RK Possums (6 – 4 – 0) vs.  CP Legion (6 – 3 – 1)

The most important match of the week saw the Legion and Possums battle for first place.  Rick captured a decisive victory behind the best overall performance of the week.  The Possums led the league in SLG and were near the top in RBI, home runs, and OBP.  The Legion posted decent offensive numbers, but they were not enough to challenge for any categories except steals.  The Possums rallied behind Charlie Blackmon.  He had an incredible week with six home runs, 15 RBI, a 0.568 OBP and 1.216 SLG.  Eight other Possums players had a home run.  Eleven players had SLG above 0.500.  The team-wide performance was enough to win four categories.  Chris had a decent week with three home runs each from Cody Bellinger and Yordan Alvarez.  Adalberto Mondesi added a couple of steals, but this was the only category the Legion would win.

The Legion needed a strong pitching performance to have a chance, but unfortunately for Chris, it was the Possums who had dominant numbers.  Rick led the league in strikeouts, quality starts, ERA, and WHIP.  Trevor Bauer rebounded after some poor starts to record two excellent quality starts.  He struck out 14 in 16.2 innings pitched.  He had a 0.54 ERA and 0.90 WHIP.  Julio Teheran provided good value in one start and Justin Verlander struck out 15 in just 7.0 IP.  This was enough for the Possums to dominate all five categories.  The Legion failed to record a save and several starters suffered meltdowns.  Adrian Sampson was miserable in one start and Mike Soroka struggled.  The Possums capitalized on this weakness and easily won the week.  This moved the Possums into a tie with the Lannisters for first place.  The Legion are left looking somewhat vulnerable after two consecutive losses.  However, both of these losses came to the Lannisters and Possums, who now lead the league.  Chris will try to get back on track against teams lower in the standings.

KK Thunderwolves (5 – 4 – 1) vs.  JK Lannisters (6 – 4 – 0)

The Legion’s loss opened a window of opportunity for both the Lannisters and Thunderwolves.  Each team had a chance to gain ground.  The Lannisters posted a solid all-around week while the Thunderwolves had good offensive numbers but not enough pitching.  The match eerily mirrored the Possums / Legion battle.  The Lannisters’ offense was carried by a balanced attack.  Two standouts were Trey Mancini and Manny Machado.  Each player had three home runs.  Unheralded James McCann had two home runs and five RBI in part-time duty.  McCann has quietly put together a strong season – he is hitting 0.324 / 0.374 / 0.509.  Nine different Lannisters players had a home run, and part-time players like Marcell Ozuna made the most of their at-bats.  This yielded a high SLG and league-leading OBP.  Kyle had okay numbers including a standout week from Eduardo Escobar.  Josh Bell had eight RBI, and Kyle produced more RBI up and down the lineup than the Lannisters.  The Thunderwolves took RBI and steals, but lost leads in the rate stats late in the week.  However, despite the deficit, Kyle could still compete if he had good pitching.

Unfortunately for the Thunderwolves, several players suffered severe meltdowns and conceded both pitching rate stats early in the week.  German Marquez allowed 11 earned runs in 11.2 IP.  Aaron Nola continued to struggle and undid a nice week for Dakota Hudson.  The Lannisters had few starts from their best pitchers, but got nice outings from Walker Buehler and Gerrit Cole.  The team deployed a few fill-in starters who dropped the rate stats slightly at the end of the week.  However, there was more than enough cushion for the Lannisters to earn a win.  The Thunderwolves did their best, but didn’t have the pitching they needed.  The win vaults the Lannisters into a tie for first place.  The loss slows the Thunderwolves momentum, but they are still close to the top of the league.

KG Capital City Goofballs (5 – 4 – 1) vs.  HP PhoeGnomes (4 – 5 – 1)

The week’s most interesting contest saw the PhoeGnomes continue to improve, this time at the expense of the Goofballs.  Heather had the second best pitching in the league for the week, and she needed it to outlast Kevin.  Shane Bieber had a great week with 12 strikeouts in his 7.2 IP quality start.  Cole Hamels and Zach Eflin each had a nice start with 18 strikeouts in just 15.0 IP.  Chris sale had two good starts in which he struck out 20, allowed two earned runs, and scored two quality starts.  Heather easily won strikeouts, ERA, and WHIP.  Kevin had some fighting spirit, though.  Fourteen different pitchers made appearances.  Steven Brault had a nice start, as did Jose Berrios and Marcus Stroman.  Kevin was competitive in quality starts, but a few high-profile blowups like Kyle Hendricks left him out of the ERA and WHIP races.  Kevin won saves but Heather swept the other four categories.

On offense, things were different.  Kevin scored an incredible league-leading 22 home runs.  The Goofballs were near the top in RBI and SLG.  Twelve different Goofballs had at least one home run.  Freddie Freeman had two and 10 RBI.  Anthony Rendon had three home runs and five RBI.  Part timers like Miguel Sano and Marcus Semien had home runs in very limited duty.  Heather was essentially shut out of home runs, RBI, and SLG.  However, she did tie for the lead in steals with seven.  Three came from Trea Turner.  This left OBP as the category that would decide the week.  Kevin’s power came at the expense of some OBP.  The PhoeGnomes had less power but better OBP up and down the lineup.  This gave her the edge and took the week.  The Goofballs had a strong week but their total output wasn’t enough to get them over the edge.  The win solidifies Heather’s return to form.  Both teams are now hovering near 0.500 and are legitimate threats to the leaders.

SM Lasershow (1 – 9) vs.  LK Armadillos (3 – 3 – 4)

The week’s final match was a wild encounter between the Armadillos and Lasershow.  Both teams posted great offensive numbers and abhorrent pitching stats.  First, the positive.  The Lasershow led the league in OBP and were tied for the lead in steals.  They also had a strong SLG.  The Armadillos were near the top of the league in home runs, RBI, and SLG, but were edged by the Lasershow in the latter category.  J. D. Martinez and Sterling Marte had three home runs each for the Armadillos.  Shohei Ohtani and Jackie Bradley Jr. each had two home runs and two steals.  At the end of the week, the Lasershow held a narrow 3-2 lead.

For pitching, neither team had good stats.  Only the Thunderwolves had a worse ERA than either team.  Both WHIP totals were near the bottom of the league.  David Price punished the Lasershow with six earned runs in 1.1 IP.  Max Fried struggled as well, logging five earned runs in 4.2 IP.  The Armadillos were equally bad with nightmare outings from Patrick Corbin (5.0 IP / 7 earned runs), Matthew Boyd (4.0 / 4), Jake Odorizzi (6.0 / 4) and Noah Syndergaard (6.0 / 4).  This left several categories in flux going into Sunday.  Hyun-Jin Ryu saved the Armadillos with a clutch Sunday evening quality start.  He totaled 14 strikeouts in 13.0 IP and allowed just one earned run.  His Sunday performance tipped quality starts and ERA to the Armadillos, and they escaped with the narrow 5 – 4 – 1 win.

Next Week

Several interesting matches await the league in Week 12.  The Possums hope to defend their position against the Thunderwolves.  The Lannisters will try to keep rolling against the Lasershow.  Heather and Chris meet when the hot PhoeGnomes try to further bring down the Legion.  Finally, the Goofballs will try to get back on track against the Armadillos.  Currently the top seven teams are all separated by just 1.5 games.  Even the Lasershow are just six out and could feasibly make a run.