There's realistically a few options for the story of the season, right? And it's all over the place, so let's dig in:

First off, Toronto -- wow. I've been saying for a while that they're about to be lighting the world on fire, and wrote articles talking about how they are the perfectly built team. This is the epitome of GMing in this league and making their way to their first playoff appearance in FHM and being a legitimate contender from the get go is astounding. We all know the Great Lakes is hell incarnate, and they're proving that if you keep pushing up, you can eventually get through the flames into at least purgatory.

Secondly, New Orleans, I mean who can say they expected this? Well actually, quite a few people have. However, it's still so odd to see them in a battle with San Francisco over what is effectively last place in the league, and losing it. New Orleans has never missed the playoffs, and in a battle of rebuilding teams for the third spot in their division, it looked like they may have just been able to manage it. They still could, with an easier strength of schedule than San Francisco down the stretch, but it sure is a fascinating story to see them struggling for the first time ever.

And finally, what is happening in the northwest? Minnesota, sure they're fine, but after Seattle bought and brought in Reid Sutherland and Gabe Johnson it looked like they were primed to push and challenge Winnipeg for the third spot in the division. Minnesota made a call up and brought in Johnny Shuffleboard, but those are more long term moves than Seattle made. Of course, Seattle is plagued by the worst luck in the league it seems while Minnesota is seemingly getting the bounces their way. Everything could flip on it's head fairly quickly, so this is probably the best one to watch as we go along.