Week 17 has been consigned to the dustbin of history, so we move directly to Week 18, where the race for the Dirt Mountain title suddenly became a lot more interesting. The Possums knocked off the second-place Goofballs, the Hares took advantage by beating the Kraken, and Jeff now sits 2.0 games clear at the top with only 6 games left to play for the title. Elsewhere, Heather continued her late-season revival with another win, while Kyle handled the Anchors to keep the Wolf Spiders moving in the right direction. The finish line is finally in sight, and for the first time all season the Hares can see a path to close out one of the most unlikely runs in league history.

Possums (10-8-1) def. Capital City Goofballs (11-6-2), 6-3-1

Rick did Jeff a hell of a favor this week, handing the second-place Goofballs a 6-3-1 loss and giving the Hares some actual breathing room in the title race. The matchup was remarkably close on the offensive side, with both teams scoring exactly 37 runs and Kevin actually winning RBI 37-35 and steals 9-2. The difference was power, where the Possums clubbed 14 home runs to the Goofballs’ 9, and just barely took OPS .770 to .765.

Dillon Dingler apparently has no intention of cooling off after his monster Week 16, adding another 3 home runs and 8 RBI, while Fernando Tatis Jr. matched him with 3 homers of his own and scored 8 times. Carson Benge had an excellent week with 2 home runs, 5 RBI and a 1.294 OPS, giving Rick more than enough offense despite getting almost nothing from James Wood before he hit the IL and a combined 0-for-11 from Nick Gonzales, Jung Hoo Lee, Griffin Conine and Esteury Ruiz. It was a strange offensive week, with a handful of guys doing almost all the damage, but the guys who hit made it count.

The Possums really won this one on the mound, where Jesus Luzardo was terrific across 15 innings, striking out 19 while allowing just 2 earned runs. Max Fried gave Rick 6.1 scoreless innings and Parker Messick added another solid start, helping the Possums pile up 65 strikeouts to Kevin’s 38 while also taking innings, ERA and WHIP. Kevin actually got an outstanding 14 innings from Logan Webb and 4 spotless innings from Trevor Megill, but there were too many land mines around them. Clay Holmes, Joe Ryan and Shane Drohan all got knocked around, and the Goofballs couldn’t generate nearly enough strikeouts to make up the difference.

It’s a big win for Rick in his own title chase, but it may end up being remembered just as much for what it did at the top of the standings. Kevin entered the week as Jeff’s closest pursuer and left it 2.0 games back with only 6 left on the schedule. There isn’t much runway remaining.

Hares (14-3-1) def. Kraken (9-9-1), 6-3-1

With the Goofballs stumbling, Jeff had a chance to put some daylight between himself and the rest of the league, and the Hares took care of business with a 6-3-1 win over Chris. It wasn’t one of their usual pitching clinics, either. This time the offense did most of the heavy lifting, pounding out 16 home runs and 33 RBI while posting a .790 OPS.

Alec Burleson and Jackson Chourio were the wrecking crew, with each blasting 4 home runs. Burleson drove in 7 and posted a ridiculous 1.851 OPS, while Chourio added 5 RBI and reached base often enough to finish at 1.169. Josh Naylor and Elly De La Cruz each went deep twice, and even though the Hares actually lost runs 40-38 and steals 5-4, the power barrage gave Chris very little room to maneuver in the other offensive categories.

The Kraken certainly didn’t roll over. Jake McCarthy had a monster week, going 14-for-27 with 2 homers, 5 RBI, 8 runs and 3 steals, while Matt Olson and Junior Caminero each hit 3 home runs. Chris finished with 63 hits and 40 runs, but the lineup couldn’t match the Hares’ power, and the pitching staff picked a bad week to have Casey Mize get absolutely annihilated for 8 earned runs in 3.1 innings. Without that disaster, the Kraken’s pitching numbers would have looked considerably different.

Jeff’s staff wasn’t exactly pristine either, with Foster Griffin and Zack Wheeler taking some punishment, but Dylan Cease was sensational with 7 scoreless innings and 10 strikeouts, while Ryan Weathers added 6 more scoreless. That was enough for the Hares to win strikeouts 55-39 and ERA 3.97 to 4.74, while the Kraken salvaged WHIP by a fairly comfortable margin.

More importantly, the Hares are now 14-3-1 and have opened a 2.0-game lead with only 6 games left to play for the title. There is still enough baseball remaining for something stupid to happen, and this league has never lacked for wild things happening, but Jeff is now firmly in control of his own destiny.

PhoeGnomes (4-13-2) def. Armadillos (6-8-5), 6-4

Heather’s season may have gone off the rails months ago, but apparently nobody told the PhoeGnomes they’re supposed to stop trying. They picked up another win this week, taking down Larry 6-4 behind a combination of excellent pitching and a surprisingly potent offense that posted the best OPS of any team in the league at .897.

Kyle Tucker and Mickey Moniak each hit 2 home runs, while Munetaka Murakami added 2 of his own and Bryson Stott went 10-for-22 with 8 walks, 3 steals and a 1.236 OPS. Heather only scored 29 runs and drove in 26, both well behind Larry, but the PhoeGnomes made their hits count and took home runs 10-9 and OPS comfortably.

Larry’s offense was bizarre. The Armadillos scored a league-high 39 runs, drove in 36 and stole a ridiculous 13 bases, but much of that production came from Pete Crow-Armstrong deciding to impersonate an entire fantasy roster. PCA scored 11 times, hit 2 home runs, drove in 7, stole 4 bases and posted a 1.078 OPS. Wilyer Abreu also had a huge week with 5 runs and 7 RBI, while Pete Alonso homered twice and drove in 6. Unfortunately, several other Armadillos did almost nothing, and all those counting stats couldn’t overcome Heather’s advantage in OPS and the pitching categories.

The PhoeGnomes’ rotation did the rest. Cam Schlittler struck out 17 across 10 innings, Drew Rasmussen threw 7 scoreless, Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed no earned runs in 5.2 innings, and Matthew Boyd continued his steady work. Heather finished with 58 strikeouts, a 2.96 ERA and 1.27 WHIP, sweeping those categories from an Armadillos staff that got absolutely detonated by Jared Jones’ 11 earned runs in 7 innings and Clayton Beeter’s memorable 54.00 ERA cameo.

Heather isn’t going to turn this into the season she envisioned back in April, but the PhoeGnomes have now won 2 straight reported matchups and suddenly look like an extremely annoying team to draw down the stretch. At this point, ruining somebody else’s season is a perfectly respectable goal.

Wolf Spiders (9-6-4) def. Dirt Mountain Anchors (3-13-3), 7-1-2

The Anchors actually pitched beautifully this week, which makes losing 7-1-2 feel particularly cruel. Charlie’s staff posted a 2.30 ERA and 0.89 WHIP, both excellent numbers, but Kyle essentially matched him at 2.31 and 0.99 while throwing nearly 19 more innings, striking out 24 more hitters and picking up the only 2 saves of the matchup. When you pitch that well and still only manage ties in ERA and steals, it’s probably safe to assume the fantasy gods have stopped returning your calls.

Troy Melton was the star for the Wolf Spiders, throwing 13 scoreless innings, while Payton Tolle struck out 14 in 6 innings and Jacob deGrom added 9 strikeouts with a 1.80 ERA. MacKenzie Gore also chipped in 6 scoreless innings, giving Kyle enough quality and volume to dominate the counting categories without sacrificing much of anything in the ratios.

The offenses were closer than the final score suggests. Both teams hit 10 home runs and stole 3 bases, while Charlie actually won OPS .842 to .722. Bryce Harper had a classic Bryce Harper week with 2 home runs, 5 RBI, 10 walks and a 1.050 OPS, while Brandon Nimmo, Shohei Ohtani and Jarren Duran each homered twice. Unfortunately for the Anchors, they managed only 24 runs and 31 RBI, which left just enough room for the Wolf Spiders to sneak past them in both categories.

Kyle got his biggest production from Ronald Acuña Jr., who hit 3 home runs, and Ezequiel Duran, who collected 8 hits while driving in 6. Nico Hoerner also quietly had an excellent week with 8 hits, 4 runs and a home run, and that was enough offense to complement a pitching staff that carried most of the load.

The 7-1-2 win pushes the Wolf Spiders to 9-6-4 and keeps Kyle firmly in the mix as the season winds down. For Charlie, meanwhile, the Anchors somehow managed to produce a 2.30 ERA, a .842 OPS and still get hammered. If that doesn’t summarize the season, nothing will.

Next Week

The Hares face a tough test with their final match up against the Armadillos. This is essentially a must-win for Larry, who will never go down without a fight. The Goofballs face the Wolf Spiders, who also play with prdie and want to disrupt the title race. The Kraken will fight for pride against the Anchors, who need a win to try to improve draft lottery status. Finally, the Possums and PhoeGnomes meet, as two teams looking for a late season surge.