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The final is set. Michael Kenney rudely dispatched of Vaghi to the garbage-filled curb, but that beating falls well short of the massive upset that Eric conjured against the top […]
The final is set. Michael Kenney rudely dispatched of Vaghi to the garbage-filled curb, but that beating falls well short of the massive upset that Eric conjured against the top seed and regular season champ, Mike DiMaio.
The championship is set. Michael Kenney vs. Eric Sieracki. Team LPK vs. Bangarang Rufio. Two weeks to see who wins the hardest fantasy trophy to win.
Before we move onto the championship match, let’s take a look at the semifinals
I am torn on whom to pick for Eric Sieracki’s MVP. On the hitting side he had Texas’sCorey Seager for 14-for-47 (.297, not bad by any means), with a team-leading nine runs scored, four home runs, 11 runs batted in and nine walks. Eric won the hitting, home run, and RBI category. However, on the rubber, Arizona’s Zac Gallen went 12.1 innings in two starts, picking up two HUGE wins (the only the staff with multiple), and recording 14 strikeouts while hurling to a 1.46 ERA and 0.97 WHIP. Eric won the wins and ERA category. In the end I think I am going to go with Corey Seager because somehow, someway, Eric beat DiMaio in the hitting category. It literally came down to the last day, and while Seager had just one hit on Sunday, he still played a crucial part.
The LVP for Eric this week is St. Louis’s Tommy Edman. The utility player, who sees his time at second base while in Eric’s lineup, went 11 for 55 with four runs scored, one home run, three runs batted in and two stolen bases. The runner up is Boston’s Trevor Story going 1 for 20 in his return from injury, but Edman takes the cake with his .214 OBP over the course of 55 at-bats. Edman did not walk once. Eric lost the OBP category, fell short in the runs category and barely won hits. He saw the most plate appearances over the course of two weeks for Eric, and he was not fruitful in any way.
DiMaio’s MVP is a member of the best team in baseball. Charlie Morton, pitcher for the Atlanta Braves, tossed 13.0 scoreless innings surrendering just six hits and two walks while STRIKING OUT 21 BATTERS. Morton was a monster getting two wins against two deplorable franchises: The New York Yankees and the New York Mets. Morton, the New York killer. Unfortunately, he couldn’t pitch against Eric’s lineups.
I am gonna do it. I am telling myself not to do it, but I am going to do it. It may not make sense, but I am still going to do it. Shohei Ohtani is my LVP for DiMaio. The regular season championship is probably reading this and shaking his head, but Ohtani only pitched 1.1 innings. He was scheduled for multiple starts over the two weeks, and having Ohtani out there could have massively swayed the categories of ERA and wins, both of which DiMaio loss. I know it is insane, but I stand by it. Imagine if he was able to play? How different the final weekend could have been?
Heading into the semifinals, Vaghi ranked second in the league in strikeouts and Michael ranked 10th. Dead last. This week, he did the K dance and turned it all around. I am going to give Michael Kenney’s MVP to Philadelphia Philly Zack Wheeler. He threw three times during this matchup with Vaghi, and did not have any low points. He tossed seven innings each time and struck out 20 batters, including 10 against the St. Louis Cardinals. He led the charge of six pitchers who had 10 or more strikeouts.
I am going to be greedy for Michael here. He wanted the sweep in the semis. He wanted the ultimate statement. For that reason I am going to make Team LPK’s LVP Xander Boegarts. The San Diego Padre shortstop went 8-for-49; he only had five runs scored, three home runs, five runs batted in and three walks. He had an OBP of .212. Just absolutely brutal. Imagine if he had five more hits? He would have won the hits category at least made the OBP closer. The Padres are the most underperforming team of the season, but team LPK has exceed his team name now reaching the finals.
Uhh, hard to pick an MVP for Vaghi. This is almost as hard as I had it when I lost to Vaghi, 11-0-0. Does this hurt more because it was the playoffs? There has to be pride in at least making it thus far. Regardless, quickly looking at Vaghi’s roster, there is only one choice for me to make. The only category Kenney didn’t win was on base percentage, and the best OBP performer for Vaghi was Seattle’s Teoscar Hernandez. The Mariners are red hot, and Hernandez was smoking. He had 23 hits, 10 runs, 16 runs batted in and five home runs, all of which led his team. He also had a .448 OBP, which is the highest mark of the matchup.
I am going to stick with a trend here for the losing team LVPs. Fucking Mike Trout getting hurt again. He only had four at-bats this week, and I would like to think that Vaghi would have loved to have a former MVP in his lineup to score some runs and get some more hits. While the matchup was lopsided, some of the categories were close. Trout could have made a huge difference in hits, runs, home runs and stolen bases.
First and foremost, congratulations to Team Dimaio on a great season and a hell of a match.
My guys are special. Down 2-9 and coming back to win 6-5 is such a testament of our mental fortitude and baseball acumen. We know we still have a lot of work to do, but god damnit we’re going to finish the job. Never give up!” (Frank the Tank)
Yours in baseball
Eric “boom boom” Sieracki
Well, if you have to face Vag or DiMaio in fantasy anything, you go into it with limited confidence, the guys are monsters…
Starters delivered for me, 2 wks and an ERA under 3, going to need momentum to derail Rufio.
Michael Kenney
(The rankings are based off regular season totals, so not to skew with the teams that did not care about their consolation matchup lineups.
The one thing I am going to say to Eric. You can not get swept in the hitting categories again. Kenney is 12-0 in the hitting categories against Eric. That is obscene!
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