CFL Week 21 Recap: Let the Games Begin

For the second straight season, the 21st and final week of the CFL season was full of games that had no bearing on the playoff picture, as everything was settle in Week 20. The Calgary Stampeders nabbed the last spot in this year's playoffs, though it could be said that they got it by default, and once again, the road in the West Division will go through Winnipeg. The remaining three games of the regular season are played for pride, history, and in the case of a pair of teams, practice.

Week 21 began with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on the road against the Calgary Stampeders, with both teams playoff bound this year. The Stamps looked to make some noise heading into this year's playoffs, but ended up trounced, 36-13, by the Bombers. As a result, the Stampeders enter the playoffs losing two-thirds of their games (6-12). Very ugly record, but still, at least they made it to the dance, and that's the important thing.

The first half of the season finale doubleheader was a preview of this year's Eastern Semifinal, as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats began their stay in Quebec to face the Montréal Alouettes. This was a close one that went the way of the Alouettes, who won 22-20, an indication of how their playoff matchup will be: close and nail-biting. Also, as a result of the loss, Hamilton will enter the playoffs with a losing record (8-10).

The 2023 season ended in Canada's capital, Ottawa, Ontario, as the Ottawa Redblacks played host to the Toronto Argonauts. Ottawa's season has been a disaster, but they did manage to make their game against the Argos a close one. Despite this, the Boatmen won, 27-22, their 16th win of the season. I can't believe it. As an Argos fan, I've seen some good years from this team, but I never thought I would see such an amazingly dominant performance. 16-2, and really, the only loss of merit was the first one against Calgary. The other one was in one of the six meaningless games we played. This season was much better than last year, and we won the whole thing last year!

So that's that. The 2023 CFL regular season is over. Now for the playoffs!

The playoffs are now on Saturdays (they had been on Sundays before), and the 110th Grey Cup Playoffs will start with the Eastern Semifinal in Montréal, Quebec on Saturday, November 4. The Montréal Alouettes will host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for the second straight week, and this is their third straight Eastern Semifinal meeting, with the Als winning last year to advance to the Eastern Final. The Alouettes' aforementioned win during the final week completed a season series sweep, winning all three meetings with Hamilton. Montréal is 27-10 all-time at home in the playoffs, while Hamilton is 16-31-1 as a road playoff team (their last road playoff win was the 2021 Eastern Final).

After that, the Western Semifinal will commence in Vancouver, British Columbia, and it will feature the BC Lions against the Calgary Stampeders. The two teams met in last year's Western Semifinal, with BC winning that game 30-16, increasing their home playoff record to 11-9, while the Stamps dropped to 13-28-2 on the road. These two teams kicked off the 2023 season, and overall, BC won the season series, though the last meeting went to Calgary--the game they won to clinch a playoff spot.

Another thing. Those of us in the States won't get to watch the playoffs on literal television. This is the CFL's first year of their deal with the CBS Sports Network after being on ESPN for close to a decade. When the ESPN networks had the CFL, games aired on the TV channels, ESPN+, and all playoff games (including the Grey Cup Championship) were on TV. However, CBS Sports Network will not air any of the playoff games here in the States. Instead, all five playoff games will air on CFL+, which is the CFL website's streaming service.

As stated before, the Division Semifinals will take place in Montréal and Vancouver on Saturday, November 4, and the Division Final will emanate from Toronto and Winnipeg on Saturday, November 11. The 110th Grey Cup will take place in Hamilton, Ontario on Sunday, November 19.

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