BaseballGB Fantasy League – Week Seven

Welcome to our weekly round-up of the BaseballGB Fantasy League competition.  This is a mixed Head-2-Head league involving BGB writers and readers. 

There are fourteen teams who pair up in different combinations each week, making for seven match-ups in any given week. The teams battle over twelve statistical categories, gaining one point for each category they win.  All the points are carried over into the season league table at the end of the weekly match-ups. The top six teams with the most points at the end of the fantasy season will go on to the playoffs during the last three weeks of September. 

SWAT were the victors in the inaugural BGB Fantasy League last year.  Will they retain their title in 2010, or will a new champion emerge?

With Mark being away this week, it falls to me to lend my less-than-expert eye over the past week’s round of fantasy baseball action. 

———————-

We start with a handy 9-2 win by The Wright Stuff.  Mike Napoli had a great week at the plate for the Wright Stuff (4HR, 9 RBI) and all but Lance Berkman made a decent contribution to a big offensive week, while five of their six starters picked up a ‘W’ and Billy Wagner added two more to the total.  The Angels got good weeks from Michael Young and Adam LaRoche and B.J. Upton racked up 5 steals, but that was only enough to win two batting categories and they could only manage a solitary tie (in saves) against the Wright Stuff’s pitching staff.

———————-

Grip It edged out the Beck’Nams by winning five of six batting categories and turning in decent ERA and WHIP performances.  Ryan Howard, Josh Hamilton and Kendry Morales ensured that Grip It’s offence put up good numbers despite Rafael Furcal’s absence due to injury.  Josh Johnson led the Beck’Nams’ pitching staff with two wins and 9 K’s.

———————

The Super Sox took full advantage of a depleted New Spaniards team by winning every category except for Holds. Ben Zobrist, Adrian Beltre and Alfonso Soriano made the offence go and both Mike Pelfrey and Edwin Jackson picked up a pair of wins for the Sox. Casey Blake provided the only notable contribution for the Spaniards.

——————–

Mark might not be writing the round-up this week, but you can be sure that he was keeping a close eye on his Isotopes’ performance and will be delighted with a 10-2 match-up win over the reigning champs.  SWAT’s offence didn’t get going at all, Chase Utley apart, allowing the work of Troy Tulowitzki, Jason Heyward, Jason Werth and others to really count for the Isotopes.  The pitching side of the battle was closer, with the Isotopes gaining narrow wins in Wins, Saves and Holds, while SWAT took the K category by 1.

——————-

Bonestalkers earned a 9-3 win with Clayton Richard leading the pitching staff and Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay having nice weeks at the plate.  Bay’s upturn will not displease the Bats’ owner two much, being a Mets fan. Borders had great weeks from Broxton, Marmol and Franklin to dominate the Saves category, but they didn’t get much support.

——————-

My Chasers won a close match-up against Iron Men.  Neftali Feliz and Octavio Dotel combined for 5 saves and all the members of my pitching staff had a decent week at worst.  The offence wasn’t quite so consistent and a very narrow win in the OPS category, coupled with a win in the AVG stakes ultimately made the difference between the two teams.  Iron Men enjoyed strong efforts from Alex Rodriguez, Dan Uggla, Vlad Guerrero and Carl Crawford.

——————-

Last but by no means least, Steve’s Pretzel Vendors got the better of Margaret’s Waves with his pitching staff really coming to the fore.  Johnny Cueto, David Price and Shaun Marcum all logged two wins each, while Justin Morneau continued his excellent season for the Vendors’ (and the Twins’) offence.  Joey Votto, Torii Hunter and Magglio Ordonez led the Waves’ batting efforts, while Heath Bell and Jonathan Papelbon ensured that they took at least one of the pitching categories.

Rounding things up

Steve’s victory over the Waves catapulted him up to jointly lead the league alongside Beck ‘Nams, with Iron Men a game behind and the Isotopes and my Chasers 1.5 games back from the leaders.  Borders Bats and New Spaniards currently sit at the bottom of the table, although there is plenty of time to make up ground.  With seven match-ups now complete, maybe the trade market will swing into action soon as teams look to consolidate or make a leap forward?