Week 20: We have a Skunk

 

Cory and his dad took in the Irish scenery last week, golfing their way across the coast. Too bad for them that Rory McIlroy was in Atlanta and not taking in his homeland. The golf looked hard and they looked cold...but at least they're smiling.

Power Ranks Reactions:

• Michael did tick up, but...
• Paul jumped wayyyyy up. Paul bounced nearly one power ranks point (0.786 exactly). It's the latest in the season that we've ever seen this big of a jump up, and there really isn't even anything close. Paul just had an unprecedented output relative to his year to date performance.
• Cory has had a rough two weeks to fall from 4.50 down to 5.50
• Arthur did take a step back up, end a 4-week slide.

Weekly Matchup Recaps:

• Paul did it, skunking team BJ this week off of a huge output. Paul had the highest SLG for a week with a .614 SLG since week 6 of 2021 when...Paul...had a .660 SLG, I guess that guy can field a team of sluggers. BJ didn't have it this week. A week after running into a hot Michael team, they ran into a buzzsaw Paul team. Tough run. They didn't have it this week, but it didn't cost them much in the standings because basically all of the 4th place competitors ate it this week other than...
• Arthur...Arthur showed out this week. He led the league in HRs and SB while putting up a 3.23 ERA. Dean ended up on the short end of this matchup yet still moved up to 4th place in the standings. Dean had an OK week with 13 HRs and a 3.64 ERA, but he is very thankful for all of his competitors taking a bigger step back than he did. Arthur is still squarely in this despite his less-than-stellar YTD power rank, and now that he has ditched his Mike Trout anchor for a first round talent in Jose Ramirez. Watch out.
• Michael took down Keith with a big weekend after Keith had a big Monday to Thursday. Keith's pitching was fantastic this week but Michael just edged out enough hitting categories to make the final score look more lopsided than it was. Michael has been very matchup-fortunate this year, winning more close categories than not, leading to a Yahoo Standings lead he doesn't deserve. Keith actually moved UP a spot from 6th to 5th in the Yahoo standings even in a week he lost 11-3. Weird week.
• Next up in the 4th place competitor toe-stubbings was Cory who took it in the teeth from Carl. Carl didn't light it up this week, but he did enough to knock Cory well down the standings. Cory only had 4 HRs and hit .215, no bueno. Carl keeps chugging along, piling up the wins and angling for week 23, like the other playoff-bound teams.
• Finally, Max took down Dave. Both these teams hit well but pitched poorly, Max was just a little less poor in the pitching department. Dave isn't dead yet, but with around an 8 game deficit with 3 weeks left, he is left with an uphill climb. Max, continued his upward trend and is in great shape for the Bourbon Street Championship.

With us being down to 3 weeks left, schedule is everything. Teams with a softer schedule the rest of the way would have an edge on the field. The problem is....there really are no rollover teams right now. So the idea to find a schedule edge would be to avoid Michael, Carl, and Paul right now. Keith just finished playing Michael and still has Carl and Paul in the final 3 weeks, oof. Everyone else? Relatively equal schedule difficulty...on paper...to go. Giddy Up.