Looking Around the League: Checking in on the Rest of the Pharma’s League

I’m sure that no Fear The Wall readers need to be told that Bayer Leverkusen won the Bundesliga title over the weekend. Not only have we written multiple articles about it, but it’s also one of the biggest stories in football right now. So you’d have to work hard to make it to a German football fan site without knowing that Leverkusen won the Meisterschale for the first time in the club’s history.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a little reminder of Leverkusen’s outstanding performance that crowned them champions.

But for the rest of this article, we will focus on the rest of the Bundesliga. It turns out some other games were going on, and you’d be forgiven for having missed some exciting developments elsewhere in the league.

Here’s how Matchday 29 played out over the weekend.

Results

Augsburg 2-0 Union Berlin

Bayern Munich 2-0 FC Köln

VfL Bochum 1-1 Heidenheim

Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-2 Borussia Dortmund

Mainz 4-1 Hoffenheim

RB Leipzig 3-0 Wolfsburg

VfB Stuttgart 3-0 Eintracht Frankfurt

SV Darmstadt 0-1 Freiburg

Bayer Leverkusen 5-0 Werder Bremen

Standings

We Have a Relegation Race!

I recently wrote about the relegation race in the context of each team’s remaining schedules in the season’s final games. I argued that the race was between two teams (FC Köln and Mainz) with the possibility of a third being dragged into it (VfL Bochum). I might have underestimated Mainz’s potential to close the gap on the teams above them because they are now within three points of Bochum, Wolfsburg, and Union Berlin.

With everyone around them dropping points, Mainz have gone on a four-match unbeaten run, collecting ten of a possible 12 points to make everyone above them sweat. They made a statement on Saturday, thumping Hoffenheim 4-1.

This run has more or less guaranteed Köln’s relegation, with them now being four points behind Mainz and struggling to keep up with the pace Mainz are setting, but while the automatic relegation spots might be settled, we have a fantastic race for the relegation playoffs developing!

I have been arguing that Mainz are better than their league position suggests for a while now, but I must admit I didn’t think we would find ourselves in this position. Mainz will face Köln in a couple of weeks, which could put Köln’s hopes of survival to rest, and their final game of the season, against Wolfsburg, is looking increasingly spicy...

Your Thoughts?

Who do you think will finish 16th, and will they survive the playoffs?