It’s hard to believe there’s only one week to go in this marathon of a season.  We’ve tortured ourselves for 25 long weeks, agonizing over batty calls, dipping into the streamers with mixed results, cursing players and praising others.  We’ve ignored our families, our jobs and our personal hygiene and now it all comes down to the final week.  You may smell like stale Funyuns, but dagummit, that virtual fantasy trophy is all yours.  Team Levy is perfect yet again, gaining back the point they lost last week.  After some good conversation with the crowd I came around a bit on Team Levy last week.  I was surprised to learn that no one in the history of the RCLs has ever gone perfecto.  That just goes to show you what a special feat it is, regardless of league competitive index.  We’ve had 117, 118, even 118.5, but never 120.  That’s a lot of teams in a lot of leagues, some of them pretty terrible I’m sure.  We could be witnessing RCL history folks and if it takes a historic achievement to take down a team from a high LCI league, so be it.  Let’s take a look at what else happened in the RCLs this week, in the week that was, week 25:

We now have two weeks to go and a new contender has made a push.  Team Levy slipped back down to 119 points this week and Team Lion of South Side Titans gained two points, bringing their league total to 112.  The South Side Titans somehow holds an LCI of 101.  I say somehow since, you may recall, this was the league where Cody Allen was drafted 4th overall…right.  It appears to be a battle of the higher scoring teams in less competitive leagues right now.  The next three teams in the standings have all scored between 104-105 points in their respective leagues and all three leagues have a very high LCI of 106.  These three teams all sit 6-7 RCL Points behind Team Levy though.  It’s a bit of a bummer that the RCL Point formula doesn’t make this race a little tighter right now.  Having played in several of the higher LCI leagues over the years I have a bias towards those leagues.  I thought the formulas for this year was pretty solid and I suppose if it takes a perfect score in a below average league to win, that says something.  Still, a 108 or 109 in a high index league should be more in the mix.  I’m rooting for one of those to take that next leap these last two weeks.  Here’s what else took place in the week that was, week 24.

Perfection achieved!  Perfection sustained is TBD, but I don’t see how anyone can chase down Team Levy in All Beddict Tha God in any category.  Maybe Ron Chi can catch Levy in saves, but I doubt it.  Maybe Team Nereim can catch Levy in HRs, but considering he’s got Logan Morrison, and even worse, Lance McCullers, in his starting lineup still, I don’t see that happening either.  The only other team in the league that seems to be playing still is The Talent Show, who’s in 2nd place.  The Talent Show is so far behind Team Levy in every category though, there’s little chance they catch him either.  So, this is Levy’s game to lose it would seem.  The saving grace for Cram It and Backdoor Sliders is that despite reaching a perfect 120, the LCI for All Hail Beddict Tha God dropped to 99, meaning it’s now officially a below average league.  That drop in LCI meant that moving from 119 to 120 had absolutely zero affect on Team Levy’s RCL Points, which stayed at 116.6.  With only 3 owners really doing much, the LCI could continue to drop which would only narrow the gap.  If the LCI in DFSers Anonymous or FCL grows above that 106 mark, things could get pretty tight.  It’s a long shot, but Team Levy should send out a league wide e-mail to his stagnant league mates to try and drum up some activity.  Maybe offer them all some Bed Bath & Beyond 20% off coupons if they come back and at least set a roster for the week.  Anything would help with three weeks to go.  Here’s what else went down in the RCLs in the week that was, Week 23:

I hope everyone had a great long weekend and you’re all freshened up for the final four weeks.  I’m just barely recovered from a weekend of Fantasy Football drafts.  These are teams that will be mostly ignored for the first 4 weeks of the season until baseball is over.  That’s why I went ahead and drafted Tom Brady, Le’Veon Bell and Josh Gordon on every team.  See, I’m a thinker!  This is where things get a little crazy for those that are two sport fantasy stars.  Some RCL teams that were hanging on by a thread could be completely forgotten as owners turn their longing eyes to Fantasy Baseball’s more popular, but I think, less skillful cousin.  I maintain the opinion that my grandmother could sit down with a random set of rankings and draft a Fantasy Football team that could win a championship.  I’ve seen teams that drafted 3 kickers take down a league championship before.  That’s not to say I don’t love it, I really do, but baseball has a much bigger place in my heart.  It takes a special type of sadist to login everyday for 26 straight weeks, set a roster, make appropriate add/drops and not lose interest by May though.  If you’re reading this, you’re clearly one of those sadist, and I applaud you.  Let’s finish strong and then get back to those football teams we’ve been ignoring and beat the snot out of grandmama and the dude with three kickers, shall we?  But first, let’s take a look at what happened in the RCLs in the week that was, week 22:

Five weeks to go now and we’ve got some stability in the top 10 overall.  Team Levy is now even closer to perfection as they gained 3 points this week to bring their season total to 117.  Team Levy has a perfect offense and only has to catch a pair of teams that have maxed out their GS in order to have a perfect pitching score as well.  The 120 is a real possibility.  There was some grumbling in the comments last week about Team Levy playing in a weak league with no competition.  It can be frustrating, but the 100 LCI for All Hail Beddict Tha God technically means this is an average league.  It will be a test to Rudy’s system as we finish out the season to see how a perfect score in a mediocre league compares to a great score (anything above 100) in one of the uber competitive leagues (LCI’s around 110).  With teams already maxed out on GS and other dead teams (Tehol) All Hail’s LCI is likely to stay right at 100 or even fall below as other leagues catch up on GS and remain competitive.  Last year’s most competitive RCL, the FCL finished with an LCI of 112.  They have a 106 at the moment, which will only continue to grow.  Be patient RCLers, the cream will rise to the top soon enough, but a perfect score is going to make things very, very interesting.  Let’s check out the other RCL news from the week that was, Week 21:

Another week at the top of the heap for Team Levy.  Levy put a little distance between themselves and second overall this week with a gain of 7.5 points.  Team Levy now sits with an impressive 114 points in their league, All Hail Beddict Tha God.  A quick glance at the league standings shows that a perfect score isn’t out of the realm of possibility for Levy.  With six weeks left to go, there’s only 15 runs and a tie breaking homer separating Levy from a perfect 60 in the hitting categories.  On the pitching side, thanks to a studly stable of relievers, Levy has only used 118 Games Started and the two teams they are chasing in Ks and wins have used almost all their starts.  Levy has a ridiculous 2.99 ERA, the closest competition there is at 3.573.  That leaves plenty of wiggle room for the streaming that will be needed down the stretch to chase down those Ks and Ws.  With the lack of a high LCI (thanks for showing up Tehol!) it might take a perfect score to claim the #1 spot in the Master Standings.  Wouldn’t that be something?  Good luck, we’ll be watching!  Here’s what other excitement went on in the RCLS in the week that was, Week 20.

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A big “Thank You” to VinWins for stepping in last week, what a guy!  Vin’s post are what I strive for each and every week, so I hope you enjoyed him last week, because it’s back to mediocre drivel this week!  The trading deadline has now come and gone in the RCLs and it went out with a bit of a whimper.  A couple of our top teams made some moves, but it wasn’t the 30 trade onslaught I was anticipating.  If you weren’t able to find a dance partner, fear not.  We are about to enter the silly season of fantasy baseball, where everything is needs based.  Travis Jankowski won’t help you any if you’re already leading your leagues in steals and Aaron Judge is on the wire.  Ditto for those teams that have used all or most of their Games Started limit.  Starting pitchers should start dropping like flies in the next few weeks, making for a streamers paradise.  Kudos to you if you’ve paced yourself well, now good luck avoiding the Cleveland Streamer.  A new overall leader emerged from the fray this week, it took having the highest league score to do it, but it shows someone from a, “not so competitive RCL”, has shot at the title if they put up huge league numbers.  With seven weeks left, expect some big changes to the overall standings as teams use up those GS or teams that have used all their GS get caught.  There’s still plenty of time to make some noise, so get rowdy.  But first, check out the rest of the week that was, Week 19: