Week 17 Recap

Ok, that last one was confusing, now we're back in real time. Here's what went down last week:

Richie 7 - Eric 3

Buyer vs. Seller, and we got the expected results. I'm sure Richie was hoping for something better, but he'll take 7-3 after a tough loss last week. On the batting end, he won 4 of 5 categories and saw good weeks from Victor Martinez and Adrian Gonzalez. On the mound, he somehow collected 8 quality starts with an ERA of 5.43, thanks I guess to Lackey and the rest of the guys who helped out. Sale got knocked around for the second week in a row, but Strasburg held his own and Lester threw another good outing. Also it was hilarious to see Lance McCullers 162.00 ERA after lasting a third of an inning in Texas. Probably not going to waste a lot of time on the seller lineups unless there's a particularly impressive individual week, not the case this week for Eric. This win is meaningful for Richie, but it's still not enough to get him into the playoff picture. He's still 3.5 back of 6th place Mark.

Russ 7 - Pflanz 3

In a battle between the league's two hottest teams, Russ came out on top and edged closetr to the #1 bye week. Commish came into this one after three consecutive weeks of winning 8-2, a 24-6 record over the last 3 weeks. Pflanz was 26-10 over his last 4, and was coming off an 8-0 shutout. Russ' offense was overpowering while Pflanz's was underwhelming, and that's what really made the difference in this one. Longoria, Crawford, CarGo and Granderson all had multi homer efforts, and Pflanz got very little out of his studs. The real battle was on the mound in this one, as every ratio was ridiculously close. Russ' ERA of 2.25 ranked first in the league, Pflanz's 2.28 ranked second, Russ' whip of 0.88 ranked first in the league, Pflanz's 0.95 ranked second, and both K/9 were in the top 5, with Pflanz narrowly edging Russ out. Price, DeGrom, and Bumgarner led Pflanz on the mound, while Russ was carried by Harvey and his closers (Holland, Uehara, and new closer Ken Giles had a combined 8 NSV). Those crazy numbers give Russ his second straight 'Pitching of the Week' award. A lot has been discussed about the crazy amount of injuries to Russ' team, but in true next man up fashion, Giles is thriving in his new closer role just as Uehara gets shut down. This battle was one of the best of the year, and could definitely be a playoff preview.

Dan 7 - Perka 2

A lost phone on trade deadline day could be directly responsible for the decline of Perka's team. He's 13-25 in the last four weeks, with his only win coming last week against 11th place Brad. After spending essentially the entire season in a bye week spot, this team is falling FAST. Another powerful week from Nelson Cruz (7-4-4-.552-1) was wasted as Dan stole 4 offensive categories thanks to Chris Davis and rookie Kyle Schwarber. As for Pitching, Perk got decent stuff from Verlander, and great stuff from Carrasco and Chapman, but the sample was small, and the rest of his below average pitching washed it away. Dan had help all over from a plethora of randoms on the pitching staff, but this team belongs to one man: Jake Arrieta. With a 14.2-0.00-0.75-6.75-2-0 line, he locked up this win for Dan, and it now puts him 4 games back of 6th place. For Perka, he's still in third, but clearly trending the wrong way.

Andy 7 - Brad 3

Another Buyer vs. Seller matchup, another expected result. Andy really needed this matchup to get back on track and retain the #1 seed. As the only the buyer to not make a move at the deadline, there's added pressure on this team. This win was actually a pretty ugly one for Andy, especially on the pitching side. Greinke and Liriano ran into serious problems this week, but Andy still took 4 of 5 offensive categories just because Brad's ratios were so bad. Andy's pitching line was 5.32-1.36-10.64-1-2. That line went 4-1 in pitching, and he was 2 more QS away from sweeping. Jose Baustista (7--3-7-.323-1 played excellent and Josh Donaldson (9-5-8-.484-1) was the player of the week, and helped Andy to some strong offensive numbers. The win kept Andy in first, but the ,margin of victory and quality of opponent definitely raises some eyebrows, in a bad way.

Jeremy 7 - Greg 3

Scanlon takes this one and gets back on track. A very average offensive week was enough to take 3 of 5 categories, although he had no shot of catching Greg's 10 NSB, and Jeremy was able to sweep the pitching categories thanks to weird 1 game rental David Price. Even with the win, Jeremy is a long shot for the playoffs and running out of time.

John 6 - Mark 3

Special announcement: John has not lost in 7 weeks. The offense that exploded for him last week went quiet again this week, with only Carpenter staying hot at the plate, but pitching won him this matchup. Wacha pitched excellent, and although Kershaw and Kulber weren't lights out, they did enough for him to win all but NSV. For Mark, The offense was decent, with Abreu staying hot and new addition David Ortiz carrying his weight (lol), but as has been customary this season, his starters could not stay consistent, and he taked this tough loss. For John, the win helps him leapfrog Mark in the standings, and puts Mark on the cusp of elimination.


Power Rankings
1. Russ (1) - He's 31-9 in the last 4 weeks, but injuries have put a damper on the winning streak
2. Andy (2) - Beats a lesser opponent here, but 4 of his final 5 opponents are contenders
3. John (5) - The champ is back to defend his title, no losses in last 7 weeks
4. Pflanz (3) - Tough loss to #1 on this list, but has a nice looking schedule to finish the season
5. Dan (7) - great win and plays all 3 sellers in the final 5 weeks
6. Perk (4) - Still fading fast, but will play Greg and Eric in 2 of the next 3 weeks
7. Richie (8) - 25-12 in the last 4 weeks, definitely in the hunt
8. Mark (6) - Only wins in the last 7 weeks are against the 3 last place teams
9. Scanlon (9) - Can't really expect a jump when you beat 12th place, very tough schedule to end the year includes Andy, John, Russ, and no pushovers
10. Eric (10) - Time to play spoiler
11. Brad (11) - Time to play spoiler
12. Greg (12) - Time to play spoiler