BGB Fantasy League 2017: Week 21

Two more teams have booked playoff places in the BaseballGB Fantasy League – but four places are still up for grabs with just one week of the regular season left.

The Maltsters continue their march to the playoff after defeating Jesmond 11-1. Once again, Jesmond failed to meet the 20-inning minimum limit, forfeiting all the pitching categories. Altuve scored eight runs while Castillo and Jose Ramirez (.538) each belted four homers. Kluber won twice, Sale struck out 17 and Reed had three holds. Bregman salvaged steals for Jesmond.

Iron Men picked up an 8-4 win against the Sox as Encarnacion scored seven runs, hit two homers and joined Rendon in driving in six. Giles had two saves, Lorenzen and Kintzler had a hold each and that Kershaw guy returned to help take ERA and WHIP. Gordon and Gurriel each hit .500 for the Sox while Betts swiped four bases. Morton had a win and struck out nine.

Norwich needed a pitching sweep to defeat the Chasers 7-5. Nola had a win and struck out 13 while Hand and Kimbrel had three saves each and Vincent notched a pair of holds. Gausman helped take ERA and WHIP. Bellinger and Freeman had multi-homer weeks.

Benintendi hit .360 and stole three bases for the Chasers, while Dozier scored nine runs and was one of three players to knock in five.

The A&E Dept had two reasons to celebrate – a 7-5 win against the Slugs and the confirmation of their playoff place. Posey hit .500 for the week while Rizzo scored nine times and drove in eight. Davis, Rodney and Allen each had two saves while Bundy did not allow an earned run and posted miniscule WHIP numbers.

Domingo Santana hit three homers for the Slugs while Trout stole two bases. Usually a .326 team average would be enough for a category win, but not this time. Godley won twice, Marquez struck out 19 and Yates had two holds.

The Riverkings hit their way to a 7-5 win against the Isotopes, as Baez scored six runs and stole three bases, Morales knocked in 10 and Inciarte batted .448. Vizcaino, Jansen and Swarzak took care of saves and holds. The Isotopes had power from Ramirez, who hit three homers, while Weaver won twice, struck out 19 and Teheran helped take ERA and WHIP.

Both teams will be happy with this score as the Bombers picked up a 6-5 win but the RBIs did enough to book their playoff place. The Turners got the job done for Bath as Trea stole three bases while Justin hit .391. Strasburg helped take ERA and WHIP while Britton had two saves and Shaw collected the lone hold.

Severino had a win and struck out 18 for the RBIs while Lamb scored four runs and Zunino and Villar each had two homers and helped take OPS.

Finally, the Knights are ahead of Batteries essential in the race for the final playoff place after a 6-5 win. Four Knights had multi-homer weeks, including Stanton (again). Marwin Gonzalez and Rosario each had two steals. McHugh helped take ERA and WHIP while Dickey struck out nine and Bradley had three holds.

Andrus scored seven runs and knocked in nine for Batteries Essential while Morrison hit double digits in RBIs. Blackmon hit .409 for the week and Neris had three saves.

The final playoff push

Four playoff places are still up for grabs with one week of the regular fantasy season left. It’ll be a nervy week for the teams in 5th to 11th.

Here are the matchups

Maltsters (1st) v Slugs (6th)

Norwich (2nd) v Isotopes (7th)

RBIs (3rd) v Chasers (5th)

A&E Dept (4th) v Knights (8th)

Batteries Essential (9th) v Riverkings (10th)

Bombers (11th) v Sox (12th)

Iron Men (13th) v Jesmond (14th)