A familiar name is back atop the Razzball Commenter Leagues Master Standings, that of your humble RCL Update host.  It’s been since week 8 that I’ve finished the week in the top spot, but with 6 weeks to go, it’s not a bad position to be in.  I’m still fighting that ugly LCI of 99 and with 0.2 RCL Points separating first from third, it’s going to be anyone’s game. Even the lightest slip up and you’re out of it.  I think it will take one of the high LCI teams reaching 106+ or a low LCI team such as mine reaching 110+ to win this thing but either way it should be a fun finish! I’m not the only Razzball writer with a shot at overall RCL glory either, Laura Holt continues to put on a shot in the Writers League and is currently in third place, just 0.2 points behind my squad.  Laura is getting dinged by some pretty terribly win-luck as she’s only got 59 Wins in her 976.1 IP. Watch out for Laura if her win-luck turns around down the stretch. She may end up pulling double duty on Razzball after that, Deep Leagues and RCL strategy! Click below for more on the Master Standings and the rest of the week that was, week 20:

The trading deadline for the Razzball Commenter Leagues went out with a bang on Friday with 15 trades being completed.  Remember back in the day when we used ESPN and they had that crazy noon trade deadline time? Thank goodness for FanTrax making that right!  Speaking of, how are people liking the new add/drop and trade screens? I think that’s a pretty nice mid-season upgrade. Trades seemed to be down across the board this year, I wonder if the early-season trade screen (or lack thereof) contributed to that.  I only counted 60 or so trades this year, but I’m sure I missed a few. By comparison, we had 232 last season. I’m hoping to make a couple changes to the RCL data next year so I don’t have to manually find all the trades, that should help our accuracy quite a bit.  We didn’t have everything set up quite right with the move to FanTrax this season. No matter, the trade deadline might be gone, but don’t fret, there are still plenty of closers losing jobs and September call-ups are right around the corner. Maybe we get some Eloy Jimenez love?  I’m stashing Vladdy Jr. in my 15 teamer hoping for a power surge down the stretch. Check out Ralph’s work for a handy chart.  Not much has changed in a month, Jo Adell is still the man.  Earlier today I took this and sorted by 2018 and 2019 to see who I should try to snag in keeper leagues and who might see some action at the end of this season.  Ralph puts his blood, sweat and white Monster energy drinks into those rankings, don’t let them go wasted! Jump below for more about the trades this week and all the other happenings in the week that was, week 19:

Happy trade deadline week RCLers.  This is the final week you have to trade for some steals, saves, power or help out those pitching ratios with a big time name.  It’s at this point in the season that you can really see some overpaying going on. Giancarlo for Edwin Diaz? Possibly. Aaron Judge for Billy Hamilton?  It all depends on team needs and where the most points can be gained. Remember, there are no extra points for winning a category by 50. Take a look at the overall standings in your league and see where teams are bunched together.  If there’s an opportunity to leap over multiple teams by taking a category by storm, make your move now. If you’re in second place right now, make that move for first, play to win, go out and make it happen. The Razzball Commenter League trading deadline is Friday, August 10, at midnight (well, 11:59 PM EST technically).  I expect there will be a flurry of activity to break down for next week’s update. For this week however, we have three trades to look at as well as a new overall leader. There were some big shake-ups in the top 10 and we have two weeks worth of data to sift through. Come read about all of this and more in the week that was, week 18 in the Razzball Commenter Leagues:

This Razzball Commenter Leagues update is going to be a little tricky.  I didn’t think an update last week with only 3 days of games was worth anyone’s time, so I was planning to give you an update of a week plus.  However, our good man Rudy Gamble is vacationing somewhere, no doubt having his afro picked by a scantily clad lady while being hand-fed grapes.  With Rudy away from his number crunching machine, we have no RCL data to analyze and no update to the Master Standings this week. We did get the standings run the Monday following the All-Star Break though, so we can look at those, just know they are a week behind.  Things should be sorted out next week and we still have plenty to talk about this week, like the ‘Perts League action and some trades. So, fear not RCLers, we can and will make due without our precious numbers. Let’s take a look at that and the rest of the week that was, week 17+:

Join the 2018-19 Razzball Fantasy Premier League for a chance at prizes! Don’t know about Fantasy Soccer? That’s okay, Smokey is here to walk with you throughout this journey of exploration and an absurd amount of accent marks on player names. So probably hide all your snacks. It’ll be a long journey…

Happy All Star Break my fellow RCLers.  The Razzball Commenter Leagues can take a toll on your time, you social life and your personal hygiene.  I hope you’re using the break to take a shower, get out of your sweat pants and get reacquainted with your roommates, also known as, your family.  They’ve missed you. Spend a moment and remind them that you are in fact, alive and well. Show those that love you that you haven’t been lost in the wilderness for the past 15 weeks, being cared for by a pack of wolves.  In fact, you’ve just been winning fantasy baseball leagues. You know, just like your idol, Grey Albright. Actually, right now your idol might be Ralph Lifshitz, current ‘Perts League leader, or maybe the STL Squat Cobblers, current Master Standings leader.  Perhaps you’re partial to your RCL Update host, currently in second place in the Master Standings, or maybe you look up to Laura Holt, deep league writer extraordinaire and current fourth place finisher in the Master Standings. Check out this and the rest of the All Star Break standings in the week that was, week 15:

As we creep up on the All-Star Break, one team has separated themselves from the rest of the Razzball Commenter Leagues pack.  It’s a bit unprecedented for a team in a league with a very high League Competitive Index to win in the Master Standings. Typically a league with a high LCI is filled with active managers that makes the league race very tight, which limits how far out in front a team can get.  Teams have done it before, Cram It comes to mind in 2015 when the FCL had an LCI of 112. Other than that, the highest LCI of a #1 team was Josh Hamiltons Fake Stache in 2013 when League: Cracking the WHIP had an LCI of 105. Every other #1 team has been in a league with an LCI of 100-102.  That brings us to the STL Squat Cobblers who currently sit with 108 league points in ECFBL with it’s 106 LCI. That’s enough to create a 5.4 RCL Point cushion over the second place team. If the Cobblers keep this up they’ll be looking at reaching rare waters indeed. Granted, it’s only a little over halfway through the season, a lot can happen, but it’s still fun to extrapolate.  Let’s look at the rest of the Master Standings and the week that was, week 14 in the RCLs:

Happy 4th of July Razzball Commenter Leaguers!  This week not only marks the birthday of our fine U.S. of A., but more importantly, marks the halfway point of the fantasy baseball season!  We just finished ~13 weeks and there are ~13 weeks remaining. While we typically use the All Star Break to mark the halfway point, this week is the real deal.  If you were exactly on pace with your innings pitched, you would have 700 on the button. You can use that as a nice gauge to see if you need to be streaming your buns off the next 13 weeks or if you can chill out a bit and wait for the choice match-ups.  This week, in addition to the weekly leaders we will take a look at our halfway point leaders. It will be a quick shoutout to those teams that have started hot in each of the roto categories. Obviously, our team of the halfway point is the leader of our Master Standings.  Who might that be you ask? Let’s take a look at that and the rest of the week that was week 13 in the Razzball Commenter Leagues: