Baseball is weird. I’d like to give shoutouts this week to the Rays organization for sticking with this Opener thing, Brian Dozier for putting the ball through the center field wall, and the Red Sox organization for committing $255.5 million dollars to Pablo Sandoval, Hanley Ramirez, and Rusney Castillo.
Before we get into this week’s best performances and closest matchups, feel free to take a closer look at our rosters, transactions, and matchups by following these links: Legacy League, Prodigy League, Futures League. Likewise, if you’d like to read the previous weeks’ reviews, follow this link.
Legacy League
Best Performance—M-M-M-Mookie and the Betts (Ben Palmer)
After shaking up his entire roster last week Stephen Honovich (0-8) was primed to turn his winless season around. However, Ben Palmer (5-3) had other plans. Palmer’s squad destroyed Stephen’s, defeating them by a 9-1 margin. Palmer’s offense won every hitting category following impressive individual contributions from Travis Shaw, Jose Altuve, and Mookie Betts. On the pitching side, Dylan Bundy and Nick Pivetta led the charge as Palmer’s team took every category except for saves. Palmer will face Max Posner (3-4-1) in week 9.
Closest Matchup—Ze Wankers (Nic Gardiner) vs. You’ll Never Defeat Andrus!! (Dave Cherman)
The Legacy League featured two ties this week, but this matchup between Nic Gardiner (2-5-1) and Dave Cherman (3-2-3) was just a tad bit closer. Had Nic’s squad hit for one more RBI or gotten a single save more, the 5-5 tie would have been broken and he would have won the week. As it stands though, neither team was clearly better than the other and the result is a draw. It is of note that this is Dave Cherman’s third draw in a row, a feat that I didn’t even know was possible prior to the start of the season.
Prodigy League
Best Performance—Max Bauer (Andrew Gould)
For the second week in a row, Andrew Gould’s squad (3-4-1) was the best in the Prodigy League. Andrew took on KV (5-3), and walked away with a 9-1 victory. Despite his offense taking all five categories, the real star of the show was Andrew’s pitching that totaled 7 wins and 92 strikeouts while posting a 2.52 ERA and 0.97 WHIP. Possibly the best pitching performance I’ve seen thus far, Andrew had four starts total double-digit strikeouts, Trevor Bauer leading the team with 19. In addition, not a single one of Andrew’s pitchers posted an ERA over 3.86 or a WHIP over 1.59. Truly a dominant showing, I almost feel bad for Troy Klauder (2-6) for having to face Andrew’s squad next.
Closest Matchup—Walker Buehler’s Day Off (Myles Nelson) vs. DFSers Anonymous (Troy Klauder)
Speaking of Mr. Klauder, he and Myles Nelson (6-2) were the two combatants in this week’s closest Prodigy League matchup! After a close bout all week, Myles was able to squeak by with a 5-4-1 win after a run scored by Evan Longoria tied the category, tipping the scale in his favor. Four of Myles’s six victories this year have been by very narrow odds, winning his first matchup of the year by a score of 4-3-3 and featuring two 5-4-1’s after that. Despite these close shaves, it is evident that Myles has one of the best teams in the Prodigy League and that he deserves the winning record that he’s achieved to this point.
Futures League
Best Performance—The Hans Molemen (Ben Chang)
Ben Chang’s team (5-2-1) was the tops in the Futures League in Week 8, as he won 7-3 over Paul Martin (3-3-2). Another impressive pitching performance, Ben’s team took all five categories, posting a 2.74 ERA and 0.86 WHIP to go along with 7 save, 7 wins, and 88 strikeouts. Ben had five pitchers, including Ross Stripling and Masahiro Tanaka, post double-digit strikeouts this week. Ben’s offense was slouching either, as he took RBI and batting average with help from standouts Scooter Gennett and Matt Carpenter. Ben will face off against Austin Perodeau (3-5) next week as he looks to continue his winning ways.
Closest Matchup—Intensive Care Unit (Grayson Blazek) vs. Team Wexler (Mike Wexler)
Picking one matchup to feature in this section was difficult, as there were four matchups that finished with either 5-3-2 or 6-4 scores. However, I decided upon this bout between Grayson Blazek (3-4-1) and Mike Wexler (4-4). Mike edged out the win, despite ties in both RBI and strikeouts. Additionally, he only won stolen bases by 2 and wins by 1. Had a few balls fallen a bit different, this matchup could have easily wound up with a different result.
