It’s not all just fun and games over here at Pitcher List, sometimes we all like to really hunker down and focus on only the most serious tests of fantasy skill. Hence, the Wacky Leagues. These leagues are made up of a mix of PL staffers and PL+ members, so if you haven’t already, head on over to the PL+ sign up page and get on the Discord so you can start prepping for the 2021 Wacky Season.
Asher Dratel will be bringing you all of the recaps for the Guillotine Leagues and WorstBall Categories, while Myles Nelson keeps us all up to date on WorstBall Points and the Grand Theft leagues.
The Guillotine Leagues
League 1 this week was a real case of not needing to outrun the bear, as the bottom three teams were desperately fighting to stave off elimination while those at the top would have a hard time putting up enough negative points to drop into the lower tier. It was Matt Cava who tripped over a root and found himself on the forest floor though, making the disastrous decision to start Anthony DeScalafini on Thursday. -20.50 points from a single player is always a tough one but combined with the fact that the majority of his offense had the day off meant that his team only managed to offset 2.50 of that hit. Everybody, please press F to pay respects. Meanwhile, Rich Holman once again finished near the top and is also finally spending some of that FAAB. The Rich get richer: A Guillotine Story.
Week 3 saw Corey W join Matt Cava in the red, and between the two of them, a bevy of big names was available. The top name this week was Fernando Tatis Jr. who was picked up by Rich Holman for $369, beating out four other managers for the privilege of breaking the Unwritten Rules and socking huge dingers. Rich also picked up Sonny Gray and Cody Bellinger for $269 each. All in all, a nice week for Mr. Holman. Jake Matier was also feeling spendy, picking up Max Scherzer for $287 while also scooping up Kenta Maeda and Aaron Civale for a mere $31 each! A steal if I ever did see one.
Rich Holman’s spending spree sees him drop to the near the bottom of the FAAB-havers list, with only $7 remaining. Gary Tater is right behind him with only $9, while Alex Drennan takes over the top spot with $760 in the coffers.
In League 2, Benjamin Haller found himself narrowly avoiding elimination last week with a 10th place finish, but rode high this week, finishing in the top spot by a nearly 50 points margin. Daniel Port was the unlucky manager who got to eat Tony Disco’s impressive loss, and while a huge offensive day combined with his other SP on Thursday being Yu Darvish looked like he was going to escape unscathed, he ends up on the chopping block this week, missing safety by a mere 8 points. He was beaten up the ladder by Donny Moskovits, who ran through a total of 11 SPs this week, although one of them was Tommy Milone and some schedule chicanery meant that Sean Manaea’s outing contributed only to his bench. Doesn’t matter though, because enough points to advance are enough points period!
In addition to Daniel, in League 2 it was Noah Scott who found himself below the cutoff, which means we got another (air horn here) MIKE TROUT ON THE WIRE SITUATION. But Trout wasn’t actually the highest FAAB-getter this week! That honor goes to Shane Bieber, who went to Darrin Ambrose for $309. Then in second for the week, we have Fernando Tatis Jr. who went to KingHippo for $300 even. Right behind him came Mike Trout, at a cost of $291, joining Bieber on Darrin’s roster. The discount of the week is easy for League 2, where Kyle Seiler managed to get Spencer Turnbull for free, while also still beating out two other managers (who also only bid $0?) I mean I know he’s not a stud, but I figured he’s worth at least something.
While League 1 has seen some stratification between the have and have-not FAAB-holders, League 2 has been much more freewheeling overall, where Chris Nichols joins Kyle Seiler in having $0 remaining. The highest value remaining belongs to Myles Nelson, although even he is below 50% FAAB remaining, with $484 left to spend.
WorstBall
WorstBall Categories
Shout out to Mary Ankenbruck’s team, who forgot how to baseball good and put up 5 errors this matchup, which was the highest total in the league for the week.
Honestly, aside from Mary, all of the teams this week played some good fundamentals ball this week, with most lineups only handing in one or two errors, if any. At the same time, most matchups were very even, so I can’t even really call out anybody’s lineup for playing like they wanted to win too badly, it’s a weird week for WorstBall in that everybody actually did pretty badly. Although Myles and Victor’s crews did slug over .500 which is never what you want to see. I’m gonna need some more separation next week, people, this is WorstBall not EquallyMediocreBall.
Hitter Of The Week: Adalberto Mondesi. I swear I had two other guys penciled in for this honor this week, neither of whom are on my team, but 8K, a .176 OBP and .125 SLG is just too bad and he earned his second appearance. Also, my brother took him in our money league so making him read this is just icing. There are several players who strike out more than Mondesi in a given week (although honestly not by too much,) but none of them can touch him on the ratios.
Pitcher Of The Week: Sean Newcomb. His appearance this week was so bad he was immediately optioned afterward. 1 L, 2 BB, and a 54.00 ERA and 6.00 WHIP to go with it. Only 1.1IP, but even so, that’s a good boost to your weekly numbers.
| Rank | Manager |
|---|---|
| 1 | Myles Nelson |
| 2 | Victor |
| 3 | Ryan Amore |
| 4 | Corey W |
| 5 | Alexander Chase |
| 6 | Asher Dratel |
| 7 | Mary Ankenbruck |
| 8 | Scott Chu |
| 9 | Doc Brown |
| 10 | Kyle Seiler |
-Asher Dratel
WorstBall Points
We had a battle of titans this week, as two teams put up over 200 points against each other (the only two teams to score 200 points at all this week). Collin Carlone and Justin Paradis were locked in a tight battle all week, both throwing absolute haymakers of pitching performances. Carlone got some of the best performances in the league last week in Steven Matz, who put up 67 points, and Julio Teheran, 65 points, which complemented some great hitting performances from Rafael Devers, Mallex Smith, and Lewis Brinson. Paradis, on the other hand, had a more well-rounded approach, with three pitchers scoring over 40 points (Sean Newcomb with 52, and Ivan Nova and Jon Gray with 46 each), and also got solid hitting from Scott Kingery and Starlin Castro. However, Craig Kimbrel pitching two scoreless innings with four strikeouts hurt Paradis too much, and he lost this close matchup by just three points. Had he played any other team this week, he would have absolutely blown them out.
After three weeks, we have only two undefeated teams remaining. Alex Isherwood’s team has been getting great performances all year long from Adalberto Mondesi (.545 OPS), Ryan Weber (5.68 ERA), and Anibal Sanchez (8.50 ERA). My team is the other undefeated team, and I haven’t really had any standout stars, just getting nothing but solid performances from guys like Jackie Bradley Jr. (.581 OPS), Mike Fiers (5.96 ERA), and Gio Gonzalez (6.00 ERA). We face each other in the final week of the regular season, and that might be quite the matchup to watch.
Hitter of the Week: Jorge Soler. While overall Soler didn’t have a great week, what really solidified it for him was his 0/6 with 6 strikeout day. Maybe Soler shouldn’t play in double-headers moving forward. What do you even call that? A double Golden Sombrero?
Pitcher of the Week: Trevor Gott. He only needed two appearances last week (totaling just one inning) to be crowned the pitcher of the week, as he allowed 9 earned runs, four home runs, and blew a save as well. That’s an 81.00 ERA for those of you counting at home.
| Rank | Manager | Record | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Isherwood | 3-0 | 614.16 |
| 2 | Myles Nelson | 3-0 | 429.16 |
| 3 | Collin Carlone | 2-1 | 538.5 |
| 4 | Chris Nichols | 2-1 | 494 |
| 5 | Adam Howe | 2-1 | 311.5 |
| 6 | Joshua Botelho | 2-1 | 258.16 |
| 7 | Justin Paradis | 1-2 | 471.33 |
| 8 | Mike Bourg | 1-2 | 337.83 |
| 9 | Trevor Hooth | 1-2 | 333.84 |
| 10 | Liam Casey | 1-2 | 326.17 |
| 11 | David Fenko | 0-3 | 190.83 |
| 12 | Erik van Rheenen | 0-3 | 185 |
Grand Theft Baseball
As we ramp up the intensity of Grand Theft, we came into this week knowing that we could only protect 9 players on our roster. That means we’d be leaving about 60% of our roster exposed if we lost, and no one wanted that. Of course, my team didn’t get the memo, and I was getting shelled all week long. My pitching was holding its own, but my hitting left a lot to be desired. Then again, going into Sunday it was looking like I could force a tie. There was a chance I could take all five pitching categories, and with a tie I could at least steal a player from reigning champion Dave Cherman, which would help ease the wound of losing a player. All I needed heading into Sunday Night Baseball was for Chad Green to not throw a scoreless inning, as that would put Dave over the top. And of course, Green throws nearly two scoreless innings, and I lose. Again. I hate this league.
Dave stole Daniel Hudson from me, which was probably the best-case scenario of all the players I could have lost. I had to make some really tough decisions, leaving hitters like Yoan Moncada and Eugenio Suarez available, but I’ll accept losing a closer. I definitely feel luckier than some of the other managers, as players such as Ramon Laureano, Chris Paddack, Jose Berrios, Brandon Woodruff, Trea Turner, Starling Marte, and Gleyber Torres were all stolen this week. I know some of these guys have been struggling, but man it would be nice to add that kind of firepower to my roster. Maybe one day I’ll win a matchup.
-Myles Nelson
Featured Image by Justin Paradis (@FreshMeatComm on Twitter)