Lannisters Approach Title; Goofballs and Armadillos Dominate; PhoeGnomes Climb Higher

JK Lannisters (14-5-1) vs.  CP Legion (11-6-3)

The most important battle of the week featured the Legion and Lannisters.  With the defending champs closing in on another title, the Legion faced a virtual must-win to stay in contention.  Unfortunately for the Legion, the Lannisters posted strong offense and just enough timely pitching to take a victory.

Mike Trout was the standout offensive player for either team. He had three home runs, a steal, and a 1.333 SLG for the week (along with a 0.652 OBP).  Manny Machado and Eric Hosmer had two home runs each, too.  This gave the Lannisters comfortable leads in four offensive categories.  Chris tried to rally behind a great week from Christian Yelich, who had three home runs and two steals.  Trea Turner added three steals, giving Chris his only offensive category.  The Legion had a decent offensive showing, but it wasn’t enough.  The Lannisters were near the top in their four categories, leaving Chris with little room to spare on the pitching side.

Neither team featured stellar pitching.  The Legion threw ten more innings than the Lannisters, but their performance was suspect.  Only Trevor Bauer was effective in his two starts, posting a win and a 1.88 ERA and 0.91 WHIP.  The rest of the starters were mediocre.  However, the Lannisters were unable to take advantage.  Their starters were even worse, and had a dismal 6.395 ERA.  This was over three times the lowest ERA in the league.  However, the Lannisters did manage more strikeouts than the Legion.  They also had a lower WHIP.  The timely return of Wade Davis led to a draw in saves.  Chris took wins, but ultimately it wasn’t enough.  The saviors for the Lannisters were Jon Lester, who threw a brilliant complete game, and newcomer Jose de Leon.  The young Dodgers’ starter had nine strikeouts and secured the category.

The loss is a bitter one for the Legion.  The opportunity was there on the pitching side.  However, Chris still remains in second place and has at least a mathematical chance.  The Lannisters need a win and a tie in their final four weeks to win the title.

RK Possums (11-7-2) vs.  KG Capital City Goofballs (10-10)

The Goofballs continue to surprise this season.  After shocking the Legion, Kevin turned his attention to the Possums.  Rick has been one of the league’s other big surprises, but the Goofballs proved to be too much this week.  Kevin’s pitching formed the foundation for his victory.  Kevin’s bullpen threw 7.1 innings and didn’t allow an earned run.  They recorded five saves, good for second in the league.  David Price continued to rebound, and Kyle Hendricks was excellent.  The Possums were okay on pitching, but lacked a standout performance to really lower the rate categories.  The wins and saves failed to add up, and Kevin had a clear lead.

On offense, the Possums suffered another down week.  The bats that produced so much damage in the Possums’ win streak have cooled.  Only Ian Kinsler had multiple home runs for the week.  Adam Duvall suffered a down week and slugged 0.263, lower than his OBP of 0.273.  In contract, Brian Dozier hit three home runs for the Goofballs and Freddie Freeman had ten walks and seven RBI.  Even Jayson Werth contributed a home run.  Dozier’s two steals contributed to a league-leading total, and the Goofballs won a hard-earned 10-0 sweep.  Although the Lannister’s win eliminated the Goofballs and placed the Possums in almost-eliminated territory, both teams have shown great progress in the season.  Both teams remained in the hunt until the end of the third cycle of games.  The Goofballs can now turn their attention to the draft, while the Possums will look to close the season strong until they are totally eliminated.

LK Armadillos (10-8-2) vs.  CM Happy Hollidays (2-17-1)

The Armadillos finally got back to winning with a crushing victory over the Happy Hollidays.  Todd Frazier led the way with three home runs for the Armadillos.  Seven other players also had home runs, including a huge week from Rougned Odor.  Chris wasn’t totally moribund on offense, though, and he actually took OBP by a small margin.  For several weeks, the Armadillos have been hampered by high-power/low-OBP issues.  This is a possible source of trouble that the team will need to address, especially with players like Odor and Starling Marte.  However, Larry still won four categories with ease.

On pitching, the Armadillos were clearly the best in the league.  They had the best ERA by far, the most strikeouts and saves, tied for first in wins, and were second in WHIP to the Goofballs.  Tanner Roark had two excellent starts.  He allowed just two earned runs in 12 innings and recorded a win.  Carlos Martinez was also good, striking out 19 in 12 innings.  Jeurys Familia threw 4.1 innings and got three saves.  The Hollidays endured meltdowns from Cole Hamels, and Francisco Liriano recorded an infinite ERA and WHIP after giving up two runs on two hits without recording an out.  [Note:  Technically, these are undefined since you are dividing by zero.]  The Armadillos won four categories and secured a relatively easy win.

KK Thunderwolves (5-12-3) vs.  HP PhoeGnomes (11-8)

The week’s closest match pitted the Thunderwolves and PhoeGnomes.  Heather took a narrow victory, but Kyle kept things close.  Things looked to be going the Thunderwolves’ way on offense.  Kyle led the league in home runs, RBI, and SLG.  He was second in OBP.  Albert Pujols and Adrian Beltre were the key contributors.  They had seven total home runs and 14 RBI.  Nelson Cruz was excellent in light duty with two homers and a SLG of 1.125.  Heather didn’t have any offensive counters.  Her SLG was below 0.400 and she had the lowest home run total in the league.  However, she was able to record five steals thanks to Paul Goldschmidt and Brandon Crawford.  This category would be important to her win.

On pitching, Heather responded with a solid week.  Noah Syndergaard, Chris Sale, and Matt Shoemaker were stellar.  These good starts helped to offset a rare bad week for Jake Arrieta.  Heather didn’t lead the league in any categories, but she had a solid foundation.  Kyle had an acceptable pitching week, but he couldn’t quite catch Heather in any category besides wins.  Yu Darvish had a rough pair of starts, as did Jose Fernandez.  Ultimately, Kyle couldn’t get the save he needed to earn a draw.  Heather took four categories and secured a win for the week.

Next Week

The Lannisters look to move closer to the title against the Goofballs.  Kevin will not give any ground, and wants to continue to play spoiler.  The Armadillos and Possums meet in a true must-win game.  Both teams can possibly catch the Lannisters if the leaders falter.  The loser will be out for sure.  The same applies to the Legion, who must beat the PhoeGnomes to have a shot.  Finally, the Thunderwolves look to rebound against the Happy Hollidays.