The second week of the fantasy season saw three lopsided wins for the favorites.  The Armadillos romped their way to a rare 10-0 sweep of the Thunderwolves.  Heather put together a phenomenal performance to top the Goofballs.  The Legion righted the ship with strong pitching versus the Happy Hollidays.  Only the Possums were able to threaten an upset, but they were done in by Bryce Harper and the Lannisters.  It was a business-like week for the top of the league, and the stage is set for several interesting early match-ups in week 03.

LK Armadillos (1-0) vs. KK Thunderwolves (0-1)

The Armadillos posted the week’s most dominant stat line against the Thunderwolves.  Larry had a strong offensive base with eight players hitting at least one home run.  Mark Trumbo was a surprise with three in 16 at-bats.  Rougned Odor also provided good production from the second base position with eight hits and seven RBIs.  The Armadillo attack was balanced up and down the lineup.

The Thunderwolves continued to struggle offensively.  Kyle had the fewest steals in the league and was near the bottom in OBP, SLG, and HR.  However, the Thunderwolves maintained a competitive RBI total that fell just short.  The lack of power must be concerning to Kyle.  After investing heavily on the pitching side in the draft and through freezes, the Thunderwolves have not had the offensive firepower for the past couple of seasons.  If the trend continues, Kyle may need to address his struggles through trades or waiver pick-ups.

On the pitching side, neither the Armadillos nor the Thunderwolves had strong ERA or WHIP numbers compared to the stellar efforts from the PhoeGnomes, Legion, Goofballs, or Lannisters.  Both teams pitched about the same number of innings, but the Armadillos took strikeout, wins and saves despite similar rate stats.  Aaron Nola’s horrible 12.0 IP spoiled a quality week for Michael Wacha (12.0 IP, 11 hits, 1 ER) for Kyle.  Aaron Sanchez was a standout for the Armadillos – he allowed just two earned runs over 13 IP.  Craig Kimbrel led the way for the Armadillos bullpen, and helped secure a second five category sweep.  The Armadillos were hard to stop this week, and their combined attack got the job done.  The Thunderwolves are left looking for answers, but Kyle has proven that he is unafraid to make a deal to improve his team.

CP Legion (0-1) vs. CM Happy Hollidays (1-0)

After a rough first week against the PhoeGnomes, the Legion looked to rebound against the Happy Hollidays.  Chris M. hoped to carry over his early success into week two against one of the league’s best teams.  Unfortunately for the league’s newest owner, Chris P. unleashed the best pitching performance in the league en route to a clean 7-3-0 win.  Both teams took a quality-over-quantity approach with only one two-start pitcher between the squads.  Anchoring the Legion was Vince Velasquez, whose three-hit complete game also featured 16 strikeouts.  The Legion used 12 pitchers for the week and only four of them (three starters) allowed earned runs.  This gave Chris P. the best WHIP in the league, a tie for the best ERA and the second most strikeouts.  The Hollidays struggled to keep up in anything other than wins and saves.  The Legion were able to take both of those categories, as well, giving Chris P. the five-category sweep.  The performance was one of the best the league has seen in some time, especially given the number of wins and strikeouts the Legion were able to achieve with a limited number of starters.

On offense, neither team was able to get much traction.  The Hollidays were marginally better thanks to a pair of two-home run weeks from Randal Grichuk and Matt Holliday.  Francisco Lindor added two steals and Chris M. was able to win all three counting categories for the week.  Unfortunately for the Hollidays, the Legion were slightly better in the OBP and SLG categories.  The Legion are clearly feeling the offensive dip after trading away several members of their core to the PhoeGnomes.  George Springer and Ryan Braun were able to keep the Legion competitive, but they will need more help to remain in contention against better offensive teams.  Ultimately, the Legion were able to pull out a solid win.  The Hollidays will need to level their performance in the coming weeks.

JK Lannisters (1-0) vs. RK Possums (0-1)

After a tough battle against the Goofballs to open the season, the Lannisters faced another bitter struggle against the Possums.  Although the Possums have the league’s lowest Elo rating, they have traditionally posted a match-up problem against the defending champs.  This week was no different, and Rick threw everything he had into the hotly-contested battle.  Both teams posted huge power numbers.  The Possums had ten players with a home run.  Albert Pujols and Ian Kinsler were at the top of the list with two each, paired with 11 RBI.  Josh Donaldson led the Possums’ regulars in SLG, and helped propel the team to a victory in the category.  Good weeks from Wilson Ramos and Jeremy Hazelbaker also helped Rick win RBI.

Unfortunately for the Possums, the Lannisters also posted great offensive numbers for the week.  The Lannisters won OBP by a safe margin, and took steals thanks to Jason Kipnis.  However, the standouts for the week were JD Martinez and Bryce Harper.  The two combined for six home runs, 18 RBI, and two steals.  This gave the Lannisters a tie in HR, and a 2-3 deficit before pitching.

After struggling for most of last season against unfavorable pitching match-ups, the Possums looked to adapt and throw more innings this season.  This process gave the Possums the highest strikeout and wins totals in the league for the week, but left the team vulnerable in ERA and WHIP.  The Lannisters capitalized thanks to strong weeks from Jon Lester and Jose Quintana.  Jeff took ERA and WHIP without much of a fight.  He also piled up more saves, and buried the Possums 9-5 in this variable category.  This gave the Lannisters a close 5-4-1 victory.

At one point on Sunday, it looked like the Possums were heading for a tie.  Rick led the HR category late in the day, but Bryce Harper’s 10th inning swing turned the category into a tie.  The Possums can take some comfort that they did not leave any home runs on their bench on Sunday.  Also, Rick would have beaten all the other teams besides the Armadillos and PhoeGnomes.  The Possums are looking better even if the results are not yet noticeable in the standings.  For the Lannisters, the win capped another difficult struggle.

HP PhoeGnomes (1-0) vs. KG Capital City Goofballs (0-1)

In the first week of the season, the Goofballs faced the defending champs.  Their luck didn’t get any better against the improved PhoeGnomes.  Heather put together the most complete week in the league, and looks red-hot going into her battle with the Lannisters.  The PhoeGnomes pitching was just a fraction behind the Legion while her offense paced the league in several categories.

The PhoeGnomes pitched an average number of innings, but achieved outstanding results, especially on the rate side.  Chris Sale was on fire, pitching a two hit/no walk shutout.  Gio Gonzalez was almost as good but over fewer innings.  The bullpen was clicking as well, finishing third in the league in saves.  Heather easily took these three categories, but the Goofballs were unwilling to concede anything further.  Kevin threw five more innings, but logged 13 more strikeouts.  He also took wins, behind strong performances from Jake Odorizzi and Marcus Stroman.  This gave Heather a slim 3-2 lead before adding hitting.

Unfortunately for the Goofballs, Heather turned in one of the better offensive weeks in the league.  Her 14 homeruns and 44 RBI were easily the best.  They also contributed to a solid 0.500 SLG.  The bulk of the work came from Nolan Arenado (4 HR/12 RBI), Jose Altuve (3/7), Chris Davis (3/8) and Andrew McCutchen (2/3).  Kevin had seven players with home runs, including two each from Brandon Belt and Yoenis Cespedes.  It wasn’t enough to turn the tide, though, and Heather rolled on to an 8-2 win.  The loss puts the Goofballs and 0-2, but they have performed better statistically than the Legion, Happy Hollidays, Thunderwolves, and Possums.  At some point, they have to hope that the results catch up to the process.

Next week:

The PhoeGnomes huge win over the Goofballs sets Heather up for a key early match-up against the Lannisters.  Heather’s new additions are paying immediate dividends, and she knows how important it is to log wins early and secure tie-breakers.  The Lannisters are also keenly aware of this possibility, and will use every available resource to defend their title.  Elsewhere, the Armadillos face their rivals, the Legion.  Larry has avoided early scares in a solid start.  The Legion will have to improve their offense if they want to keep pace.

The Goofballs face the Happy Hollidays in an expansion battle.  Kevin will hope to take out his frustrations on the Hollidays, who showed vulnerability in Week 02.  Finally, barring a tie, either the Thunderwolves or Possums will pick up their first win of the season in their match.  The Possums have deserved better in the first two weeks, and the Thunderwolves will do anything they can to avoid falling to 0-3.