KG Capital City Goofballs (0-1-3) vs.  RK Possums (2-2)

Week 05 featured several close contests.  The Goofballs/Possums encounter was especially important for both teams.  Rick needed a win to move back above 0.500 and stay close to the Lannisters and Armadillos.  Kevin was desperate to earn a victory and try to gain momentum.  The two teams had roughly similar offensive numbers, but Rick relied on strong pitching to secure the week.

On offense, both teams had a respectable 14 home runs.  Kevin had the edge in SLG but Rick took OBP.  The teams tied in steals and Kevin won RBI.  AJ Pollock was the Goofballs’ best performer.  He had four home runs, eight RBI, and two steals.  Anthony Rizzo contributed three home runs and nine RBI.  Eddie Rosario tied for the team lead with eight RBI in part-time duty.  The Possums had a more balanced offensive week.  Nine Possums’ players had home runs, including three from Joey Gallo.  Khris Davis, Charlie Blackmon, and Josh Donaldson had two each.  Blackmon drew seven walks and was a key contributor in Rick winning OBP.  Kevin held a slim 2-1-2 lead before pitching.

Rick posted solid pitching stats.  His team had the most strikeouts in the league, the second best ERA, third best WHIP, and second most wins.  Rick enjoyed two starts from Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.  The two combined to pitch 26.2 innings and strike out an incredible 45 batters.  The duo allowed just four runs.  Rick’s other pitchers had worse numbers but the quantity and quality of Verlander and Scherzer’s work evened out the stats and produced great team numbers.

Kevin suffered another series of meltdowns.  The bullpen was especially vulnerable.  Hunter Strickland, Keone Kela, and Dellin Betances allowed 11 earned runs in just five innings pitched.  The starters were mediocre beyond Chris Archer.  He had a good week over two starts, but his work was undone by the nightmarish bullpen performance.  Josh Hader had a good week for strikeouts – he struck out 12 in just 4.2 innings pitched.  It wasn’t enough to save the team, and Rick won all five categories.  The Possums cruised to a win and remain near the top of the league.  Kevin is left searching for answers yet again.

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

The week’s second most important match paired the Lannisters with the Thunderwolves.  Jeff’s team often frustrates the Thunderwolves because Kyle doesn’t match up well offensively with the Lannisters.   Kyle dedicated himself to building a solid offensive showing despite having 10 of his 26 offensive players on the DL or day-to-day.  He came close to matching the Lannisters, but it wasn’t quite enough to earn the victory.

The Lannisters led the league in RBI and SLG.  They were second in OBP and home runs.  Kyle as close – the Thunderwolves lost OBP by 0.0043.  They posted the second best SLG and RBI numbers in the league, and were tied for third in home runs.  They easily led the league in steals.  Kyle had three home runs each from Eduardo Escobar, Corey Dickerson, and Eric Hosmer.  Whit Merrifield continued to provide value with three steals.  Tim Anderson had two home runs in just eight at-bats.  In many other weeks this would be enough for a victory.  The Lannisters had just a bit more firepower available, though.  Mookie Betts had a three home run game and five for the week.  Bryce Harper added four of his own, and Mke Trout had 12 hits and eight walks.  Trough had an absurd 0.667 OBP and 1.136 SLG for the week.  This was too much for the Thunderwolves, and the Lannisters won four of five categories.  The Thunderwolves would have one four categories against the Lasershow, Goofballs, Possums, and Armadillos.  They would have swept the Legion and PhoeGnomes.

On pitching, the Lannisters’ bizarre inconsistency continued.  This time, it was on the positive side.  After posting an ERA over 5.50 last week, the same Lannisters crew improved to deliver an unthinkable 0.894 ERA for the week.  This ERA paired with the most wins in the league and the second best WHIP.  This may be the first time that a team has produced an ERA that was lower than the team’s WHIP.  Before this week, the lowest ERA for 2018 was the Legion’s 1.328 number in Week 03.  Chris’s WHIP was 0.934 (slightly better than the Lannisters’ 0.954).  Steen Strasburg was the only Lannisters’ starter to allow a run.  Gerrit Cole added a complete game, 16-strikeout win.  Even newcomer Walker Buehler took a no hitter through six innings before being removed for pitch-count reasons.  Kyle suffered a few bullpen meltdowns and generated poor overall numbers.  The Lannisters earned a hard fought victory.

The loss is a sad one for the Thunderwolves.  They would have beaten any other team this week expect for the Possums, whom they would have tied.  For now Kyle is back to 0.500 and will hope to have better luck against his next opponent.

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

The Armadillos had the best win of the week at 9-1 against the PhoeGnomes.  Heather’s team suffered a down week on all fronts, winning only the wins pitching category.  Larry set the tone for the week with great offensive numbers.  He led the league in home runs and was near the top in RBI and SLG.  Edwin Encarnacion abused Rangers’ pitching with a three home run day and 10 RBI for the week.  J.D. Martinez added three home runs of his own (some off the Rangers, too).  Twelve Armadillos players had a home run compared to just five for the PhoeGnomes.  Nolan Arenado had a four home run week, but it wasn’t enough to lift the whole team.  The PhoeGnomes were at the bottom of several offensive categories alongside the Legion.  The Armadillos earned a 5-0 sweep.

Neither team offered stellar pitching.  The Armadillos tied for the league lead in saves, but had a pedestrian ERA and WHIP.  Heather earned four wins, but two of them were from relievers.  Injuries caused havoc as well, with Hyun-Jin Ryu going down after just 1.1 innings pitched.  Chris Sale was good but it wasn’t enough to offset a disasterous outing for Jake Arrieta.  The Armadillos had a nice week from Noah Syndergaard but endured dud starts from Carlos Carrasco and Mike Foltynewicz.  Overall the pitching was pedestrian on both sides, but the Armadillos claimed four categories with ease and cruised to a win.

SM Lasershow (1-3) vs.  CP Legion (1-1-2)

The final match of the week saw the Lasershow battle the Legion.  The match was unusual because Sean dominated the offense while Chris enjoyed great pitching.  This caused a rare 5-5 tie where each team swept all of the categories on one side.

Offensively, the Lasershow relied on a great week from Francisco Lindor.  He had four home runs and 10 RBI to go with 17 hits.  Andrelton Simmons had a nice week with 12 hits and six RBI.  Yangervis Solarte had two home runs, 10 hits, and seven RBI.  The Lasershow led the league in OBP and were near the top in SLG, home runs, and RBI.  Chris wasn’t able to compete and finished with the worst home run, OBP, and SLG numbers in the league.

The opposite phenomenon occurred on pitching.  Chris had great stats across the board and Sean wasn’t able to keep up.  Luis Severino had a dominant outing with 10 strikeouts in a complete game.  Trevor Bauer was good in two starts and Roberto Osuna tallied three saves.  Ken Giles continued to struggle but the team’s overall numbers were strong.  The Lasershow had a bizarre week from Eduardo Rodriguez.  He pitched 10.0 innings and stuck out 16 but allowed 10 earned runs.  This doomed the Lasershow’s chances.  Chris easily took all five categories and the match ended in a draw.  Each team’s relative dominance made for an anticlimactic finish to the week,  and both teams have some work to do to put together more complete stats.

Next Week

Next week features a huge battle between the Legion and Lannisters.  Jeff’s team has been inconsistent on pitching, but dominant on offense.  Chris will have to find better luck with his hitters to climb back into the race.  Things don’t get easier for the Thunderwolves as the face the red-hot Armadillos.  The Possums will take on the Lasershow, and the Goofballs will try to win their first match against the PhoeGnomes.