RK Possums (5 – 3) vs.  KG Capital City Goofballs (4 – 3 – 1)

Week 10 featured close battles in almost every match-up.  The most interesting was the Possums versus the Goofballs.  Both teams are positioned near the top of the league behind the Legion.  In this match, each team had strong pitching.  Kevin was slightly better and led the league in quality starts, ERA, and WHIP.  They tied for first in strikeouts (with the Possums).  Leading the way was Lucas Giolito.  He struck out 19 in two quality starts.  Merrill Kelly was also strong with 10 strikeouts in his single start.  The bullpen was productive and struck out ten betters despite not getting many saves.  The Possums were also strong.  They were second in the league in ERA and WHIP.  They tied for the lead in saves and strikeouts.  Max Scherzer was excellent with 21 strikeouts over two quality starts.  Justin Verlander and Trevor Bauer were also solid.  Rick had four pitchers record a save – this is a rarity now that there are only two relief slots.  Saves was the only category that the Possums won, despite good numbers.

Each team’s stats were close on offense, too, but here Rick too the advantage.  Xander Bogaerts, Joey Gallo, and Max Muncy each had two home runs.  Ronald Acuna Jr. had two steals.  The Possums had strong production up and down the lineup.  Kevin boasted a strong week from Anthony Rizzo and Juan Soto.  Each had two home runs.  However, Kevin didn’t have quite the overall strength that the Possums showed.  Rick won home runs by one and took SLG by a wider margin.  Rick’s RBI and stolen base totals were slightly above the Goofballs.   Kevin took OBP but Rick swept the other four categories and it was just enough to earn a 5-4-1 win.  Kevin needed one home run or strikeout to capture a tie.  The results gives Rick sole possession of second place and momentum going forward.

KK Thunderwolves (4 – 3 – 1) vs.  SM Lasershow (1 – 7)

The season’s most surprising team has been the Thunderwolves.  Kyle’s team is near the top of the league and in position to challenge for the title.  After a fast start, the team lost a little momentum.  However, they turned things around against the Lasershow and won a solid match.  Like the Goofballs, the Thunderwolves best showing was on pitching.  Aaron Nola had an excellent start, but the most surprising contributor was Lance Lynn.  He struck out 17 in two quality starts.  Kirby Yates recorded two saves and Zack Greinke was serviceable over two outings.  Kyle had strong quality start, ERA, and WHIP totals.  Meanwhile the Lasershow continued to struggle.  David Price had a good start but others like Marco Gonzales and Jhoulys Chacin imploded.  The Thunderwolves were able to sweep all five categories and set up a strong chance of winning the match.

Despite this poor pitching showing, Sean put up good offensive numbers and tried to keep the match close.  The Lasershow led the league in OBP by a wide margin.  Jackie Bradley Jr. and Tommy Pham each had OBPs over 0.500.  Christian Yelich had two steals and seven different players had a home run.  This gave the Lasershow solid category wins in OBP, SLG, and steals.  However, Kyle was able to win RBI and home runs.  Eduardo Escobar was the best of the group – he had three home runs, nine RBI, and a steal.  Josh Bell was also strong with two home runs and a good overall SLG.  This was enough for the Thunderwolves to secure victory.  Kyle is now two games over 0.500 and remains a threat to the top teams.

CP Legion (6 – 2) vs.  LK Armadillos (2 – 3 – 3)

The week’s most peculiar match-up featured the Legion and Armadillos.  Both teams put up excellent offensive numbers and abysmal pitching.  The ultimate result was a tie, and both teams surely consider this a massive missed opportunity.  The Armadillos led the league in home runs and RBI.  Gary Sanchez had three homers and six other players had two.  Trevor Story had seven RBI and role players like Hunter Renfroe had a SLG of 1.286.  The Legion couldn’t match these totals but managed to have a stronger OBP and SLG.  Derek Deitrich had four home runs and nine RBI.  Nine different Legion players had SLG over 0.500.  Ten had an OBP of at least 0.400.  This production left the two teams with two categories each and one tied.

The pitching from both teams was as bad as the offensive numbers were good.  The ERA and WHIP totals were near the bottom of the league.  Each team’s ERA was double the Goofballs’ total and the Armadillos’ WHIP was twice what Kevin posted.  Each team had a series of meltdowns and poor outings.  Brandon Woodruff allowed six earned runs in just 4.0 IP for the Armadillos.  Matthew Boyd and Clayton Kershaw were bright spots over four starts – they struck out 28 in just 24.0 IP.  The situation was direr for the Legion.  Matt Strahm allowed 10 earned runs in 10.1 IP.  Steven Matz and Chris Paddack were poor as well.  Roberto Osuna recorded three saves, however, and there were a handful of quality starts to go around.  The Armadillos took ERA and saves but didn’t pitch enough innings to compete for strikeouts.  Both teams tied in quality starts and this resulted in a tie for the week.  Both teams are left to wonder what might have been if there had just been a slightly better pitching effort.  For now, the Legion remain in first place.  The Armadillos managed their fourth tie for the year, and continue to look for momentum to defend their title.

HP PhoeGnomes (3 – 4 – 1) vs.  JK Lannisters (4 – 4)

The week’s final match saw the Lannisters win with a sloppy effort against the PhoeGnomes.  On the positive side for the Lannisters was the offense.  After several down weeks, the team seemed to find more power.  They tied for second in home runs and had a good RBI total.  Matt Chapman led the team with three home runs and Austin Meadows stayed red-hot with two home runs, 10 RBI, and two steals including one steal of home.  Mike Trout returned from injury with two home runs and a steal.  The PhoeGnomes weren’t terrible on offense.  Adam Jones and Matt Olson had two home runs each.  However, the team’s OBP couldn’t compete with the Lannisters and the SLG numbers just weren’t there.  Thanks to Meadows, the Lannisters took steals and swept the other four categories as well.

Like the Legion and Armadillos, neither team had great pitching.  Heather was slightly better thanks to a nice week from Cole Hamels and Zach Plesac.  Each of these pitchers earned a quality start.  Aroldis Chapman had three saves.  Chris Sale had ten strikeouts.  No one had great numbers, but they were good enough to compete in all five categories.  Heather won ERA and WHIP with ease, and narrowly won strikeouts.  However, the Lannisters managed to equal the PhoeGnomes in quality starts and saves.  Kenley Jansen had three saves and Gerrit Cole had two quality starts.  This was enough to tie two categories, and thus secure the win.  The Lannisters are back above 0.500, and the PhoeGnomes took another step back despite a decent effort.

Next Week

The biggest match of the week pits the Lannisters against the Legion.  Jeff is one of only two teams to beat Chris this year, and the Legion need a win to have a chance to win a tiebreaker.  The next best match is the Thunderwolves versus the Armadillos.  Each team needs a win to keep pace.  The Possums are heavy favorites against the PhoeGnomes and the Lasershow hope to frustrate the Goofballs.