The end is here my friends. I thought for a second there we might have some Monday rain delay controversy, but it all worked out and it was Team Levy who took all the glory! We’ve never had a team with a perfect season until now. This guarantees Team Levy will remain in the RCL record books for all time as the perfect season can never be beaten, only tied. That’s pretty amazing to think about. Out of all the teams that have been managed throughout the the (seven?) years of RCLs and all the leagues we’ve seen, no one has ever pulled off the perfect season. An amazing achievement! For their efforts Team Levy takes home a shizz ton of loot. Let’s see…hold on, searching the site to find the list of goodies…ah-ha, here it is: an autographed baseball of the player who is Grey’s avatar. That’s right, an autographed baseball of… Well, I guess only Grey and Team Levy will know. Levy will also receive an autographed baseball of Oscar Gamble! That’s two, count ‘em, two autographed balls and last, but not least, a $250 Best Buy gift card. I remember Best Buy, that was the place we used to go before the internet was invented to buy things like video games, CDs and speakers. I’m pretty sure my local Best Buy just went out of business as a matter of fact. Good times! Oh, and Grey says he’ll throw in a Razzball T-shirt as well. I don’t believe Team Levy has checked in via comments at all this year, but now would be the time. Levy fended off some very tough competitors this year to claim the RCL crown and it took every bit of that perfect score to win. Cram It put up a valiant final few weeks but came up 1 point short of going back to back. Still first, followed by 2nd overall, beating out thousands in the process is no laughing matter. Cram It deserves some major kudos. This is Team Levy’s moment though, so hopefully they show up, take a bow and soak it up, they earned it. Here’s what else what happened this year and this final week of the RCLs:
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.
It’s J-FOH’s league and Grey’s just living in it. J-FOH finished the year up 10 points for an easy cruise to victory lane. Someone around here *Blows on kunckles* called J-FOH as the league winner right after the draft and lookie, lookie, J-FOH made me…errr, them…look smart. Way back in the middle of June J-FOH was in 8th place and looked to just be going through the motions. Something snapped at the halfway point and though and J-FOH moved into 2nd for much of August before taking over first place at the beginning of September. He would never relent. Congrats J-FOH, who like David Ortiz, retires on top. I will call him Big Odio.
Grey really gave it a go, gaining 2.5 points the final week to move into second place, passing Big Magoo and Team McLeod along the way. Grey is the best of the worst! Congrats Fantasy Master Lothario.
Nice showing by Team McLeod, but the pressure of the final week got to them and they dropped 6 points to fall to 4th. It’s nice to see the trio of Razzballers up top, but McLeod was no slouch. Very impressive for someone outside the halls of Razz.
The ‘Perts league in general had a nice showing, typically weighed down by dead teams the ‘Perts league posted a VERY respectable 107 League Competitive Index (LCI) this year. That was enough to buoy J-FOH up to 23rd overall. Nice work by all involved!
TOP 20
For those too lazy to check the MASTER STANDINGS, I present to you, the FINAL top 20
| RK | TEAM | LEAGUE | RCL PTS | LG PTS | LG INDEX | MASTER PTS |
| 1 | Team Levy | All Hail Beddict Tha God | 114.6 | 120 | 98 | 113.3 |
| 2 | Cram It | DFSers Anonymous | 113.6 | 110 | 107 | 106.1 |
| 3 | Backdoor Sliders 1 | FCL | 112 | 107 | 107 | 105.7 |
| 4 | Fatuous Jeffreys | Cougs R Us | 111.8 | 107 | 106 | 106.4 |
| 5 | Team Lion | South Side Titans | 110 | 110 | 101 | 108 |
| 6 | Hoboken Squat Cobblers | Diickin Around | 108.7 | 108 | 102 | 106.5 |
| 7 | Jose FernandezMemorial Team | RCL 1000 | 108.6 | 108.5 | 101 | 106.8 |
| 8 | Up North | Mortals Vs. Beddict | 108.4 | 109 | 101 | 106.1 |
| 9 | Mordecai Brown Baggers | Oscar`s Gambling on this League | 107.5 | 104 | 104 | 104.4 |
| 10 | A Python Named Glycon | Albright`s E-Cougar-Harmony.com | 106.4 | 108 | 100 | 104.2 |
| 11 | Big Magoo | Razzballero1 | 106.3 | 106 | 101 | 104.4 |
| 12 | ExtremeMakeover Ploop Edition | Great Knocks | 106.1 | 106 | 101 | 104.4 |
| 13 | Vin Spins | Saskatchewan | 104.9 | 106 | 100 | 104.2 |
| 14 | Rock Ridge Express | Riverboat Fantasy | 104.6 | 101.5 | 103 | 103.9 |
| 15 | Case of the Goldschmidts | JB`s RCL | 103.8 | 106 | 100 | 101.8 |
| 16 | Team Bromelia | Cougs R Us | 102.9 | 96 | 106 | 100.7 |
| 17 | Samuel Colt Debate Team | DFSers Anonymous | 102.9 | 98.5 | 107 | 97.3 |
| 18 | New Jersey DOMINICAN | That`ll do Puig | 102.5 | 102 | 102 | 100.5 |
| 19 | kumamoto basashi | The Force Awakens | 102.1 | 99.5 | 101 | 103.7 |
| 20 | Team Frost | Cougs R Us | 101.6 | 97 | 106 | 96.9 |
I’m expanding the top 10 to the top 20 for the final standings. 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 season’s end.
Backdoor Sliders gave it every stat he could put up the final week, but couldn’t catch Team Levy or Cram It. He’ll have to settle for the bronze and try again next year.
Fatuous Jeffreys took home the crown in Cougs R Us, a league that featured three top 20 overall teams. That’s an impressive accomplishment.
Hoboken Squat Cobblers wraps up in 6th place overall. The Cobblers were one of my favorite teams to track this year, they really played the format well, tip of the cap.
T1000 switch up the team name the final week as a nice tribute. Well done.
Up North hung onto the 8th spot after rocketing up the standings last week. Talk about getting hot at the right time.
Speaking of hot, A Python Named Glycon was 29th overall 3 weeks ago. They snuck into the top 10 on the final week after a steady climb the past couple weeks.
The rest of the top 20 features some familiar Razzballers including Big Magoo (11th), myself (12th), VinWin’s highest placing team (13th) and MauledByPandas (17th). Take your victory lap fellas.
WEEKLY LEADERS
The best of the best from the week that was.
R – 62 – Fatuous Jeffreys (Cougs R Us) & Team Lion (South Side Titans)
HR –21 – Grey’s Fuckhole (Razzball ‘Perty ‘Perts)
RBIs – 63 – 24 to 35 degrees (Gettin Frisky)
SB – 19 – Rock Ridge Express (Chicks Dig The Razzballing)
AVG – .357 – Kylo Renterria (Sons Of Sparky Anklebiter 2)
K – 183 – Vin Raines (RCL 1000)
W – 13 – Vin Spins (Saskatchewan)
SV – 12 – Calgary Cannons (Razzballero1)
ERA (Min. 40 IP) – 0.99 – The Grand Dudapest Hotel (Cougs R Us) (in 45.1 IP)
WHIP (Min. 40 IP) – 0.86 – Smoke Show (Razzball ‘Perty ‘Perts) (in 42 IP)
Nice of Tehol to show up for the final week…I wonder how Grey likes that team name?
Vin streamed his butt off the final week and has a couple weekly appearances to show for it.
WEEKLY RECORDS
The best of the best from the weeks that were.
R – 79 – Ford Pinto’s (Muscle Car Fanatics)
HR –29 – Hoboken Squat Cobblers (Diickin Around)
RBIs – 80 – Rusty Trumbo (FOHs Fantasy Funride)
SB – 21 – @StatsR_ Us (Straight BESTBUY Homie)
AVG – .393 – Team Redknapp (12 Monkeys Clicking)
K – 191 – Vin and FOH Show (FOHs Fantasy Funride)
W – 13 – Calgary Cannons (Razzballero1), Vin and Angela (Center Field), Vintage Ross (Trout Mask Replica) & Vin Spins (Saskatchewan)
SV – 17 – Calgary Cannons (Razzballero1) & Vin and Jackie (Stream or die!)
ERA (Min. 40 IP) – 0.21 – Andrew Family Tree (Original Recipe 2016) (in 42.2 IP)
WHIP (Min. 40 IP) – 0.58 – Exiled to the End Draft Slot (The Balking Dead) (in 44.2 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.
TEAM OF THE WEEK
Our weekly shout out to the team that killed it the previous week.
Team: Vin Rockies
League: Razzball Riverboat
Stats: H/AB: 98/346, AVG: .283, R: 52, HR: 16, RBI: 61, SB: 13
IP: 173.1, ERA: 3.79, WHIP: 1.27, K: 163, W: 9, SV: 0
Summary: I mentioned above that Vin streamed his butt off this week and he did so with many teams. How many? We will never know (30) but Vin had the top 6 teams in the TOW standings and 7 of the top 10. It wasn’t all pitching either, the hitting stats were all stellar as well. That many innings with those ratios is a thing of beauty. It wasn’t just throwing a bunch of junk at the wall and seeing what happened. It’s no wonder Vin is one of the top players in the game. Take notes everyone.
YEARLY LEADERS
The best of the best from the year that was.
R – 1283 – Backdoor Sliders 1 (FCL) – A NEW RCL RECORD (Beating Astros to Mouth (Spiders and Snakes) 2015 record of 1239 Runs)
HR –377 – Vinyl Ross (2016 Shades of Grey) – A NEW RCL RECORD (Beating Astros to Mouth (Spiders and Snakes) 2015 record of 368 Home Runs)
RBIs – 1213 – Vinyl Ross (2016 Shades of Grey) – A NEW RCL RECORD (Beating The FreshPrince Of Hell’s Lair (The Underground) 2015 record of 1149 Runs)
SB – 235 – Team Lion (South Side Titans)
AVG – .292 – Team james (Enemies of Beddict)
K – 1801 – Rudy is Booty (Baba Booey) – A NEW RCL RECORD (Beating Team Grungeball (Crow All Day) 2014 record of 1697 Strikeouts)
W – 122 – Samuel Colt Debate Team (DFSers Anonymous) – A NEW RCL RECORD (Beating Team bjorklund (Don’t even remember last year) & Team Lyon (Original Recipe 2015) 2015 record of 119 Wins)
SV – 240 – Rudy is Booty (Baba Booey)
ERA (Min. 1000 IP) – 2.86 – Fred Rogers Cardigan (The Force Awakens) (in 1194.1 IP)
WHIP (Min. 1000 IP) – 1.057 – Half the Diet (Razzball Riverboat) (in 1344.1 IP)
AB – Kid A (FCL) – 8301
IP – Backdoor Sliders 1 (FCL) – 1634
K/9 (Min. 1000 IP) – Rudy Gamble (Razzball `Perty `Perts) – 11.1
K/GS (Min. 1000 IP) – Reverse Cowgill (Enemies of Beddict) – 12.58
K/GS (Min. 160 GS) – Rudy Is Booty (Baba Booey) – 10.12
MOVES – Rudy Is Booty (Baba Booey) – 2879
Worst Place – Trailerpark Romeo (Night of the Living Zombinos) – 15.1 RCL Points, 10 League Points for the rare “reverse perfecto”.
Do you suppose offense was up this year? The RCLs set new records in Runs, Homers and RBIs. Strikeouts and Wins records were also set though, so who knows.
Backdoor Sliders is a master of collecting counting stats and that shows in his record setting amount of Runs. It’s interesting to note that the Sliders also led the RCLs in Innings Pitched. That’s maximization of both offense and pitching. Impressive stuff.
Vin set new records in HRs and RBIs, beating both by a healthy margin. Nice job Vin!
Rudy Is Booty is everyone’s favorite moves maker. RIB led the world in strikeouts, beating the old mark by over 100 strikeouts. Even more impressive is that RIB only used 178 GS to accomplish the feat. With such a large lead in the league RIB didn’t need to run the extra pitchers out there, but what could have been! RIB also led the RCLs in Saves this year with 240. RIB lapped the field in moves as well with 2879. That’s what happens when you’re changing out your entire offense on the daily. All those moves netted RIB a half point win in Baba Booey and 65th overall in the Master Standings. Still, I’m impressed they stuck with the strategy all year long.
MauledByPandas snuck out a new Wins record, what a lucky duck.
Kid A led the RCLs in ABs. Kid is another insanely active owner that understands the need to get the most out of every day. He finished second in the FCL to Backdoor Sliders, but did manage to top Cram It’s FCL team.
It was a season to forget for Rudy Gamble in the ‘Perts League, but as a consolation he did lead the RCLs in K/9.
I harped on K/GS back in the preseason as a stat that I felt was more important than simply K/9. I feel like K/GS is a much better indicator of where you stand within your league since the RCLs have a GS limit, not an IP limit. Reverse Cowgill topped the RCLs in the stat but only used 95 GS. Still, they met the minimum for IP to qualify. If you want to look at those teams that did maximize their GS, Rudy Is Booty and their 178 GS managed a 10.12 K/GS. I typically shoot for right around a 9, so these managers really nailed it this year.
Finally, a quick shout out to Trailerpark Romeo who managed the feat of finishing DFL in the Master Standings. The Romeo’s achieved the very rare “reverse perfect team”, nailing down 1s in every category, across the board. The topper is this occured in the league, Night of the Living Zombinos, one of the top RCLs and I believe a league featuring a $100 buy-in. That means the Romeos tried and still came up epicly short. That’s almost as impressive as the perfect season. If you’re going to fail, at least fail spectacularly I suppose.
TOP LEAGUES
I mentioned a couple weeks back 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:
ECFBL – 109
FCL – 107
Razzball ‘Perty Perts – 107
DFSers Anonymous – 107
Cougs R Us – 106
Night of the Living Zombinos – 106
Oscar`s Gambling on this League – 104
Razzball Lurkers – 104
The Heat Is On – 104
Riverboat Fantasy – 103
Razzballero2 – 103
There you have it, the top 11 when you include ties. Well done leagues! I love seeing the ‘Perts League up there, nice job ‘Perts! After a one year hiatus, ECFBL once again returns to the top of the heap in LCI. ECFBL led the leagues in every offensive category except for batting average. On the pitching side they led in IPs, Ks, and Wins. The ECFBL is one tough cookie, so a big congrats to Simply Fred for taking the crown this year. 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 102. 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. For more on the top leagues, you can always check out VinWins work HERE.
It has been an absolute pleasure bringing you these updates every week. Thanks to everyone who read, lurked, commented and/or gave a kind word. A million thanks go out to VinWins for collecting data and being my right hand man through all this, is service to the RCLs is invaluable. Thanks to J-FOH for suggesting I take this gig. He knows my passion for the RCLs and I hope that was evident in my weekly reports. I love these crazy, time-consuming leagues, I love the daily moves and the competition is creates. Is it perfect? Nah, but darnit, it’s fun as hell. I like to think of it as the daily fantasy of season long. 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 1,000 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 p0rk burn & Jose Fernandez, RIP and enjoy our winter of hibernation. See you all you crazies next year.
Want to be Matt’s Twitter pal? That’s kinda creepy, but you can follow him here: @MattTruss
