LK Armadillos (7-4-1) vs.  KK Thunderwolves (4-7-1)

The Armadillos convincing defeat of the Thunderwolves was the lone bright spot in a week of dreary ties.  The Armadillos put together the best offensive showing in the league.  Larry led the league in home runs, RBI and SLG.  Alex Breagman came alive with five home runs and ten RBI.  He also contributed two steals.  Nick Castellanos had three home runs and eight RBI.  The Thunderwolves had a decent offensive week highlighted by three home runs from Rhys Hoskins.  Kyle was also close in RBI.  The Thunderwolves got good production from the bottom of their roster with Wil Myers and Gregory Polanco adding home runs.  However, the Armadillos were too strong, and Kyle suffered a five category sweep despite having great home run and RBI totals.

The pitching battle was much closer.  Kyle led the league in strikeouts and wins.  James Paxton picked up two wins and struck out 21 in his two starts.  Vince Valasquez is the only Thuderwolves starter that didn’t pick up a victory.  The Armadillos countered with slightly better quality in fewer innings pitched.  Edwin Diaz picked up four saves, and the Armadillos easily won the single category they needed to clinch the week.  The team enjoyed a handful of good starts, and it was enough to cruise to victory.  The win was a good turnaround for the Armadillos, and the Thunderwolves put up one of their better efforts of the season in the loss.

CP Legion (4-4-4) vs.  JK Lannisters (7-2-3)

The Legion and Lannisters fought to a second tie for the season.  Neither team had stellar offensive numbers, but the Lannisters won three categories while the Legion took two.  Jesus Aguilar stayed hot with three home runs.  Bryce Harper added a home run and 10 walks.  However, the rest of the Lannisters failed to collect many RBI.  For example, Manny Machado had two home runs, 11 hits, and a 0.630 SLG.  He only had four RBI, though.  This gave Chris a key category win.  The Legion also took steals thanks to a good week from Jose Ramirez.  Aaron Judge had a nice three homer week.  This left pitching to decide the match.

Both teams had good efforts on pitching.  The Lannisters took the lead in ERA and WHIP early.  Charlie Morton was dominant in two starts, striking out 24.  The rest of the Lannisters staff was okay, and the team posted a good ERA for the week.  Chris had move victories and got two key dominant starts from Luis Severino and Blake Snell.  The two struck out 35 and allowed one earned run.  This gave Chris just enough of an edge in WHIP to tie the week.

KG Capital City Goofballs (3-6-3) vs.  HP PhoeGnomes (4-7-1)

The second tie of the week happened for the PhoeGnomes and Goofballs.  Both teams had good offensive production.  They tied with 11 home runs.  The Goofballs won RBI and Heather took steals.  Javier Baez had two home runs and 11 RBI for the Goofballs.  Nolan Arenado led the PhoeGnomes with three.  Kevin maintained a slight edge in SLG and OBP.  He held a 3-1-1 lead before pitching.

Heather was able to rally on the pitching side.  She easily won ERA and WHIP.  The Goofballs were ineffective on the mound outside of the Tyler Skaggs and Kevin Gausman.  Five Goofballs had ERAs over 10.00.  Heather had good outings from Madison Bumgarner and Chris Sale, but suffered her own meltdown from Gio Gonzalez.  Gonzalez’s disastrous effort left Heather essentially one start short for the week.    Kevin couldn’t capitalize, though, and Heather won strikeouts, ERA, and WHIP.  The deadlock in wins left the two teams tied 4-4-2.  Heather had a chance to break the tie but Ross Stripling couldn’t match the great effort from Gausman.  Neither team can be happy with the tie, especially with the two deadlocked categories.  Heather is likely to be especially depressed – she left four home runs on her bench to Kevin’s one.

SM Lasershow (2-8-2) vs.  RK Possums (9-2-1)

The week’s final match saw a surprise upset.  The Lasershow tied the Possums on a rare down week for Rick.  The Possums offense couldn’t get going and their usual strong pitching couldn’t do enough to save the week.  Rick won three pitching categories to Sean’s two.  However, the team’s ERA and WHIP weren’t up to par.  The first culprit was Corey Kluber.  He struggled in one start with a 32.40 ERA.  Justin Verlander wasn’t overly effective, and JA Happ was a disaster.  Marco Gonzales and Miles Mikolas had good outings, and that was enough to bring ERA and WHIP under control.  Sean had a solid week up and down his starts, but no one had a real standout effort except for Kyle Freeland.  However, the Lasershow’s consistency paid off in wins and strikeouts.

On offense, neither team distinguished themselves.  Both team’s OBP and SLG were near the bottom of the league.  Sean had a excellent week in steals and led the league, though.  Josh Reddick led the way with two and four other Lasershow batters earned a steal.  The Possums had the better OBP thanks to Joey Votto and Max Muncy.  However, Votto’s OBP hid a low 0.286 SLG.  This lack of power hurt the Possums, and the lost SLG by a small margin.  The Lasershow took home runs late on Sunday thanks to a heroic effort by Francisco Lindor.  His homer overshadowed a great two home run day from Evan Gattis on Sunday.  The Possums are likely to be frustrated by the tie, and Sean is probably glad to have stayed competitive.  However, both teams had opportunities to break the tie, and neither could get quite enough production to grab a full victory.

Next Week

The key match for the week features the Lannisters and Possums.  The Lannisters need a win to keep pace, but their injury troubles keep getting worse and worse.  Meanwhile, Rick has to hope that his pitching rebounds to stay on top of the league.  The Armadillos and Legion renew the league’s most bitter rivalry.  With half of the season done, neither team can afford a loss.  The Goofballs and Lasershow hope to improve on their ties from Week 13.  Finally, the Thunderwolves and PhoeGnomes meet with both teams needing a victory to stay in the middle of the pack.