We have hit the midway point of the season for the Miami Marlins, and as a result, we have also hit the midway point for the Fish Stripes staple Ichthyomancy! Ichthy at the halfway mark has been a decent race between five players, but there are definitely some important changes to mention to keep all Ichthy players interested through the rest of the season.
Leaderboard
Let's take a look at the standings thus far.
| FishStriper | Points |
| SuperRadz | 73 |
| Jeremy Hulme | 62 |
| Jigokusabre | 62 |
| dgriot | 52 |
| oladipo_for_mayor | 50 |
| d.o.g.o.b.g.y.n | 26 |
| Marlon D | 23 |
| mblally | 23 |
| whambam | 22 |
| marlinfan | 16 |
The top five includes the most consistent Ichthyomancy players in the game, as most of these guys put up picks for every game. SuperRadz still holds the lead he took on early in the season, but a recent stretch of missed games pulled Jeremy Hulme and Jigokusabre within as close as five points. Radz now holds an 11-point lead heading into the second half, but no lead is safe from an Ichthy run. Past winner dgriot and oladipo_for_mayor round out the top five at 52 and 50 points.
The next group contains a number of regulars on the Fish Stripes game threads that have not been able to make picks for all the games. Nevertheless, the second half holds a lot of promise and opportunity for these players.
Second Half and Weekly Ichthyomancy
One of the reasons why the second half will be so interesting is that we are officially competing for an Ichthyomancy Second Half Championship! That's right, we are tracking second half performances in addition to the seasonal game in order to give more players a chance at prizes at the end of the season. Basically, your second half performance will be tracked separately alongside your season performance and we will determine a second half winner who will get a smaller but still significant prize! So if you missed out on much of the first half and want a chance at an Ichthyomancy crown, I urge to play in the second half, starting tonight with the Home Run Derby, and see if you can become our second half champion!
(Note: If the overall and second half champions are the same, you don't get double the prizes. It's not like you would want two copies of the prize, but you're not getting two copies, sorry.)
Also, I decided that I will try and do weekly Ichthyomancy updates from now on in order to keep everyone in the loop with what is going on with the game. Also, during these weekly updates, I will be announcing Weekly Ichthyomancy Champions as well. The only thing you get for being a weekly champ is the pride of knowing that you defeated your fellow Ichthy players that week, but take pride Fish Stripers, for it is a great accomplishment!
If you have not been playing this season or have been discouraged due to an early season slump, I encourage you to pick up in the second half, because we will be recognizing Ichthy accomplishments more often and the second half championship is still in play!
Home Run Derby and All-Star GameThe second half period begins today with the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game. We will host a special game thread and Ichthyomancy for these events. The Derby and All-Star Game are events designed to give big boosts of points, so let's see how the scoring will go for each event.
Home Run Derby
- Pick each participant that will advance through the rounds. There are three rounds, going from eight competitors to four to two. Each selection in these rounds will be worth one (1) point. There are six points to be won here.
- Pick the winner of the Derby. This selection will be worth three (3) points.
- Pick the total number of home runs hit during the Derby. The closest selection gets two (2) points.
All-Star Game
- Pick the winner of the All-Star Game. The correct selection will be worth three (3) points.
- Pick the total number of runs in the All-Star Game. The closest selection gets two (2) points. Three (3) bonus points if you correctly guess the actual score.
- Pick the position player with the most hits (1 point) and the pitcher with the most strikeouts (1 point). In the event of ties (almost certain to happen), we will grant points for every player who tied for the lead.
- Pick the MVP. The correct selecion is worth two (2) points.
Make sure you use the Derby and All-Star Game as a starting point for your second half Ichthyomancy charge! Tune in later today to make your selections on the game thread!