RCL Update: The Week That Was, Week 11

Earned run averages are taking a beating in the Razzball Commenter Leagues this year.  It seems like every week when I run through the weekly data there is a large number of teams with 6+ ERAs for the week.  It makes sense, with MLBers on pace to set another league wide home run record that (mostly) no pitchers are safe.  Where a 3.50 ERA used to mean you were middle of the league, now you could be leading your league with that mark.  The average ERA for the RCLs is a 3.96 right now.  That seems high, in fact, all of these numbers seem high.  So, I compared them to last season’s end of year stats.  The average ERA for the RCLs last season was 3.71.  We haven’t even hit the hot summer months yet when the bats really come alive and we’re already looking at a 0.25 ERA hike.  I can’t be certain, but I wouldn’t expect the end of season ERA to be lower than it is right now.  There are only 117 of our 876 teams (13.35%) with an ERA of 3.50 or lower.  Last season we had nearly double that number to finish the season, 226 of 1020 (22.15%).  The leader in the ERA clubhouse currently is Team Visbisky of league Viz Versus The Commenters with a 2.642 ERA in only 265 IP.  If we were to use my arbitrary weekly cutoff limit of 40 IP for 11 weeks and find a team with 440+ IP, that number jumps to a 2.761 ERA by Guys and Dahls (great team name by the way) of Super League fame.  Interestingly, the current worst team ERA is also from the Super League.  Long Dongs is sporting a 5.576 ERA in 500 IP, good for DFL in the RCLs.  I should also note that 3 of the 4 robot managed teams are currently in the top 100 for ERA, with one checking in at 17th.  So, should we all run out and trade for Clayton Kershaw to offset this high ERA nonsense?  I don’t think so, personally (although, maybe Long Dongs should).  With guys like Jason Vargas and Ervin Santana out there doing their thing and Lance McCullers and Robbie Ray that could likely be had for cheaper, I don’t think Kershaw is necessary.  It might cause you to think about the value of Alex Wood or Jose Berrios a little differently though.  Something to keep in mind, but for the most part, everyone is in the same ERA boat.  Just remember, that 3.70 ERA might not be so bad after all.  More ERA talk and more stats from the week that was, week 11 below:

‘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.

Speaking of ERAs, there were some doosies in the ‘Perts league this week.  Our fearless leader, Mr. Albright, got tagged for a 6.23 ERA in 65 IP thanks to ill-fated streams of JC Ramirez, Jaime Garcia, Zack Wheeler and Ty Blach.  All that earned run action caused Grey to slip below 100 for the first time in quite some time.  Maybe it’s the beginning of the end of Grey’s reign of terror over the ‘Perts League.

Mike Maher fared even worse, posting a 6.89 ERA in 62.2 IP.  Mike owes his ratio woes (Woetios?) to Antonio Senzatela, Trevor Gott, Mike Leake, Marco Estrada and Christian Bergman.  On the bright side though, Mike did have a 7 HR day on Friday.  That’s pretty sweet.  

Taking the ERA cake this week was Cram It.  Fortunately for Cram It, it was only in 36 IP, but his 9.50 ERA is pretty heinous.  Crammy doesn’t stream much, relying on a lot of middle relievers to boost his pitching stats right now instead.  When those relievers blow up like they did this week (Joe Biagini – 6 ER, 1 IP) things go south in a hurry.  Interestingly, Cram It had the balls to stream Jeff Hoffman in Coors and got away with it, however, he picked the wrong time to stream Joe Ross vs. the Braves.  Go figure.  The big ERA caused Cram It to trade place with JB this week and fall to 4th.

JB was the big winner this week.  In between blocking Grey on Twitter and enjoying semi-retirement, he’s staying on top of his RCL team.  JB gained 7.5 points this week and jumped from 4th to 2nd.  On the negative side, Smokey continued his free fall from 72 points and 5th place 3 weeks ago, to 59 points and 9th place this week.

TOP 10

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

Rakers Nation aka Mad Beach Bums holds on for another week.  The robots got restless after last week though and two now sit within the ranks of the top 10 overall.  The Swamp Donkeys jumped over Cram It and Returning Champ to claim the second spot, with Rudy is Snooty right on their heels.  Frequent Commenter and long time Razzballer, Al KOHLIC jumps into the top 5.  Congrats Al!  FIP U Guessed It moves from 10th last week to 7th this week while Vottoman Empire falls from 5th to 8th.  The South Side Hitmen round out the top 10 as we lost Team Albright (14th) and Team Dingerz (15th) this week.

TRADES

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

Another fairly quiet week in trading.  I like swapping Joey Bats for Matt Carpenter there, and I’m not even a huge Matt Carpenter guy.  Jose looks to be cooling off again though and Carpenter should be more consistent down the stretch.

Who’d have thunk that Elvis Andrus for Trevor Story would be thing back in April?

Or Chris Sale for Aaron Judge for that matter.  That’s totally legit though.  Power arm for power bat.

WEEKLY LEADERS

The best of the best from the week that was.

R – 71 – Ralph Ruiz (Rio Ruiz Super League) & Team Langland (Razzmonsters)

HR –27 – Wiffleball Al (Jay’s here until Football Starts)

RBIs – 79 – Milo the Cat (Night of the Living Zombinos Standings)

SB – 16 – Fistful of Yen (Great Knocks) & kumamoto quakers (Take on Jay)

AVG – .374 – Team McClintock (The Pete Rose Integrity Society)

K – 111 – Team Corkill (We’re All Winners)

W – 9 – Lucille’s Skull Smashers (South Side Titans) & Balls To the Wall (Chicks dig the deep Razzballing!)

SV –  10 – $15 Coors Lights (Man on Third One Out) & Smoke Show (Razzball Writers League)

ERA (Min. 40 IP) – 1.88 – One Bad Inning (ECFBL) (in 48 IP)

WHIP (Min. 40 IP) – 0.84 – Team McClintock (The Pete Rose Integrity Society) (in 47.2 IP)

Prospector Ralph with the big week in Runs.  This same team finished runner up in the TOW standings this week too, nice work Ralph!

Wiffleball Al tied the weekly HR record with 27 this week and we have a new leader in weekly RBI output with Milo the Cat knocking in 79!

One of the most impressive stats is Team McClintock and their .374 batting average while also leading the RCLs in WHIP.  It’s not often you see such dominance on both sides of the roto categories.  The batting average set a new high water mark for the weekly record.

You may know One Bad Inning better by his commenting handle, Happy Vegans.  Always nice to see the frequent commenters checking in on the leader board.  Nice ERA!

TEAM OF THE WEEK

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

Team: MattTruss 223

League: DFSers Anonymous

Stats:   H/AB: 94/347, AVG: .271, R: 66, HR: 24, RBI: 52, SB: 7

IP: 74, ERA: 2.55, WHIP: 1.00, K: 68, W: 6, SV: 2

Summary: I swear I didn’t rig this.  I only go by the numbers.  Ralph was right there behind me, but in the end it was my better pitching ratios and two saves to his zero that edged out his higher batting average for the week.  I also thought Team McClintock would be pushing for TOW honors.  Their 17 HRs and only 3 Wins held them back some though.  Mookie, Bellinger and Jose Ramirez led the offensive charge for my teams this week.  Chris Sale, Jacob deGrom (finally!) and Jacob Faria held it down on the pitching side of things.  All this fine week got me was one measly roto point as I continue to marinate in 2nd place behind Vottoman Empire who has been on a rampage the last month plus.  Oh well, better this than a week with a 9.50 ERA and single digit HRs.

Want to be Matt’s Twitter pal?  That’s kinda creepy, but you can follow him here: @MattTruss