Week 5: Monsters of Offense

Last week 7 teams hit over 11 home runs, a true breakout. Over the first four weeks, the average number of HRs in a week was 9.375, but in week five the average was 11. Ironically though, it was the teams that won the pitching categories that came out on top in their matchups (other than Paul who beat Dean but neither had an ERA below 3.50). Another observation I had was the flops of the breakout calls I made. My prediction that BJ and Keith were poised for a breakout was dashed by poor performances from these two teams. Michael was the true breakout putting up both big offensive and pitching numbers. Michael made a jump from a rank of 6.3 to 5.4 in one week which has taken him from 9th place to 6th in the rankings.  Elsewhere across the league:

Dean took down Paul while Paul was Mountain Biking across the Rocky Mountains…yes really. Dean swept the hitting categories for perhaps the first time that I can recall behind 6 HRs from Adrian Beltre. The crazy part of this matchup was the finish.  Dean had a 2 HR lead going into Sunday, Paul hits 4 HRs to take the category and matchup lead. Dean then hits 3 HRs on Sunday Night Baseball to take the lead back for good. Ridiculous finish.

Dave took down Cory in a battle of 2016 heavyweights. Dave has the best offense, Cory has the best pitching…and that’s pretty much how the matchup played out. Cory may have missed out on opportunity to stream pitchers over the weekend but would have risked his ERA/WHIP lead to do compete in strikeouts. Tough call. Most of the offensive categories were extremely close.

Marcley beat Arthur behind Fernando Rodney’s 4 saves and no runs allowed. Arthur mashed with the rest of the league to 13 HRs and a .294 AVG but his pitching was a half step behind Marcley. Arthur had plenty of SP starts to get the job done, but they just didn’t put up the numbers that Marcley’s did.
The upset of the week was Max taking down BJ. While Brian is off gallivanting in Philippines somewhere Josh Waring is letting the team fall into dire straits…or maybe that’s just me when I lose to Max, which also happens far too often. Max had a solid week putting up 4 wins with a 2.4 ERA but he got lucky with his opponent. Team BJ had the worst week in the league. Chalk it up and try again this week. BJ has plenty of talent to compete.

The blowout of the week was nearly historic. Michael was 1 SB from shutting out Keith, and 2 SB from the ultimate 14-0 sweep. Michael’s team broke out in a big way this week both offensively and pitching-wise behind Ben Zobrist and Cory Kluber. Keith missed an opportunity to play one of his Saturday pitchers and not stream one on Sunday mostly likely costing him the pitching strikeouts category. Live and Learn. Keith’s team is very strong offensively, he will need to make some pitching strategic changes to become competitive though.

Monster of the week: Michael’s poor weekend kept him from getting this award outright. Most of the league his 11+ HRs with .300 batting averages which he had by Friday.

Monster or Max on the radar: Cory grabbed Trea Turner this week, most likely about a month before he comes up. Only time will tell whether this turns into a Monster steal, or a Max roster spot waste.

Max of the week: the entire league might regret letting Dean get Brett Gardner for free. Other Max moves lately: Arthur stashing the injured Joey Gallo who will need to be traded to have a job this year. Keith benching his pitcher on Saturday when he needed wins and Ks. As always, keep an eye out and let me know when you see something.