Greetings fellow Dirt Mountainers! Happy to provide my guest recap for the league this past week. We’re in the home stretch now and the final outcome is looking much more uncertain than it was a month ago. Onto the matchups:

Goofballs (8-9) vs PhoeGnomes (7-9-1)

With both teams extremely unlikely to put together any sort of miracle run to a league championship, this was likely a matchup mostly for pride for both Heather and I.

The Goofballs rode absolutely dominant starting pitching this week,  posting a 2.26 ERA and league best 0.87 WHIP with 70 K’s. Julio Urias, Logan Webb, and Freddy Peralta threw a combined 40.1 innings over 6 starts  while posting a miniscule 1.39 ERA and 0.77 WHIP. Heather’s  SP dug her a big hole early in the week that she wasn’t able to climb out of, as the PhoeGnomes staff posted an ERA north of 5.00 this week.  It wasn’t a clean sweep on the pitching side however, as Heather was able to edge out saves  4-3 behind a 3 save week from Kenley Jansen.

On the hitting side, the Goofballs got a monstrous performance from Ozzie Albies, who posted a .983 OPS, 8 runs, 3 HR, 13 RBI and 3 SB for the week. The rest of the Goofballs hitters combined for only 5 additional homers, and that lack of power was reflected in the club’s relatively weak .740 OPS. The Phoegnomes clubbed their way to victories in OPS and HR on the strength of 3 homers apiece from Nick Castellanos and Brian Reynolds. The power advantage the PhoeGnomes enjoyed did not translate to runs and RBI however, as the Goofballs were able to win those 2 categories relatively easily. The margin in steals for the week was 9-5 in favor of the Goofballs, who won that category despite not getting their first SB until Thursday.  Goofballs take the hitting categories 3-2 and the week overall 7-3.

Kraken (4-11-2) vs. Skyline Sluggers (5-12)

The 2^nd matchup of the week featured the league’s 7^th and 8^th place teams in a battle to stay out of the league’s basement.

The Kraken posted astounding run production numbers this week, posting league high 14 HR and 46 RBI with a league 2^nd best 41 runs scoed. Kyle Tucker, Matt Olson, and Cody Bellinger combined for 9 HR and 27 RBI.  MJ Melendez and Joey Meneses both had a pair of homers for Charlie’s Sluggers, but the overall team run production wasn’t enough to provide a serious threat to the Kraken in HR, RBI, or Runs.  Charlie’s squad was able to take OPS despite the power disadvantage, and they edged the Kraken 5-4 in SB behind Shohei Ohtani’s 3 SB.  3-2 in favor of the Kraken on the hitting side.

On pitching, Charlie stacked several solid performance to post a very strong 2.05 ERA, but he just didn’t have great volume in innings or K’s posting totals of just  48.1 IP and 43 K’s. Tanner Bibee and Logan Gilbert lead the way for the Kraken, giving up only 2 runs across 21 IP while striking out 23. That volume helped give the Kraken a narrow category win in IP, and relatively comfortable edge in K’s.  Chris’ team also notched a narrow victory in WHIP, and comfortable victory in saves, as the Skyline Sluggers bullpen continues to be a weakness, failing to record even one save this week. The Kraken take pitching  4-1 and the week 7-3.

Wolf Spiders (11-5-1) vs. Possums (9-7-1)

This was an absolutely crucial matchup for both teams, as they are the only 2 teams in the league who entered the week with a reasonable chance to catch the Armadillos by season’s end.

Both teams employed a real team effort on the hitting side as the Wolf Spiders used 15 hitters for the week with the Possums mixing and matching a total of 16 hitters.

The results happened to be entirely one-sided however.  8 of Kyle’s 15 hitters recorded at least 4 RBI, with the biggest contribution coming from Austin Riley, who recorded 2 HR and 7 RBI for the week. The aforementioned Riley also scored 9 runs for the week, and the Wolf Spiders had 7 other hitters score at least 3 runs giving them a league high 45 runs scored for the week.

The Possums got strong offensive performances from their duo of young first baseman, Ryan Mountcastle and Christian Walker, with each posting an OPS over 1.100 while also combining for 3 HR and 9 RBI. There wasn’t much else happening on offense for the Possums, as the rest of the club belted only 2 additional homers while knocking in just 18. The power advantage Kyle enjoyed also led to a comfortable victory in OPS. And a 6-4 edge in steals gave the Wolf Spiders a clean sweep on the hitting side.

The pitching categories were extremely tight across the board in this matchup, with both teams posting fairly strong numbers.. Kyle got good volume across the board from his SP, with Bryce Elder being the only Wolf Spider starter to record fewer and 6 IP and 7 K for the week. Sonny Gray and Michael Lorenzen both had very good weeks for the Possums, with the former giving up only 2 runs in 12 IP while striking out 17, and the  latter throwing a no-hitter in his only start.

Kyle was able to able to nab victory in IP by only 1/3 of an inning, while also winning K’s by 6, and WHIP by a little over a tenth of a point.  Rick scored a victory in ERA, and took saves 3-1, but it wasn’t nearly enough given the Wolf Spiders dominant hitting this week. The Wolf Spiders take the matchup 8-2 and appear to be rounding into the form that made them league champions last year.

Hares (8-8-1) vs. Armadillos (13-4)

The last matchup of the week features Jeff’s Hares vs. Larry’s suddenly vulnerable Armadillos.

On offense, Jeff’s club struggled to generate much power – as they matched the Possums league low 5 HR and 27 RBI for the week.  Wander Franco was really the only offensive standout for Jeff, posting 5 runs scored, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 1 SB, and a 1.350 OPS. The Armadillos started 20 hitters this week, with the biggest standouts being Pete Alonso (4 HR 10 RBI), J.T. Realmuto (2 HR 4 RBI) and Marcell Ozuna. That trio’s contributions easily helped the ‘Dillos outpace the Hares in HR and RBI. The speedy Armadillos also notched another victory in SB like they always do, with Ha-Seong Kim swiping 3 of the club’s 6 bases for the week.

Without a ton of power, the Hares were still able to claw their way to victories in two hitting categories . Jeff’s group got 8 runs scored from Michael Harris II, helping the Hares to win the category by 5. And OPS goes to the Hares as well (.789 to .739). ‘Dillos take the hitting categories 3-2.

Pitching was a relatively one-sided affair here. The Armadillo’s starters struggled to record outs and gave up quite a few runs. Eury Perez, Zach Eflin, and Johan Oviedo giving up 20 ER over 16.2 IP.  The Armadillos’ staff struggles gave Jeff’s squad plenty of margin for error. Spencer Strider and Corbin Burnes had uncharacteristically poor starts, but the rest of Jeff’s starters were up to the task, twirling 39 IP while giving up only 6 runs. George Kirby was excellent tossing 9 shutout innings, while Dylan Cease totaled 12.1 IP with only 2 ER allowed across two starts. 

Despite being outclassed in the rate stats, the battle for innings and K’s was much closer, with Jeff ultimately prevailing by 5.2 IP and 1 K, respectively. The bullpen favored  the Hares as well, with the final save tally being 3-1 Hares.  A pitching category sweep gives the Hares a 7-3 victory for the week.

This week:

With only 6 weeks left in the season, it’s starting to look like a 2 team race for the championship. Even though Jeff, Rick, and I aren’t eliminated yet, it seems as though something very bizarre would have to happen for someone other than Kyle or Larry to be hoisting the league title at year’s end.

The sizzling Wolf Spiders, who’ve lost only one matchup since the end of May, look to keep that positive momentum rolling in a matchup with Jeff’s 3^rd place Hares. Larry’s struggling Armadillos (2-4 over the last 6 weeks) take on Heather and the PhoeGnomes, while the Goofballs battle the Skyline Sluggers and the Possums meet up with the Kraken.