Arena Football Playoff Preview

The Cleveland Gladiators fell to the Arizona Rattlers last week in an embarrassing loss where the offense could only put up 20 points in the game with only scoring 14 in the first half. Arizona went off for 68 points and was the biggest margin of victory for Arizona since they played Cleveland back in 2013. With the loss, Cleveland finished the season 7-9 and have the fifth seed in the AFL Playoffs. They will travel to LA to play the four seed KISS.

The Playoffs are now set and will begin August 6^th. At the Beginning of the season, the playoff format was changed due to the lack of teams to where everyone in the league gets a chance to play in the playoffs. Seeds one thru four will have home field advantage as seeds five thru eight will be on the road.

The seeds are now set and will start off with the six seed Jacksonville Sharks traveling to Orlando to take on the third seeded Predators. Orlando was on a roll in the first half of the season winning their first 7 games and Jacksonville has struggled to return to their form from last year when they went to the Arena Bowl. Number one seed Arizona taking on the eight seeded Portland Thunder. This was the worst season for the Thunder in their brief three-year stint in the AFL only winning two games.

August 7^th, two seed Philadelphia Soul host the Tampa Bay Storm who have also had a two-win season of their own. Philly just fell short of reaching the Arena Bowl last year falling to the Sharks but are hoping the weak playoff schedule can put them back in the championship game. Last but not least, the Cleveland Gladiators take on the LA KISS. The KISS have had the regular season advantage, beating Cleveland all three times they met this year but anything can happen in the playoffs.

My predictions for the first week of the playoffs will be Orlando, Arizona, Philadelphia and LA moving on to the second round. The league is too weak this year and the top seeds will dominate with ease. The only teams I could see upsetting the higher seeds would be Jacksonville or Cleveland but it’s highly unlikely.