Take Bee sports copy editor Delton Lowery, who took a "three strikes and your out" path right out of the playoffs.

The gaffes

1. Bad read: Swapping out Denver's Ryan Torain for teammate Selvin Young in Week 10.

Torain was a hot pickup that week, but CBS Sportsline reported Young would start vs. Cleveland. Turns out Torain started and managed 68 yards and a touchdown. Young got one carry for 2 yards. In a 10.12-point defeat for Lowery, Torain's 12.8 points would have made the difference.

2. Bad Seahawks fan: Releasing or benching players from his favorite team, the struggling Seahawks, didn't work out in Week 13.

Inserting tight end Vernon Davis from the hated 49ers over Seahawks rookie John Carlson was a tough pill to swallow. Sure enough, Carlson had a career-high 105 receiving yards in the Thursday night game. Davis then laid an egg Sunday: zero catches and a difference of minus-10.5 points.

At the kicker spot, Rian Lindell missed two chip shots and scored three points compared to the nine by Seattle's Olindo Mare (whom Lowery got rid of a few weeks earlier.) Total points lost: 16.5, in a week that ended in 13.9-point defeat.

3. Bad Texans: Deciding Fred Taylor was not the answer at running back, also in Week 13. The Jaguar's 73 yards and touchdown remained on the waiver wire and Tim Hightower's 41 yards and no touchdowns went to Lowery.

A win in either week 10 or 13 would've put Lowery at 8-5. Instead, he was one of six 7-6 teams and was eliminated on a total-points tiebreaker.

How they got in the playoffs

So, what were the narrow differences that helped decide the last four playoff berths in The Fresno Bee League?

Here's a quick analysis of the Nos. 3-6 seeds, which face off this week:

No. 3 seed: Former Bee assistant metro editor Matt Kreamer (7-6 record, but a league-high 1,277.9 points)

After taking Peyton Manning -- who took a while to get back into form -- at No. 12 at the end of Round 1 and then Randy Moss at No. 13, Kreamer waited another 22 selections before hitting home runs with Thomas Jones and Bears stud rookie Matt Forte in the third and fourth rounds. Another stud rookie in the Titans' Chris Johnson in the seventh laid the groundwork for a great ground game. The Bears defense (10th round) didn't hurt.

Kreamer didn't make any trades and made only seven wire pickups.

No. 4 seed: Bee sports copy chief Dave Cooper (7-6, 1,244.7 points)

L.T. with the first pick, no brainer, but his mediocre year could've cost this team. Denver quarterback Jay Cutler, in the sixth round, was the big ticket. Cooper also had Maurice Jones-Drew (second), Dwayne Bowe (seventh), Mr. Wildcat Ronnie Brown (eighth) and Kevin Walter (13th).

Cooper made no trades and 13 wire pickups.

No. 5 seed: Former Bee sports copy chief John Romero (7-6, 1,224.7 points)

We'll get to the draft, but first we must say Romero was forced into the trade market early to get out of the Tom Brady predicament, after the New England quarterback was hurt in the opener. Romero first picked up Chad Pennington, then packaged him with Calvin Johnson for Donovan McNabb, who was pretty valuable.

The draft was an adventure in itself for Romero, who flew all the way from the East Coast only to take Brady with the second overall pick. Romero was money the rest of the way, taking Larry Fitzgerald (second round), Michael Turner (third), Jason Witten (fourth), Johnson (fifth), Jonathan Stewart (sixth), Tim Hightower (14th) and Eddie Royal (15th).

No. 6 seed: Chris Molley, a friend of several Bee employees (7-6, 1,193.0 points)

Draft highlights include Marion Barber (ninth overall), Andre Johnson (third round) and Philip Rivers (sixth).

Things went great with his first transaction, adding Calvin Johnson via trade with Romero. Molley added Bo Scaife prior to Week 4, Nate Washington (when Santonio Holmes was out), and Dustin Keller down the stretch.

Molley picked up 20 players off the wire and was party to three trades involving nine players.

What we learned

For all of these teams, good drafts proved critical but three also relied heavily on trades and free-agent moves. Their minds led to regular-season might, at least enough to qualify for the playoffs.

We'll see what happens from here.

What's up with you?

So, is our insight good, bad, so so? Could you have done better?

Tell us what happened with your team this season and we might publish it in The Fantasy Buzz column in Sunday's edition of The Bee.

Just leave a comment in this blog or e-mail sports@fresnobee.com.