• Thanks for the simple question Steve.
    😎

    Quick pointer, use the text() function to bypass the implied XML reconstruction for the output,

    SELECT r.value('local-name(.)','VARCHAR(100)') AS Slot,
       r.value('(./text())[1]','VARCHAR(100)') AS Team
    FROM @data.nodes('/Playoffs/AFC/TopSeedQuarter/*') AS x(r);