BGB Fantasy League Week Sixteen

Week Sixteen in the BaseballGB Fantasy League brought several close match-ups, but the league-leader took a rare one-sided defeat.

The big result of the week came courtesy of BGB’s Mark George whose Orpington Isoptopes took a surprise 11-1 win over the hitherto seemingly unbeatable SWAT. The Isotopes swept the offensive categories with Edwin Encarnacion, Andrew McCutchen, Jose Bautista and Yasiel Puig all going deep twice during the week, whilst SWAT had to make do without Joe Mauer (paternity leave) and Robinson Cano had an unusually quiet week. SWAT were able to take ERA, but otherwise the categories kept coming for the Isotopes, most notably thanks to four saves from Steve Chisek and two wins and 16 strike-outs from Jon Lester.

There was another offensive category sweep in the next match-up between Batteries Essential and Weston-Super-Sox. It was the Batteries that had the broom out as both Jay Bruce and Torii Hunter went deep three times, with Jimmy Rollins adding a trio of stolen bases helping the team to an impressive total of nine SB’s. The Super-Sox took home the ERA and strike-out categories, the latter aided in no small part by Chris Sale’s 18 k’s, but Batteries Essential took the other four pitching categories on their way to a 10-2 match-up success story.

The offensive sweeps continued into the match-up between Cardiff Redsox and my Cheddar Chasers and unfortunately for me it was the Redsox that were on the right end of it. Carlos Gomez’s two homers and five stolen bases led the way, but the Redsox’s success largely came from good contributions across the board, including a welcome return to form from Victor Martinez. Neither of the two teams put up particularly impressive pitching performances and I gratefully accepted the three category wins that came my way.

It was a close battle between the Iron Men and Norwich No II. Norwich had a bumper strike-out week with 75, with Jose Fernandez contributing 21 (plus two pitching wins) and Shelby Miller, Stephen Strasburg and Julio Teheran each adding in 12 apiece. Meanwhile Craig Kimbrel, Aroldis Chapman, Rex Brothers and Kenley Jansen combined for 10 saves, probably leaving Iron Men relieved to rescue the holds category (two from Trevor Rosenthal did the trick) and gaining a tie in pitching wins. Michael Borne amassed 10 RBI for Iron Men and Jose Altuve picked up four stolen bases although that will only marginally soften the blow of losing Ryan Braun for the rest of the season courtesy of his PED suspension.

The final two match-ups were both decided by a single category win. Beck’Nams edged out the NE Riverkings with strong ERA and WHIP scores and took the strikeouts category by one K with Felix Hernandez and Jered Weaver combing for 20, whilst six players combined for seven stolen bases on the offensive category side. As for the Riverkings, Giancarlo Stanton’s three longballs helped the team to home run success, whilst Joe Nathan and Glen Perkins earned two saves apiece to win that category.

As for the Wright Stuff and Richie’s RBI’s, this was a match-up of contrasting fortunes. Richie’s offence enjoyed plenty of joy, Daniel Murphy leading the team with 8 RBI and adding two homers. Bryce Harper also went deep twice but their combined home run total of 8 was matched by the Wright Stuff and that single tie proved to be decisive in the match-up as the Stuff swept the pitching categories. Four pitchers – Gerrit Cole, Patrick Corbin, Tony Cingrani and Tommy Milone – all got into double figures in the strike-out column, whilst another four pitchers – Grant Balfour, Ryan Cook, Huston Street and Ernesto Frieri – combined for seven saves.

Week 17 match-ups

NE Riverkings (9th) v SWAT* (1st)

Richie’s RBI’s (10th) v Norwich No II (2nd)

Cheddar Chasers (11th) v Orpington Isotopes (3rd)

Iron Men (4th) v Batteries Essential (6th)

Weston-Super-Sox (5th) v Cardiff Redsox (12th)

The Wright Stuff (8th) v Beck ‘Nams (7th)