
TORONTO — As far as pick making goes, Week 21 of the CFL season provides a unique set of challenges.
With the playoff picture coming together in Week 20, all three of this week’s games have no bearing on the playoff race or positioning. Five of the six teams that are on the schedule this week are playoff-bound and know who their opponents are. The middle game on the schedule — the Hamilton Tiger-Cats visiting the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday — is an early peek at the Eastern Semi-Final that’ll be played on Sat. Nov. 4 in Montreal.
That can make things complicated. Teams commonly rest their starters in these situations, but as we all know, the games go on and if you’re playing CFL Pick ‘Em presented by Old Dutch, winners must be chosen.
So, CFL.ca’s writers have taken their best shots at how they think this week will play out. We’ll see you next week, when the slate of games drops down to two, but will have much more roster certainty and higher stakes than what we’re navigating this week.
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WPG at CGY
The Stamps have put in some work over their last two games, winning both to keep their season alive. Their resounding win over the Lions last week also handed the Bombers, who visit McMahon Stadium on Friday night, first in the West. We expect to see a lot of backups in this one, which has left the writers deadlocked on a winner (not the first time you’ll read that here). The fans lean more toward the first-place team taking care of their last bit of regular season business before hosting the Western Final.
PICK
Writers: 50-50 split
Fans: 76% Winnipeg
HAM at MTL
Fans may have spent the last few weeks hoping that the battle for second in the East Division would come down to this game. It didn’t quite work out that way, with the Als clinching the home game a couple weeks back. This game provides challenges for each coaching staff and questions for spectators: How much do they rest their key players? How much do they want to show their playoff opponents, a week before they meet for realsies in the Eastern Semi-Final a week later? Will the Ticats just spend the week in Montreal after they play the game (answer: they won’t, despite how much the players might want to).
PICK
Writers: 50-50 split
Fans: 66% Montreal
TOR at OTT
The REDBLACKS are the odd team out in this week’s schedule, as their season comes to a close on Saturday afternoon at TD Place. That leads us to think that we’ll see coach Bob Dyce throw all of his starters at the Argos. Will that make a difference? Since clinching the East and selectively resting players throughout, the Argos have only lost to the Blue Bombers. The Argos are also on the cusp of some history this week, if they’re interested in it. A win would put them at 16 on the season, matching Edmonton’s 1989 squad for the league’s best-ever regular season record. The writers lean heavily to the Double Blue. The fans are even more in.
PICK
Writers: 83% Toronto
Fans: 87% Toronto