The number of upsets in the National Park Playoff doubled today, with three fresh surprises as eleven-seeds proved largely triumphant. The biggest victory was lodged by #11 Kenai Fjords, who tripled up their opposition with a 15-5 win over #6 Theodore Roosevelt. Other upsets were much closer, with #11 Mesa Verde clipping #6 Capitol Reef 14-9 and #11 Mammoth Cave edging #6 Gateway Arch 15-10. The day’s biggest blowout was also its lone expected win: #6 Sequoia rolled over neighboring #11 Kings Canyon, 21-4. These four victors will take on the three seeds who won a much calmer day this Friday, May 15.
Predictive brackets endured tied for their worst day with a 67% rate of prediction, exactly matching Day Four. All 19 brackets correctly chose Sequoia and five brackets got every pick right. Among the misses, Gateway Arch was most popular (9 picks), followed by Theodore Roosevelt and Capitol Reef (8 each).
A diverse array of parks is up in today’s 7/10 matchups on Twitter. This includes Hawaii Volcanoes vs. Crater Lake.