Week 13 Power Rankings, Presented by Adrian

Overall:

1. Adrian (71)

2. Drew (61.5)

3. James (59.5)

4. Alex (58.5)

4. Colin (58.5)

6. TJ (57)

7. Kurt (54)

8. Ben (50)

9. Jarrett (48.5)

10. Richie (31.5)

Offense:

1. Adrian (41)

2. TJ (37)

3. Ben (35)

4. Jarrett (30.5)

5. Kurt (30)

6. Colin (25)

7. Alex (24)

8. Richie (19)

9. James (18.5)

10. Drew (15)

Pitching:

1. Drew (46.5)

2. James (41)

3. Alex (34.5)

4. Colin (33.5)

5. Adrian (30)

6. Kurt (24)

7. TJ (20)

8. Jarrett (18)

9. Ben (15)

10. Richie (12.5)

Category Leaders:

Runs: TJ

Home Runs: Jarrett

Runs Batted In: Adrian

Stolen Bases: Ben

Batting Average: Ben

Wins: Adrian

Saves: Drew

Strikeouts: Adrian

Earned Run Average: Drew

Walks and Hits Per Inning: Drew

Analysis:

Adrian is not only dominating in head to head but is nearly ten points ahead in rotisserie scoring. The gap from 1^st to second is 9.5 which is bigger than the gap from 2^nd to 7^th. In addition He and Drew each have the lead in three categories. With Ben leading another two that leaves three teams with eight categories. James is obviously doing a poor job managing matchups as he has the talent to be a top five team but is currently in last.Kurt and TJ are just the opposite as they are each three spots higher than their rank in the actual standings.

Week 13's installment of the DDWPIPOTCFFBE (Diamond Dynasty Weekly Preview In Pursuit Of The Chalice For Fantasy Baseball Excellence)

Week 12 – Ben and TJ continue to slide, Kurt makes up for a bad week, and Adrian keeps on winning

The Match-Up: Richie (8^th) vs. Colin (5^th)

Colin's team finally came back to earth last week, dropping a 4-6 decision to Alex (6^th, who got a much needed victory). Even with the loss, he retained 5^th place in a log-jammed middle of the pack. FanceyLancey is hitting a favorable part of the schedule at just the right time, facing Richie (8^th), TJ (tied 2^nd), Jarrett (9^th), Ben (7^th), and James (10^th). If he takes care of business now, he won't have to sweat out a playoff spot down the stretch. Don't look now, but Richie has won 3 straight weeks and is inching his way into the playoff picture. He's only two games out of the all important 6^th seed, but he will be tested in the coming weeks against Colin (5^th), Adrian (1^st), TJ (T-2^nd) and Drew (T-2^nd). Can he extend his season-long winning streak to 4? Or will Colin get back to his winning ways? Richie beat Colin in week 4, 6-3.

The Match-Up: Kurt (4^th) vs. Jarrett (9^th)

Kurt was embarrassed by Colin 2 weeks ago, 1-9. So what does he follow that up with? What other than a 9-1 smoking of then-2^nd place TJ (T-2^nd)! Very nice work Kurt-o! Lesser teams would have crumbled, I'm sure of it. The win gives Kurt 3 of his last 4, and he has a great opportunity to cut down on his 8.5 game deficit for first place with Jarrett (9^th) this week, followed by Ben (7^th) and James (10^th). Jarrett gave the DD basement a try last week but found it not to his liking, and gave it right back to fat-mouth James despite losing a tight one to Drew (T-2^nd) – an admirable performance if I say so myself. He's not playing the spoiler quite yet, but with only 2 winning weeks this year, it's time to step on it. Kurt and Jarrett played to a 5-5 tie in week 4.

The Match-Up: Alex (6^th) vs. TJ (T-2^nd)

Alex was falling fast, losing for the fourth time in a row and seventh time in the last eight weeks when he dropped his week 11 match to Richie. In week 12 he dug deep and pulled out what was probably the most unlikely victory of last week with a 6-4 win over Colin (5^th), who was on a roll heading into their match-up. Now he goes up against a struggling TJ (T-2^nd), who has dropped 3 in a row (outscored 8-20). TJ has some pesky opponents coming up, squaring off against Alex (6^th) this week, Colin (5^th), and Richie (8^th), but at only 5 games in back of the top spot, he's still got a great chance at securing a bye for the first round of the playoffs. TJ crushed Alex 8-0 in Week 4.

The Match-Up: Ben (7^th) vs Drew (T-2^nd)

After dropping three weeks in a row, and four of his last 5, Ben has gone from 5^th...to 6^th...to 7^th. It doesn't get any easier this week going up against Drew, who keeps quietly putting up wins and hanging with the big boys. Ben goes up against Kurt next week, so he's got a tough little stretch in front of him. Ben finds himself only .5 games out of a playoff spot, and right in the thick of the seemingly annual “Too Many Teams For Too Few Playoff Spots” battle (this years edition – 4 teams and 2 spots, Richie (8^th) 2 games behind Colin (5^th). Drew has Ben (7^th), James (10^th), Adrian (1^st) and Richie (8^th) on tap, so he has a good opportunity to keep throwing up W's. Drew beat Ben 5-4 in Week 4.

The Match-Up: Adrian (1^st) vs James (10^th).

Ahh, James. What do we do with you? You took your lumps gracefully and humbly all year, and then you tie Jarrett and beat Ben, get out of last place, and all of a sudden you start mouthing off. You couldn't even beat me! I'm in 8^th! Listen up Maimonis, I'll make you a deal. If you can win ANY of the next three weeks against Adrian (1^st), Drew (T-2^nd), or Kurt (4^th), I'll get off your back. But if you drop all three, you're in for a shit-storm my friend. And since I'm the only one that writes on this blog anymore, no one will be here to protect you. So good luck to you, my friend, because you will need it. Oh yeah, Adrian won again. 3 weeks in a row. Hasn't lost yet this year. Ho-hum. Any questions? Didn't think so. Adrian beat James 7-2 in Week 4.

P.S. - If anyone reads these, let me know what you think about them! Good or bad, compliments or criticisms, stuff you wish I included or stuff you think I should leave out, I'm curious to hear your thoughts!

P.P.S. - JAMES! ALEX! KURT! WHOEVER ELSE USED TO POST ON THIS SITE! Nothing since May 27! One thing a week from everyone gives us a new article every day!

Weekly Match-Ups

Week 12's installment of the DDWPIPOTCFFBE (Diamond Dynasty Weekly Preview In Pursuit Of The Chalice For Fantasy Baseball Excellence)

Week 11 - Colin wins big, the playoff picture changes, and there's a new leader of the pack

The Match-Up: Richie (8^th) vs. James (9^th)

James recorded his first winning week in two months as he upset Ben, 6-3. He has not lost in 2 weeks, finally got out of 10^th place, and is guaranteeing an historic comeback on the DD message boards. After this week, he has Adrian (1^st), Drew (3^rd), and Kurt (4^th) on the schedule, so it'll be interesting to see if he can walk the walk. Richie squeezed out a 5-4 win over Alex, after leading 7-3 Sunday morning (I swear to god guys, every fucking week). Richie has arguably the most difficult schedule on the horizon, going up against Colin's white-hot squad, followed by Adrian (1^st) and TJ (2^nd). The season is hanging in the balance for both of these teams, and they are both one slump away from a consolation-bracket September. Richie beat James, 6-4, in Week 3.

The Match-Up: Kurt (4^th) vs. TJ (2^nd)

Kurt is licking his wounds after Colin shredded him 9-1 last week. The loss dropped him 11.5 games out of first place, and it doesn't get much easier this week, drawing second-place TJ. After this week, he gets Jarrett, Ben, and James, so a small upset here could lead to a solid stretch for the commissioner. TJ is slipping himself, narrowly dropping his last two weeks to Adrian (then 2^nd) and Drew (3^rd). TJ is out of first place for the first time in a month, and maybe longer (my records only go back so far). This looks like the match up of the week, so keep an eye on this one as both teams try to right the ship. These teams played to a draw in Week 3, 5-5.

The Match-Up: Alex (7^th) vs. Colin (5^th)

Alex gets an unlucky draw this week as he runs into the wrecking ball that is Colin. Gentilli has dropped 4 in a row and 7 of his last 8 after his Sunday comeback against Richie fell short, losing 5-4. With the loss, Alex slides out of the playoff picture and into 7^th place, but he's just 1.5 games out. Colin, on the other hand, is hotter than a pistol. He hasn't lost in a month, and he's 5-1-1 in his last 7 matches. A 9-1 smoking of Kurt (4^th...no slouch) propelled Colin from 7^th all the way to 5^th, and with Richie (8^th) next week, Colin could find himself in the top tier (see below) by late July. Alex whipped a very different Colin team in Week 3, 8-2, but don't expect many similarities this time around.

The Match-Up: Jarrett (10^th) vs. Drew (3^rd)

Jarrett had a tough draw last week, going up against new number one Adrian and falling, 7-3. With Drew (3^rd) this week and Kurt (4^th) after that, it's not looking good for the big man. With a record of just 1-4-1 in his last 6, he's dropped all the way to last place (sorry Jarrett, just the facts). Drew held down third place with a nice 5-4 victory over TJ, which dropped Geers to second place. Drew is in prime position to take over the top spot, squaring off against Ben (6^th) and James (9^th) after this week's match up, before a potential clash of the titans with Adrian (1^st) in week 15. Drew's only loss in the last month was to Colin in week 10, 4-6. Drew beat Jarrett in Week 3, 7-3.

The Match-Up: Adrian (1^st) vs. Ben (6^th)

Adrian took care of business last week, disposing of Jarrett (now 10^th) 7-3. He has STILL yet to lose a week all season (11 weeks!) and has taken over the top spot in the Diamond Dynasty. Time will tell if he can hold on to the spot, but the only two-time DD champion looks as though he's in fine form so far. After this week, James (9^th) and Richie (8^th) will be the next teams to try to derail this model of consistency. Can we get the commissioner to confirm the unbeaten streak record? (And put up other records that are in jeapordy/have been broken? And history? And wtf happened to the power rankings? There were like six separate lists!) Ben has slipped up, losing back to back weeks and three out of four, his only win coming against lowly Jarrett (10^th). With Drew (3^rd) and Kurt (4^th) on the horizon, Ben holds onto the last playoff spot by only 1.5 games, so he needs to start putting up wins. Adrian crushed Ben, 8-2, in Week 3.

As the DD often does, it has started to break into distinct tiers:

Manager......GB

Adrian........0

TJ...............0

Drew...........4.5

Kurt............11.5

Colin...........13.5

Ben.............14.5

Alex............16

Richie..........18

James...........26

Jarrett...........26

Thanks for reading, and if you used to post on this site, GET BACK INTO IT! If all of us post just one thing a week, it'll be a sick blog, don't you think? Good luck to everyone!

Mid-Season Keeper Review

Good Monday to you all! As you may be aware, this is the halfway point of the Yahoo! fantasy baseball regular season. Congratulations to those of you who have managed your squad successfully enough to be in position for a late-season run.

A thought occurred to me as I was looking at two of my keepers, Joe Mauer and Hanley Ramirez. Mauer has just recently returned from injury, and has played less than 15 games this year. Ramirez is hitting .201. These two shitheads have been my ammunition whilst I try to explain my sub-.500 record. I thought that today, the middle of the regular season, would be a good time to look at not only my team, but the entire league, and see who's in my boat, struggling with vastly underachieving keepers, and also those whose (who's?) keepers have played above and beyond their lofty expectations.

I developed a crude, simplistic formula to determine the “winners and losers” of the keeper format. I was curios to see how productive keepers related to overall team success, and how important those first four picks are. The formula was:

O-Rank – Rank = Keeper Delta (KD)

The thought process in this formula was to take the expected value (O-Rank) against the actual value (Rank) and evaluate the change (KD). Here's how the numbers break down:

O-Rank......................Rank.........................KD

Kurt (40).................James (101)...........Ben (+541)

Colin (62) ................Adrian (106)..........Adrian (+115)

James (65)................Colin (193).............James (-36)

Richie (107).............Jarrett (207)..........Jarrett (-63)

TJ (133).....................Alex (290)..............Colin (-131)

Jarrett (144)...............TJ (314)...............Alex (-141)

Alex (149)..................Ben (518)..................TJ (-181)

Drew (219).................Kurt (795)..............Kurt (-755)

Adrian (221)..............Drew (1053)........... Drew (-834)

Ben (1059).................Richie (1577)...........Richie (-1470)

• Ben and Adrian were the only managers in the positive – the only managers who have gotten more value out of their keepers than projected.

• Ben's numbers were a bit skewed due to Buster Posey's O-Rank (994...seriously Yahoo!? Makes me question my understanding of the O-Rank...)

• Colin's numbers include Andrew McCutchen, who was traded June 5

• For the most part, the Rank reflected the KD. The biggest outlier was Ben (7^th best rank, best KD, but again, Buster Posey...)

• My keepers FUCKED me this year

The results are cool to look at, but all in all this just confirms my belief that you cannot win the league without having a great draft. James has the best Rank and third best KD, and has been in the basement all year. Jarrett has the 4^th best Rank and KD, and as of June 20, is in last place. Conversely, Drew comes in on the Rank and KD lists at 9^th, and is in third place. Kurt holds down fourth place in the league, but the 8^th spot in the Rank and KD. TJ is in first place, and is in the middle of the pack in Rank and KD.

Finally, the 5 best and worst keepers based on KD, for your enjoyment. Thanks for reading! Weekly Review sometime in the next 24 hours.

Ben – Buster Posey (+544)....................Richie – Joe Mauer (-1053)

Drew – Jered Weaver (+75)..................Drew – Ryan Zimmerman (-918)

Jarrett – Tommy Hanson (+43)............Kurt – Evan Longoria (-657)

Adrian – Matt Kemp (+18)......................Richie – Hanley Ramirez (-356)

Ben – Adrian Gonzalez (+9)....................Alex – David Wright (-330)

Weekly Match-Ups

Weekly Preview (WEEK 11)

Every Monday (hopefully), I'll crunch the numbers and take a look at the match-ups for the week, and try to highlight story lines, winning and losing streaks, revenge games, and any other relevant talking points that I come across in my research. You will be able to tell how busy/bored I am at work by the length and depth of the article.

I also suspect that this first article will be a sort of “State of the DD Nation”, as I will be taking a look at all the teams and what they've done to this point. I know I was surprised at some of the numbers that I found, and I suspect that some of us haven't looked under the hood of other teams and seen how their season has peaked and plateaued. So without further Freddy Adu, here is the first installment of the DDWPIPOTCFFBE (Diamond Dynasty Weekly Preview In Pursuit Of The Chalice For Fantasy Baseball Excellence).

The Match-Up: Richie (8^th) vs. Alex (6^th)

Both of these teams have been taking one step forward and two steps back all year. Alex, after posting a 10-0 shutout in week 7, is entrenched in a 3 week losing streak, over which he is being outscored 11-19. The shutout marked his only win in his past 7 weeks, after opening up the season strong (16-12). Richie's teams can't seem to close out a week, as he has seen many Friday afternoon leads turn into Sunday night heart breakers. Despite the recent “2001 World Series Byung-Hyun Kim syndrome,” Richie held off Ben last week, 6-4, to break a 2 week slide. Alex beat Richie, 6-4, in week 2 this year. With a good week, Richie could jump as high as 6^th, but these teams should be evenly matched.

The Match-Up: Kurt (4^th) vs. Colin (7^th)

After an abysmal start to the year (0-4, 11-27) Colin is 4-1-1 in his last 6 weeks and has put himself back in the thick of the playoff race. Kurt, on the other hand, has been steady eddie all season, his only loss to Drew (3^rd) in week 8. Kurt is staring down a tough match-up with first-placemen TJ next week, so this week will be an important one if he wants to avoid a possible 2 game slide. Colin will look to keep his winning ways going, and with future match-ups with Alex and Richie (6^th and 8^th), a win this week could put him in prime position to be one of the top dogs by the end of the month. Kurt edged Colin in week 2, 5-4.

The Match-Up: TJ (1^st) vs. Drew (3^rd)

The match-up of the week pits two of the strongest squads against eachother. TJ's dominant 4 week winning streak (33-7) came to an end last week as he fell to Adrian (2^nd) 3-6, but he still remains the top dog by 2.5 games. Drew is securely in the 3^rd spot, although he has cooled off significantly since his hot start. His 4-6 defeat at the hands of Colin broke a 2 week winning streak, and he is just 25-24 in his last 5 weeks. Neither team can significantly improve or fall in the rankings. TJ beat Drew in week 2, 6-4.

The Match-Up: Adrian (2^nd) vs Jarrett (9^th)

On paper, this is the most lopsided game of the week. Jarrett is 1-3-1 in his last 5 weeks, but some big losses added up to a 15-34 mark over that span, dropping him more than 20 games behind this week's competition. Adrian, on the other hand, is on total cruise control, the only manager yet to drop a week. He only has 2 wins (6-4 and 6-3) in his last 4 weeks, but he's only had 2 weeks with 7+ categories, so the 6-category wins appear to be commonplace. If Jarrett can take any consolation in his match-up this week, he is one of the four teams that has fought Adrian to a tie, as they split week 2, 5-5. A win this week coupled by a Drew upset over now-#1-TJ could catapult Adrian to the #1 spot in the rankings, and Jarrett will try to make up some of the 8.5 games that separate his team from a playoff birth.

The Match-Up: Ben (5^th) vs. James (10^th)

Despite fighting through team inconsistencies, Ben finds himself at an even .500 (48-48-4) and, not surprisingly, right in the middle of the standings. James is finally burning in DD hell for running the table as a 6 seed to win it all last year struggling mightily. A tie last week broke a 7 week losing streak, and he hasn't won since...wait for it...week two against Ben! What drama. The season is closing fast on James, and he must start putting up wins if he has any chance of sneaking in as a 6 seed and ruining my season again. If the stars align and Ben falters badly, he could fall out of the all-important top 6.

Well there you have it, the first weekly installment of the DDWPIPOTCFFBE. I hope you all enjoy reading these as much as I'll enjoy writing them. Long live the DD!

New Blogeur

Hello. I will be contributing to the blog in some way. I'm fairly certain I'm not the only one that visits at least 3-4 times a day, just to be disappointingly confronted with the same entries. I'm not sure exactly what it will be, but I have some ideas. It'll just be another little wrinkle in the fabric that is the Diamond Dynasty. Plus, I should probably put my retartedly fucking expensive paperweight Journalism degree to good use.

Richie's logo creation

I love microsoft paint. Nicely done Richie.