This Week

With the season entering the home stretch, a number of teams won in dominant fashion.  The Kraken routed the Wolf Spiders in the best showing in the league.  The Possums crushed the Hares despite both teams having horrific pitching.  The PhoeGnomes cruised against the Goofballs.  The only teams to keep it close were the Armadillos and Skyline Sluggers.  Charlie gave it his all to pull off the upset, but it wasn’t to be. 

CP Kraken (10-6-2) vs. KK Wolf Spiders (9-8-1)

The Kraken are a long-shot to win the title, but the continue to do their best to stay in contention.  This week they demolished the Wolf Spiders in spectacular fashion.  They posted the best overall week for the entire league.  Leading the way was Juan Soto with 4 home runs and an OPS of 1.370.  Just behind him was Aaron Judge with a pair of home runs and a 1.264 OPS of his own.  Brice Turang added 4 steals.  The Wolf Spiders couldn’t keep up, and managed just 1 steal for the week and hand no regular with an OPS over 0.800 with most players in the 0.600’s.

Chris’s dominance didn’t end with hitting.  He easily tallied the best pitching numbers for the week.  Blake Snell continued to rampage with two starts totally 13.1 IP.  He had 21 strikeouts and a 0.68 ERA.  Bryan Woo had a solid start, as did Cole Ragans.  Josh Hader remained a dependable source of saves.  Kyle had a nice start for Christopher Sanchez, who threw 9.0 iP and allowed just 1 earned run, but also struck out just 4.  Ultimately the Kraken won in style, and look to finish out the season and push the Armadillos.

RK Possums (9-9) vs. JK Hares (6-9-3)

The Possums enjoyed a dominant win over the Hares behind strong offense.  Rick tied for the league lead in home runs and runs, and won RBI outright.  Adolis Garcia was the standout with 3 home runs and 6 RBI.  In total 8 different players had at least one home run.  Jose Caballero added 3 steals.  James Wood led the team with 1.116 OPS.  The Hares struggled mightily with only Marcell Ozuna showing any signs of life.  Josh Bell embarrassed himself with a 0.481 OPS and a pathetic 3/22 hitting line.  Brent Rooker and Elly De La Cruz both struggled mightily as well.  The Hares were unable to mount any true challenge for the week.

Neither team distinguished itself on the pitching side but the Possums were able to do enough to win easily.  The Hares got one good start from Bryce Miller but other pitchers let the team down.  Corbin Burnes allowed 8 earned runs in just 4.0 IP.  This was nothing compared to the Possums’ nightmare start from Robbie Ray.  He pitched 0.2 IP and allowed 5 earned runs for a 67.50 ERA.  Seth Lugo, Tyler Mahle, and Sonny Gray also managed ERAs over 10.00 for the week.  However, the Possums were somehow able to post enough volume to win the non-rate stats because the Hares’ better starts were still short and lacked strikeouts.  The Possums cruised to a win, while the Hares fall back into a tie for 7^th place.

KG Capital City Goofballs (6-7-5) vs. HP PhoeGnomes (6-11-1)

The week’s final big winner was the PhoeGnomes.  Heather has struggled this year, but she was able to move ahead of the Hares thanks to a strong performance this week.  As usual, the effort was led by Bobby Witt Jr.  He had 3 home runs and a whopping 1.428 OPS.  Nolan Arenado and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. each had a pair of home runs with solid OPS numbers.  The Goofballs were unable to challenge on offense, and suffered through a tough week across the board.  Rafael Devers and Spencer Steer each had 2 home runs and OPS’s above 1.000.  However, no other Goofball regular was able to reach this level.  The Goofballs won steals thanks to CJ Abrams and Steer, but Heather took the other four with ease.

The Goofballs were better on pitching but the PhoeGnomes were on another level, easily posting the best numbers in the league.  The only PhoeGnomes who allowed more than a single earned run was Tanner Houck and allowed…. 2.  Clayton Kershaw turned back the clock for two solid starts allowing 1 earned run in 11.2 IP.  Michael Wacha was great with 9 strikeouts and 0 earned runs in just 6.0 IP.  Andres Munoz allowed 1 earned run, and that was it.  Heather’s squad didn’t allow any other earned runs.  The ERA and WHIP totals are likely two of the best ever seen in the league.  When combined with Heather’s offense, the Goofballs didn’t stand a chance.  The win also moves Heather out of 7^th place with just four weeks left in the year.

CM Skyline Sluggers (5-12-1) vs. LK Armadillos (13-2-3)

The week’s final match was also its closest.  The Armadillos can sense the finish line is close at hand, but Charlie tried his best to pull off the upset.  Neither team posted great numbers on either side, but they weren’t terrible either.  The Skyline Sluggers were led by Shohei Ohtani and William Contreras.  Each had 4 home runs, but Ohtani added a whopping 5 steals.  This gives Ohtani 39 home runs and 37 steals for the year.  While unlikely, it is possible that Ohtani could finish the year with 50 home runs and 50 steals.  The Armadillos’ best player was Gunnar Henderson who had 3 home runs.  Jose Ramirez added 4 steals, while Shea Langeliers and Michael Toglia had 1.560 and 1.227 OPS’s respectively (though in limited duty).  The Armadillos had more depth and took four categories.

Both sides had decent pitching, but nothing to compare to the Kraken or PhoeGnomes.  The Armadillos enjoyed a find start from JP Sears, who had 9 strikeouts over 7.2 IP with just 1 earned run.  Charlie  had an even better effort from Nestor Cortes who also turned in 7.0 IP and 9 strikeouts but with 0 earned runs.  Charlie had the edge in both strikeouts and IP, but was unable to flip ERA to secure the tie.  The Armadillos marched on, moving one week close to the elusive title.

Players of the Week

The players of the week go to Clayton Kershaw for turning back the clock and making a solid pair of starts when his team needed the boost.  The best offensive player has to be Shohei Ohtani, who is making the most of his offense-only season.

Next Week

With just 4 weeks left in the season, the Armadillos have only one team who can catch them, and they face them this week – the Kraken.  Chris must win if he wants to stay in the race.  In fact, Chris will essentially need to win out and have help to have a chance.  The Skyline Sluggers will face the Possums, who want to stay above 0.500.  The Goofballs will try to get on tack against the Hares, who need a win to stay out of the bottom of the league. Finally, the PhoeGnomes will look to continue their solid performance versus the Wolf Spiders.

2024 Week #18 League Update

This Week

The Armadillos got some unexpected help this week from the Hares and opened up a 3.5 game lead over the Legion.  The Goofballs and Wolf Spiders kept pace with their own victories as a wild week of baseball unfolded with many players changing teams in real baseball because of the MLB Trade Deadline.

CM Skyline Sluggers (5-11-1) vs KK Wolf Spiders (8-8-1)

The Wolf Spiders won a close battle with the Sluggers to move back over .500 for the season.  The Skyline Sluggers didn’t live up to their name this week as hits were hard to come by.  K. Marte and A. Santander teamed up for 7 HR and 16 RBI.  However the rest of the lineup went south.  D. Fry and I. Paredes went 8 for 57.  Even Ohtani had a strange week at 3/21 but with 4 SB?  On the pitching side, Charlie Morton got out of his porch swing long enough throw six scoreless innings and draw shout outs from his senior bowling league mates.  However, Charlie’s team was not helped by his other starters who all had ERA’s north of 5.00.

The Spiders got 3 homers from Corey Seager and 9 RBI’s from the bats of J. Burger and R. Mountcastle.  Three of Kyle’s pitchers were very good – Glasnow, L. Castillo, and Z. Gallen.  And his bullpen gave him 4 saves – the best total of the week.  However, the team was plagued by short outings from all the other starters. This gave Charlie a chance at pulling out a win or tie since two categories ended up in a tie and there was a one K difference in SO.  But the Spiders held on to earn the victory.

RK Possums (8-9) vs KG Capital City Goofballs (6-6-5)

The Possums lost a tough one to the Goofballs.  Just one more un or an extra save could have tied the week (something the Goofballs are incredibly experienced with).  But alas, KG also got back over .500 with this close win.  Rick’s group was second in the league in HR with 14.  J. Chisholm had 4 homers and M. Machado 3.  Josh Naylor contributed 2 HR and 7 RBI’s.  The Possums pitching was led by S. Lugo (8 inn /1 run).  J. Ryan and T. Bibee had nice starts as well. 

The Goofballs hitting was…not very good. They had just 7 HR and 17 RBI’s (aluminum bats anyone?).  But they did manage to score 34 runs and win that stat.  R. Devers and R. Arozarena had decent weeks at the plate.  But the Goofballs pitching staff picked up the slack and absolutely dominated. They led the league in Saves and lapped all other teams in ERA and Whip by very wide margins!  B. Webb had a shutout with 6 K’s.  P. Lopez, F. Peralta, and J. Flaherty had solid starts also.  The week was close, but in the end the Possums played dead and Kevin’s squad pulled out a win.

LK Armadillos (12-2-3) vs HP PhoeGnomes (6-10-1)

The PhoeGnomes tried mightily to upset the Armadillos and send them scurrying into traffic.  HP got excellent hitting from B. Witt (9 R, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 4 BB, 2 SB, 1.096 OPS).  M. Garcia added 4 SB and 7 R).  V. Guerrero pounded 3 homers and drove in 8).  Heather’s pitching staff let her done a bit, however.  The Gnomes normally reliable staff didn’t come through this week.  Only two starters (Valdez and Wacha even made it to the sixth inning.  But HP did manage to win ERA and tie Saves.  And even though she was second in the league in Runs and SB, the Armadillos were first in those categories.

Larry’s team also led the league in HR and RBI and was second to CP in OPS.  LK juggled 29 players for the week and got HR from 9 of them.  J. Duran and X. Edwards combine for 7 SB.  J. Ramirez led the hitters with 5 HR, 11 RBI, and 2 SB.

The Armadillos pitching was weaker than it has been.  No starter gave up less than 3 runs.  Only one save was recorded.  The staff has been racked with injuries and poor performances of late.  Reinforcements are needed.

JK Hares (6-8-3) vs CP Kraken (9-6-2)

The Kraken led the league with a .970 OPS and won four offensive categories in this matchup.  Their one/two punch should win them some Olympic gold medals in boxing as the Judge/Soto duo terrorized the vaunted Hares pitching staff with 19 hits, 13 runs, 5 homers, and 11 RBIs. The duo of Matt’s (Olsen and Chapman chipped in 5 more HR as the Kraken pounded the ball.  On the pitching side, CP won Saves for the week.  Blake Snell made the start of his life with his complete game no-hitter.  And as Sunday’s games began, it appeared they were poised to win the week and keep pace with the hated Armadillos.  However, it turned out that Jeff had a whole dugout full of rabbit’s feet (ouch).  Paul Skenes made his second start of the week, but his time he was a mere mortal with a line of 5.1 inn and only 4 K’s.  This helped put CP 2 behind in K’s for the week.  That proved to be a turning point.  Jeff had looked dead in the water as the day began, but this gave him hope. 

Jeff’s pitching was strong as usual.  Cease, Singer, Burnes, and Kirby all had good starts.  H. Greene turned in a great start (6 one hit inn, no runs, 11 K).  But it was Z. Wheeler (rebounding from a horrible start on the first day of the week where he allowed 7 ER in 5 inn), who came through on Sunday with a clutch start of 8 shutout inn with 9 monster K’s. 

On offense, Jeff had decent output from B. Rooker and Marcell Ozuna, but they were clearly outclassed by the Kraken.  By Sunday the Hares only chance was the SB category.  In steps a player is 2 for 20 on the week with 0-0-0-0 stats.  But Elly De La Cruz gets on by a fielder’s choice and steals second…then, even more improbably he gets on by a HBP and is advanced to second on a groundout,  But then he proceeds to steal third base.  Those two steals flipped the category and the Hares earned a tie!  Wow.  A heart breaking outcome for the Kraken.

Player and Pitcher of the Week

Pitcher of the Week is Blake Snell for obvious reasons.  And there are Co-Players of the Week.  Jose Ramirez for his relatively un-noticed greatness much of the time.  He had an amazing week.  And the other winner is Elly De La Cruz for once again practically willing the Hares to an seemingly impossible tie.

This Week

The PhoeGnomes and Possums do battle.  The Kraken will try to take out their frustration on the Silver Sluggers.  The Goofballs will take on the Wolf Spiders as they each try to gain some ground on the Armadillos.  And the Hares will try to maintain their magic touch for another week and beat the Armadillos (which would delight the rest of the league).