Welcome to our weekly round-up of the BaseballGB Fantasy League competition. This is a mixed Head-2-Head league involving BGB writers and readers.
There are fourteen teams who pair up in different combinations each week, making for seven match-ups in any given week. The teams battle over twelve statistical categories, gaining one point for each category they win.Â
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All the points are carried over into the season league table at the end of the weekly match-ups. The top six teams with the most points at the end of the fantasy season will go on to the playoffs during the last three weeks of September.
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It’s time to look back at Week Four of the BaseballGB fantasy league. If you had Ben Zobrist, you were laughing. If you had Joaquin Benoit, you were crying.
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| Â | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score |
| Orpington Isotopes | 26 | 8 | 26 | 0 | 0.274 | 0.77 | 3 | 1 | 47 | 0 | 5.64 | 1.54 | 1 |
| stevenston angels | 28 | 5 | 28 | 5 | 0.331 | 0.912 | 4 | 1 | 59 | 2 | 3.5 | 1.15 | 10 |
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We begin with the Angels giving my Isotopes an absolute hammering. There’s no sugarcoating it, my team were well beaten, only taking homers thanks to Sizemore and Berkman. Any slight hopes I had at taking ERA and WHIP were undone by a nightmare week for Joaquin Benoit, who posted an ERA of 60.75 and a WHIP of 8.25 in a disastrous series against the Indians.
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I’m not saying my mum could have pitched better, but … well, actually, I am. So as I add Benoit’s name to the list of relievers who make me shudder (I still have cold sweats thinking about a very costly week from Scott Schoneneweis three or four years ago), the Angels can revel in their win. Bautista, Kendrick and Adrian Gonzalez all had big weeks with the bat and Aviles’ three-run homer proved key in RBIs. Lee and Hanson led the pitching staff.
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| Â | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score |
| Okajima’s Fire Bet | 29 | 4 | 25 | 3 | 0.293 | 0.787 | 3 | 1 | 23 | 0 | 3.54 | 1.32 | 3 |
| Redbacks | 34 | 7 | 24 | 8 | 0.264 | 0.752 | 4 | 2 | 26 | 1 | 3.14 | 1.16 | 9 |
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Redbacks also had a big win, defeating the Bet 9-3, including a sweep of pitching categories, with Johson, Jurrjens and Hudson leading the rotation. Add in power from Soriano and a big week for Andrus (seven runs, four steals) and you have a very nice win. The Bet took RBIs, average and OPS thanks to Ethier and Polanco.
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| Â | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score |
| The Wright Stuff | 34 | 14 | 40 | 3 | 0.307 | 0.964 | 3 | 2 | 37 | 1 | 3.8 | 1.14* | 8 |
| daebhid2 | 27 | 4 | 19 | 3 | 0.268 | 0.738 | 4 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 3.72 | 1.14* | 3 |
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The Stuff’s bats got going against Dave’s team, taking five out of six on the way to an 8-3 win. The Stuff belted 10 more homers than the opposition thanks to Lind and Chris Young, while K-Rod picked up a couple of saves. Dave took wins, ERA and WHIP by a hair thanks to Colon, De La Rosa and Lester.
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| Â | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score |
| The Cheddar Chasers | 15 | 2 | 12 | 5 | 0.219 | 0.567 | 3 | 3 | 43 | 1 | 2.79 | 1.16 | 3 |
| BD Yankees | 37 | 11 | 32 | 5 | 0.258 | 0.818 | 1 | 6 | 52 | 2 | 5.9 | 1.52 | 8 |
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Another matchup, another 8-3 win, this time for the Yankees against the Chasers. The Yankees took five out of six offensive categories thanks to Cano and company, while collecting six saves from Rivera and Street. Matt took wins, ERA and WHIP thanks to Kennedy, Lilliy and Gio Gonzalez but the injury bug has bitten again, with a total of seven players now on the DL.
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| Â | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score |
| Pretzel Vendors | 29 | 7 | 32 | 4 | 0.205 | 0.641 | 2 | 3 | 42 | 2 | 3.04 | 1.23 | 5 |
| Bonestalkers | 31 | 7 | 37 | 8 | 0.314 | 0.945 | 0 | 8 | 37 | 0 | 6 | 1.81 | 6 |
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Bonestalkers got the better of the Vendors 6-5, taking five out of six offensive categories, mainly thanks to an insane week from Zobrist (13 RBIs!). The pitching staff failed to pick up a win or a hold, but racked up eight saves from Hanrahan, Nunez, Broxton and Putz. The Vendors had a win and a hold from Sipp, with Bumgarner and Nolasco keeping the WHIP down and racking up the strikeouts.
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| Â | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score |
| SWAT* | 22 | 8 | 27 | 3 | 0.256 | 0.806 | 1 | 4 | 37 | 1 | 5.19 | 1.54 | 6 |
| Beck ‘Nams (GB) | 13 | 2 | 14 | 3 | 0.19 | 0.503 | 3 | 1 | 46 | 2 | 2.77 | 1.38 | 5 |
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It was a matchup of two halves as SWAT defeated Back ‘Nams 6-5. SWAT’s hitters comfortably took five out of six categories thanks to Choo and Miguel Cabrera, while the saves from Marmol, Walden and Soria proved vital. Shield, Sanchez and Sabathia put up nice numbers for Beck ‘Nams to help take five pitching categories.
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| Â | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score |
| Iron Men | 26 | 8 | 28 | 3 | 0.217 | 0.693 | 5 | 3 | 47 | 3 | 2.55 | 1.05 | 6 |
| Weston-Super-Sox | 29 | 14 | 32 | 6 | 0.238 | 0.781 | 3 | 2 | 40 | 1 | 3.52 | 1.38 | 6 |
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The Sox and Iron Men couldn’t be separated in this 6-6 tie. Again a matchup of two halves, the Sox swept the offensive categories, while Iron Men won all six pitching stats. Carlos Santana, Howard and Braun were the Sox’s key men, with a nice week from Masterson too. Weaver, Pineda and Marcum led Iron Men’s staff to excellent ERA and WHIP numbers, with League and Perez collecting vital saves.
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The week five fixtures are as follows:
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Sox (1st) v Chasers (11th)
Redbacks (2nd) v Iron Men (9th)
Angels (3rd) v SWAT (5th)
Vendors (4th) v Beck ‘Nams (10th)
Yankees (6th) v Bonestalkers (8th)
Stuff (7th) v Isotopes (14th)
Bet (12th) v daebhid2 (13th)
Yep, I’m having a bit of a nightmare with injuries at the moment. My gamble on Carlos Pena isn’t exactly paying dividends yet either.