- Piece of my Hart is making its first finals appearance, while DBuddaZ is making a league-record-tying fourth finals appearance. A third championship would move DBuddaZ into a tie for the most in league history.

Previous meetings this season:

Week 2: Piece of my Hart defeated DBuddaZ 7-3

Week 11: DBuddaZ defeated Piece of my Hart 8-2

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Considering the dominant seasons we’ve seen from franchises over “The League’s” 14 seasons, it’s shocking this is just the third final featuring the postseason’s top-two seeds. It speaks to the unpredictably of the fantasy playoffs where several factors can impact the outcome of one seven-day matchup between two teams. This season has been no different, but the final setup is a different one from a historical perspective. For the first time in eight years “The League’s” two best teams all season long will meet with a championship on the line, but they’ve gotten to this point in history in many different ways.

DBuddaZ is one of the four remaining original members of “The League,” and it’s done it all. It’s the second-winningest franchise in league history, it leads or is tied for the all-time league lead in regular-season championships, playoff appearances, playoff games, championship appearances, and money won. It’s making its third finals appearance in the last four seasons — the only season it failed to advance to the finals was last season’s dominant regular-season-title roster that finished with the third-best winning percentage of all-time — and the only thing left to check off its resume is a third championship. That would tie it with two other franchises for the most in league history.

“The consistency of my franchise can only be matched by Heat Check All-Stars and while some have had the disadvantage of less seasons under their belt in “The League,” doing what we’ve done over an extended period of time can’t be understated,” DBuddaZ owner David Kiarsis said. “We’ve come up short in the postseason more times than we like, but we’ve always been there and we’ve always been a title contender. It’s the way we play that sets us apart and a third championship would leave no doubt about which franchise is the cream of the crop.”

Piece of my Hart on the other hand is one of “The League’s” newest members, but all it’s done since joining is win and improve year over year. It went from non-playoff participant to the postseason. It followed a first-round exit with a second round-round exit, but that’s all led to this season and one of the most dominant regular seasons we’ve ever seen. It went wire-to-wire at the top of the standings — the first of its kind in league history — and it finally got the postseason monkey off its back to advance to its first final. Nothing would put it on the map more than ending that dominant season with a championship.

“We just want to show we belong with the big boys,” Piece of my Hart co-manager Jeff Schulser said through text. “Giddy up.”

These two teams finished second and third in the season-long statistical rankings behind Comolli. They combined to rank top three in 11 of 20 statistical category rankings, with DBuddaZ leading “The League” in field goals made and points and Piece of my Hart leading “The League” in rebounds, assists, and steals. Piece of my Hart finished second in both field goals made and points while DBuddaZ finished third in rebounds and assists so you have to think those will be key categories to swing this matchup one way or the other. Being efficient has always been important come playoff time and these two teams match up pretty evenly there, although DBuddaZ’s second-best field goal percentage during the regular season is the one area of the three ratio categories where one team has a big advantage over the other. DBuddaZ did not shoot the ball well in its semifinal win over Heat Check All-Stars and that likely needs to change for it to come out on top this week.

While both teams have had their fair share of injury and rest concerns down the stretch, both are as healthy as you could hope for with everything on the line this week. That will certainly change as the week progresses and teams jockey for lottery seeding and others prepare for the postseason with the hope of remaining healthy, and navigating those changes will be paramount as it always is this time of year. Making the right moves, making the right lineup decisions, and receiving some good fortune from those injury reports could loom large between these evenly matched rosters and owners. Stars playing like stars is always an x-factor so how LeBron James, Steph Curry and Jaylen Brown play as they continue to work back from recent injuries will be vital while late-season addition Anthony Davis could be a difference maker for DBuddaZ. He wasn’t great in his first week back in the semifinals, but some vintage Davis performances could be what DBuddaZ needs to pull off the mini upset.

The first two meetings between these two this season weren’t particularly close from a final score perspective — they were decided by a combined margin of 15-5 — but if “The League’s” postseason history has taught us anything that won’t be the case this week. DBuddaZ owns the tiebraker which has already played a factor this postseason, and don’t be surprised if this comes down to the wire with a 5-5 result in the range of possible outcomes. History is at stake for the winner, which will reach out and grab it?

Key matchups

Brandon Williams vs. Anthony Davis; Payton Pritchard and Jaylen Brown vs. Kristaps Porzingis; Kyle Kuzma vs. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Gary Trent Jr.; Donovan Clingan vs. Anfernee Simons and Deni Avdija; Jakob Poeltl vs. Immanuel Quickley

Tiebreaker: DBuddaZ

Commish pick: Piece of my Hart