RCL Update: The Week That Was Week 4, 2018

Back in the old days (last year) of the Razzball Commenter Leagues I preached about the importance of keeping an eye on your strikeouts per Game Started or K/GS.  With the move to FanTrax and the change from GS to Innings Pitched (IP) the K/GS stat goes out the window. However, we have a new stat you should be keeping an eye on now, and that is your K/9.  Since every team is limited to only 1400 innings strikeouts essentially turn into a ratio stat; a counting ratio stat I suppose, but a ratio nonetheless. Once your innings are up, you are stuck with the number of strikeouts you have.  This makes those high K/9 relievers such as Chad Green, Adam Ottavino and king of the K/9 this year, Josh Hader very valuable pieces. This also dings some of the streaming options out there like everyone’s favorite, Bartolo Colon who might go 7 innings but strikeout only 2.  If you don’t have a high-K/9 reliever or two to help balance that out, you could be doing more long term damage than good. It’s important to monitor and keep a balance. Fortunately for you, and especially those that are bad at math, we’re tracking your K/9 for you on the Master Standings page.  There, you can see that among teams with at least 40 IP/week there are 4 teams leading the pack with an impressive 11.6 K/9.  Among those are frequent commenter Great Knoche and our Excel War Room guru, Hot Rods. Bringing up the rear is Cheddar Bob with 7.0 K/9 in 231 IP.  I like to try and maintain a K/9 of around 9.5 or so.  If you’re below that mark, find yourself an Andrew Miller if you can.  If you’re above that mark, awesome!  Just make sure you’re keeping pace with your league in Wins and you should be golden.  It’s also going to be important to monitor your innings usage. You can click “MIN/MAX” on your team page to see your innings used and your pace. I like to keep my pace pretty close to right on the money, but your mileage may very.  Just don’t leave innings on the table if you can help it. Let’s take a look at the rest of the week that was, week 4 in the RCLs:

‘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.

Ralph has used Magnum Force to take the ‘Perts League lead with authority.  Ralph has gained 25 points in 3 weeks time and opened up a commanding 18 point lead to start this week.  Ralph is second in total offense (53) and second in total pitching (45). It’s been a great start for Ralph thanks, in part, to the dynamic middle infield duo of Didi and Ozzie.  Ozzie Albies, who, if I remember right, Ralph got some flack for because he drafted him early. Welp, scoreboard.

Grey isn’t taking Ralph’s lead sitting down.  No, in fact, Grey works at a standing desk. Also, he’s gained 5.5 points of his own and jumped up three spots from 6th to 3rd.  That’s the biggest jump in the league this week. The most points gained belongs to Tehol though, who gained 9 points this week.

Smokey had the biggest loss of the week, dropping 12.5 points and falling three places from 3rd to 6th.

TOP 10

For those too lazy to check the MASTER STANDINGS, I present to you, the current top 10

I lost 7 points in the FCL, but managed to barely hold onto the top spot in the Master Standings.  DHARMA Initiative moved into the 2nd position, up from 4th last week. Ralph parlayed his big week in the ‘Perts League into a top 5 in the Master Standings, nice work Ralph!  Moneyball falls from 5th last week to 8th this week and Vottoman Empire falls one spot to 9th this week.

TRADES

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

I missed a big trade last week in Night of the Living Zombinos, so I figured I’d go ahead and capture it here.  That’s a pretty impressive swap. I think I prefer the Bregman, Jose Ramirez side here though, what do you think?

I think Ozzie Albies has been traded more this season than any other player.  No wants to keep this guy on a team and all he does it crush it every day.

Vottoman Empire might be the busiest manager in the RCLs when it comes to trades.  Here, he scoops up Joey Gallo for a struggling Yu and a couple of kids, I like that move.

WEEKLY LEADERS

The best of the best from the week that was.

R – 64 – 3 Teams Tied

HR –24 – fantasia (RCL 2018 (#3))

RBIs – 62 – Balking Dead (RCL 2018 (#27)) & Eight Men Out (RCL 2018 (#67))

SB – 15 – Team Ericjames423 (RCL 2018 (#72)) & The Gary Pettis File (RCL 2018 (#25))

AVG – .337 – MarV (RCL 2018 (#19))

K – 148– Clobber Clan (RCL 2018 (#59)) (Back to back weeks leading the RCLs)

W – 10 – Clobber Clan (RCL 2018 (#59)) (Back to back weeks leading the RCLs)

SV –  14 – The Sneetches (RCL 2018 (#51))

ERA (Min. 40 IP) – 1.061 – Team HoosierBoss (RCL 2018 (#48)) (in 44 IP)

WHIP (Min. 40 IP) – 0.695 – Team HoosierBoss (RCL 2018 (#48)) (in 44 IP)

Clobber Clan threw another huge amount of innings (178) and led the RCLs in Ks and Wins yet again.  This week, the ratios weren’t very pretty though with a 5.77 ERA and 1.458 WHIP. Clobber Clan has now thrown 539 innings the first month of the season.

TEAM OF THE WEEK

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

Team: Team Peninsula Oilers

League: RCL 2018 (#33)

Stats:   AVG: .275, R: 63, HR: 16, RBI: 50, SB: 13

IP: 58, ERA: 3.10, WHIP: 1.034, K: 64, W: 2, SV: 11

Summary:  It’s good to own Yankees right now and the Oilers are living proof.  Gary Sanchez and Didi Gregorius led the offensive charge with 4 HRs and 10+ RBIs each.  Delino DeShields did the heavy lifting in the stolen base department, swiping 3 bags and hitting .321 this week.  On the pitching side, Strickland and Morrow combined for 7 saves and Sale, Porcello and Snell did work for the the starters.  Clobber Clan tried for another TOW honor by blasting innings, but the unsightly ratios held them back. The big week moved the Oilers into the top 100 overall and they now sit at #83.

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