This Year's Player Standings

Five weeks in, T_Money holds first place for the second straight week at 53-25-1 (.677). One game back is MCF at 52-26-1 (.665), who climbed two spots on the back of the Week 5 win, and another game behind is DePickers Dawgs at 51-27-1 (.652). Sunday Guesser and Hatchett are tied for fourth at 50-28-1 (.639). Every step down the top five is exactly one game, which is about as tight as a leaderboard gets.

The cushion behind them is thin. Cletus sits sixth at 39-23-1 (.627), and The G.O.A.T, Road Warriors, and Cuba share seventh at 49-29-1 (.627), a statistical dead heat with the sixth-place spot. HilRoadKill and mosooner tie for tenth at 48-30-1 (.614). Only about six percentage points separate first place from tenth, and a good week is all it takes to rearrange that whole stretch.

Movement at the top-ten line was a two-for-two swap. Cletus jumped from 14th to 6th and mosooner climbed from 15th to a share of 10th, both stepping back into the top ten. Going the other way, Raven Irish and 7$come$11 each fell out of a share of fourth and landed in a six-way tie for 12th at 47-31-1 (.601), one game outside the top ten.

The week's biggest climber was BowlHogs33, who rose nine spots from 21st to the 12th-place tie after an 11-3-1 Week 5. Cletus gained eight, mosooner five, and MaxieGirl, Cruizer, and TT12 each moved up three. The steepest slide belonged to clawesomeboy, down ten spots from 15th to 25th at 41-37-1 (.525). Raven Irish and 7$come$11 each dropped eight, Donojjhawk seven, and HilRoadKill and The Cardinal six apiece.

At the bottom of the table, Cped710 remains 28th at 25-37-1 (.405), but the trend is up: an 8-6-1 Week 5 lifted the season percentage from .354. Coin Flip Casey and UpInBuffalo share 26th at 39-39-1 (.500), with clawesomeboy one rung above them. The percentage format is forgiving at this stage of the season, and nobody here is out of reach.

The season's first tie shows up in the yearly numbers too. Half a win went to everyone who picked Giants-Commanders, which is why so many records now carry that extra “-1.” It's a handy reminder that this contest is decided on percentage, not total wins, and that half a game here and there can decide who sits where.

For a picture of how quickly standings can turn, look at 7$come$11: 18th after Week 3, fourth after Week 4, and back to a share of 12th after Week 5. Last week's co-runners-up also felt the churn, with Cuba sliding from second to seventh and Sunday Guesser dropping from second to a share of fourth. Only T_Money kept the lead.

With six percentage points between first and tenth and a one-game gap at every step of the top five, the championship race is wide open and entering a stretch where it will start to sort itself out. Week 6 kicks off Thursday.