Note on Week 03

I’m sorry for the lack of a League Update last week.  I moved to NYC and my computer and most of my stuff was either in transit or inaccessible.  I’ve got everything unpacked now, and this shouldn’t be an issue in the future.

CP Legion (2 – 1) vs.  RK Possums (2 – 1)

The week’s best match paired the Legion and Possums, two of last season’s top teams.  Both teams were off to a good start, but the Legion earned a dominant victory that saw him lead the league in many categories.  Chris’s standout performers were his pitchers.  They led the league in ERA and WHIP by a wide margin.  They tied for the lead in quality starts.  Chris Paddack had the best start of the week, allowing no earned runs and just one hit and walk along with nine strikeouts.  This effort, when paired with a dominant bullpen showing from Roberto Osuna, handed the Legion a tiny 0.59 WHIP.  This was easily the best number in the league and was less than half of some other team’s totals.  Trevor Williams and Caleb Smith also had strong performances.  Rick’s pitchers threw more innings than Chris’s team, and he easily won strikeouts.  Max Scherzer was especially strong.  The team was good enough to tie quality starts, but Rick was still well behind before counting offense.

The Legion managed a dominant offensive showing to go along with their pitching.  They had the second highest SLG, OBP, and home run numbers in the league.  They were tops in RBI and tied for the lead in steals.  Nolan Arenado and Cody Bellinger had three home runs each and totaled 17 RBI.  Seven other Legion players also added at least one home run.  The Possums weren’t able to keep pace.  Their offense suffered a down week and surrendered all three categories to the Legion.  This gave Chris a comfortable win against a marquee team.  He is now in first place with his only loss a close one to the Lannisters.  Rick falls back to 0.500, and the Possums will hope for a rebound and more consistency next week.

HP PhoeGnomes (1 – 2) vs.  KG Capital City Goofballs (1 – 2)

Although the Legion are the story of the week, Kevin made it back to 0.500 with a strong showing against the PhoeGnomes.  Kevin led the league in home runs and was second in RBI.  He was also near the top in steals and SLG.  Leading the way were Javier Baez, Juan Soto, and Freddie Freeman.  Each player had three home runs, and the group totaled 19 RBI.  Soto also added two steals.  Nine total Goofballs hit a home run, though the team’s OBP number was still low.  OBP aside, the Goofballs easily won four categories.  The PhoeGnomes had the second lowest home run and SLG totals in the league.  No PhoeGnome had multiple home runs.  Overall, the disappointing offensive showing left Heather in a tough position on the pitching side.

The Goofballs do a great job of finding quality matchups on the offensive side.  However, their pitching remains shaky despite the team deploying hordes of players on the mound.   Ten Goofballs players combined for the second worst ERA in the league.  Domingo German was a small bright spot in two starts, but the team struggled to record strikeouts over 51.0 IP.  The PhoeGnomes threw nine fewer innings and had five more strikeouts.  They also had a better ERA neither team had good WHIP or saves numbers.  They split the two categories, which was enough to secure victory for the Goofballs.  This improves Kevin’s record back to even, while the PhoeGnomes are stuck looking for answers.  Neither team’s pitching is good enough to contend right now, and both will need to search the waiver wires for more possible starters.

JK Lannisters (2 – 1) vs.  KK Thunderwolves (1 – 1 – 1)

The strangest match of the week paired the Lannisters and Thunderwolves.  After a series of injuries decimated his starting lineup, the Lannisters offered a putrid offensive effort.  The team had the lowest home run and SLG totals in the league.  The RBI and OBP numbers were also near the bottom.  Kyle capitalized with a nice offensive effort that easily won all but one category.  Eduardo Escobar and Rhys Hoskins each had three home runs and totaled 16 RBI.  Gleyber Torres had three stolen bases, despite the Lannisters’ winning the category.  Michael Brantley had two home runs, and Whit Merrifield and David Peralta each had SLG over 0.570.  The Thunderwolves picked up four categories with ease.

On pitching, the Lannisters had bizarre results.  They led the league in saves with seven.  They also tied for the lead in quality starts and were tied for second in strikeouts, one behind the leader.  However, they also had the worst ERA and WHIP in the league.  How did this happen?  Three of the eight starts for the Lannisters were horrible, and the rest were quite good.  Jake Arrieta, Carlos, Rodon, and Jacob deGrom gave up 21 earned runs for the week.  The rest of the staff gave up only seven.  By comparison, Kyle’s staff gave up just 22 earned runs total.  The trio of horrible starts doomed the Lannisters in the rate categories they desperately needed.  Kyle had fair pitching numbers, including an excellent week from J.A. Happ.  This was enough to earn a safe 6-4 win.  Both teams are now 2 – 2, and each needs to find some consistency and heath if they want to contend.

LK Armadillos (1 – 1 – 1) vs.  SM Lasershow (1 – 2)

The week’s final match was much closer than the final score indicates.  The Armadillos won a lopsided victory, but almost all of the categories were close.  Home runs, steals, SLG, strikeouts, quality starts, ERA, and WHIP were all in play on the last day of the week.  Sean didn’t have luck on his side this time.  Both teams had great pitching.  They tied in quality starts and split ERA and WHIP.  The Armadillos threw more innings and had a great week from Jack Flaherty.  The Lasershow countered with a nice effort from Marco Gonzales.  Mike Minor piled up strikeouts, but also gave up a few too many runs to have an excellent week.  The Lasershow bullpen struggled, and the Armadillos won the category without difficulty.  This gave Larry a 3-1-1 lead in a closely-fought battle.

On offense, there were even more close categories.  The Armadillos swept home runs, OBP, and SLG.  However, they won home runs but just one and SLG was only 0.032 apart.  Ozzie Albies had three home runs for the Armadillos.  Trevor Story added two more, and six other Armadillos had one each.  Sean countered with a great week from Travis Shaw, who had three home runs.  Christian Yelich had one home run and three steals.  Andrelton Simmons and a nice 0.636 SLG.  Despite this effort, the Armadillos were able to get just a little more production from their stars and took the week.  Both teams had a shot, and Sean can look to build on this balanced effort next week.

Next Week

The best match of Week 05 is probably the Armadillos and Goofballs.  The two teams are probably the most tactical pair in the league and always try to outmaneuver other teams.  The Legion are heavy favorites over the PhoeGnomes while the Lannisters and Possums will face strong opposition from the Lasershow and Thunderwolves respectively.

CP Legion (1 – 0) vs.  LK Armadillos (1 – 0)

The week’s only match of two winning teams paired the Armadillos and Legion.  The rivalry between these two teams is probably the most intense in the league.  In this early contest, the Legion won a decisive victory.  Chris led the league in four hitting categories:  home runs, steals, OBP, and SLG.  Yasmani Grandal led the Legion with three home runs, but nine total Legion players contributed at least one.  Cody Bellinger paid early dividends with two home runs and two steals.  Jesse Winker added a pair of home runs in part time duty.  The Armadillos had a nice three home run week from Pete Alonso, but it wasn’t enough to stay competitive.  Domingo Santana contributed eight RBI to help tie the category, but Chris captured a strong 4-0-1 advantage on offense.

Neither team had great pitching stats except for the Legion’s league-leading save total.  Roberto Osuna had five saves, more than any other team’s combined total.  The real story on pitching was the Armadillo’s struggles.  The team put up a terrible 7.20 ERA and 1.43 WHIP, easily the worst numbers in the league.  Larry suffered debacles from Carlos Carrasco (0.2 IP, 6 ER), Freddy Peralta (3.1 IP, 7 ER), and Masahiro Tanaka (4.0 IP, 5 ER).  The loss of these two categories paired with Chris’s dominant bullpen spelled triggered a rout of the defending champions.  The Legion are the league’s only unbeaten team and sit in first place.  The shocking loss leaves the Armadillos searching for answers on both sides of the ball.

KK Thunderwolves (0 – 1) vs.  SM Lasershow (0 – 1)

Although the Legion had the best statistical week of any team, the Thunderwolves had the most dominant victory.  Kyle secured a rare 10-0 victory of Sean’s squad.  Despite the lopsided score, the match was somewhat competitive when looking at individual categories.  On offense, each team put up respectable if unspectacular numbers.  Freddy Galvis and Tommy Pham each had two home runs for the Lasershow.  Andrelton Simmons added a home run and a solid SLG total.  However, Kyle was able to edge out all of the key categories thanks to a great week from Elvis Andrus and Rhys Hoskins.  Each had two home runs and Andrus slugged 1.260.  His two steals secured the final category for the Thunderwolves and they recorded a 5-0 sweep.

Like many other teams this week, neither squad had a good pitching rate stats.  However, the Thunderwolves recorded good strikeout, quality starts, and saves figures.  They tied for the league lead in the first two categories and were second in the third.  Zack Greinke had a vintage 15 strikeout week over two starts, and German Marquez added two solid outings as well.  Kirby Yates recorded all four of the team’s saves and secured the category.  Sean didn’t have an answer for the week.  David Price had a nice start but several of the team’s other starters imploded.  Overall, the Thunderwolves picked up a nice win despite not having their best on pitching.  They are now at 0.500 and possibly on the rise.  The Lasershow continue to slide, and things won’t get any easier against the Armadillos next week.

RK Possums (0 – 1) vs.  KG Capital City Goofballs (1 – 0)

Last year’s second place team faced off against the tough Goofballs squad and had the closest match of the week.  Rick was able to secure a narrow win and improve to 0.500, while the Goofballs tried their best to remain unbeaten.  The two teams easily had the best pitching numbers in the league.  Kevin had the better rate stats but Rick was able to earn more strikeouts and saves.  The teams tied in quality starts.  Rick had a productive week from Justin Verlander, who struck out 17 in two starts.  However, he gave up more runs than usual.  Max Scherzer and Trevor Bauer continued this pattern.  They pitched a lot of innings and piled up strikeouts.  However, they weren’t totally dominant and did allow some earned runs and walks.  Kevin took advantage and deployed twelve different pitchers who got innings.  Julio Teheran and Jon Gray were the best of the bunch.  Neither allowed an earned run.  The bullpen was strong, despite only earning two saves.  Ultimately, the two teams reached a stalemate and had a 2-2-1 tie before accounting for offense.

Both teams put up respectable offensive numbers.  Kevin had more home runs and RBI, but Rick easily won steals and OBP.  Rick’s top hitter was Khris Davis, who stayed red-hot with five more home runs and 10 RBI.  Ronald Acuna Jr. added three home runs of his own.  Tim Anderson contributed three stolen bases and Rick dominated the category.  The Goofballs countered with good weeks from multiple players.  Anthony Rendon had two home runs and eight RBI.  Ten different Goofballs had at least one home run.  Unfortunately for the Goofballs, Anthony Rizzo and Freddie Freeman struggled for the week.  This gave Rick a slight edge in SLG that carried through the final game on Sunday.  Kevin had a chance to flip the category, but he couldn’t quite get enough power to turn the result.  Rick won a narrow 5-4-1 match.  The Goofballs would have beaten many other teams in the league, and Kevin has to hope for better luck in future weeks.

HP PhoeGnomes (0 – 1) vs.  JK Lannisters (1 – 0)

The week’s final match saw the PhoeGnomes win against the Lannisters.  Both teams seemed to struggle to get into a rhythm but Heather’s crew did just enough to secure her first win of the year.  The week’s star was undoubtedly Jose Altuve.  He had six home runs and 10 RBI.  Dansby Swanson was strong as well with a home run, nine RBI, and a steal.  The Lannisters had a good week from Austin Meadows with three home runs.  However, the rest of the squad struggled to pick up RBI or steals.  Heather won a close SLG race and earned a 3-1-1 lead before pitching.

Neither team had strong pitching stats.  The Lannisters suffered multiple meltdowns from Jacob deGrom, Stephen Strasburg, and Walker Buehler.  Luis Castillo had a nice outing, as did Jake Arrieta.  The Lannisters won strikeouts with ease but only tied in quality starts.  Heather had slightly better rate stats thanks to Shane Bieber and Ross Strickling.  However, her stats weren’t great overall.  The PhoeGnomes had their share of meltdowns, they just weren’t as extreme as the Lannisters’ embarrassing performances.  In a final mark of shame for both teams, neither roster recorded a save.  Despite these poor metrics, the PhoeGnomes are thrilled to pick up their first win.  The Lannisters will need to reevaluate their pitching after one good week and one poor one.

Next Week

The week’s best match pairs the Legion and Lannisters.  This rivalry has less animosity than the Legion / Armadillos, but the matches are always competitive.  The Thunderwolves hope that the Armadillos continue to struggle in their first meeting.  The PhoeGnomes and Possums both hope to hold on to their winning momentum.  Finally, the expansion teams meet for the first time this year as the Goofballs face the Lasershow.

Week 01 of the fantasy season is complete!  Despite technical problems with the ESPN Fantasy Baseball website, the League’s eight teams fought several close battles.  In the end, the three most heavily favored teams earned victories.  The Lannisters also won a critical early contest against the Possums.

RK Possums vs.  JK Lannisters

The week’s most interesting match paired the second and third place teams from last season.  Rick started out with strong hitting.  Khris Davis had five total home runs for the long week.  Joey Gallo started strong as well with four home runs.  The pair combined for 21 RBI, nearly half of the Possums’ total.  The rest of the Possums put up good offensive numbers as well, but the team had some trouble getting on base.  This left an opening for the Lannisters.  Despite a slow start, the perennial contenders put together good power numbers.  The addition of Tim Tebow seemed to spark the team.  Mike Trout had five home runs and 12 RBI, mostly against hapless Rangers’ pitching.  Bryce Harper and Matt Chapman added three more home runs each.  Rick was able to win steals, but the Lannisters posted better numbers in the other three categories.  This put a lot of pressure on the Possums’ pitching staff.

Rick relied on three starts from Max Scherzer and two from his other three best pitchers (Kluber, Bauer, and Verlander).  This paid off with the league’s highest strikeout total.  Scherzer struck out 28 in just 19 innings.  However, the crew had trouble earning quality starts.  They posted a good ERA and WHIP, but the Lannisters were able to counter these numbers with good starts of their own.  Jacob deGrom was outstanding.  deGrom, Gerrit Cole, and Stephen Strasburg combined for 60 strikeouts in six starts.  This wasn’t enough to beat the Possums, but their efforts carried ERA and WHIP.  Jeff led the league in ERA and was second in WHIP.  Despite a good start from Scherzer on Sunday, the Lannisters were able to escape with a narrow victory.

HP PhoeGnomes vs.  LK Armadillos

The defending champion Armadillos opened the season against the PhoeGnomes.  Despite being a heavy favorite, the Armadillos struggled early in the week.  Their offense came alive in the end, though, and they led the league in home runs.  Gary Sanchez had three in one game and four for the week.  J. D. Martinez, Domingo Santana, and Trevor Story added three apiece.  Santana was strong on the bases as well, with three steals.  This gave the Armadillos a five category sweep.  Heather enjoyed a monster week from Cody Bellinger, who hit five home runs.  However, he was traded mid-week and his replacement Paul Goldschmidt also added a homer.  This wasn’t enough to help the PhoeGnomes, but the team posted respectable totals and several categories changed throughout the week.

Losing all five hitting categories meant Heather’s best hope was to tie behind great pitching.  The staff was up to the challenge and managed to win everything but saves.  Blake Snell was strong, and started to prove that last season wasn’t a fluke.  Madison Bumgarner was strong over two starts and looks like he may be back to his old form.  Mike Clevinger was strong in his only start before falling to injury.  Heather had the best WHIP in the league and her ERA was second, just behind the Lannisters.  The only point of concern was Chris Sale, who struggled over two starts and looks like he may be hiding an injury or some kind of arm problem.  The Armadillos’ starters didn’t post great numbers, but Masahiro Tanaka and Patrick Corbin had good weeks.  The Armadillos were able to earn the win thanks to their bullpen.  Edwin Diaz and Brad Hand had four saves each.  This was enough to outdo a strong week from the PhoeGnomes’ Josh Hader.  Flipping this single category gave the Armadillos the narrow victory.  Heather can take pride in leading for most of the week and falling just short at the end.

KG Goofballs vs.  KK Thunderwolves

The week’s best performance probably came from the Goofballs, who did enough to defeat the Thunderwolves.  Kevin put up league-leading numbers on offense – he topped the league in RBI, OBP, and SLG.  Leading the way was Javier Baez, who hit four home runs, had eight RBI, and added two steals.  Anthony Rendon added three more homers and a total of nine Goofballs had at least one home run.  Freddie Freeman didn’t have a home run but he did draw ten walks and had a 0.568 OBP.  Kyle enjoyed a good week from Ryan Braun (three home runs, 11 RBI), Gleyber Torres, and Rhys Hoskins.  Unfortunately, he caught Kevin on a hot week and was only able to capture steals.

Kevin was able to secure victory thanks to a good pitching week.  Marcus Stroman and Jose Berrios were strong in their four combined starts.  The re-emergence of Stroman would be a huge addition for the Goofballs, who consistently uncover bounce-back players.  Jon Gray struck out ten in his only start for the week.  With the exception of German Marquez, Kyle’s starters struggled to throw many innings.  Fortunately for the Thunderwolves, they managed to take strikeouts anyway and won saves behind a nice week from Kirby Yates.  Eventually the Goofballs’ overall quality won the day, and Kevin secured another season opening win.  Kyle showed some improvement on offense, and will need to have better starting pitching to contend in the future.

CP Legion vs.  SM Lasershow

The week’s final match saw the Legion edge out the Lasershow.  Both teams struggled with pitching and posted two of the top three worst ERAs in the league, along with the worst two WHIP figures.  Both teams struggled to get quality starts and saves, but the Legion were able to take the rate stats thanks to good weeks from lesser names like Tyler Glassnow.  Robbie Ray struggled with ERA but did average a strikeout per inning.   Sean had a great week from Kyle Freeland who struck out 15 in 11.2 IP.  This easily secured strikeouts.  However, meltdowns from Zack Godley and Rick Porcello sealed other categories for the Legion.

The Legion were more consistent on offense.  Paul Goldschmidt added four home runs in part-time duty.  Willson Contreras added three of his own.  Christian Yelich did all he could for the Lasershow with five home runs and 11 RBI for the week.  It wasn’t enough, though, and the Legion won all the categories but steals.  This total gave the Legion a solid win to open the year.

Next Week

Week 02 features two good match-ups.  The Possums will try to rebound against the Goofballs, who want to build on a Week 01 victory.  Both the Legion and Armadillos will try to stay unbeaten in their early-season meeting.  Both the Lasershow and Thunderwolves will try to get things rolling and earn their first wins.  Finally, the PhoeGnomes face another tough team when they battle the Lannisters.