Highlight of The Week/Predictions: Jeopardy! Battle of Decades Finals Begins Tonight

Beginning this evening, the Battle of The Decades tournament will be concluding in a two-week final event, starting with the quarterfinal round. Since February, 45 of the greatest champions to ever grace the Jeopardy! stage went head-to-head-to-head against each other for a chance to advance to the next round and get one step closer to winning the $1 million top prize. We’ve seen some great games thus far in the tournament. If it’s anything like the previous games, this upcoming series of matchups will not disappoint. Today’s article will take a brief look at the games for the week as well as my predictions on who will claim the semifinal and the four wild card spots.

Monday, May 5th: Leszek Pawlowicz, Robin Carroll, Roger Craig

Predicted Winner: Roger Craig

Reason: Even though Craig entered into the quarterfinal round by the slimmest of margins ($1), I think he will walk away with the win tonight with the Daily Doubles at his aid. This will be a tense contest between Craig and Pawlowicz, especially with Leszek’s high 91.6% accuracy rate in this tournament so far. 

Tuesday, May 6th: Tom Nosek, Pam Mueller, Russ Schumacher

Predicted Winner: Pam Mueller

Reason: I’m going with the stats on this one. Between the three players, Mueller ultimately has the advantage over Nosek and Schumacher in speed (23 first ring-ins) and accuracy (90.9%). If she hits at least one Daily Double and answers the Final Jeopardy clue correctly, she will have a good chance of moving on. Nosek's $2,001 margin of victory and Schumacher’s comeback victory just weren’t convincing enough to believe that either contestants would make it to the next round.

Wednesday, May 7th: Mark Lowenthal, Brad Rutter, Dan Pawson

Predicted Winner: Brad Rutter

Reason: Brad Rutter’s complete domination throughout his preliminary game proved that he’s in anything but a joking mood as he pursues his fourth Jeopardy! tournament title. To put it in perspective, with the exception of a $200-$200 tie between him and Mike Dupée after the second question, Rutter held his lead throughout the entire 61-answer game. It also helps that he is the fastest among his two opponents (34 first ring-ins) and has answered the most clues correctly among the tournament group overall (33).

Thursday, May 8th: Tom Cubbage, Rachel Schwartz, Ken Jennings

Predicted Winner: Ken Jennings

Reason: Let’s see here (This is from one of my live tweets during the preliminary game) —

Need I say more?

Friday, May 9th: Chuck Forrest, Mark Dawson, Colby Burnett

Predicted Winner: Chuck Forrest

Reason: No tournament would be complete without at least one upset in the making and I believe Forrest will be the cause of the upset in this game. Even though he had an impressive 95.2% accuracy rate in the preliminary round, Forrest’s potential win will not come easy with Colby Burnett competing against him in this matchup. This one is going to go down to the wire between Forrest and Burnett. Forrest’s wide range of knowledge and “category bouncing” strategic maneuver may give him the advantage in this game.

Wild Card Spots: They may be down, but I wouldn’t count these four potential runners-up out quite yet.

- Colby Burnett

- Leszek Pawlowicz

- Mark Lowenthal

- Tom Cubbage

The quarterfinals begin tonight. Check your local listings for air times and stay tuned!

Sources: J! Archive, Jeopardy! Facebook page, Jeopardy.com