Week 16: The Check Swing

Paul Goldschmidt found his power stroke and was named the NL Player of the Week. 

The standings remain tight with two weeks left until the playoffs, and there was movement again in our points race. Most notably, Ray claimed the top spot after a strong week combined with Adam's dud. Let's investigate further.

Is it too soon for another mullet joke?

1. Clemente's Bucs (3258, 9-7, last week 2): In a victory against his father's team, Ray had the high score of the week and had the only team to crack the 200-point barrier. Trea Turner (36.5) and Starling Marte (31.5) proved that you don't have to hit a lot of homers to score a lot of points, although Turner was aided by a cycle. Stephen Strasburg (39) was dominant in a pair of outings, allowing 1 run and fanning 17 batters in 13 innings while going 2-0. That helped make up for the quickly decomposing Zach Eflin (-5.3), who might have just lost his job to Jason Vargas (theme song: "I Can't Throw 55"). LOLOLOLOL.

2. Yari's Autonomics (3216.2, 8-8, last week 1): Adam's team got knocked down a peg by Project Mayhem in Week 16. Anthony Rendon (29) was the star of the show, driving in 9 runs on 2 homers, 3 doubles and 3 singles. He also walked 6 times. Dallas Keuchel (16) struck out 12 in 6 innings but didn't record a decision. Other than those two guys, it was a pretty lackluster performance for Larry David's Wrecking Crew. No other player scored more than 11 points, and that mark was set by closer Sean Doolittle. More good news for Yari: Max Scherzer and Nick Markakis are on the injured list, and Jean Segura and Jorge Alfaro are banged up and considered day to day. And apparently Josh Bell (8) is just average now?

This also would work as Robbie Ray's pitch tracker.

3. The Rookies (3209.5 points, 9-7, last week 3): Henry's pitchers stepped up in a win against the Misfits. "Wild Thing" Robbie Ray (30) surged into the top 5 in FBLG pitching points by striking out 21 batters in 12 innings. Patrick Corbin (18) gave an A+ performance in a win, and Adam Wainwright (11) got a win despite a messy 4-run effort. But zero credit goes to Luke Jackson (2 points in 1 inning) and Zach Davies (-2 points in 2 starts), who combined for zero points. The offense totaled only 1 homer but did enough other stuff to make up for it. Nolan Arenado (9) and Cody Bellinger (12) struggled and handed the reins to Ozzie Albies (19), Eduardo Escobar (17.5) and Hunter Renfroe (16).

4. Hassey's Girl (3130.5, 10-6, last week 4): This had to be a painful loss for commissioner Rich because his beloved offense got outperformed by all those hitters on Tim's team he enjoys making fun of. Fernando Tatis Jr. (20) was the top man in the lineup, which means Pete Alonso (11), Wilson Ramos (10), Christian Yelich (17.5) and the bubbling cauldron of utility guys didn't do enough. After a rough start to the season, Aaron Nola (28.7) is the No. 3 pitcher in FBLG. Nola, German Marquez (17) and Anthony DeSclafani (14) contributed wins this week, but they wouldn't have gotten those wins if the imploding Craig Kimbrel (-2) pitched for their teams.

We're all for wacky uniforms,
but this might be a bit much.

5. When the Ledee Breaks (3016.5, 8-8, last week 5): Matt's club topped the Fish by about 40 points, no thanks to his lousy Cardinals. Sorority girl Dakota Hudson (14.3) and wayward explorer Daniel Ponce De Leon (-0.7) allowed 14 runs in 15.2 innings while going 1-2. Caleb Smith (20) led the rest of the staff, which combined to allow only 2 runs. Daniel Murphy (24.5) and Ronald Acuña Jr. (22.5) fueled the offense, which also got contributions from Juan Soto (16.5) and Michael Conforto (15). Trevor Story (9.5) and Mike Moustakas (3) didn't really show up, though.

6. Fresh Fish (3025.5, 9-7, last week 6): First, let's focus on the positives for Rick's team in Week 16. Keston Huira (19) and Kris Bryant (17.5) continued to hit well. Jacob deGrom (21) and Clayton Kershaw (18) continued to pitch well. OK, we're done. The rest of the Fish were mediocre at best. Felipe "Vazquez" (3) pitched once, and Chris Paddack (3) and Luis Castillo (2) got thumped in losses. Amed Rosario (8) committed another error (gasp), Brian McCann (8) showed his age, Alex Verdugo (4) did little and Austin Riley (2.5) was a no-show. Even our poster guido, Anthony Rizzo (10), let us down.

Now THAT's a good-looking uniform. 

7. Arbitration Losers (3012.5, 9-7, last week 8): Tim's balanced offensive attack helped AL take down Hassey. Eugenio Suarez (25) went deep 4 times and drove in 9 to lead the way. Adam Eaton (22), David Dahl (19) and Joey Votto (19) also contributed nicely; in fact, only Buster Posey (8.5) failed to reach double figures. On the mound, Madison Bumgarner (25) pitched like he wants to get traded away from San Francisco — and who could blame him? Sonny Gray (12) and Julio Teheran (9) also pitched well, although Teheran managed to take a loss without giving up an earned run. Jordan Yamamoto (-2) got knocked around, and Kirby Yates (3) basically had the week off.

8. Project Mayhem (2991.2, 9-7, last week 7): Congratulations, Bill. You picked up a W by scoring 142.8 points, which says more about your level of competition (gives Adam the stink-eye) than the strength of the Mayhem. Paul DeJong (24) and J.T. Realmuto (18) each hit 3 homers to power the PM offense. Joc Pederson (7) went a whole week without getting an extra-base hit, and that's pretty much all he does. Chris Archer (6) and Walker Buehler (4.3) combined to go 0-3 while allowing 13 runs in 16.1 innings, which is less than ideal. Overall, the staff allowed 18 runs in 31.1 innings — and these guys WON.

The Pirates had to expect better
than this from Chris Archer.

9. Lumber Co Lumber (2956.5, 7-9, last week 9): The stars didn't shine brightly enough as John's team got thumped by Ray's Bucs. Jon Lester (12) pitched well but couldn't get a win. Bryce Harper (10), Corey Seager (12.5) and Freddie Freeman (13) were fine but nothing special. Only Rhys Hoskins (17) had an above-average week; well, so did Brian Dozier (20), but he's definitely not a star. Willson Contreras (5) came off the injured list and hasn't made an error yet, so that's a plus.

10. The Misfits (2572.7, 2-14, last week 10): We've been ripping Paul Goldschmidt pretty hard on a weekly basis, which hurts because we like the big fella. Or at least we did before he joined the dark side in St. Louis. Well, the big fella went off in Week 16, hitting 6 homers and 4 singles, driving in 13 runs and scoring 9 himself. That's a 37-point week. The rest of the Misfits' offense was a wasteland (again), with catcher Will Smith (14) as the second-leading scorer. And Smith did all of that in only 2 games! The Misfits' pitchers actually threw well, allowing 9 runs in 26.1 innings, but they still couldn't get a win. It's been that kind of year for Reid's team.

Batting leaders after Week 16

1. Christian Yelich (HG) 388.5
2. Cody Bellinger (R) 372.5
3. Freddie Freeman (LCL) 359.5
4. Ronald Acuña Jr. (WLB) 351
5. Josh Bell (YA) 344

Pitching leaders after Week 16

1. Max Scherzer (YA) 317.3
2. Stephen Strasburg (CB) 315.7
3. Aaron Nola (HG) 271.3
4. Robbie Ray (R) 270
5. Hyun-Jin Ryu (HG) 269.7