Manager: Mario 2025 Finish: 5th Place 2026 Draft Pick: #9
Fifth place with the 9th pick. That’s not luck — that’s management. Mario consistently does more with less and seems mildly annoyed that nobody in this league is paying sufficient attention. Ray Donovan is either psychological warfare or an honest statement about expectations. Either interpretation is correct.
The guy who drafts 9th and finishes 5th is the guy who finishes 2nd the following year. That’s the trajectory. Mario sees the board differently than most, which is the only real edge available in a 10-team league where everyone has access to the same data.
Don’t sleep on Ray Donovan. Seriously. The name is not an accident. This team wants to be underestimated, and it works every single year until suddenly it doesn’t.