Some teams are heading into the All-Star Break with a spring in their step whilst others may be using this week to ponder some roster changes. Read on to find out who is in which camp.
| Team | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score |
| Batteries Essential | 35 | 15 | 46 | 2 | .300 | .934 | 6 | 3 | 46 | 2 | 2.59 | 1.20 | 11 |
| Jesmond Dennings | 27 | 10 | 24 | 9 | .260 | .786 | 2 | 5 | 15 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.67 | 1 |
Batteries almost swept the board in their match-up with Jesmond, with only an impressive stolen base total thwarting a rout. Jesmond’s bag-stealers were led by Milwaukee’s Jonathan Villar who pilfered five. As for Batteries, they received nice weeks from Addison Russell and Nick Castellannos (3 homers apiece) and then benefited from Jesmond forfeiting the pitching categories due to failing to reach the innings pitched minimum.
| Team | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score |
| Newcastle Knights | 39 | 10 | 36 | 4 | .304 | .930 | 5 | 3 | 60 | 3 | 3.88 | 1.04 | 10 |
| Weston-Super-Sox | 25 | 4 | 24 | 1 | .259 | .685 | 2 | 3 | 33 | 2 | 2.48 | 1.16 | 1 |
After a rare blip against Jesmond in Week 13, the league-leading Knights got back to winning ways in Week 14 with a comprehensive 10-1 win over the Super Sox. The Knights’ week was powered by three Red Sox. The duo of Mookie Betts and David Ortiz were at the heart of an offensive sweep, whilst David Price amassed 20 K’s towards an impressive 60 overall for the team. The Super Sox were able to nab the ERA category, with Dallas Keuchel’s return to form helping out there, but losing Matt Harvey to injury will be a blow.
| Team | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score |
| Orpington Isotopes | 45 | 11 | 41 | 10 | .304 | .913 | 3 | 6 | 51 | 2 | 4.88 | 1.20 | 10 |
| Mighty Slugs | 36 | 13 | 34 | 5 | .257 | .853 | 2 | 2 | 69 | 0 | 4.98 | 1.33 | 2 |
Mark’s Isoptopes remain in second place thanks to an impressive 10-2 victory over the Slugs.
The Slugs lived up to their name – in one sense – with a slugging effort that took the HR category and their pitching staff lit up the K box with 69 on the week. Madison Bumgarner contributed 20 K’s to the cause, with John Lackey adding on another 13.
However, the Isotopes wouldn’t be denied as Mark Trumbo continued to wield some fearsome thump with four bombs on the week and Zach Britton and Santiago Casilla combined for 6 saves.
| Team | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score |
| Becknam Lollygaggers | 29 | 6 | 21 | 10 | .245 | .735 | 1 | 2 | 36 | 0 | 4.46 | 1.46 | 2 |
| Richie’s RBI’s | 28 | 7 | 27 | 0 | .266 | .761 | 4 | 5 | 52 | 2 | 4.01 | 1.32 | 10 |
Richie’s RBI’s also grabbed a 10-2 win, this one coming at the expense of the Lollygaggers. They swept the pitching categories as Chris Tillman picked up two wins and Mark Melancon and Ryan Madson combined for 5 saves, whilst the Lollygaggers’ ace Zack Greinke sat on the sidelines due to injury. The Lollygaggers’ batting lineup did most of their damage with their feet (10 SB’s) rather than with the lumber, allowing the RBI’s to take four of the six offensive categories.
| eam | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score |
| NorthEast Riverkings | 27 | 4 | 27 | 1 | .294 | .759 | 4 | 0 | 37 | 6 | 5.31 | 1.41 | 3 |
| Norwich No II | 39 | 8 | 28 | 1 | .289 | .863 | 3 | 1 | 65 | 3 | 3.51 | 1.34 | 8 |
Norwich No II remain at number 3 in the standings thanks to an 8-3 win over the Riverkings. Kenta Maeda has repaid the faith Norwich (and probably more importantly the LA Dodgers) showed in him with an impressive first half-season in the States and he gave the team a win and 18 K’s last week, with Cleveland’s duo Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar chipping in 20 K’s combined too.
The Riverkings took the Hold category thanks to Watson, Giles and Neris, yet they couldn’t compete on the batting side with Maikel Franco leading No II’s charge with four long-balls.
| Team | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score |
| Cheshunt Maltsters | 31 | 7 | 28 | 6 | .282 | .799 | 3 | 1 | 37 | 3 | 3.24 | 1.44 | 7 |
| The Bath Bombers | 39 | 11 | 21 | 1 | .277 | .858 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 3 | 7.15 | 1.72 | 3 |
The Maltsters were able to pick up a 7-3 win in large part due to a strong pitching showing. The batting side of things was an even contest with the Bombers living up to their name by fielding four players who had multiple homer weeks despite Jose Bautista being on the DL. Cheshunt countered with six stolen bases and Daniel Murphy having another strong week (3 HR, 10 RBI) as he continues to beat up on his former team, the New York Mets.
The pitching went south for the Bombers though, typified by Noah Syndergaard leaving his last start early due to “arm fatigue†and the Malsters took advantage with a good showing across the board despite no standout performers on the week.
| Team | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OPS | W | SV | K | HLD | ERA | WHIP | Score |
| The Cheddar Chasers | 34 | 9 | 30 | 3 | .307 | .912 | 2 | 4 | 32 | 0 | 6.68 | 1.30 | 4 |
| Iron Men | 29 | 7 | 36 | 4 | .261 | .715 | 4 | 5 | 32 | 1 | 2.38 | 1.24 | 7 |
Finally, my Chasers lost out to the Iron Men predominantly due to a fairly disastrous week for my pitching staff. Andrew Cashner and Shelby Miller’s blow-ups were not too far out of line from what I’ve seen from them before, but adding another clunker of a start from Jon Lester really scuppered my chances and Iron Men took full advantage, not least through the always-impressive Max Scherzer.
The match-up was kept respectable as a result of my Chasers rescuing four of the six offensive categories. Josh Donaldson – surprise, surprise – led the way with 3 homers and 7 RBI, whilst Robinson Cano ended the first half strongly for Iron Men (and the Mariners).
Week 15 match-ups
The Week 15 match-ups cover the next two weeks, taking in the post-All Star Friday to Sunday contests and then all of the games the following week. Here are the match-ups for the extended clashes:
Knights (1st) v RBI’s (13th)
Isotopes (2nd) v Lollygaggers (10th)
Chasers (6th) v Norwich No II (3rd)
Maltsters (7th) v Iron Men (4th)
Riverkings (5th) v Jesmond (12th)
Batteries (8th) v Super-Sox (14th)
Slugs (9th) v Bombers (11th)
