This week in the Pitcher List staff leagues there were a few smaller, but nonetheless, notable trades that were agreed upon. As we’re now past the halfway point in the season, playoff hopefuls are looking to solidify their teams, tweaking here and there. Meanwhile, the teams toward the middle of the pack are working to claw their way into contention.
Now, 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—The Bear and the Maiden Faria (Nick Pollack)
In a recent conversation with Nick, he called me out for not featuring him in the review (despite his feature in Week 9). Then, he went out and earned the Best Performance tag this week. In an 8-2 win over Ian Post (7-3-2), Nick’s team (7-5) had its offense come alive, totaling 12 home runs with a .316 batting average en route to winning all five hitting categories. Nelson Cruz, Matt Olson, and Jesus Aguilar provided 9 of the dingers as they each earned standout recognition this past week. Next week, Nick will face the red-hot Max Posner (8-3-1) who is riding a four-week winning streak.
Closest Matchup—Insane Masterminds (Andrew Todd-Smith) M-M-M-Mookie and the Betts (Ben Palmer)
The closest matchup of Week 12 in the Legacy League was that of Andrew Todd Smith (4-5-3) and Ben Palmer (6-6). The two finished with a 5-3-2 record with Palmer coming out on top. They tied in both home runs and wins for the week and Ben only won steals by one. Wins from relievers Corey Knebel and Ryan Tepera nearly turned the tide, for either team, but at the end of the day, Ben was able to pull through for his sixth win.
Notable Trades
Ben Palmer and Ben Pernick agreed to a deal that sent Michael Fulmer to Pernick in exchange for Caleb Smith and Yasiel Puig. Of course, directly after the trade had been processed, Smith was diagnosed with a shoulder injury. Clearly frustrated, Palmer had this to say: “I officially quit on trading for pitchers in this league. Within the past month, I’ve traded for Shohei Ohtani and Caleb Smith. That…. hasn’t worked out well.”
Prodigy League
Best Performance—Killer B’s (KV)
Despite the close 5-4-1 score, KV’s team (8-4) was the best in the Prodigy League this past week. His pitching staff stole the show, sporting a stellar 1.02 ERA and 0.79 WHIP, giving up only 5 earned runs in 44.1 innings pitched. This impressive performance, one of the best of the season for rate stats, was due largely to standout performances from Rick Porcello, Collin McHugh, and Fernando Rodney, who averaged an 0.36 WHIP between the three of them. KV’s squad will face off against Michael Grennell’s (4-8), himself in the midst of a three-week winning streak.
Closest Matchup—Most of them
It was simply too difficult to pick a single close matchup this week as four of the six ended 5-4-1 and one in a 5-5 tie. My team defeated Jake Bridges with only a two run lead; Jeff Davis and Mark Weston ended their week in a tie; Myles Nelson only topped Jason Dunbar by one stolen base; and Michael Grennell took the win over Andrew Gould by just one homer, one stolen base, and one save. It was a week full of very close matchups, so many that it was too close for me to select just.
Notable Trades
Myles Nelson is tied for first place but is shaking up his roster nonetheless. He made three 1-for-1 trades this week with three separate teams. The result is this:
| Myles Sends: | Myles Receives: |
Myles noted that he believed he was acquiring more “reliable talent.” In speaking further, he noted that he was “Just waiting for the wheels to fall off on Corbin/Folty so turning them into Turner/Shaw made me feel a little better.” As an analyst, I wish Myles the best of luck. As the guy currently tied with Myles for the lead in the Prodigy League and playing him this week, I hope Gausman’s arm falls off.
Futures League
Best Performance—Team Gorman (Brennen Gorman)
Brennen Gorman led Team Gorman (6-4-2), easily one of the most creative team names in the business, to their 6th win this past week, a 6-3-1 victory over Dan Wist (5-6-1). Brennen’s team performed well on both sides of the ball, finishing with a .301 batting average and a 2.60 ERA. With offensive standouts Nelson Cruz and Billy Hamilton (no really), along with pitchers Rick Porcello and Junior Guerra (no really), Brennen was able to find fantastic production is both expected and unexpected places. Team Gorman will face off this next week against Henry Still (3-7-2).
Closest Matchup—The Hans Molemen (Ben Chang) vs. Morristown Frackers (Nate Von Benken)
Ben Chang seems to be popular in these Futures Leagues updates recently, this week noted for his part in the closest matchup. Ben’s team (8-2-2) came to a 4-4-2 draw when he faced Nate Von Benken (5-5-2). An uncommon score, to say the least, the two tied in both home runs and RBI and were only separated by three runs, two steals, two wins, and one save. Their ERA and WHIP were even close, Ben finishing 3.32 and 1.24 while Nate was not far behind at 3.38 and 1.28. This ridiculously close score shows just how evenly matched the two teams were, as they each earned the hard fought draw.
I’m insulted you gave Nick the best performance when we had the same score and he barely won half his categories and I blew out Bishop. I would’ve beat Nick 6-4 last week. C’mon Bristow, I thought we were friends.