RCL Update: The Week That Was, Week 13, 2026

We are 47% of the way through the fantasy baseball season, which means around midweek, we’ll hit the actual halfway point.  My teams are not quite where I’d like them to be at the halfway mark, but I can see some light, and maybe most of them will at least finish in the top third.  Elly is on the mend, Rooker is coming back, Brandon Woodruff, and Shane Bieber are making starts this week.  Do these make up for Bobby Witt Jr. and Dominic Canzone getting hurt?  Maybe.  This is part of the reason I love having so many different teams and building them all a little differently, there’s always something to be rooting for or strategizing.  It’s also fun to experiment with different builds and try different things.  Variety being the spice of life and all.  I did have several draft slots in the 10-12 range this year and ended up with far too many shares of Vlad Jr. and Tatis Jr. but, who saw them being this bad?  This week, I had several teams that went on homerun tears, but also had a team rostering Dustin May and Stephen Kolek, crossing streams and absolutely nuking my ERA and WHIP.  A little give, a little take from the fantasy goddess.  Here’s what else happened in the week that was, week 13:

‘PERTY ‘PERTS

Each week we’ll peek in at our resident ‘perts to see who is laying claim to best “expert” RCLer in the land.  We’ll take notes, check the standings and generally stalk them.  The heading is also hyperlink, so feel free to follow along as we go.

Mike C picked up five points this week to move into first place.  It’s been a revolving door at the top, and it finally stopped with Mike in the number one slot.  Mike led the league in stolen bases this week and was solid across the board.

This was one of the big hitting leagues for me this week, and it showed in the standings as I gained 10.5 points and moved up three spots to eighth.  Ha!  Huge week, leading the RCLs in HR and RBI, and I’m still in the bottom half of the league.  It’s been rough, but maybe this is the spark!  I led the league in every offensive category but SBs this week and also led in ERA.

Going the other way this week was Cram It, who dropped five points and slipped from fifth to sixth.

RAZZSLAM STANDINGS UPDATE

Each week we’ll also take a look at the top ten overall standings in our other Razzball sponsored league, the RazzSlam.  This is our NFBC Best Ball league with managers from all across the industry, from content providers to fans and readers just like you.

Mike didn’t fare as well in the RazzSlam standings, slipping to sixth overall.  James Sweeney remains the top, and Roto_Wan snuck into the top five this week as well.  Three more weeks of regular season play!

Our biggest movers this week were Brian Bundens (728 points and a 49 spot jump) and Philip Bladine (724 points and a 51 spot jump).  Nice work to you both.

FIRST FOUR PICKS

Vin did an interesting exercise this past week looking at each of the first four draft picks for each team, tagging their ranking on the player rater and adding them all up to see who had the lowest score.  No surprise that our number one team, There’s a drive into deep left field, has the lowest total at 72.  This obviously doesn’t account for if the player was traded, but is still a neat exercise.  It’s pretty clear that Nick Kurtz and James Wood are doing their parts.  If Bobby Witt misses extended time, that will change things a bit as well.  You can find Vin’s sheet HERE (or by clicking the header).  Find your team, peruse, and see what conclusions you can draw.

TRADES

All the trades that have gone down in the past week.  Public ridicule is not only allowed, but encouraged.

Four deals this week, with nothing too exciting.  This is the fifth time Jackson Merrill has been traded, and the first two times Ozzie Albies has been moved this year.

WEEKLY LEADERS

The best of the best from the week that was.

R – 68 – Man or Stroman? (RCL 22)

HR –26 – MattTruss (Perts League)

RBIs – 67 – MattTruss (Perts League)

SB – 15 – Vin 27 Outs (RCL 27) & murderbydeath (RCL 7)

AVG – .353 – Starfish & Coffee (RCL 19)

K – 82 – Lettuce* (RCL 28)

W – 10 – TrixMcGee (RCL 26)

SV –  9 – Team Tokyo (RCL 11)

ERA (Min. 40 IP) – 1.09 – DFresh (RCL 19) (in 41.1 IP)

WHIP (Min. 40 IP) – 0.731 – Sea Pilots (Crab Army) (in 67 IP)

I knew when I checked stats on Saturday and had a team with a nine homer day that it was a good offense week.  I did not expect to lead the RCLs in HR, RBI, and batting average, as well as take the weekly record in HR and AVG.  We’ll see if those hold up.  A .352 batting average was the best weekly mark last year, so it’s possible.  Sea Pilots also deserves a shout for hitting a minuscule WHIP in a massive 67 IP.

Some more stats from the week from VinWins:

23 teams had an ERA under 2, while 50 teams were over 6.

3 teams hit under .200, and 48 hit over .300!

89 teams had 0 saves this week!

47.6% of games have been played. 476 IP is on pace for 1000. 667 IP is on pace for the max 1400.

The overall batting average race got tight this week as well:

BATTING RACE

.2717 bellow (RCL #4)

.2717 Acevedodavid15 (RCL #5)

.2710 Starfish & Coffee (RCL #19)

.2709 McQuat (RCL #24)

.2708 Pitch Please (RCL #21)

I just moved Pete Alonso and Casey Schmitt in RCL 19 for Yamamoto and Max Meyer as I’ve fallen behind in IP and lead in HR/RBI/AVG.  Hopefully, I’m not making that move too soon, but that is where the points can be gained!

TEAM OF THE WEEK

Our weekly shout out to the team that killed it the previous week.

Team: Man or Stroman?

League: RCL 22

Stats:   AVG: .306, R: 68, HR: 19, RBI: 55, SB: 11

IP: 60, ERA: 2.25, WHIP: 0.983, K: 64, W: 6, SV: 2

Summary: An already dominant season from perennial contender, Man or Stroman? got even better this week with a huge week.  This team hit all the homers and also had itty bitty pitching ratios, unreal.  There were a lot of contributors to this Team Of The Week effort, as 13 players hit home runs and 10 stole bases. Nick Kurtz had 3 blasts and 9 ribbies to lead the way. Colson Montgomery also hit 3 long ones. Denzer Guzman hit 2 longballs in 7 at bats, while Lawrence Butler had a homer and a steal in just 6 ABs. Others who chipped in both speed and power include Casey Schmitt (.555), Jung Hoo Lee, Jose Caballero, Luis Arraez, Ivan Herrera, Royce Lewis, Zack Gelof (.391/9 Runs/2 HR), and Cody Bellinger (.409/2 SB). Cam Schlittler threw 6 shutout innings and recorded 13 strikeouts to pace the pitching staff. Dustin May followed up Monday’s complete game gem with 6 runs in 2 innings on Sunday and was quickly kicked off the team. He did provide a win and 11 Ks, though. Ben Brown, Troy Melton, Dylan Cease (5 IP/0 ER/7 K), and Daniel Palencia (3 K in 1 IP) also earned wins. Tony Santillan and Cade Smith added 1 save each.  The big week added 7 points to the team total and stretched their lead from 4.5 to 13.5.  Bravo!

Want to be my internet pal?  That’s kinda creepy, but you can follow me on the bluest of skies: @matttruss.bsky.social