Things are very tight at the top of the BaseballGB Fantasy League as a rare loss for the leaders allowed the chasing pack to close the gap.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Orpington Isotopes	45	14	36	6	.315	.953	3	2	62	4	5.04	1.50	10
The Bath Bombers	24	6	25	3	.261	.750	2	1	28	2	3.58	1.41	2

The Isotopes were the biggest winners of the week, defeating the Bombers 10-2 thanks to an offensive sweep. Puig batted .455 and scored eight runs while Kemp (.429) launched three homers and knocked in eight. Yelich swiped three bases and joined Suarez and Lindor in hitting two homers. Rodney had a win and two saves while Morton led the staff with 17 strikeouts and Colome had a trio of holds. Foltynewicz helped the Bombers salvage ERA and WHIP by not allowing an earned run.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
The Cheddar Chasers	32	10	30	4	.237	.746	7	2	59	1	1.68	0.80	9
Weston-Super-Sox	20	6	24	0	.302	.824	2	1	55	2	2.41	1.07	3

The Chasers climb up the standings with a 9-3 win against the Sox. Dozier scored nine runs, drove in six and joined Posey and Goldschmidt in hitting two homers. Dee Gordon swiped three bases. In a win-filled week for the pitchers, Lynn collected a pair of victories and Scherzer led the staff in strikeouts (and pinch hits) and joined Taillon in not allowing an earned run. Treinen and Greene had a save each. Kinsler batted .429 for the Sox while Adam Jones and Fowler hit exactly .400. Soria collected a pair of holds.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Durham Riverkings	19	2	17	4	.215	.620	3	4	60	2	1.44	0.92	3
Mighty Slugs	21	7	20	4	.294	.832	4	5	67	1	3.49	1.24	8

The league-leading Riverkings suffered a rare defeat, losing 8-3 to the Slugs. A pair of Cubs did a lot of the damage offensively for the Slugs as Contreras scored four runs and Rizzo hit a pair of homers to go with his five RBIs and .385 average. Another Cub, Lester, won twice and led the staff with 13 strikeouts while Doolittle had three saves. Snell and Kluber helped the Riverkings salvage ERA and WHIP by not allowing any earned runs and the fabulously named Seranthony Dominguez had the lone hold.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Cheshunt Maltsters	22	5	28	2	.310	.824	2	6	66	2	4.08	1.30	3
Newcastle Knights	41	19	43	5	.289	.972	6	4	61	2	3.17	1.14	8

The Knights maintained their place in the top four by defeating the Maltsters 8-3. Jose Ramirez and Machado each hit three homers, Olson went deep four times and Encaranacion hit five homers to go with his nine runs, 13 RBIs and .407 average. Wacha won both of his starts and teamed with Quintana to take ERA and WHIP. Hosmer hit .519 for the Maltsters with Cruz (.407) and Votto (.400) helping to take average. Gio Gonzalez racked up 12 strikeouts and Kimbrel and Jansen had three saves each.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Batteries Essential	17	4	19	1	.290	.812	2	2	31	0	3.28	1.12	4
Richie’s RBI’s	28	9	26	3	.270	.803	7	3	54	0	4.73	1.31	7

The RBIs defeated cellar dwellers Batteries Essential 7-4. Chris Taylor led the team with six runs and seven RBIs while Gregorius stole three bases. Judge, Mazara, Asdrubal Cabrera and Gennett all had multi-homer weeks. Price won twice and joined Severino in striking out 11 while Strickland had two saves. Benintendi and Blackmon helped Batteries Essential take average and OPS and Verlander made the difference in ERA and WHIP but unless they start filling in the empty gaps in their roster they stand little chance of winning counting stat categories.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Beckenham A&E Dept	27	11	30	3	.264	.834	2	4	36	2	5.29	1.43	5
Norwich No II	33	13	37	2	.317	.950	1	2	55	5	5.94	1.57	7

Finally, Norwich defeated the A&E Dept to close the gap on the Riverkings to just one game at the top. Rosario was the offensive star with four homers, 11 RBIs and a .433 average. Brantley scored seven runs. Junis led the staff with 16 strikeouts and Hader and Kelly had two holds each. Porcello won twice for Beckenham and Diaz notched three saves. in an overall rough week for pitchers on both teams, Mikolas made the difference in ERA and WHIP. Hamilton, McCutchen and Schwarber had a steal each.

The standings after week nine look like this:

Rank	Team	W-L-T	Pct	GB	Last Week	Waiver	Moves
1	  Durham Riverkings	64-37-7	.625	–	3-8-1	2	13
2	 Norwich No II	64-39-5	.616	1	7-5-0	6	15
3	  Orpington Isotopes	60-41-7	.588	4	10-2-0	10	15
4	 Newcastle Knights	56-41-11	.569	6	8-3-1	8	24
5	  Richie’s RBI’s	56-43-9	.560	7	7-4-1	12	14
6	 Beckenham A&E Dept	47-49-12	.491	14.5	5-7-0	9	12
7	  Cheshunt Maltsters	48-50-10	.491	14.5	3-8-1	3	11
8	 Mighty Slugs	47-52-9	.477	16	8-3-1	7	22
9	  The Cheddar Chasers	48-56-4	.463	17.5	9-3-0	1	5
10	 The Bath Bombers	42-61-5	.412	23	2-10-0	11	10
11	  Weston-Super-Sox	34-62-12	.370	27.5	3-9-0	5	3
12	 Batteries Essential	32-67-9	.338	31	4-7-1	4	–

 

The week 10 matchups are as follows:

Riverkings v Knights

Norwich v Maltsters

Isotopes v Chasers

RBIs v A&E Dept

Slugs v Sox

Bombers v Batteries Essential

There were some big wins in week eight of the BaseballGB Fantasy League as, with more than a third of the season gone, the race to get into the top eight heats up.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Beckenham A&E Dept	22	6	18	1	.244	.766	2	5	42	0	7.01	1.67	1
Newcastle Knights	24	6	20	3	.255	.725	4	5	51	1	4.41	1.41	9

The Knights were the biggest winners in week eight, defeating the A&E Dept 9-1. Alex Gordon hit .389 for the week and Jose Ramirez scored five runs, knocked in six and stole a base. Arrieta picked up a win without allowing an earned run, Gausman struck out 11 and Jeffress had the lone hold. Carpenter, Arenado and Schwarber helped Beckenham win OPS but it was a rough week for the rotation with several starters getting knocked around.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Batteries Essential	17	3	20	0	.365	1.039	3	4	39	0	3.89	1.18	3
Norwich No II	26	8	28	5	.300	.801	6	0	60	4	2.87	1.09	9

Norwich defeated Batteries Essential 9-3 as Springer had a nice week across the board. He scored eight, homered twice, knocked in six and stole two bases while Harper launched three homers. Tanaka won both of his starts while Buehler struck out 14 and helped take ERA and WHIP and Ottavino and Hader had two holds each. Batteries Essential, with just five active hitters, took average thanks to a .529 week from Ramos. Davis and Herrera had two saves each.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Durham Riverkings	31	12	36	5	.244	.806	3	2	43	0	2.36	1.08	8
Weston-Super-Sox	18	5	18	1	.161	.519	1	2	30	0	1.69	0.86	2

The Riverkings keep rolling with an 8-2 win against the Sox which included an offensive sweep. Gleyber Torres led the team with five runs, five homers and nine RBIs while Mesoraco led the team with a .375 average. Bregman and Betts stole two bases each. Paxton continued his impressive form with a win and 11 strikeouts. The Sox salvaged ERA and WHIP thanks to deGrom. The offense had a rough week but reinforcements are ready with Lamb, Odor and Justin Turner able to be activated from the DL.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Orpington Isotopes	36	7	44	5	.330	.925	3	3	57	1	2.76	1.02	8
Richie’s RBI’s	38	18	49	4	.289	.988	0	2	37	0	4.68	1.56	4

The Isotopes pitched their way to an 8-4 win against the RBIs. Maeda and Strasburg did not allow any earned runs and helped take WHIP while Greinke led the staff with 14 strikeouts. Colome, who will now be a set-up man in Seattle, had two saves and Devenski picked up the lone hold. Offensively, Kemp hit .409 and Altuve’s 10 straight hits this weekend saw him bat .429 for the week to go with his three steals. The RBIs flexed their muscles again, launching 18 homers including three-homer, 10 RBI weeks for Gennett and Shaw. Judge and Salvy Perez also launched three dingers.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Cheshunt Maltsters	20	7	12	1	.157	.578	5	7	70	2	3.75	1.07	6
Mighty Slugs	16	4	18	0	.249	.676	2	7	46	4	2.42	1.16	5

The Maltsters just got the better of the Slugs 6-5. Cheshunt struggled to hit for average but Votto scored four runs, Zunino homered twice and Happ stole the only base of the contest. Bauer picked up a win and struck out 19 while Bundy posted an impressive 0.33 WHIP. Simmons knocked in six for the Slugs and joined Adams and Donaldson in taking average and OPS. Lester, Ross and Heaney posted stingy ERAs and Robertson collected a trio of holds.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
The Bath Bombers	28	8	20	4	.267	.846	2	4	35	0	5.22	1.36	6
The Cheddar Chasers	24	5	19	3	.231	.684	3	7	60	1	3.91	1.17	6

Finally, the Bombers and Chasers ended all square at 6-6. In a matchup of two halves, Bath swept the offensive categories as Trout led the team with seven runs, three homers, six RBIs and two steals. CarGo batted .500 for the week. The Chasers swept the pitching categories as Scherzer and Lynn (who did not allow and earned run and posted a sub-1.00 WHIP) picked up wins and Taillon struck out 14. Greene had three saves and Stammen the lone hold.

The standings now look like this

Rank	Team	W-L-T	Pct	GB	Last Week	Waiver	Moves
1	  Durham Riverkings	61-29-6	.667	–	8-2-2	2	12
2	 Norwich No II	57-34-5	.620	4.5	9-3-0	6	14
3	  Orpington Isotopes	50-39-7	.557	10.5	8-4-0	10	13
4	 Newcastle Knights	48-38-10	.552	11	9-1-2	8	23
5	  Richie’s RBI’s	49-39-8	.552	11	4-8-0	12	14
6	 Cheshunt Maltsters	45-42-9	.516	14.5	6-5-1	3	10
7	  Beckenham A&E Dept	42-42-12	.500	16	1-9-2	9	9
8	 Mighty Slugs	39-49-8	.448	21	5-6-1	7	20
9	  The Bath Bombers	40-51-5	.443	21.5	6-6-0	11	9
10	 The Cheddar Chasers	39-53-4	.427	23	6-6-0	1	4
11	  Weston-Super-Sox	31-53-12	.385	27	2-8-2	5	3
12	 Batteries Essential	28-60-8	.333	32	3-9-0	4	–

Week Nine match-ups

Orpington Isotopes (3rd) v The Bath Bombers (9th)

Batteries Essential (12th) v Richie’s RBI’s (5th)

Beckenham A&E Dept (7th) v Norwich No II (2nd)

Cheshunt Maltsters (6th) v Newcastle Knights (4th)

Durham Riverkings (1st) v Mighty Slugs (8th)

The Cheddar Chasers (10th) v Weston-Super-Sox (11th)

Week seven of the BaseballGB Fantasy League saw the first trade of the season. And which manager would suffer from Robinson Cano’s suspension?

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Orpington Isotopes	26	13	34	4	.268	.878	3	6	55	3	1.91	0.88	8
Norwich No II	24	7	21	4	.276	.760	3	2	62	2	4.70	1.21	2

Norwich suffered a rare defeat as the Isotopes picked up an 8-2 win. Aguilar, a waiver wire pick-up, scored six runs, had six RBIs and hit four homers while Puig found his power stroke at long last with three dingers. Yelich scored five and knocked in five.

Colome had four saves, Devenski notched a pair of holds and Maeda, Morton and Greinke helped to take ERA and WHIP. Davis, Castillo and Castellanos gave Norwich the edge in average, while Corbin struck out 14, one ahead of Flaherty.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Richie’s RBI’s	21	4	23	1	.209	.635	5	4	64	0	1.91	1.06	8
The Cheddar Chasers	27	3	13	5	.166	.504	1	7	50	2	3.12	1.12	4

The RBIs continued their strong start to the season by defeating the Chasers 8-4. There wasn’t much offense, but Villar hit .391 with a homer and Gallo knocked in five. Odorizzi led the staff with 17 strikeouts while Darvish picked up his first win and teamed with Price, Freeland and Newcomb to take ERA and WHIP in a strong week for the pitchers.

Posey scored five runs for the Chasers and Cain swiped two bases. In a monster week for the bullpen, Treinen collected four saves and Stammen notched two holds.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Beckenham A&E Dept	30	9	36	1	.284	.873	3	3	55	0	4.82	1.42	7
Mighty Slugs	25	4	24	4	.214	.616	3	0	45	0	2.42	1.12	3

The A&E Dept keep on rolling with a 7-3 win against the Slugs. The Beckenham offense had three batters hit above .400 in Carpenter, Arenado and Belt, who also hit five homers, scored eight times and drove in 11. Porcello led the staff with 14 strikeouts and Diaz added two more saves. Jankowski stole two bases for the Slugs and the Angels trio of Richards, Heaney and Skaggs teamed with Lester to take ERA and WHIP.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Batteries Essential	19	8	22	2	.297	.912	2	3	28	0	2.89	1.29	6
Newcastle Knights	16	9	25	0	.221	.743	2	5	37	0	6.51	1.71	4

The injury-riddled Batteries Essential (now also missing the suspended Cano) managed to cause an upset, defeating the Knights 6-4. Benintendi hit .444 and joined Blackmon in scoring five runs and stealing a base. Abreu also touched home plate five times. Verlander and Godley helped take ERA and WHIP. Olson and Grandal each hit two homers and drove in four for the Knights, while Quintana struck out 13 and Hand had three saves.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
The Bath Bombers	24	8	23	3	.214	.750	4	0	53	2	1.71	1.02	6
Weston-Super-Sox	17	5	17	5	.224	.753	4	2	49	0	3.03	0.98	5

The Bombers edged past the Sox 6-5 in a tight matchup. Bogaerts led the team with six RBIs and joined Sanchez and Trout in hitting two homers. Trout and Albies scored five runs each. McCullers and Syndergaard had 14 strikeouts each while Green and Red picked up a hold each. For the Sox, Bryant batted .393 and joined Bour in posting an OPS north of 1.000 and Kinsler swiped two bases. Happ made the difference in WHIP and Vizcaino and the now traded Familia (more on that later) had a save each.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Cheshunt Maltsters	40	12	25	4	.253	.881	1	5	47	1	3.27	1.20	6
Durham Riverkings	24	7	27	6	.298	.819	5	2	42	0	2.95	0.98	6

Finally, the Maltsters and Riverkings finished in a 6-6 tie. Pham scored seven runs, as did J.D. Martinez, who also launched five homers. Happ led the team with a 1.707 OPS. Bauer struck out 10, Jansen and Kimbrel had two saves and Gsellman had a save and a hold. The Riverkings had a trio of .400 hitters – Jose Martinez (who drove in eight), Merrifield and Markakis. Betts swiped four bases. On the mound, Archer picked up a win without allowing an earned run and teamed with Paxton and Kluber to take WHIP.

The standings now look like this:

Rank	Team	W-L-T	Pct	GB	Last Week	Waiver	Moves
1	 Durham Riverkings	53-27-4	.655	–	6-6-0	2	9
2	 Norwich No II	48-31-5	.601	4.5	2-8-2	6	12
3	 Richie’s RBI’s	45-31-8	.583	6	8-4-0	12	13
4	 Beckenham A&E Dept	41-33-10	.548	9	7-3-2	9	9
5	  Orpington Isotopes	42-35-7	.542	9.5	8-2-2	10	12
6	 Cheshunt Maltsters	39-37-8	.512	12	6-6-0	3	7
7	 Newcastle Knights	39-37-8	.512	12	4-6-2	8	21
8	 Mighty Slugs	34-43-7	.446	17.5	3-7-2	7	19
9	 The Bath Bombers	34-45-5	.435	18.5	6-5-1	11	9
10	 The Cheddar Chasers	33-47-4	.417	20	4-8-0	1	3
11	 Weston-Super-Sox	29-45-10	.405	21	5-6-1	5	3
12	 Batteries Essential	25-51-8	.345	26	6-4-2	4	–

 

Trade

We have had our first trade of the season as Norwich sent Jed Lowrie to the Sox in exchange for Familia. The return of Schoop from injury as the suspension of Osuna meant Norwich had depth at 2B and a need at RP so a deal was struck. The Sox are gambling that Vizcaino and Soria will provide enough saves and Lowrie provides an upgrade on the struggling Kinsler, although they still lack a SS with Andrus hurt.

The week 8 matchups are as follows:

Riverkings (1st) v Sox (11th)

Norwich (2nd) v Batteries Essential (12th)

RBIs (3rd) v Isotopes (5th)

A&E Dept (4th) v Knights (7th)

Maltsters (6th) v Slugs (8th)

Bombers (9th) v Chasers (10th)

There were some incredible individual performances in week six of the BaseballGB Fantasy League as a bunch of hitters put up ridiculous numbers.

And which manager would benefit from the third no-hitter of the year, which was pitched by James Paxton?

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Batteries Essential	18	2	20	2	.289	.773	1	2	42	0	5.45	1.36	0
Mighty Slugs	40	12	42	5	.311	.984	6	5	61	0	3.23	1.08	11

The Slugs were the biggest winners of the week, falling a hold shy of a clean sweep against an injury-ravaged Batteries Essential. Healy led the team with eight runs while Contreras had a big series against the White Sox, which saw him lead the team with a .478 average, three homers and 12 RBIs and he also stole a base. Stanton also hit three dingers.

On the mound, Keuchel posted sub-1.00 ERA and WHIP stats to go with his two wins, Tyson Ross struck out 13 and Doolittle had three saves. There wasn’t much to write home about for Batteries Essential. The average and OPS stats were good but the roster currently has just seven hitters and no bench pitchers.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Beckenham A&E Dept	23	5	13	6	.233	.728	4	0	58	1	4.25	1.25	3
Durham Riverkings	33	9	25	12	.346	1.021	3	4	50	0	3.94	1.13	9

The Riverkings are top of the standings after their 9-3 win against the A&E Dept. An offensive sweep included Merrifield batting .405 for the week, while Mancini scored eight runs, hit three homers and knocked in six. Inciarte also drove in six and joined Betts in stealing four bases. Iglesias and Chapman had two saves each and when one of your starters pitches a no-hitter, you stand a good chance of winning ERA and WHIP, so take a bow James Paxton. The A&E Dept had a win and 14 strikeouts from Carrasco while Bradley had the lone hold.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Richie’s RBI’s	39	17	50	2	.279	.929	6	2	56	1	1.52	1.13	8
The Bath Bombers	32	10	30	7	.257	.769	2	2	21	3	2.70	1.11	3

The RBIs put on a hitting display, taking five categories on the way to an 8-3 win against the Bombers. The team slugged an impressive 17 homers and knocked in 50 runs. Gennett had a monster week (mainly against Dodger pitching) as he hit .591 for the week, which may well be a BaseballGB Fantasy League record. He also scored seven runs, hit four homers and knocked in 10.

Perez also drove in 10 but Judge led the team with 12 RBIs. Newcomb won twice without allowing an earned run and Severino struck out 18. Albies and Trout stole two bases each for the Bombers and Santana had a four-homer, 14 RBI week. Green had two holds.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Orpington Isotopes	29	13	35	2	.320	.946	3	2	50	1	2.24	0.92	5
Newcastle Knights	30	14	31	5	.259	.882	4	6	55	1	2.26	1.18	6

The Knights got the better of the Isotopes 6-5 in a very tight matchup. Machado hit four homers and joined Trea Turner in scoring eight runs while Jose Ramirez swiped three bases. Gray had a win and 18 strikeouts while four different relievers picked up saves, including two each for Morrow and Hand. Upton knocked in 10 for the Isotopes while Lindor was red-hot at the plate, batting .600 (sorry Scooter, your record has already been broken!) and helping to take OPS. Roark, Greinke and Morton posted identical ERA (1.29) and WHIP (0.57) stats.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Norwich No II	36	17	49	0	.323	1.067	1	3	43	1	4.24	1.39	6
The Cheddar Chasers	32	9	31	3	.278	.831	5	4	48	0	1.77	1.16	6

Norwich and the Chasers ended all-square at 6-6. Norwich had the better of the offense as Rosario scored seven runs and Story hit three homers and drove in 11. Spring hit .643 for the week (sorry Lindor, your record is already broken!). Ottavino had the lone hold. Baez stole two bases for the Chasers, who bossed the pitching categories. Nola had two wins and 16 strikeouts while Weaver and Taillon did not allow any earned runs. Greene had two saves.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Cheshunt Maltsters	20	10	33	3	.233	.704	4	4	63	1	6.10	1.32	5
Weston-Super-Sox	30	10	25	3	.286	.869	1	5	32	0	4.38	1.46	5

Finally, there was another tie as the matchup between the Maltsters and Sox ended 5-5. The Maltsters had multi-homer weeks from four hitters, including Happ and JD Martinez, who each knocked in six. Castillo won twice and struck out 15 with a 0.69 WHIP. Madson had a win, a save and a hold. Bryant scored seven runs for the Sox and joined Polanco in hitting .500 for the week. Ohtani and Cole made the difference in ERA and Vizcaino had three saves.

Which means the standings look like this:

Rank	Team	W-L-T	Pct	GB	Last Week	Waiver	Moves
1	  Durham Riverkings	47-21-4	.681	–	9-3-0	2	8
2	 Norwich No II	46-23-3	.660	1.5	6-6-0	6	9
3	  Richie’s RBI’s	37-27-8	.569	8	8-3-1	12	12
4	 Newcastle Knights	35-31-6	.528	11	6-5-1	8	18
5	  Beckenham A&E Dept	34-30-8	.528	11	3-9-0	9	9
6	 Cheshunt Maltsters	33-31-8	.514	12	5-5-2	3	7
7	  Orpington Isotopes	34-33-5	.507	12.5	5-6-1	10	11
8	 Mighty Slugs	31-36-5	.465	15.5	11-0-1	7	16
9	  The Cheddar Chasers	29-39-4	.431	18	6-6-0	1	3
10	 The Bath Bombers	28-40-4	.417	19	3-8-1	11	9
11	  Weston-Super-Sox	24-39-9	.396	20.5	5-5-2	5	3
12	 Batteries Essential	19-47-6	.306	27	0-11-1	4	–

 

Week 7 match-ups

Isotopes (7^th) vs Norwich No II (2^nd)

Batteries (12^th) vs Knights (4^th)

A&E Dept (5^th) vs Slugs (8^th)

Maltsters (6^th) vs Riverkings (1^st)

RBI’s (3^rd) vs Chasers (9^th)

Bombers (10^th) vs Super-Sox (11^th)

 

Good luck for week seven.

Week five saw a combined no-hitter, some injuries to some big names and host of impressive rookies continuing bright starts to their MLB careers. How would the BaseballGB Fantasy League look afterwards?

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Norwich No II	35	16	45	5	.265	.852	3	6	58	2	3.93	1.20	11
The Bath Bombers	32	7	31	3	.248	.772	1	1	41	3	4.93	1.55	1

 

Norwich are top of the standings after an 11-1 win against the Bombers. Norwich belted 16 homers including four from Harper and four from Rosario, who also scored eight times, knocked in 12 and stole two bases while batting .433. Junis had a win and 13 strikeouts, closely followed by Hader thanks to his eight-strikeout save. Corbin helped take ERA and WHIP. Tough week for the Bombers but Reed salvaged saves and Trout (.545) had a big week.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Orpington Isotopes	40	12	39	2	.306	.917	4	3	83	3	2.84	1.04	11
Mighty Slugs	23	9	21	0	.181	.607	5	2	43	0	3.56	1.29	1

 

The Isotopes are above .500 after defeating the Slugs 11-1. Kemp hit .450 but the offensive star was Lindor, who hit .425 with 11 runs, four homers and 10 RBIs. Greinke struck out 15 and teamed with Morton to take ERA and WHIP while Rodney and Devenski took care of saves and holds. Richards helped take wins for the Slugs and Rizzo had a three-homer week, the batters had a team-wide slump.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Richie’s RBI’s	26	13	37	3	.230	.791	2	2	60	0	5.88	1.40	8
Weston-Super-Sox	24	5	17	2	.215	.629	2	1	41	0	2.57	0.94	2

 

An offensive sweep helped the RBIs defeat the Sox 8-2. Neither team hit for average but Gallo (five runs) and Mazara (11 RBIs) each belted four homers and Villar stole two bases. Giles and Strickland had a save each and Clevinger racked up 17 strikeouts. The Sox, now hit by injuries to Kershaw and deGrom, took ERA and WHIP thanks to another very impressive week from Cole.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Batteries Essential	16	4	22	2	.299	.808	2	5	58	0	2.08	1.01	3
Durham Riverkings	28	9	29	6	.256	.757	3	5	57	1	1.79	0.84	8

 

The Riverkings used a balanced attack against Batteries Essential, taking four hitting and four pitching categories in an 8-3 win. Despite Corey Seager being ruled out for the rest of the season, Torres stepped in at SS and had a great week with two homers and nine RBIs, while Betts scored seven runs, hit five homers, knocked in eight and hit .400. Paxton and Archer helped take ERA while Kluber picked up a win and Chapman had three saves.

 

Santana and Ramos helped Batteries Essential take average and OPS, but with only six batters playing in this matchup and a bunch of players wasted on the bench it is no surprise to see them struggle offensively. On the mound, Verlander (22) and Sale (18) racked up the strikeouts and Davis collected a trio of saves.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Newcastle Knights	35	12	45	7	.283	.897	3	5	38	1	3.92	1.26	8
The Cheddar Chasers	21	4	13	5	.238	.651	5	4	75	1	3.76	1.49	3

 

The Knights used an offensive sweep to defeat the Chasers 8-3. Pollock led the team with four homers, two steals  and a .423 average while the Cleveland duo of Encarnacion (10 RBIs) and Ramirez (nine runs) also had big weeks. Gray and Gausman helped take WHIP while Hand had three saves. The Chasers enjoyed another huge week from Scherzer, who picked up a win to go with 23 strikeouts and he also helped take ERA and WHIP.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Beckenham A&E Dept	26	7	29	0	.279	.902	4	2	49	4	4.33	1.34	3
Cheshunt Maltsters	26	13	34	2	.251	.862	2	4	59	4	2.96	1.16	7

 

Finally, the Maltsters handed the A&E Dept a rare loss, taking this matchup 7-3. Five Cheshunt batters had multi-homer weeks, led by three from JD Martinez while Hosmer drove in seven and Pham swiped two bases. Bauer led the staff with 19 strikeouts and teamed with Faria to take ERA and WHIP while Kimbrel and Jansen had two saves each. McCutchen (.474) and Hamilton (.400) helped Beckenham take average and OPS while Mikolas was one of four pitchers with a win and Bradley notched four holds.

 

After week five, the standings are as follows:

 

Rank	Team	W-L-T	Pct	GB	Last Week	Waiver	Moves
1	  Norwich No II	40-17-3	.692	–	11-1-0	6	9
2	 Durham Riverkings	38-18-4	.667	1.5	8-3-1	2	7
3	  Beckenham A&E Dept	31-21-8	.583	6.5	3-7-2	9	9
4	 Richie’s RBI’s	29-24-7	.542	9	8-2-2	12	12
5	  Newcastle Knights	29-26-5	.525	10	8-3-1	8	16
6	 Orpington Isotopes	29-27-4	.517	10.5	11-1-0	10	9
7	  Cheshunt Maltsters	28-26-6	.517	10.5	7-3-2	3	5
8	 The Bath Bombers	25-32-3	.442	15	1-11-0	11	8
9	  The Cheddar Chasers	23-33-4	.417	16.5	3-8-1	1	2
10	 Weston-Super-Sox	19-34-7	.375	19	2-8-2	5	3
11	 Mighty Slugs	20-36-4	.367	19.5	1-11-0	7	16
12	 Batteries Essential	19-36-5	.358	20	3-8-1	4	–

 

The week six matchups are:

Norwich v Chasers

Riverkings v A&E Dept

RBIs v Bombers

Knights v Isotopes

Maltsters v Sox

Slugs v Batteries Essential

 

Reminder: 20-inning minimum limit

Just a friendly reminder to make sure you hit the 20-inning minimum limit to avoid forfeiting all of the pitching categories. So far we have avoided this happening but the rash of pitching injuries may mean teams run the risk of dropping under the limit. One to keep an eye on if you don’t have a deep staff.

Week four of the BaseballGB Fantasy League saw a number of young players make an impact with Torres and Acuna getting a taste of life in MLB. But which managers would benefit from their efforts?

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Orpington Isotopes	28	11	31	5	.265	.806	1	2	45	2	6.42	1.51	2
Durham Riverkings	37	8	28	10	.292	.848	4	6	48	2	3.14	1.23	9

The Riverkings are top of the standings after a convincing 9-2 win against the Isotopes. Moncada scored seven runs and hit .371 for the week, while Inciarte batted .364 with seven runs and six steals. The infield was also boosted with the arrival of Yankees prospect Torres, who hit .348.

Snell and Kluber each had a win and helped take ERA, with Corey striking out 10. Chapman had three saves. Cespedes drove in seven for the Isotopes, while Realmuto hit three homers in his first full week back from injury and Altuve discovered his home run stroke. Not much to write home about on the pitching side, apart from two holds for Devenski.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Norwich No II	27	9	27	2	.262	.769	4	0	49	3	4.20	1.28	2
Richie’s RBI’s	44	13	40	2	.263	.824	1	6	53	0	3.78	1.16	9

 

The RBIs also enjoyed a big week, defeating Norwich 9-2. Gregorius belted four homers, knocking in 10, while batting .357 for the week. Gennett scored seven and knocked in seven with a .393 average. Darvish helped take ERA and WHIP and tied for the team lead with eight strikeouts while Strickland had four saves. Tanaka won twice for Norwich and Ottavino had a pair of holds. Springer (.375) and Freeman (.355) had great averages but the team fell .001 shy of a tie in that category.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Batteries Essential	22	7	21	4	.284	.875	3	2	26	0	4.34	1.21	2
Cheshunt Maltsters	35	16	46	2	.328	1.044	3	2	45	1	4.14	1.38	8

 

The Maltsters slugged their way to an 8-2 win against Batteries Essential, belting 16 homers on the way. Votto hit four of them while the Seattle duo of Hangier (seven runs) and Zunino hit three each. Marwin Gonzalez, JD Martinez and Pham all hit above .400 for the week. Gio Gonzalez struck out 12, Fulmer did not allow an earned run and Miller had the lone hold before his injury. Benintendi had two steals for Batteries Essential and Verlander helped take WHIP. The roster has a lot of injuries and moves need to be made to avoid being a cellar dweller.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Beckenham A&E Dept	25	7	16	1	.194	.680	5	5	70	0	3.69	1.07	7
Weston-Super-Sox	17	2	12	2	.242	.649	2	5	49	0	2.43	1.13	3

 

The A&E Dept’s good run of form continued with a 7-3 win against the Sox. There wasn’t much offense, but Schwarber belted three homers and Arenado was one of three players to score four runs. Chatwood won twice, fellow Cub Hendricks helped take WHIP and Porcello struck out 15. Diaz, one of the closers of the season so far, had three more saves. Andujar hit above .400 for the Sox and Marte had a steal but the injury list grows with Andrus out and no SS on the bench. DeGrom and Happ helped take ERA while Soria and Vizcaino had two saves each.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Newcastle Knights	32	5	25	7	.294	.823	5	3	39	2	2.17	0.97	4
The Bath Bombers	33	10	38	7	.264	.836	3	1	45	3	2.11	1.04	7

 

The Bombers got the better of the Knights 7-3 in a matchup featuring a number of close categories. Sanchez (10 runs, four homers, 11 RBIs) and Albies (eight runs, three homers, eight RBIs) were the offensive stars while Ray struck out 13, McCullers did not allow an earned run and Reed had a pair of holds. Trea Turner stole four bases and batted .385 for the Knights while Braun hit an even .400. Gray and Quintana picked up wins while Morrow had three saves.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Mighty Slugs	23	4	25	1	.266	.772	1	4	39	3	5.31	1.06	6
The Cheddar Chasers	37	5	26	9	.252	.737	2	1	41	1	7.14	1.74	6

 

Finally, the Slugs and Chasers finished all square at 6-6. Kela had three saves and Robertson picked up a pair of holds for the Slugs, while Gausman and Ryu made the difference in ERA and WHIP. Miggy Cabrera hit .421 and the decision to draft Acuna Jr is paying off as the Atlanta phenom hit .400 in his first week in the big leagues. Schebler led the Chasers with six runs, two homers and nine RBIs while Goldschmidt, Baez, Cain and Duvall stole two bases each. Scherzer picked up a win and tied with Weaver for the team lead with 10 strikeouts.

 

The standings look like this:

 

Rank	Team	W-L-T	Pct	GB	Last Week	Waiver	Moves
1	 Durham Riverkings	30-15-3	.656	–	9-2-1	2	5
2	 Beckenham A&E Dept	28-14-6	.646	0.5	7-3-2	9	9
3	 Norwich No II	29-16-3	.635	1	2-9-1	6	9
4	 The Bath Bombers	24-21-3	.531	6	7-4-1	11	6
5	 Richie’s RBI’s	21-22-5	.490	8	9-2-1	12	9
6	 Cheshunt Maltsters	21-23-4	.479	8.5	8-2-2	3	3
7	 Newcastle Knights	21-23-4	.479	8.5	4-7-1	8	14
8	 The Cheddar Chasers	20-25-3	.448	10	6-6-0	1	2
9	 Mighty Slugs	19-25-4	.438	10.5	6-6-0	7	11
10	 Orpington Isotopes	18-26-4	.417	11.5	2-9-1	10	8
11	 Weston-Super-Sox	17-26-5	.406	12	3-7-2	5	3
12	 Batteries Essential	16-28-4	.375	13.5	2-8-2	4	–

The Week Five match-ups

Isotopes (10th) v Mighty Slugs (9th)

Batteries Essential (12th) v Durham Riverkings (1st)

Beckenham A&E Dept (2nd) v Cheshunt Maltsters (6th)

Newcastle Knights (7th) v The Cheddar Chasers (8th)

Norwich No II (3rd) v The Bath Bombers (4th)

Richie’s RBI’s (5th) v Super-Sox (11th)

Three teams won big in week three of the BaseballGB fantasy league, but which team would benefit from Sean Manaea’s no-hitter?

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Durham Riverkings	32	9	25	5	.302	.873	5	2	60	2	2.82	1.09	12
The Cheddar Chasers	28	4	19	4	.283	.777	3	1	43	0	5.53	1.43	0

 

We begin with the biggest winners of the week as the Riverkings completed a clean sweep against the Chasers. Betts hit four solo homers and scored seven runs while Molina hit .412 for the week. Merrifield hit three homers and knocked in five while Inciarte swiped three bases. On the mound, Snell was the pick of the pitchers, winning twice, striking out 15 and helping to take ERA and WHIP. Kluber also won twice.

 

Boxberger and Chapman had a save each while Edwards Jr collected a pair of holds. Baez scored seven runs, hit three homers and knocked in nine for the Chasers, while Cain crossed home nine times. It was a tough week for the pitchers, but at least Matt had the Manaea no-hitter to enjoy.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Newcastle Knights	40	18	47	3	.320	1.050	4	4	58	1	2.19	1.01	11
Richie’s RBI’s	37	14	37	1	.290	.950	5	2	49	0	3.28	1.08	1

 

The Knights have surged up the standings after defeating the RBIs 11-1. Machado and Ramirez were the stars of an offensive sweep, as Manny batted .500 with five homers and seven runs, while Jose launched four longballs. And if that wasn’t enough offense, Grandal drove in 11 and Trea Turner stole two bases. Cueto struck out 18 without allowing an earned run and posting a miniscule WHIP, while Norris and Morrow had two saves each and Albers notched the matchup’s lone hold. The RBIs put up more than respectable numbers across the board, as five hitters had multi-homer weeks, including three each for Judge and Gregorius. Severino won both of his starts.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Norwich No II	31	7	44	2	.284	.840	4	3	38	1	2.53	0.91	10
Weston-Super-Sox	15	3	20	3	.228	.685	2	2	49	0	3.25	1.22	2

 

Norwich were the third team to hit double digits with a 10-2 win against the Sox. Springer scored ten runs and drove in eight while Lowrie continued his hot hitting with two homers and nine RBIs to go with a .357 average. Four pitchers picked up wins, with Corbin and Samardzija not allowing any earned runs. Hader had two saves and Ottavino the only hold. The Sox, hit by another injury to Andrus, had three steals from Marte and deGrom struck out 22.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Batteries Essential	25	7	23	1	.270	.782	2	4	37	0	2.94	1.10	3
Beckenham A&E Dept	26	8	35	2	.311	.930	3	3	68	1	3.09	1.17	9

 

The A&E Dept continued their unbeaten start to the season with a 9-3 win against Batteries Essential. An offensive sweep saw Correa and Schwarber each score five and knock in seven, with Carlos, who also stole a base, joining Arenado in hitting two homers and hitting well over .500 for the week. The pitching staff, gradually starting to get injured players back, benefited from Manaea’s no-no as he also struck out 10. Bradley had the lone hold. Verlander helped take ERA and WHIP for Batteries Essential, while Davis and Herrera had two saves each. The offense was hurt by SS and an OF spot being left empty all week.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Mighty Slugs	31	6	27	4	.250	.788	2	3	45	1	3.35	1.09	7
The Bath Bombers	28	7	20	3	.250	.777	4	2	43	0	2.91	1.06	4

 

The Slugs defeated the Bombers 7-4 in a very tight matchup. Hoskins knocked in eight runs and joined Villanueva (.462 and a steal) in scoring five runs. Keuchel struck out 12, Robertson had a hold and Doolittle converted two saves. Moustakas and Trout each hit three homers for the Bombers while McCullers Jr won twice and helped make the difference in ERA and WHIP.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Orpington Isotopes	23	4	24	3	.184	.555	5	2	59	1	2.13	0.89	5
Cheshunt Maltsters	26	8	30	1	.304	.877	3	2	53	2	4.22	1.47	6

 

Finally, the Maltsters picked up their first win of the season against the Isotopes. JD Martinez hit .421 for the week, while Devers (two homers) and Haniger (three homers) each batted .360 with seven RBIs. Madson and Miller had a hold each. It was a pretty poor week for the Isotopes offensively, but Puig stole two bases. Colome had two wins and a save and Wood led the staff with 11 strikeouts, teaming with Morton to help take ERA and WHIP.

 

The standings now look like this:

 

Rank	Team	W-L-T	Pct	GB	Last Week	Waiver	Moves
1	  Norwich No II	27-7-2	.778	–	10-2-0	6	8
2	 Beckenham A&E Dept	21-11-4	.639	5	9-3-0	9	6
3	  Durham Riverkings	21-13-2	.611	6	12-0-0	2	4
4	 Newcastle Knights	17-16-3	.514	9.5	11-1-0	8	12
5	  The Bath Bombers	17-17-2	.500	10	4-7-1	11	5
6	 Orpington Isotopes	16-17-3	.486	10.5	5-6-1	10	6
7	  Weston-Super-Sox	14-19-3	.431	12.5	2-10-0	5	2
8	 The Cheddar Chasers	14-19-3	.431	12.5	0-12-0	1	–
9	 Mighty Slugs	13-19-4	.417	13	7-4-1	7	10
10	  Batteries Essential	14-20-2	.417	13	3-9-0	4	–
11	 Cheshunt Maltsters	13-21-2	.389	14	6-5-1	3	2
12	 Richie’s RBI’s	12-20-4	.389	14	1-11-0	12	9

Week Four match-ups

Orpington Isotopes (6th) v Durham Riverkings (3rd)

Batteries Essential (10th) v Cheshunt Maltsters (11th)

Beckenham A&E Dept (2nd) v Weston-Super-Sox (7th)

Mighty Slugs (9th) v The Cheddar Chasers (8th)

Newcastle Knights (4th) v The Bath Bombers (5th)

Norwich No II (1st) v Richie’s RBI’s (12th)

With a number of brawls and plenty of bad weather, it may have been tricky for the managers in the BaseballGB Fantasy League to keep their players on the field. Here’s what happened in week two.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Cheshunt Maltsters	27	7	28	3	.268	.766	2	5	55	1	4.10	1.30	2
The Cheddar Chasers	31	12	35	9	.302	.938	3	2	41	1	2.56	0.98	9

 

We begin with the biggest winners of the week, as the Chasers climb the standings with a 9-2 win against the Maltsters. Goldschmidt scored eight runs and joined Baez in belting four homers, with the Cubbie also driving in 10 and stealing a base. Kyle Seager joined Goldy in batting .417 for the week in an offensive sweep. Scherzer and Nola each had a win and helped take ERA and WHIP. Bundy struck out 16 for the Maltsters while Kimbrel had two saves. The Maltsters posted perfectly respectable offensive numbers, but that’s the way H2H goes – sometimes you run into a juggernaut.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Orpington Isotopes	23	4	19	3	.236	.657	3	4	53	1	5.28	1.35	3
Beckenham A&E Dept	26	4	17	4	.199	.645	4	5	59	1	3.08	1.04	7

 

The A&E Dept remain unbeaten with a 7-3 win against the Isotopes. The pitching staff fell a hold shy of a sweep as Carrasco, Porcello, Manaea and Hernandez each picked up wins and helped to take ERA and WHIP. Diaz had three saves. The offense was hit by injuries (Myers on the DL, but with Lamet now expected to be done for the season, there is a way to create a DL spot) and a suspension for Arenado but Hamilton led the team with six runs and three steals. Lindor, who knocked in five, teamed with Upton to take average for the Isotopes, while Devenski had a hold in an otherwise rough week for the roster.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Batteries Essential	19	4	20	1	.306	.918	3	3	60	0	1.76	0.93	7
Weston-Super-Sox	28	7	17	5	.253	.754	2	3	38	0	2.77	0.96	3

 

In a matchup full of good pitching, Batteries Essential defeated the Sox 7-3. Verlander, Sale and Godley each had wins and double-digit strikeouts, with the Houston starter posting great ERA and WHIP stats. Davis had three saves. Benintendi was the offensive star, hitting .429 with seven RBIs. Marte had eight runs, two homers and two steals for the Sox and Familia had three saves. Tough losing a matchup with a sub-1.00 WHIP too.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Newcastle Knights	17	8	22	5	.224	.715	4	6	58	0	4.76	1.39	4
Norwich No II	21	8	19	3	.262	.784	4	4	59	4	4.98	1.02	6

 

Norwich remain top of the standings after a 6-4 win against the Knights. Khris Davis belted four homers to go with his five runs, seven RBIs and .391 average. Anderson helped take WHIP while Hader led the staff with 12 strikeouts and two holds. Pollock knocked in six and stole a base for the Knights, while Martinez helped take ERA and Hand had four saves.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Durham Riverkings	25	6	28	4	.259	.754	3	2	53	1	3.60	1.15	5
The Bath Bombers	40	17	42	2	.294	.934	1	2	46	2	5.09	1.61	6

 

The Bombers edged past the Riverkings 6-5. The offense put on a power-hitting clinic, launching 17 homers with LeMahieu, Mosutakas and Trout all hitting three and joining Albies in scoring six runs. Moose hit .440 and joined Sanchez in driving in seven runs. Parker and Reed had a hold each. Kluber had a win, 13 strikeouts and did not allow an earned run for the Riverkings and Inciarte stole two bases.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Mighty Slugs	25	3	22	2	.255	.726	4	0	40	0	5.25	1.72	5
Richie’s RBI’s	27	8	22	2	.250	.717	3	4	28	0	5.30	1.63	4

 

Finally, the Slugs squeezed past the RBIs 5-4 in an extremely tight matchup. Stanton and Ohtani helped take average and OPS while Richards struck out 11 and helped take ERA and Kela picked up two wins in relief. Judge and Shaw each scored five runs for the RBIs and Taylor launched three homers and knocked in six. Sanchez helped make the difference in WHIP and Middleton, a wise free agent addition, had three saves.

 

Which all means the standings look like this:

 

Rank	Team	W-L-T	Pct	GB	Last Week	Waiver	Moves
1	 Norwich No II	17-5-2	.750	–	6-4-2	6	8
2	 The Cheddar Chasers	14-7-3	.646	2.5	9-2-1	1	–
3	 Beckenham A&E Dept	12-8-4	.583	4	7-3-2	9	4
4	 The Bath Bombers	13-10-1	.563	4.5	6-5-1	11	3
5	 Weston-Super-Sox	12-9-3	.563	4.5	3-7-2	5	2
6	 Richie’s RBI’s	11-9-4	.542	5	4-5-3	12	9
7	 Batteries Essential	11-11-2	.500	6	7-3-2	4	–
8	 Orpington Isotopes	11-11-2	.500	6	3-7-2	10	5
9	 Durham Riverkings	9-13-2	.417	8	5-6-1	2	3
10	 Mighty Slugs	6-15-3	.313	10.5	5-4-3	7	5
11	 Newcastle Knights	6-15-3	.313	10.5	4-6-2	8	8
12	 Cheshunt Maltsters	7-16-1	.313	10.5	2-9-1	3	2

 

Week three matchups

Norwich v Sox

Chasers v Riverkings

A&E Dept v Batteries Essential

Bombers v Slugs

RBIs v Knights

Isotopes v Maltsters

The 2018 fantasy season is under way. Which teams are off to flying starts and which are in extended spring training?

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Mighty Slugs	41	12	39	6	.241	.778	3	4	68	2	4.99	1.32	1
Norwich No II	53	16	49	5	.258	.844	4	7	104	3	3.20	1.14	11

We begin with the biggest winners of the week, as Norwich got off to a hot start with an 11-1 win against the Slugs. Bryce Harper launched six homers, scoring 10 times and knocking in 12 while batting .357 while Freeman also hit double digits in runs and RBIs.

The decision to pick Corbin is paying dividends too, as the Arizona pitcher won twice, striking out 20 and helping to take ERA and WHIP. Osuna and Rivera combined for seven saves and Hader had two holds. Hoskins stole two bases for the Slugs while batting .440, Miguel Cabrera drove in nine and Donaldson scored nine times.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Newcastle Knights	41	14	37	12	.232	.734	5	4	62	0	3.33	1.30	2
Weston-Super-Sox	45	13	51	3	.276	.833	7	5	85	0	2.36	1.00	9

The Sox are second in the standings after defeating the Knights 9-2. Polanco scored eight runs, knocked in 12 and hit .364 while the pitchers impressed. Ohtani won twice, as did deGrom, while Kershaw struck out 19 and Cole helped take ERA and WHIP. Nine different Knights hitters went deep in a matchup full of power, including three from Encarnacion. Trea Turner stole five bases and Pollock swiped three. The Knights also pounced to pick up Greg Holland after he joined St Louis, which could prove to be a very wise addition.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Orpington Isotopes	45	12	40	5	.253	.749	5	2	86	2	2.96	1.22	8
Batteries Essential	32	6	17	2	.258	.740	2	6	51	0	2.87	1.02	4

The Isotopes begin 2018 with an 8-4 win against Batteries Essential. Sano and Upton, who knocked in nine runs, each homered three times and scored seven runs while Lindor swiped three bases. Devenski and Lyons had a hold each while Morton won twice and Greinke struck out 14. Cano hit .440 for Batteries Essential and Sale helped take ERA and WHIP. Batteries Essential also have some injured players who haven’t been put on the DL, so are playing short-handed.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Durham Riverkings	36	7	32	5	.241	.674	0	7	76	3	4.13	1.13	4
Richie’s RBI’s	53	14	49	3	.257	.795	4	0	76	0	2.81	1.19	7

The RBIs slugged their way to a 7-4 win against the Riverkings. Gregorius scored 10 runs, hit three homers, knocked in 10 and batted .375 for the week. Eaton also scored 10 runs and Gallo launched three homers against the shift. Severino won twice while Clevinger and Price helped take ERA. Inciarte stole two bases for the Riverkings while Boxberger had four saves, Edwards Jr collected a pair of holds and Kluber made the difference in WHIP.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Cheshunt Maltsters	26	7	31	4	.242	.717	3	5	77	3	2.48	1.16	5
The Bath Bombers	44	15	46	8	.232	.725	5	2	92	1	5.17	1.42	7

The Bombers picked up a 7-5 win against the Maltsters, with Trout leading the hitters win nine runs, three homers and two steals. Bogaerts knocked in nine runs. Ray won twice and was one of three starters with 17 strikeouts, although Hamels led the staff with 23. Devers helped the Maltsters take average while Kimbrel had three saves, Madson picked up two holds and Bundy helped take ERA and WHIP.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Beckenham A&E Dept	42	10	38	4	.262	.801	5	5	69	5	4.46	1.27	5
The Cheddar Chasers	34	10	33	11	.226	.707	5	6	82	0	2.73	1.20	5

Finally, the A&E Dept and Chasers could not be separated, finishing 5-5. Smoak was the star Beckenham batter, scoring eight runs, homering twice, knocking in 10 and batting .351. Bradley notched five holds on an injury-ravaged pitching staff. In fact, Beckenham are living up to their name, with six players currently on the DL. The Chasers had four homers from Dozier and Cain and Dee Gordon stole three bases each. Taillon won twice, striking out 16 and helping to take ERA and WHIP, while Treinen and Brach had two saves each.

Standings

Which means the standings look like this:

Rank	Team	W-L-T	Pct	GB	Last Week	Waiver	Moves
1	  Norwich No II	11-1-0	.917	–	11-1-0	6	5
2	 Weston-Super-Sox	9-2-1	.792	1.5	9-2-1	5	2
3	  Orpington Isotopes	8-4-0	.667	3	8-4-0	10	4
4	 Richie’s RBI’s	7-4-1	.625	3.5	7-4-1	12	7
5	  The Bath Bombers	7-5-0	.583	4	7-5-0	11	1
6	 Beckenham A&E Dept	5-5-2	.500	5	5-5-2	9	4
7	  The Cheddar Chasers	5-5-2	.500	5	5-5-2	1	–
8	 Cheshunt Maltsters	5-7-0	.417	6	5-7-0	3	2
9	  Durham Riverkings	4-7-1	.375	6.5	4-7-1	2	3
10	 Batteries Essential	4-8-0	.333	7	4-8-0	4	–
11	  Newcastle Knights	2-9-1	.208	8.5	2-9-1	8	4
12	 Mighty Slugs	1-11-0	.083	10	1-11-0	7	4

 

Week Two match-ups

Norwich v Knights
Sox v Batteries Essential
Isotopes v A&E Dept
RBIs v Slugs
Bombers v Riverkings
Chasers v Maltsters

Remember to make full use of your DL spots and scour the waiver wire for free agents. Alternatively, if you have a need and/or a surplus, you can always talk trade.

It started with a Yankee, ended with a Met and involved 238 other players in between. Here’s how the 2018 BaseballGB Fantasy League draft unfolded.

I had done three mock drafts in preparation for our live online draft, one picking second out of 12 teams, the others at seventh and 11th. I liked the team from seventh most of all, partly because picking regularly allowed you more chances to change strategies and focus between different positions without having to wait long times between picks.

So when I logged into the draft room I looked at the randomly drawn draft order and found my team picking third. Surely a case of hovering the mouse over Nolan Arenado’s name and waiting to click. But not so fast…

 

Round 1
1.	Aaron Judge(NYY – OF)	Richie’s RBI’s
2.	Mike Trout(LAA – CF)	The Bath Bom…
3.	José Altuve(Hou – 2B)	Orpington Is…
4.	Nolan Arenado(Col – 3B)	Beckenham A&…
5.	Trea Turner(Was – SS)	Newcastle Kn…
6.	Giancarlo Stanton(NYY – OF)	Mighty Slugs
7.	Bryce Harper(Was – OF)	Norwich No II
8.	Clayton Kershaw(LAD – SP)	Weston-Super…
9.	Charlie Blackmon(Col – CF)	Batteries Es…
10.	J.D. Martinez(Bos – OF)	Cheshunt Mal…
11.	Mookie Betts(Bos – OF)	Durham River…
12.	Max Scherzer(Was – SP)	The Cheddar …

 

The RBIs were first up, and Yankees fan Richie sprang a surprise by taking Aaron Judge first overall. I must admit at being surprised that Judge was ranked 17th by Yahoo as his enormous power would justify a much higher place in my opinion. I’m not sure I would have taken him first overall, but if he hits 50 homers who can argue. This left the Bombers with Trout second and suddenly I had an alternative to Arenado in Altuve.

Knowing there were plenty of decent 3B options in later rounds that I would be comfortable with, I opted for Altuve’s combination of power, average and speed. It’s not long before another Yankee goes, as Stanton is picked by the Slugs. Again, I thought Stanton’s Yahoo ranking was a touch low, and can understand why you would go for him over someone like Betts, who fell to 11th overall, one place behind JD Martinez. Scherzer joined Kershaw as the first two pitchers taken.

 

Round 2
1.	Paul Goldschmidt(Ari – 1B)	The Cheddar …
2.	Corey Kluber(Cle – SP)	Durham River…
3.	Joey Votto(Cin – 1B)	Cheshunt Mal…
4.	Chris Sale(Bos – SP)	Batteries Es…
5.	Kris Bryant(ChC – 3B,OF)	Weston-Super…
6.	Freddie Freeman(Atl – 1B,3B)	Norwich No II
7.	Anthony Rizzo(ChC – 1B,2B)	Mighty Slugs
8.	Manny Machado(Bal – 3B)	Newcastle Kn…
9.	Carlos Correa(Hou – SS)	Beckenham A&…
10.	Francisco Lindor(Cle – SS)	Orpington Is…
11.	Gary Sánchez(NYY – C)	The Bath Bom…
12.	Luis Severino(NYY – SP)	Richie’s RBI’s

There were a bunch of quality infielders available in round two and I’m sure the Chasers and Maltsters will be very happy to get Goldschmidt and Votto here as I thought they may well have gone in round one. An early rush on aces saw Kluber and Sale selected and as the snake made its way back to me there were a number of great shortstop options on the board.

I had hoped that one of Machado, Correa or Lindor would fall to me, and when the Knights and A&E Dept made their choices my mind was made up for me. No doubt frustrated at seeing Gary Sanchez drafted just before his turn, the Bombers took Severino, which was a little early but he is still a solid staff ace.

 

Round 3
1.	Joey Gallo(Tex – 1B,3B,OF)	Richie’s RBI’s
2.	Noah Syndergaard(NYM – SP)	The Bath Bom…
3.	Stephen Strasburg(Was – SP)	Orpington Is…
4.	Madison Bumgarner(SF – SP)	Beckenham A&…
5.	José Ramírez(Cle – 2B,3B)	Newcastle Kn…
6.	Josh Donaldson(Tor – 3B)	Mighty Slugs
7.	George Springer(Hou – CF)	Norwich No II
8.	Cody Bellinger(LAD – 1B,OF)	Weston-Super…
9.	José Abreu(CWS – 1B)	Batteries Es…
10.	Nelson Cruz(Sea – OF)	Cheshunt Mal…
11.	Alex Bregman(Hou – 3B,SS)	Durham River…
12.	Brian Dozier(Min – 2B)	The Cheddar …

The RBIs reached down the rankings a fair way with the choice of Gallo. He brings enormous power and positional flexibility but the low average is a concern and I’m sure he would have still be around towards the middle of the draft. I decide to take my first pitcher in Strasburg but was seriously tempted to grab Bellinger. With a long wait before my round four pick, I just couldn’t risk seeing Strasburg or my other ace options vanish, so I pick the Nat and hope to get a power bat next time round.

 

Round 4
1.	Dee Gordon(Sea – 2B)	The Cheddar …
2.	Corey Seager(LAD – SS)	Durham River…
3.	Kenley Jansen(LAD – RP)	Cheshunt Mal…
4.	Justin Verlander(Hou – SP)	Batteries Es…
5.	Jacob deGrom(NYM – SP)	Weston-Super…
6.	Anthony Rendon(Was – 3B)	Norwich No II
7.	Rhys Hoskins(Phi – 1B,OF)	Mighty Slugs
8.	Edwin Encarnacion(Cle – 1B)	Newcastle Kn…
9.	Carlos Carrasco(Cle – SP)	Beckenham A&…
10.	Justin Upton(LAA – OF)	Orpington Is…
11.	Marcell Ozuna(StL – OF)	The Bath Bom…
12.	Yu Darvish(ChC – SP)	Richie’s RBI’s

Seeing Verlander, deGrom and Carrasco fly off the board, I feel my decision to take Strasburg when I did is justified. I had hoped for Encarnacion’s power but the Knights beat me to him. It’s a coin flip between Upton, Ozuna and Yelich but I go for Upton’s track record and ability to chip in with steals. Other picks of note see the Chasers take Gordon’s speed and future CF eligibility, the Slugs opt for the Phillies slugger Hoskins and Jansen becomes the first closer to be drafted.

 

Round 5
1.	Tyler Wade(NYY – 2B)	Richie’s RBI’s
2.	Robbie Ray(Ari – SP)	The Bath Bom…
3.	Christian Yelich(Mil – CF)	Orpington Is…
4.	Billy Hamilton(Cin – CF)	Beckenham A&…
5.	Carlos Martínez(StL – SP)	Newcastle Kn…
6.	Willson Contreras(ChC – C)	Mighty Slugs
7.	Khris Davis(Oak – OF)	Norwich No II
8.	Starling Marte(Pit – CF)	Weston-Super…
9.	Andrew Benintendi(Bos – CF)	Batteries Es…
10.	Craig Kimbrel(Bos – RP)	Cheshunt Mal…
11.	Chris Archer(TB – SP)	Durham River…
12.	Byron Buxton(Min – CF)	The Cheddar …

The RBIs start round five with a huge surprise, taking Tyler Wade. Wade may get some playing time to start the season in New York but the presence of Drury, Walker and two good prospects in Andujar and Torres means he will have a fight on his hands to keep his job. Wade would still have been available at the tail end of the draft and there were still plenty of other 2B available with a much stronger track record.

Surprisingly, Yelich is still available when my turn arrives, and after also considering Benintendi, Buxton and Marte, I picked Yelich and crossed the CF position off my to-do list. I am aware that I had not started to fill in my infield corners yet but will hope to do so before too long. I think I need another SP first, though.This round saw five CFs drafted while the Maltsters follow the selection of Jansen with that of Kimbrel for a lethal 1-2 bullpen combination.

 

Round 6
1.	Aaron Nola(Phi – SP)	The Cheddar …
2.	Aroldis Chapman(NYY – RP)	Durham River…
3.	Tommy Pham(StL – CF)	Cheshunt Mal…
4.	Robinson Canó(Sea – 2B)	Batteries Es…
5.	Justin Turner(LAD – 3B)	Weston-Super…
6.	Jonathan Schoop(Bal – 2B)	Norwich No II
7.	Miguel Cabrera(Det – 1B)	Mighty Slugs
8.	José Quintana(ChC – SP)	Newcastle Kn…
9.	Wil Myers(SD – 1B)	Beckenham A&…
10.	Zack Greinke(Ari – SP)	Orpington Is…
11.	Xander Bogaerts(Bos – SS)	The Bath Bom…
12.	Didi Gregorius(NYY – SS)	Richie’s RBI’s

Looking at the corner infield options, I wonder what to do if Cabrera or the now injured Justin Turner are available when it is my turn, but the Sox (absent from the draft, along with Batteries Essential) and Slugs make things easier for me. Greinke as my second starter it is. Schoop’s been an underrated player for a few years now so nice to see him get his due with a round six pick by Norwich while Gregorius, again ranked slightly low in Yahoo for my liking, goes to the RBIs.

 

Round 7
1.	Travis Shaw(Mil – 3B)	Richie’s RBI’s
2.	Corey Knebel(Mil – RP)	The Bath Bom…
3.	Yoenis Céspedes(NYM – OF)	Orpington Is…
4.	Andrew McCutchen(SF – CF)	Beckenham A&…
5.	A.J. Pollock(Ari – CF)	Newcastle Kn…
6.	Dallas Keuchel(Hou – SP)	Mighty Slugs
7.	Roberto Osuna(Tor – RP)	Norwich No II
8.	Elvis Andrus(Tex – SS)	Weston-Super…
9.	Daniel Murphy(Was – 2B)	Batteries Es…
10.	Andrew Miller(Cle – RP)	Cheshunt Mal…
11.	Whit Merrifield(KC – 2B,OF)	Durham River…
12.	Buster Posey(SF – C,1B)	The Cheddar …

Here’s where things start to get a bit tricky for my team, as the gaps at 1B and 3B are still an issue. The next best 1B or 3B in the rankings is Posey and as good as he is at C he won’t provide the kind of HR pop I’d like from 1B. Hosmer is available, as is Sano, but I would have to ignore some decent OF options to get him. I decide to change my plans and take Cespedes to complete my OF, having also considered Domingo Santana. Three more closers are taken this round while Batteries Essential could get nice value from the Murphy autopick here provided he is not missing injured for too long.

 

Round 8
1.	Lorenzo Cain(Mil – CF)	The Cheddar …
2.	James Paxton(Sea – SP)	Durham River…
3.	Eric Hosmer(SD – 1B)	Cheshunt Mal…
4.	Domingo Santana(Mil – OF)	Batteries Es…
5.	Gerrit Cole(Hou – SP)	Weston-Super…
6.	Masahiro Tanaka(NYY – SP)	Norwich No II
7.	José Berríos(Min – SP)	Mighty Slugs
8.	Ryan Braun(Mil – OF)	Newcastle Kn…
9.	Edwin Díaz(Sea – RP)	Beckenham A&…
10.	Yasiel Puig(LAD – OF)	Orpington Is…
11.	DJ LeMahieu(Col – 2B)	The Bath Bom…
12.	Chris Taylor(LAD – 2B,SS,CF)	Richie’s RBI’s

It’s not long before Santana and Hosmer are snapped up and after three SPs go in a row I find myself torn between Sano and Puig. Sano gives 1B and 3B flexibility but I am a huge Puig fan. Even though I will still be left with a corner infield headache, I just can’t pass on Puig, and fill my UT spot. But I have to get a 1B or 3B next time, no matter what.

 

Round 9
1.	Ken Giles(Hou – RP)	Richie’s RBI’s
2.	Lance McCullers Jr.(Hou – SP)	The Bath Bom…
3.	Miguel Sanó(Min – 1B,3B)	Orpington Is…
4.	Cody Allen(Cle – RP)	Beckenham A&…
5.	Jake Arrieta(Phi – SP)	Newcastle Kn…
6.	Sean Doolittle(Was – RP)	Mighty Slugs
7.	Felipe Rivero(Pit – RP)	Norwich No II
8.	Shohei Ohtani (Pitcher)(LAA – SP)	Weston-Super…
9.	Adrián Béltre(Tex – 3B)	Batteries Es…
10.	Rafael Devers(Bos – 3B)	Cheshunt Mal…
11.	Ender Inciarte(Atl – CF)	Durham River…
12.	Kyle Seager(Sea – 3B)	The Cheddar …

Expecting to have to decide between Devers or Beltre, I quickly grab Sano when he is still available in round nine. I had considered Arrieta here but had to fill in my infield. It is just as well as three 3B are drafted afterwards. The Sox get Ohtani the pitcher with an autodraft. Four more closers are grabbed this round. Having been able to wait until round 11 in my mocks before taking my first reliever, I know I will need one soon. I could go for a third SP or with any luck Brad Hand might still be on the board…

 

Round 10
1.	Javier Báez(ChC – 2B,SS)	The Cheddar …
2.	Raisel Iglesias(Cin – RP)	Durham River…
3.	Luis Castillo(Cin – SP)	Cheshunt Mal…
4.	Jean Segura(Sea – SS)	Batteries Es…
5.	Rougned Odor(Tex – 2B)	Weston-Super…
6.	Trevor Story(Col – SS)	Norwich No II
7.	Ronald Acu̱a Jr.(Atl РCF)	Mighty Slugs
8.	Brad Hand(SD – RP)	Newcastle Kn…
9.	Kyle Hendricks(ChC – SP)	Beckenham A&…
10.	Alex Wood(LAD – SP)	Orpington Is…
11.	Carlos Santana(Phi – 1B,OF)	The Bath Bom…
12.	Salvador Perez(KC – C)	Richie’s RBI’s

… but the Knights scupper that plan. After Hendricks is drafted I opt for Wood, having also been tempted by Smoak and Moustakas and Lester. The Slugs pick Acuna Jr, the top prospect in the game who should not be in the minors for long. A closer is my next priority.

 

Round 11
1.	David Price(Bos – SP,RP)	Richie’s RBI’s
2.	Mike Moustakas(KC – 3B)	The Bath Bom…
3.	Alex Colomé(TB – RP)	Orpington Is…
4.	Matt Carpenter(StL – 1B,2B,3B)	Beckenham A&…
5.	Matt Olson(Oak – 1B,OF)	Newcastle Kn…
6.	Jon Lester(ChC – SP)	Mighty Slugs
7.	Rich Hill(LAD – SP)	Norwich No II
8.	Adam Jones(Bal – CF)	Weston-Super…
9.	Zack Godley(Ari – SP)	Batteries Es…
10.	Ian Happ(ChC – 2B,CF)	Cheshunt Mal…
11.	Greg Bird(NYY – 1B)	Durham River…
12.	Luke Weaver(StL – SP)	The Cheddar …

I reach down the rankings somewhat to get Colome but just could not afford to wait any longer for a closer. The RBIs drafted a Red Sox player in Price while the Maltsters take Happ, who looks in line for regular playing time with the Cubs at the top of their lineup.

 

Round 12
1.	Sonny Gray(NYY – SP)	The Cheddar …
2.	Jay Bruce(NYM – 1B,OF)	Durham River…
3.	Marwin González(Hou – 1B,2B,3B,SS,OF)	Cheshunt Mal…
4.	Wade Davis(Col – RP)	Batteries Es…
5.	Gregory Polanco(Pit – OF)	Weston-Super…
6.	Nicholas Castellanos(Det – 3B,OF)	Norwich No II
7.	Garrett Richards(LAA – SP)	Mighty Slugs
8.	Brandon Morrow(ChC – RP)	Newcastle Kn…
9.	Kyle Schwarber(ChC – OF)	Beckenham A&…
10.	J.T. Realmuto(Mia – C,1B)	Orpington Is…
11.	Ian Desmond(Col – 1B,OF)	The Bath Bom…
12.	Nomar Mazara(Tex – OF)	Richie’s RBI’s

My hopes of getting my second corner infielder reduce with Bruce and Castellano both being drafted in round 12 but it does mean that Realmuto is still there when my turn comes around. I don’t normally like taking a catcher this early but JT is an exception to my rule. Plus, with Zimmerman, Lamb and Smoak still available for my next pick soon afterwards, I would have to be really unlucky for all of them to be drafted.

 

Round 13
1.	Dellin Betances(NYY – RP)	Richie’s RBI’s
2.	Héctor Neris(Phi – RP)	The Bath Bom…
3.	Ryan Zimmerman(Was – 1B)	Orpington Is…
4.	Justin Smoak(Tor – 1B)	Beckenham A&…
5.	Johnny Cueto(SF – SP)	Newcastle Kn…
6.	Paul DeJong(StL – 2B,SS)	Mighty Slugs
7.	Jeff Samardzija(SF – SP)	Norwich No II
8.	Arodys Vizcaíno(Atl – RP)	Weston-Super…
9.	Danny Duffy(KC – SP)	Batteries Es…
10.	Trevor Bauer(Cle – SP)	Cheshunt Mal…
11.	Anthony Swarzak(NYM – RP)	Durham River…
12.	Adam Duvall(Cin – OF)	The Cheddar …

Finally my corner infield is filled as I hover between Smoak and Zimmerman before choosing the latter. Smoak goes the very next pick. I start thinking ahead for my second closer, which would prove to be a very tough call. Neris and Vizcaino are taken this round, so would my other options still be around?

 

Round 14
1.	Jameson Taillon(Pit – SP)	The Cheddar …
2.	Yoán Moncada(CWS – 2B)	Durham River…
3.	Gio González(Was – SP)	Cheshunt Mal…
4.	Kelvin Herrera(KC – RP)	Batteries Es…
5.	Jeurys Familia(NYM – RP)	Weston-Super…
6.	Eddie Rosario(Min – CF)	Norwich No II
7.	Michael Conforto(NYM – CF)	Mighty Slugs
8.	Jon Gray(Col – SP)	Newcastle Kn…
9.	Marcus Stroman(Tor – SP)	Beckenham A&…
10.	Fernando Rodney(Min – RP)	Orpington Is…
11.	Manuel Margot(SD – CF)	The Bath Bom…
12.	Delino DeShields(Tex – CF)	Richie’s RBI’s

In a word, no. Having hoped for Herrera or Familia, it is a real blow when they go in consecutive picks. I’m left with a choice between Rodney and Bradley, who has not yet been named the Arizona closer. Rodney’s ERA is high, his WHIP is OK, but can he be trusted to hold the job with the Twins?

I reluctantly take Rodney with the aim of backing him up with Addison Reed if I can later in the draft. But I still need to fill out my rotation before thinking about set-up relievers. Some interesting picks in this round which could really pay dividends are Riverkings going for Moncada, Norwich taking Rosario and the Slugs backing Conforto to recover from injury. If I hadn’t already filled my OF, I would have been very tempted to do the same given the chance.

 

Round 15
1.	Mike Clevinger(Cle – SP,RP)	Richie’s RBI’s
2.	Cole Hamels(Tex – SP)	The Bath Bom…
3.	Kenta Maeda(LAD – SP)	Orpington Is…
4.	Archie Bradley(Ari – RP)	Beckenham A&…
5.	Kevin Kiermaier(TB – CF)	Newcastle Kn…
6.	Kevin Gausman(Bal – SP)	Mighty Slugs
7.	Chase Anderson(Mil – SP)	Norwich No II
8.	Evan Gattis(Hou – C)	Weston-Super…
9.	Wilson Ramos(TB – C)	Batteries Es…
10.	Mike Zunino(Sea – C)	Cheshunt Mal…
11.	Blake Snell(TB – SP)	Durham River…
12.	Blake Treinen(Oak – RP)	The Cheddar …

With the Bombers taking Hamels, I opt for Maeda as my fourth starter with Bradley going the next pick. I really like the Kiermaier pick for the Knights here, a really underrated player with power and speed who just needs to avoid injury. Three catchers go in a row.

 

Round 16
1.	Brad Brach(Bal – RP)	The Cheddar …
2.	Carl Edwards Jr.(ChC – RP)	Durham River…
3.	Ryan Madson(Was – RP)	Cheshunt Mal…
4.	Brett Gardner(NYY – CF)	Batteries Es…
5.	Jake Lamb(Ari – 3B)	Weston-Super…
6.	Mark Melancon(SF – RP)	Norwich No II
7.	David Robertson(NYY – RP)	Mighty Slugs
8.	Cam Bedrosian(LAA – RP)	Newcastle Kn…
9.	Danny Salazar(Cle – SP)	Beckenham A&…
10.	Charlie Morton(Hou – SP)	Orpington Is…
11.	Bradley Zimmer(Cle – CF)	The Bath Bom…
12.	Tyler Chatwood(ChC – SP,RP)	Richie’s RBI’s

Half of this round is dominated by relievers and as much as I am tempted to join the party and grab Reed here I decide that the rotation must come first with Morton. Zimmer is a nice pick for the Bombers as he was looking impressive before his injury last year.

 

Round 17
1.	Aaron Sanchez(Tor – SP)	Richie’s RBI’s
2.	Addison Reed(Min – RP)	The Bath Bom…
3.	Taijuan Walker(Ari – SP)	Orpington Is…
4.	Dinelson Lamet(SD – SP)	Beckenham A&…
5.	Michael Wacha(StL – SP)	Newcastle Kn…
6.	Jake Faria(TB – SP)	Mighty Slugs
7.	Josh Hader(Mil – RP)	Norwich No II
8.	Ian Kinsler(LAA – 2B)	Weston-Super…
9.	Evan Longoria(SF – 3B)	Batteries Es…
10.	Michael Fulmer(Det – SP)	Cheshunt Mal…
11.	Trey Mancini(Bal – 1B,OF)	Durham River…
12.	Brad Ziegler(Mia – RP)	The Cheddar …

A disastrous start to this round for my team as Sanchez, my next SP target, is nabbed by the RBIs and the Bombers take Reed next. After a series of curses, I consider Fulmer but opt for Walker. That leaves me with three picks left, and I need two set-up relievers and a bench bat.

 

Round 18
1.	Jacob Barnes(Mil – RP)	The Cheddar …
2.	Lucas Giolito(CWS – SP)	Durham River…
3.	Dylan Bundy(Bal – SP)	Cheshunt Mal…
4.	Josh Bell(Pit – 1B)	Batteries Es…
5.	Chris Davis(Bal – 1B)	Weston-Super…
6.	Jordan Montgomery(NYY – SP)	Norwich No II
7.	Keone Kela(Tex – RP)	Mighty Slugs
8.	Eduardo Núñez(Bos – 2B,3B,SS,OF)	Newcastle Kn…
9.	Drew Pomeranz(Bos – SP)	Beckenham A&…
10.	Luke Gregerson(StL – RP)	Orpington Is…
11.	Ozzie Albies(Atl – 2B)	The Bath Bom…
12.	Scooter Gennett(Cin – 2B,3B,OF)	Richie’s RBI’s

This round leaves me torn between taking a holds option or adding an extra closer. Not having much faith in Rodney, should I take Gregerson for extra saves (for the time being, at least) or is that just making things worse? I bite the bullet and take Gregerson, knowing that if he is replaced as Cardinals closer I will need to act quickly. I like the Bell autopick for Batteries Essential here, as he looks capable of improving his power numbers in the middle of the Pirates new-look lineup.

 

Round 19
1.	Adam Eaton(Was – CF)	Richie’s RBI’s
2.	Blake Parker(LAA – RP)	The Bath Bom…
3.	Chris Devenski(Hou – RP)	Orpington Is…
4.	Rick Porcello(Bos – SP)	Beckenham A&…
5.	Kyle Barraclough(Mia – RP)	Newcastle Kn…
6.	Jedd Gyorko(StL – 1B,2B,3B)	Mighty Slugs
7.	Welington Castillo(CWS – C)	Norwich No II
8.	Justin Bour(Mia – 1B)	Weston-Super…
9.	Steven Souza Jr.(Ari – OF)	Batteries Es…
10.	Brad Peacock(Hou – SP,RP)	Cheshunt Mal…
11.	Yadier Molina(StL – C)	Durham River…
12.	Scott Schebler(Cin – CF)	The Cheddar …

With my penultimate pick, I opt for Devenski to give me some holds and strikeouts. There are still some other pitchers I have in my queue for my final pick, but I will need a bench bat of some description. I add Gyorko to my queue only for the Slugs to draft him almost instantly. Batteries Essential get some nice late-round power and speed from Souza.

 

Round 20
1.	Lance Lynn(Min – SP)	The Cheddar …
2.	Sean Manaea(Oak – SP)	Durham River…
3.	Burch Smith(KC – SP,RP)	Cheshunt Mal…
4.	Odúbel Herrera(Phi – CF)	Batteries Es…
5.	Dexter Fowler(StL – CF)	Weston-Super…
6.	A.J. Minter(Atl – RP)	Norwich No II
7.	Alex Cobb(Bal – SP)	Mighty Slugs
8.	Yasmani Grandal(LAD – C)	Newcastle Kn…
9.	Brian McCann(Hou – C)	Beckenham A&…
10.	Eugenio Suárez(Cin – 3B)	Orpington Is…
11.	Carlos González(Col – OF)	The Bath Bom…
12.	Asdrúbal Cabrera(NYM – 2B,3B,SS)	Richie’s RBI’s

It’s hard to know what to do with my last pick. Do you go for flexibility with someone you can plug into multiple positions or do you go for the best player available? In the end, I go for Suarez’s power at 3B, which could be handy if Sano is suspended after assault allegations. I like the Lynn pick here for the Chasers as I believe he will thrive being a year removed from his injury, pitching in a spacious stadium and with a very athletic defense behind him.

Getting Cobb this late is nice work by the Slugs while the Knights and A&E Dept prove you really can leave taking a catcher to the end and get a decent option. As the RBIs take Cabrera, the draft is done in a little over 90 minutes.

Team summaries

RBIs: Lots of power, decent speed but average may be an issue. Top three in rotation are good. Just one closer and one set-up reliever. May need to reduce number of bench hitters.

Bombers: Good power, decent offense across the board. Like the starters and bullpen but may need an extra arm or two.

Isotopes: Very happy with the offense and the rotation’s pretty strong. Bullpen after Colome is a concern though.

A&E Dept: Power and speed shouldn’t be a problem but a few low average hitters. Very good pitching depth, quality rotation and two good closers.

Knights: Lots of speed and power. If Machado’s average rebounds and Pollock stays fit, look out. Very solid pitching staff with good rotation depth.

Slugs: Takes full advantage of Rizzo’s 2B eligibility. Lacking a .300 hitter unless Cabrera rebounds. Plenty of power but not much speed. Rotation decent but only one closer.

Norwich: Stacked with power but could use Story and Davis lifting their averages. Not much speed. Two good closers but rotation lacking genuine ace.

Sox: Considering it was an autodraft, not too bad. Surplus of bench hitters could be used as trade bait. Powerful infield and just enough speed. Pitching staff high on quality with great 1-2 punch in Kershaw and deGrom plus two closers. Need extra arms though.

Batteries Essential: Another autodraft. Should hit well for average plus nice power/speed combo in the outfield. Pitching staff has good quality SP and two closers. Needs set-up relievers and extra SPs though. Surplus hitters as trade bait?

Maltsters: Five .300+ hitters in a well-balanced offense. May have the best bullpen in the league but rotation is lacking a genuine ace.

Riverkings: Youthful team banking could be boosted further with good years from Bird and Moncada. Just one .300 hitter and one 30+ HR hitter. Young back of rotation could go either way.

Chasers: Powerful infield and could be tough to beat in steals. Rotation is decent. Not many big names in the bullpen but could still be effective.

The week one matchups, running from March 29 to Apr 8 are:

Isotopes v Batteries Essential

A&E Dept v Chasers

Maltsters v Bombers

Riverkings v RBIs

Slugs v Norwich

Knights v Sox