The Check Swing: Week 25

Startling Marte led Retire 21 to the playoff title. 

1. Retire 21 (4,539 points, last week 2): Starling Marte's 33-point week helped Ray win the playoff championship and take the lead in the overall points race. A 23-point start from Jacob deGrom on Sunday made the difference for the Sons of Clemente in their comeback win against the Arbitration Losers.

2. Already Zaun (4,522 points, last week 1): Give R21 credit for taking the points lead, but the Zaunies have done a great job of throwing it away, as well. Jake Arrieta came up big with a 55-point week, but only Matt Carpenter (26) joined him on the production train. On the bright side, AZ faces PYB in the consolation finals this week.

3. Arbitration Losers (4,349 points, last week 3): The Losers came up just short in the playoff championship series, but let's not overlook the significant surge this team made after a slow start. After 10 weeks, Tim's team was 7th in the points race. Stephen Piscotty made an impact this week with 24 points.   

4. Pitch You Blockhead (4,210 points, last week 4): After a 20-point win against Already Zaun in the consolation round, PYB gets another crack at the commissioners in the consolation finals. Let's see whether Wilmer Flores can do better than this week's minus-1 effort. 

5. The Bryce is Right (4,059 points, last week 6): A 29-point week from Lucas Duda and 24 points from Khris Davis made up for Bill's best player being choked by Jonathan Papelbon. 

6. Chateau Marmol (4,050 points, last week 5): Thirty-two points from Jaime Garcia and minus-2 from Brett Anderson? Yeah, that sounds about right. 

7. Misfits (4,041 points, last week 8): It was a good week for Reid to rely on Mets and Marlins in finishing 3rd in the playoffs. Well done, Justin Bour (29), J.T. Realmuto (14), Daniel Murphy (32), Curtis Granderson (22) and Yoenis Cespedes (15).

8. Soler Eclipse (4,029 points, last week 7): Thanks for nothing, Jose Reyes (2), Alex Wood (4), Patrick Corbin (0) and Aroldis Chapman (2).

9. Rookies (3,925 points, last week 9): What went wrong for the Rookies this year? D.J. LeMahieu is likely to be the team's second-leading scorer. Ouch. 

10. Fresh Fish (3,652 points, last week 10): Oh, NOW Stephen Strasburg pitches like the 11th pick in the draft should.