The Shocker final four featured four teams that have been at the top all season long so many in the fantasy baseball industry were expecting this to be quite possibly the greatest semifinal round of baseball ever witnessed. It did not live up to the hype but we did get to see a back-to-back champ become one step closer to immortality while the roto champ awaits him after dominating Jeff Petty.
The Suer-centric matchup might have ended 8-3-1 but Zach was bumping Matty’s bumper repeatedly and no matter what, could never gain enough momentum to pass. If Zach’s bullpen doesn’t light the mound on fire time after time in the first week of competition, the Losses, ERA, and WHIP categories could all have gone in Zach’s favor, catapulting him to the title round. Jeff Petty was standing on the tracks when the train came through (butthead) and never looked remotely close to playing in the same class as Arch. Jeff Petty will suffer the unfortunate fate of coming close to a regular season title, the roto title (sort of), and the title round but fail to win any money from being not quite good enough.
Shocker Series Preview
Predictably, no man has ever won three consecutive titles in the eight years we’ve been playing in this league but Matt Suer is two good weeks away from fantasy baseball immortality. In his way, stands a man who is very familiar with winning fantasy baseball games and championships as Bryan Archuleta will try to become the third two-time champion in our league if he can continue to play stellar fantasy ball. These teams are tighter than the buttons on Tommy Lasorda’s shirt and I envision a back-and-forth battle that could come down to the final weekend. We’ll break it down on both sides of the boxscore with a little Team Batter breakdown followed by a Team Pitching preview to see if we can find any edge that might decide this series.
Arch put together our best batting lineup for the regular season and this dominance carried into the playoffs, as expected, where Arch has cruised to 11-1-0 advantage over his two previous opponents in the batting categories. This might make Matty nervous but what should put him at ease is Matty's 11-1-0 batting record in the playoffs built on the recent hot streak his team is on. All of this batter swagger should allow both of these men to whip their dicks out and have a good old fashioned pissing contest in the finals. I would give the slight edge in the stolen base categories to Arch but that could be offset by Harry Doyle’s ability to strike out less. In regards to runs, homers, RBI’s and OPS, all of these are up for grabs. Arch will hope his Texas twosome of Beltre and Odor continue to detonate blasts in Arlington while also needing Goldschmidt, Betts, and Donaldson to break out of their funks. Gary Sanchez has predictably come down to earth so while Arch would seem to have the better hitters, he’s going to need some of his reliable hitters to get back in the same groove that allowed Arch to get here.
Matty has the hotter sticks currently with Realmuto, Turner, Freeman, Eaton, Buxton, and Kiermaier all riding high. Buxton and Kiermaier have come out of nowhere lately but could easily revert back to their automatic out selves so we’ll see how long their flame burns during the most important series of the season. This is true for a lot of Harry Doyle's hitters with the role players stepping up big time to complement the usual studs in the order. To give you an idea of how tight these teams are, .005 separates their team OPS percentages from each other and they are the top two teams in our league in that category by far. The proper armor should be worn in this Battle for the Bats and when this is over, we’ll see a lot of perished rawhide and broken Louisville Sluggers laid to waste and I see no true winner being declared as they split the batting categories 3-3-0.
The Suer-centric matchup might have ended 8-3-1 but Zach was bumping Matty’s bumper repeatedly and no matter what, could never gain enough momentum to pass. If Zach’s bullpen doesn’t light the mound on fire time after time in the first week of competition, the Losses, ERA, and WHIP categories could all have gone in Zach’s favor, catapulting him to the title round. Jeff Petty was standing on the tracks when the train came through (butthead) and never looked remotely close to playing in the same class as Arch. Jeff Petty will suffer the unfortunate fate of coming close to a regular season title, the roto title (sort of), and the title round but fail to win any money from being not quite good enough.
Shocker Series Preview
Predictably, no man has ever won three consecutive titles in the eight years we’ve been playing in this league but Matt Suer is two good weeks away from fantasy baseball immortality. In his way, stands a man who is very familiar with winning fantasy baseball games and championships as Bryan Archuleta will try to become the third two-time champion in our league if he can continue to play stellar fantasy ball. These teams are tighter than the buttons on Tommy Lasorda’s shirt and I envision a back-and-forth battle that could come down to the final weekend. We’ll break it down on both sides of the boxscore with a little Team Batter breakdown followed by a Team Pitching preview to see if we can find any edge that might decide this series.
Arch put together our best batting lineup for the regular season and this dominance carried into the playoffs, as expected, where Arch has cruised to 11-1-0 advantage over his two previous opponents in the batting categories. This might make Matty nervous but what should put him at ease is Matty's 11-1-0 batting record in the playoffs built on the recent hot streak his team is on. All of this batter swagger should allow both of these men to whip their dicks out and have a good old fashioned pissing contest in the finals. I would give the slight edge in the stolen base categories to Arch but that could be offset by Harry Doyle’s ability to strike out less. In regards to runs, homers, RBI’s and OPS, all of these are up for grabs. Arch will hope his Texas twosome of Beltre and Odor continue to detonate blasts in Arlington while also needing Goldschmidt, Betts, and Donaldson to break out of their funks. Gary Sanchez has predictably come down to earth so while Arch would seem to have the better hitters, he’s going to need some of his reliable hitters to get back in the same groove that allowed Arch to get here.
Matty has the hotter sticks currently with Realmuto, Turner, Freeman, Eaton, Buxton, and Kiermaier all riding high. Buxton and Kiermaier have come out of nowhere lately but could easily revert back to their automatic out selves so we’ll see how long their flame burns during the most important series of the season. This is true for a lot of Harry Doyle's hitters with the role players stepping up big time to complement the usual studs in the order. To give you an idea of how tight these teams are, .005 separates their team OPS percentages from each other and they are the top two teams in our league in that category by far. The proper armor should be worn in this Battle for the Bats and when this is over, we’ll see a lot of perished rawhide and broken Louisville Sluggers laid to waste and I see no true winner being declared as they split the batting categories 3-3-0.
Clayton Kershaw returned just in time to put a bow on Matty’s season but his first time on the bump in a while was a bumpy ride against the Marlins. It will be very interesting to see if Kershaw will struggle to find his feel again or if he can quickly become the best pitcher in baseball in his next couple of starts. Matt might bleed Dodger blue as he will rely on Maeda and Rich Hill to carry the load if Kershaw cannot. We've seen what Rich Hill is capable of when he’s healthy but he is also suffering from a demon blister from hell that will not cool off no matter what treatment old man Hill tries. Matty has stacked his rotation as he has all season long so he might be able to escape with a QS and K victory but could also come across some Loss problems if some of his middle rotation guys falter.
Arch has been a model of patience and consistency and just like the batting head-to-head breakdown, Arch has the better talent, but not enough to make him comfortable in this one. It’s a bummer that Danny Salazar is lost for the rest of the regular season but his continual early exits were a ticking time bomb that finally exploded at the wrong time. It’ll be interesting to see if Arch will find a stalwart to replace him or stream pitchers with good matchups to try keep pace with Matty on the K and QS side. We’ve seen Kyle Hendricks almost twirl a no-hitter on day one of this series and I expect many more stellar performances from the great pitchers on both teams. Arch should have the bullpen advantage but SVHD’s can be fluky so even that could swing to Matty's favor and tilt this matchup in his direction. It will be very interesting to see the strategies that these two field generals deploy with their pitchers but in the end I see Matty gaining the advantage with the counting stats and squeaking out an ERA victory, earning him a 4-2-0 pitching advantage, which will lead to a 7-5-0 overall victory. Matty will then throw up Jay-Z’s dynasty hands, crack open a bottle with Harry Doyle, and celebrate their third consecutive title until the wee hours when they pass out.
Arch has been a model of patience and consistency and just like the batting head-to-head breakdown, Arch has the better talent, but not enough to make him comfortable in this one. It’s a bummer that Danny Salazar is lost for the rest of the regular season but his continual early exits were a ticking time bomb that finally exploded at the wrong time. It’ll be interesting to see if Arch will find a stalwart to replace him or stream pitchers with good matchups to try keep pace with Matty on the K and QS side. We’ve seen Kyle Hendricks almost twirl a no-hitter on day one of this series and I expect many more stellar performances from the great pitchers on both teams. Arch should have the bullpen advantage but SVHD’s can be fluky so even that could swing to Matty's favor and tilt this matchup in his direction. It will be very interesting to see the strategies that these two field generals deploy with their pitchers but in the end I see Matty gaining the advantage with the counting stats and squeaking out an ERA victory, earning him a 4-2-0 pitching advantage, which will lead to a 7-5-0 overall victory. Matty will then throw up Jay-Z’s dynasty hands, crack open a bottle with Harry Doyle, and celebrate their third consecutive title until the wee hours when they pass out.