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.