California Penal League 2015 - Weeks 9/10 Review

Traveling for a conference last week, back this week with double the dose of fantasy baseball news!

Week 9-10 Recap

A tie! There was a tie! I hope everyone is taking snapshots, because for the first time in 32 weeks of regular season action, a matchup has ended without a winner. Heading into Sunday night, it looked like Walker Texas Rangers had it in the bag. All they needed was 2.5 points from Anthony Rizzo, Joey Votto, and Aroldis Chapman, right? Wrong! Rizzo (0/5, 2 K's) and Votto (2/5) combined for 2 points, sending both squads unhappy with a very unsatisfying draw.  The draw means that Ryan drops from 3rd to 5th, while Shidler drops another half game back from 6th place and the last playoff spot. We could look back at this matchup as the one that decided both of these teams' fate.

Elsewhere, in our pillow fight of the week, TonyClarkTime (3-7) beat The Duda Abides (1-9) 194 to 192. Needless to say, both of these teams would've lost to everyone else in the league. Shame of Dugan for losing to a team with two starters on the DL, two players short of a full roster, and Ian Desmond playing a prominent role (see below). Not to be outdone, Dugan boasts of two starters on the DL and a player on the DL that was activated a week ago. Then again, you wouldn't be paying attention either if your team was 1-9.

Allen continues to ride his good luck, somehow in 3rd place even though he is 6th in total points. Regression is a dish better served cold. Pearse sits in 4th place by literally the slimmest of margins (0.5 pts). At the bottom, Kyle is out of last place thanks to our newcomer Kris' horrendous performance. Shidler and Bill are on the edge of the playoff chase. Barring a miraculous run, the bottom 4 are virtually eliminated from playoff contention.

Awards

A little curveball this week. Awards for the last two weeks of play!

Hitter of the Week - Giancarlo Stanton (MVPuig/Good Will Bunting): 74.5 pts

The first blockbuster trade of the year saw Jon send power prospect Joey Gallo to Kyle for Giancarlo Stanton, he of the monster bombs. Stanton has been a one-man wrecking crew in the last couple of weeks, connecting 8 times for round-trippers, driving in 15 runs, and scoring 12 times, all of which lead the majors in this timespan. Hitting almost .400 is a nice bonus as well. Continue mashing, Mike.

Goat of the Week, Hitter Edition - Ian Desmond (TonyClarkTime): 6.5 pts
You know what's the insane part about Demsond's 6.5 pts over two weeks? That 10.5 of those came during the first 7 days. Desmond has been borderline atrocious the last week, striking out 13 times while going 1/21. That means that during the last week, he's struck out 59% of the time. That performance is worthy of being in Game of Thrones.

Pitcher of the Week - Chris Sale (Good Will Bunting): 73.5 pts
Nice balance between hitting and pitching has been achieved in this league. Just look at the performances of the top hitters and pitchers. Sale led the pack in the last 14 days, picking up 3 quality starts and a 2-1 record. An obscene 39 strikeouts in 21.2 IP is otherwordly. Sale has struck out more than 10 batters in 6 of his last 7 starts. How dare he strike out only 7 in 8 innings of one run ball against Cleveland on May 18th?

Goat of the Week, Pitcher Edition - Yordano Ventura (Schweddy Balls): -9 pts
The fireballer has been knocked around a bit, making it through only 6 IP in his last 2 starts. Only 6 ER were scored against him, as this could've been way worse. Way, way, worse. 2 losses is bad enough, though, as I'm sure Ralph will attest.

Surprising Hitter of the Week - Maikel Franco (FA): 53 pts
One of the few bright sports in the worst team in baseball. Franco hammered 4 long balls while hitting north of .400 over the last couple of weeks. Had a 10 game hitting streak snapped yesterday. The pedigree is there, full endorsement!

Surprising Pitcher of the Week - Jorge De La Rosa (FA): 55.5 pts

3 wins, 3 QS, 18 punch outs in 20 IP. What else could you ask for? Make the move! 10 walks though, proceed with caution.

Week 11 Preview

#1 Doug vs. #12 Dugan:.Oh no! Oh no! Run away! This is not safe.
#2 Ralph vs. #6 Luis: I need to start paying more attention to my team.
#3 Jon A. vs. #5 Ryan: Allen is the big favorite this week. I will keep touting him as the favorite until he loses. Then I will keep doing it.
#4 Pearse vs. #9 Kris: Pearse with the easy win. And a likely jump into 3rd place.
#7 Jon S. vs. #10 Drew: Drew's trying really hard. I promise.
#8 Bill vs. #11 Kyle: If the Gas House Gorillas are ever going to make a run, now is the time and this is the opponent.

Next week: Mid-season awards!!!!

California Penal League 2015 - Week 8 Review

End of semester vacation meant no posts. Hopefully back in a rhythm now!

Week 8 Recap

The dream is over. There will not be an undefeated H2H baseball champion this seasons, as Doug suffered his first loss of the year being AbsolutelyDominated by yours truly in a high-scoring affair. The AntarcticanAmericans produced a respectable 317 points, 5th most this week, but came nowhere close to the 354.5 points posted by their mighty opponents. The entire match-up was decided by one guy, who will be discussed in more detail in our next section.

Elsewhere, Ralph continued his hot start, dispatching Pearse by 30 pts. Met dandy Lucas Duda was the hero in this one. Schweddy Balls is now tied for 1st place, although a distant second in points scored. Good Will Bunting made quick work of MVPuig, as Kyle continues to embrace his new role as "Mike Soltys". Maybe it's a bad idea to have a guy suck in the DL as the namesake for your team and logo. This team's mojo is clearly disturbed. Meanwhile, Jon A. continues his lucky to ride his good luck, putting up big numbers against weaker competition. 3 teams below the standings have more points this year than his team. Regression is a cruel mistress, remember that.

Despite the loss to Ralph, Pease's Gas House Gorillas maintain a nice 5-3 record, tied for 4th in the league. We are beginning to see some clear separation between the top teams with winning records and the bottom feeders. Stuck in between is Jon Shidler's Wain's World at 4-4. Again, what's up with the team names after dead (baseball-speak) players? I guarantee Shidler and Kyle would have more than 5 combined wins if they had different team names.

In the bottom of the table we find Homegrown Hitters at 3-5, TonyClark Time and Limpy Noodlesy at 2-6, and The Duda Abides and MVPuig at 1-7. Ummmm, Dugan? Why is your team name "The Duda Abides" when you don't even have Lucas Duda in your team? I'm telling you, there's a correlation between number of losses and team names.

Now, let's recognize the best of the best and the worst of the worst.

Awards

Hitter of the Week - Josh @#$%^ Donaldson (AbsolutDomination): 55.5 pts

Wanna know how dominant Mr. Donaldson was? He scored 16 more points than the 3rd best hitter of the week (Goldschmidt). Only the hitters in this week's top 10 didn't get doubled up by Mr. Donaldson. Of course, 55.5 points don't happen all at once, but it certainly felt like it. On Tuesday, Monsieur Donaldson went 4/4 with 2 HR, 5 R, 4 RBI, and a walk, just because he can. The 21 points are the most by a hitter in a single game this year. Did I mention that the 2nd HR was of the walk-off variety?

Goat of the Week, Hitter Edition - The Artist Formerly Known as E5 (The Duda Abides): 0 pts
1/24 with no runs, no rbi's, no extra base hits, only 2 walks and 6 strikeouts. This is especially bad when you compare it to the guy I just finished raving about in the previous paragraph, who bats just ahead of him in the same lineup, facing the same pitching. Ooooof.

Pitcher of the Week - Carlos Martinez (AbsolutDomination): 42.5 pts
It was a considerably bad week for pitchers, as Martinez was the only one to crack the 35 point mark this week. Of the top 9 pitchers of the week, 4 are free agents, 2 are owned by Allen and 3 are in my team. And that doesn't even include stellar starts by Chris Sale (29.5 pts) and Max Scherzer (28.5 pts). These players belong to.... you guessed it! Good Will Bunting and AD.

Goat of the Week, Pitcher Edition - Julio Teheran (TonyClark Time): -6 pts
I hate doing this to my fellow Colombian, but Teheran has been brutal. In two starts this week, he got rocked by both the Giants and the Dodgers. Ok, fine, he didn't get rocked by the Giants, but getting a quality start for throwing 6 mediocre innings (3 ER, 4 Walks) is everything's that's wrong with the Quality Start stat.

Surprising Hitter of the Week - Joe Panik (FA): 32 pts
Joey P. bashed his way to a top 10 finish among hitters, thanks to his 8/27 with 2 homers and 7 ribbies. That double-play combo in San Fran is looking mighty good with Panik and fellow out-of-nowhere fantasy revelation Brandon Crawford. Panik! at the Disco. There's a good name for a winning team. Make the move!

Surprising Pitcher of the Week - Charlie Morton (FA): 33 pts

Morton made his first two starts of the season after beginning the year in the DL. He doesn't get a ton of swings and misses (5 K's in 14 IP) but the control is obviously there (1 BB). Numbers are a little bit inflated thanks to the 2 wins, but someone to keep an I on nonetheless.

Week 6 Preview

#1 Doug vs. #7 Jon S.: The Doug victory train looks to get back on track.
#2 Ralph vs. #10 Drew: I think we can say safely now that Ralph's team is for real.
#3 Jon S. vs. #9 TonyClark Time: When is your luck going to run out, Mr. Allen? Another easy matchup.
#4 Ryan vs. #5 Luis: Ryan is the Arsenal of this league. Always in 4th place. That ends this week.
#6 Pearse vs. #8 Bill: Pearse hasn't been this high in the standings during the month of June since the 1994 strike-shortened season.
#11 Dugan vs. #12 Kyle: Whenever #11 plays #12 in this league, I'm going to call it the "Battle for the Mike Soltys Memorial Trophy". Which obviously goes to the loser.

Stay safe, kids.

Giancarlo Stanton's Ridiculous HR of the Week - 05/13/15

It's been a while. But well worth the wait. Here's Giancarlo Stanton hitting one out of Dodger Stadium:

California Penal League 2015 - Week 5 Review

Back-to-back posts! I'm feeling a little bit like Bryce Harper. Now, if only he was in any of my teams... let's get right into it.

Week 5 Recap

The match-up of undefeated squads also doubled as the most exciting head-to-head battle of the week. Ralph's dreams of an undefeated season came to a screeching halt, as Doug squeezed by with a 10 pt win. Both teams played really well, surpassing the 300-pt mark. Ralph suffered a bit of bad luck, as he would've beaten every other team in the league except two; and he happened to play one of them. As for Doug, his dream of going unbeaten stays alive, with Michael Bradley and Mike Trout leading the way.

Switching to the very bottom of the standings, I'm happy to report that Drew got his first win! He handily dispatched a very disappointing Kyle. These teams now sit at 11th and 12th, among five (!!!) teams that are 1-4. Everybody would've beaten Kyle this week. I'm sure a team made out of all the players' mothers would've beaten Kyle last week. At least he listened to me and picked up Josh Reddick.

The nice stat where teams currently 1-12 would keep their position if we ranked them by total points is no longer valid. That's thanks to Jon A., who is somehow 4-1 despite having scored less than Pearse and I. A little like the Phillies and Brewers, if you ask me. Let's also remember that he's one Andrew Miller SNB save away from being 5-0. Can I borrow your horseshoe?

Now, let's recognize the best of the best and the worst of the worst.

Awards

Back to our weekly format!

Hitter of the Week - Torii Hunter (Good Will Bunting): 40 pts

Just kidding. Of course it's Bryce Harper (Walker Texas Rangers) and his absurd 51 points. 6 homers in 3 games. You already know about the 3-HR game. You also know about the walk-off HR the next day. Kid is absurd. He hit more HR's than had strikeouts this week. That's usually the recipe for POTW.

Goat of the Week, Hitter Edition - Adam Jones (Limp Noodles): 6.5 pts
Drew got his first win, but it wasn't because of his best player. The Oriole had a horrible week at the plate, with only 5 hits (4 singles and 1 double), no runs scored and one RBI. If Drew wants to win any more games, Jones is going to have to play a lot better than this.

Pitcher of the Week - Michael Pineda (Gas House Gorillas): 53.5 pts
Another Yankee pitcher earning an honor. By now, you should know about the 16 strikeout game. What you might not know is that Pineda threw 8 shutout innings against the Jays, one of the most powerful offenses in the AL, on Tuesday. The 30.5 pts from yesterday rank tops in the majors this year, but the 23 pts on Tuesday were pretty stellar too. Hattip to King Felix, his 2000th K, and his major league leading 139 pts.

Goat of the Week, Pitcher Edition - Stephen Strasburg (Home Grown Hitters): -4 pts
This one was hard... but when in doubt, negative points to win. Or lose. As much as I want to give Strasburg the benefit of the doubt because of his shoulder injury, negative points is still worst than not even playing. Honorable mention to David Price and Corey Kluber with their 0 and 0.5 points, respectively.

Surprising Hitter of the Week - Torii Hunter (Good Will Bunting): 40 pts
Ok, Torii, here's your award. Well deserved. It's shocking to me that he has a son in college and still racking up HR's and probably winning AL Player of the Week honors. Hattip to Marlon Byrd (37 pts) and Yasmani Grandal's 2-HR, 8-RBI game (23 pts, top this year for a hitter).

Surprising Pitcher of the Week - Wandy Rodriguez (FA): 40 pts

The curveball works again. Wandy retired 34 straight batters between the end of his 1st start and the beginning of his 2nd start. All in all, a stellar effort, despite not picking up the win yesterday against TB. He's your recommended add of the week, against struggling Cleveland on Friday.Honorary mention to Ryan Vogelsong and his 35.5 pts in two starts.

Week 6 Preview

#1 Doug vs. #3 Ryan: Another tough match-up for Doug in his quest for 22-0.
#2 Ralph vs. #8 Dugan: 4-1 vs. 1-4. I would say it's a must win for Dugan but with 4 other teams at 1-4, nothing is must win at this point.
#4 Jon A. vs. #6 Pearse: Our second match-up of teams with winning records. Pearse has 4 two-start pitchers, while Allen has 0. Let's see how this works out for them.
#5 Luis vs. #11 Kyle: Now you know why I was poking Kyle throughout this recap. Bring it on!!!
#7 Bill vs. #9 Jon S.: Bill coming off a big win and Shidler coming off a big loss. Teams going in different directions? We'll see.
#10 Kris Kringle vs. #12 Drew: C'mon Drew, it's time for win #2!  Jon Lester leading the way tonight against the Amazing Mets. Kagan, in the meantime, should change his name to Team Injured Reserve. Or at the very least get rid of Joel Peralta. Too early to not be paying attention.

Enjoy the week.

California Penal League 2015 - Week 4 Review

We're baaaaack. Now that I have successfully presented my Ph.D. proposal and my wife is away in Europe, I finally get some time to waste on writing a blog post that only 5 people are gonna read. But it's been too long so let's get right into it!

Week 4 Recap

As usual, we begin at the top of the standings, where 2 teams are still undefeated. Doug took care of business as usual, crushing Kagan by 60, while posting the highest score of the season so far. Kagan's 327.50 would've beaten everybody but two other teams, and sadly he played one of them. Unlucky. The other undefeated team is Ralph, who squeezed past Allen with the last out of the Sunday Night game. Andrew Miller was the hero, closing out the Yanks win and providing the winning points.This is the 34th time Allen has lost with the last out on Sunday night. Or at least it feels that way. All numbers approximate. 

Three other teams are currently above .500. The aforementioned Allen, who is probably spending way too much time looking at his fantasy teams with the way the Phillies are playing. You can say the same about me and the Brewers by the way. Sitting at 3-1 while my real team is in shambles. Craig Counsell is our new manager! Geez. But I digress.  The other 3-1 team is Ryan, who has been unspectacularly solid so far, despite losing to Pearse in Week 2.

Speaking of Pearse, he sits tight at 2-2, not having spent a single FAAB dollar yet. He is followed by five 1-3 teams, with a 178 point differential between #7 and #11. Dugan has looked the best out of that bunch so far, but they are two-games under .500 already. Bill has spend $22 in FAAB already, the most out of anybody, but doesn't seem to have found any solutions. At least he is trying.

Which brings us to Drew. Oh, Drew. The only winless team in the league, with the least amount of points scored, while spending exactly $0 in FAAB. With Soltys gone, Drew looked primed to take over his role as doormat and he has delivered in style. 242 points is the high mark for him so far this season. By comparison, Doug hasn't scored less than 300 points in any game this year. Losses by 102, 77, 41 and 38 at least show that he is closing the gap? I don't know, I'm struggling to find anything positive to say. Very unlucky so far, especially with two closers that have done nothing so far this year: Tyler Clippard and Addison Reed. On the bright side, he should get some decent value for Adam Jones and Justin Upton if/when he decides to sell. Soltys would've punted already. Pro tip: Josh Reddick and his 85.50 pts (tied for 23rd best hitter) are on the wire. Use some of that FAAB money, bro.

Teams currently ranked 1 through 12 will keep their exact same spots if we were to rank them based on points scored. So, no good or bad luck so far in the grand scheme of things. Expect this to change as we get into the dog days of summer.

Awards

This is a special edition of the Awards, covering the first month of the season. Next week, we will return to weekly awards.

Hitter of the Month - Nelson Cruz AntarcticanAmericans): 118 pts

13 home runs already, which has him on pace to break Bonds' record. We know that's not gonna happen, especially playing in Safeco. But for those who were worried that the power wasn't going to be there, well, you were wrong. Also leads the majors in RBI's with 25. Expect regression, obviously.

Goat of the Month, Hitter Edition - Carlos Gonzalez (MVPuig): 40 pts
CarGo just doesn't look right. His 39 points in 92 PA gives him a horrendous 0.424 pts/PA. The average is usually around 0.7-0.75. At least 7 of his 17 hits have gone for extra bases. We expect a lot more out of someone playing half his games at Coors and who isn't hurt. At least, not yet. Honorable mention to Victor Martinez, who hasn't hit a HR this year. And honorable mention to Ryan Braun as well, who was trying to run away with this award before hitting 3 HR's in 2 games this week. He still doesn't have a double, though.

Pitcher of the Month - Andrew Miller (Schweddy Balls): 107.50 pts
The new Yankees closer seems to have drank some Mariano juice. 13 IP, 10 saves (leads the majors), and 23 K's. Did I mention the 0.00 ERA? Dominant. The runner-up in this category is the closer for the cross-town rival Mets. Jeurys Familia has taken advantage of the injury to Bobby Parnell and the Jenrry Mejia suspension to tie for the MLB lead with 10 saves (+1 Hold!). Sonny Gray also gets a hat-tip, as he leads all starters in points (105). Overall, relievers have been amazing so far (4 of the top 8). But that's mostly due to starting pitching being sucky.

Goat of the Week, Pitcher Edition - Stephen Strasburg (Home Grown Hitters): 38 pts
Strasburg has not been very good. He hasn't been terrible either, but I'm sure Bill didn't pay top dollar to get 38 points out of him through 5 starts. Honorable mention to Chris Sale, Corey Kluber, Jon Lester, and Jordan Zimmermmann, I'm sure they will all figure it out. 

Biggest Surprise - Devon Travis (AbsolutDomination): 101 pts
Andrew Miller has been great, but he was placed in a position to rack up points. Devon Travis was ranked 1171 by Yahoo before the season. He was not expected to hit 7 home runs this year, much less in a month. That Toronto lineup is scary and I'm happy to report I own 4 of their hitters. I kinda wanna trade for The Artist Formerly Known as E5. Let's go Jays! Honorable mention to Stephen Vogt from Oakland, who leads all catchers with 91.50 pts.

Week 5 Preview

#1 Doug vs. #2 Ralph: It's a showdown between the two undefeated. Got my money on Doug, as usual.
#3 Luis vs. #11 Bill: Lorenzo Cain, who's been awesome, is suspended for Tuesday's game. Wonder if that will have an impact in the final score.
#4 Ryan vs. #9 Kagan: Another 3-1 vs 1-3 match-up. I want the league to be competitive and for Kagan to not lose faith. You can do this!
#5 Jon A. vs. #7 Dugan: Grudge match. Go out there and destroy each other, like Mayweather and Pacq.... oh wait... never mind.
#6 Pearse vs. #8 Jon S.: Todd Frazier, pride of Tom's River, NJ and little league world series hero vs. team injured reserve. 5 guys are hurt or not active in Shidler's roster.
#10 Kyle vs. #12 Drew: It's weird to see Kyle so far down the standings. Come on, Drew. Get that first win. Josh Reddick, man. 

I promise to keep the updates coming during the summer! Take care and enjoy the week!

California Penal League - 2014 Finals

Author's Note: Monday's scoring corrections are still pending. 

Finals Recap

#2 AbsolutDomination beats #1 The Duda Abides: 384.50 - 376.17
Ooooof! This one came down to the wire and it was reaaaaally close. Dugan was down big all week, but he had 5 starters on Sunday, making an improbable comeback sound not so impossible. The key to Dugan's comeback attempt laid within the NL Central Division race. The Reds. Johnny Cueto, and Aroldis Chapman needed to win (and pick up the save) against the Pirates, thereby making the Cardinals the division winners. Then, the Cardinals would scratch Wainwright and all their hitters, sending a AAA lineup and a bunch of crappy bullpen arms against Josh Collmenter and the Arizona Diamondbacks. And that is exactly what happened: Cueto went 8 strong, picked up the win, and Chapman cleared up for the save, striking out 3 in the process. Collmenter delivered on his part, pitching a gem: 8 IP, 1 ER, only 3 baserunners.

However, Arizona's offensive ineptitude costed Dugan dearly. Five St Louis relievers combined for the 2-hit shutout, giving Collmenter the incredibly tough 1-0 loss and costing Dugan the title. A really tough break, in what seemed like a foregone conclusion at around 4:30 pm ET. The clutch swing of the matchup, however, belonged to...

Finals MVP: Adrián González
A super-clutch 3-run HR in his last at-bat of the season proved to be the game-winner. El Titán homered in his last two games, reaching base safely in all 4 of his plate appearances and totaling 18 points despite exiting before the 5th inning in both contests.

3rd Place Match

#3 AntarcticanAmericans beats #5 Good Will Bunting: 390.83 - 373.50
Jon faced a similar situation as Dugan: down big with 5 pitchers left. However, this comeback was not meant to be either, as Jon's hitting abandoned him the last day: 3/18 with only 2.50 points. Doug had left the door open with some anti-clutch hitting of his own: 2/23 for 3 points. In the end, Zack Greinke's quality start and Zach Britton's save provided the winning margin.

Greinke wins the best player award for this matchup with 41.50 pts. Danny Duffy's -8 points in a must-win game for the Royals will haunt Jon throughout the offseason as the former champion finishes out of the money.

Final Standings

1. AbsolutDomination
2. The Duda Abides
3. AntarcticanAmericans
4. Good Will Bunting
5. Walker Texas Rangers
6. Schweddy Balls
7. Home Grown Hitters
8. MVPuig
9. Honey Nut Ichiros
10. Wain's World
11. Gas House Gorillas
12. Limp Noodles

Thanks to everyone for participating and staying active till the end. I'll be back later in the week to give season awards to the best and the worst.

California Penal League - Week 24 Review

And we are down to two! Last week of the baseball season!

Semifinals Recap

#1 The Duda Abides dispatches #5 Good Will Bunting: 360.83 to 309.83
The champion is no more! This year we will crown a new champion, after #1 seed Dugan had no trouble beating defending king-of-the-castle Jon A. by a comfortable margin. As has been the case all year, Dugan relied on a strong lineup composed of above-average hitters, highlighted by breakout player of the year candidate Corey Dickerson's 31 points. In the end, Dugan's batters contributed 190 points, versus only 125 for Jon's. Good Will Bunting's futility was exemplified by Nolan Arenado, who didn't play at all this week, and now has been shutdown for the remainder of the season with signs of pneumonia. You could say that Jon has coughed up the opportunity to repeat. See what I did there?

#2 AbsolutDomination crushes #3 AntarcticanAmericans: 406.67 to 327.33
For the second straight year, Doug came into the semifinals with the best team in the league on paper. for the second straight year, he'll be playing for 3rd place money. Carlos Gomez, knowing that he was playing against a Brewers fan, decided to only score 6 points. None of his pitchers scored more than 30 points, despite having two starters pitch twice. Meanwhile, Jake Arrieta threw an absolute gem, a one-hit, 13 K complete game shutout of the Reds... and Michael Cuddyer homered in three straight games, including a 17.5 point effort on Friday night. This one was never in doubt. I don't think Doug cares much about this because he won the 87-person football picks pool this week, which will cover up for what he might've made had he played in the finals. You win some, you lose some.

Skip this if you don't care about football, betting, or both. Doug went an absurd 13-2 against the spread yesterday, with the only losses being Houston at the Giants and Denver at Seattle. Now, I also had Denver in that game, getting 4.5 points in the Super Bowl rematch. How absurd was that final drive, though? Think about it... the only way Seattle can still win against the spread is if Denver converts the 2 points, they go to overtime, and Seattle scores a TD to win it. Which will only happen if they get the ball first, because they would totally settle for a FG if such a score wins the game. And that's exactly what happens. Where was Seattle's D in that final drive though? Denver ran that out-and-up play twice for like 168 yards and there was nobody within 15 yards of the receiver.

Finals Preview

#1 The Duda Abides vs. #2 AbsolutDomination:
Dugan dominated the regular season series, winning both matchups. He had 200 more points than me, has an absurd lineup, and FIVE two-start pitchers this week. Oh yeah, and my catcher has both strep throat and a kidney stone. So... how can I win? I don't know. It'll probably take a repeat of last week's hitting performance, which might be asking too much of a team that hadn't clicked all year. My team won't be hitting 10 home runs again.

Key Matchup:
D. Holland, J. Samardzija, and J. Peavy vs. W.Y. Chen.
What? What does that even mean, you might be asking... well, I made a roster move to pick up Peavy as a two-start pitcher and decided to go all-in on Monday. If I don't race to a significant lead today, I'm giving up on this matchup altogether. After today, Dugan has 11 projected starts to 7 of mine, and that doesn't account for the fact I already used one of my three roster moves.

Key Matchup #2:
Joey Bats vs. The Artist Formerly Known As E5
Only cause they are teammates and two of my favorite nicknames in all of sports... right up there with "He Hate Me" and Jake "Daylight come and you gotta" Delhomme.

Prediction:
Normally, I'm all about the reverse jinxes, even when I secretly believe I have a chance. This week, though, I am pretty sure that I'm not going to win. In fact, Dugan: where do you want me to mail the check for $525?

3rd Place Match

#3 AntarcticanAmericans vs. #5 Good Will Bunting:
Doug and Jon still have to play for $150. That's a pretty good night out, so still worth playing hard for. Not important enough for me to do a complete breakdown of the matchup. though. My money is on Doug in this one. Too much Miggy, too much Trout, too much Cruz, too much Brantley. His once amazing pitching is no more, though, and two-start weeks for Chris Sale and Felix Hernandez can swing this to Jon's side.

Actually, I'm changing my prediction just to jinx Jon... Allen wins it behind sterling efforts of his two aces.

Consolation Bracket

Ryan finishes in 5th place, after beating Ralph by a ton. Pearse has finished in 11th place, meaning that our newcomer Drew is now our Sack-o Drew. Go watch the League if you don't get that reference, you're missing out. Kyle and Bill play this week for 7th place and Mike and Jon S. play for 9th place... seriously, why even... anyway...

I'll be back next week to officially crown Dugan as champion and find out who finished in the money. See you then!