Zack Reyes discovered the art of being wrong profitably. He missed the Super Bowl winner, but his Patriots AFC ticket held and 78 bracket points still bought a 78th-place NFL postseason.
The cleaner win came in college: Indiana cashed the title ticket for 72.1 and pushed Reyes to 43rd. Those two football cards were his real oxygen after an October slip that managed 23 on the board and sank to 225th.
Belgium carried the World Cup card to 103rd and the majors settled at 116th, useful but not transformative. Those late cards recovered six spots but could not change the neighborhood. At 1148.5 points and 176th, Reyes salvaged a season by knowing which parts of a losing ticket could still pay.