Playoffs: First Round, The Check Swing

There was a lot to smile about if you played for the Nationals, or even if you just had some in your lineup.

The top seeds all advanced in our first-round playoff matchups, setting up some juicy 1 vs. 2 semifinals. Another two-week matchup, with the same week-to-week pitching rules. Use those moves, people! You don't get to roll them into 2020.

First-round playoff finals

(2) Hassey's Girl 372.7, (3) Fresh Fish 359.8
(1) The Rookies 383.2, (4) Yari's Autonomics 369.2
(2) Clemente's Bucs 465.5, (3) When the Ledee Breaks 411.3
(1) Arbitration Losers 337, (4) Project Mayhem 297.7
Consolation: The Misfits 323.5, Lumber Co Lumber 310

Semifinal matchups

(1) Arbitration Losers vs. (2) Hassey's Girl
(1) The Rookies vs. (2) Clemente's Bucs

The week in review

Who let that homeless man into the park?

1. Clemente's Bucs (4084.5, last week 2): An offensive explosion for the ages propelled Ray's team to a first-round win and back to the top of the overall standings. His offense alone scored 348.5 points, which was more than 4 other entire teams in the first round. Trea Turner led the way at 57 - 14 singles, 4 doubles, 3 homers, 14 RBIs, 14 runs, 3 steals - but plenty of others had huge weeks too. Victor Robles (47) was also part of the Nationals' offensive exhibition, and Charlie Blackmon (39), Starling Marte (44.5), Max Muncy (43) and Josh Donaldson (45.5) crushed everything too. All told: 24 homers, 28 doubles, 65 RBIs, 79 runs, 16 steals for this crew. Yikes. For Henry's sake - and that of the rest of us poor saps - hopefully the offense wore itself out a bit. Elsewhere, Stephen Strasburg (37.7) and Dallas Keuchel (36) anchored the staff, which overcame Mike Leake (5) and Alex Wood (6.3) pitching exactly like Mike Leake and Alex Wood.

2. The Rookies (4025.4 points, last week 1): Pretty sure if we'd told you before the season that Max Fried (29) and Dakota Hudson (31.7) would play huge roles in The Rookies' trip to the semifinals, you might not have believed us. But there they were, going 3-0 with 26 strikeouts in Henry's narrow win against YA. Actual ace Patrick Corbin (30) was also great, making up for a lack of much from Zack Wheeler (3) and Adam Wainwright (13.7). As it has been all season, The Rookies' offense was immense, with new addition Aristides Aquino's 42 points only coming in third among hitting points behind Nolan Arenado (45.5) and Cody Bellinger (43.5). Goodness. Eduardo Escobar (33) and Scott Kingery (31) also pitched in in a major way.

The league needs more left-handed Italians.

3. When the Ledee Breaks (3944.6, last week 3): Matt was our tough-luck loser in the first round, putting up the second-most points but getting toppled by Ray's powerhouse. The hitting numbers are pretty staggering: Juan Soto (58), Trevor Story (43), Mike Moustakas (39), Ronald Acuna Jr. (34.5), Michael Conforto (32), etc., etc. More of the same for the WLB offense. The pitching staff, as usual, was all over the place. Jose Quintana (38) was terrific, Joey Lucchesi (29.7) had a pair of wins, and Steven Matz (25.3) was solid.  Zach Davies (4), Drew Smyly (6) and Chase Anderson (-3.7), though, showed the other side of prioritizing offense above all else. Matt was ahead of the curve with his all-offense gambit, and looking at the fantasy numbers this year, more of us may be following his lead in the coming years.

4. Yari's Autonomics (3901, last week 4): Adam's offense went berserk but his pitching was largely a no-show in a narrow loss to The Rookies. Anthony Rendon (56.5) tried to singlehandedly carry the team to victory, and Kevin Pillar (44) was obnoxiously good as well. Josh Bell (29) warmed back up a bit and Jean Segura (31) was his usual self. But the pitching, well, it wasn't great, outside of ace Zack Greinke (42.7), who went 3-0. Max Scherzer (6) left his lone start with an injury, Sean Doolittle (2.3) got roughed up and then went on the IL, and Cole Hamels (12) gave up 13 runs in 13 innings. Mikes Soroka (17.7) and Foltnewicz (7.7) weren't able to make up for the lack of top-end success. But hey, at least Archie Bradley (11.3) has a home now!

If his name were longer, there'd be letters on his butt.

5. Hassey's Girl (3896.4, last week 5): A shoddy draft and ample injuries have forced the commssioners to cobble together a team, and that collection of mostly randos managed to top the Fish to move into the semis. Ace Aaron Nola (43) was awesome, making up for Hyun-Jin Ryu (5) hitting the wall and German Marquez (6) struggling and, shocker, getting hurt. Closer Craig Kimbrel (13) came back from the IL to notch a couple saves and Zac Gallen (26) was solid in a trio of short starts. But it was the offense that pulled HG through to the semis. Pete Alonso (43.5), newcomer Nicholas Castellanos (42), Christian Yelich (37) and Ryan McMahon (35) led the way - we told you this was an odd team. Shoutout to Jon Berti (28.5), who filled in admirably after Fernando Tatis Jr. (2), shocker, got hurt.

6. Arbitration Losers (3764.7, last week 6): Tim used the "I have a National in my lineup and you don't" strategy to beat Bill in the first round, riding Adam Eaton's mind-boggling 61.5 points to a narrow victory. Bryan Reynolds (40) was studly as well... and no one else on the offense topped 18 points. Hmm. An interesting method, to be sure. Eaton had 13 RBIs, 16 runs, 5 homers, just like every other Nat, basically. The rest of Tim's squad combined for 22 RBIs, 28 runs and 7 homers. The pitching staff was very good, led by Sonny Gray (40) and Madison Bumgarner (36). Yu Darvish (24.3) had no decisions, and Kirby Yates (23.3) picked up 4 saves. And so it's on to the semifinals for one of the Giants fans in the league, at least.

At UC Irvine, they called this the Anteater Dance.

7. Fresh Fish (3734.3, last week 7): The Fish fell in the first round to Hassey's Girl because only part of the vaunted pitching staff showed up. Clayton Kershaw (49) and Jacob deGrom (35) were stellar, but Luis Castillo (10.3) and Chris Paddack (-3) weren't. Closer Felipe "Vazquez" notched 2 wins, while Castillo and Paddack combined to go 1-3. Ugh. Offensively, Marcell Ozuna (47.5) exploed for 16 hits, 10 runs and 9 RBIs. Keston Hiura (42.5) and Amed Rosario (41) formed a powerful (and unlikely) double play combo. But catchers Brian McCann (6.5) and Francsico Mejia (3.5) didn't do much and Kris Bryant (18.5) struggled.

8. Project Mayhem (3633.7, last week 8): Bill's team fell in a low-scoring first-round matchup to Tim's Losers. JT Realmuto (42), Ketel Marte (37.5) and Paul DeJong (29.5) were the top hitters, but Isan Diaz (5), Lorenzo Cain (5.5), Ian Happ (8.5), Joc Pederson (13.5) and Franmil Reyes (14.5) didn't do much, with Diaz committing an Amed Rosario-esque 6 of PM's 11 errors. Six! In two weeks, as a second baseman. Even Jose Offerman's eyes widened at that. Bill's pitching was similarly fine but not great: Kyle Hendricks (26) and Elieser Hernandez (22) led the way. Ace Walker Buehler (17) wasn't as good as hoped and had a win fumbled away by the Dodgers bullpen.

All this, and home runs too.

9. Lumber Co Lumber (3548, last week 9): If I told you that Nick Ahmed had 5 homers, 14 RBIs and a 42-point outing in the first round, what would you think? Well, he did, and John still lost to Reid in the consolation round. The pitching was just OK, and Josh Hader was 0-2 in save opps. Aside from Ahmed, Bryce Harper (37.5) and Freddie Freeman (36.5) had monster rounds too.

10. The Misfits (3229.8, last week 10): Jack Flaherty (53) went 3-0 with 21 strikeouts and just 1 run allowed in 18 innings to lead Reid to the consolation win. Offensively, Paul Goldschmidt (37.5) looked something like a first-round pick, Will Smith (34) got jiggy with 5 homers, and Justin Tuner (32) and Ryan Braun (31.5) chipped in nicely.

Batting leaders after Week 20

1. Cody Bellinger (R) 457

2. Freddie Freeman (LCL) 455

3. Ronald Acuña Jr. (WLB) 454.5

4. Christian Yelich (HG) 452
5. Anthony Rendon (YA) 426

Pitching leaders after Week 20

1. Stephen Strasburg (CB) 363
2. Jacob deGrom (FF) 342
3. Aaron Nola (HG) 337.3
4. Trevor Bauer (M) 327.7
4. Luis Castillo (FF) 325