Lannisters, Legion Dominate; PhoeGnomes and Goofballs Take Care of Business

With only seven matches left in the season, the league leaders knew this week was critical.  After an upset at the hands of the Thunderwolves, the Legion rallied to defeat the surging Possums.  The Lannisters dominated the Armadillos after a massive offensive performance.  Jeff’s team is a combined 17-3 over the last two weeks.  The PhoeGnomes and Goofballs also scored impressive victories.

RK Possums (10-6-2) vs.  CP Legion (10-5-3)

The week’s most important match featured the Possums and Legion.  With one of the Lannisters and Armadillos sure to lose or tie, Rick and Chris were both looking to gain ground.  The week was critical for both teams.  The Possums would fall to 2.5 games back with a loss if the Lannisters won.  The Legion would drop to two back, with no way to win the tie-breaker.  With these high stakes as the backdrop, it was the Legion who put together the better week.

Chris had a strong overall offensive showing.  He was among the league leaders in home runs, OBP, and SLG.  He led the league in steals.  Christian Yelich was the best player for the Legion.  He had three home runs and two steals.  Seven Legion players contributed home runs and Trea Turner had three steals.  The Possums struggled to get much production from their offensive core.  Only three Possums’ players with at least ten at-bats had a SLG over 0.415.  Ian Kinsler struggled with a one-for-seventeen week.  This contributed to a team SLG below 0.400.  Rick’s offense was due to cool at some point.  The team is likely disappointed that the decline had to come in such a critical week.

Neither team posted impressive pitching stats.  However, Chris showed good counting numbers, leading the league in strikeouts and wins, and tying for the lead in saves.  The team ERA was over 4.32 and the WHIP was not good.  Leading the effort was Robbie Ray, who struck out 18 over 12 innings and allowed just two earned runs.  Other players like Vince Velazquez were effective in quantity (17 strikeouts) but allowed 10 earned runs in 11.2 innings pitched.  Rick tried to gain ground in the rate categories but was only able to take ERA.  This gave Chris a relatively easy victory for the week.

The Legion’s win cements Chris’s place as the most likely team to challenge the Lannisters for the league title.  The Legion are just a game back, and face an almost must-win versus the Lannisters in two weeks.  The Possums fall to 2.5 games back and will need substantial help to get back into the race.  However, the disappointing result should not discourage the team.  The Possums have made tremendous strides this year and are in a much better position than this time last year.

LK Armadillos (10-6-2) vs.  JK Lannisters (12-5-1)

The league’s current leader, the Lannisters, met the Armadillos in the second most important match of the week.  The Armadillos needed the win to pull closer to first place.  Since Larry owned the tie-breaker for the season, he would have been in a good position with the win.  Unfortunately, the Lannisters’ offense sprang to life and showed why the defending champs are so tough to beat.

The Lannisters led the league in every offensive category except for steals.  Eleven Lannisters hit home runs for the week, including four from Russell Martin.  Kris Bryant hit three with 11 RBIs.  Bryce Harper showed signs of life while role players like Jean Segura tallied three steals in a game.  The Lannisters built up such a lead in every category except for steals that they tried to run-up this category as well.  Then, designated base stealers like Keon Broxton and Travis Jankowski hit home runs in addition to padding the steals total.  The total effort was probably the best offensive output of the year for a seven-day stretch, and rivaled the Possums’ and Goofballs’ explosions from earlier in the year.

Despite the results on offense, the Armadillos had a chance thanks to terrible Lannister pitching.  The Lannisters somehow lead the league in aggregate team ERA for the year.  However, they struggled this week and had the second-worst ERA for the week.  They completely gave up on saves, and used long-relievers to rack up strikeouts.  This, combined with a high wins total, was enough to deliver the victory.  The Armadillos have suffered numerous injuries on the pitching side (as have the Lannisters).  The lack of Clayton Kershaw and Matt Harvey has been devastating for the Armadillos.

The loss does not mean the Armadillos are completely without hope.  They are 2.5 games back but still own the season tie-breaker.  If they can win out, they could still challenge for the title with help.  The win keeps the Lannisters ahead of the Legion and the rest of the competition.  They will need to find pitching help, with ace Stephen Strasburg on the DL.

KG Capital City Goofballs (8-9) vs.  KK Thunderwolves (5-10-3)

The week’s most competitive match paired the Goofballs and Thunderwolves.  Both teams have played well recently and this match was another close contest.  Kevin had the best pitching in the league by far.  He easily took ERA and WHIP with league-leading totals.  He also picked up wins, thanks to a solid week from his Rays-heavy rotation.  Kyle countered with better strikeout totals and more saves for the week in the same number of innings pitched.  Despite having great rate stats, Kyle didn’t get a lot of wins for the week.  Kevin took a 3-2 category lead before factoring in offense.

Kevin was able to take the week thanks to an excellent offensive showing.  He had the most consistent week outside of the Lannisters, and posted the second-best SLG and home runs totals in the league.  Ten different Goofballs had homers, and DJ LeMahieu was on fire with a 0.630 OBP and 0.958 SLG for the week.  The Thunderwolves countered with big weeks from Addison Russell and Adrian Beltre (three home runs each).  Kyle took RBI with the league’s second highest total.  Overall, offense was a good battle, but the Goofballs’ consistency was enough to earn them the win and bring them closer to 0.500.  Yet again the Thunderwolves played well but were beaten by a narrow margin.  Both teams are trending in the right direction.

CM Happy Hollidays (2-15-1) vs.  HP PhoeGnomes (9-9)

The PhoeGnomes were able to get back to 0.500 after following the Lannisters’ template.  Heather dominated the offensive side against the Happy Hollidays and relied on her bullpen and high wins totals to sneak by on the pitching side.  Yasmani Tomas had four home runs and nine RBI for the PhoeGnomes, and Nolan Arenado emerged from a long slump with two homers and 11 RBI.  The rest of Heather’s lineup was consistent and solid, with only one player posting a SLG below 0.400 and only Tomas slugging above 0.565.  The lineup was consistent throughout the week and gave Heather a solid lead.

On pitching, neither team excelled.  The PhoeGnomes and Lannisters challenged for the worst ERA in the league, but Heather eventually “won” the honor.  Zach Davies and Collin McHugh were deplorable, allowing 13 earned runs in seven innings pitched.  The Happy Hollidays fared much better, with Mike Leake, Cole Hamels, and Francisco Liriano combining to allow just one earned run over 20.1 innings pitched.  However, Chris M. failed to have five starts, so the team’s stellar ERA and WHIP were not counted in the stats!  Ultimately, this didn’t matter, because Heather secured more saves for the week and swept on offense.  The win moves the PhoeGnomes back to 0.500, and closer to the top of the league.

Next Week

The race for the title takes a detour next week, as the Lannisters and Legion meet the Thunderwolves and Goofballs respectively.  The Lannisters typically match up well against the Thunderwolves, but Kyle’s pitching could be a problem this time.  Kevin has been hot on offense and can definitely give the Legion problems.  The Possums hope to have a breather against the Happy Hollidays.  Rick must win this match to stay in the hunt.  Finally, the Armadillos have to beat the PhoeGnomes to keep their hopes alive, too.  Even if both the Lannisters and Legion fall, Larry needs the win to gain ground since time is running out.