The Playoff Preview Edition
We Break Down Each Game and Each Team This Weekend.
It’s the best time of the year: playoff time. Let’s get into it. This week on the pod, we welcomed Rich Slaton and Alex Atkins, and discussed the league’s best trash talkers, previewed this week’s playoff matchups, and determined which teams can already stamp their ticket to Championship Weekend.
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SHAGGY’S RANKINGS
Below, Shaggy ranks the 8 teams playing this weekend, and gives his reasons why. His rankings are out of the 12 playoff teams, and have been determined by his patented Shaggyspace calculations. (So DC, for example, has the 7th best offense in the league out of the 12 playoff teams, according to Shaggyspace.)
Power Rankings - First round only
New York Empire (10-2)
Offense Rank: 1
HLD 78.6% - 1st among playoff teams
OLC 67.67% - 1st among playoff teams
HUCK 75.57% - 2nd among playoff teams
Opposing teams had just 67 blocks against the Empire this season, the fewest blocks against a team in league history.
Defense Rank: 2
DLC 70.21% - 1st among playoff teams
BRK 40.12% - 3rd among playoff teams
Blocks 145 - 2nd among playoff teams
New York opponents held on just 51% of all offensive points. Only this year’s Boston Glory, last year’s Wind Chill and Union, and the 2014-2016 Radicals have a better opponent HLD.
DC Breeze (9-3)
Offense Rank: 7
HLD 67.18% - 9th among playoff teams
OLC 56.13% - 7th among playoff teams
HUCK 58.96% - 11th among playoff teams
Three playoff teams—Boston Glory, Oakland Spiders, and DC Breeze—completed fewer than 80 hucks this season. Of those three teams, DC had nearly twice as many huck turnovers.
Defense Rank: 6
DLC 60.51% - 5th among playoff teams
BRK 32.99% - 7th among playoff teams
Blocks 103 - 12th among playoff teams
DC pitched a shutout in the fourth quarter against Montreal May 30, one of just two teams this season to hold a team scoreless for a quarter, and the only team to do it in the fourth quarter.
Carolina Flyers (10-2)
Offense Rank: 3
HLD 72.49% - 3rd among playoff teams
OLC 61.03% - 3rd among playoff teams
HUCK 60.81% - 8th among playoff teams
Carolina had two losses. One was against the out of division DC Breeze, and the other was in overtime against Atlanta, a team that did not make the playoffs.
Defense Rank: 4
DLC 64.25% - 3rd among playoff teams
BRK 42.22% - 1st among playoff teams
Blocks 143 - 4th among playoff teams
While Carolina’s defense gorged itself on Philly, Houston, and Vegas, they struggled against Austin and DC, with just 12 breaks on 47 defensive points, a 25.5% BRK against playoff teams that would be bottom 10 in the league.
Seattle Cascades (8-4)
Offense Rank: 8
HLD 66.12% - 10th among playoff teams
OLC 55.48% - 8th among playoff teams
HUCK 71.94% - 5th among playoff teams
Seattle had the second most turnovers of any playoff team, with 221 on the season.
Defense Rank: 9
DLC 44.79% - 12th among playoff teams
BRK 32.21% - 8th among playoff teams
Blocks 128 - 6th among playoff teams
Seattle was one of just four teams to hold Oakland’s offense line conversion below 60%. They also allowed the highest opponent huck completion percentage in the league, with opponents coming down with the disc over 75% of the time, and allowing a league most 119 hucks.
San Diego Growlers (7-5)
Offense Rank: 10
HLD 67.33% - 8th among playoff teams
OLC 54.52% - 10th among playoff teams
HUCK 70.67% - 4th among playoff teams
San Diego is the only team in the 2026 playoffs to have won zero games against 2026 playoff teams.
Defense Rank: 8
DLC 56.10% - 9th among playoff teams
BRK 33.80% - 7th among playoff teams
Blocks 121 - 9th among playoff teams
In San Diego’s July 18th game against Las Vegas, the Growlers broke the Bighorns on 67% of their defensive points, the highest BRK of the season, the 10th highest all time, and the second highest all time between two franchises currently in the league.
Indianapolis Alleycats (6-6)
Offense Rank: 11
HLD 61.98% - 12th among playoff teams
OLC 51.10% - 11th among playoff teams
HUCK 56.99% - 12th among playoff teams
Only Toronto threw more hucks this season than the 110 deep shots from the Indianapolis Alleycats. Over half of them came from Jake Felton and Elliott Hawkins.
Defense Rank: 10
DLC 54.38% - 10th among playoff teams
BRK 32.10% - 10th among playoff teams
Blocks 127 - 7th among playoff teams
It’s a tale of two seasons for the Indy defense, whose three best defensive performances all came in the month of July.
Salt Lake Shred (5-7)
Offense Rank: 9
HLD 68.11% - 7th among playoff teams
OLC 55.1% - 9th among playoff teams
HUCK 69.40% - 7th among playoff teams
Despite the dip from last year, the Shred have a frighteningly consistent offense. Only twice in Salt Lake City team history have the Shred posted an OLC below 40%; both were against the New York Empire.
Defense Rank: 11
DLC 52.94% - 11th among playoff teams
BRK 31.58% - 11th among playoff teams
Blocks 126 - 8th among playoff teams
The Shred quietly have one of the best deep defenses in the league, holding opposing offenses to the third worst huck completion percentage across the Association.
Madison Radicals (7-5)
Offense Rank: 12
HLD 64.14% - 11th among playoff teams
OLC 50.79% - 12th among playoff teams
HUCK 60.38% - 10th among playoff teams
Madison played 7 of their 12 regular season games against playoff teams, tied with Oakland for the most of any playoff team this year, and tied for the most of any team to make the playoffs since the league switched to 12 regular season games.
Defense Rank - 12
DLC 57.03% - 7th among playoff teams
BRK 28.50% - 12th among playoff teams
Blocks 112 - 11th among playoff teams
The Radicals are allowing a playoff worst 62.89% opponent HLD rate, and forced a playoff worst 206 opposing turnovers.
SHAGGY AND FRIZPUTIN’S GAME PREVIEWS
San Diego Growlers (7-5) @ Carolina Flyers (10-2)
Season record: Growlers 0 - Flyers 1
Franchise record: Growlers 1 - Flyers 1
Playoff Record: N/A
UFO Playoff Power Rankings: Growlers 9 - Flyers 6
LINE: Flyers -2.5
SHAGGY: The Rubber Match between two former champions, neither team has ever beaten the other in their home stadium. This is good news for the Growlers, who will travel to Carolina for just the second time in team history to take on a red-hot Flyers team that is currently on a 5 game win streak and just defeated the South Division 1-seed Austin Sol. San Diego is the only team in the post-season with 0 wins against 2026 playoff teams.
More good news for the San Diego Growlers is the reappearance of Khalif El Salaam. The Growlers are 6-2 when El Salaam plays, and 1-3 when he does not. Carolina is missing Jake Reinhardt and Walker Matthews, but seem to have everyone else available for Friday Night Frisbee, including University of Colorado stars Tobias Brooks and Zeke Thoreson. Brooks is 3rd in the league in assists per game among players who have played 6 or more games (trailing only Elliot Hawkins and Tobe Decraene), and 33rd in total assists, despite having played just 6 games.
This is the furthest any team will have to travel in the first round. The Growlers must go across the country, nearly 2200 miles. The next furthest distance is Salt Lake to Seattle, a 688 mile gap between stadiums. New York and DC are the two closest, barely 200 miles, while Madison and Indianapolis are only slightly further at 284 miles. San Diego is also the only team traveling primarily west to east.
FRIZPUTIN: Carolina defeated San Diego 22-20 in the first game of the season. Carolina has only gotten better since then, adding Tobi Brooks and Zeke Thoreson. They’ve both been sensational. Thoreson had a +/- of 38 over 6 games…if he had maintained that average for 12 games, he would have led the league. Allan Laviolette had a big game in that April matchup, with 50 completions, 2 assists, and 4 goals. He missed much of this season with injury but he’s back. This Carolina team is dripping with depth and is a real championship contender. And while San Diego has two of the league’s most elite gamers in Dunn and El-Salaam, I don’t think they have the depth to pull the upset.
FLYERS 23-GROWLERS 20
DC Breeze (9-3) @ New York Empire (10-2)
Season Record: Breeze 1 - Empire 1
Franchise Record: Breeze 17 - Empire 22
Playoff Record: Breeze 2 - Empire 3
UFO Playoff Power Rankings: Breeze 5 - Empire 2
LINE: Empire -2.5
SHAGGY: After a relatively new rivalry between San Diego and Carolina, Saturday’s slate of three games kicks off with one of the oldest rivalries in the league. Few teams in the association have played more than 30 games against each other, and fewer still have played more than 5 playoff games. These two teams split the season series, so all the bragging rights are up for grabs in Round One of the playoffs.
We have yet to see the DC Breeze at full strength, and several key pieces are currently listed as questionable, but Cole Jurek has finally been upgraded to active! The DC superstar has been sidelined all season with injury, and his appearance will bring a completely new look to a young Breeze team looking to pull the upset. Aidan Downey returned to play just last week in Atlanta, so the dynamic Breeze duo that we have yet to see together in 2026 are finally on the field.
The Empire are the most powerful team in the playoffs, but they have yet to win a close game. Even their closest results, such as their wins over Boston and DC, were blowouts that look close because of garbage time. This team went to overtime twice this season, and lost both games. I think the Empire should be the favorite to win it all, but will they have the wherewithal to convert if the game gets tight?
FRIZPUTIN: New York is a steamroller that seems to be getting hot at the right time, while DC looks to be healthy for the first time all season. These are two teams that are good enough to go to Championship Weekend, but have a hell of a task ahead of them to get there. New York is averaging 31.5 PPG over their final four games of the season, which is nuts. DC went 8-4 despite losing their leading goal scorer in 2025 (Jurek) to injury and #2 and #3 (McDonnell and Edmonds) to Boston. DC beat NY earlier this year in one of the best games of the season, played at New York on a Saturday afternoon. This game will be played at New York on a Saturday afternoon. As the great poet Boris Pasternak once said, “Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us.” I’m picking a surprise.
DC 24-NY 23
Salt Lake Shred (5-7) @ Seattle Cascades (8-4)
Season Record: Shred 0 - Cascades 2
Franchise Record: Shred 6 - Cascades 3
Playoff Record: Shred 0 - Cascades 1
UFO Playoff Power Rankings: Shred 11 - Cascades 8
LINE: Cascades -1.5
Utah had never lost in the regular season to Seattle until this past year, when the Cascades escaped with two one-point victories. Bun 2024, Cinderella Seattle punched their ticket to championship weekend with an unbelievable last second goal to shock Salt Lake and go to Championship Weekend. The Shred have to be hungry for upset comeuppance.
Seattle is missing Connor Belfield and Ricky McLeod, but they get back Mark Munoz, who has not played since the beginning of June. The 8-year veteran should help alleviate the load for Lofnik and Moraud in the Cascades backfield. Salt Lake will be without Joe Merrill, but will have their offense mostly intact for their third game against Seattle this season.
Salt Lake becomes just the third team in UFA history to make the playoffs with a sub .500 record, and the first since the 2018 Austin Sol. Seattle is also one of just two playoff teams with losses to non-playoff opponents, joining their Toronto loss with Carolina’s loss to Atlanta. Neither of these teams have had much success against Oakland this season, but both have the firepower and defensive wherewithal to come out of this game and make a run against the first place Spiders.
FRIZPUTIN: The Cascades needed someone to step up on D when Lukas Ambrose left after the 2025 season to go to Minnesota. That person was Ricky McLeod, who led the entire league in blocks with 21. The fact that he’s unavailable for this one is a tough break for Seattle and opens the door for a Salt Lake team that was pretty middle-of-the-pack in all offensive categories this season. I think Seattle beats Salt Lake by 1 for the third time this season.
CASCADES 21-SHRED 20
Indianapolis Alleycats (6-6) @ Madison Radicals (7-5)
Season Record: Alleycats 1 - Radicals 3
Franchise Record: Alleycats 8 - Radicals 30
Playoff Record: Alleycats 0 - Radicals 2
UFO Playoff Power Rankings: Alleycats 10 - Radicals 12
LINE: Pick ‘Em
The only surviving member of the 8 founding UFA franchises, no team has played more games than the Indianapolis Alleycats, losers of the first ever UFA championship game. Indy completely overhauled their team this season, as 5 of their 7 most productive players not on the team in 2025. They’ll face the Madison Radicals, a paragon of steady development and player consistency, who after making championship weekend 6 straight seasons, have not been back since 2018. In fact, since winning the 2018 UFA title, Madison has just two playoff appearances and 1 playoff win in 8 years.
Madison has their full complement of players, and brings the weight of their roster to bear on the Cats. That includes Kainoa Chun-Moy, who missed much of the middle of the season but has returned for their playoff push. Indy meanwhile is hampered by injury. Keegan North has yet to play a game this season, and is still listed as out, while do-it-all star William Wettengel and distributor Jonathan Mast are both sidelined with injury, joining Sofiene Bontemps—a key finisher despite limited availability—on the bench.
Madison took the season series 3-1 over Indy, but Indy blew them out in game four, leading to a +7 advantage for the Alleycats, despite the 2 extra losses. Indy is no stranger to overcoming long Radicals streaks, as the Alleycats lost the first 16 games against Madison, a 5 year losing streak that lasted from 2013 all the way until June 17, 2018, when the Cats beat the Radicals by 1 at home. Their losing streak at Breese Stevens lasted a year longer, but 4 of the Alleycats 8 wins against Madison have come at the storied home of the Radicals, including their blowout victory this season. Indy certainly has the talent to win in Wisconsin, but the Radical’s homegrown talent and roster depth may stymie all the big off-season moves from the Alleycats.
FRIZPUTIN: The Alleycats overcame a sluggish start to finish the season 4-1. That one loss, however, was a bad one: they got blown out by Toronto last weekend, 28-17. The Alleycats are the most exciting team in the playoffs, with gunslingers Elliot Hawkins and Jake Felton firing away with no conscience. I’ll take that style of frisbee 8 days a week over dink and dunk, so I want this team to win (despite being a big fan of Chun-Moy, who I’m very happy to see back). As the great Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin once said, “Explosions are not comfortable.” The Alleycat offense will explode this weekend.
ALLEYCATS 27-RADICALS 24
Joe Merrill is not related to the Shred coach