Week 6: Skunkaroo Jambaroo

Michael announced on Facebook late last night that Buddy, Amina, and he are expecting a baby this November. This makes the third Floored baby of the year with both Dean and Josh already expecting. Dean and Michael have updated their team names appropriately, it’s time for Josh (let him have it, Brian) to follow suit.

Year to Date Power Ranks through this week
TOTAL			HITTING			PITCHING				Manager	Team
1	Michael	3.36	1	Dean	2.00	1	Brian/Josh	2.83		Cory	Hebrew Nationals
2	Paul	3.50	2	Michael	3.38	2	Dave	3.33		Arthur	PURE DOMINATION
3	Dean	5.21	3	Paul	3.63	3	Paul	3.33		Dave	I Hate Fantasy
4	Cory	5.29	4	Arthur	5.13	4	Michael	3.33		Brian/Josh	Smoak That Ish
5	Dave	5.43	5	Matt	5.25	5	Cory	3.50		Paul	A T Tax man
6	Arthur	5.50	6	Keith	5.88	6	Arthur	6.00		Dean	First Future father
7	Brian/Josh	5.86	7	Cory	6.63	7	Keith	6.67		Matt	615 for the win
8	Keith	6.21	8	Dave	7.00	8	Matt	7.83		Max	[some inside joke acronym]
9	Matt	6.36	9	Max	7.00	9	Max	7.83		Keith	Bourbon Street Blues
10	Max	7.36	10	Brian/Josh	8.13	10	Dean	9.50		Michael	Future Father Too

Michael had a huge week last week to jump back into first place in the Power Ranks. A two-team top tier (Michael and Paul) has emerged here but one item to note is Dean’s hitting ranks. He is absolutely raking offensively. He is resorting to a quantity over quality pitching strategy right now which is keeping his overall power rank middling at best.

We had a skunk last week in Floored. Michael, coming off an incredibly embarrasing week where he was nearly skunked by Paul by hitting 5 total Home Runs and having an ERA near 5.00 bounced back with a good overall offensive week and a stellar pitching to shut Cory out. What happened? The stars aligned here with Cory having a bad week at work and was unable to pay too close of attention to fantasy. His elite closer Roberto Osuna was arrested for domestic violence early in the week and Cory was left holding him all week as due process played out. Next, Cory didn’t get Justin Verlander in his lineup on Friday forcing Cory to stream pitchers by Sunday to reach 30 Innings Pitched. It was going well for Cory for most of Sunday afternoon but as Sean Doolittle recorded the final out on Sunday Night Baseball, Michael’s WHIP had creeped below Cory’s and the skunk was official. None of this is to say that Michael didn’t have a huge week. He hit 13 HRs with 80 Runs+RBIs and had an ERA under 2.00 over 47 IP (including over 20 IP from Relief Pitchers). Michael went off. It’s the second skunk ever recorded in Floored (unofficially because I don’t have records of this). The last one came during the Spring of Dave, the year he had all those elite keepers and accrued all those 1^st and 2^nd round draft picks forcing us to change the keeper rules. It’s an impressive accomplishment, but is more fun to talk about than actionable, more lucky than good. As mentioned above, Michael was nearly skunked last week. His team is far from perfect; but this is why we play the game. So, in honor of the fun of last week, take THAT Cory.

Dean’s offense kept the freight train rolling and Max just couldn’t keep up. Dean hit .344 with 28 Home Runs Plus Stolen Bases, a stat I’ve never mentioned before but that number made me take notice. The all time record for this number is 30 by Arthur in week 5 of 2017. Max had a fine week with a 270 average and 14 HRs, but just had too many hitting strikeouts and not enough walks to compete with Dean.

Paul maintained his first place edge by overpowering Matt. Paul hit .320 with 16 HRs and a 3.1 ERA and is really clicking right now. His breakout is real and will be a forced to be reckoned with this summer…until he goes and drops his best players again like last year. I kid, I kid. Matt suffered the loss of the Nashville Predators last week and his fantasy team is kinda drifting. His offense has some great breakout names like Jabvy Baez, AJ Pollock, and Mitch Haniger, but doesn’t have much depth behind them. He’ll need to make some good trades or free agent adds to make a move this summer.

Keith pulled the surprising upset of Brian and Josh by edging out a number of close categories. This matchup could have gone either way but Keith threw more innings to pick up the pitching Wins and Ks categories that propelled him to the win. The offense was basically a dead heat, these categories would have come down to the final batters on Sunday. Brian and Josh have been in a bit of slide since week 3 when they were in third place in the power rankings. They have slipped to 7^th and are due for a rebound. Still with the best pitching staff in the league, statistically, they will need their offense to pick up the pace.

Dave beat Artur in the college roommate battle. Dave had a big week with 15 HRs, a 284 average and a 2.45 ERA. Arthur didn’t have a bad week but his pitching let him down. Arthur and Dave are locked in the middle class of the league right now. Dave has gained ground since the first weeks of the season to reach this point but Arthur has been mired here most of the year. Each has the potential to make a move up the ranks.

Monster of the Week: Michael. Winning 14-0 is basically an automatic Monster. Dean may have had a more impressive offensive output but Michael has put it together 5 out of 6 weeks now to reclaim first place in the power ranks. It was a Monstrous week.

Max of the Week: Cory. Cory is going to want to put last week behind him quickly. Cory was in third place in the power ranks heading into last week, making the skunk hurt even more. A few managerial miscues here, but moreso he just ran into a good team on a good week.