BGB Fantasy League 2014: Week 12

There were some big wins in the BaseballGB Fantasy League this week, and another manager weas celebrating a no-hitter for Clayton Kershaw. With the World Cup in mind, which teams pulled off a shock (Costa Rica) and which teams will be, like England, wondering what if…?

We begin with the biggest winners of the week, as the Riverkings handed Northfleet a 10-1 beating. Carlos Santana homered three times, David Wright drove in six and Span swiped three bases. On the mound, Jake Odorizzi picked up a win and 15 strikeouts, teaming with Weaver and Ventura to take ERA and WHIP. V-Mart scored seven runs for the Knights, while Minor struck out 11 and Gallardo helped post a WHIP which would have likely been good enough to win more often than not.

Batteries Essential also reached double digits, beating Beck ‘Nams 10-2. An offensive sweep was sparked by Starlin Castro, who drove in eight and joined Stanton, Cespedes and Miller in hitting two homers. Billy Hamilton swiped six bases. Vargas and the now-injured Wacha collected wins while Koehler and Garza helped take ERA and WHIP. Rosenthal had two saves. Beck ‘Nams salvaged strikeouts and holds thanks to darvish and four relievers.

Despite being heavily behind for much of the week, some final day heroics saw my Isotopes rack up a 9-1 win against the Bananas. Cruz, Frazier and Duda each homered twice while Hanley Ramirez scored seven times and the bruised and battered Derek Norris drove in six when he was being hit by backswings. A great Sunday start by Elias made the difference in wins, ERA and WHIP, while Soriano collected four saves. The Bananas had steals from Ellsbury while Howard hit three homers, Lohse won both of his starts and Gregerson had three holds and K-Rod four saves.

Enfield stay top with a 9-3 win against the Angels, picking up an offensive sweep. Aramis Ramirez hit .500 for the week, homering three times, scoring nine and driving in 10. Edwin Encarnacion homered four times and Blackmon had two steals. Beckett helped take WHIP by a hair, while Melancon and Clippard took care of saves and holds. The Angels claimed win, strikeouts and ERA thanks to Wainwright, Gausman and Bauer.

The Chasers are on a roll, defeating Bits & Bytes 8-3 thanks to another offensive sweep. McCann and Miggy each dove in six while Pence and Ortiz had multi-homer weeks. Nathan had a win and two saves while Tyson Ross struck out 11. Bits & Bytes posted ridiculously good ERA and WHIP stats, mainly thanks to Clayton Kershaw’s no-hitter (I loved typing that!) while Cishek had two saves.

Iron Men also picked up an 8-3 win, this time over Jesmond. Mesoraco homered three times while Asdrubal Cabrera, Kinsler, Adam Jones and Abreu each had two. The pitching staff took every category except wins thanks to Samardzija, Rodney and Fien. Jesmond salvaged runs, steals and wins thanks to Bruce, Trout, Andrus and Tillman.

Norwich just got the better of the Sox 6-5. Rendon (two homers, eight RBIs), Freeman (seven runs) and Rosario (.450, two homers) did most of the offensive damage while Jansen had three saves and Watson three holds. The Sox took RBIs, average and OPS thanks to Morneau and Altuve (.528) while Bumgarner and Greinke helped the very short pitching staff – which is in danger of missing the 20-inning minimum limit without reinforcements – take ERA and WHIP.

The RBIs and Slugs finished 5-5. The RBIs comfortably took average and OPS thanks to Cano, Gardner, Smith and Posey while Tanak struck out 16 and CJ Wilson and Burnett helped claim ERA and WHIP. The Slugs had runs, RBIs and steals from Dee Gordon and Khris Davis while Chamberlain had two holds and Chase Anderson helped take WHIP by a hair.

The week 13 fixtures are as follows:

Butchers (1st) v Jesmond (10th)

Batteries Essential (2nd) v Sox (9th)

Isotopes (3rd) v Angels (13th)

Chasers (4th) v Beck ‘Nams (7th)

Norwich (5th) v Bananas (6th)

Knights (8th) v Slugs (14th)

Iron Men (11th) v Riverkings (12th)

RBIs (15th) v Bits & Bytes (16th)