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Playoff Push it Real Good and Red Deadline Redemption Too
By: Eric Hannmann (Lords of the Sith)
Week 18 Recap
Darth Maulina 293.50 vs. Trumbo Salerissian 276.75
Maybe the matchup of the week purely because of the fantasy playoff implications, Logan found himself sweating this one out when Chris Sale returned on Sunday. Luckily for him, Boston is taking it easy with their ace and pulled him after 5 innings with just 68 pitches. The dude had 12 strikeouts and still ended up with 31 points. In the end Logan won by 16.75 which can sort of be attributed to the deadline acquisition of Joey Lucchesi who’s Sunday performance of 24 points was the overall difference. We will touch on some deadline deals later but to wrap this one up, Logan had 6 batters with 20+ points lead by the SS duo of Xander Boegarts (33 pts) and Marcus Semien (26 pts). Johnny had a good performance from his fantasy lord and savior Jesús Aguilar (26.25 pts). Kyle Freeland (45 pts) continued his impressive season with 2 good starts but most importantly, Johnny’s 3-headed monster of Clayton Kershaw, Gerrit Cole and Chris Sale are ready for the stretch run.
The Emperial Judge 260.00 vs. SeBelba 347.50
SeBelba is taking a smooth pod ride into a top seed finish which would be his 2nd top regular season finish in the last 3 seasons. That is 5 in a row now thanks to Francisco Lindor (30.50 pts) who had a big walk-off HR over the Twinkies. Francisco, that’s fun to say. Lindor, he’s fun to own. More of the same came from Edwin Diaz (45 pts) who added 5 more saves and adds to his MLB lead (46). Aaron was able to hold his hat on Miguel Andújar (33 pts), Didi Gregorious (24.50 pts) and Alex Cobb (28 pts) this week but he’s got his mind on one of his other bats and so will we later in this recap.
Darth Bader 429.00 vs. Newcombander Cody 304.00
A common meme in the group chat has been Obi-Wan yelling at Anakin (Zach Britton) that he trusted him to save games. Well Obi-Wan also trusted Newcombander Cody and so did Cody Marshall. To his dismay, Order 66 this week ended in a really disappointing second start from Sean Newcomb (5 pts). But if it is any consolation not much would have mattered this week next to the 2 start performances Casey got from Dereck Rodríguez (50 pts), Jake Junis (35 pts), Rich Hill (29 pts), Lance Lynn (46 pts) and of course Max Scherzer (48 pts). Not much Cody could do like some of our favorite Jedi like Plo Kloon and Luminara Unduli. If you were down on Casey after he lost 6 of 7 from week 10 to week 16, Darth Bader finds your lack of faith disturbing.
Kylo Renado 423.75 vs. Rhys’ Pieces 186.50
This did not get quite like the week 12 matchup where Rhys’ Pieces won by 297 points but he does know what it is like to be on the other end of a lopsided matchup now. Even with Kylo Renado (Nolan Arenado) off trying to recruit fellow fantasy teammate Robbie Rey (Ray) to the dark side of injury the latter part of the week, Jason got some amazing weeks from some familiar faces. Mookie Betts (51.25 pts) and Giancarlo Stanton (43 pts) may be rivals in real life but Jason is basking in both sides of the best 2 teams in baseball. Ross Stripling (12pts) and Junior Guerra (6 pts), while putting up modest numbers this week, deserve some notice for some of Jason’s success. And look, Ecc got some big performances from David Peralta (39 pts) and Zack Godley (41 pts) but not too much else was there except some Zack Wheeler (25 pts) who may be one of the most impressive pitchers the last 3 weeks.
I GOT WOOD 295.00 vs. Hoz Solo 264.75
This one was close throughout and may have been the 2nd most interesting matchup of the week and did have some playoff implications for Mike A as he retains the 8 seed. We all know Trent has a team that could play spoiler down the stretch. And if there is one thing that can be said about Trent this season is most of his trade acquisitions have been sensational. Nick Markakis (34 pts) and Cole Hamels (41 pts) were great for him in week 18. Meanwhile Mike threw out the name J.D. Martinez (47.50 pts) late on deadline day but he would have had a hefty asking price. And for all the Matt Carpenter talk, Kole Calhoun (22 pts) may have the best turnaround of the season. You can’t convince me Katy Perry doesn’t have a DeLoreon and didn’t use it to inspire her songs; Hot N Cold is about Kole Calhoun and Dark Horse is about Mike’s team.
Lords of the Sith 379.00 vs. Willie Mays Hayes 290.25
This one was an intriguing matchup for some time and Ryan C was using performances from Trevor Bauer (56 pts) and Jameson Taillon (23 points) to take an early matchup lead. However, Eric had an impressive Friday from Blake Snell (26 pts), Carlos Rodón (23 pts) and Kevin Gausman (29 pts) and never looked back. Tyler Glasnow (32 pts) has looked really impressive for the Rays as part of the return for Chris Archer. The stat of the week for me however is that Eric and whoever plays Willie Mays Hayes and uses all 6 acquisitions, made only 2 less moves against Ryan C than he has made all season (8). It would be interesting to see if the man who hit MUTE on the group chat has more messages in there or moves on the season.
Kempire Strikes Back 192.50 vs. AndersonsGotTickets? 265.00
Brendan has been the Bizarro Matt Carpenter of the Pioneer League as he has now lost 6 of his last 7 and it has not been remotely pretty. Tony, like RyFlo, is on a 5 game winning streak and continues to come out of the woodwork to those who may have been sleeping on his squad. David Price (28 pts) cost him a matchup back in week 13 but put together a really good performance on Saturday’s double header. Marcus Stroman (29 pts) and ace Aaron Nola (21 pts) also contributed heavily to the victory. Brendan had some good performances like C.C. Sabathia (46 pts), Edwin Jackson (27 pts) and Craig Kimbrel (25 pts). But I couldn’t help but feel like I was on the planet Hoth when I saw the ice-cold performances from Clay Holmes (-22 pts), Burch Smith (-17 pts), Masahiro Tanka (-9 pts) and José Berríos (-1 pt). Cut up that Tauntaun Brendan and get warm. “I thought I had a……..sure ride to the playoffs.” (Weak reference to Han Solo’s comment on the Tauntaun’s smelling worse on the inside…but Brendan’s team does currently stink at the moment, heyo, BOOM ROASTED)
John Marston’s Trade Red-Deadline Recap
Deal 1: Lords of Sith gets Noah Syndergaard, Jhoulys Chacín and Gio Gonzalez Darth Maulina gets Luis Severino, Ian Desmond and Nathan Eovaldi Desmond was immediately traded to Newcombander Cody for Andrew McCutchen.
Quick Take: Logan gets a true Ace in Sevy who is a 21st round keep while getting a couple pieces that could still help him win this year. Eric takes a risk with Syndergaard but at his best could match Sevy while turning Desmond, a player on his oversaturated offense, into Gio Gonzalez who has shown some signs of life.
Deal 2: SeBelba gets Ben Zobrist and Dallas Keuchel Newcombander Cody gets Michael Brantley
Quick Take: RyFlo gives up Brantley while taking on a decent replacement in Ben Zobrist and improving his pitching staff with Keuchel who could continue to have the ace stuff like he did in July. Michael Brantley will fit in well with Cody’s team and if he follows suit with the 12th round keep he could get a big return in 2019 for him, per SeBelba himself.
Deal 3: SeBelba gets Marco Gonzales, Buster Posey and Reynaldo Lopez I GOT WOOD gets Paul Goldschmidt, Freddy Peralta and AJ Pollock
Quick Take: My initial reaction is RyFlo will have to learn to kick the habit of looking at the Diamondbacks Box Scores as Mike gets two of the best hitters not only on Arizona but also in the NL. He takes on the young and talented Peralta who is a lottery ticket SP throw-in in a sense in a trade that ultimately helps improve what may have already been a top 2 offense in the Pioneer League (Jason’s is pretty darn good). RyFlo gets Marco Gonzales who had a rough last outing but has been super solid this season. Posey is still a rock to rely on but with just 5 HR this season he has underwhelmed. Ryan and the Giants will hope for vintage Buster for their respective stretch runs.
Deal 4: Darth Maulina gets Joey Lucchesi and Reynaldo Lopez SeBelba gets J.T. Realmuto and John Gant
Surprise! RyFlo did one more trade and fittingly is part of the last deal with another active member at the deadline in Logan. SeBelba needed another batter and got Realmuto who has been the Marlins best hitter ever since he returned from injury early in the season. Gant feels like a tossup but has been pretty good in certain matchups and lackluster in others. He could be an important piece or St. Louis could decide to look elsewhere for their rotation down the road. Logan gets a decent haul here as we already touched on Lucchesi’s Sunday start that won him his matchup vs. Johnny. Lopez has been up and down this year as well but has shown some brilliance. At the very least Lucchesi and Lopez are keeper options for Logan at 25th and 22nd round keeps respectively.
Old John McDonald Farm Report
Eloy Jiménez (Rhys’s Pieces): Ecc has had Jiménez since May and reports have come out saying that a call-up is “close”. Eloy has destroyed Triple-A pitching hitting .354 with a 1.059 OPS. He will be a heavy impact bat once he gets the call and should hit in the middle of that White Sox lineup.
Michael Kopech (Lords of the Sith): Jiménez and Kopech are rightfully connected and while they may not have the same call-up date, I would imagine once one gets the call, the other wouldn’t be too far behind. One of the players the White Sox got for Chris Sale, Kopech has been really impressive recently allowing 2 ER or fewer in his last 6 starts, has 161 strikeouts in 120.1 innings pitched this season and the kicker is that it has been noted his control needed to improve to be promoted. He has answered that call and has only 4 walks in the aforementioned last 6 starts.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (The Emperial Judge): Give props to Aaron for carrying this dude all season even though he might not get to the majors this season. But that would be for no other reason than the classic service time issues. Juan Soto? Vlad Jr. may be the better 19 year old baseball player. An injury earlier in the season hurt his chances of making the Bigs a little bit but he has worked his way from Advanced-A ball to Triple-A. His average has dipped with each promotion however. Oh yea that would be from .500 (albeit 1 game) to .405 to .395 so far in Buffalo. He has 18 HR as well and his walk to strikeout ratio is so juicy in points leagues. He should be a September call-up but only time will tell.
Austin Meadows (Free Agent): Meadows has been somewhat discussed in the group chat recently and the Rays surprisingly sent him to Durham after trading for him. In 10 games since arriving there, he is hitting .371 with 3 HR’s and 8 RBI’s. You would believe he is poised for a least an everyday role when rosters expand in September.
Week 19 Previews
Darth Maulina vs. SeBellba
These two matched up on some deadline deals and will waste no time rooting against their former players for at least this week. Logan has 4 projected two-start pitchers, most notably recently acquired Luis Severino and Reynaldo Lopez. RyFlo has 2 projected two-start pitchers and favorable matchups for his Indian batters. Logan also expects Brandon Belt back on Tuesday while RyFlo should get Steven Matz back on Thursday.
Kylolan Renado vs. I GOT WOOD
Jason is hoping for an early week return for Nolan Arenado and has Jacob DeGrom and Mike Foltynewicz poised for big weeks. Mike has Sean Manaea and Miles Mikolas ready to go through two turns in the rotation this matchup but this week is more about his recent Dbacks acquisitions and the force ghost of Obi-Wan Canobi. Robinson Cano may not be able to play if the Mariners make the playoffs but he will return Tuesday and be an important part of Mike’s playoff push.
Rhys’ Pieces @ Necombander Cody
After a rough week, Rhys’ Pieces has Justin Verlander projected to go twice because of McCullers’ injury forcing the Stros to have a 4-man rotation. He is also hoping for Jose Altuve’s return from the DL. Cody will hope for big weeks from his Braves and Phillies in addition to a pair of good starts from Clayton Richard and Jake Odorizzi that are currently on the ledger.
Darth Bader vs. AndersonsGotTickets?
Darth Bader used up a lot of starts last week in his league high scoring performance but he still finds himself with two starts from the impressive Patrick Corbin. Bad news is that Tony has prepared nicely for this week as he has two streamers with good matchups from the onset. Plus the league’s best pitching staff will be tough to beat lead by Zack Greinke and José Quintana two-start weeks with Alex Wood coming off the DL to start Tuesday.
The Emperial Judge vs. Hoz Solo
Aaron will look to stop the bleeding of his recent losing streak but he will need some good performances from his offense. Homer Bailey will be the first of his streamers this week with at tough Cleveland matchup on the slate. Trent has a real opportunity to get out of the basement for the first time in what seems like the entire season with a win here. He will rely on a couple starts from MadBum and the underappreciated German Márquez plus Wil Myers will return to the Padres and his lineup.
Kempire Strikes Back vs. Willie Mays Hayes
Brendan will play the 5-win Ryan C but with no pitchers currently scheduled to start in the first two days of the matchup other than Sal Romano. With Carlos Correa back in the lineup and Joey Votto seemingly in there everyday again, his offense will be a big part of breaking this cold spell. Ryan C has a two-headed Cleveland Indians monster with Mike Clevinger, who will start twice, and Trevor Bauer who is still expected to start this week after getting hit in the ankle with a liner. Bauer has the 4st most points in all of fantasy and is kind of weird yet refreshing to see the words Ryan and Cleveland Indians who are pitching out of their minds and not be talking about RyFlo.
Lords of the Sith vs. Trumbo Salerissian
Eric will be taking on Clayton Kershaw for the first time since the 2013 Pioneer League playoffs. Albeit a rough memory those playoffs were for the league as a whole, Jason remembers well the Sunday Night Baseball game where Kershaw did not pitch well enough to beat Va JJ in the opening round of those playoffs. Eric remembers Clayton well since then, winning two championships with him. He will see him pitch twice in this matchup against him. He will be relying on his new acquisitions and will most likely throw newly acquired Gio Gonzalez out there twice this week hoping for a good sign. Tyler O’Neill and Nomar Mazara are scheduled to come off the DL for Lords of the Sith as well. Johnny will have a return of his own with Hyun-Jin Ryu getting the Wednesday start in LA.
Playoff Picture Standings (4 weeks to go)
TEAM GB
1. Sebelba* 14-4 (+5)
2. Lords of the Sith* 13-5 (+4)
3. Kylo Renado 12-6 (+3)
4. AndersonsGotTickets? 10-8 (+1)
5. Darth Bader 10-8 (+1)
6. Kempire Strikes Back 10-8 (+1)
7. Rhys’s Pieces 10-8 (+1)
8. I GOT WOOD 9-9 -
9. Trumbo Salerissian 8-10 1
10. Darth Maulina 8-10 1
11. Newcombander Cody 6-12 3
12. The Emperial Judge 6-12 3
13. Willie Mays Hayes 5-13 4
14. Hoz Solo 5-13 4
* Clinched Playoff Spot
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