Week Thirteen in the BaseballGB Fantasy League proved to be unlucky for some and a good week for others.

Mark George’s Orpington Isotopes captured the biggest win of the week, taking a 10-1 victory of the Wright Stuff. The Isotopes swept the offensive categories, led by Jason Kipnis’s brilliant week that brought 9 runs, 3 homers, 10 RBI, 2 stolen bases and a 1.650 OPS. Jose Bautista and Yasiel Puig were other key contributors for Orpington, whilst the Wright Stuff couldn’t gain any benefit from Ian Desmond’s impressive performances. Ernesto Frieri’s four saves did help the Stuff to their one category win, but Mark’s pitching staff combined to win four of the other pitching categories for a comprehensive match-up win.

The NE Riverkings launched themselves away from the bottom of the league with an impressive 8-2 match-up victory over the second -placed Norwich No II. Matt Harvey added 11 K’s to the total and Chase Utley rolled back the years to lead the batting lineup with four longballs and ten runs scored. As for No II, Kenley Jansen, Craig Kimbrel and Aroldis Chapman combined for six saves whilst Chris Davis had another monstrous week (4 HR, 7 R, 10 RBI) in a losing effort.

Richie’s RBI’s followed the Riverkings’ lead by putting their 11th-placed position in the standings to one side and gaining an 8-3 win over the Cardiff Redsox. The Redosx were able to combine for 5 stolen bases to win that category, but the RBI’s took the rest of the offensive with Pittsburgh’s Starling Marte going deep twice and putting up a 1.360 OPS. Gio Gonzalez gave the RBI’s two wins and 11 K’s, whilst Yu Darvish added another win and 14 strike-outs to the team’s total.

What was good news for the Riverkings and RBI’s proved disastrous for my Chasers as their match-up wins and my 7-4 loss to the Weston-Super-Sox saw my team plummet to the bottom of the league. Fernando Rodney and Kevin Gregg both provided two saves and Mike Trout had another solid week across the board, but that was where the positives came to an end. Michael Cuddyer’s hit-streak helped the Super-Sox along, as did a good week from Hanley Ramirez, but the two stars of the show were Miguel Cabrera (5 HR) and Chris Sale (23 K).

Batteries Essential took a 6-4 win over the Beck’Nams in a week when neither team’s offence really got going. Jacoby Ellsbury scored six runs and David Wright stole a couple of bases as the Batteries picked up four of the offensive categories. Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez gave the Beck’Nams decent contributions and Tyler Clippard collected two holds to help them to four pitching category victories, but the Batteries were able to take the Wins and Saves to win the match-up.

The final match-up saw the first-placed team meeting the third as SWAT and Iron Men battled away and could only be separated by a single category. SWAT took five of the offensive categories, led by Allen Craig’s three home runs and Domonic Brown’s seven RBI and seven runs, whilst Iron Men grabbed five of the pitching set with C.J. Wilson, Madison Bumgarner and Max Scherzer combining for 29 strike-outs and Koji Uehara amassing three saves. The difference in the match-up came through SWAT being able to take the remaining pitching category – courtesy of Darren O’Day’s single hold – whilst the sixth hitting category (stolen bases) was drawn.

Week 14 match-ups

SWAT (1st) v Batteries Essential (6th)

Norwich No II (2nd) v Weston-Super-Sox (4th)

Iron Men (3rd) v Cheddar Chasers (12th)

Orpington Isotopes (5th) v Richie’s RBI’s (9th)

Beck’Nams (7th) v Cardiff Redsox (10th)

Wright Stuff (8th) v NE Riverkings (11th)