Weeks 21-22: The Check Swing

Can anybody get this guy out? We know the Dodgers certainly can't. 

Championship matchup

1 Bodysuit Man v. 2 Clemente's Bucs. That's right, gang. After all that, our top 2 regular-season teams will duel for the playoff title. I guess that makes FBLG more like the NBA than MLB.

In review

Bodysuit Man 331.7, Fresh Fish 319.8: The offense wasn't great for T-Bone and the Fightin' Van Buren Boys, but it didn't have to be. Adam's pitching staff was significantly better than Rick's in this matchup, and that's why BM advanced to the title round. Zach Davies (36.7) leads the majors in wins, and teammate Chase Anderson (35.3) is pitching significantly better than he ever has. As usual, Charlie Blackmon (45.5) led the offense, and Wil Myers (44.5) emerged from his slumber to make a difference when BM needed him to. Howie Kendrick (33) hasn't hit like this in years. For the Fish, the pitching staff stunk up the joint to the tune of 34 earned runs in 49.1 innings. Edwin Jackson (18) was Rick's top hurler, which sets up a too-easy barf joke. The offense was quite impressive, though. Anthony Rizzo (45.5), Daniel Murphy (36.5), Asdrubal Cabrera (36.5) and Anthony Rendon (35.5) performed admirably.

As good as Stephen Strasburg was, Robbie Ray
was even better. 

Clemente's Bucs 383.8, LGM 335.8: The deal for J.D. Martinez appears to be the best midseason move in the majors, and the same is true in FBLG. The outfielder has carried the Clemente offense since coming to the NL, and he helped bury LGM in this matchup. Martinez (58) homered 8 times and drove in 16 runs. Still, he wasn't even the best player on Ray's team. Stephen Strasburg (64) appears to be fine after returning from injury; in the past 2 weeks, he went 3-0 with 26 strikeouts in 23 scoreless innings. CB also got big contributions from Rhys Hoskins (42), Dee Gordon (37) and Trevor Story (33.5). LGM actually outpitched the Bucs but couldn't keep up on the offensive side. Alex Avila (12), Kolten Wong (11) were disappointments, but even average weeks from those guys wouldn't have been enough. Before his shoulder exploded, Jimmy Nelson (40) was flat-out awesome, going 2-0 with 18 Ks in 12 scoreless innings.

Arbitration Losers 376.2, Quirkin' For a Livin' 351.5: The Losers outperformed the commissioners on both sides of the ball, so it's no surprise Tim's club came away with the W. The AL roster is a "who's who" of guys who will make Rich furious: D.J. LeMahieu (38.5) paced the offense, and he even ripped 6 extra-base hits! The duct tape in Michael Wacha's (46) shoulder held up long enough for him to go 3-0, and Carlos Martinez (42.7) did plenty of damage as well. Even Tim's Giants got in on the act, with Buster Posey (28.5) and Brandon Crawford (32.5) producing. For Huey Lewis and the Snooze, Scooter Gennett (46) and Nick Markakis (36.5) again were the top hitters. The pitching was underwhelming — as it has been all year — as only Zack Godley (43) and Brad Hand (29.3) did anything of note.

Our choice for Dud of the Week(s)
was a no-brainer. 

PYB 386.3, The Rookies 368: We've run out of things to say about Robbie Ray. Last year, his strikeouts went through the roof, but he was still allowing a fair amount of hits. Not this year. In this matchup for PYB, Ray (68.3) went 3-0 with 36 whiffs and 3 runs allowed in 20.1 innings. That's absurd. Jeff Samardzija (36.7) and Chad Kuhl (31) also were great, so we just don't know what to believe anymore. Christian Yelich (47.5) continues to amaze, and Nolan Arenado (37.5) was his usual self. Rich favorites Zack Cozart (36.5) and Denard Span (32) also excelled. For the Rooks, Ender Inciarte (49.5) collected 23 hits, including 19 singles. On the mound, it was all about Max Scherzer (41), Jose Quintana (29) and Zack Greinke (28). But with Ray looking like Sandy Koufax, it wasn't enough.

Project Mayhem: 339.7, The Misfits 301: Carlos Gonzalez (43) finally earned his money for PM and was Bill's top batter. Ryan Zimmerman (37) was quite studly as well, and Randal Grichuk (27) homered 4 times. Aaron Nola (31.3) was the top pitcher for PM, which also got strong weeks from Jose Urena (25.3), R.A. Dickey (24.3) and Raisel Iglesias (23). Only Rich Hill (13.7) struggled, going 0-3 for the Bad News Dodgers. The Misfits could have used better performances from Madison Bumgarner (3) and Hyun-Jin Ryu (9). You certainly can't fault Nick Williams (49), who drove in 15 runs for the Phillies. Giancarlo Stanton (30.5) homered 4 times but drove in only 5 runs.