Two upsets rocked the league’s Elo ratings in Week 05. Jeff lost the most points after a close battle with the Armadillos. The PhoeGnomes were not far behind, losing almost 11 points to the Happy Hollidays. Chris P. held on to second place in All-Time Elo after his victory over the Possums. The Goofballs also enjoyed a nice boost, moving into sixth place:
Week 06 offers several intriguing match-ups. The Lannisters are heavy favorites over the Thunderwolves. The Legion are also above 65% versus the Goofballs. The closest match pits the Happy Hollidays against the Possums. The second most competitive match-up is the Armadillos versus the PhoeGnomes. Heather needs to rebound to keep building her Elo. Larry looks to move closer to Chris P. and Jeff near the top of the league.
Fewer than 13 points separate the top three teams. A Lannister loss paired with a win by either the Armadillos or Legion will likely result in a new top Elo squad. However, none of the leaders will gain many points with a victory, so the status-quo will continue if all win.
The Armadillos were led by Rougned Odor and Chris Carter, who had three home runs each. Four other Armadillos had two home runs, and Gregory Polanco and Mark Trumbo added one each. Billy Hamilton contributed two steals to give Larry the easy category win. However, Jeff was able to answer with excellent weeks from Robinson Cano with four home runs and nine RBI. Bryce Harper added 13 walks. Unfortunately for the Lannisters, the Armadillos were able to add just a few more home runs along with a higher overall SLG.
Chris’s victory was led by his offense, which won four of five categories. The star for the week was Ben Zobrist who had four home runs, 15 RBI, and five walks. Francisco Lindor and Stephen Piscotty combined for 13 hits and two home runs. Heather tried to counter with good weeks from several players, including the red-hot Jose Altuve. However, Paul Goldschmidt managed just three hits and a .182 SLG. Altuve’s four steals were easily enough to win the category (and lead the league) but the rest of Heather’s bats just weren’t working this week. Chris took a solid win on offense.
Kyle fared better on the pitching side and led the league in strikeout and saves. Alex Colome was especially good, recording four saves for the Thunderwolves. Michael Wacha and Aaron Nola struck out 26 in 15 IP. However, Yordano Ventura had a terrible week, and Edinson Volquez wasn’t much better in two starts. Kevin was able to take WHIP and ERA by virtue of strong performances from Chris Archer and Jeff Samardzija. This was enough to give Kevin a well-earned second victory for the season. The Goofballs were able to right the ship after several weeks of bad luck. For the Thunderwolves, the improved offensive performance is a good sign. However, they need to put together a complete week to earn their first victory of the year.
Coming off three consecutive wins, the Lannisters faced off against the Happy Hollidays. Chris M. hoped to get back on track against the league’s early leader. Unfortunately, Jeff’s pitching staff had other ideas. After several seasons of relying on their offense, the Lannisters have instead leaned on pitching early in the season. Tanner Roark continued his early dominance, allowing how runs and just two hits over seven innings. Five other Lannister starters allowed two earned runs or fewer in their starts. Jon Lester and Stephen Strasburg combined to strike out 13. These performances gave the Lannisters comfortable margins in strikeouts, wins, ERA, and WHIP. The Happy Hollidays weren’t able to mount a challenge for saves, either, and Jeff recorded a comfortable 5-0 sweep.
Unfortunately for Kyle, much of his work on offense was undone by a terrible week for Zach Greinke. The Diamondbacks’ ace gave up nine earned runs and 19 hits in 13.2 IP. Edison Volquez was even worse, allowing eight earned runs in just five innings pitched. Similar efforts from Yordano Ventura and Chase Anderson gave Chris easy wins in ERA and WHIP. The Legion also had several two-start pitchers who performed well and piled up strikeouts. This gave Chris secure wins in four categories, and earned him a 6-4 victory. The win was another needed step for the Legion, who hope to compete despite a depleted roster. Kyle has to be frustrated with his team’s start, given the effort he put forth in the off-season. The offense continues to struggle, and the team’s pitching core has not performed well thus far.
The clubs had the highest two SLG in the league. Kevin took the category by a narrow margin, but a huge week from Giancarlo Stanton gave Larry the edge in OBP. This meant that HR, RBI, and steals would decide the week. Thanks to Stanton, Larry had a strong home run base, but Kevin answered with a distributed attack from Freddie Freeman, Gerardo Parra, and Logan Forsythe. The two teams tied, with Larry taking a slim lead in steals and RBI. This was enough to secure a 6-3-1 victory for the week for the Armadillos. However, Kevin would have won with another home run and three RBI. Kevin left a few home runs on the bench for the week, but none on Sunday. He can take some consolation that the Armadillos left four home runs and 11 RBIs on the bench on Sunday alone. The Armadillos remained unbeaten, and the Goofballs are left searching for better luck.
The Thunderwolves continued to struggle offensively. Kyle had the fewest steals in the league and was near the bottom in OBP, SLG, and HR. However, the Thunderwolves maintained a competitive RBI total that fell just short. The lack of power must be concerning to Kyle. After investing heavily on the pitching side in the draft and through freezes, the Thunderwolves have not had the offensive firepower for the past couple of seasons. If the trend continues, Kyle may need to address his struggles through trades or waiver pick-ups.
On offense, neither team was able to get much traction. The Hollidays were marginally better thanks to a pair of two-home run weeks from Randal Grichuk and Matt Holliday. Francisco Lindor added two steals and Chris M. was able to win all three counting categories for the week. Unfortunately for the Hollidays, the Legion were slightly better in the OBP and SLG categories. The Legion are clearly feeling the offensive dip after trading away several members of their core to the PhoeGnomes. George Springer and Ryan Braun were able to keep the Legion competitive, but they will need more help to remain in contention against better offensive teams. Ultimately, the Legion were able to pull out a solid win. The Hollidays will need to level their performance in the coming weeks.
At one point on Sunday, it looked like the Possums were heading for a tie. Rick led the HR category late in the day, but Bryce Harper’s 10th inning swing turned the category into a tie. The Possums can take some comfort that they did not leave any home runs on their bench on Sunday. Also, Rick would have beaten all the other teams besides the Armadillos and PhoeGnomes. The Possums are looking better even if the results are not yet noticeable in the standings. For the Lannisters, the win capped another difficult struggle.
The PhoeGnomes pitched an average number of innings, but achieved outstanding results, especially on the rate side. Chris Sale was on fire, pitching a two hit/no walk shutout. Gio Gonzalez was almost as good but over fewer innings. The bullpen was clicking as well, finishing third in the league in saves. Heather easily took these three categories, but the Goofballs were unwilling to concede anything further. Kevin threw five more innings, but logged 13 more strikeouts. He also took wins, behind strong performances from Jake Odorizzi and Marcus Stroman. This gave Heather a slim 3-2 lead before adding hitting.
These transactions gave Heather a huge boost in offense for the next few years. The Legion are trying to go younger after several years at the top. Did they give up too much, too soon? The answer depends on the development of Springer and Puig, Chris’s ability to draft with multiple picks, and the age-related declines of the veterans he traded away. For the PhoeGnomes, the new additions make Heather an instant title contender after a rebound last season.
Last year’s champions, the Lannisters, needed a victory to keep up with the PhoeGnomes. Standing in their way were the Goofballs. After a season which included some of the most astute pickups in the league, Kevin seemed poised to take another step forward after completing his first off-season with a full set of draft picks. Unfortunately, much of Kevin’s hard work was undone when Kyle Schwarber went down with a season-ending knee injury. The loss is a huge blow for the Goofballs who were counting on Schwarber to be their catcher and outfielder. Now, Schwarber will lose his catcher eligibility after this season to go along with the lost production.
Fortunately for the Goofballs, an unlikely hero emerged for the week: Trevor Story. The Rockies’ shortstop hit seven home runs (five while in the lineup) and tallied eight RBI for the week. Steven Souza Jr also had three home runs, and in total eleven Goofballs hit homers for the week. Kevin had the highest total in the league along with the highest SLG. However, the Lannisters would not go quietly and hit sixteen home runs of their own. They were also more efficient with the league’s second-highest OBP and tied the Goofballs in RBI. Robinson Cano led the way with four home runs, and seven other Lannisters also went deep. Jean Segura supplied an unexpected jolt of energy with two home runs and a steal. The Lannisters were happy to get something from a Diamondback, after AJ Pollock went down for the season with an elbow injury.
On pitching, neither team was effective. Both squads had ERAs over 5.00, easily the worst in the league. Both WHIPs were abysmal as well, but Kyle was able to take both rate categories. He also took saves – the Hollidays were blanked. However, Chris M. was able to dominate wins. Oddly, three of the Hollidays’ five wins were from the bullpen. Instead of picking up saves, they were entering close games and accumulating wins. They were also able to win the strikeout battle and record a solid 7-3 opening victory for the new owner. The Thunderwolves won’t be happy with this result, but can take comfort that their pitching performances will eventually level out. The offense remains a concern. Chris M. will need to keep an eye on his bullpen and finding reliable offensive producers, but for now he has earned a great introductory win and sits at the top of the league.
On pitching, the teams were more evenly matched. In fact, they tied in wins and saves. Rick had a slight edge in WHIP, but the Armadillos took both ERA and strikeouts. The Armadillos threw almost 20 more innings than the Possums thanks to a series of rainouts and other problems. This gave Larry the lead in strikeouts, and the pitchers were effective enough to have a good ERA total. In total, this gave Larry a 6-1-3 win. However, Rick showed enough on pitching to win some other match-ups if the offense can come around. They did not play like a last place team, and the Armadillos were pressed to keep pace with the Lannisters and PhoeGnomes.
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