Week 1: The Check Swing

Paul Goldschmidt was the top-scoring position player in FBLG in Week 1.
He's by far the best performer in FBLG with "SCHMIDT" in his name. 

Because of ESPN's delays in finalizing our scores, The Check Swing will appear on Monday nights this season. Please direct your complaints to Chris Berman at BloviatingPusbag@espn.com. We're also going to stop posting matchup scores with the daily blogs since they'll be woefully inaccurate. Anyway, let's take a look at the first week of the FLBG season.

1. Lawyers Guns and Money (202.3 points, 1-0): Matt's team had 5 players score at least 20 points, and everyone but A.J. Ramos (7) and Zach Davies (-0.7) reached double figures. You'll go a long way getting 150 points from your hitters. Jake Lamb (25) was the high man for the Fightin' Zevons.

2. Bodysuit Man (200.5 points, 1-0): A big week from Noah Syndergaard (33) and hot bats led to a big score for Adam's Family. Wil Myers (21), Freddy Galvis (20.5), Adam Eaton (20.5) and Adam Duvall (20.5) — seriously, did Adam draft ALL the Adams? — paced the offense.

3. Clemente’s Bucs (196.5 points, 1-0): Ray's team was a 4-headed monster in the opening frame: J.T. Realmuto (26), Stephen Strasburg (25), Clayton Kershaw (24) and Aledmys Diaz (23) did most of the damage. Surprisingly, the low scorers were Kenley Jansen (5) and Andrew McCutchen (5).

4. Arbitration Losers (195 points, 1-0): Julio Teheran hasn't allowed a run in 13 innings but also hasn't gotten a win because LOL Barves. Paul Goldschmidt was typical Goldy, scoring 29.5 points, helping Tim make up for a -0.3 performance from Mark Melancon.

5. Quirkin’ For a Livin’ (189.7 points, 0-1): A team with Corey Seager, Trea Turner and Yoenis Cespedes was led in Week 1 scoring by ... Brandon Belt (28.5) and Greg Holland (22), the last pick of the draft. On the other hand, Mike Foltynewicz (-0.3) was laughable for the commissioners.

6. Project Mayhem (182.7 points, 0-1): Bill's team was great on the mound (86.7 points) but just meh at the plate (96). Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber combined for 38 points, but Jedd Gyorko posted only 7 because Mike Matheny hasn't gotten the memo that Jhonny Peralta is terrible.

"Bad news, Zach. You're the Dud of the Week in FBLG."
"No way! Straily was way worse."
"Yeah, but Monaghan cut your ass already."

7. The Misfits (164.8 points, 0-1): Jered Weaver (0) and Joe Ross (DNP) were a drag on Reid's pitching staff in a 31.7-point loss. Madison Bumgarner (23) was his usual self, and Justin Turner (22.5) and Addison Russell (21.5) were the offensive standouts.

8. Pitch! You Blockhead (162.3 points, 0-1): Scott's team is going with a Rockies theme, apparently. Mark Reynolds (27) and Nolan Arenado (23.5) were the offensive standouts, but the pitching was awfully Colorado-esque, too. PYB scored only 39.3 points on the hill.

9. The Rookies (160.8 points, 1-0): Doesn't it always seem like the two lowest-scoring teams of the week face each other and one of them gets a cheap win? This week it was Henry's team, which got nice performances from Zack Greinke (23.7) and Gerardo Parra (20).

10. Fresh Fish (156.3 points, 0-1): How did Rick lose when he got 36 points from Jake Arrieta? Well, he got a combined 7.3 points from his other 4 pitchers, led by a barf-worthy -4.7 from Dan Straily. (It's Koehler time, Rick.) Anthony Rendon (4) and Travis d'Arnaud (6) didn't help, either.