Four teams have now clinched their spot in the BaseballGB Fantasy League playoffs after the Week 20 match-ups.

Mark George’s Orpington Isotopes had the biggest win of the week, getting the better of Batteries Essential by a score of 9-2. The Isotopes swept the offensive categories despite Jose Bautista landing on the Disabled List. There were stand-out performances from Wilin Rosario (3HR), Carlos Beltran (3HR) and Elvis Andrus (4SB)., whilst Batteries received three stolen bases from Jacoby Ellsbury and two homers from Carlos Santana. Batteries Essential received some good work from their relievers, most notably through four saves by Addison Reed, to take the Saves and Holds categories, but the Isotopes took the rest in large part due to excellent work by Matt Garza, Jon Lester, Jake Peavy and Adam Wainwright.

The league-leading SWAT added eight more category wins to their collection in Week 20. Beck’Nams had a decent offensive week, including multi-homer weeks from Anthony Rizzo, Shane Victorino and Will Venable, but against SWAT that only led to a draw in the Runs category. Robinson Cano, Adrian Beltre and Adam Jones all performed well for SWAT as they took five of the offensive categories and their pitching staff then captured three of the pitching stats. Beck’Nams fought back largely thanks to an impressive tally of 62 strike-outs and a couple of Holds from Tanner Scheppers and Tyler Clippard.

Iron Men became the fourth team to clinch a playoff spot after winning their Week 20 match-up against NE Riverkings 7-4. Iron Men received some superlative work from their pitching staff to sweep all six categories, contributions including yet another win from Max Scherzer and three saves from Jim Henderson. The Riverkings battled back by taking four of the offensive categories with outfielders Austin Jackson and Giancarlo Stanton leading the way.

Richie’s RBI’s also gained a 7-4 victory, although this one came at the expense of my Cheddar Chasers. Houston Astros catcher Jason Castro launched three home runs as the RBI’s took all of the offensive categories, slightly softening the blow of losing Starling Marte to injury for a few weeks. Four saves (three from Fernando Rodney) and contributions across the board in the strike-outs column helped my Chasers take some of the pitching categories, but they were not enough to prevent a slip back down to the foot of the table.

Norwich No II and Cardiff Redsox had a good competitive match-up in which No II, currently second in the table, ultimately prevailed 6-4. Norwich’s victory was once again set up by outstanding pitching. Aroldis Chapman (3SV), Kenley Jansen (3), Craig Kimbrel (2) and Rex Brothers (2) combined for ten saves and Jose Fernandez (16 K’s), Shelby Miller (14) and Alex Cobb (10) set the pace as the pitching staff combined for 77 strike-outs. Cardiff were able to split the offensive categories with Troy Tulowitzki and Martin Prado both going deep twice.

Finally, Weston-Super-Sox and The Wright Stuff could only be separated by one category in their match-up. It went in favour of Weston and, judging by the final scores, it was the wins contributed by Ian Kennedy, Drew Smyly and Doug Fister that proved to be the difference. The Wright Stuff got homers from seven different players on the week and that meant Miguel Cabrera’s customary assault on every pitcher who dares to throw the ball anywhere near him didn’t allow the Super-Sox to dominate the offensive categories.

Week 21 match-ups

SWAT* (1st) Norwich No II (2nd)

Orpington Isotopes (3rd) v Cardiff Redsox (11th)

The Wright Stuff (7th) v Iron Men (4th)

Richie’s RBI’s (10th) v Weston-Super-Sox (5th)

NE Riverkings (8th) v Batteries Essential (6th)

Cheddar Chasers (12th) v Beck ‘Nams (9th)

Two teams have now clinched a playoff place in the BaseballGB Fantasy League. Who else might be set to join them? Read on to find out.

Norwich No II took a 10-2 victory over Beck’Nams to secure a playoff place and to keep a firm hold on second position in the league. No II swept the offensive categories thanks to quality contributions by Chris Davis (3 HR), Hunter Pence (6 R, 9 RBI) and Jean Segura (3 SB) to name but three, while Jonathan Lucroy was the only Beck’Nams batter to go deep.  Beck’Nams narrowly captured WHIP and took home the Holds category thanks to four from Tyler Clippard (Tanner Scheppers added another for good measure), but the rest went to Norwich No II led by three saves apiece from Craig Kimbrel and Aroldis Chapman.

Despite their impressive match-up win, Norwich No II only gained marginal ground on first place as SWAT continued their relentless pace with a 9-2 victory over Richie’s RBI’s. The man of the match-up was unquestionably Alfonso Soriano who is clearly enjoying being back in pinstripes. The outfielder’s outstanding week included nine runs, five home runs, 18 RBI and two stolen bases. Richie was the manager who took a chance on picking up Alex Rodriguez and he benefitted from A-Rod’s ESPN Sunday Night come back (3-for-4 with a home run) after being hit by Ryan Dempster’s pitch.

The Wright Stuff took a comfortable 9-2 victory over my struggling Cheddar Chasers. The match-up included five players who had multi-homer weeks and although three of them were Chasers (Billy Butler, Kyle Seager and Ben Zobrist), greater consistency across the lineup ensured that even that category eluded me. At least Yadier Molina made a positive return from the Disabled List. On the pitching side, the Wright Stuff received a win and nine strike-outs from three separate pitchers (Mat Latos, Tony Cingrani and Sonny Gray), whilst my pitching staff rescued WHIP thanks to a difference of 0.01. The way my team are going, I’ll take any good luck I can get.

The Orpington Isotopes and Iron Men are separated by just half a game in the standings after the Isotopes edged a close contest 6-5.  Adam Wainwright’s 11 strike-out performance against the Cubs on Sunday was invaluable for Mark George’s Isotopes team, with saves from Steve Cisehk (3) and Sergio Romo (2) helping the team along too.  Evan Longoria had a strong week for Iron men with two homers and a 1.382 OPS, but Mark Trumbo’s eight RBI (he hit three homers on the week) and six stolen bases spread out over five players helped the Isotopes to split the offensive categories and to take the match-up.

Weston-Super-Sox and the NE Riverkings couldn’t be split and shared the twelve categories evenly in their match-up. The Super-Sox largely did their damage with the bat and chief contributor once again was Miguel Cabrera (4 HR, 10 RBI) who has frankly reached a ridiculous level of brilliance that even other excellent hitters must marvel at. The Riverkings received a strong week from Jason Heyward (3 HR, 1.231 OPS) but their key players were pitchers, led by the Phillies’ Cole Hamels who contributed a win and 17 strike-outs. The Riverkings have also snuck in and grabbed Red Sox prospect Xander Bogaerts who has just been promoted to the Majors.

Finally, Batteries Essential and Cardiff Redsox also collected six category wins apiece from their match-up. Batteries gained three saves each from Joaquin Benoit and Addision Reed and were able to win five of the pitching categories despite quiet strike-out weeks from Justin Masterson and Tim Lincecum. For Cardiff, Prince Fielder put off-field distractions (largely caused by Tigers teammate Torii Hunter mentioning them in a radio interview) behind him with a two homer week and Martin Prado collected six runs and seven RBI to help Cardiff take five of the six offensive categories.

Week 20 match-ups

Beck ‘Nams (8th) v SWAT* (1st)

Cardiff Redsox (10th) v Norwich No II (2nd)

Orpington Isotopes (3rd) v Batteries Essential (6th)

NE Riverkings (9th) v Iron Men (4th)

The Wright Stuff (7th) v Weston-Super-Sox (5th)

Cheddar Chasers (11th) v Richie’s RBI’s (12th)