UPDATE: Oilers & Panners at NBC World Series

Panners out, Oilers move to Game 16

The National Baseball Congress has issued a press release on their website, and apparently everything I wrote yesterday in my NBC World Series preview is no longer applicable. The changes to the bracket seem kind of convoluted to me, so I will do my best to break down the changes to the bracket in an easy-to-understand format:

- The Oilers move to game 16 in the bracket, the spot originally held by the Goldpanners.

- The Hutchinson Monarchs -- the originally scheduled opponent of the Goldpanners -- are moving to the Oilers' previous spot to take on the League City Hornets.

- Filling the vacancy of the Goldpanners, and occupying the spot held by Hutchinson, will be the Wichita Elite Sluggers. They will be the Oilers' new opponents.

- The Oilers first game has accordingly be changed to August 4, 2010. Time still TBA.

Looking at the Wichita Elite Sluggers, they look to be a similar or perhaps slightly tougher challenge for the Oilers in the first round. But overall, being moved to the separate fork of the bracket looks to be a good thing for the Oilers as there appear to be fewer notable teams that they'll have to pass through on their way to the championship game, but if anyone else has a better take on the situation, by all means let me know. As it stands now, I feel very confident in predicting an Oilers appearance in the championship game.