Week 11 proved to be a strange one in the Dirt Mountain League.  The league’s worst offensive team posted the best offensive stats.  The worst pitching team had the best pitching performance.  The PhoeGnomes had a monster offensive week, while the Possums struggled.  The end result was little change in the standings.

KG Capital City Goofballs (5-3-2) vs.  LK Armadillos (7-3)

The most important match of the week for the standings paired the Armadillos and Goofballs.  Kevin had a chance to tie for first with a victory.  However, the Armadillos had other plans.  Larry offered the second best offensive performance of the week.  The team had the most RBI by a wide margin.  They tied for the lead in home runs.  They were near the top of the rate stats with the PhoeGnomes and Hollidays.  Anthony Rizzo, Mike Zunino, and Edwin Encarnacion combined for ten home runs and 26 RBI.  Eric Thames and Keon Broxton added two home runs each.  The Goofballs didn’t have an answer outside of steals.  Despite starting 23 offensive players, Kevin had the lowest number of home runs in the league and was near the bottom in most categories.

Neither team had spectacular pitching stats, but Kevin had too much ground to make up to be competitive.  The Armadillos had better rate stats thanks to good starts from Carlos Carrasco and Clayton Kershaw.  Kevin hoped that a good week from David Price might stabilize his position, but he allowed six runs in 11 innings.  Both teams had mediocre saves and win totals.  This resulted in a comfortable win for the Armadillos.  Larry remains in first place, and the Goofballs have to hope that this loss does not haunt them later in the year.

CM Happy Hollidays (2-6-2) vs.  JK Lannisters (5-5)

The two most surprising results of the week came from the Hollidays and Armadillos.  Chris M.’s team has the worst offense in the league but posted their best results ever.  They led the league in OBP, tied for the lead in home runs, and were second in SLG.  Dexter Fowler and Yasiel Puig had seven total home runs.  Five Hollidays had more than one home run.  On Saturday, the team recorded seven home runs and even left more on the bench!  The Lannisters had good offensive numbers, and led several categories before the historic weekend outburst.  They won a single category – steals – and had to hope that their miserable pitching would come through.

Thankfully for the defending champs, the pitching staff rose to the occasion.  The Lannisters had the best ERA and saves numbers in the league.  They were second in WHIP and wins.  Jacob deGrom finally had a breakthrough complete game.  Jon Lester, Gerrit Cole and others posted solid numbers.  The bullpen was excellent, too.  This gave Jeff a five category sweep after the Hollidays failed to mount much of a challenge.  The end result was a victory for the favored team, but the offensive explosion serves as a reminder that any team can win at any time.

RK Possums (4-3-3) vs.  HP PhoeGnomes (5-5)

The PhoeGnomes were the third team to post monster offensive numbers.  Heather led the league in SLG and was near the top in all other categories.  Andrew McCutchen and Logan Morrison had three home runs each.  Jose Ramirez and George Springer added two more each.  The Possums put up a good fight and had fine totals as well.  Cody Bellinger exploded for four home runs in the losing effort.  Rick couldn’t compete in rate stats, but was pretty close in the counting categories.  However, Heather still managed a huge 5-0 lead.

On pitching, Heather followed the Armadillos’ strategy of posting mid-level numbers against an opposing meltdown.  Rick struggled to the worst ERA in the league, but had a decent WHIP.  He also had a good strikeout total.  However, the bad ERA limited the pitchers’ wins.  Heather took advantage and made up for the lack of strikeouts with a better WHIP, wins, and saves total.  As usual, Chris Sale was the standout for Heather, but Gio Gonzalez was solid as well.  With a better offensive showing, Rick could have been competitive.  Heather was able to win with relative ease.  Both teams remain firmly in the middle of the league.

CP Legion (6-3-1) vs.  KK Thunderwolves (1-7-2)

The closest match of the week featured the Legion and Thunderwolves.  The battle was tied going into the last game on Sunday.  The teams were evenly matched on pitching.  Chris and Kyle had equal wins, strikeouts, saves, and split ERA and WHIP.  Both teams had rate stats toward the bottom of the league.  Jimmy Nelson was great in two starts for the Legion, but he was offset by a disastrous Marco Estrada start.  Kyle had good starts from Alex Wood and Zack Greinke, but suffered a bad Yu Darvish start on Sunday.  The Darvish start failed to capture wins and strikeouts and contributed to Chris taking ERA.  This put immense pressure on both team’s offenses.

The offensive battle was as close at the pitching.  Kyle benefitted from a good showing from Rougned Odor.  Chris had contributions from a handful of players like Aaron Judge and Paul Goldschmidt.  Ultimately, the teams split most categories.  Kyle took RBI and SLG, but Chris captured OBP and steals.  Going into the last game Sunday, the teams were tied in home runs, and tied overall.  However, Carlos Correa had a late home run to give the Legion the category and the win.  This, paired with the disastrous Sunday Yu Darvish start (which Kyle attended in person), has to be demoralizing for the Thunderwolves.  Chris found a way to win, and Kyle is still stuck in the league basement.

Next Week

Week 12 features two key battles.  The most important features the Armadillos and Lannisters.  Jeff needs to win to maintain his tie-breaker and gain ground on first place.  The Possums and Legion meet in a match Rick needs to keep pace.  The PhoeGnomes hope that the Hollidays’ offense returns to earth.  Finally, the Goofballs hope to get back on track against the Thunderwolves.