Introduction

Week 04 saw two teams continue their winning streaks while two others righted the ship.  The league’s leaders maintained good form with narrow victories of game competition.  The Goofballs and Hares put together outstanding efforts to defeat their rivals.  The Kraken suffered their first defeat, and the Possums remained winless for the week.

JK Hares (1-1) vs. CP Kraken (2-0)

The week’s most surprising result was the Hares’ win over the Kraken.  Chris entered the week on a two game winning streak.  The Hares turned the tables and delivered the league’s best overall performance.  Jeff’s squad led the league in runs, home runs, steals, OPS, ERA, and WHIP.  They were tied for the lead in saves, second in RBI and strikeouts, and near the top in IP.  This was the team’s most complete performance in the last two seasons.  leading the way was Elly De La Cruz.  The second year sensation had two home runs, 5 RBI and runs, and 4 steals.  He added 7 walks, including 4 in one game to solidify a 1.315 OPS.  If De La Cruz can continue to reach base and steal at this rate, he has the potential to be a fantasy monster.  However, it wasn’t just Cruz who put up good numbers.  Vinnie Pasquantino added 2 home runs and had a 1.362 OPS.  Riley Greene, Trea Turner, and Amed Rosario also had OPS over 1.000.  Turner’s rebound is a welcome site for the Hares, and his 10 runs put the category out of reach.  For their part, the Kraken had great weeks from Triston Casas and Jordan Westburg.  Each had two home runs and great OPS over 1.000.  However, the Hares’ overall attack was just too strong, and they swept the hitting categories.

On pitching, the Hares were even more dominant relative to the rest of the league.  Corbin Burnes was the only pitcher to allow 3 earned runs.  The rest of the staff were stellar, and piled up strikeouts.  The team’s rate stats were easily the class of the league.  Zack Wheeler in particular was strong with just 1 hit over 7.1 IP.  The team’s random assortment of relief pitchers had a great week too, recording 4 saves.  The Kraken had good strikeout totals across the board, but they allowed too many runs, especially Josh Hader and Cole Ragans.  Ragans in particular suffered a catastrophic meltdown, allowing 7 earned runs in 1.2 IP.

The Hares cruised to a win, and joined the top of the league at 2-1.  The Kraken will need to regroup after the loss, and find more consistent pitching success if they want to contend without relying on overwhelming offense.

RK Possums (0-2) vs. KG Capital City Goofballs (0-1-1)

The second best performance in the league belonged to the Goofballs.  Kevin had the second best pitching for the week, behind only the Hares.  He also had enough offense across the board to earn a solid 6-2-2 win.  The star of the show was Washing shortstop CJ Abrams.  He had 12 hits, 3 home runs, 8 runs, and a steal.  Kyle Schwarber had only 3 hits, but all three where home runs!  Corbin Carroll didn’t have good power but added 3 steals.  Abrams, Nic Hoerner, Bryce Harper, and Willson Contreras all had OPS values over 1.000.  The Possums were competitive on offense had had a great week from Josh Naylor and Adolis Garcia.  They each had 2 home runs, and Garcia had the team’s only OPS over 1.000.  This parity left the Goofballs with a narrow 2-1-2 lead.

The Goofballs were supported by their pitching.  Kevin started 8 different starters and non allowed more than 2 earned runs except Mitch Keller, who allowed only 4.  No player had massive strikeout totals, but everyone was consistent.  The team also kept walks to a minimum.  In total this led to the second best ERA in the league.  Rick had some good numbers on his side, but the squad couldn’t limit the damage with runners on base.  For example, Tyler Glasnow struck out 15 over just 13.0 IP, but allowed 6 earned runs.  Jason Foley and Jordan Romano had 2 saves each to win the category, but it wasn’t enough.  Kevin was able to secure 3 categories and take the week.

While the win wasn’t the statement victory that the Hares enjoyed, Kevin followed up last week’s shocking tie with his first win of the year.  The Possums posted good numbers, but were up against a tough squad.  Ultimately Rick falls to 0-3 and must look for answers next week.

LK Armadillos (1-0-1) vs. HP PhoeGnomes (0-2)

The PhoeGnomes entered the week looking for their first win.  The Armadillos were out for blood after having a victory reversed to a tie thanks to a scoring change that swung the WHIP category versus the Goofballs last week.  Ultimately, Larry did enough to earn a narrow 6-4 win.  Both teams had great pitching, and it looked like Heather might take the win thanks to her staff.  Aaron Nola was the workhorse with 15.1 IP and 16 strikeouts versus just 3 earned runs.  Tanner Houck had what must be the best start of his career with a 9.0 complete game allowing just 3 hits, no earned runs, and 9 strikeouts.  Heather easily took IP, strikeouts, saves and WHIP.  However the Armadillos were able to sneak through and win ERA.  Ranger Suarez led the way with his own complete game shutout.  Neither team had a starter allowed more than 3 earned runs.  However, the Armadillos threw fewer innings at a slightly more effective clip.  This led to a very narrow win in just one category.

This would normally limit Larry to seeking a tie, but the Armadillos were able to capitalize on the PhoeGnomes’ offensive struggles to sweep all five categories and earn an outright win for the week.  Julio Rodriguez and Gunnar Henderson were the stars of the week.  Henderson had 3 of the team’s 5 home runs.  Rodriguez added two steals, and the pair were the only players with OPS over 1.000.  Heather tried her best to counter with a horde of players in the lineup looking for platoon advantages.  A whopping 19 players took the field for the PhoeGnomes, but sadly few paid dividends.  Cody Bellinger was the best of the crop, but he had only 1 home run, 2 runs, and 3 RBI.  This allowed the Armadillos the claim a very narrow victory.  Both teams will need to find more consistent offense without shuffling too many players.  The teams combined for a ridiculous 36 players getting at-bats.  One has to wonder if both managers may be overthinking their situations.  On the other hand, when things aren’t going well, you have to try something, and maybe the teams were looking for any spark in their lineups.

CM Skyline Sluggers (1-1) vs. KK Wolf Spiders (2-0)

The league’s only undefeated team is the Wolf Spiders.  They maintained their hot start against the Skyline Sluggers.  However, neither team had stellar weeks, and it was a battle of attrition on pitching.  Both teams were at the bottom of the league in most pitching categories.  Kyle had a rate 3 starters make 2 starts for the week.  However, despite combining for 32.1 IP, this trio which included Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks, and Seth Lugo managed just 17 strikeouts.  This is a shockingly low number, but Kyle did manage to win 4 categories on solid ERA and WHIP numbers. 

Both teams had decent offense, but the week was really decided by the pitching.  Marcus Semien and Starling Marte had 2 home runs each for the Sluggers.  Kyle countered with a nice week from Salvador Perez.  The teams split most categories, and Kyle earned a narrow 6-4 win.  The defending champions are once again at the top of the league and remain undefeated at 3-0.  They are the only team without a loss or a draw.  However, there are signs that there may be vulnerabilities for the Wolf Spiders.  Then again, the same could be said about every team so far this year!  The results are all that matters, though, and Kyle remains on top of the league… for now.

Next Week

The league leaders face tough challenges.  The two big winners this week – the Hares and Goofballs, face the top tier Armadillos and Wolf Spiders respectively.  The Kraken hope to have better luck against the Skyline Sluggers, who have cooled after their hot start.  Finally, the PhoeGnomes and Possums meet and, barring a tie, someone will earn his or her fist win of the season!