2018 Oruro attacks, Aftermath, Second explosion
The places where both explosions occurred remain closed. Several parents decided not to send their children to school the next day. Many schools did not teach, and those that did were under strong police protection. Other people did not leave their homes because of the fear of being victims of a new explosion. Morales offers an amount of 150,000 bolivianos for all who of reliable information about the authors.


2018 Oruro attacks, Aftermath, Second explosion
In social networks, a lot of false information was spread like other alleged explosions or armed people in the street. Mendoza condemned these acts and called disinformation as part of terrorism.


2018 Osaka earthquake
On 18 June 2018, around 7:58 a.m. Japan Standard Time, an earthquake measuring 5.6 Mw on the moment magnitude scale (preliminary 5.5 Mw) struck in northern Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The earthquake's epicenter was near Takatsuki and occurred at a depth of approximately 13 kilometres (8.1 mi). The Japan Meteorological Agency registered a magnitude of 6.1 Mj and an intensity of lower 6 on the shindo scale.


2018 Osaka earthquake
Shaking from the earthquake was felt strongly in the prefecture and the nearby metropolitan areas of Osaka and Kyoto, temporarily disrupting electrical and gas service to 170,000 homes and buildings. The earthquake struck during rush hour, disrupting train services for several hours, and also damaged water pipes and hundreds of homes. Four people were killed, 15 serious injuries were reported and 419 people had minor injuries.


2018 Osaka earthquake, Earthquake
The earthquake occurred at 7:58 a.m. Japan Standard Time on 18 June, with its epicenter in the Takatsuki area of northeastern Osaka, at a depth of approximately 13 kilometres (8.1 mi). The Kansai region sits atop several active faults, which can produce inland shallow earthquakes. Three of the region's fault zones (Arima-Takatsuki, Uemachi, and Ikoma) are located near the epicenter and are suspected to have caused the earthquake. The Great Hanshin earthquake of 1995 struck nearby Kobe with great intensity, causing thousands of deaths. It was felt strongly in northern Osaka and also affected parts of nearby Kyoto. Within the following week, a total of 40 strong aftershocks were detected by the Japan Meteorological Agency.


2018 Osaka earthquake, Earthquake
The earthquake triggered the national earthquake warning system, which set alarms approximately 3.2 seconds for the Osaka and Kyoto areas after the detection of seismic waves. No tsunami waves were generated as a result of the earthquake. The Japan Meteorological Agency assigned an initial magnitude of MJMA5.9, which it later upgraded to MJMA 6.1 (moment magnitude of 5.6 Mw). The earthquake registered as 6 ("lower 6") on the shindo intensity scale, and the United States Geological Survey reported a magnitude of 5.5 Mw. It was the first time a lower 6 was registered in Osaka Prefecture since 1923 when the government started to keep seismic records.


2018 Osaka earthquake, Earthquake
The later research shows that the earthquake source was case of geometrically complex faulting on at least two different faults. The activated strike-slip fault was parallel to the Arima-Takatsuki fault zone (and Itami fault). Next, the activated reverse fault might have a relationship with the deeper segments of the Uemachi fault zone. Shear movements on both of these buried faults contribute significantly to the total seismic moment of this earthquake. Therefore, this event is case of joint movements on multiple faults.


2018 Osaka earthquake, Damage and effects
The earthquake caused the partial collapse of several buildings, as well as damage to underground water pipes that left residents without running water. A total of 6,766 structures were found by government surveys to have sustained partial damage, primarily in Osaka Prefecture but also including several in Kyoto Prefecture, Nara Prefecture, and Hyōgo Prefecture. As many as 450 people remained in public shelters a week after the earthquake.


2018 Osaka earthquake, Damage and effects
Roof tiles and stone ornaments at homes and historic temples and shrines fell to the ground. At least 170,000 homes in Osaka were initially under an electrical blackout, but power was restored later in the morning. Gas services were also stopped for over 112,000 households in Ibaraki and Takatsuki for several days, but was fully restored by 25 June.


2018 Osaka earthquake, Damage and effects
The earthquake disrupted train services, including the Shinkansen, during the morning rush hour but had resumed service six hours later, in time for the afternoon commute. During the shutdown, passengers disembarked from trains and walked along the tracks, due to fears of aftershocks causing further damage. The Osaka Monorail reopened for service on 23 June, but was forced to suspend operations the following day due to the discovery of additional damage to the train cars.


2018 Osaka earthquake, Damage and effects
Operations at the JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy's oil refinery in Osaka and various manufacturing plants in the Kansai region were suspended to check for damage. Flights at two of the airports in the Kansai region were temporarily suspended, but resumed hours later.


2018 Osaka earthquake, Casualties
There were four confirmed deaths resulting from the earthquake, including a child in Takatsuki who was crushed by a collapsing wall outside her elementary school. The wall did not meet modern safety codes and prompted Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga to order safety checks of similar concrete block structures at schools across the country. 417 people were also injured and treated at hospitals.


2018 Osaka earthquake, Response
Shortly after the earthquake, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced a pledge by the government to assist in rescue and recovery efforts. The Japanese Self Defense Force dispatched several teams to deliver water to residents, at the request of the prefectural government. Fears of landslides triggered by rains and further aftershocks led to hundreds of residents moving into public shelters.


2018 Osaka earthquake, Response
After the earthquake, online rumors of ethnic non-Japanese residents committing dangerous crimes, such as looting and robbery, emerged on Twitter and other social media websites. The prefecture government and national Human Rights Bureau warned of false information being shared during the disaster and the Asahi Shimbun published an editorial criticizing the spread of hateful comments, comparing to similar rumors shared after the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake that resulted in racial riots.


2018 Ostrava municipal election
Municipal election in Ostrava will be held as part of Czech municipal elections in 2018.


2018 Ostrava municipal election, Background, Previous election
Previous election was held in 2014. ANO 2011 has won the election. ANO then negotiated with Ostravak, KDU-ČSL and ODS about possible coalition. Negotiations were unsuccessful and  Ostravak agreed to form coalition with ČSSD and KSČM. This coalition broke quickly afterwards giving ANO 2011 new opportunity. Coalition was finally formed between ANO, ČSSD and KDU-ČSL and leader of Ostravan ANO Tomáš Macura became new Mayor. Coalition ruled Ostrava until December 2015 when ĆSSD and KDU-ČSL left the coalition. ANO 2011 the formed new coalition with ODS and Ostravak.


2018 Ostrava municipal election, Background, Campaign
ANO 2011 decided to nominate incumbent Mayor Romáš Macura as its leader on 20 January 2018.


2018 Ostrava municipal election, Background, Campaign
The Civic Democratic Party (ODS) announced on 12 February 2018 that Senator Zdeněk Nytra will lead party in the election. TOP 09 and Freeholder Party of the Czech Republic decided to support ODS in the election.


2018 Ostrava municipal election, Background, Campaign
Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) had to deal with inner problems during March 2018. 6 deputies left the party. It reduced ČSSD to only 7 seats in Assembly. Deputies who left the party, included Lumír Palyza who led the party in previous election.


2018 Osun State gubernatorial election
The Osun State gubernatorial election took place on September 22, 2018. The election was held alone where national and state level elections will be held by 2019. Two-terms incumbent Governor Rauf Aregbesola of the All Progressives Congress is in-eligible to run for re-election. He won in the 2014 Osun State gubernatorial election with a total of 394,684 votes, winning the highest number of votes in 22 of the 30 Local Government Areas of the state.


2018 Osun State gubernatorial election, Background
Rauf Aregbesola previously served as a commissioner in Lagos State under Bola Tinubu's administration prior to becoming governor.


2018 Ottawa Fury FC season
The 2018 Ottawa Fury FC season is the club's 5th season at the professional level and its 2nd in the United Soccer League.


2018 Ottawa Redblacks season
The 2018 Ottawa Redblacks season was the fifth season for the team in the Canadian Football League. The Redblacks improved upon their 8–9–1 record from 2017, winning their ninth game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in an October 19 game, and finished with an 11–7 record. The team clinched a playoff berth and home playoff game for the fourth season in a row following the Toronto Argonauts' week 17 loss on October 6, 2018. After defeating the Tiger-Cats in the East Final, the Redblacks played in their third Grey Cup championship in four years, but lost to the Calgary Stampeders in the 106th Grey Cup game. This was the fifth season with Marcel Desjardins as general manager and Rick Campbell as head coach.


2018 Ottawa Redblacks season, Off-season, Open Tryout Sessions
On February 15, 2018, the Redblacks announced they would be holding open tryouts across North America during the spring. The dates and locations are listed in the table below:


2018 Ottawa Redblacks season, Off-season, Coaching Staff
On November 29, 2017 the Redblacks announced they would not bring back four of their assistant coaches (Travis Moore, Bryan Chiu, Derek Oswalt & Ike Charlton) from the previous season. On December 4, 2017 the Redblacks announced the hire of Noel Thorpe as defensive coordinator (Thorpe will double as the defensive backs coach as well). Mark Nelson, who had been the team's defensive coordinator for four seasons, will remain with the club as a linebackers coach. Thorpe had been the defensive coordinator and assistant head coach of the Montreal Alouettes for the previous five seasons.


2018 Ottawa Redblacks season, Off-season, Free-Agency
The 2018 CFL free agency period officially opened at 12:00pm EST on February 13, 2018. Key transactions are listed below:


2018 Ottawa Redblacks season, Off-season, Free-Agency, CFL Draft
The 2018 CFL Draft took place on May 3, 2018. The Redblacks held seven selections in the eight round draft after trading their fifth-round pick to Calgary for Drew Tate and forfeiting their sixth-round pick after selecting Austin Reuland in the 2017 Supplemental Draft. They then acquired another fourth-round pick after trading Jake Ceresna to Edmonton for Odell Willis and then trading Willis to the BC Lions for the draft pick.


2018 Ottawa Redblacks season, Post-season, Schedule
With their victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the Ottawa Redblacks clinched their third Grey Cup birth in four years having won the 2016 Championship Game in Toronto. Trevor Harris threw a playoff record six touchdown passes in the game, surpassing a record Anthony Calvillo set in the 2009 East Final against the BC Lions. With the victory, the Redblacks qualified to play the Calgary Stampeders in the 106th Grey Cup, a re-match of the game from two years prior. The Redblacks lost 27-16 in a game that they never had the lead against the heavily favoured Stampeders.


2018 Ottawa Redblacks season, Team, Roster
Italics indicate International player updated 2018-11-25 • 46 roster, 9 one-game injured,2 six-game injured, 8 practice1 disabled


2018 Ottawa municipal election
The Ottawa municipal election was held on October 22, 2018 to elect the mayor of Ottawa, Ottawa City Council and the Ottawa-Carleton Public and Catholic School Boards. The election was held on the same day as elections in every other municipality in Ontario.


2018 Ottawa municipal election, Mayoral candidates, Hamid Alakozai
Nominated May 10. Former CF reservist member. Considered running for president of Afghanistan in 2011. Past advisor to the attorney general of Afghanistan.


2018 Ottawa municipal election, Mayoral candidates, Ahmed Bouragba
Nominated July 26. Bilingual teacher and former elected Council member for the Ontario College of Teachers. Bouragba is a social justice advocate and civil liberties activist. Ran for Conseil des écoles publiques de l'Est de l'Ontario trustee in 2014. Citation: Y.B. v. Conseil des écoles publiques de l'Est de l'Ontario, 2017 HRTO 1240 (CanLII)


2018 Ottawa municipal election, Mayoral candidates, Bernard Couchman
Nominated May 1. Immigrant from Guyana; operates a marketing company. He ran for mayor in 2014, finishing in last place (8th) with 1,255 votes (0.51%).


2018 Ottawa municipal election, Mayoral candidates, Clive Doucet
Nominated July 27. City councillor for Capital Ward from 2001 to 2010. He represented Capital Ward on the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Council from 1997 to 2000. Ran for mayor in 2010.


2018 Ottawa municipal election, Mayoral candidates, Joey Drouin
Nominated July 27. Businessman. Running on a platform of combining Ottawa and Gatineau.


2018 Ottawa municipal election, Mayoral candidates, Craig MacAulay
Nominated July 11. Ran for city council in 2010 and 2014 in College Ward.


2018 Ottawa municipal election, Mayoral candidates, Bruce McConville
Nominated July 26. Garage operator from Vanier. Ran for city council in 2003 and 2006 in Rideau-Vanier Ward. McConville was born August 30, 1962 in Eastview, Ontario (now Vanier). He dropped out of high school and would later start his garage in 1981.


2018 Ottawa municipal election, Mayoral candidates, Michael Pastien
Nominated May 16. Self described "futurist". Ran for city council in 2014 in Bay Ward and for public school trustee in 2010.


2018 Ottawa municipal election, Mayoral candidates, Moises Schachtler
Nominated July 4. A former student of the University of Ottawa.


2018 Ottawa municipal election, Mayoral candidates, Jim Watson
Mayor Jim Watson had declared his intention to run for re-election in early 2017. He filed his nomination forms on May 1.


2018 Ottawa municipal election, City Council, Innes Ward
Incumbent councillor Jody Mitic announced he would not be running for re-election.


2018 Ottawa municipal election, City Council, Kanata North Ward
Incumbent councillor Marianne Wilkinson had announced she would not be running for re-election.


2018 Ouagadougou attacks
On 2 March 2018, at least eight heavily armed militants launched an assault on key locations throughout Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso. Targets included the French embassy and the headquarters of Burkina Faso's military.


2018 Ouagadougou attacks, Background
In the aftermath of the 2011 Libyan Civil War, militant attacks have increased due to a large influx of weapons and fighters into the region. Neighbouring Mali faced conflict in Azawad that threatened to split the country. Since 2015, Burkina Faso has faced cross-border attacks and sporadic raids in its territory, the result of instability and unrest in neighboring countries. Two major attacks have occurred in the capital Ouagadougou in recent years: In 2016, attacks on a hotel and restaurant killed 30 people, including foreigners; and in 2017, similar attacks killed 19 people, including foreigners. Both of these attacks were carried out by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.


2018 Ouagadougou attacks, Background
Burkina Faso also faced an uprising in 2014 leading to the downfall of President Blaise Compaoré later that year. Burkina Faso is a member of the Trans-Saharan Counterterrorism Partnership and its commitment of peacekeeping troops in Mali and Sudan has made it a target for extremists in the region.


2018 Ouagadougou attacks, Attacks
At around 10:00 a.m., the attackers began their assault on the military headquarters, detonating a car bomb in an apparent attempt at targeting a meeting of senior officers. The blast destroyed one room in the building. Shortly after the assault on the army headquarters, gunmen converged on the French embassy, exchanging fire with local security forces and French special forces soldiers. The French Institute, a cultural organisation located in the city, was targeted as well according to an embassy statement.


2018 Ouagadougou attacks, Attacks
Local police believes that "Islamic extremists" were behind the attack, which involved the use of gunfire and at least one car bomb. Many of the gunmen were also reportedly wearing army uniforms. Five of the militants were killed at the embassy, and at least three others were killed near the army headquarters, according to Communications Minister Remy Danjuinou. Eight soldiers have been killed, and 85 others wounded.


2018 Ouagadougou attacks, Attacks
To the west of the capital, heavy smoke rose from the army joint chief of staff’s office, where unnamed witnesses reported loud explosions. Windows were broken there and in the surrounding buildings.


2018 Ouagadougou attacks, Perpetrators
The day after the attack, the group Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), an affiliate group of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb led by Iyad Ag Ghaly, claimed responsibility for the attack, calling it retaliation for a previous raid during Operation Barkhane by the French army in northern Mali.


2018 Ouagadougou attacks, Perpetrators
On 5 March, the group released a picture of the suicide bomber who detonated the explosives at the army headquarters, identifying him as Yunus al-Fulani.


2018 Ouagadougou attacks, Perpetrators
On 7 March, eight people were arrested in connection to the attack including two military officers.


2018 Ouagadougou attacks, Reactions
Burkina Faso: Prime Minister Paul Kaba Thieba condemned the attacks, labeling them "revolting." In a statement, President Christian Kaboré said the country had again become the "target of dark forces.” During a subsequent meeting with the presidents of Niger and Togo, Kaboré vowed to "end terrorism no matter what" and claimed "no sacrifice will be too high in the defense of our fatherland.”


2018 Ouagadougou attacks, Reactions
Egypt: Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the attacks in the "strongest terms." The Ministry released a statement expressing support for "the efforts of France and Sahel states in facing this phenomena that attacks security and stability worldwide."


2018 Ouagadougou attacks, Reactions
France: French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by telephone with Burkinabe president Christian Kaboré to issue condolences and pledge his continuing support to the country. French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced that a "crisis unit" had been established and said that the security of French nationals in the region was "his priority."


2018 Ouagadougou attacks, Reactions
Japan: Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement strongly condemning the attacks and expressing condolences to those affected. The statement went on to express the commitment of the Japanese government "to continue to support the efforts of the Government of Burkina Faso to improve the security situation in Burkina Faso, in cooperation with the international community."


2018 Ouagadougou attacks, Reactions
Saudi Arabia: The Saudi foreign ministry condemned the attack, issued condolences to the victims, and reiterated the Kingdom's rejection of terrorism.


2018 Ouagadougou attacks, Reactions
Turkey: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a press conference while visiting neighboring Mali, "We strongly condemn the terrorist attacks that took place in Ouagadougou".


2018 Ouagadougou attacks, Reactions
United Nations: United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres spoke over the phone with President Kaboré, and expressed his solidarity with Burkina Faso as well as his "profound sympathy." The UN Security Council called the attacks "barbaric and cowardly".


2018 Ouagadougou attacks, Reactions
United States: In a statement condemning recent violence in West Africa, the White House expressed its "deepest sympathies" to the families of those killed and claimed that the attacks only served to "strengthen the resolve of the United States." The State Department also issued a travel advisory, urging Americans to avoid Burkina Faso due to "terrorism."


2018 Outback Bowl
The 2018 Outback Bowl was an American college football bowl game played on January 1, 2018, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The 32nd annual Outback Bowl was one of the 2017–18 NCAA football bowl games concluding the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The game was nationally televised on ESPN2, and its title sponsor is the Outback Steakhouse restaurant franchise.


2018 Outback Bowl, Teams
The game featured the Michigan Wolverines of the Big Ten Conference, and the South Carolina Gamecocks of the Southeastern Conference in their fourth meeting against each other, and second meeting in the Outback Bowl.


2018 Outback Bowl, Teams, Michigan
After finishing their regular season with an 8–4 record, the Wolverines were selected to their sixth Outback Bowl appearance, the most Outback Bowl appearances by any team. This was their 46th bowl game appearance, the 11th-highest total all-time among FBS schools.


2018 Outback Bowl, Teams, South Carolina
After finishing their regular season with an 8–4 record, the Gamecocks were selected to their fifth Outback Bowl appearance, tying them with four other teams for the second-most Outback Bowl appearances. This was their 22nd bowl game appearance. South Carolina won the previous meeting against the Michigan Wolverines in the 2013 Outback Bowl, by a score of 33–28.


2018 Outback Bowl, Mascot
The 2018 Outback Bowl marked the first appearance of SB Nation sportswriter Ryan Nanni as the Bloomin' Onion mascot.


2018 Overton's 400
The 2018 Overton's 400, is a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race that was held on July 1, 2018 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. Contested over 267 laps on the 1.5-mile (2.4 km) intermediate speedway, it was the 17th race of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.


2018 Overton's 400, Report, Background
Chicagoland Speedway is a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) tri-oval speedway in Joliet, Illinois, southwest of Chicago. The speedway opened in 2001 and currently hosts NASCAR racing. Until 2011, the speedway also hosted the IndyCar Series, recording numerous close finishes including the closest finish in IndyCar history. The speedway is owned and operated by International Speedway Corporation and located adjacent to Route 66 Raceway.


2018 Overton's 400, Practice, First practice
Ryan Blaney was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 30.169 seconds and a speed of 178.992 mph (288.060 km/h).


2018 Overton's 400, Practice, Final practice
Brad Keselowski was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 29.863 seconds and a speed of 180.826 mph (291.011 km/h).


2018 Overton's 400, Qualifying
Paul Menard scored the pole for the race with a time of 29.998 and a speed of 180.012 mph (289.701 km/h).


2018 Overton's 400, Qualifying, Starting Lineup
† The cars of Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, and Chris Buescher all started in the rear of the field after failing post-qualifying inspection.


2018 Overton's 400, Media, Television
NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and 2005 race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. had the call in the booth for the race. Dave Burns, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast reported from pit lane during the race.


2018 Overton's 400, Media, Radio
The Motor Racing Network had the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.


2018 Overwatch League All-Star Game
The 2018 Overwatch League All-Star Game was the Overwatch League's (OWL) first edition of an all-star game that matched the top players in the Atlantic Division (ATL) against those in the Pacific Division (PAC). The game was played on August 26, 2018 at Blizzard Arena in Burbank, California and was the culmination of the league's All-Star Weekend. The Atlantic took the first All-Star title by defeating the Pacific by a score of 4–1. The game was televised by Disney XD and ESPN3 and streamed live on Twitch.


2018 Overwatch League All-Star Game, All-Star Game
The All-Star Game was a five-map match between players from the Atlantic Division and Pacific Division using standard competitive settings. All 18 players on each team were required to have play-time, and substitutions were allowed between each map change.


2018 Overwatch League All-Star Game, All-Star Game, Rosters and coaches
The rosters and coaches for the All-Star game were selected through a voting process. The starters were chosen by the fans, with voting beginning on June 1 and ending on June 17. Out of the two DPS, two tank, two support, and two flex players in each division with the highest cumulative vote, the top six players with the highest cumulative vote were named their division's All-Star starters. After the starting rosters were announced, an additional 12 players from each division were selected as reserves by Overwatch League players, coaches, casters, and staffers.


2018 Overwatch League All-Star Game, All-Star Game, Rosters and coaches
The All-Star Game starters were announced on June 22. In the Atlantic Division, four of the six starters were represented by New York Excelsior, and in the Pacific, two of the six starters were represented by Seoul Dynasty. The All-Star reserves were announced on July 10. London Spitfire had the most reserve players in the Atlantic Division, with four out of twelve of the spots, and Los Angeles Valiant lead the Pacific Division with five out of twelve reserve spots.


2018 Overwatch League All-Star Game, All-Star Weekend
The season's All-Star Skill Matches took place on August 25, 2018.


2018 Overwatch League All-Star Game, All-Star Weekend, Lúcioball Showdown
The Atlantic and Pacific teams competed in a 3v3 best-of-three series using standard Lúcioball settings on the Busan Lúcioball Arena map. Each match lasted five minutes; if a match was tied at the end of five minutes, then a sudden death overtime would begin, and the next goal would win.


2018 Overwatch League All-Star Game, All-Star Weekend, Mystery Heroes
The Atlantic and Pacific teams competed in a 6v6 Mystery Heroes game using standard competitive settings in a best-of-three series on control maps Nepal, Ilios, and Lijiang Tower. Players are assigned a random hero at the start of each map and a new random hero after each non-self-inflicted death.


2018 Overwatch League All-Star Game, All-Star Weekend, Widowmaker 1v1
The coaches of the Atlantic and Pacific Divisions selected their four best Widowmaker players for this tournament. The four players competed head-to-head to determine one Atlantic and one Pacific champion, which played each other in the finals. Every match-up prior to the finals was first-to-seven eliminations, while the final was first-to-nine eliminations. Eliminations were head-shot only, and automatic firing was disabled. There were no capture points, but after 30 seconds, player locations were visible to both players. A match would result in a draw after five minutes. The matches were played on Castillo (quarterfinals), Necropolis (semifinals), and Ecopoint: Antartica (final).


2018 Overwatch League All-Star Game, All-Star Weekend, Talent Takedown
Prior to All-Star Weekend, the Atlantic and Pacific coaches drafted two teams of casters and analysts. The two teams squared off in a 6v6 best-of-three series using standard competitive settings. The match started on Hybrid map King's Row, after which the team that lost the select the second map. If the series were to be tied 1-1, a game of Lúcioball would have been the tiebreaker. Overwatch League players helped call the game along with the casters and analysts not playing.


2018 Overwatch League All-Star Game, All-Star Weekend, Lockout Elimination
The Atlantic and Pacific teams squared off in this 6v6 competition using standard lockout elimination settings. The winner was determined in a best-of-three series. The maps for this mode were Oasis University, Necropolis, and Castillo.


2018 Overwatch League All-Star Game, Charity cheer
During the All-Star Weekend, 100% of all "Cheers", a special form of emoticon purchased as a microtransaction, on Twitch while watching any of the Overwatch League channels were donated to Child's Play, a charitable organization that donates toys and games to children's hospitals worldwide. At the conclusion of the weekend, viewers raised $34,304.37 for the charity.


2018 Overwatch League All-Star Game, Broadcasting
The entire All-Star Weekend was televised nationally by ESPN3 and Disney XD and live-streamed on Twitch, the Overwatch League website, and Major League Gaming.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals
The 2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals was the first championship series of the Overwatch League (OWL), which took place from July 27 to July 28. The series was the conclusion of the 2018 Overwatch League playoffs and was played between the London Spitfire and the Philadelphia Fusion at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals
London qualified for the playoffs as the fifth seed and defeated the fourth-seeded Los Angeles Gladiators and second-seeded Los Angeles Valiant in the playoffs. Philadelphia qualified for the playoffs as the sixth seed and defeated the third-seeded Boston Uprising and top-seeded New York Excelsior in the playoffs.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals
London Spitfire defeated Philadelphia Fusion in the first and second matches by scores of 3–1 and 3–0, respectively, to claim the title of Overwatch League Grand Finals Champions before a two-day attendance of 22,434 spectators.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Road to the Grand Finals
The Grand Finals are the post-season championship series of the Overwatch League (OWL), a professional international esports league; the teams of the Grand Finals compete for a $1.4 million prize pool, where the winners receive $1 million. 2018 season was the first in OWL history and consisted of twelve teams in two divisions. Each team played 40 matches throughout the regular season. The playoffs were contested by six team – the two teams with the best regular season record in each division and the following four teams with the best regular season record, regardless of division.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Road to the Grand Finals
At the conclusion of the regular season, both London and Philadelphia had regular season records of 24–16 and were the fifth and sixth seeds, respectively, making them the bottom two teams to qualify for the season playoffs. The teams faced each other five times throughout the 2018 season, with one of those match-ups being the Stage 2 Semifinals – a game in which Philadelphia won. Overall, Philadelphia had beaten London in three out of their five match-ups.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Road to the Grand Finals, London Spitfire
Cloud9 was awarded the London slot for an OWL franchise on August 10, 2017 and was later named the London Spitfire. Shortly afterwards, they disclosed their 12-player inaugural season roster, the maximum permitted, which would be entirely composed of South Korean players. The roster would mainly be an amalgamation of their current Cloud9 KONGDOO core and OGN's Overwatch APEX Season 4 champions GC Busan.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Road to the Grand Finals, London Spitfire
London started the season with a win to the a 3–1 victory over the Florida Mayhem and continued that winning trend through their first five games, resulting in the team's best win streak of the 2018 regular season. On March 7, the Spitfire parted ways with head coach Lee "Bishop" Beom-joon for undisclosed reasons; Bishop had led the team to a 10–4 record until his departure. Struggling as the season went on, the Spitfire had to bank on their earlier results to edge them over the finish line. They ended the season with a 24–16 record, good for 5th place and a spot in the postseason where they faced the 4th-seeded Los Angeles Gladiators.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Road to the Grand Finals, London Spitfire
London lost their first postseason matchup against the Gladiators on July 11 by a score of 0–3 in the quarterfinals. The Spitfire turned it around the next two games against the Gladiators, winning in 3–0 sweeps in matches two and three and advancing the team to the semifinals. London won both games against the Los Angeles Valiant in the semifinals, winning 3–0 in match one and 3–1 in match two.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Road to the Grand Finals, Philadelphia Fusion
On September 20, 2017, Overwatch developer Activision Blizzard officially announced that Philadelphia Flyers owner Comcast Spectacor had acquired the rights to the Philadelphia-based Overwatch League franchise; later the team name was revealed as the Philadelphia Fusion. Shortly afterwards on November 3, their roster was revealed.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Road to the Grand Finals, Philadelphia Fusion
Philadelphia's season began with a 3–2 victory against the Houston Outlaws. While Philadelphia did upset the undefeated New York Excelsior in Stage 1, which marked New York's first lost in the regular season, the team had, overall, an inconsistent season. Philadelphia claimed the sixth, and final, seed of the playoffs on June 15.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Road to the Grand Finals, Philadelphia Fusion
Fusion defeated third-seeded Boston Uprising in the Quarterfinals by two matches to one. The team went on to face the top-seeded New York Excelsior in the Semifinals, a game the Fusion were considered heavy underdogs. Philadelphia dominated New York in the first match, winning three maps to zero, and took the second match by three maps to two.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Venue and ticketing
The Barclays Center in New York was selected as the 2018 OWL Grand Finals host venue on May 9, 2018. Overwatch League commissioner Nate Nanzer noted that the league chose the venue due to its location in a major global city and its world-class status. Opened in 2012, the $1 billion stadium has a capacity of about 19,000 and is used by the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL). The arena has also hosted concerts, conventions and other sporting and entertainment events, including the 2013 NBA Draft, the 2015 NBA All-Star Weekend, the 2016 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, UFC 223, and the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Venue and ticketing
Ticket sales for the finals began on May 18, 2018. Two-day general admission tickets sold for $60, with "Master" and "Grandmaster" upgrade packages available for an additional $40 and $75, respectively. The package upgrades included extra access to fans, including photos, meet-and-greets, and Overwatch League "swag". The Grandmaster packages sold out after few hours of being on sale, leaving only general admission and master package upgrades available. The remaining tickets for the event sold-out exactly two weeks later, leaving resell tickets in excess of $125.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Broadcast and viewership
On the first day of the season playoffs, Disney and Blizzard announced a multi-year partnership that would bring the league and other professional Overwatch competitive events to ESPN, Disney XD, and ABC, starting with the playoffs and throughout all of the following season. The partnership marked the time that a live esports competition had aired on ESPN in prime time and the first time that an esports competition had aired on ABC.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Broadcast and viewership
Nielsen ratings for the Grand Finals include a 0.18 rating (approximately 218,000 households) for the Friday match airing on ESPN, while the recap of the series airing on ABC on the Sunday after the event had a 0.3 rating (approximately 359,000 households). Blizzard estimated that over a million people were watching the Grand Finals at any time, between broadcast and streaming formats, with a total viewership of over 10.8 million.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Entertainment
Speed-painter David Garibaldi created his own take on the Overwatch League logo during a performance on July 27; the art piece was given away to a fan.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Entertainment
DJ Khaled performed live at the Barclays Center on July 28, prior to the first match of the second day. The performance was streamed live exclusively on Twitch. The performance was deemed by many to be underwhelming and awkward, as the audience often did not react to his attempts at livening the crowd and left voids of silence when the artist attempted to get them to sing the verses to his songs.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Entertainment
DJ Envy performed during breaks on July 28, and opened for DJ Khaled.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Match summaries, Match one, Map 1: Dorado
The first map of the match was escort map Dorado – a map that Philadelphia had a just-under 70 percent win rate in the regular season. Philadelphia was the first to attack and claimed all three points; London was able to effectively attack the first two points of Dorado, but after a nearly five-minute hold by Fusion, they were denied a third, giving Fusion the map win.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Match summaries, Match one, Map 2: Oasis
With the help of a 7.5 E/D ratio by Lee "Carpe" Jae-hyeok's Widowmaker in second map of the night, control map Oasis, London was able to quickly even the score, as the team won the map 2–0.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Match summaries, Match one, Map 3: Eichenwalde
Coming out of the half-time break and into the third map of the night, hybrid map Eichenwalde, Fusion subbed-in tank player Gael "Poko" Gouzerch for Isaac "Boombox" Charles, and was able to take the first point before being held. London was able to push the payload further than Fusion and secured a win for the third map.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Match summaries, Match one, Map 4: Volskaya Industries
The fourth, and final, map of the night was assault map Volskaya Industries. Philadelphia started out on attack, and while they were able to secure the first point, they only able to claim 57 percent of the second point. After London claimed their own the first point, Park "Profit" Jun-young came up big, securing five final blows in the final 93 seconds to lead the Spitfire to a victory.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Match summaries, Match two, Map 1: Junkertown
Escort map Junkertown was the first map of the night, and Philadelphia was the first to attack. Fusion was able to secure two points of the map, but a well-timed halt by Jae-Hui "Gesture" Hong's Orisa followed by a Dragonstrike by Jun-Young “Profit” Park's Hanzo lead to four kill with under two minutes remaining, held Fusion short of capping the third. London's attack went relatively smoothly, as the team was able to escort the payload further and claim map one.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Match summaries, Match two, Map 2: Lijiang Tower
London dominated Philadelphia on the first point of the second map, control map Lijang Tower. While the second point proved to be slightly more difficult, London was able secure a 2–0 victory.


2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals, Match summaries, Match two, Map 3: King's Row
The third, and final, map of the day was hybrid map King's Row. Fusion was able to finish all three points of the map, however, they completed it in overtime. London was also able to complete the map, but they still had a time-bank of 1:10 remaining. Since both teams earned three points on their respective attacks, the game went into time-bank rounds. Because Spitfire had over a minute left and Fusion was in overtime, by rule, only Spitfire was able to attempt an attack, meaning the best Fusion could hope for was a draw for the map. London felt little resistance, capping the first tick of point A, and secured the title of Grand Finals Champions.


2018 Overwatch League playoffs
The 2018 Overwatch League playoffs began on July 11, after the 2018 Overwatch League regular season ended, and concluded on July 28 with the 2018 Grand Finals, the first championship match of the Overwatch League (OWL). Six teams competed in the OWL Playoffs.


2018 Overwatch League playoffs
The winner of each round of the Playoffs was determined by a best-of-three match series, with match determined by best-of-five maps. The Quarterfinals had the third-seeded team playing the sixth-seeded team, while the fourth-seeded team played the fifth-seeded team. In the Semifinals, the top-seed team played the lowest remaining seed, while the second-seeded team played the next-lowest. The winners advanced to the Grand Finals, which took place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on July 27–28.


2018 Overwatch League playoffs
London Spitfire defeated Philadelphia Fusion in the Grand Finals to become the first Overwatch League Champions.


2018 Overwatch League playoffs, Map pool and rotation
The postseason map pool consisted of eight maps, with a ninth map as the tie-breaking map (if necessary), and was decided by a lottery system on June 19.


2018 Overwatch League playoffs, Participants
Six teams qualified for the Season Playoffs based on their season overall records. The two division leaders were awarded the top two seeds, and the following top four teams, regardless of division, were awarded seeds three through six.


2018 Overwatch League playoffs, Quarterfinals, (3) Boston Uprising vs. (6) Philadelphia Fusion
The Fusion pulled off a 2–1 victory in their first match against the Uprising, who had been high in the standings early in the regular season but had lost momentum in the latter half. Fusion used a tank-heavy roster, including Reinhardt played by Sado, which forced the Uprising to move away from their sniper-based strategy. Fusion's Eqo and Carpe also showed skill across several heroes to help with the victory.


2018 Overwatch League playoffs, Quarterfinals, (4) Los Angeles Gladiators vs. (5) London Spitfire
The Spitfire had been underdogs in their match against the Gladiators, having never won a regular season match against them. The Gladiators took the first match, 3–0, including a trick play that involved Surefour staying in the spawn room as a different hero until well into the match before changing to his regular Widowmaker hero and readily picking off the open Spitfire players. The Spitfire responded in the following matches with adaptive changes in their team composition that prevented the Gladiators from maintaining their defense lines.


2018 Overwatch League playoffs, Quarterfinals, (4) Los Angeles Gladiators vs. (5) London Spitfire
Notably, the Gladiators chose to bench their primary main tank player Fissure, who came second place for Season MVP, for the playoffs, opting instead to replace him with the team's other main tank player, iRemiix. The official reason given for this decision was that "the Gladiators believe that the most effective practice and preparation is necessary in order to perform well in playoffs."


2018 Overwatch League playoffs, Semifinals
After each quarterfinal series, the sixth-seeded Fusion, being the lowest seed of the two quarterfinals winners, faced the top-seeded Excelsior, whereas the fifth-seeded Spitfire played against the second-seeded Los Angeles Valiant. The semi-final saw upsets in both brackets with the lower-seed Fusion and Spitfire winning over the top seeds Excelsior and Valiant.


2018 Overwatch League playoffs, Semifinals, (1) New York Excelsior vs. (6) Philadelphia Fusion
Fusion had taken the first series 3–0 over Excelsior. While the second set ran for all five maps, Fusion won the series and the spot in the Grand Finals.


2018 Overwatch League playoffs, Semifinals, (2) Los Angeles Valiant vs. (5) London Spitfire
The Spitfire had kept their traction from the victory over the Gladiators in the previous round, and took their spot in the finals after two matches, winning each 3–1 and 3–0.


2018 Overwatch League playoffs, Grand Finals
The London Spitfire defeated the Philadelphia Fusion in the Grand Finals series in 2 sets. The Spitfire's Jun-Young "Profit" Park was named the Grand Finals Most Valuable Player; Profit was observed to be a key offensive player in the series, in one match using Hanzo's ultimate ability to eliminate five of the six Fusion players.


2018 Overwatch League playoffs, Winnings
Teams in the Season Playoffs competed for a total prize pool of US$1.7 million, with the payout division detailed below.


2018 Overwatch League playoffs, Broadcast and viewership
On the first day of the season playoffs, Disney and Blizzard announced a multi-year partnership that would bring the league and other professional Overwatch competitive events to ESPN, Disney XD, and ABC, starting with the playoffs and throughout all of the following season. The partnership marked the time that a live esports competition had aired on ESPN in prime time and the first time that an esports competition had aired on ABC.


2018 Overwatch League playoffs, Broadcast and viewership
Nielsen ratings for the Grand Finals include a 0.18 rating (approximately 218,000 households) for the Friday match airing on ESPN, while the recap of the series airing on ABC on the Sunday after the event had a 0.3 rating (approximately 359,000 households). Blizzard estimated that over a million people were watching the Grand Finals at any time, between broadcast and streaming formats, with a total viewership of over 10.8 million.


2018 Overwatch League season
The 2018 Overwatch League season was the inaugural season for the Overwatch League, an esports league based on the video game Overwatch which began on January 10, 2018. Regular season play continued through June 16, 2018, while post-season play ran from July 11–28, 2018. The London Spitfire won the Grand Finals over the Philadelphia Fusion to become the League champions, with the Spitfire's Park "Profit" Jun-young named the Finals MVP. An All-Star Weekend was held following the post-season from August 25–26, 2018.


2018 Overwatch League season, Schedule
The season's format and schedule were announced in November 2017. The inaugural regular season ran from January 10 to June 17, 2018, broken out into four stages. Each stage lasted five weeks, with a one-week break between each stages. Each regular season week featured twelve games, three matches per day from Wednesday to Saturday, with each team having played in two games that week.


2018 Overwatch League season, Schedule
During stages one and two of season one, at the end of each stage, the top three teams across both divisions, based on their standings in that stage, played a final set of matches to win a US$100,000 prize with the runner-up taking a US$25,000 prize. As of season one stage three, four teams made each stage playoff. The #1 seed chose their opponent in the first round between the remaining three qualified teams. These matches are played on the final day of the stage.


2018 Overwatch League season, Schedule
The season's free agency signing window opened on January 22, 2018, and closed on April 3, 2018 (the start of Stage 3). During this period, teams could sign any eligible free agent player or make trades with other teams. Any player on a new team contract before the start of Stage 2 on February 21, 2018 was eligible to play during Stage 2. Otherwise, they had to wait until the start of Stage 3. After April 3, team rosters could not be changed until after the completion of the post-season games.


2018 Overwatch League season, Schedule
The post-season playoffs were held over three weeks in July 2018. It was a single-elimination playoff featuring 6 teams: each division leader, and the next top four teams from both divisions, with their position seeded by their standings. The Grand Finals were held on July 26 and 27, 2018.


2018 Overwatch League season, Schedule
All matches in the inaugural season (except for the Grand Finals) were played at the 350-seat Blizzard Arena, located on the former soundstage for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in Burbank, California. Games were broadcast on the Overwatch League's website and through Major League Gaming (owned by Blizzard), and by third-party broadcaster Twitch. The Grand Finals were played at Barclays Center in New York City, where all 11,000 seats available were sold out for both days of the event.


2018 Overwatch League season, Pre-season
Pre -season matches were held from December 6 to 8, 2017. Pre -season matches are exhibition only, and do not count towards the regular season standings. The Philadelphia Fusion had to pull out of pre-season play just before these events, citing "player logistics issues".


2018 Overwatch League season, Broadcast and viewership
The Overwatch League began the season with a two-year exclusive contract for Overwatch League broadcasting. Its debut week held an overall peak of 441,000 concurrent viewers on its three Twitch channels, with 392,000 English, 65,000 Korean, and 11,500 French viewers. Through the season, average online viewership ran between 80,000 and 170,000. At least 310,000 viewers watched the final match of the Grand Finals.


2018 Overwatch League season, Broadcast and viewership
On the first day of the season playoffs, Disney and Blizzard announced a multi-year partnership that would bring the league and other professional Overwatch competitive events to ESPN, Disney XD, and ABC, starting with the playoffs and throughout all of the following season. Nielsen ratings for the Grand Finals include a 0.18 rating (approximately 218,000 households) for the Friday match airing on ESPN, while the recap of the series airing on ABC on the Sunday after the event had a 0.3 rating (approximately 359,000 households). Blizzard estimated that over a million people were watching the Grand Finals at any time, between broadcast and streaming formats, with a total viewership of over 10.8 million.


2018 Overwatch League season, Regular season
A team's standing is based on both their overall match win/loss record, with ties broken by their overall round record.


2018 Overwatch League season, Regular season
At the end of Stages 1 and 2, the top three teams overall in the current stage, regardless of division, made the stage playoffs. The first seeded team earned a bye, with the second and third seeded teams playing a best-of-5 series to advance to the stage finals. Beginning with Stage 3 of the 2018 season, Blizzard announced changes to the Stage Playoff format. Introduced was a four-team Stage playoffs going forward, so that both teams in the final match will have played the same number of games on that day. The first seed has the option of selecting their opponent for the first round and has home team advantage, with the remaining two teams assigned based on seed ranking. These stage playoffs have no effect on overall standings and are only for bonus prize money.


2018 Overwatch League season, Regular season
Teams' overall standings were used for placement in the post-season playoffs. The top team of each division received an automatic bye, while the next top four teams, regardless of division, filled in the remaining tournament slots.


2018 Overwatch League season, Regular season, Stage 1
Stage 1 ran from January 10, 2018 to February 10, 2018, with Stage playoffs occurring on February 10, 2018.


2018 Overwatch League season, Regular season, Stage 1, Playoffs
With a league best 9–1 stage record, the New York Excelsior earned a bye directly into the stage finals. In the semifinal match, the Houston Outlaws took an early 1–0 lead over the London Spitfire, but were ultimately defeated 3–1. In the stage final, the New York Excelsior took a commanding 2–0 lead over the Spitfire, but New York could not secure their third match win. The London Spitfire completed a reverse sweep, winning the series 3–2 and their first stage title.


2018 Overwatch League season, Regular season, Stage 2
Stage 2 ran from February 21 to March 24. Following Stage 1, Blizzard took input from players and fans and moved all future Stage playoff matches to Sunday, with Stage 2's playoffs taking place on March 25. This avoided a twelve-hour day of matches, which could see a team playing as many as three different matches in the same day. Stage two introduced the Overwatch patch that weakened Mercy's resurrection abilities, which outside of League play had caused her to be played less frequently.


2018 Overwatch League season, Regular season, Stage 2, Playoffs
The New York Excelsior finished with the best stage record again, earning another bye into the stage finals. The semifinal match featured the London Spitfire, looking to repeat on their Stage 1 championship, against the Philadelphia Fusion. The Fusion won the series, 3–2.


2018 Overwatch League season, Regular season, Stage 2, Playoffs
In the finals, the Fusion took 2–0 lead over the Excelsior, though New York came back and completed a reverse sweep to win the series and their first stage title.


2018 Overwatch League season, Regular season, Stage 3
Stage 3 ran from April 4 to May 5, with the stage playoffs occurring on May 6. This stage introduced a four-team stage playoffs format so both teams in the final match will have played the same number of games on that day. The first seed was given the option of selecting their opponent for the first round and received home team advantage, with the remaining two teams assigned based on seed ranking. Stage 3 introduced the Hybrid map "Blizzard World," which was released in November 2017, to the map pool. Stage 3 also introduced the patch that buffed Sombra's abilities, making her a more frequent component in winning team combinations.


2018 Overwatch League season, Regular season, Stage 3, Playoffs
Following the conclusion of Stage 3, the top seeded Boston Uprising became the first team in Overwatch League history to go undefeated in a stage. As the top seed, they earned the right to choose their first round opponent for the stage playoffs. They chose the fourth seed Los Angeles Gladiators, achieving a 3–0 match win. The second seed New York Excelsior also defeated the Los Angeles Valiant with a 3–0 win. The Excelsior won the final match over the Uprising in a 3–0 victory, marking their second stage championship win.


2018 Overwatch League season, Regular season, Stage 4
Stage 4 ran from May 16 to June 16, with the Stage playoffs occurring on June 17. Teams competed using the version of Overwatch which first introduced the support hero Brigitte, but prior to a patch that adjusted her strength and which introduced a revamped skill kit for Hanzo. The decision to play on the former patch was made due to a bug in the later patch that could not be fixed before the start of Stage 4.


2018 Overwatch League season, Regular season, Stage 4, Playoffs
After the group stage, the Los Angeles Gladiators finished atop the league via a map differential tiebreaker. They earned the right to choose their opponent for the first round of the playoffs. For the first time in this selection process, the team with the best record did not choose the lowest ranked team. They choose their crosstown rivals, the second-seeded Los Angeles Valiant. The Valiant won the series in 5 maps. In the next series, the two-time stage champion New York Excelsior defeated the Dallas Fuel, 3–2. The Excelsior were unable to win their third consecutive stage championship, losing to the Valiant, 3–1.


2018 Overwatch League season, Playoffs
After the regular season, the New York Excelsior and the Los Angeles Valiant finished atop their respective divisions, earning first-round byes. The next four remaining teams, Boston Uprising, Los Angeles Gladiators, London Spitfire, and Philadelphia Fusion, were seeded according to regular season record, regardless of division. The third-seeded Uprising played the sixth-seeded Fusion, while the fourth-seeded Gladiators played the fifth-seeded Spitfire. Each series was a best of 3 matches (each match was best of 5 maps). The winners of the two semifinal matches advanced to the Grand Finals, which took place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York from July 27–28.


2018 Overwatch League season, Awards
From JJonak's MVP award, Blizzard created a special cosmetic skin for Zenyatta, the character that JJonak most frequently played, which was offered to viewers and players during the 2019 season.


2018 Overwatch League season, All-Star Game
The 2018 Overwatch League All-Star Game was the Overwatch League's first edition of an all-star game that involved the All-Star players of the league. The game was played on August 26, 2018 and was the culmination of the league's All-Star Weekend, a two-day event that consisted of Lúcioball, Mystery Heroes, a Widowmaker 1v1 tournament, Talent Takedown, and Lockout Elimination. All of the events were played at Blizzard Arena in Burbank, California. The game was televised by Disney XD and ESPN3 and streamed live on Twitch.


2018 Overwatch League season, Winnings
Teams in the first season competed for a total prize pool of US$3.5 million across regular season play, stage finals, and playoffs. By league rules, at least 50% of these winnings were split among the team's members, the remaining going to the team's owner.


2018 Overwatch World Cup
The 2018 Overwatch World Cup was an Overwatch esports tournament, organized by Blizzard Entertainment, the game's developer. It was the third Overwatch World Cup. It featured 24 represented nations from around the world, with the final tournament taking place at the Anaheim Convention Center during BlizzCon from November 2–3, 2018.


2018 Overwatch World Cup
The final took place on November 2 between South Korea and China. South Korea won 4–0, winning their third straight World Cup title.


2018 Overwatch World Cup, Teams, Committees
Each country has a National Competition Committee, consisting of a general manager, head coach, and community lead. Blizzard selected each team's general manager, while the head coach and community leads were selected through a two-step voting process, that took place from May 24 to May 30.


2018 Overwatch World Cup, Teams, Committees
Any player with a Blizzard account in good standing was welcome to apply for a head coaching position for their country; the country's top 150 players voted for who they would like to be their country's head coach. The top three candidates from the first round of voting moved on to a second round of voting, and the person with the most votes in the second round was selected as the country's head coach.


2018 Overwatch World Cup, Teams, Committees
The community leaders are responsible for "rallying their community and marketing their team to the masses." Like the head coaches, the community lead for each country was chosen through a two-step voting process. A country's entire player base voted for the community lead. After the first round of voting, the top 10 from that round were candidates for the second round; the person with the most votes in the second round was selected as their country's community lead.


2018 Overwatch World Cup, Teams, Players
They players representing each country were selected by their National Competition Committee. The Committees selected up to 12 players from June 1 to July 5 to represent their country and then had to cut it down to 7 players to be their final roster.


2018 Overwatch World Cup, Teams, Qualification
From March 28 to April 28, 2018, Blizzard tracked the average skill rating of the top 150 players from the top 20 countries to determine the countries who qualified for the tournament. The four host countries, South Korea, Thailand, France, and the United States, automatically qualified.


2018 Overwatch World Cup, Group stage
The top 24 national teams were grouped into four different round-robin style groups, with the matches played in Incheon, Los Angeles, Bangkok, and Paris. The top two teams in each group advanced to a single-elimination playoff bracket, with the matches played in Anaheim.


2018 Overwatch World Cup, Knockout stage
The top two teams from each group advanced to the playoff bracket. All of the playoff rounds took place at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California during BlizzCon.


2018 Overwatch World Cup, Knockout stage
To coincide with the event, Blizzard launched the "Overwatch World Cup Viewer," a standalone program that allows users to view World Cup matches in real time in Overwatch's spectator mode, roam around the map in a free camera, and take the perspectives of the players. Users were also able to view replays of each map played in the client.


2018 Oxelösund municipal election
Oxelösund Municipality held a municipal election on 9 September 2018 as part of the local elections. This was held on the same day as the general election.


2018 Oxelösund municipal election, Results
The number of seats remained at 31 with the Social Democrats winning the most at 12, a drop of one from 2014.


2018 Oxford City Council election
The 2018 Oxford City Council election took place on 3 May 2018, to elect 24 of the 48 members of Oxford City Council in England. This was on the same day as other local elections in England. Each of Oxford's 24 wards elected one councillor, with the other seat in each ward next due for election in May 2020.


2018 Oxford City Council election
The Labour Party sought to defend its majority on the Council, which it had controlled since 2008. Key issues in the election campaign included affordable housing, homelessness and air pollution. The results saw Labour gain two seats from the Green Party while losing one to the Liberal Democrats. This left Labour with 36 seats, the Liberal Democrats with 9 and the Greens with 2.


2018 Oxford City Council election, Background
Before the election, the Labour Party held a majority of seats on Oxford City Council. When the 24 seats up for election in 2018 were contested at the 2014 Oxford City Council election, 17 were won by Labour, 4 by the Liberal Democrats, and 3 by the Green Party of England and Wales. The 2016 election, at which the Council's other 24 seats were contested, saw a stronger result for Labour (18 seats won) and weaker for the Greens (1 seat).


2018 Oxford City Council election, Background
The 2018 election was the first regular election to Oxford City Council since the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, at which Oxford defied a UK-wide vote to leave the European Union by returning a 70% vote to remain. A year after the referendum, in the 2017 UK general election, Labour significantly increased its majority in the parliamentary constituency of Oxford East (which includes most of the city of Oxford), while the Liberal Democrats gained Oxford West and Abingdon from the Conservative Party.


2018 Oxford City Council election, Background
New Statesman commentator Stephen Bush suggested in March 2018 that a successful result for Labour in the 2018 Oxford City Council election, building on its strong parliamentary performance in 2017, would be to win all the available Green seats. The Oxford Mail's political correspondent Nathan Briant predicted, "Labour are likely to return a healthy number of councillors", but identified potential difficulties for the party: a rise in homelessness in Oxford as in other cities, controversy of the Council's use of community protection notices to threaten to fine homeless people, and a perception of the national Labour leadership as too eurosceptic.


2018 Oxford City Council election, Background
Stephen Bush argued that if the Liberal Democrats' national strategy of appealing to pro-European voters succeeded, one benchmark for this would be an expansion from eight seats on Oxford City Council to double figures.


2018 Oxford City Council election, Policies and campaigns, Conservative
The Oxford Conservative Association's chair Mark Bhagwandin criticised the Labour administration for a lack of affordable housing in Oxford, including at the recent Barton development. He stated he was confident that the Conservatives could improve on their previously weak position in Oxford, and that they would hold Labour to account. The party pledged to freeze the salaries of senior council staff, which Bhagwandin described as "huge".


2018 Oxford City Council election, Policies and campaigns, Green
The Green Party's campaign also emphasised a need for scrutiny and opposition; co-leader Caroline Lucas stated while campaigning in Oxford that "one more Labour councillor won't make any difference", while "one more Green councillor" would ensure the council was "forced to deliver". Lucas identified homelessness as the issue on which Oxford's Green councillors been most active, and the Greens' manifesto highlighted their past campaigns for the council to provide additional homeless shelters and consider the use of rent controls, as well as their role in challenging fines for rough sleepers and removal of their property. Green policies also included addressing air pollution in St. Clement's by extending the council's proposed zero-emission zone, and redesignating the entire development on the Lucy Faithfull House site for affordable housing (instead of half as proposed by the council).


2018 Oxford City Council election, Policies and campaigns, Labour
Oxford's governing Labour Party pledged in its manifesto, subtitled Fighting Austerity for a Fairer City, to build 1000 affordable homes and work with adjacent councils on "high quality urban extensions that will increase the availability of affordable homes". The Leader of the Council, Susan Brown, advocated more development in the Oxford Green Belt to meet the city's housing needs. Emphasising Oxford's "strong cycling tradition", the manifesto included policies to provide more lanes and parking for cyclists, while supporting cycle hire businesses.


2018 Oxford City Council election, Policies and campaigns, Labour
On homelessness, Labour pledged increased spending and cooperation with charitable and voluntary organisations "with the objective of ensuring that no-one has to sleep rough in Oxford". Other "key pledges" included promotion of an Oxford living wage, support for sports clubs and facilities, and measures to reduce the city's carbon footprint and air pollution.


2018 Oxford City Council election, Policies and campaigns, Labour
Launching the manifesto, Susan Brown and Shadow Secretary of State for Housing John Healey attacked the central government's austerity programme as responsible for homelessness and other social problems in Oxford and elsewhere, while Healey praised Oxford City Council's track record under its Labour administration. The Guardian journalist and Labour activist Owen Jones canvassed for the party's candidate Rabyah Khan in Summertown.


2018 Oxford City Council election, Policies and campaigns, Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable highlighted the issues of homelessness and unaffordable housing during a visit to Oxford, while the party's Oxford West and Abingdon MP Layla Moran argued that Labour was over-dominant on the council and that additional Lib Dem councillors would provide improved scrutiny. The party's manifesto included pledges to re-examine potential sites in Oxford in order to build "hundreds more houses", with their councillors suggesting that land designated for business development could be reallocated for housing.


2018 Oxford City Council election, Policies and campaigns, Liberal Democrat
The Lib Dems supported a review of the Green Belt for new sites for development, with safeguards for "areas of natural, historic, or scientific interest". They proposed increased accommodation and support for homeless people, while opposing fining of rough sleepers. Other pledges included a tourism tax as a source of revenue for public works. The Lib Dem leader on the council, Andrew Gant, suggested that some voters would support the party because of opposition to Brexit.


2018 Oxford City Council election, Candidates
The Labour and Conservative parties nominated candidates for all 24 seats, while the Greens contested 23 and the Liberal Democrats 21. The current Leader of the Council, Susan Brown (Labour), stood for re-election in Churchill ward. David Thomas, the leader of the council's Green group who was previously elected in Holywell, constested St. Clement's against the Labour incumbent Tom Hayes.


2018 Oxford City Council election, Candidates
Some councillors whose terms ended in 2018 did not seek re-election, including former Leader Bob Price (Labour, Hinksey Park) and Lord Mayor Jean Fooks (Liberal Democrat, Summertown).


2018 Oxford City Council election, Results
Labour increased its majority on the Council, holding 36 of 48 seats after the election. The Greens, in what the Oxford Mail described as "an awful night" for the party, saw two of their three seats up for election won by Labour, while their leader David Thomas lost his place on the Council when his attempt to win St Clement's from Labour failed. This left the party with just two councillors. The Liberal Democrats won Quarry and Risinghurst from Labour, which was Labour's first loss of a seat in Oxford since 2006.


2018 Oxford City Council election, Results
The highest turnout was 54.9% for Iffley Fields, and the lowest 19.9% for Northfield Brook.


2018 Oxford City Council election, Results
Note: no UKIP candidates stood in this election, compared with two in 2016 and six in 2014. Two independent candidates were standing, compared with three in 2016 and four in 2014. Plus/minus percentages are calculated with respect to the 2016 Oxford City Council election. In addition to the 2 seats that Labour gained relative to the 2016 election, Labour also took back a seat they previously held that had become vacant in November 2017 (see Northfield Brook).


2018 Oxford City Council election, Results
Total number of seats on the Council after the election:


2018 Oxford City Council election, Results, Results by ward
Ward results are taken from the Oxford City Council website. Results are described as holds or gains based on comparison with the 2014 election.


2018 Oxford City Council election, Results, Results by ward, Northfield Brook
The Northfield Brook seat contested at this election had been won by Labour in 2014. It was vacant between the death of Councillor Jennifer Pegg in November 2017 and the May 2018 election.


2018 Oxford County municipal elections
Elections were held in Oxford County, Ontario on October 22, 2018 in conjunction with municipal elections across the province.


2018 Oxford County municipal elections, Oxford County Council
County council consists of the mayors of the municipalities plus two "city and county" councillors from Woodstock.


2018 PBA All-Star Week
The 2018 PBA All-Star Week is the annual all-star week of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA)'s 2017–18 season being held on May 23 to 27, 2018 on three different venues covering Luzon (Batangas), Visayas (Iloilo) and Mindanao (Davao).


2018 PBA All-Star Week, Luzon leg, Obstacle Challenge
This edition was exclusively only for big men (power forwards and centers).


2018 PBA All-Star Week, Luzon leg, Obstacle Challenge
Gabby Espinas replaced Yancy de Ocampo, who was unable to participate.


2018 PBA All-Star Week, Luzon leg, Three-Point Shootout
This year's shootout featured a new format. Each of the five racks now has two moneyballs, with the first and fifth balls being valued as two points. This was a departure from the previous years' feature of having an "all-moneyball rack". This also increased the maximum possible points to 35 from 34.


2018 PBA All-Star Week, Luzon leg, Slam Dunk Contest
This year's contest only featured four judges instead of the traditional five.


2018 PBA All-Star Week, Logo making contest
The league launched a logo-making contest for the All-Star week on February 23, 2018. The winner of the contest will win an all-expense-paid trip for two to one of the All-Star week legs (Davao, Batangas or Iloilo).


2018 PBA All-Star Week, Logo making contest
On March 15, an entry by John Paul Limos was selected as the winner of the contest by a selection committee composed of Commissioner Willie Marcial, PBA Press Corps president Gerry Ramos and Magnolia Hotshots team manager Alvin Patrimonio. The winning entry however got disqualified the following day since the logo had a very similar look from the logo used by PlayPark All-Stars (an e-sports tournament).


2018 PBA All-Star Week, Logo making contest
On March 19, a new logo, designed by Jerome Allan Moreno was selected as the winner of the logo making contest.


2018 PBA Commissioner's Cup
The 2018 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner's Cup, also known as the 2018 Honda–PBA Commissioner's Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the second conference of the 2017–18 PBA season. The tournament allows teams to hire foreign players or imports with a height limit of 6'10". The conference started on April 22 and ended on August 8, 2018.


2018 PBA Commissioner's Cup, Format
The following format will be observed for the duration of the conference:


2018 PBA Commissioner's Cup, Semifinals, (1) Rain or Shine vs. (5) Barangay Ginebra
Note: Game 2 of the Rain or Shine – Barangay Ginebra semifinals series was originally scheduled on July 17, 2018 but was postponed due to inclement weather brought by Tropical Storm Son-Tinh (Henry).


2018 PBA Commissioner's Cup, Semifinals, (2) Alaska vs. (6) San Miguel
Note: Game 3 of the Alaska – San Miguel semifinals series was originally scheduled on July 18, 2018 but was postponed due to inclement weather brought by Tropical Storm Son-Tinh (Henry).


2018 PBA Commissioner's Cup, Imports
The following is the list of imports, which had played for their respective teams at least once, with the returning imports in italics. Highlighted are the imports who stayed with their respective teams for the whole conference.


2018 PBA Commissioner's Cup, Awards, Conference
The Best Player and Best Import of the Conference awards were handed out prior to Game 4 of the Finals, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum:


2018 PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals
The 2018 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner's Cup Finals was the best-of-7 championship series of the 2018 PBA Commissioner's Cup and the conclusion of the conference's playoffs. The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and the San Miguel Beermen competed for the 18th Commissioner's Cup championship and the 123rd overall championship contested by the league.


2018 PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals
This was the sixth Finals match-up between the two teams, with the Beermen winning four of the first five series. They last met during the 2016–17 Philippine Cup Finals which the Beermen won, 4–1. Barangay Ginebra's sole series win came during the 2007 Philippine Cup Finals.


2018 PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals
The series highlighted the match-up between Greg Slaughter and 4-time MVP June Mar Fajardo, arguably two of the best centers in recent PBA history, who last faced each other in a finals series during their college days in CESAFI in 2009, which Slaughter's University of Visayas won. The series also featured the match-up between the PBA Best Import of the Conference award front-runners Justin Brownlee and Renaldo Balkman, who won a title as teammates with the San Miguel Alab Pilipinas of the ABL three months back.


2018 PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals, Background, Barangay Ginebra San Miguel
This was Barangay Ginebra's fourth Commissioner's Cup Finals and 25th overall. They last appeared in a Comm's Cup Finals in 2013, with their last Commissioner's Cup title coming in 1997.


2018 PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals, Background, San Miguel Beermen
This was the Beermen's 40th Finals appearance, who won all of their six previous Finals in the last ten conferences. This was their sixth Commissioner's Cup Finals appearance, and was the defending champion entering the series having won the previous year's series.


2018 PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals, Game summaries, Game 1
Entering the game, Barangay Ginebra won 10 of their last 11 games and had the momentum to start strong in the series. They got into a fast start, leading by 15 in the first quarter and 19 after the half. Import Justin Brownlee was red-hot, having scored 29 points at halftime, with 18 coming in the first period. The Beemen tried to stage a comeback in the second half and was trailing by 19 after three quarters. However, Barangay Ginebra started the last period with a 25–5 run for a 39-point advantage, 119–80, the largest of the game. They never looked backed and dealt the Beermen their worst loss of the conference. Chris Ross tweaked his ankle in the fourth quarter and had to head to the locker room. After the game, he confirmed that he will be able to play in Game 2.


2018 PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals, Game summaries, Game 1
Brownlee led the Gin Kings with 42 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists on 17-for-19 shooting and had support from the locals, with 4 other players scoring in double figures led by Joe Devance who had 22 points. For the Beermen, import Renaldo Balkman scored 27 points and top rookie Christian Standhardinger added 26, with four-time MVP June Mar Fajardo registering a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds.


2018 PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals, Game summaries, Game 1
Ginebra shot 62 percent from the field and shot 13-for-25 from the arc. San Miguel only shot 39% and was 7-for-29 from 3. Ginebra also registered 37 assists. During the third quarter, Devance scored his 500th 3-point field goal made. He was the 41st PBA player and 19th among active players to reach that milestone.


2018 PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals, Broadcast notes
The 2018 Commissioner's Cup Finals was on TV5 with simulcasts on PBA Rush (both in standard and high definition). TV5's radio arm, Radyo5 provided the radio play-by-play coverage.


2018 PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals, Broadcast notes
ESPN5 provided online livestreaming via their official YouTube account using the TV5 feed.


2018 PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals, Broadcast notes
The PBA Rush broadcast provided English-language coverage of the Finals.


2018 PBA D-League Aspirants' Cup
The 2018 PBA D-League Aspirants Cup was the first conference of the 2017-18 PBA Developmental League season. It was opened on January 18, 2018 at the Ynares Sports Arena and competed by 13 teams and it was finished on May 1, 2018 where the Zark's Burger - LPU defeated the Che'Lu Bar & Grill in the best-of-3 finals showdown, 2 games to 1 and clinching their first ever title in their franchise.


2018 PBA D-League Aspirants' Cup, Standings
These are the final team standings at the end of elimination round:


2018 PBA D-League Aspirants' Cup, Finals
The finals is a best-of-three series, the team to win two games win the championship.


2018 PBA D-League Foundation Cup
The 2018 PBA D-League Foundation Cup is the second conference of the 2018 PBA Developmental League season. The tournament opened on June 4, 2018 at the Ynares Sports Arena, Pasig.


2018 PBA D-League Foundation Cup, Team standings
These are the team standings at the end of the elimination round:


2018 PBA Governors' Cup
The 2018 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors' Cup, also known as the 2018 Honda Click–PBA Governor's Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the third and last conference of the 2017–18 PBA season. The tournament allowed teams to hire foreign players or imports with a height limit of 6'5".


2018 PBA Governors' Cup, Imports
The following is the list of imports, which had played for their respective teams at least once, with the returning imports in italics. Highlighted are the imports who stayed with their respective teams for the whole conference.


2018 PBA Governors' Cup Finals
The 2018 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors' Cup Finals was the best-of-7 championship series of the 2018 PBA Governors' Cup, and the conclusion of the conference's playoffs. The  Alaska Aces and the Magnolia Hotshots competed for the 18th Governors' Cup championship and the 124th overall championship contested by the league.


2018 PBA Governors' Cup Finals
Due to the preparations of the Philippines men's national basketball team for the fifth window of the 2019 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers, the start of this finals series started on December 5, 2018; two weeks after the semifinal round finished.


2018 PBA Governors' Cup Finals, Broadcast notes
The Governors' Finals is aired on The 5 Network (TV5) with simulcasts on PBA Rush (both in standard and high definition). TV5's radio arm, Radyo5 provides the radio play-by-play coverage.


2018 PBA Governors' Cup Finals, Broadcast notes
Sports5 also provide online livestreaming via their official YouTube and Facebook accounts using the TV5 feed.


2018 PBA Governors' Cup Finals, Broadcast notes
The PBA Rush broadcast will provide English-language coverage of the Finals.


2018 PBA draft
The 2018 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) rookie draft was an event that allowed teams to take turns selecting amateur basketball players and other eligible players, including half-Filipino foreign players. The league determined the drafting order based on the performance of the member teams from the 2017–18 season, with the worst team picking first.


2018 PBA draft, Draft order
The draft order is determined based on the overall performance of the teams from the previous season. The Philippine Cup final ranking comprises 40% of the points, while the rankings of the Commissioner's and Governors' Cups are 30% each.


2018 PBA draft, Draft order
On draft day, Alaska and Magnolia were playing in the 2018 PBA Governors' Cup Finals. Alaska would've finished either with 3.8 or 3.5 points, in 9th position. Magnolia would've finished with 3.2 or 3.5 points, in 10th position. Magnolia eventually won.


2018 PBA draft, Draft selections, 6th round
A sixth round was held, but both Blackwater and NorthPort passed, thus ending the draft.


2018 PBA draft, Trades involving draft picks, Pre-draft trades
Note: The rights to Barako Bull's draft pick were retained by Phoenix. Prior to the day of the draft, the following trades were made and resulted in exchanges of picks between the teams.


2018 PBA draft, Trades involving draft picks, Draft-day trades
No trades were allowed during the draft day as requested by commissioner Willie Marcial.


2018 PCCL National Collegiate Championship
The 2018 PCCL National Collegiate Championship is the tenth edition of the Philippine Collegiate Champions League (PCCL) in its current incarnation, the postseason tournament to determine the national collegiate champions in basketball. The tournament will be the 15th edition overall.


2018 PCCL National Collegiate Championship, Qualifying rounds, Visayas qualifier
The knockout game between the Iloilo champion Iloilo Doctors' College and Negros Occidental champions Colegio de Santa Ana de Victorias was held at the STI West Negros University Gym in Bacolod on November 8.


2018 PCCL National Collegiate Championship, Qualifying rounds, Visayas qualifier
CSA-V's decisive 17-0 run at the start of the third quarter sealed the win for the Titans. They qualify to the Davao regionals.


2018 PCCL National Collegiate Championship, Qualifying rounds, NCR qualifiers
The NCR (Metro Manila) qualifiers were held from November 22 to 24 at the La Consolacion College - Manila and Lyceum of the Philippines University gyms in Manila.


2018 PCCL National Collegiate Championship, Qualifying rounds, South Luzon/Bicol qualifiers
The South Luzon/Bicol qualifiers shall take place at the Jesse M. Robredo Coliseum in Naga, Camarines Sur from November 27 to December 1.


2018 PCCL National Collegiate Championship, Qualifying rounds, Mindanao qualifiers
The Mindanao qualifiers is taking place at the Davao City Recreation Center from December 1 to 3.


2018 PCCL National Collegiate Championship, Regional rounds, VisMin regional
The VisMin regional shall be held at the Arcadia Active Lifestyle Center in Davao City from December 4 to 5.


2018 PCCL National Collegiate Championship, Final Four, Philippine Regional Championship
The Philippine Regional Championship was held at the Arcadia Active Lifestyle Center in Davao City from December 6 to 8.


2018 PD20
2018 PD20 is a small asteroid, classified as a near-Earth object of the Apollo group, approximately 9–20 meters (30–66 feet) in diameter. On 11 August 2018, it was first observed by ATLAS at the Mauna Loa Observatory on Hawaii (T08), when it passed 33,500 kilometers (20,800 miles) from the Earth. This is notable because it came within a tenth of the lunar distance, or 0.10 LD which is closer to Earth than satellites in a geostationary orbit. These have an altitude of  0.11 LD, about 36,000 km (22,000 mi), approximately 3 times the width of the Earth.


2018 PD20, Orbit and classification
2018 PD20 orbits the Sun at a distance of 0.82–1.66 AU once every 17 months (503 days; semi-major axis of 1.24 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.34 and an inclination of 9° with respect to the ecliptic.


2018 PD20, Orbit and classification
The asteroid has an Earth minimum orbital intersection distance of 0.000181761 AU (27,191 km), which translates into 0.078 lunar distances.


2018 PDC Calendar
This is the schedule of Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events on the 2018 calendar, with player progression documented from the quarterfinals stage where applicable. This list includes European tour events, Players Championships events, World Series of Darts events and PDC majors. This list includes some regional tours, such as the ones in Nordic, Baltic and Oceanic regions, but does not include British Darts Organisation (BDO) events.


2018 PDC Calendar, March
Stephen Bunting  Rob Cross  Dimitri Van den Bergh  John Henderson


2018 PDC Calendar, April
Jaikob Selby  Patrick van den Booggard  Carl Batchelor  Owen Maiden


2018 PDC Calendar, May
Michael van Gerwen  Jamie Lewis  Raymond van Barneveld  Rob Cross


2018 PDC Calendar, May
Dawson Murschell  Ted Evetts  Dimitri Van den Bergh  Justin van Tergouw


2018 PDC Calendar, June
Dimitri Van den Bergh  Simon Whitlock  Adam Hunt  Dave Chisnall


2018 PDC Calendar, November
Mike De Decker  Ryan Meikle  Justin van Tergouw  Brian Raman


2018 PDC Calendar, November
Brian Raman  Luke Humphries  Danny van Trijp  Mike De Decker


2018 PDC Calendar, November
Patrick van den Boogaard  Jack Male  William Borland  Harry Ward


2018 PDC Calendar, November
Patrik Kovács  Danny van Trijp  Dimitri Van den Bergh  Luke Humphries


2018 PDC Calendar, November
Jonny Clayton  Michael Unterbuchner  Simon Whitlock  Dimitri Van den Bergh


2018 PDC Players Championship 1
The 2018 PDC Players Championship 1 was the first of twenty-two Players Championship events on the 2018 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place in Barnsley, England on 17 February 2018. It featured a field of 128 players and £75,000 in prize money, with £10,000 going to the winner. It was won by Michael van Gerwen.


2018 PDC Players Championship 10
The 2018 PDC Players Championship 10 was the tenth of twenty-two Players Championship events on the 2018 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place in Wigan, England on 29 April 2018. It featured a field of 128 players and £75,000 in prize money, with £10,000 going to the winner. The winner was Jeffrey de Zwaan.


2018 PDC Players Championship 11
The 2018 PDC Players Championship 11 was the eleventh of twenty-two Players Championship events on the 2018 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place in Milton Keynes, England on 19 May 2018. It featured a field of 127 players and £75,000 in prize money, with £10,000 going to the winner. The winner was Gary Anderson.


2018 PDC Players Championship 12
The 2018 PDC Players Championship 12 was the twelfth of twenty-two Players Championship events on the 2018 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place in Milton Keynes, England on 20 May 2018. It featured a field of 128 players and £75,000 in prize money, with £10,000 going to the winner. The winner was Josh Payne.


2018 PDC Players Championship 13
The 2018 PDC Players Championship 13 was the thirteenth of twenty-two Players Championship events on the 2018 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place in Wigan, England on 16 June 2018. It featured a field of 128 players and £75,000 in prize money, with £10,000 going to the winner. The winner was Rob Cross.


2018 PDC Players Championship 14
In darts the 2018 PDC Players Championship 14 was the fourteenth of twenty-two Players Championship events on the 2018 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place in Wigan, England on 17 June 2018. It featured a field of 128 players and £75,000 in prize money, with £10,000 going to the winner. The winner was Peter Wright.


2018 PDC Players Championship 2
The 2018 PDC Players Championship 2 was the second of twenty-two Players Championship events on the 2018 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place in Barnsley, England on 18 February 2018. It featured a field of 128 players and £75,000 in prize money, with £10,000 going to the winner. It was won by Michael van Gerwen.


2018 PDC Players Championship 3
The 2018 PDC Players Championship 3 was the third of twenty-two Players Championship events on the 2018 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place in Barnsley, England on 10 March 2018. It featured a field of 128 players and £75,000 in prize money, with £10,000 going to the winner. It was won by Gary Anderson.


2018 PDC Players Championship 4
The 2018 PDC Players Championship 4 was the fourth of twenty-two Players Championship events on the 2018 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place in Barnsley, England on 11 March 2018. It featured a field of 128 players and £75,000 in prize money, with £10,000 going to the winner. It was won by Gary Anderson.


2018 PDC Players Championship 5
The 2018 PDC Players Championship 5 was the fifth of twenty-two Players Championship events on the 2018 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place in Milton Keynes, England on 17 March 2018. It featured a field of 128 players and £75,000 in prize money, with £10,000 going to the winner. It was won by Michael van Gerwen.


2018 PDC Players Championship 6
The 2018 PDC Players Championship 6 was the sixth of twenty-two Players Championship events on the 2018 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place in Milton Keynes, England on 18 March 2018. It featured a field of 128 players and £75,000 in prize money, with £10,000 going to the winner. The winner was Ian White.


2018 PDC Players Championship 7
The 2018 PDC Players Championship 7 was the seventh of twenty-two Players Championship events on the 2018 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place in Barnsley, England on 7 April 2018. It featured a field of 128 players and £75,000 in prize money, with £10,000 going to the winner. The winner was Michael Smith.


2018 PDC Players Championship 8
The 2018 PDC Players Championship 8 was the eighth of twenty-two Players Championship events on the 2018 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place in Barnsley, England on 8 April 2018. It featured a field of 128 players and £75,000 in prize money, with £10,000 going to the winner. The winner was Mickey Mansell.


2018 PDC Players Championship 9
The 2018 PDC Players Championship 9 was the ninth of twenty-two Players Championship events on the 2018 PDC Pro Tour. The tournament took place in Wigan, England on 28 April 2018. It featured a field of 128 players and £75,000 in prize money, with £10,000 going to the winner. Michael van Gerwen won the tournament.


2018 PDC Pro Tour
The 2018 PDC Pro Tour was a series of non-televised darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). Players Championships, UK Open Qualifiers and European Tour events are the events that make up the Pro Tour. In this year there are 41 PDC Pro Tour events being held – 22 Players Championships, six UK Open Qualifiers and 13 European Tour events.


2018 PDC Pro Tour
This page also includes results from the PDC’s affiliated tours including the Development and Challenge Tours and all the regional tours as well as the results from the World Championship regional qualifiers.


2018 PDC Pro Tour, Prize Money
The prize money for the UK Open Qualifiers and Players Championship and European Tour events stay the same as 2017.


2018 PDC Pro Tour, PDC Tour Card
128 players are granted Tour Cards, which enables them to participate in all Players Championships, UK Open Qualifiers and European Tour events.


2018 PDC Pro Tour, PDC Tour Card, Tour Cards
Afterwards, the playing field will be complemented by the highest qualified players from the Q School Order of Merit until the maximum number of 128 Pro Tour Card players had been reached. In 2018, that means that a total of 21 players will qualify this way.


2018 PDC Pro Tour, PDC Tour Card, Q-School
In a change to previous years, The PDC Pro Tour Qualifying School (or Q-School) was split into a UK and European Q-School. Players that are not from Europe can choose which Q-School they want to compete in.


2018 PDC Pro Tour, PDC Tour Card, Q-School
The following players won two-year tour cards on each of the days played:


2018 PDC Pro Tour, PDC Tour Card, Q-School
An Order of Merit was also created for each Q School. For every win after the first full round (without byes) the players get awarded 1 point.


2018 PDC Pro Tour, PDC Tour Card, Q-School
To complete the field of 128 Tour Card Holders, places were allocated down the final Qualifying School Order of Merits in proportion to the number of entrants. The following players picked up Tour Cards as a result:


2018 PDC Pro Tour, Professional Darts Corporation Nordic & Baltic
The Professional Darts Corporation Nordic & Baltic replaced the events in Norway and Latvia with new events in Lithuania and Iceland in 2018. As with 2017, there were 10 events held over 5 weekends. Two players from the Tour earned a 2019 PDC World Darts Championship spot, Darius Labanauskas and Daniel Larsson.


2018 PDC Pro Tour, Professional Darts Corporation Asia
The PDC introduced the PDC Asian Tour in 2018, with 12 events held over 6 weekends. Five players from the Tour earned a 2019 PDC World Darts Championship spot after Seigo Asada won the Japanese Qualifier. The other players to qualify were Lourence Ilagan, Royden Lam, Noel Malicdem and Paul Lim.


2018 PDC Pro Tour, Championship Darts Circuit Pro Tour
The top American and Canadian players over the 2018 CDC Tour qualified for the 2019 PDC World Darts Championship. Chuck Puleo and Jim Long took the two places.


2018 PDC World Cup of Darts
The 2018 Betway World Cup of Darts was the eighth edition of the PDC World Cup of Darts. It took place between 31 May–3 June 2018 in at the Eissporthalle in Frankfurt, Germany.


2018 PDC World Cup of Darts
The Netherlands pairing of Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld were the reigning champions and they retained the title by defeating Scotland's Peter Wright and Gary Anderson 3–1 in the final.


2018 PDC World Cup of Darts, Format
The tournament will remain at 32 teams this year, with the top 8 teams being seeded and the remaining 24 teams being unseeded in the first round. Like last year, there are no groups in 2018 with the tournament being a straight knockout.


2018 PDC World Cup of Darts, Format
First round: Best of nine legs doubles. Second round, quarter and semi-finals: Two best of seven legs singles matches. If the scores are tied a best of seven legs doubles match will settle the match. Final: Three points needed to win the title. Two best of seven legs singles matches are played followed by a best of seven doubles match. If necessary, one or two best of seven legs singles matches in reverse order are played to determine the champion.


2018 PDC World Cup of Darts, Prize money
Total prize money remained at £300,000, like last year. The prize money will be per team:


2018 PDC World Cup of Darts, Teams and seedings
The Top 8 nations based on combined Order of Merit rankings on 14 May were seeded.


2018 PDC World Cup of Darts, Results, Second round
Two best of seven legs singles matches. If the scores were tied, a best of seven legs doubles match settled the match.


2018 PDC World Cup of Darts, Results, Quarter-finals
Two best of seven legs singles matches. If the scores were tied, a best of seven legs doubles match will settle the match.


2018 PDC World Cup of Darts, Results, Semi-finals
Two best of seven legs singles matches. If the scores were tied, a best of seven legs doubles match will settle the match.


2018 PDC World Cup of Darts, Results, Final
Three match wins were needed to win the title. Two best of seven legs singles matches followed by a best of seven doubles match. If necessary, one or two best of seven legs reverse singles matches are played to determine the champion.


2018 PDC World Darts Championship
The 2018 William Hill World Darts Championship was a darts event, held between 14 December 2017 and 1 January 2018 at the Alexandra Palace in London, United Kingdom. It was the 25th World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation.


2018 PDC World Darts Championship
Michael van Gerwen was the defending champion, but lost 6–5 to Rob Cross in the semi-finals. Cross went on to win the World Championship on his debut by defeating Phil Taylor 7–2 in the final. This was Taylor's 29th and final World Championship, surpassing the record of 28 appearances he jointly held with John Lowe.


2018 PDC World Darts Championship
Jamie Lewis became the first player to reach the semi-finals after entering the championship through a preliminary round event, first introduced at the 2004 Championship. Lewis eventually fell to Taylor in the semi-final, by a score of 6–1.


2018 PDC World Darts Championship, Background and qualification
The 2018 PDC World Darts Championship is the 25th World Darts Championship to be organised by the Professional Darts Corporation; and the tenth to be held at Alexandra Palace, London. It was held between 14 December 2017 and 1 January 2018, the culmination of the 2017 Professional Darts Corporation season.


2018 PDC World Darts Championship, Background and qualification
72 players competed in the championship; with the 32 highest ranked players on the PDC Order of Merit being seeded, and the next sixteen highest ranked players from the 2017 PDC Pro Tour Order of Merit and the top eight ranked players from a number of international and invitational qualifiers also going straight into the first round. The remaining sixteen international and invitational qualifiers competed in a preliminary round.