BGB Fantasy League Week 23: Play-offs

Week 23 brought the quarter-finals in the BaseballGB Fantasy League. Which teams headed through to the semis? Read on to find out.

SWAT won the regular season competition by 16.5 games but they were almost brought crashing down in the first round of the playoffs by the eighth-placed Beck’Nams.  SWAT captured five of the six offensive categories with a batting lineup powered by Wilson Ramos’s four home runs. Beck’Nams also received a quartet of longballs from a slightly unlikely source – shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera – but the only category they could best SWAT in was stolen bases, largely thanks to Will Venable stealing three on the week.

Beck’Nams needed a strong performance form their pitching staff and received a decent return, not least three saves apiece from Greg Holland and Ernesto Frieri. However, SWAT matched those six saves and then narrowly edged strikeouts by one to take a very close match-up.

Norwich No II had a less nerve-jangling passage into the semi-finals thanks to a 9-3 victory over the Wright Stuff. The unquestioned star of the show was Hunter Pence. Every team hopes for a big contribution from a player in this sudden death format and Norwich No II certainly got that from Pence. He added six home runs, eight runs and 19 RBI to their total and played a vital role in four of the offensive categories, whilst Jean Segura’s three stolen bases proved more than handy for Norwich too.

Wright Stuff were able to take a couple of the pitching categories with Gerrit Cole providing two wins and 16 K’s, but it wasn’t enough to prevent No II making it through.

Iron Men also booked their place in the semi-finals with a 9-3 win. The batting lineup did the bulk of the damage against Batteries Essential, sweeping the board for all six categories. Jose Altuve provided speed (four stolen bases) and a dash of power (one home run) whilst Nick Swisher went deep three teams as Batteries’ batters took the wrong week to need a recharge. Joaquin Benoit gave them hope with three saves and the ERA and WHIP scores show that Batteries Essentials’ pitchers had a decent week, the trouble was they couldn’t amass the counting stats that were needed and it was one of those weeks when good performances didn’t translate into W’s.

Surprisingly one of the few pitchers who didn’t give Iron Men a win was Max Scherzer (stuck on 19 for the season), although he did contribute 18 strike-outs to the cause.

Finally, Mark George’s quest to salvage a bit of BaseballGB-writer pride after my miserable last-placed showing sadly fell at the first playoff hurdle in a close match-up against the Weston-Super-Sox.

Most of the categories were won by a relatively clear distance and the Isotopes’ downfall ultimately came in only being able to draw the home run and hold categories, leaving the Super-Sox’s six wins enough to book a semi-final berth. Neither offence really set the world alight; both teams had a two-homer man (Mark Trumbo for the Isotopes, Michael Cuddyer for the Sox) and and Elvis Andrus and Jason Kipnis combined for five stolen bases (try saying that after a few drinks) for Orpington. On the pitching side, the Super-Sox were led by Chris Sale, Kris Medlen and Ervin Santana who combined for three wins and 28 strike outs.

The Semi-finals and Consolation competition

The main competition semi-finals will pit SWAT against Iron Men and Norwich No II against Weston-Super-Sox. SWAT and Norwich No II may be favourites to advance as the number one and two seed respectively, but both Iron Men and the Super-Sox are more than capable of making it through to the Final.

The defeated teams from the quarter finals still have a shot at glory in their own Consolation competition. The semi-final lineup sees Beck’Nams taking on Batteries Essential, with Orpington Isotopes facing the Wright Stuff.