[The_ShamWOW88]

On the eve of starting this year's Championship and with 4 new divisions, a couple hundred additional teams, and the excitement building, I thought I would give my quick predictions for each division and Einstein.

What do you think will happen? Who do you see taking home Einstein's banner?

Disclaimer: Obviously this is of my own opinion and I didn't build a data crunching machine in my basement to determine these. I just did some simple sleuthing on TBA, guessed a final ranking, and observed team averages and their overall performance this season.

Archimedes - 234, 2338, 2619, 108
Curie - 1114, 148, 3937, 56
Galileo - 2056, 1619, 5460, 219
Newton - 118, 1678, 5012, 3015
Carson - 254, 67, 973, 2471
Carver - 368, 971, 2767, 3536
Hopper - 2826, 987, 2016, 2169
Tesla - 2122, 2137, 3476, 1323

Einstein
Quarterfinals

1114, 148, 3937, 56
2056, 1619, 5460, 219
118, 1678, 5012, 3015
254, 67, 973, 2471
2826, 987, 2016, 2169
2122, 2137, 3476, 1323
368, 971, 2767, 3536
234, 2338, 2619, 108

Semifinals

1114, 148, 3937, 56
118, 1678, 5012, 3015
2056, 1619, 5460, 219
254, 67, 973, 2471

Finals

1114, 148, 3937, 56
118, 1678, 5012, 3015

1114 has shown a level of dominance unlike anything I've seen, both in robotics and competition in general, but this year they've found that spark they had in 2008, which is why I feel it's their year again. Every team and robot at Worlds has their chance but it's going to take something special to upset the Simbotics this year. 148 has again marveled the FIRST community with another efficient and downright beautiful machine that unless they have other plans, should be able to ally with the Simbotics to form a rock-solid alliance for eliminations.

Miscellaneous Opinions
- The divisions that are the most wide open and almost any team has a shot should be Archimedes, Carver, Hopper, and Tesla. There are an assortment of teams that have all performed well this season and will vie for a spot on Einstein. Some of the most competitive and nail-biting matches, I predict, will come from these.

- The two most top-heavy divisions are obvious with both Canadian juggernauts leading their respective divisions: 1114 on Curie, 2056 on Galileo. There are teams in each that have the chance to play David against Canada's Goliaths but there's a lot of work ahead of them to do so.

- The remaining two divisions (Newton and Carson) aren't quite as open as the four above but it will be interesting to watch as 254 and 1678 could see each other again on Einstein in a possible rematch. They're going to have to hold off a number of great teams to do so.