RCL Update: The Week That Was, Week 21

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:

‘PERTY ‘PERTS

Each week we’ll peek in at our resident ‘perts & other industry names to see who is laying claim to best “expert” RCLer in the land.  We’ll take notes, check the standings and generally stalk them.  Click the heading above to check out the ‘Perts League home page and follow along.

As noted in the comments last week, J-FOH took the lead Monday in the ‘Perts league and held onto it all week long, finishing Sunday with a 0.5 point lead over Team McLeod.  My rallying cry was heard by all, as a trio of our Razzball ‘Perts are making life rather uncomfortable for Team McLeod.  J-FOH up front, Big Magoo nipping at his heels (5 points back) and Grey, trying to not be left behind is there in 4th, 8.5 points back.

J-FOH tacked on 4.5 points this week and was once again the league’s biggest weekly winner.  That’s back to back weeks leading the league in points gained for J-FOH.  In those two weeks he’s climbed from 3rd to 1st with 11 total points gained.

Right behind J-FOH was Big Magoo with 3.5 points gained.  Grey and Team McLeod tried to keep pace by adding 2 points of their own.

Yahoo’s Dalton Del Don and Razzball’s own, Rudy Gamble didn’t fair so well this week.  Each manager lost 3.5 points, yet each moved in opposite directions in the standings.  Triple D dropped two spots from 5th to 7th, however Rudy actually gained a position as Team Gianella was the week’s biggest loser.  Team Gianella lost 5 points this week to fall into a tie for 8th with Mr. Gamble.

TOP 10

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

If the top 10 looks familiar to you, that’s because it is.  All the same teams are included from last, save for Rock Ridge Express who fell to 12th to make room for the Hoboken Squat Cobblers in 10th place overall.  There was some shuffling of teams this week however.  Backdoor Sliders was in contention for Team of the Week honors this week (as was Hoboken Squat Cobblers) and jumped over Cram It in the process.  Big Magoo and Simply Fred continue their ascension up the rankings as Team Son slipped up a bit this week falling from 4th to 7th.

FIRST FIVE

I thought it’d be a fun exercise to take a look at the first 5 draft picks of our current top 10 teams, so here we go:

First of all, anyone that drafted Mookie Betts after the 2nd round should have an asterisk added to their team name.  This is the league where Cody Allen was drafted 4th overall though, so these things happen here.

There’s a slight edge to the early draft positions here, but not much with 6 of the 10 team with an early (4th pick or better) pick.

If you had first pick and were able to draft Trout, Betts, Xander, Cespedes, Strasburg, you’re probably doing OK in your league this year.

WEEKLY LEADERS

The best of the best from the week that was.

R – 73 – Vinegar Ross (Towering Inferno)

HR –28 – Vinegar Ross (Towering Inferno) & Vintage Ross (Trout Mask Replica)

RBIs – 70 – Bronx’s Best Apostle (The Heat Is On)

SB – 14 – Team Lion (South Side Titans)

AVG – .364 – Light Tower Power (Nico Sux Dico)

K – 121 – Johnny Utahs (FCL)

W – 10 – Capital Offense (Razzball Commenter League Max)

SV –  14 – Sliding Dirty (Razzball Commenter League Max)

ERA (Min. 40 IP) – 0.21 – Andrew Family Tree (Original Recipe 2016) (in 42.2 IP)

WHIP (Min. 40 IP) – 0.69 – Vanilla Manholes (Opening Day) (in 43.1 IP)

VinWins tied the HR record with two different teams this week, beat that!

We have a new ERA record, and one I expect will be very tough to beat.  Andrew Family Tree benefitted from absentee managerial duties as he sat Danny Salazar and left Chris Tillman in his starting roster.  That left Kevin Gausman, Edinson Volquez, Jake Odorizzi and Jose Fernandez along with a slew of RPs to give up 1 ER in 42.2 IP.

TEAM OF THE WEEK

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

Team: Vinegar Ross

League: Towering Inferno

Stats:   H/AB: 115/334, AVG: .344, R: 73, HR: 28, RBI: 58, SB: 8

IP: 50.2, ERA: 2.13, WHIP: 1.16, K: 46, W: 3, SV: 8

Summary: It was only a matter of time before one of Vin’s teams made it to the TOW.  He’s been close a few times, but finally broke through with an impressive offensive display paired with a carefully chosen 50 IP.  Vin got big weeks from Gary Sanchez, Kris Bryant and Gregory Polanco.  If it weren’t for getting burned by Joe Musgrove, he’d have had an even better pitching week thanks to adding Robbie Ray, Rich Hill and streaming Yordano Ventura early in the week.  Vin sits 10 points ahead of his nearest competitor, who, despite the league name is not Smokey (he’s in 11th).  Nice work Vin!

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