Match Day 26: Weekend Wrap-Up

It would be great to gloat about the tremendous swing in our prediction record here, but frankly it was so terrifyingly awful, that any bragging would likely result in a crushing collapse. For the record, we went 7-1 this week and are feeling pretty, pretty, pretty good about our prognostications of late.

Speaking of pretty, pretty, pretty good...Bayern Munich has been virtually unstoppable of late. Die Roten's de-pantsing of Hamburger SV on Saturday was a display of power, speed, and technical ability that no team in the Bundesliga can match up against fairly at this stage. Sure, Dortmund, Leipzig, and Leverkusen all off their own positive attributes and talent, but Bayern is on another level right now. Under Jupp Heynckes, they simply look Treble-caliber.

Die Roten steamrolled Der Dinosaur, 6-0, behind a hat trick from Robert Lewandowski, a brace from Franck Ribery, a goal from Arjen Robben, and a commanding performance from just about every player on the field. The power of Bayern was on full display from its stars to bench players.

Schalke 1, Mainz 0: Daniel Caligiuri's 55th minute golazo was a highlight among an otherwise sideways game for Schalke. It could argued that Mainz actually outplayed Schalke for the majority of the contest, but Caligiuri took matters into his own hands (feet?) to ensure the Royal Blues kept their grip on second place in the table. It should be noted that Schalke became much more fluid offensively and dangerous when Leon Goretzka entered the contest in the 46th minute. The Royal Blues are no doubt trying to plan for post-Goretzka life, but it was apparent in this game just how much they still need him for the remainder of this season.

Hoffenheim 3, Wolfburg 0: Hoffenheim won its second straight and third of its last five behind an own goal along with tallies from Serge Gnabry and Nico Schulz. For Julian Nagelsmann's squad, things are looking back to normal after a somewhat rocky February.

Hertha Berlin 0, SC Freiburg 0: This game lived up to its billing. Neither team did enough to make any headway toward achieving a win.

Augsburg 3, Hannover 96 1: The scrappy, overachieving style of Hannover abruptly hit a wall against Augsburg, which received a brace from 23-year old Austrian Michael Gregoritsch and another goal from Serbian Gojko Kacar. It was a needed win for Augsburg, who had not been victorious since shocking Eintracht Frankfurt on February 4th. The loss was Hannover's third in a row...a trend which the squad will likely have trouble breaking next weekend against Borussia Dortmund.

Bayern Leverkusen 2, Borussia Monchengladbach 0: Leverkusen used goals from Lucas Alario and suddenly super sub Julian Brandt to capture a rivalry win over M'Gladbach. Alario stayed hot while in the lineup for Leverkusen, while Brandt is starting to show that potential that we had only previously flashes of at earlier stages of the season. Kevin Volland and Leon Bailey were each tremendous, while Sven and Lars Bender; along with Jonathan Tah led a staunch defensive effort against M'Gladbach's mercurial group of attackers. M'Gladbach should be - and needs to be - better than losing to Leverkusen three time in one campaign.

Borussia Dortmund 3, Eintracht Frankfurt 2: Dortmund used an own goal and a brace from Michy Batshuayi to escape with a W against the Eagles. Batshuayi came on as a sub and scored in the 77th minute and 95th minute to allow BVB to haul in three points. Frankfurt's Luka Jovic and Danny Blum found the back of the net for the Eagles with Blum's tally coming in the 91st minute. Only Batshuayi's buzzer beating heroics prevented Frankfurt from coming out with a draw. Dortmund has not yet put it all together and is quickly running out of time to do so. With weaknesses in the central midfield and defense, BVB cannot expect to gain the type of consistency that they should be displaying at this stage of the season.

Werder Bremen 3, FC Koln 1: Bremen looked pretty darn good last week in its 2-2 draw against M'Gladbach and continued that trend as goals from Milos Veljkovic, Milot Rashica, and Maximilian Eggestein pushed Bremen to a victory on the rightfully dreaded Monday Night Football (Bundesliga style).

RB Leipzig 0, VfB Stuttgart 0: As predicted on Friday, Leipzig came out a bit flat and Stuttgart was too proud to succumb to the youthful exuberance of Die Roten Bullen. Just like Dortmund, Leipzig's biggest struggle has been with having any type of consistent performance from game to game. Admittedly, this was a tough match for Leipzig given some of the veterans on Stuttgart, but for Leipzig to make that next step as a European power, it has to show A LOT more than it has thus far.

Weekly record: 8-1

Overall record: 28-26

Note: Predicted ties count as a win if correct and as a loss if there is a winner; conversely if a game is predicted to have a winner but ends in a tie, it will count as a loss.

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