It’s hard to believe there’s only one week to go in this marathon of a season. We’ve tortured ourselves for 25 long weeks, agonizing over batty calls, dipping into the streamers with mixed results, cursing players and praising others. We’ve ignored our families, our jobs and our personal hygiene and now it all comes down to the final week. You may smell like stale Funyuns, but dagummit, that virtual fantasy trophy is all yours. Team Levy is perfect yet again, gaining back the point they lost last week. After some good conversation with the crowd I came around a bit on Team Levy last week. I was surprised to learn that no one in the history of the RCLs has ever gone perfecto. That just goes to show you what a special feat it is, regardless of league competitive index. We’ve had 117, 118, even 118.5, but never 120. That’s a lot of teams in a lot of leagues, some of them pretty terrible I’m sure. We could be witnessing RCL history folks and if it takes a historic achievement to take down a team from a high LCI league, so be it. Let’s take a look at what else happened in the RCLs this week, in the week that was, week 25:
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.
Stop the fight, stop the fight. With one week to go J-FOH has opened up a commanding lead and even entered the top 20 overall in the Master Standings for good measure. J-FOH gained 4 points this week, tied with Jay and Yahoo’s Dalton Del Don for most in the league, and now holds an 8.5 point lead over second place. Sitting in the second spot is Big Magoo and Team McLeod, both tied at 88. Meanwhile, Grey lost 4 points this week, dropping him to 83 points and well into 4th place.
I had been looking forward to watching this close race the final week, but J-FOH squashed that plan with a big week. J-FOH barely trickled over the GS limit with 181, but did so in style, benching starters that would have tarnished his 2.16 ERA and 0.96 WHIP in 50 IP. Those sterling ratios along with 6 wins really shot J-FOH up the standings. There are still some teams with GS left who can pass J-FOH in Ks but it won’t be enough to bring him down. Quite an impressive second half run for the hateful one.
On a less positive note, Ralph was this week’s biggest loser, dropping 4.5 points and falling under the 70 point mark for the first time since week 19. Ralph now sits comfortably in 6th place with JB nipping at his heals.
TOP 10
For those too lazy to check the MASTER STANDINGS, I present to you, the current top 10
| RK | TEAM | LEAGUE | RCL PTS | LG PTS | LG INDEX | MASTER PTS |
| 1 | Team Levy | All Hail Beddict Tha God | 115.3 | 120 | 98 | 113.9 |
| 2 | Cram It | DFSers Anonymous | 112.4 | 109.5 | 106 | 104.6 |
| 3 | Backdoor Sliders 1 | FCL | 111.4 | 105 | 107 | 106.8 |
| 4 | Team Lion | South Side Titans | 109.9 | 109 | 101 | 108.6 |
| 5 | Fatuous Jeffreys | Cougs R Us | 109.7 | 104.5 | 106 | 104.9 |
| 6 | Big Magoo | Razzballero1 | 108.5 | 108 | 101 | 107.4 |
| 7 | Mordecai Brown Baggers | Oscar`s Gambling on this League | 108 | 105 | 104 | 104.5 |
| 8 | Up North | Mortals Vs. Beddict | 107.3 | 108 | 101 | 104.9 |
| 9 | Hoboken Squat Cobblers | Diickin Around | 106.9 | 106 | 102 | 105.2 |
| 10 | T 1000 | RCL 1000 | 106.3 | 106 | 101 | 105.1 |
As stated in the intro, Team Levy got back to perfection. The LCI of All Hail Beddict Tha God fell even lower, down to 98 now. It’s interesting to note that Team Levy is the only team in the top 25 with an LCI under 100. That just goes to show the power of perfection.
Cram It is making things interesting, he gained 5.5 points in DFSers Anonymous this week. That, along with the 106 LCI has him within 3 points of Team Levy.
Backdoor Sliders put up a TOW worthy performance with both his teams this week, but despite that very strong effort, his FCL team still lost ground to the red hot Cram It. Cram did burn his final 9 GS on Sunday with one of the better 9 GS performances you’ll see all year. Backdoor Sliders still sits a 179. That final stat push could make or break Backdoor’s final ranking.
Team Lion fell from 2nd to 4th due to the strong performances by Cram and Sliders while Fatuous Jeffreys fell from 4th to 5th.
Big Magoo stayed put in 6th but Mordecai Brown Baggers jumped up from 10th to 7th.
No jump was as sweet as Up North’s though. Up North gained 7 points in Mortals vs. Beddict this week to move from 22nd to 8th in the Master Standings. This isn’t the last we’ll hear about Up North during this update.
Finally, Hoboken Squat Cobblers and T 1000 round out the top 10 as Rock Ridge Express got the bump thanks to Up North’s big week.
MAX STARTS: 188
This loophole might be the most controversial in all the RCLs. I’ve seen tantrums thrown, swear words used, names called and even people outright quit RCLs over this rule. I’ve got no issues with it, and I don’t really see why someone would, but I guess some people do. For those not in the know, ESPN has a 180 GS limit. HOWEVER, on the day you reach that 180 mark, any additional starters already in your lineup still count. Hence, if you load up 9 starters in your 9 “P” positions, you can actually achieve 188 Games Started. This is especially handy if you’re chasing someone in Ks and/or wins. It can be decidedly less handy if you’re close in ERA/WHIP as it’s very difficult to land 9 starters and end up with below a 3.50 ERA/1.25 WHIP for the day. Most savvy owners end over the limit by at least 5-6 GS as every counting stat, well, counts. I’d like to note too, that this loophole also exists in Yahoo! leagues. Yahoo! has an IP limit, typically of 1400 IP. However, any and all innings accrued on the day you go over that limit also count towards your total. I’ve used this to my advantage in Yahoo! standard leagues and Pro Leagues plenty over the years to get every last strikeout and win I could. So, without further ado, I will direct you to the greatest spot on Razzball.com that you never new existed, the RCL forums. This is Vin’s download location where he offloads all kinds of great data for you to sift through. If you’re a numbers nerd *raises hand* then you’ll love this place:
https://razzball.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=43371
As you can see, Crammy had a great Sunday of streaming his 9 starters combined for 4 wins and very nice ratios of 2.74 and 1.04. This kid’s good.
I’ve blown my GS in a couple leagues with so-so results. Avoiding the 5+ ERA is key though. 14 teams have reached 187 GS or more and 5 of them ended with a 5+ ERA day with myself and Kid A right behind with 4.87 and 4.93. It’s dangerous business, but a pretty fun game of chicken as well. Make sure to gloat if you have a great day tossing out your final 8 or 9 pitchers.
CLOSE RACES
One week to play, here’s a list of the leagues where the race is tight.
| League | Team | Pts |
| 2016 Shades of Grey | Ryan Howards Backfat | 96.5 |
| HEPATITIS A’S BACK FAT | 94.5 | |
| American Dream | Chicken Shack | 98.5 |
| Team C | 95.5 | |
| BATTAMANIA | Jerk Store | 94.5 |
| SEA DOGS | 93 | |
| Baba Booey | Rudy is Booty | 103 |
| Vin Reigns | 100 | |
| Dropped Third Strike | A Man Named Brady | 99 |
| Mickey’s Maulerz | 96 | |
| Enemies of Beddict | Anyone But Clinton | 95.5 |
| Reverse Cowgirl | 93 | |
| Fountains of Ralph | kumamoto expungers | 93 |
| TN Achilles | 92 | |
| Monsters of Butt Rock | 91 | |
| Muscle Car Fanatics | Pop’s Team | 94 |
| Up North2 | 93 | |
| Nico Sux Dico | You had to make it weird | 99 |
| drunc orks | 96 | |
| Opening Day | Vanilla Manholes | 89 |
| Vin Rains | 86 | |
| Original Recipe 2016 | Unfitness Models | 90.5 |
| The Schmohawks | 89 | |
| Kid A | 88 | |
| Razzamatazzberry | Genny Cream Ale | 89 |
| Vin and Hilda | 88 | |
| Razzballero2 | Snork Juice | 92.5 |
| Big Magoo | 90.5 | |
| The Double V Campaign | 895 | |
| Smoke Show | FIP U Guessed It | 94 |
| River Avenue Blues | 92 | |
| Sons Of Sparky Anklebiter 2 | Team wmosko | 84.5 |
| Socrates’ Burrito | 82 | |
| Take on the JayWrong 2 | Jobu’s Rum | 88.5 |
| Jay Shine | 86 | |
| Take on the JayWrong 3 | Lucky Number | 98 |
| Team 3 | 97 | |
| The Education of Dr Z | 96 | |
| Take on the JayWrong #4 | Alabama HotPockets | 99 |
| 99 Problems Pitch Ain’t One | 99 | |
| The Greatest | Wiffleball Al | 95 |
| Slammers Slam | 93.5 | |
| The Robot Maids | 92 | |
| The Heat Is On | Bronx’s Best Apostle | 81 |
| Chicks Dig the Long Ball | 78 |
In an effort to keep this table somewhat manageable, I had to give a cut off, so I subjectively chose 3. If the race was within 3 points or closer, it got added to the list. If you’d like a somewhat more in depth look, you can check out a post I swear I didn’t know Vin created until after I had made my table, you can look here:
https://razzball.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=42940
Vin used a looser tolerance than I did, so if your feelings are hurt I didn’t include your league here, check yourself out in his post.
WEEKLY LEADERS
The best of the best from the week that was.
R – 64 – Backdoor Sliders 1 (FCL)
HR –20 – Backdoor Sliders 2 (Night of the Living Zombinos), Vin and Jackie (Stream or die!) & Up North (Mortals Vs. Beddict)
RBIs – 66 – Backdoor Sliders 2 (Night of the Living Zombinos)
SB – 15 – If You Can’t Stand The Heat (High Heat)
AVG – .391 – Jerk Store (BATTAMANIA)
K – 191 – Vin and FOH Show (FOHs Fantasy Funride)
W – 10 – Up North (Mortals Vs. Beddict)
SV – 14 – Royal Flush (Myers Superfoods)
ERA (Min. 40 IP) – 1.00 – Team Anthony (Baba Booey) (in 45 IP)
WHIP (Min. 40 IP) – 0.687 – HappyLooking VikingDude (Riverboat Fantasy) (in 55.1 IP)
A new record was set in strikeouts this week as Vin tried his darndest to move a team he took over J-FOH up the standings. He used 37 starts this week and still has 29 GS remaining with a week to go. “A” for effort Vin.
Jerk Store came within 3 batting average points of beating the batting average record, so close.
Up North had a pretty great week, co-leading in HRs and leading in Wins. That type of double duty dominance typical deserves TOW declarations! Dayum!
TEAM OF THE WEEK
Our weekly shout out to the team that killed it the previous week.
Team: Up North
League: Mortals Vs. Beddict
Stats: H/AB: 86/335, AVG: .257, R: 49, HR: 20, RBI: 51, SB: 4
IP: 125.2, ERA: 2.65, WHIP: 1.00, K: 112, W: 10, SV: 6
Summary: Well, would you look at that, it’s almost like I knew what was coming! Up North had a great week both offensively and in pitching. It’s pretty rare to make the weekly leaderboard in both sections. Up North got nice weeks from Goldy, Trea Turner and Justin Upton as well as a 5 win Sunday thanks to streaming Musgrove, Cotton, Bundy and Gsellman (Osuna chipped in a vulture win as well). The big week opened up a huge league lead for Up North (16 points) and pushed Up North into the top 10 overall in the Master Standings. Way to get hot at the right time, it’s starting to get cold at night Up North!
Want to be Matt’s Twitter pal? That’s kinda creepy, but you can follow him here: @MattTruss
