Start the drum roll! Twenty-six weeks down and now we have 26 more until the start of next year’s fantasy baseball season. It’s perfect symmetry because fantasy baseball is the perfect fantasy sport. But, before we turn our eyes to next season we first have to recap this past season, and with that, our overall Razzball Commenter Leagues Champion…Laura Holt! Laura peaked at the absolute perfect time, breaking into the top ten in week 23, hitting ninth in week 24, second overall in week 25, and winning the whole damn thing in the final week. You know how you just know good players when you see them? When watching baseball you can tell when a player makes things look too easy, when watching tennis, you can see that a player is just plain better than their opponent, when watching professional Tetris players you see them make moves that you don’t understand only to suddenly clear the board out of nowhere. I have gotten that feeling watching Laura over the years and this overall championship is just another feather in the cap of a great fantasy baseballer. Grey unleashed Laura on us back in 2018. Typically a deep league and only-league specialist, Laura applied her knowledge to the RCLs and came out swinging finishing fourth overall that year (I finished third, phew). Laura bowed out (AKA, Grey forgot to invite her to save our souls) in 2019 but finished 29th overall in a shortened 2020 season and 14th overall in 2021. Last year was a bit of a dip as Laura finished 86th overall, but this year, she stands alone. Laura did it while also winning one of the toughest legacy leagues in the RCL universe, Night of the Living Zombinos, a perennial top-LCI contender with a $100 buy-in. I’m always partial to our legacy leagues and love seeing an overall winner come out of one of them. Laura used 470 moves to take down the championship and just snuck by Stolen Vortex by 0.1 points. That’s back-to-back seasons where the overall championship has been decided by a fraction of a point. NOTLZ’s 107 LCI boosted Laura’s 106 league points by just enough. The RCLs remain one of the best competitions in the fantasy baseball land and winning this is harder than just about any industry league and probably harder than anything but an NFBC Main Event. A HUGE congrats to Laura on the accomplishment.
Here’s what else happened this year and this final week of the RCLs:
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.
After finishing second last year and winning in 2020 (which Grey doesn’t count as a win), Cram It finally has a legitimate win in the ‘Perts League! Cram went on one of the more insane RCL runs from 2015-2017, winning the overall, finishing second, and finishing sixth in those seasons. That got him into the ‘Perts League and he’s showed he belongs there every season since. Always fighting until the very end, Cram It plays this format like a pro. He gained half a point this final week, fending off Grey, who gained three points and made a push that just fell short. Son lost a point and slipped to third. Nice work to our top three!
TOP 20
For those too lazy to check the MASTER STANDINGS, I present to you, the final top 20
I’m expanding the top 10 to the top 20 for the final standings (not just because I finished 20th, I swear). Stand up and give a hearty pat on the rear end to your end-of-season top 20. Most of these teams made an appearance in the top 10 at some point this year and it takes some serious effort to make the top 20 at the season’s end. The end-of-season IP penalties shook up the LCIs quite a bit, causing a stir, so be sure to check out where everyone finished:
| RK | TEAM | LEAGUE | RCL PTS | LG PTS | LG INDEX | MASTER PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LauraHolt | NOTLZ | 111.7 | 106 | 107 | 105.4 |
| 2 | Stolen Vortex | RCL 6 | 111.6 | 113 | 101 | 108.2 |
| 3 | Orlando Calrissians | Original Recipe | 108 | 110.5 | 101 | 103.4 |
| 4 | FANTASY ICON 5.0 | RCL 17 | 106 | 109 | 100 | 103.3 |
| 5 | Save the World | RCL 13 | 105.3 | 108 | 98 | 105.3 |
| 6 | Tuck It In | RCL 29 | 104.6 | 100.5 | 105 | 101.6 |
| 7 | Deb, The Toast of Iceland | RCL 31 | 104.5 | 108 | 99 | 102.5 |
| 8 | Bayou Bombers | RCL 26 | 104.5 | 108.5 | 100 | 100 |
| 9 | Dunphy`s Joint Venture | RCL 36 | 104.3 | 100.5 | 105 | 101.3 |
| 10 | Analyzing Unathletic Success | RCL 21 | 104.1 | 105 | 100 | 103.1 |
| 11 | Man or Stroman? | RCL 25 | 102.8 | 99.5 | 103 | 101.7 |
| 12 | Bluefield Baby Birds | RCL 18 | 102.5 | 96 | 107 | 99.3 |
| 13 | Laura Holt | RCL 18 | 101.6 | 94.5 | 107 | 99.2 |
| 14 | GMoney Squared | FCL | 100.5 | 98.5 | 105 | 95.6 |
| 15 | Fred Garvin MP | COUGS R US | 100.4 | 94 | 107 | 97.4 |
| 16 | NY Sturgeon King | COUGS R US | 100.1 | 93 | 107 | 98 |
| 17 | Satchel Rages | NOTLZ | 99.5 | 90 | 107 | 98.7 |
| 18 | Longballers | RCL 29 | 99.1 | 93.5 | 105 | 98.2 |
| 19 | stechsjj | RCL 36 | 98.8 | 93.5 | 105 | 97.8 |
| 20 | Starfish & Coffee | RCL 33 | 98.7 | 100 | 97 | 101.6 |
Laura already took the liberty of writing up her draft and strategy better than I ever could. You can read all about her draft, HERE. For those of you who are more visual, here are Laura’s first 12 picks:
How did she win the overall while drafting deGrom and Rodon? Well, you can read above and find out, but she had 28 pitchers make starts for her squad and was really saved by late draft picks, Zach Eflin and Sonny Gray. Even 16th round Tyler Glasnow was a nice bump. Laura discusses this in her article, but final-round Zach Eflin being an ace for this squad is pretty remarkable. Can you bank on hitting those late-round gems every year? No. Can you draft one ace-ish pitcher in the first ten rounds and then go pitcher crazy in the later rounds and hope to hit a few? Maybe. RCL drafts are some of the easiest to recover from. Drafting incredible late-round bargains makes them more so. Also, Ronald Acuna Jr. helps. For more of a deep dive, Vin broke down Laura’s team, showing every player who collected a stat for her, HERE.
Let’s not take too much away from Stolen Vortex here either. They were ultimately undone by a low LCI, but had a very good season, leading the overall for much of the second half. Interesting, they also drafted deGrom and overcame it. SV had Julio Rodriguez as their first-round pick and it’s no coincidence they shot up the standings about the time he went nuclear.
Orlando Calrissians and FANTASY ICON 5.0 held onto third and fourth and capped off great seasons
Save the World and Tuck It In each jumped up a few spots in the final week to pass Deb, The Toast of Iceland, and push them to seventh.
Bayou Bombers, Dunphy`s Joint Venture, and Analyzing Unathletic Success each fall a spot to round out our top ten this year.
The remainder of the top 20 includes some familiar names from previous updates including another of Laura’s teams, perennial top finisher and frequent commenter, Fred Garvin MP who just nudged out NY Sturgeon King to win the Champions League (for the second consecutive year I might add), and finally, my best RCL team this year in 20th. A reminder that the top 12 finishers will all get an invite to next year’s Championship League (Cougs R Us) if any of them do not accept the invite, we continue down the list. COUGs was one of this year’s fiercest leagues and almost always is so. I’m hoping enough people pass that I can join next year too, but if you are in the top 12 and are interested, let me know here or look in your inbox for an invite.
WEEKLY LEADERS
The best of the best from the week that was.
R – 57 – Vin 25 (RCL 25) & MattTruss223 (DFSers Anonymous)
HR –20 – New Jersey Ninjas (RCL 9)
RBIs – 57 – Peoria Bombers (RCL 6)
SB – 16 – JFCan (RCL 13) & Diamond Archers (RCL 37)
AVG – .326 – SportsAndStocks (RCL 9)
K – 165 – Vin 22 (RCL 22)
W – 9 – Atavistic Abalones (RCL 18)
SV – 8 – Man or Stroman? (Original Recipe) & Swing Away (RCL 3)
ERA (Min. 40 IP) – 0.58 – johnnyhobbes (RCL 10) (in 46.2 IP)
WHIP (Min. 40 IP) – 0.600 – johnnyhobbes (RCL 10)
Vin came out swinging in RCL 22 this week, grabbing as many IP as possible and breaking MEGA MANGO’s weekly strikeouts record. Vin and RCL 9 are well represented this week.
Johnnyhobbes pulled off an excellent week of pitching and set a new low for weekly WHIP. Here’s how they did it:
13 IP Justin Verlander 0.69 / 0.692
10 IP Kyle Bradish 0 / 0.600
9 IP Gerrit Cole 0 / 0.222
6 IP Josiah Gray 1.50 / 1.167
3.2 IP AJ Smith-Shawver 2.45 / 0.273
3 IP Matthew Liberatore 0 / 0.667
2 IP Yennier Cano 0 / 0.500
Impressive! No one topped 10 wins in a week so we have a massive tie there this year, sad for me as I list them all below, let’s jump there now!
WEEKLY RECORDS
The best of the best from the weeks that were.
R – 73 – The Lineup Builder (RCL 4)
HR –28 – Atavistic Abalones (RCL 18)
RBIs – 74 – DFresh (NOTLZ)
SB – 23 – Tuck It In (RCL 29) & STL Cardinals (RCL 12)
AVG – .381 – 2fgreevy (RCL 11)
K – 165 – Vin 22 (Vin 22)
W – 10 – mdubs (RCL 8), tkdc (RCL 29), Work the Wire Catch Fire (RCL 36), Satchel Rages (NOTLZ), The Lineup Builder (DFSers Anonymous), & MEGA MANGO (Crab Army) ….phew
SV – 13 – MattTruss223 (DFSers Anonymous)
ERA (Min. 40 IP) – 0.56 – FLIBWIP (RCL 12) (in 48 IP)
WHIP (Min. 40 IP) – 0.600 – johnnyhobbes (RCL 10) (in46.2 IP)
These are the best weekly outputs in each category from the year that was. If you would all stand up to receive a round of applause, that would be lovely.
Along with setting a new yearly record (more on that later) we set a new weekly mark for steals with 23 by two teams! ALL THE STEALS!
TEAM OF THE WEEK
Our weekly shout out to the team that killed it the previous week.
Team: Atavistic Abalones
League: RCL 18 (AKA, The Beat Laura Holt Challenge)
Stats: AVG: .301, R: 50, HR: 15, RBI: 50, SB: 10
IP: 122.2, ERA: 2.49, WHIP: 1.011, K: 134, W: 9, SV: 3
Summary: Atavistic Abalones has made several appearances in this article so far (weekly record for HR and the most wins this week) and that just goes to show the level of competition in this league. Maybe it’s the $100 buy-in or maybe it’s that Laura just brings out the best in everyone. The Abalones finished in fifth place with 69 (nice) league points, but two weeks before the end of the season they were in tenth with 46.5 league points. Fighting to the bitter end, we love to see it. The Abalones didn’t just pile up IP to win TOW honors (though, those ratios in that amount of innings is very impressive) they also batted over .300 and had counting stats galore. It may not pay out and may not ease the wound of not winning a league, but winning TOW honors in the final week is pretty cool if you ask me. Nice work, Abalones!
YEARLY LEADERS
The best of the best from the year that was.
R – 1276 – GMoney Squared (FCL)
HR –381 – Starfish & Coffee (RCL 33)
RBIs – 1246 – Stolen Vortex (RCL 6)
SB – 303 – EarlThePearl#17 (RCL 17) & Elly’s Jelly Bellies (RCL 15)
AVG – .281 – GMoney Squared (FCL)
K – 1689 – Josh Hamilton’s Fake Stache (RCL 35)
W – 111 – Analyzing Unathletic Success (RCL 21) & Fred Garvin MP (COUGS R US)
SV – 185 – Swing Away (RCL 3)
ERA (Min. 1040 IP) – 3.22 – razzkai (Shohei Burnes) (DFSers Anonymous) (in 1407.2 IP)
WHIP (Min. 1040 IP) – 1.112 – spencenoste (RCL 13) (in 1402.1 IP)
IP – Vin (RCL 32) – 1446.1 IP (average IP: 1310)
29 teams failed to reach the 1000 IP minimum, including jacknapier26 (RCL 16) who finished with 999.33.
ABs – 8557 – Save the World (RCL 13) (average: 7171)
K/9 (Min. 1000 IP) – 10.65 – razzkai – extra crispy (Original Recipe)
MOVES – 500 – Analyzing Unathletic Success (RCL 21), AllRice (COUGS R US), & STL Squat Cobblers (ECFBL)
Worst Place – MrsFeatherbottom (RCL 25) – 20.5 RCL Points, 15.0 League Points with a League Index of 103.
We set a new steals record this year and nine teams broke the old record that had stood since 2014 (270). In the end, we finished with a tie and both Earl and Elly go down in the record books. Offense was up across the board as Runs and RBIs were both higher than last year and ERA was up by 0.66 points. At least by the best team margin.
Homers were not up though, I held onto the HR record but finished about 60 short of the all-time record
Our best team last year struck out 1644, so there is a little boost there as well.
Only three teams hit the 500 move mark, down from twelve last year. GMoney Squared’s FCL team leading in two categories is very impressive
Vin broke down the moves made into percentages for you, along with how many titles each range brought. [The number in brackets is the average league points for the teams] Thanks, Vin!
MOVES (Avg League Pts)
500: 3 teams (91.5) – 1 title
400 – 499: 19 teams (83) 5 titles
300 – 399: 29 teams (80.6) 5 titles
200 – 299: 50 teams (78.8) 8 titles
100 – 199: 104 teams (76) 18 titles
51 – 99: 117 teams (67) 5 titles
1 – 50: 180 teams (52) 2 titles
0: 26 teams (41.4) 0 titles
Vin also provided some fun notes on some league winners.
Champs’ Position At The Break:
1st: 18
2nd: 15
3rd: 6
4th: 2
5th: 2
6th: 1
To quote Vin: “I guess if you are in 7th or lower at the all-star break, you can give up.” This makes me even more bitter about not winning RCL 34.
And some data on draft slot:
47 (3 ties) 1st-place finishers by draft slot:
1 – 7
2 – 5
3 – 4
4 – 4
5 – 4
6 – 4
7 – 4
8 – 1
9 – 5
10 – 6
11 – 2
12 – 1
And, finally, some data on who was picked first:
1st-place finishers by 1st-Round Pick
Shohei Ohtani – 10
Ronald Acuna Jr. – 6
Julio Rodriguez – 5
Kyle Tucker – 5
Mookie Betts – 5
Yordan Alvarez – 4
Juan Soto – 3
Trea Turner – 3
Aaron Judge – 2
Jose Ramirez – 2
Corbin Burnes – 1
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – 1
Fernando Tatis was selected in the 2nd round by 11 champions, and also once in the 3rd round.
Just some fun data you can do with what you like. I always think this stuff is fun to peruse.
TOP LEAGUES
I’ve mentioned in the past that I have a bias for high LCI Leagues. I’ve played in several and commish one of the best, so naturally, I want to give them their due. Here are the top 10 leagues in order of LCI:
Night of the Living Zombinos – 107
Cougs R Us – 107
RCL 18 (AKA: Beat Laura Holt Challenge) – 107
RCL 35 – 107
FCL – 105
DFSers Anonymous – 105
RCL 29 – 105
RCL 36 – 105
RCL 37 -105
ECFBL – 104
Perts League – 104
There you have it, the top ten (plus ties) most competitive leagues. Well done leagues! I’m not very surprised that the Champions League was one the most competitive (or NOTLZ for that matter). It was last year and I’m willing to bet it will be next year too. What is surprising is the four-way tie, one of which was a regular $20 buy-in league. If you want a competitive RCL next year, look at these buy-in leagues.
It’s the usual suspects otherwise. ECFBL, and DFSers are perennial top LCI leagues and this year is no different. Nice to see the Perts League pick it up this year. We revamped the managers a bit and it showed this season. RCL 29 is a free league that happened to have some great competition, I love to see that!
NOTLZ was definitely the most dominant league this year, they led in Runs, HRs, RBIs, Wins, WHIP, and made the most moves of any league. They were also second in ERA.
RCL 37 led the way in stolen bases, ECFBL led the RCLs in Saves, RCL 35 led in strikeouts, and RCL 12 led in batting average.
The winners of all these leagues deserve major kudos. It’s not easy winning an RCL and certainly not one with an LCI north of 104. Take note of the league names and maybe reach out next year when the time comes if you want to play in one of the top leagues. I’m almost always looking to fill a few spots in these leagues each year. You have no one to blame but yourself for not being in a competitive league. I played in six of the top ten leagues listed above and each one was a total blast.
It has been an absolute pleasure to bring you these updates every week. Thanks to everyone who read, lurked, commented, and/or gave a kind word. A million thanks to Vin for collecting data and stats for me while we waited for Master Standings to go live. A big thanks to Rudy for running those standings. I love these crazy, time-consuming leagues, I love the daily moves and the competition it creates and I hope that was evident in my weekly reports. Is it perfect? Nah, but darn it, it’s fun as hell. I also love the community it brings together, pitting commenter against commenter, ‘Pert against random lurker. Is there another place on the interweb where you can play against 500+ other people all with weekly Master Standings updated as well as a weekly report on the goings ons? I think not. Thank you to Grey and Rudy for creating this beautiful monster known as the RCLs. Let’s dedicate this season to Tim Wakefield, and enjoy our winter of hibernation. See all you crazies next year, much love.
PSYCH! One last quick note, FanTrax wants to make ULTRA sure there are no stat corrections and locks all our money leagues until October 6th, or maybe even the 8th. It looks like prizes are final on the 6th but the official league end date is the 8th. I’m not sure, but I will try to process payouts the first day I can and the money should then be in your FanTrax account shortly thereafter. If you don’t have it by Monday, let me know in the comments.
Want to be Matt’s Twitter (X?) pal? That’s kinda creepy, but you can follow him here: @MattTruss
