The trade deadline got busy, but not so busy that Bryce Harperor #3 on The List Jacob deGrom were traded from their respective teams. There will be a piece that analyzes the moves made by each team published later today, so I won’t delve into that. Rather, think about Toto’s Africa. If you don’t remember how the song goes, that’s not possible. If you’ve ever heard the song, then you know it’s impossible to forget the simultaneously tranquil and uplifting pan flute and marimba solo. If you have never heard the song, click this link. Nick listens to this song all the time when he makes The List, and there’s (allegedly) a video of him dancing to it at Alex Fast’s wedding. I hope that clip surfaces in the community Discord soon. Also, congrats to Alex Fast on tying the knot! Now let’s 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 (TIE): Choo that Snell (Rick Graham) and M-M-M-Mookie And The Betts (Ben Palmer)
| TEAM | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | Batters | K | W | SV | ERA | WHIP | Pitchers | Total | Batters Rank | Pitchers Rank | Week Rank |
| Choo that Snell | 34 | 11 | 42 | 7 | .2828 | 19 | 58 | 4 | 3 | 2.803 | 1.000 | 23 | 42 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| M-M-M-Mookie and the Betts | 42 | 14 | 44 | 4 | .3307 | 9 | 66 | 2 | 3 | 5.283 | 1.337 | 33 | 42 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
Closest Matchup: Choo that Snell (Rick Graham) and M-M-M-Mookie And The Betts (Ben Palmer)
Tanaka threw a CGSO for Rick’s team during this closely contested matchup, and that wasn’t even the most beautiful part of his pitching performance (Rihanna’s not the only person who get’s excited by WHIPs). Andrew Heaney and Rick Porcello notched the other three wins for Choo that Snell, but they failed to strike out many batters. Sal Perez was the MVP for Ben Palmer’s squad, as his 4 HR and 8 RBIs picked up the slack of Severino’s back-to-back duds.
Prodigy League
Best Performance: Syndergaarden Cop (Jonathan Metzelaar)
I’ve fawned over this team quite a bit the past few weeks, so I’ll keep it short and sweet this time. Jeff Davis’ team put their power on display, mashing 22 home runs and driving in 60 runs, and Myles Nelson’s team posted a sub 1.000 WHIP in 60 innings of work, but both teams were only strong in half the categories. The Syndergaarden Cops were #3 in hitting and #2 in pitching.
Closest Matchup: Syndergaarden Cop (Jonathan Metzelaar) vs. good Kris, m.A.A.d. Robbie (Jason Dunbar)
Danny Duffy tried his best to undermine Metzelaar’s team, but strong performances from the rebounding Marcus Stroman, Madison Bumgarner, and K-Machine Patrick Corbin propelled him to victories in ERA and Wins. good Kris seems to be a thing of the past, landing on the DL again, but DAMN Rhys Hoskins…what a week you had. In addition, CJ Cron and Brad Boxberger provided the home runs and save Jason needed to come away with a tie and not have the second best week be worth nothing.
TRADE ALERT
Andrew Gould’s corner infield has been struggling outside of the recent Maikel Franco surge, particularly in batting average. Votto has seen his batting average fall in the last 30 days, but xStats shows he’s been unlucky in that area, so there should be some positive regression coming his way. Votto has also shown to be a strong second half performer in years past, so it’s understandable Andrew would bet this happens again.
Myles Nelson can shift Daniel Murphy over to 1B, and Altuve is a clear upgrade over both Jorge Polanco and Paul DeJong. He’s also sitting comfortably in the playoff picture, so he can afford to wait out Altuve’s DL stint for the benefit he’ll provide late in the season.
Futures League
Best Performance: The Hans Molemen (Ben Chang)
One homer away from a clean sweep! The Bash Brothers of Eugenio Suarez and Khris Davis hit five round trippers a piece. The pitching performances were astounding outside of the LA Dodgers pitchers. Tanaka threw his CGSO, Zack Wheeler and Max Scherzer both put up double digits in K’s (Wheeler also notched two wins, a rare feat for a Mets pitcher!). Not sure whether to blame Jake Bauers or Yasmani Grandal for preventing the shutout, but still an incredible performance from Ben’s #1 team.
Closest Matchup: You Don’t Know Whit (Paul Martin) vs. Team Gorman (Brennen Gorman)
Mike Trout is very much like the storms he loves tracking. Calm at the core, but the powerful chaos destroying everything in it’s path stems from the eye(s). Not only did he help Paul Martin win a very close matchup in Runs, he nearly won stolen bases singlehandedly. Team namesake Whit Merrifield provided zero power, but he made up for it with five swipes. This matchup came down to rates, and Paul won all of them. Batting average was the closest category, the two teams appearing to be separated by .002, but in actuality only .001 separated the two squads. Tough loss for Team Gorman, but maybe next week his relievers won’t self-destruct.
