So we are at the midway point of the year. Well not really, but since it was the All-Star Break, that means we have a few days off and then Yahoo combines the rest of this week with next week. So it is the theoretical midseason break. Whatever, stop questioning my thought process.
Anyways, here are the standings so far this season. I know I update you every week, but this is the actual standings.
As you can see, I am your overall leader with Sean leading his division and only a game behind me. From there we have Pat, Gideon, Ryan, Adam2, Lindsey, Jason, Offord, and Dustin. Yep, that was just an excuse to let you know who was who.
So the real question is, how is each team doing? As I have done in the past, I looked at the totals in each category, then ranked each team. The leader gets 10 points, second 9, etc. Then I added up the scores and that gives us an overall score.
Looking at the hitters, something interesting pops out right away: projections can be quite stupid. Back then I felt that Gideon and myself had the top two hitting teams. As you can see, this is not the case. Adam2 and Sean hold those honors. Adam2 is absolutely dominating in runs, home runs, and RBIs. The only thing keeping me from being a far lower team is stolen bases. Okay, not really true, even if my SBs were middle, I would still be a middle of the pack offensive team. Odd how that works.
So what does that tell me? I could probably sacrifice one of my SB guys and try to find some power. Definitely something to consider. Lindsey’s team is definitely struggling. She definitely needs some power, but also someone who gets on base and hits for average. Basically she needs McCutchen.
The pitching was a little different. Again, the projections had my team being the second best here and I ended up being the best with Pat a close second. Look at the drop off in Adam2’s pitching. If he had better pitching, he would be a dominant force. Something else I want to point out here. Ryan claims that he finds the Holds category to be pointless. He does not draft for it and he barely attempts to find players to pick them up. Now look at Pat. He has the most Holds and leads in ERA and is third in WHIP. Pat has weak starting pitching, but his middle relievers are making up the difference. His middle relieves have actually picked up a nice chunk of his wins as well all while driving down his rate stats.
But there is another interesting fact in here as well. Ryan has the third best team according to this methodology. So why is Ryan in fifth and Pat in third? Mostly luck. Ryan has been losing those weekly matchups in categories that he is doing well in whereas Pat is squeaking by. For example, even though Ryan is tied for the best OBP, his head-to-head record in that category is 7-7-0 and Pat, who has the second worst is also 7-7-0. That is crazy.
Want another improbable one? Pat has the third worst RBI total while Ryan has the third best. Their H2H totals? Pat is 8-6-0 and Ryan is 6-7-1. See why I enjoy H2H leagues? You can have a terrible week and still win. Your team only has to be just slightly better than the other team.
Good luck to everyone in the second half. I have some starting pitching and stolen base guys if anyone is interested…
