Week 3: The Check Swing

Javier Baez doesn't even need a proper bat to beat your fantasy team.

Three weeks into the season, your first-place NL teams are the Mets, Cardinals and Diamondbacks. Didn't see that coming, did you? On the other hand, the last-place teams are the Marlins, Reds and Padres. Some things never change.

Patrick Corbin has been making hitters look ridiculous.
Of course, Hunter Pence was already there.

The scoreboard

1. Fresh Fish (640.7 points, 1-2, last week 1): Our leaders put up enough points to stay in first place in the rankings, but the Fish lost their matchup with SG. Rick clearly needs more Marlins on this team so he can drift back to the pack. Ace (!) Patrick Corbin (42) was masterful in a pair of starts, striking out 19 batters in 15 innings while going 2-0. Max Scherzer (19) and Kenta Maeda (16.7) also picked up wins, as did new closer Hunter Strickland (10). Yu Darvish (0.7) was a mess again, though. Javier Baez (30) hammered out 12 hits — 7 for extra bases — and drove in 9; he also made 3 errors, completing the full Baez experience. Buster Posey (4.5) was a Dud, so Rick should probably cut him and pick up Jeff Mathis.

2. Arbitration Losers (628.2 points, 2-1, last week 5): We here at the FBLG Media Center like to give our former commissioner a hard time for a bevy of reasons (*cough, LeMahieu, cough*), and that's not going to change today. Tim has four of his beloved Giants on his team, and he didn't play ANY of them in his win against BodySuit Man. Coincidence? (We'll ignore the fact that Johnny Cueto would have provided 36 points if Tim had activated him.) Anyway, AL posted 202 points thanks to a pitching staff that went 5-0 with 96 puntos. Julio Teheran (32) was good twice in a row, Hector Neris (17.3) somehow didn't allow any runs, and Corey Seager (22.5) finally started hitting.

3. Stable Geniuses (615.8 points, 1-2, last week 4): Matt's club knocked off our top team to get in the win column. Nick Pivetta (17.3) had a nice pair of outings but didn't earn a win; Matt promptly cut him. Luke Weaver (-2) got shelled; Matt promptly cut him. Watch your back, Kenley Jansen (8) and Zack Wheeler (2). We can laugh at this pitching staff all we want (and we will) for posting an 0-2 record with 1 save, 1 blown save and only 38.3 points, but remember: the Geniuses WON. That's because the offense put up 150.5 points. Travis Shaw (24.5) and Odubel Herrera (21) led the way as balance was the name of the game.

A newspaper cover that pokes fun at
Matt Harvey and points out how awful
the Mets' bullpen is? We'll take two!

4. Fasano Don't Dance (605.8 points, 2-1, last week 3): The commissioners picked up another win and remain near the top in the rankings, but there are concerns. Specifically, the offense is trash. Fasano posted 91 offensive points and 86.7 pitching points in the win against The Misfits. If we were to redo the draft after 3 weeks, most of these hitters would go undrafted (looking at you, Ian Happ, Addison Russell, Brian Anderson, Adam Duvall and Chris Iannetta). Michael Taylor (16.5) and Chris Taylor (16.5) were adequate but not great, and that was the BEST the offense had to offer. On the mound, winless Jacob deGrom (33.3) would have had an incredible week if the Mets' bullpen had been literally any other bullpen in baseball.

5. Pitch You Blockhead (605.2 points, 2-1, last week 8): Scott's team got some big performances as it beat up on The Rookies. Yasmani Grandal (30) drove in 11 runs, Asdrubal Cabrera (28) extended the deal he made with the devil, and Charlie Blackmon (20) did his usual thing. Shame on the Dodgers for not getting at least 1 win for Alex Wood (20.3), who was great in a pair of starts. Miles Mikolas (17) was outstanding in earning PYB's only win. Brad Boxberger (-2) picked up a save but went 0-2. Oof.

6. The Misfits (585.7 points, 2-1, last week 6): An ugly week on the mound doomed Reid's team in a loss to FDD. Newcomer Tyson Ross (16.7) has returned from baseball Siberia — the Rangers — and looks fantasy-relevant again. The rest of the staff was a disappointment. Matt Harvey (1) was so bad that he's being bumped to the Mets' bullpen, which is like covering up manure by stacking more manure on top of it. Even Clayton Kershaw (4) got hit hard. Reid did get plenty of offense from a number of sources, including Trevor Story (26), Lorenzo Cain (25.5) and Evan Longoria (18.5). Yadier Molina (19) did everything The Right Way and is quickly becoming Rich's favorite catcher with a neck tattoo.

The Fightin' Costanzas had better not try
to slip the commissioners a mickey.

7. BodySuit Man (573.8 points, 1-2, last week 9): BodySuit Man submitted a formal request to be omitted from this week's review. Sorry, Adam. BM wasn't necessarily bad this week, but there wasn't much to get excited about. The good was Jake Arrieta (22), Brandon McCarthy (15.3) and Paul DeJong (23), who managed to stop whiffing just long enough to pop 3 homers. The bad was Jon Gray (-2), Jon Gray's hair (still), Jose Martinez (11) cooling off, and Joey Votto (11.5) apparently being allergic to extra-base hits. But hey, Yoenis Cespedes has made it 3 weeks without getting hurt, and that's something. 

8. Clemente's Bucs (566.7 points, 2-1, last week 7): Sometimes in baseball, a pitcher will win without his best stuff. That's what Ray did this week in beating PM 151-96.3. The pitching staff was nothing special, allowing 11 earned runs in 24 innings. But these guys somehow went 4-0. At the plate, Rhys Hoskins (27) and Cesar Hernandez (20) did most of the damage, with top picks Paul Goldschmidt (18.5) and Kris Bryant (11.5) helping out. We won't mention the "performances" of Austin Hedges (3.5), Domingo Santana (3.5), Miguel Rojas (6) and Adam Frazier (5).

9. Project Mayhem (544.5 points, 1-2, last week 2): Aaron Nola (22) and Eric Thames (18) had a solid week as ... Bill's team fell short of the 100-point mark and plummeted 7 spots in the rankings. Should we stop there? No? Sorry, Bill. There are too many Duds to count, but we'll try: Jeurys Familia (0), Jameson Taillon (-3.3), Brandon Crawford (-1), Jonathan Villar (3.5), Marcell Ozuna (5), Tommy Pham (7) and Francisco Cervelli (7.5) did nothing to help the cause.

10. The Rookies (541.2 points, 1-2, last week 10): No offense to Henry — which means we're about to greatly offend Henry — but if Ryan Flaherty (17.5) and Trevor Williams (16) are your top performers, you're probably not going to win. Zack Greinke (13) was OK but needs to strike out more than 2 guys in 7 innings or we're going to start calling him Zack Leakey. Freddie Freeman (9.5) and David Peralta (9.5) didn't do enough, and Ozzie Albies (12) cooled considerably. FBLG punching bag Nick Ahmed (6.5) homered and doubled, but he made 2 errors.

Hitting leaders after Week 3

1. Bryce Harper (AL) 82.5
2. Rhys Hoskins (CB) 74.5
3. Javier Baez (FF) 74
4. D.J. LeMahieu (AL) 72
5. Asdrubal Cabrera (PYB) 70.5

Pitching leaders after Week 3

1. Patrick Corbin (FF) 94.3
2. Max Scherzer (FF) 92
3. Jacob deGrom (FFD) 73
4. Carlos Martinez (SG) 70.7
5. Noah Syndergaard (BM) 66.3

Asdrubal Cabrera is on top of the world now, but just you wait.