!*
Rank #7 ED vs. #10 VDT*Waiting for match link!*
Rank #8 WMO vs. #9 LGM*Waiting for match link!*

Last edited by Wagner at 6/22/2026 7:44:59 PM

As for First Round Playoff matchups, we're going to have a very interesting Round; how likely is it, that we're having not 1 but 2 matchups on same Round, in which French teams face each other? :)

Here are some previews on this weeks' (First Round) Playoff matchups based mostly on Season 5 RS meetings between these teams:

EOS-HB on the other hand is also interesting in that sense, that EOS is a major favorite in their home court, after already beating HB by 14 points on neutral court on RS, but on the other hand HB has a perfect chance to try to create one of the biggest Cinderella stories in HGL Playoff history by defeating their "neighbor on the other side of the sea". Difference after 3 quarters was already 29 points, so Spela's experienced bunch needs to ensure EOS will be given a tough challenge from the starting whistle so that the game isn't over after 3rd quarter (like last time). Easy it isn't, as we all know EOS is one of the most expensive teams in HGL.

LMS-MAD during RS went to LMS by 17 points, and as home court brings some extra benefit to LMS, MAD will have their work cut out for them if they want to proceed to Second Round. But LMS isn't still invincible, and MAD didn't reach Playoffs because of luck, so just like with EOS-HB matchup, anything can still happen in one match despite the underdog position. It could be also noted, that the difference after 3 quarters was only 4 points, and both teams were capable of scoring (almost 50% from the field in that RS meeting)...

Then to the French matchups:
ED-VDT: ED took the RS meeting by 12 points, even though VDT shot slightly better from the field, but losing offensive rebounds by 5 and turnovers by 6 did their chances of winning some harm.

WMO-LGM: In this high scoring affair WMO (now home team) was able to find 139-134(!) win. 3p shooting was incredible, 11/19 for WMO and 8/10 for LGM. WMO took care of ball extremely well (2TO), so losing rebounds by 9 wasn't a dealbreaker for them.



Last edited by Wagner at 6/22/2026 8:14:48 PM

@all HGL managers:
If you still haven't filled match scores to your box score post on Regular Season 5 matches, now is time to do it!

Done.

Good. Others also please finish that task - without even checking out all teams box score posts, based on recent experience, I have almost no doubt there are managers who haven't finished that task. Please remember it is mandatory thing to do.

Today I contacted 8 managers from 6 different countries to see if they'd be interested in HGL-PL and therefore of course HGL participation. Of course not all possible managers were contacted, but that's already a big bunch of managers. Let's see how many of them responds - if even few more would participate to HGL-PL, then it would become "more lively" as currently we'd be having a 1 match Round Robin to decide the winner of HGL-PL.

[..]
Wagner wrote:
Today I contacted 8 managers from 6 different countries to see if they'd be interested in HGL-PL and therefore of course HGL participation. Of course not all possible managers were contacted, but that's already a big bunch of managers. [..]

MrJ wrote:
I am surprised by this move, Wagner. You have contacted 8 more teams who, if interested, would come in cold, have to try and catch up quickly on what the HGL is, and who haven't had to sit and wait patiently as the 2 current teams have.

I am assuming that you are worried about the size of the rosters of these 2 teams and want stronger teams? I think this is the likely reason given that you have made it clear that you don't want too many teams in the HGL.

I am not trying to call you out, Wagner, but your actions don't match your stated beliefs on the size of the HGL. It seems unfair to bring in 8 more possible teams just to make the HGL-PL more competitive knowing that 9 of them won't be playing for at least another season.

I'm just trying to understand your thinking. And yes, I am motivated to make these comments given that a fellow Aussie team has done everything right, waited patiently, only to now have an additional barrier placed in front of their possible entry into the HGL.

Well, what on earth can I say - we seem to find opposite views on things, whatever we end up doing (or not doing) at any given time, it seems. Of course I understand what you meant, but I had to mention this, as that has been the bigger picture recently (in our communication).

As for trying to get more expensice teams to participate, actually the very opposite, I did not even contact the most expensive teams in this case, actually in purpose, as I did thought it from that perspective that you just mentioned. If my memory doesn't serve me wrong, the most expensive team was around 300K (top8) and there were only 1 of those more expensive teams, and practically all others were more or less at 100-200K range - just around where your Australian HG-competitors' team stands currently.

So no, I am not worried at all about the strengths of rosters of these 2 current HGL-PL participants.
I just also wanted to see if this awakens any more interest from HG teams, as I have received zero replies to my Homegrown teams II-thread posts. I'm totally fine if it doesn't.
As you can see, we have only had 1 Season so far, from where none of the managers have left by their own or forced decision, so it also seems there in average are places on offer in HGL (while it's not guaranteed).

My contact included some basic information, and participating to HGL-PL requires very little information itself - of course it's good point that there's some reading to do if one wants to decide if they want to participate to HGL, but that will simultaneously eliminate those who are not even willing to do that amount of work (or perhaps want to do it later), which effectively again lessens the amount of participants (to serious ones).

Plus I would be surprised, if even 5-6 of them would reply to me, let alone participate - even 2 more willing participants out of 8 would be more than I'd be expecting. I've done this throughout the Seasons some extent, and the "scoring rate" in terms of finding teams that are truly interested in participating is not as high as one could initially (overly positively) expect.

See, it's a balancing act. When I do this, somebody says it's not fair because xx. Another one says/thinks, "great, he's doing work to grow the community somehow". Everybody won't ever be happy at the same time, even if that's the goal to some extent. Now you're not welcoming getting more HG action..

As far as repeating word 'unfair' in different posts goes, I have personally intentionally avoided it in your case recently. But of course I read and consider all opinions, as said..

[...]. And yes, I am motivated to make these comments given that a fellow Aussie team has done everything right, waited patiently, only to now have an additional barrier placed in front of their possible entry into the HGL.

I understand this. He hasn't done anything "wrong", and I'm not claiming he has. Also, while I see your point, I'm not going to buy your claim on this action to be unfair to him (with the weight you presented it, at least), as I intentionally did not target the more expensive teams in general when reaching for HGL(-PL) interested teams this time around.

Two things though; would've you truly reacted the same, if it wouldn't have been an Aussie team? Maybe you would've, maybe you would've not. Note, that this is not an accusation, it's just something to think about. We're all human, so of course it's/it'd be only normal to want your fellow citizens to join/root for them. However, if the answer is that you might have not been that enthusiastic about it if this team wouldn't have been Australian, then we can maybe stop for a while with that thought in mind...
Personally, as you all know, I'm in a position (Commissioner) where I try to do things, that would be fair to all, given the limitations that such all-manual league will always have (unless some of us wins in lottery). What I'm trying to say also is, that rules (and the way I relate to/communicate with managers) are the same to all, no matter how much I'd like my fellow citizens, or some certain HGL manager personally. It's bit like being a referee - yes, you might like some team or player in life outside of referee-role, but it must not affect your decisions/how you see and manage the bigger picture in this case.
Let's take a recent example: Club Trouville. While I haven't been writing "tons" of BBMails with Chucarro (now Yayo) during recent year or so, for one reason or another I really liked that his team from small Uruguay, from the other side of the world, was enriching HGL and doing their part of keeping HGL truly international (in terms of "spreading teams on world map"). FWIW, he also left a nice impression of himself in several BBMails. Still, when it comes to acting fair, the only fair thing was to follow rules to the T and dismiss his team for this and following Season, with harshest penalty ever being dealt in HGL...

Sure, we all have opinions on things so one could always argue that some design choices affecting the league or their timing can always be questionable/debatable, but that's another story and again it's good to remember that you can't please all at the same time (it's impossible most of the times, my fellow HG managers - besides that's not a requirement for fruitful communication and community), and sometimes it's also good to consider what's worth "fighting for" in which case - choose your battles in other words (and no, this was not pointed to you, but a general good advice on many situations).

And second, isn't this same problem existing IRL leagues? You're trying to promote to highest level league for next season, but then there's announcement that your competitor has had a new sponsor and has doubled their budget due to that - how do you respond to such competition in reality? Probably it'll be really hard, if not totally impossible in reality.
Don't you guys find this kind of situation sometimes lame if it happens to team you're supporting? Maybe you do, because maybe it is... But it's life, and it's realities (and of course it's about league size restrictions, that exist IRL as well), and sometimes we're just going to have to deal with certain inconveniences, as often times solution optimal in every sense of the word doesn't even exist...

Last edited by Wagner at 6/23/2026 12:36:43 PM

[...]
I am assuming that you are worried about the size of the rosters of these 2 teams and want stronger teams? [...]

M.L.S. REICH: (39615) (Top8-salaries $157K) is the first team to reply with an interest to participate to HGL-PL. Like you can see, he is one of those teams in that exact medium/lower salary range, that I mentioned almost all contacted teams residing in.

I sent him BBMail to ask for instance whether or not he's familiar with HGL, and therefore willing to join it if he'd be invited in through HGL-PL success (even though this was already mentioned in initial message in other words, at least I interpreted it that way). But I already added his team to HGL-PL participating teams listing, which is always editable if some teams withdraw their intention prior to start.

The point/requirement for HGL-PL participation is that of course you must remain HG for the full duration of HGL-PL, including starting and ending day, and that you have initial willingness to accept place in HGL should that be offered to your team based on HGL-PL success. (In other words, it's not "a mindless fun short league" played without any intentions). Of course teams do not absolutely have to accept place in HGL should they be offered one, but as I wrote, initial (at least) current intention needs to be there (to accept offered place from HGL) when one decides to participate to HGL-PL.

Last edited by Wagner at 6/23/2026 1:02:51 PM

[..]
Wagner wrote:
Today I contacted 8 managers from 6 different countries to see if they'd be interested in HGL-PL and therefore of course HGL participation. Of course not all possible managers were contacted, but that's already a big bunch of managers. Let's see how many of them responds - if even few more would participate to HGL-PL, then it would become "more lively" as currently we'd be having a 1 match Round Robin to decide the winner of HGL-PL.

MrJ wrote:
I am surprised by this move, Wagner. You have contacted 8 more teams who, if interested, would come in cold, have to try and catch up quickly on what the HGL is, and who haven't had to sit and wait patiently as the 2 current teams have.
[...]

I am not trying to call you out, Wagner, but your actions don't match your stated beliefs on the size of the HGL. It seems unfair to bring in 8 more possible teams just to make the HGL-PL more competitive knowing that 9 of them won't be playing for at least another season.

I'm just trying to understand your thinking. And yes, I am motivated to make these comments given that a fellow Aussie team has done everything right, waited patiently, only to now have an additional barrier placed in front of their possible entry into the HGL.

You could always say things don't match. Maybe it's impossible to get everything match always. You're smart in many ways so you can understand, that I'm always going to be in between a tree and a bark, in a crossfire of different wishes and opinions. Add practical limitations to the equations (no one of us likely has 4-6 hours a day to spend for HGL, do we?), and you have a package, that's sometimes a handful. It can be and is rewarding as well, but please keep these things in mind if/when you send requests that require more of this and more of that (time and effort for instance).

Did you consider this, that maybe there wouldn't be so much "pressure" for me to get more teams involved if there wouldn't have been pressure in trying to think ways how to include more HG teams somehow, resulting perhaps in an attempt(s) to include more HG teams somehow (such as this establishing of HGL-PL partly due to that; however it is smart to have it anyway even if there would be no guaranteed places per Season).

For this situation also it seems to go pretty well that it's a balancing act. As a repeat, why I mostly established HGL-PL was to include more HG managers, as community seemed to want that. (And no, please do not repeat in this instance that HGL expansion is what you are looking for and not this change - plus there is no point of voting of something that is not currently an especially viable option).
If some then take it as a negative thing (that you get to participate to some HG games in HGL-PL but are not guaranteed anything else, including place in HGL), what can I say. I guess I can say that nobody is and have not been promised a place in HGL, even if they participate in HGL-PL. Not even the most expensive team, because their win of HGL-PL is not guaranteed.

Other method (on how to determine future HGL participants, should some teams withdraw/be dismissed) would be just to give queue places based on first come first serve, which would be fine as well (and who knows if we return to that some day), but I guess this HGL-PL method at least should bring more competitiveness to and around the HGL.

Last edited by Wagner at 6/23/2026 1:39:31 PM