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).