A series of close battles were the story of Week 06.  The Armadillos and Goofballs won by narrow margins.  The Hollidays pulled off a rare 4-4-2 tie.  Only the Lannisters had a dominant performance thanks to their monstrous offensive output.

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

The week’s most interesting match featured the Legion and Goofballs.  Both teams hovered near 0.500 as the week began, but Kevin was able to rise up and claim a victory.  Both teams had good offensive showings.  The Legion had the best OBP and home run totals besides the Lannisters.  Kevin had the second highest steals and OBP.  Paul Goldschmidt led the Legion with three home runs and six RBIs.  Carlos Correa had a pair of home runs and 10 RBI.  The Goofballs had a more balanced performance, with only one player having two home runs.  However, Kevin’s depth once again paid dividends.  He had 20 offensive starters and 16 of them had RBIs.  The highest total was six for Yasmani Grandal.  Anthony Rendon had a pair of steals.  Overall, the Legion won two categories and the Goofballs won three, thanks to having one more RBI.  The Legion made a valiant effort with nine RBIs on Sunday, but it wasn’t quite enough.

The pitching battle was similarly close.  The Goofballs threw a few more innings but were vastly more efficient in terms of strikeouts.  They easily won the category after excellent starts by Chris Archer and Matt Andriese.  The Legion countered with good weeks from Lance McCullers.  He also had two wins from relief pitchers in addition to five saves.  However, the team’s ERA and WHIP were not good.  This gave Kevin the three categories he needed to secure the win.  The Legion will be haunted by Winson Contreras’s Friday performance: He had two home runs on the bench.

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

The week’s other close match paired the PhoeGnomes and Armadillos.  After a loss to the hot Lannisters, Larry needed an offensive rebound.  Heather was searching for answers after a slow start.  Neither team posted huge numbers, but the Armadillos did enough to take four offensive categories.  Each team had good home runs numbers, but RBIs were hard to come by.  Heather won the category thanks to good weeks from Trea Turner, Austin Hedges, and Nolan Arenado.  The group combined for five home runs and 16 RBI.  Larry countered with quantity:  Eight different players had home runs.  This diversity also meant the team had a higher SLG and OBP.  The PhoeGnomes managed fewer steals than normal, and ended up losing four categories.

On pitching, neither side was particularly impressive.  However, the Armadillos led the league in wins and the PhoeGnomes had the most saves.  Strikeouts were competitive, and the Armadillos won with better efficiency.  Antonio Senzatela was a surprise, with nine strikeouts.  However, he also allowed six runs in 11 innings.  The real hero was Craig Kimbrel.  He recorded seven strikeouts, a win, and a save in just 2.2 innings pitched.  Heather hoped for good weeks from her multi-start pitchers.  However, only Ivan Nova was effective over two starts.  Julio Urias and Gio Gonzalez did not pitch well.  Since the Armadillos had bad ERA and WHIP totals, their runs allowed didn’t matter.  However, the two combined for just 13 strikeouts over 25 innings.  This gave the Armadillos the extra category they needed to secure six total, and win the week.

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

The week’s strangest match saw the Possums and Happy Hollidays tie.  On offense, both teams struggled.  Neither slugged over 0.400 and only the Thunderwolves had fewer home runs for the week.  The Possums won OBP by a sizable margin, but the Hollidays took SLG.  The two teams tied in home runs and steals.  Rick snagged RBI thanks to a good week from Joey Votto.  However, the Possums suffered a crushing bench performance when Jason Kipnis hit two home runs on Sunday while Jedd Gyorko went just 1-4.  Kipnis’s presence would have secured both home runs and SLG for the Possums, as well as a victory for the week.

Despite the poor offensive showing, the Hollidays were far better on pitching.  They had the best ERA and WHIP totals in the league by a wide margin.  Leading the way were Ervin Santana and Michael Fulmer, who allwed just one run in 14 innings pitched.  The Possums had better saves numbers thanks to Seung-Hwan Oh, but wasn’t enough.  A rough week from Justin Verlander locked in three categories for the Hollidays and created a 4-4-2 tie.

KK Thunderwolves (1-3-1) vs.  JK Lannisters (4-1)

The week’s final match saw the Lannisters unleash an offensive barrage against the Thunderwolves.  The Lannisters easily won HR, RBI, OPB, and SLG across the league.  The 20 home runs and 50 RBIs are near records for the league.  Leading the way were Mookie Betts, Buster Posey and Bryce Harper.  They posted 10 home runs 23 RBI combined.  Buster Posey added four more.  Mike Trout played in one game, and had a home run and two steals.  Kyle was able to lead the league in steals, but it wasn’t enough.  The Lannisters’ monstrous performance is a result of great depth, with players like Justin Upton and Marcell Ozuna hitting four home runs in part-time roles.

The pitching ledger was more balanced, but the Lannsiters were comfortable here too.  Kelvin Herrera’s four saves along with a good starts from Kenta Maeda and Gerrit Cole gave the Lannisters comfortable totals in the counting stats.  They also took both rate categories after a few bad starts from the Tunderwolves.  Kyle was able to make things closer on Sunday but it wasn’t enough.  The Lannisters cruised to a win, while Kyle has to hope for better luck next week.

Next Week

The most anticipated match again features the Legion.  They are desperate for a win, and face the Lannisters for the first time.  It’s a long season, but with a 2.5 game deficit, Chris P. can’t afford to fall much further behind.  The Possums and Goofballs should have a competitive match.  The Thunderwovles and PhoeGnomes are playing each other at the right time – both really need a victory.  Finally, the Armadillos hope to have a more relaxed match against the Hollidays.  Chris M. will try to exploit Larry’s injury troubles and keep making positive progress.