League Overview

The first week of the season saw a number of surprise performances. Two familiar contenders won close matchups.Tthe Skyline Sluggers and Kraken surprised their opponents with tenacious performances.

The most disturbing trend in the opening week is injuries.  Nearly all teams suffered at least one important injury that cost a top-ranked player time on the field.  With ILs already full, this trend will force some teams to make difficult decisions.  Owners must decide to keep injured players on the active roster and cut healthy players, reducing their bench.  This might help put some bubble relief pitchers back on the market for needy teams.  Conversely, teams could cut their injured players and allowe opportunistic competitors to hunt for bargains.

KK Wolf Spiders vs. JK Hares

The defending champs opened the season veruss the Hares.  While Kyle was the clear favorite, the Hares kept things close until the last games of the night on Sunday.  Neither team’s stats were great, but none were terrible either.  Both suffered pitching meltdowns (Bobby Miller’s 1.2 IP, 5 ER start for Kyle and George Kirby’s 6 ER, 3.2 IP start for Jeff).  Zach Wheeler had a fantastic 10 strikeout start for the Hares, but Shane Bieber matched him before falling victim to the injury plague.  The star of the week for Kyle was Camilo Doval who had a clutch save in a late Sunday game that tied both strikeouts and saves and secure the win for Kyle.

On offense, no one on either team had a massive week but Spencer Steer had 3 home runs, 9 RBI and a steal.  The Hares led the league in steals for the first time in this millenium, thanks to 4 from Elly De La Cruz.  Ultimately the Wolf Spiders managed to squeak out a win, but neither team can be happy with their opening performance.  Kyle is suffering severe injuries for the first time in his run, and it will be interesting to see if he can adapt.

LK Armadillos vs. RK Possums

The league’s runner-up took care of business against the Possums, who also finished in the top division.  The teams were evenly split on offense, with neither producing championship-calibre results in the first week.  No Armadillo had more than one home run, and the highest OPS of a regular player was Mookie Betts with 0.953.  Rick fared little better, but Adolis Garcia had 2 home runs, (in addtion to one on opening day that Charlie, Larry, and Jeff saw in person)!

The Armadillos were able to win on the strength of pitching.  Emmanuel Clase and Edwin Diaz combined for a massive 5 saves to lead the league.  No starter was spectacular, but Grayson Rodriguez had a nice outing.  The Possums led the league in strikeouts, led by 9 from Tanner Bibee in just 5.1 IP.  However, the rest of the team was dragged down by miserable efforts from Max Fried and Jack Flaherty.  The Possums couldn’t compete in rate stats, and it cost them the week.  This was certainly not a strong opening for either team.  All four of these first teams have work to do if they want to contend with the weeks’ two big winners, discussed below.

CM Skyline Sluggers vs. HP PhoeGnomes

The week’s biggest winner was Charlie.  The Skyline Sluggers put up dominant numbers and thwarted a week that Heather would have won against many other team.s  The Skyline Sluggers led the leaguue in ERA and WHIP.  They were second in Saves, OPS, and home runs.  The offense was led by a trio of players who had 2 home runs (William Contreras, Shohei Ohtani, Isaac Paredes).  They all had OBP over 1.000 as well.  Jose Altuve and Aaron Judge tried to help the PhoeGnomes keep pace, but it wasn’t enough.  Charlie won 4 categories, but lost steals.

Both teams had excellent pitching, and these were easily the two best performances of the week.  Tanner Houck was absolutely incredible for the PhoeGnomes.  He recorded 17 strikeouts in just 12.0 IP and didn’t allow and earned run.  Framber Valdez and Aaron Nola also went without allowing a run.  However, Charlie was able to top this with five starters who didn’t allow a run, and one who allowed just one.  Yoshinobu Yamamoto was a standout with 8 strikeouts in 5.0 IP.  Nathan Eovalidi was also great with no earned runs and 7 K’s in his start.  Charlie won the rate categories and saves, and took a win to open the season.  Is this the start of a new era for the Skyline Sluggers?  This is definitely Charlie’s best start to a seaon.  The PhoeGnomes also performed admirably, and can take some positive momentum into next week.

CP Kraken vs. KG Capital City Goofballs

The Kraken delivered the offensive equivalent of Charlie’s pitching by leading the league in home runs and OPS while finishing second in runs and RBI.  Chris presented a balanced attack with 4 players with two home runs and 9 players contributing at least one.  Five regulars or semi-regulars had an OPS over 1.000.  Matt Olson was the best of the crew with 4 RBI, 5 Runs, and 2 home runs.  The Goofballs had some decent offense, including a 3 homer week from Bryce Harper.  Neither team had many steals, and the Kraken took 4 categories.

The Kraken also excelled on the mound, whereas the Goofballs fell flat.  Shota Imanaga dominated with 9 strikeouts and no earned runs in 6.0 IP.  Triston McKenzie and Logan Gilbert allowed 4 ER each to bring up the rate stats, but others picked up the slack like Cole Ragans.  The Kraken avoided the massive blowups that doomed the Hares and other teams.  The combined performance was the strongest in the league by a wide margin.

The Kraken are known to have a powerful offnese.  However, if they can find consistent success like this on the mound, they are certain to jump into contender status.  However, this was just the first week, and the staff’s depth has yet to be tested.  The Goofballs will have to sort out their pitching woes to return to the top of the league.  The shocking output from the Kraken should put the rest of the league on notice, especially last year’s leaders, who started out slow.

Next Week

The Kraken will face another solid opponent when they take on the PhoeGnomes. Charlie and the Skyline Sluggers face one of their rivals, the Hares, who need to find some offensive production. The Possums face a tough second opponent with the defending champs, the Wolf Spiders. Finally, the Armadillos and Goofballs will battle in what is sure to be a competitive match.