Here we are, it’s the halfway point of the season, lucky week 13.  There are 26 weeks in this fantasy season, so while the All Star Break marks the unofficial halfway point, this week is the true halfway mark.  The halfway point this year looks a lot like the end of the season last year with familiar friend Cram It leading the RCL Master Standings, albeit, in a different league.  A virtual tip of the cap goes out to Cram It, it’s no easy feat topping all these nut jobs and here he is doing it twice.  At the official halfway point we also had our first team eclipse the 180 Games Started mark.  With 182 Games Started, Calgary Cannons, take a bow.  The Cannons can now go about stacking relief pitchers in search of saves (53), ratio help (4.11 ERA, 1.31 WHIP), and improving that K/9 (7.9).  Their 89 wins might move up to around 100 or so, but with teams like the Yapping Chihuahuas out there with 62 wins and 86 GS left, it’s not very likely to hold up.  As everyone is slowly recovering from their Independence Day long weekends, let’s take a look at what else happened in the week that was, week 13:

Congratulations go out this week to the league members of Cougs R Us.  We’re all Cougs R Us kids after all.  I wouldn’t have guessed that it would be possible for three league members to all be inside the top 10 overall in the Master Standings, but by golly, they’ve done it!  Team Frost leads the way with a 101.5.  Next up is Team Bromelia, who despite being behind Fatuous Jeffreys in the league standings with 95.5 points (compared to Jeffreys 97), is ahead of them by 0.3 RCL points in the Master Standings.  These strong scores along with a great LCI of 104 have placed these three Cougs kids into the top 10 overall.  Impressive stuff.

Five leagues currently hold the top LCI of 104.  They are, in no particular order, Cougs R Us, ECFBL, FCL, Night of the Living Zombinos and the ‘Perty Perts league.  I’m impressed with the ‘Perts league index.  Typically the ‘Perts league has been a total pushover, full of mostly dead teams with only a few teams fighting it out ‘til the end.  It’s early yet and there’s a long season of Tehol’s stats yet to be compiled (or not compiled rather) but it will be fun to see if the ‘Perts can hold on.  FCL and ECFBL are no strangers to the top LCI leaderboard.  These leagues finished 1-2 last year with FCL (112) dethroning a long run of ECFBL (110) holding the title of “Most Competitive RCL”.  Keep fighting the good fight everyone, keep those LCIs high.  Let’s see what else what down in the RCLs in the week that was, week 12:

Eleven weeks are in the books and the Master Standings have had a major shake-up.  Poe Dameron, fresh off of destroying the Starkiller, has zapped Cram It’s star and taken over first place overall.  Poe has been in or right around the top 10 overall for the past 3 weeks, but made a big push this week.  Poe gained 3.5 points in the league, The Force Awakens and the league as a whole increased its LCI from 100 to 101.  Cram didn’t rest on his laurels while in the #1 overall spot this week either, Poe really earned the top spot.  Cram also gained 3.5 points this week in the high LCI league, DFSers Anonymous.  However, the overall numbers for Poe were enough to push them over Cram.  Both teams are sitting at 80 Games Started, which makes comparisons easy.  Despite having about 50 less IP than Cram, Poe has almost the same number of strikeouts.  The K/9 is strong with this one.  If Poe can pick up the middle reliever streaming a bit, those strikeout numbers could really soar.  Saves and ERA are very close between the two top teams.  Poe has the edge in Wins while Cram has the advantage in WHIP.  Only 0.2 RCL Points separate these two and we’ll keep an eye on them come next week.  Here’s what else went down in the RCLs in the week that was, week 11:

You can cram this week’s recap up your cram hole!  There I said it.  There’s no burying the lede this week.  Last year’s champ is back on top of the RCL world.  Apparently, it was no dumb luck and our little Crammy is actually pretty darn good at this game.  Take note all of you out there asking catcher questions on the regular.  If you want to stand naked behind a championship belt, all you have to do is follow his lead.  This marks the second week out of ten that a member of DFSers Anonymous has topped the charts.  Two weeks ago it was MauledByPandas’, Samuel Colt Debate Team.  It’s cool watching to Razzball regulars going at it, trading blows week in and week out.  This should be a fun race to keep an eye on all year.  I’m hoping I can join the fun and make it a three team mixer, but I doubt it the way my team’s been going.  Regardless, this is a good league to bookmark and keep an eye on.  It’s an active bunch with two former overall champs duking it out.  That’s just the beginning of what happened in the RCL universe this week.  Let’s see what else went down in the week that was, week 10:

Trea Turner came and went, Luke Gregerson finally got the boot and James Shields became the first big piece to move as the White Sox fancy themselves a contender and made a proactive trade.  That was just the beginning of the fun that was had in week 9 of the fantasy baseball season.  We really only care about two of these headlines for RCL purposes, as no one whose team isn’t abandoned has been owning James Shields this year.  Nothing changes with a move to a (much) more hitter friendly park.  Turner illustrates the frustration with stashing rookies.  We talked about this a little last week and then Turner got the call, started the first game he was up and only went 3 for 3.  The nerve!  He didn’t hit a homer or even steal a base.  His punishment?  He was benched for the next two games of his call-up and then sent back to Syracuse.  Now, we wait some more, while continuing to burn a roster spot.  The nice thing Turner has going for him is he plays at second base, which is  a dearth of talent.  On the flip side, waiting on a player like AJ Reed, that could be a problem.  While your leaguemate is stashing Reed, you could be streaming Mike Napoli and/or Logan Morrison while they’re hot and be raking in more HRs than the Reed owner could hope to see in a best case scenario.  While you were stashing Reed, the guy rostering Mike Napoli was using that roster spot to hold Will Harris this whole time…that burns.  Especially since you own Luke Gregerson…double burn.  It’ll be fun (not fun) to see how that whole mess shakes out with the Astros save shituations.  I have to believe it’s only a matter of time before Ken Giles (who was waiver fodder a mere 3-4 weeks ago) is the man in the 9th inning.  I expect a lot of Ken Giles/Will Harris trades in the coming weeks in the RCLs.  Sticking with the Astros RCL news, Evan Gattis is now just two games shy of earning the coveted catcher eligibility.  Some were speculating it could take Gattis a month to earn that tag, but thanks to Jason Castro’s illness, that pace got accelerated in a hurry.  If you’re hurting for power, like the majority of my teams seem to be this year, I’d look to make a move for the Catch-162 ASAP. Here’s what else went down in the RCLS in the week that was week 9:

Two months have now passed and we’re through the 8th week of the fantasy season.  The calendar turning to June also brings the anticipated promotions of several youngsters as the Super Two cutoff tends to be right around this time of year.  Trea Turner is my favorite stash at the moment, but their are several others to ponder over and pin our fantasy hope and dreams to.  Jonathan Villar is doing his best to fend off Orlando Arcia in Milwaukee.  Maybe you’re in need of some power and happen to be short a corner man at the moment.  You might take a look at stashing AJ Reed.  There is plenty of pitching to be stashed as well Lucas Giolito and Jameson Taillon are the most likely two power arms to make an impact in the immediate future.  I had high hopes for Julio Urias coming in and being an impact bullpen arm, which for RCL purposes I preferred more than him being a starter.  Instead I got one start, a shellacking and a return trip to AAA.  Fun times.  These guys all carry risk and balancing that while weighing the impact of losing a roster spot for an unknown amount of time is tricky business in the RCLs.  Those three bench spots in our leagues are very valuable commodities.  They can be used for rostering extra RPs to tack on extra Ks and ratio help, or they can be used to platoon a SAGNOF base stealer such as, Rajai Davis with a power bat such as Trayce Thompson.  Decisions, decisions, and the answers can be different for every team.  I don’t have the answers, but I do have some numbers.  Come on down and take a look at the week that was, week 8: