Weekly Matchups - Week 5

Week 5's installment of the DDWPIPOTCFFBE (Diamond Dynasty Weekly Preview In Pursuit Of The Chalice For Fantasy Baseball Excellence)

Last week – TJ remains unbeaten in 2013 and Jarrett's big win catapults him up the standings.

Sleepy's® "Snoozer of the Week" – Jarrett (3^rd) vs Richie (10^th)

Richie was able to steal a tie last week, 4-4 against Ben thanks to Doug Fisters' outing on Sunday night. Despite Mike Napoli staying hot (3/1/7/0/.320), Richie was 0-4-1 on offense and is an abysmal 2-16-2 on offense for the season. Travers was able to squeak out the pitching categories as he's done all year and now owns a respectable 11-7-2 record on “defense,” if you will. Mariano Rivera had 4 saves but Felix Hernandez was the star this week, winning 2 games, striking out 16, and posting a 0.64 ERA and 0.86 WHIP. He'll face off against third place again this week, which is now occupied by Jarrett. Despite only posting a 1-2-1 weekly record, Jarrett is the top dog in a very congested middle of the pack thanks to a 9-0, no-closer shutout over then-second place Colin. Jarrett kicked ass last week, winning pretty much every category going away. Big weeks from Alcides Escobar (4/1/3/2/.381) and Nelson Cruz (4/2/9/0/.360) helped Jarrett take all 5 offensive categories. Jarrett's Staaf, highlighted by 4 guys with 14+ punch outs, struck out 101 batters this week, won 8 games, and had very good ERA and WHIP numbers. This could be another tough week for Richie as he searches for his first win of the year.

(season series 0-0)

Dell's® "Dull Duel" – Drew (9^th) vs Colin (6^th)

Drew lost 5-3 to James last week, and has now lost 3 in a row. Alex Gordon was his best offensive threat last week with a 5/2/7/1/.317 stat line and he got double digit K's from 4 starters, but he needed a lot more to get past James. He is missing Michael Bourn but his return won't be enough to improve this offense – he has to hope that someone starts to step up. He now ranks in the bottom three in half of the categories this season and he has another tough match-up this week against Colin, who for some reason still has Trout and Cabrera. The panic trade talks are back in full swing following a 9-0, no-closer shutout loss to Jarrett. Colin only mustered 20 runs and a .239 average despite Cabrera's 5/1/8/0/.450 and Howie Kendrick's 4/2/6/0/.375. And it's almost unfair that Colin gets demolished in K's despite putting up 83! I don't think he played poorly enough to be shut out, but Jarrett was hot as a fox in a forest fire last week. I actually expected Colin to go on a little run (see last week) so it's good to know my jinxing powers are at full force. But much like Alex, one bad loss has skewed his record. He's better than a .500 ball club and he'll show it this week (Colin, sorry in advance).

(season series 0-0)

The Average Match of the Week presented by Not Your Average Joe's – Kurt (8^th) vs Alex (4th)

The frustrations continue for Kurt this year as he was edged out in a number of categories again last week and ultimately fell to TJ, 7-3. He lost by 2 runs, 3 RBI, 1 win, and lost WHIP by percentage points. Kurt had 5 multi-homer guys this week, netting him 13 home runs. He now has 42 on the season which is good for second place. His pitchers were dealing, winning 7 games and striking out 101, but TJ stayed right with him and ended up taking 4 of the 5 pitching categories. He'll look to right the ship this week against Alex, who macked Adrian last week 7-2-1. Last week's win gives Gentilli a 3-1 record on the year, and that 10-0 shutout loss to Ben in week 2 is looking like a complete fluke. Alex mashed this week, scoring 40 runs, hitting 12 homers, and driving in 38. Giancarlo Stanton had hit best week of the season, putting up 6/3/8/0/.364 and it looks like he's finally starting to get his stroke going. David Ortiz was a big contributor too, going 7/2/9/0/.478. Matt Moore killed it on the bump, winning 2 games, striking out 18 and posting 1.29/0.64 ratios. We could see some big numbers in this one.

(season series 0-0)

The Post-It® "Noteworthy Match-up" – TJ (1^st) vs James (7^th)

TJ continues to string together wins, going 3-0-1 in the month of April. Justin Upton is continuing to hit the cover off the ball, leading the league in home runs and on top of the fantasy ranks. Last week TJ outlasted Kurt 7-3 behind big weeks from Ryan Howard (5/2/10/0/.308), Jose Bautista (6/3/3/1/.148) and the aforementioned Upton (6/3/5/0/.333). But TJ did most of his damage on the pitching side, winning four categories and spot-starting 7 guys (I think) to do so. He's now an incredible 16-3-1 on defense this year with a perfect 4-0 mark in saves, ERA, and WHIP and he's at least .500 in all 10 categories. Great start. He'll put his perfect mark on the line this week against James, who held on to beat Drew 5-3 last week. The offense was pretty mediocre, hitting only 6 homers and driving in 27. No real standouts on the whole squad except for Hisashi Iwakuma's 19 K's (but no wins). It looks like he's been hit with the injury bug as hard as anyone, with Jose Reyes, Mark Teixeira, Jered Weaver, and Brandon Beachy all on the shelf for now. If Mams can tread water as he's doing right now, he should see a jump in the standings when the reinforcements arrive.

(season series 0-0)

Diamond Strike Anywhere Matches® "Match-Up of the Week" – Ben (2^nd) vs Adrian (5^th)

And we've made it to the match-up of the week! This is Adrian's second time in the spotlight. The first time around he battled then-and-current first place TJ to a tie, the only team that hasn't lost to TJ thus far. He did slip up last week though, and it was a rough one. Alex shellacked him, 7-2-1, and clearly the exaustion of being in the big game the week before got to his guys. There wasn't anyone on either side of the ball to give props to, so let's do the opposite. 6 guys his .214 or worse, highlighted by Everth Cabrera's .080 average. But he's been pretty good offensively on the season with a 12-6-2 mark, so it could have just been a down week. He'll take on Ben this week in Ben's first appearance under the bright lights. O'Connor had a big lead basically all of last week until the weekend, where Richie was able to close the gap and eventually tie the match-up 4-4. He was able to go 4-0-1 on offense thanks to Edwin Encarnacion's HUGE week – 8 runs scored, 5 homers, 8 ribbies, and a .306 average. His pitching, on the other hand, was pretty dismal. He only had one double digit strikeout guy and his team ERA was a heavy 4.09. Ben hasn't lost since week 1 and hopes to keep the train rolling.

(season series 0-0)

Weekly Matchups are back!

Week 1's installment of the DDWPIPOTCFFBE (Diamond Dynasty Weekly Preview In Pursuit Of The Chalice For Fantasy Baseball Excellence)

Last week – Richie hits 5 home runs in beer baseball in one of the most impressive showings of all time and is truly a legend, Alex laments drafting Josh Johnson, and Jarrett's beard wins the draft.

The Match-Up: Richie vs Drew *5*

Drew goes pitching heavy again in 2013 as Richie starts another season without a ring.

(season series 0-0)

The Match-Up: Colin vs Adrian *4*

A jaded Colin who narrowly missed out on a spot in the 2012 finals features two of the best keepers in the game against Adrian who is happy to put last season behind him.

(season series 0-0)

The Match-Up: Alex vs Jarrett *3*

Alex starts the long road to get back to the finals after falling short to Kurt in 2012. Jarrett prays Ryan Braun doesn't get suspended.

(season series 0-0)

The Match-Up: Ben vs TJ *2*

In a rematch of the 2012 5^th place game, Ben squares off against TJ who predictably showed everyone his penis at the draft.

(season series 0-0)

The Match-Up: Kurt vs James *1*

James squares off in the Sunday Night Baseball match-up of the week against the two-time defending champion and commissioner extraordinaire Kurt.

(season series 0-0)

The 50 dumbest trades in Baseball History

Hello DD,

I got lost in the internet (again) and stumbled upon a list of the 50 dumbest trades in baseball history according to Bleacher Report. They said this was the 7th worst trade in history:

Braves trade Neftali Feliz, Elvis Andrus, and Matt Harrison for Mark Teixeira.

It might just be me but how the fuck is this the 7th worst trade ever? They go on to say that Teixeira hit .295 with 37 home runs and 134 RBI in his 157 games played there, essentially one full season. The Braves didn't win it all but they got EXACTLY what they apparently were out to get - massive production and excellent defense out of their first baseman. Maybe it didn't work out in the respect that they didn't win a championship, but you can't win a championship with one trade. The Rangers may have made out better but I bet I could find more than 6 trades that were worse than this one! You have to give talent to get talent.

Anyway, there are some pretty classic names in here too...How is "Delino" a first name?

2016 HOF Ballot

Free trip down memory lane...

http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/hof_2016.shtml

Yeah its mad late. STFU.

Week 23's installment of the DDWPIPOTCFFBE (Diamond Dynasty Weekly Preview In Pursuit Of The Chalice For Fantasy Baseball Excellence)

Week 22 – Yahoo!'s tiebreaker system ruins a fantastic finish to the regular season

The Match-Up: Adrian (3^rd) vs Ben (6^th)

After a confusing end to the regular season, Ben has apparently secured 6^th place and the right to play for the Chalice. When I started keeping stats in week 10, Ben was in 5^th place. By week 12 he was in 7^th, and didn't regain sole possession of 6^th until this week! Pretty good timing by Mr. Ben. But boy, did he earn it! With 5 weeks left in the year, Ben was staring down a 4.5 game playoff deficit and rose to the occasion, posting a 3-0-2 (32-18) record to edge out Alex (7^th) for the final spot in the playoffs. That end of season record included a 5-5 tie against Adrian (then 3^rd) in week 21, and an uber-clutch 8-2 beat down over Drew (then 1^st) in the final week of the season.

Adrian endured tale of two seasons: 9-0-3 in the first 12 weeks, and 3-6-1 in the final 10. His early season play afforded him the late season struggles, and he was really on an island for 3^rd place – 7 games out of a bye, and 7 games up on 4^th. He only has one win over the past 5 weeks, and that was against James (10^th). He was never worse than 3^rd place all year, pretty impressive. It'll be interesting to see if Adrian has been underachieving, or if he was playing over his head earlier in the year. Ben's playing well and Adrian is struggling – if there was an upset to be had, I think this would be it. These guys went at it 3 times in the regular season; week 3 (Adrian 8-2), week 12 (Adrian 6-4), and week 21 (Tie 5-5) (season: Adrian 19-11).

The Match-Up: Kurt (4^th) vs Colin (5^th)

Kurt held 4^th place for the majority of the season, losing it briefly to Colin before regaining it 2 weeks later. The Commissioner has been pretty steady all season, without any major winning or losing streaks to his record. It's hard to say exactly what we'll see from Kurt over the playoff run. He beats the good teams just as often as he loses to the bad teams. Last week's loss to Jarrett (8^th) was his first loss since losing back to back weeks to Drew (1^st) and Adrian (then-2^nd) in weeks 16 and 17. I can't seem to find any outlying statistics that can tell us just how good he is – we'll have to see what kind of noise he can make in the playoffs. We'll see if his activity at the trade deadline pays off.

Colin rebounded from a rough start (0-4) to prove that he is a worthwhile contender. He propelled himself to the middle of the pack with solid mid-season play, and played .500 ball to close out the year. August was feast or famine for Lancey, with weekly scores of 8-2, 8-2, 1-8, 2-8, and 9-1. As far as I'm concerned, this match is a toss up. Can't wait to see who makes it to the final four! Kurt has taken 2 of their 3 match ups this year, but they're at a stalemate (season: 14-14). This weeks winner will take the season series and move on to the next playoff round.

Nice Knowin' Ya

And now, a weekly salute to the managers eliminated from their quest for the 2011 Diamond Dynasty Chalice for Fantasy Baseball Excellence.


Nice knowin' ya...

James Maimonis (10^th place) – A difficult year for the defending champion who suffered the always embarrassing first-to-worst transgression. He finished the year with one winning week over the final 2 months of the season, and never climbed higher than 9^th place in the second half of the year. He finished the year 36 games behind first place and 20.5 games out of the playoffs. With older, albeit quality keeper choices and the first overall pick, James could be a dangerous team in 2012. Let's take a closer look at his season arc:

Weeks 1-7: 1-5-1

Weeks 8-15: 2-4-2

Weeks 16-22: 1-5-1

Streaks: 1W, 2W/T, 7L, 8L/T

Nice knowin' ya...

Richie Travers (9^th place) – Travers could never get going all year, constantly attempting to manage around keepers and high draft picks that were either injured or under performing. Acquiring Felix Hernandez at the deadline set him up for 2012, but at the expense of the 2011 season (did not win any match ups after the trade). He never made it higher than 7^th place in the second half of the year. Richie ended the regular season 31.5 games behind first place and 16 games out of the playoffs. He has young keepers (never thought we'd see the day) and the second overall draft pick, and is looking forward to 2012. Let's take a closer look at his season arc:

Weeks 1-7: 3-4-0

Weeks 8-15: 5-3-0

Weeks 16-22: 1-5-1

Streaks: 3W, 3W/T, 4L, 5L/T

Nice knowin' ya...

Jarrett Staff (8^th place) – Jarrett's squad just waited too long to be good this year! Over the last 5 weeks of the season, he picked up 10 games on first place and 4 games on the playoff contenders. If he wasn't so mediocre for the first 2/3 of the year, he would have probably been in that clusterfuck that was 4^th-7^th place this year. That being said, he ended the year 23 games behind first place and 7.5 games out of the playoffs. He should be able to add a premier player with the 3^rd pick next year. Let's take a closer look at his season arc:

Weeks 1-7: 1-3-3

Weeks 8-15: 3-4-1

Weeks 16-22: 3-3-1

Streaks: 2W, 3W/T, 2L, 4L/T

Nice knowin' ya...

Alex Gentili (7^th place) – The latest victim of Yahoo!'s tiebreaker system, Alex mortgaged a part of his future (Felix Hernandez) for a run at a 2011 championship. Despite having the 6^th highest winning percentage in the regular season, he did not qualify for a ticket to the big dance. In fact, it's the first time in 10 weeks that Alex isn't in at least 6^th place. He finished 15.5 games behind first place and mere percentage points out of the playoffs. Alex is only the third team since week 11 to move 2 places in the standings in just one week. Let's take a closer look at his season arc:

Weeks 1-7: 3-4-0

Weeks 8-15: 2-4-2

Weeks 16-22: 3-4-0

Streaks: 2W, 5W/T, 4L, 4L/T

Author's Note: It is 12:37 AM on Monday night/Tuesday Morning. I've been without power for 40 hours. We've lost everything in the fridge. I'm waking up to fly to South Carolina in 6 hours. I will upload this ASAP, sorry for the delay.

UPDATE: 10:07, at the airport, free WiFi FTW.

Week 22's installment of the DDWPIPOTCFFBE (Diamond Dynasty Weekly Preview In Pursuit Of The Chalice For Fantasy Baseball Excellence)

Week 21 – Colin suffers an untimely slump to pave the way for a fan-fucking-tastic finish

The Match-Up: Adrian (3^rd) vs James (10^th) *5*

The once-mighty Adrian hasn't won in a month, and he has no shot at a bye week. He's win-less in his last month, 2-6-1 in his last 7 weeks, and stumbling into the playoffs. He closes the season with James, who has been a cellar-dweller all season. Jimmy's 7-3 victory over Richie (9^th) broke a streak of 7 weeks without a win. It was also his largest margin of victory of the year, trumping victories over Ben (6-3 week 2 and 6-4 week 11) and Adrian (6-4 week 13.) Adrian might drop to 4^th with a bad week, but it's hard to imagine he'd fall further than that. James is 6.5 games behind Richie for 9^th, so he's all but locked in to the lead-off position in the 2012 DD Draft. Adrian beat James 7-2 in week 4, but James was the first one to beat Adrian this year when he posted that 6-4 victory in week 13 (season: Adrian 11-8).

The Match-Up: Jarrett (8^th) vs Kurt (4^th) *4*

Jarrett has actually been playing some pretty decent fantasy baseball over the past 2 months, posting a 4-4-1 record (48-39 category record). He battled Drew (1^st) last week, losing just 4-6. At 6.5 games out of the playoffs, its hard to imagine that both Ben (T-6^th) and Colin (T-6^th) would get blown out but hey, anything could happen. Conversely, he's 2.5 games up on 9^th place, so a bad week here could slot him into the second spot in next year's draft. Kurt has quieted the skeptics after a late season win-less slump. He hasn't lost in a month (2-0-2) and he'll most likely be in the 4 vs 5 first round playoff match up. Last week, he fought TJ (2^nd) to a 5-5 tie. Ultimately, neither of these teams are going to drastically change their immediate futures: Kurt is playing for 2011, Jarrett is playing for 2012. Kurt has yet to register a win against Jarrett this year, tying 5-5 in week 4, and falling 3-7 in week 13 (season: Jarrett 12-8).

The Match-Up: Alex (5^th) vs TJ (2^nd) *3*

Alex proved he was ready for pressure match ups as he dismantled Colin (T-6^th) in what was one of last week's most intriguing match ups. The win gave Alex a huge (read: important) playoff cushion for this week; a 3-7 loss (or something like that) doesn't spell the end for Mr. G. With TJ on the docket a win might be a tall task, but if Alex can put up 4 category victories, he should glide into the playoffs with no worries at all. TJ has slipped slightly at 0-1-1 in the last two weeks but Adrian shit the bed much worse, so he's pretty much got that second bye spot. Nice goin' TJ. Pay your dues (you too Jarrett). Personally, I'm rooting for a big TJ win so the playoff picture gets nice and fucked up, total chaos. Speaking of blowout losses, I happened to glance at Alex's weekly scores for the season, and the last time his opponent put up a 7 spot or better was way back in week 10, when Kurt (then 4^th, still 4^th) beat him 3-7. The kid just doesn't get blown out. In fact, there's only been one other time Alex gave up at least 7; week 4....when he lost 0-8.....TO TJ! God I love it when that happens. Aside from the 0-8 shutout, these teams tied 5-5 in week 13 (season: TJ 13-5).

The Match-Up: Ben (T-6^th) vs Drew (1^st) *T-1*

And hereeeeee we go! Yippee-kie-yay mother fuckers! Ben and Colin are dead, and I mean dead even. 99-104-7. Who the hell could have predicted that. Unfortunately for Ben, he really gets fucked with his match up. Colin gets Richie (9^th) who sold aggressively at the deadline (and his record since has reflected it), and Ben gets Drew, who has lost once in the last like 3 months. Sucks, Ben. Just sucks. I'll do the best I can with Colin, but Joe Mauer is a dyke. My apologies. Ben hasn't lost in a month and has played well in the past 6 weeks (3-1-2), against admittedly lesser competition. The last time Ben beat someone who was above him in the standings, Osama Bin Laden was still alive. That's not true, I just thought it was funny. He beat Colin 6-3 in week 16, but that's as far back as my stats go (guesstimating, Alex might have been ahead of him in week 6 when Ben won 6-4, but I really don't know). Drew beat Jarrett 6-4 last week, making it 10 of his last 11. Yowzers. He's officially clinched a first round bye, so hat's off to the leader of the DD, DD. Drew has taken care of Ben in both of their meetings, winning 5-4 in week 4 and 7-3 in week 13 (season: Drew 12-7). I'll have one eye on this match up; the other will be focused on...

The Match-Up: Colin (T-6^th) vs Richie (9^th) *T-1*

The other half of the playoff pandemonium. Colin is reeling. 3-16 the past 2 weeks. Dropped 9 games in the standings. And now, he's fighting for his playoff life. Colin has been the most unpredictable team over the past 7 weeks, going 0-2-1 against the bottom 3 teams of the league, then beating the top two teams 8-2 in back to back weeks, and most recently getting his doors blown off by the middle of the league by the aforementioned 3-16 tally. Which Colin will show up? Richie on the other hand has been Mr. Consistency over the past 3 weeks, losing each week worse than the next. He hasn't won a match in a month and is watching his team limp to the finish line. With his playoff dreams dashed, he can only play the spoiler role. Richie beat Colin 6-3 in week 4, and Colin beat Richie 6-2 in week 13 (season: Colin 9-8).

This concludes the Regular Season Weekly Previews. I've had tons of fun writing them up, I hope you've enjoyed reading them. If you have any feedback, positive or negative, I'd really like to hear it – I was a journalism major and I'm curious to see if you guys think any of the skills have stuck with me. I still plan to do non-consolation playoff weekly match ups, which will allow me to really research the squads a lot more in-depth seeing as there will only be two match ups a week that I'm focusing on. Good luck to Ben and Colin this week, still can't believe they're absolutely square in the standings. Totally awesome.