The Lannisters remain at the top of the Elo board after a lengthy winning streak.  The Goofballs moved into second place after a better quality victory than the Armadillos.  The Legion lost ground and the Possums are now close to moving into fourth place.

The biggest match of the week shows the Lannisters with a small advantage over the Legion.  The Goofballs are even smaller favorites over the Possums.  Larry is a commanding favorite over the Lasershow, and Heather has a good probability versus the Thunderwolves.

 

 

CP Legion (9-6-4) vs.  KG Capital City Goofballs (11-6-2)

The week’s premier battle featured the Goofballs and Legion.  Both teams were near the top of the standings and each needed a victory to keep pace with the Lannisters.  The Goofballs entered with four straight victories, but the Legion hoped to defeat the expansion team and continue to push for the title.  The week started well for the Legion, with a huge four home run week from Francisco Lindor.  Christian Yelich and Paul Goldschmidt added two each, and the Legion totaled five steals.  This was good enough to win the OBP and SLG categories, but the Goofballs had substantially more RBI.  The culprit was Rhys Hoskins, who had an incredible six home runs and 15 RBI for the Goofballs.  His totals gave the team the lead in home runs and RBI, and Brian Dozier’s three steals secured a third category and a 3-2 advantage.

Chris Archer led the way for Kevin.  He had two starts over 13.0 innings pitched with 18 strikeouts and just two earned runs.  Chris had decent weeks from Jimmy Nelson, Carlos Martinez, and Luis Severino.  However Jimmy Nelson struggled, and the Legion fell behind in ERA and WHIP.  Corey Knebel and three saves for the Goofballs, and the team was more efficient in striking out batters.  Both teams had about the same number of innings pitched, but Kevin had the edge in strikeouts.  This left Chris without a path to victory despite a good overall performance.  The Goofballs took four categories and won the week.  Kevin remained 1.5 games behind the victorious Lannisters.  The Legion are still mathematically alive, but will need tremendous help after falling to 3.5 back with four to play.

HP PhoeGnomes (10-9) vs.  LK Armadillos (10-6-3)

The week’s second most competitive match saw the Armadillos eliminate the PhoeGnomes.  After a crushing loss to the Lannisters, both teams needed a win to stay in contention.  The Armadillos offense remained red-hot.  The led the league in home runs, RBI, and SLG.  Yet again, Giancarlo Stanton led the way with five home runs and 11 RBI.  Gary Sanchez was almost as good – he had four home runs and 10 RI.  Edwin Encarnacion and Anthony Rizzo added two each.  Heather was competitive in home runs, OBP, and SLG.  Four players had two home runs, and five others had one.  However, the team as a whole fell just short in three categories.  The Armadillos earned the five category sweep.

Neither team had outstanding pitching, but Heather was in too deep a whole to climb out despite having the edge in several categories.  Taijuan Walker was good in two starts but didn’t strike out a lot of batters.  Chris Sale struggled in his lone start but Hyun-Jin Ryu was good, as was Madison Bumgarner.  The Armadillos struggled with Chad Betts and J.A. Happ .  John Lackey was cut after a terrible outing.  However, the team got strikeouts and saves.  This was enough to win two categories and take the week, despite a close call on a few offensive categories.  The Armadillos are just two games behind the Lannisters.  The PhoeGnomes were eliminated from contention after falling 4.5 games back.

SM Lasershow (2-14-3) vs.  RK Possums (8-6-5)

Besides the Goofballs, Armadillos, and Legion, the Possums are the only other team left with a chance to catch the Lannisters.  Rick has quietly built a powerful offensive core, and he put together a complete week to stay in the hunt.  Rick had the second best pitching stats behind the Goofballs.  Patrick Corbin was great in two starts over 15.0 innings.  He struck out 14, allowed one earned run, and picked up two wins.  The bullpen was strong and was tied for second in saves.  Masahiro Tanaka and Justin Verlander had 18 strikeouts in just 14.0 innings pitched.  The Lasershow had little to counter the Possums’ pitching.  Jim Johnson imploded and Coe Hamels struggled to a 6.35 ERA over two starts.  Eduardo Rodriguez wasn’t much better.  Only Sonny Gray had a good start for the week.  Rick took every category except WHIP and had a commanding lead before offense was factored in.

The Lasershow were far strong on offense than pitching.  Yasiel Puig and Jonathan Schoop had two home runs.  Five other Lasershow players had a home run as well.  This was enough to win SLG and OBP.  The team also took steals thanks to two from Andrelton Simmons.  Rick had a strange offensive week.  He was second in home runs for the league and won RBI.  However, these results did not translate to OBP or SLG.  Josh Donaldson and Khris Davis had three home runs each but both had OBPs below 0.300.  This strange pattern made the week closer than it likely should have been.  However, Rick did enough to pull out the 6-4 win and remain alive.  Like Chris, he will need help but at this point week-to-week survival is the only concern.

KK Thunderwolves (3-14-2) vs.  JK Lannisters (13-5-1)

The week’s final match saw the Thunderwolves take a shot at the Lannisters in their final match of the year.  Despite having a staff full of injured starters, the Lannisters found a way to win with pitching for the week.  Rich Hill’s near-no-hitter led the way, and his 0.11 WHIP contributed to the Lannisters’ strong total.  The bullpen came through as well, with both stars and part timers contributing saves.  Fernando Rodney, Brad Hand, and Sam Dyson had four saves total.  Kenley Jansen added two more.  Kyle struggled for the week with disastrous starts from Michael Wacha, Aaron Nola, and Marcus Stroman.  The Lannisters took four of five categories.

On offense, neither team delivered stellar stats, but the Lannisters did enough to take three more categories and win the week.  Marcell Ozuna had four home runs, and three other players had two each.  The Lannisters’ offensive depth paid dividends yet again.  Robinson Cano and Paul DeJong had strong SLG numbers in limited use.  Kyle had a great week from Adrian Beltre, but little else to offer.  The Thunderwolves fell, but tried their best to remain competitive despite early pitching disasters.  The win keeps the Lannisters I first place, 1.5 games ahead of the nearest competitor.

Next Week

There are two huge matches next week.  First, the Legion will fight for their lives against the Lannisters.  Next, the Possums face the Goofballs.  The Possums must win this game to remain in contention.  Both of these teams are hoping for a Legion victory.  The Lannisters will cheer for the Possums to keep the Goofballs at bay, and more teams at medium distance.  The Armadillos face the Lasershow.  The Armadillos are another team who would benefit from a Legion victory.  The only meaningless match of the week pairs the Thunderwolves and PhoeGnomes.  Both teams are playing for pride and will want to stay sharp for their final matches of the year against the league leaders.

LK Armadillos (10-5-3) vs.  JK Lannisters (12-5-1)

As the season draws to a close, every match is important.  The Armadillos faced the Lannisters in a close battle for the top of the leaderboard.  After weeks of inconsistent offensive performance, the Lannisters exploded to lead the league in home runs, RBI, and SLG.  Leading the way were Justin Upton and Manny Machado.  Each had four home runs and the pair combined for 19 RBI.  Jose Abreu and Mike Trout had three home runs each, while Paul DeJong and Kris Bryant had two apiece.  The Armadillos put up excellent totals early in the week, but it wasn’t enough.  Gary Sanchez had a monster four home / 10 RBI week, and Giancarlo Stanton added three home runs.  The team also led the league in OBP thanks to Stanton’s performance.  Unfortunately for the Armadillos, the Lannisters had a 3-2 advantage before pitching.

The Lannister bullpen was a standout for the week with six saves to the Armadillos’ four.  This put immense pressure on both pitching staffs.  The Lannisters were slightly better than the Kershaw-less Armadillos.  Reynaldo Lopez and J.A. Happ suffered abysmal starts.  Dallas Keuchel was great in one start, but the rest of the Armadillos’ squad was mediocre.  The Lannisters weren’t much better, after a Jacob deGrom meltdown.  However, the strong bullpen and a few quality starts were enough to capture ERA and WHIP.  The Armadillos won strikeouts, but the Lannisters took the week.  The result has to be frustrating for the Armadillos, because their offense was the second best in the league.  The win puts the Lannisters firmly in the lead for the title, but there are still four teams within just three games of the lead.  The Armadillos fell to three back, but can still make up ground and own the tiebreaker.

RK Possums (8-6-4) vs.  CP Legion (9-6-3)

The Possums kept their title hopes alive with a surprising tie against the Legion.  Rick’s week looked a lot like the Armadillos – great hitting and middling pitching.  Leading the way was Josh Donaldson with four home runs.  Nine other Possums’ players had home runs, and the team was second in both OBP and SLG.  The Legion didn’t put up good offensive totals except for steals.  Delino DeShields had three for the week and the Legion were second in the league.

Chris had a much better week pitching.  Despite a bat stat line from Danny Salazar, the team had the best ERA, saves, and strikeout total in the league.  Roberto Osuna and Raisel Iglesias had three saves each.  Luis Severino and Brad Peacock allowed just one run in two starts.  Overall the Legion had the best pitching line for the week.  Rick struggled, especially for the rate stats.  However, he did manage five wins.  This was enough to secure the tie for the week.  Carlos Rodon and Brad Peacock had good outings for the Legion but their teams let them down and neither got a win.  This cost Chris the victory for the week.  However, the Legion are just 2.5 games back and still alive in the title hunt.  The Possums are three back, but the tie keeps their dream alive as well.

KG Capital City Goofballs (10-6-2) vs.  KK Thunderwolves (3-13-2)

The Goofballs continued to use a horde of players to amass solid production and continue to ascend up the standings.  This week Kevin used 22 hitters and ten pitchers, or more than three quarters of the entire roster!  His best player was Nelson Cruz, who hit three home runs.  However, more unknown names like Rhys Hoskins added a home run, and Lorenzo Cain contributed a steal in just five at bats.  The Goofballs don’t have the star power of some other teams, but they have solid depth and continue to hunt for production on the waiver wire and free agent pool.  The team’s efforts have paid off and the deep roster continues to enjoy success.  This week the Goofballs led the league in OBP and had solid offensive numbers that could have topped the league most other weeks.  The Thunderwolves continued to struggle on offense, but did lead the league in steals thanks to big weeks from Rougned Odor and Whit Merrifield.

Neither team had the best pitching stats, but Kevin had enough good arms to take four categories.  Kyle Hendrisk and Dinelson Lamet had two good efforts each.  The Thunderwolves relied on Zack Greinke and Yu Darvish, but a series of injuries and bad starts derailed the team’s chances.  The Goofballs cruised to a win and are not in second place, just 1.5 games behind the Lannisters.  There are six weeks left and the teams meet once more, so Kevin will need to win and get help.  However, his position at the top of the league shows that his aggressive approach to acquisitions works.  It’s also a reminder to other struggling teams (like the Thunderwolves) that a re-build can happen quickly if you can find the right parts.

SM Laswershow (2-13-3) vs.  HP PhoeGnomes (9-9)

The week’s final match saw the PhoeGnomes defeat the Lasershow.  Sean’s demise came because of his pitching, where he posted the worst ERA and WHIP in the league by a considerable margin.  Jim Johnson struggled, as did Trevor Rosenthal.  Hector Neris contributed little, and the solid work from Rick Porcello and Pat Neshek went to waste.  Heather countered with a great week from Gio Gonzalez.  In two starts, Gonzalez didn’t allow a run and had a 0.87 WHIP.  Charlie Morton was good, as was the bullpen.  Heather cruised to a 4-0-1 advantage.

Sean fared better on offense.  He had a good SLG number thanks to a huge four home run week from Rafael Devers.  Heather had much less power, but did take OBP and steals thanks to Jose Altuve and Austin Hedges.  Solid efforts from Jay Bruce and Ryan Zimmerman weren’t enough to help the Lasershow, and Heather earned another victory.  She is now in 6^th place and 3.5 games back.

Next Week

The final matches continue in the 20^th week of the season.  The Legion and Goofballs have a critical match.  The losing team is likely out of title contention.  With the Lannisters facing the Thunderwolves, both teams will want a victory to keep pace and play for the final match-up with the league leaders.  The Armadillos look to keep their title dreams alive against the PhoeGnomes.  Finally, Rick hopes to stay alive against the Lasershow.

The Lannisters edged closer to 1,600 with a strong victory.  The Legion and Armadillos stayed where they were, while the Possums and Goofballs picked up a few points in heavily-favored matches.

The Lannisters and Legion are huge favorites over the bottom two teams in the league.  However, the other two matches are almost coin flips.  The Armadillos and Possums are just 55% favorites in their battles.

CP Legion (9-5-2) vs.  LK Armadillos (10-4-2)

The Legion and Armadillos met in yet another close battle for first place.  The Armadillos took the first match but the Legion struck back and won the second.  The third encounter was even closer, with each team leading at multiple points throughout the week.  However, the final result was an even 5-5 tie.  Both teams posted prolific offensive numbers.  Paul Goldschmidt had three home runs and 11 RBI.  Chris Taylor added three homers and a 0.800 SLG for the week.  Even Justin Smoak was hot, with two home runs and six RBI.  The Armadillos countered with three home runs from Giancarlo Stanton and nine RBI from Eduardo Nunez.  Ten Armadillos’ players had at least one home run, compared to seven for the Legion.  Larry led the league in home runs and SLG.  He tied for the lead in steals and RBI. However, his OBP was only fourth overall.  This gave Chris a critical category win.

Both teams had strong pitching for the week.  Chris easily led the league in strikeouts with 83.  The Lannisters were second with 64.  Larry had a similar lead in saves – his total of nine was well above the Possums’ second-best six.  This left ERA, WHIP, and wins as the only categories in play.  Going into the last day, the Armadillos had a small edge, but Chris had better pitchers ready.  Chris got what he needed from Luis Severino and Jimmy Nelson.  However, Roberto Osuna almost caused disaster for the Legion.  He allowed four runs in 0.2 IP and brought the ERA gap to just 0.122.  This was as close as the Armadillos could, though, and Chris secured four pitching categories.  This left the teams with a 5-5 tie for the week and an overall tie for the season.  The teams will meet one more time in Week 24.

HP PhoeGnomes (9-7) vs.  JK Lannisters (10-5-1)

The Legion and Armadillos’ result opened a window of opportunity for the Lannisters and PhoeGnomes.  Both teams are in the mix for the title and, like the Legion and Armadillos, had two close battles earlier in the season.  The Lannisters won the first match but Heather took a close victory in the second.  After a few weeks of improved pithing, the Lannisters were forced to rely on their offense again.  Justin Upton and Mike Trout provided most of the power, with three home runs each.  Heather had a monster week from Wilson Contreras.  He had five home runs and 13 RBI for a 1.182 SLG.  However, it wasn’t enough to combat the depth of the Lannister lineup.  Heather took steals, but Jeff won the other four categories after some Sunday heroics from Marcell Ozuna and Trout.

On pitching, Heather fared better.  She had the second best ERA and WHIP in the league.  Chris Sale struggled but Danny Duffy excelled in two starts.  The Lannisters had little to counter Heather’s rate stats.  However, they made several good Sunday pickups and were able to take strikeouts.  Heather had a chance to win the category and secure the victory for the week, but Hyun-Jim Ryu was removed from his start after seven innings despite allowing a single hit and no walks.  Heather’s pickup looked brilliant, but he came up just short.  Kenley Jansen removed any doubt when he struck out the side in a meaningless appearance.  The result propelled the Lannisters back into first place.  Heather probably deserved a better result for the week and can take comfort in losing only a half game on the other leaders.

RK Possums (6-6-4) vs.  KK Thunderwolves (2-12-2)

The Possums looked to keep pace with the leaders against the Thunderwolves.  Rick’s offense and pitching answered the call and delivered a resounding 9-1 win over Kyle’s squad.  Cody Bellinger had four home runs and Joey Gallo continued to pay dividends in both OBP and power.  Kyle didn’t have a lot of power to offer, but Adrian Beltre did have six RBI.  However, four Possums had at least two home runs compared to just two such players on the Thunderwolves.

Kyle was more competitive on pitching.  He got a great start from Yu Darvish (who was traded to the Dodgers).  He also got a nice week from Aaron Nola.  However, their good was undone by a bad Zack Greinke outing, and a terrible effort from Bud Norris.  Rick got serviceable performance from Jeff Samardzija and a nice Justin Verlander start.  The Possums’ bullpen was also strong, recording the second more saves in the league.  Overall, Rick cruised to a dominant win and remains just 2.5 games out of first place.

SM Lasershow (2-11-3) vs.  KG Capital City Goofballs (8-6-2)

After surprising the Legion, Sean tried to bring down the Goofballs.  However, Kevin unleashed a rare strong pitching performance.  They led the league in ERA by a wide margin.  Though they made only five starts, the staff performed well and allowed just a 1.73 ERA.  The bullpen avoided any serious meltdowns.  Jacob Faria was particularly strong, striking out nine in just six innings pitched.  The Lasershow threw almost twice as many innings as the Goofballs.  The easily won strikeouts and wins, but the Goofball’s bullpen took saves and secured WHIP.

On offense, the Lasershow used 20 different batters.  The Goofballs responded with 21.  Both teams made the most of their lineups and the Goofballs were near the top of each offensive category.  Brian Dozier was strong, with three home runs in just 11 at-bats.   The Lasershow had multi-home run weeks from Yasiel Puig, Jay Bruce, and Justin Turner.  However, other players struggled and the team was left with the worst SLG in the league.  Kevin won with relative comfort and is just a game and a half behind the Lannisters.

Next Week

Things don’t get easier for the Lasershow.  Their next match is against the Lannisters.  The Legion also get a breather against the Thunderwolves.  The two matches to watch feature the Armadillos versus the Goofballs and the Possums against the PhoeGnomes.  All four teams will need wins with the other two leaders facing weaker competition.