Buzzer Beater: Playoffs? These are the Playoffs? [UFA Divisional Playoffs, 2025]

There were four blowout wins in as many games in the first round of the playoffs

July 28, 2025 by Alex Rubin in Rankings, Recap

Hi everyone, welcome back to my weekly Buzzer Beater column. Here I will focus on one major storyline each week. The column will also share some news and notes beyond that big story and will be the place to share our most up-to-date power rankings. If you have questions about the UFA, you can also write in to [email protected] to fill up the mailbag.

A New Empire

The empire has crumbled. The reign is over. Whatever aura and mystique the New York Empire held over the rest of the league vanished. On Saturday night, the DC Breeze nearly doubled up the Empire (final score of an actual playoff game: 23-12) and left no doubt about their respective trajectories. After years of playing second fiddle to the most financially powerful team in the league, the winds have shifted and the Breeze are clearly the dominant team in this matchup.

On Saturday night, the Breeze out-schemed and out-executed New York, getting blocks on three first-quarter defensive possessions and scoring each time without turning the disc over to build a 6-3 lead. The blocks kept coming (DC had 11 of them this game, compared to just seven total turnovers of their own) and the breaks rolled in. DC led 11-4 before New York really got a foothold, and even then it was slippery.

This was one of the most balanced performances the Breeze displayed all season. AJ Merriman’s three assist, two goal game for the D-line was matched by Rowan McDonnell on offense. Nineteen of the twenty rostered players tallied a goal, assist, or block. Christian Boxley and Aidan Downey were able to basically spend the same amount of time playing offense and defense. After a rough start to the season (losses to Philadelphia and Montreal in their first five games), DC came alive in the second half of 2025 while figuring out how to win with this team. Ahead of their matchup with Boston next round, the Breeze have to be feeling confident given their growth and the way they dismantled their longtime rival.

Before this season, everyone knew things would feel different in New York. We did not quite know how different. Since their back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023, it was clear the Empire were not going to be able to maintain that level of success forever. However, the drop off from four straight championship game appearances to two straight years of not even making the division championship is steep.

Better than any other team, New York really tried to restock on talent after losing some key players¹ to retirement or off-season movement. New additions like Everest Shapiro and Jacob Cowan fit in, but were not quite able to reach the heights of the Empire teams from a few seasons ago. Jack Williams had a quiet season by his standards, as did marquee addition Max Sheppard. It makes sense that such a new-look team took a minute to settle in, but it’s hard not to compare them to the Breeze who lost Jonny Malks and welcomed Thomas Edmonds in roughly the same time frame.

There were some bright spots for New York this season: Matt LaBar had more assists and goals than the rest of his time in the UFA combined. Sam Jonas grew into a universe D-line kind of athlete. Calvin Brown was looking like a future MVP before he got hurt and needed to miss the rest of the season.

There’s little to nothing a team can do about an injury like that, but it adds another layer to the disappointment of the Empire’s 2025 season. If this group–plus late-season addition Ben Dameron–returns for 2026, the Empire will once again be a likely playoff team contending for Championship Weekend. But after this performance, the bubble of utter dominance the permeated the tri-state area around NYC burst and the Empire are once again just another team on the schedule.

News and Notes

• Minnesota beat Madison 22-16 to advance to the Central Division championship game where they’ll play Chicago. Statistically, Minnesota was just a little bit better than Madison in basically every way. The Wind Chill’s 5-0 run to end the third quarter really put the game out of reach. The Radicals put up a good fight and hung in the game, but the Central Division was always slated for a Chicago-Minnesota duel at the end.
• San Diego played one of their most complete games of the season in a 25-19 win over Austin that gets them a spot in the South Division championship game in Atlanta. Travis Dunn’s five assist, five goal performance led both teams while Matt Miller’s 516 throwing yards kept the Growlers moving up the field.
• Oakland eliminated Colorado with a 23-14 win to earn a spot in the West Division championship game, which will be in Salt Lake against the Shred. The Summit–in their last game with that moniker–could not take the disc away from Oakland, mustering just two blocks and one break on the game. Oakland finished the first quarter up 6-1 and never looked back. Evan Magsig matched Dunn’s effort with a five assist, five goal game.

UFA Divisional Playoffs Power Rankings

• The Growlers’ win over the Sol propels them into the Top 10, otherwise the rankings remain unchanged for now.

1. Ryan Osgar, the Drost brothers, Charles Weinberg, John Lithio, and Elliot Chartock just to name a few ↩