CM Happy Hollidays (2-3) vs.  RK Possums (0-4-1)

After five difficult weeks, the Possums earned their first victory of the season against the Happy Hollidays.  Chris M. entered Week 06 after shocking the PhoeGnomes.  However, his luck didn’t last against the Possums’ combined attack.  Rick put up solid numbers across the board and took advantage of several Hollidays’ pitching meltdowns to enjoy a stress-free week.

Xander Bogaerts and Albert Pujols led the way for the Possums with four home runs and 13 RBI.  Bogaerts was particularly strong for the week with 15 hits.  Charlie Blackmon contributed seven more RBI, and the Possums easily won OBP, SLG, home runs, and RBI.  Chris was able to salvage a tie in steals, and Matt Holliday had a big week, but it wasn’t enough to turn any categories.  After leading the Hollidays to a win over the PhoeGnomes, Francisco Lindor endured a miserable five hit week.  Lindor has a .222 OBP and .192 SLG.  Yadier Molina and Ben Zobrist were the opposite, combining for 20 hits in 41 at-bats.  Unfortunately, they didn’t offer much power for the week, and Chris was forced to rely on his pitching.

Unfortunately for the Hollidays, several of his starters struggled.  Cole Hamels was the only Holliday to allow fewer than four earned runs.  The Possums countered with solid stats in a quantity approach for the week.  Rick had the second most strikeouts in the league and was third in saves.  His ERA and WHIP numbers weren’t great, but they were far below the Hollidays’ results.  Max Scherzer was clearly the standout for the week, with an incredible 20 strikeout performance.  Rick doubled Chris’s strikeout total for the week and cruised to the easy win.

The Possums have to feel good to be on the board for the year.  Rick drew praise for his strategy during the draft, but had yet to see any results for his efforts.  After finally putting together a complete week and avoiding a hot team, he will look to continue to build momentum.  For Chris, the loss exposes some issues on both pitching and offense that need attention before the Hollidays can climb out of the middle tier of the league.

HP PhoeGnomes (3-2) vs.  LK Armadillos (4-0-1)

After falling to the Hollidays, Heather needed a quick rebound while facing the league-leading Armadillos.  Larry hoped to keep his team strong after defeating the Lannisters.  Unfortunately, a series of bizarre incidents, brawls, and bad luck conspired against him, and the PhoeGnomes earned a close win.

On offense, both teams had clear category wins.  Larry easily won steals and RBI, but Heather dominated OBP and SLG.  These were strange results for several reasons.  First, the Armadillos had the second-most home runs and RBI in the league, but the second-worst OBP and SLG.  How were the Armadillos able to get so many HR and RBI without a corresponding SLG rate?  Why was the OBP so low if players were getting on base to drive in runs?  The Armadillos suffered from a massive feast-or-famine problem.  Jackie Bradley Jr. was 10 for 23 with two homers, eight RBI and a .783 SLG.   However, Giancarlo Stanton was 1 for 18 with no RBI and a .056 SLG.  Daniel Murphy stayed hot with an 11 for 25 week with six RBI.  Edwin Encarnacion was 1 for 14 with a .071 OBP.  Carlos Gomez, Carlos Gonzalez, Aaron Hill and Gregory Polanco were hitless for the week.  This schizophrenic performance gave Heather the opening she needed to capitalize on good week from stars like Jose Altuve and role-players like Odubel Herrera.  The teams were even in steals, so pitching would dictate who won the week.  Even this category was not without drama, and Jose Bautista earned a steal as part of a double-steal and Altuve picked up two on Sunday.

Both teams performed well relative to the rest of the league.  The PhoeGnomes had the lowest ERA of any team, and the Armadillos were second.  Heather was second in WHIP and Larry was third.  He also led the league in saves and tied for first in wins.  This gave each team a 2-2 split to go along with their 2-2-1 result on offense.  The outcome of the week rested on strikeouts.  If Larry won the category, he would win the week.  A tie would also result in a draw.

Heather had only two pitchers enter games on Sunday.  Francisco Rodriguez had one strikeout, meaning that Larry needed only four to win the week.  Craig Kimbrel did his part, recording two and picking up a save.  Roberto Osuna entered the Rangers/Blue Jays game but did not record a strikeout, and Jeanmar Gomez did not appear versus Cincinnati.  Fernando Rodney had two strikeouts on the bench, and Trevor Rosenthal picked up one against the Dodgers.  The narrow strikeout margin and Bautista’s Sunday steal secured an improbable comeback win for Heather.  She is now just a game behind the Lannisters.  The loss drops the Armadillos from first to third.

CP Legion (3-1-1) vs.  KG Capital City Goofballs (2-3)

Chris needed a victory to keep pace with the Lannisters and PhoeGnomes.  He found success on both offense and pitching, while the Goofballs’ excellent offensive stats were washed away by problems on the mound.  The Legion led the league with 13 home runs and five steals.  However, Chris had just four more RBIs than the PhoeGnomes (who hit just five home runs).  He also had the lowest OBP in the league.  Kevin countered with a massive week of rate stats, easily leading the league in SLG and coming in second in OBP.  Todd Frazier and Lorenzo Cain combined for six home runs and 18 RBI.  Only two Goofballs with at least 10 at-bats had SLG under .450.  Chris countered with monster weeks from George Springer and Yasmani Grandal.  Eight Legion hitters had homers, and Jonathan Villar contributed three steals.  Both teams were evenly matched, but Kevin secured a 3-2 lead on the offensive side.

Unfortunately for the Goofballs, their good work on offense was undone by disastrous pitching.  This was even more disappointing for Kevin since Chris didn’t put up dominant rate stats or saves totals.  The Legion dominated strikeouts with 87, 17 more than the Possums.  Chris also tied for the league lead in wins.  However, his bullpen wasn’t productive and his starters produced rate stats that were in the bottom third of the league.  Fortunately for the Legion, Kevin had the second worst ERA and worst WHIP in the league.  Chris Archer and Jake Odorizzi were terrible for the week, allowing nine runs in nine IP.  Sonny Gray was even worse, allowing 10 runs in 9.1 IP.

Chris secured the close win, and the Goofballs are left to ponder what might have been.  With openings on both the ERA and WHIP categories, Kevin had a chance for the upset.  The Legion were able to win and ugly match-up and keep pace with the league leaders.  Both clubs will need sharper performances in the coming weeks.

KK Thunderwolves (0-4-1) vs.  JK Lannisters (4-1)

After losing to the Armadillos, the Lannisters were looking to get on track against the Thunderwolves.  Kyle was hoping for his first win of the year with an upset of the defending champions.  Something had to give, and Jeff earned a close victory.  However, Kyle can take pride in closing the gap late in the week.

The Lannisters’ offensive starters had mixed results throughout the week.  Manny Machado stayed hot with two home runs, but had only three RBI.  Bryce Harper walked 11 times and had a steal, but hit only one home run.  Eric Hosmer and Jean Segura combined for 19 hits, but with light power.  These mediocre results placed the Lannisters in the middle of the league in every offensive category.  It also gave the Thunderwolves a chance to remain competitive.

Unfortunately for Kyle, he suffered some of the same problems that that the Lannisters faced.  He tied the Lannisters in SLG but failed to make a challenge in RBI despite nine from Addison Russell.  The team was also light on steals.  This gave Jeff a 3-1-1 advantage, but SLG was only .0041 apart.  One or two more hits would have given Kyle the category.  One more home run would have flipped both HR and SLG and given Kyle the win.  However, Kyle can take comfort in the fact that he did not leave any home runs on the bench on Sunday and had only one on Saturday.

The teams were evenly matched on pitching as well.  Kyle threw fewer innings but had good starts from Jose Fernandez and Aaron Nola.  Fernandez in particular was outstanding, giving up one run and striking out 22 in 14.0 IP.  Jeff countered with solid weeks from Felix Hernandez, Jon Lester, and Jacob deGrom.  However, both teams had several starters who struggle.  This led to split results with Kyle taking wins and ERA but Jeff winning both strikeouts and WHIP.  In fact, the Lannisters led the league in WHIP despite having just the third best ERA.  These mixed results were enough to give the Lannisters the win.  Kyle had an opening to win the match, but didn’t have enough firepower to get the job done.  For the Lannisters, the workmanlike win was important after the rest of the leaders kept pace.

Week 07 is the last week of the first cycle of games.  The most important match pairs the Legion with the Lannisters.  These two teams have led the league in Elo for several seasons.  Jeff will look to stay in first place while Chris hopes to show that his rebuilding efforts are already paying dividends.

The Possums hope to keep winning against the Goofballs.  The Hollidays will also look to get back on track against the Armadillos.  Heather will try to take advantage of the Legion/Lannisters battle and gain a game on at least one team against the Thunderwolves.