A Look Back at the 2018 PBA Standings and Season Highlights

I still remember the 2018 PBA season like it was yesterday—the energy in the arenas, the unexpected uprisings, and that lingering confusion about what exactly the league meant by its "tiered, merit-based structure." As someone who’s followed Philippine basketball for over a decade, I found myself both fascinated and occasionally baffled by how the season unfolded. The structure, which was supposed to clarify team placements and playoff scenarios, ended up raising more questions than it answered. Teams like the San Miguel Beermen and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel dominated much of the conversation, but beneath the surface, there was a system at play that even seasoned fans struggled to decode.

Let’s start with the standings themselves. San Miguel finished the Philippine Cup with a remarkable 9–2 record, largely thanks to June Mar Fajardo’s MVP-caliber performance—he averaged around 22 points and 12 rebounds per game during that conference. But here’s where things got murky: the tiered system grouped teams based on cumulative performance across conferences, yet it never fully clarified how "merit" was weighted. Was it purely wins? Did margin of victory or head-to-head records come into play? I recall talking to fellow analysts, and we all had different interpretations. For instance, the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, who ended mid-table with a 6–5 tally in one conference, seemed to benefit from this ambiguity, sliding into playoff spots that a simpler system might have denied them. Personally, I think the league missed a chance to be transparent here; a clear points-based rubric would’ve eliminated so much guesswork.

The season’s highlights weren’t just about the standings, though. Who could forget Barangay Ginebra’s thrilling Commissioner’s Cup run? They clinched the title with Justin Brownlee dropping 31 points in the final game—a masterclass in clutch play. But even that victory felt shadowed by structural quirks. The tiered setup meant that some teams, like the struggling Blackwater Elite (who finished with a dismal 1–10 record in one conference), were essentially relegated to lower tiers early on, making it harder for them to bounce back. From my perspective, this created an unnecessary divide. While it aimed to reward consistency, it inadvertently punished teams that started slow but had potential to improve. I’ve always believed basketball should allow for Cinderella stories, and this system somewhat stifled that.

Then there were the individual performances that made 2018 unforgettable. Aside from Fajardo, players like Stanley Pringle of GlobalPort (now NorthPort) put up stellar numbers, averaging close to 20 points per game. But what stood out to me was how the merit-based structure influenced player rotations and coaching strategies. Teams in higher tiers seemed to rest key players more often, almost treating certain games as expendable—a move that backfired for the Magnolia Hotshots in the Governors’ Cup when they narrowly missed the top tier due to a calculated risk. I spoke with a coach off the record that year, and he admitted the system forced them to prioritize certain conferences over others, which I feel diluted the season’s competitive integrity. If you ask me, a league should encourage every game to matter equally, not create loopholes for strategic coasting.

Looking back, the 2018 PBA season was a mix of brilliance and bewilderment. The tiered, merit-based structure, while innovative, left too much room for interpretation, and I’d argue it didn’t fully achieve its goal of clarifying the path to the playoffs. Sure, we got epic moments—like San Miguel’s Philippine Cup three-peat or Ginebra’s gritty wins—but the overarching framework felt like a puzzle missing a few pieces. As a fan and analyst, I hope future seasons lean into simpler, more transparent systems. Because at the end of the day, basketball thrives on clarity and fair competition, not on vague tiers that leave us all scratching our heads. Here’s to learning from the past and making the game even better.