Important updates after the final main head-to-head week of the season:
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| The last time baseball made Tim this happy. |
Arbitration Losers win the 2013 head-to-head title with a 216-182 win over Manwaring a Muumuu in the decisive third game of the championship series. Our hat goes off to our former commissioner! From all us Dodgers fans in the league... at least the season wasn't a total waste for you. We kid, we kid.
Pitch You Blockhead has already claimed third place in the head-to-head competition, with Misfits taking fourth.
In the consolation round, Testosteraun Braun completed its undefeated run through the round robin format, knocking off Fresh Fish in Week 25. Fresh Fish's loss dropped them into a second-place tie with Lawyers, Guns & Money, which knocked off Going Going Gonzo. The tiebreaker is determined by points scored during the 5-week consolation round robin, and it's a nailbiter. Fresh Fish scored 159-202-157-137-129 to finish with 784, and LGM scored 170-160-110-166-157 for a total of 763. So the consolation finals, the only head-to-head matchup this week, will be a rematch of Week 25: Testosteraun Braun vs. Fresh Fish.
One week to go here in FBLG Land. This week's theme is "What do teams have left to play for?"
1. Manwaring a Muumuu (4,478 points): The Muumuu Cruu couldn't get enough from its offense in the decisive final game against the Arbitration Losers, but will happily settle for the points title and a runner-up finish in the championship series. Muumuu's outfield, a surprising strength for much of the year, compiled just 16 points in Week 25.
What do they have to play for? A big week for Michael Cuddyer could give him 300 points for the year, and big weeks for Ian Desmond and Wilson Ramos could give Muumuu the points title at shortstop and catcher.
2. Misfits (4,273 points): From the too-little, too-late department: Reid's team steamrolled to a 205 last week after having already lost the 3rd-place matchup to PYB. Old-timers Chase Utley and Adam Wainwright came up big for the Misfits, as did kids Yusmiero Petit and Adam Eaton.
What do they have to play for? Reid's bunch hold just a 14-point lead over Tim's gang for second place in the points race. A big week could ease some of the sting of finishing fourth in the head-to head.
3. Arbitration Losers (4,259 points): Tim is currently writing a lovely thank-you card to the Phillies clubhouse after Cliff Lee's 46-point week last week. He has also erected a small-but-tasteful shrine to the middle of the Cardinals lineup after Matts Holliday and Adams combined for 53 points. A big huge week at the best possible time for our former commish.
What do they have to play for? Head-to-head title in hand, Tim is looking for another big week to overtake Reid for second place in the points race.
4. Testosteraun Braun (4,147 points): Despite bupkis from his catcher and meh from his outfield, Bill continued his Reign of Consolation Terror behind 85 points from his infield and 73 from his starting pitchers. NL MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt posted a 32-point week to lead the way.
What do they have to play for? Bill appears solidly in 4th place, though he could be caught from behind by Matt if the planets align. So this week his focus is purely on beating Rick again to capture the consolation title.
5. Lawyers, Guns & Money (4,068 points): Matt gave it his best shot but fell just short of the consolation finals in his first year in the league. A pretty damn nice effort, and his team looks like a perennial FBLG contender. Lance Lynn and Jimmy Rollins - yeah, we're surprised too - led Matt past Jon last week.
What do they have to play for? A huge week coupled with a collapse by Test. Braun could leave Matt in fourth place. With 435 points, Andrew McCutchen is 2 points away from being the highest-scoring outfielder in the league, and big weeks from Pedro Alvarez and Yadier Molina could leave Matt as the positional scoring leader at third base, catcher and closer.
6. Pitch You Blockhead (3,991 points): Scott's pitching waited too long to help him contend for the points title, but woke up in time to throw a scare into Manwaring a Muumuu before dispatching the Misfits to claim third place. Matt Carpenter's big week wasn't enough last week, but his season has been phenomenal. Also, Muumuu castoff Denard Span outscored Muumuu's entire outfield last week, just to add insult to injury.
What do they have to play for? Scott has the second base points title locked up, but his outfield and Pablo Sandoval will be playing to wrap up those titles this week.
7. Going Going Gonzo (3,753 points): Another big week from Jay Bruce wasn't quite enough as Gonzo fell to LGM in the consolation round. Injuries to Jean Segura, Nolan Arenado and Wilin Rosario didn't exactly help, nor did Ian Kennedy pitching like he was still in Arizona. Gonzo did play a pretty huge role in the FBLG finals this year, though, as three key contributors on Arbitration Losers (Jose Fernandez, Martin Prado) and Muumuu (AJ Burnett) were stolen off Jon's bench.
What do they have to play for? Bruce is the leading scorer among outfielders, and needs to hold off McCutchen and Hunter Pence to remain atop the leaderboard.
8. Rookies (3,734 points): Welcome back, Carlos Gomez! Gomez's 21-point week helped the Rookies outfield to a combined 53 in the win against the Sagebrushers. Also, Henry got an inexplicable 21 from Zach Cozart. On behalf of Joey Votto, the commissioners would like to thank Cozart for not ever hitting well when he spent the first 100 games batting in front of Votto in the Reds lineup.
What do they have to play for? A big week for Gomez and a decent week for Alfonso Soriano could give the Rookies two outfielders with 400+ points.
9. Fresh Fish (3,604 points): All hail last year's champions! Left for dead by the side of the road months ago, Rick's team got (mostly) healthy and did just enough in the consolation round to earn a shot at the title. Injuries to (deep breath) Hanley Ramirez, Miguel Montero, Giancarlo Stanton, Cody Ross, Ryan Howard, Matt Cain, Ryan Vogelsong, Zach Greinke and others meant the Fish never really had a shot at the points title, but we're glad to see him still with a shot to win something.
What do they have to play for? Duh. I just said it. A consolation title. This week's rematch with Testosteraun Braun is the only game in town.
10. Silver State Sagebrushers (3,481 points): The end can't come fast enough for the Sagebrushers, who have been playing out the string since about June. Hey, just like the Astros! David Wright came back from injury this week and popped a couple of homers, and Clayton Kershaw pitched like himself again. Charlie Morton has been a nice surprise in a pretty good SSS rotation this year.
What do they have to play for? Ummm.... Kershaw has a pretty decent shot at getting to 500 points, so that's something.
