On Saturday morning, many of the members within this league went head-to-head at Park Hill with the goal of wrapping their footjoy gloves around the Shocker Cup. Team Blue took control early and never relinquished their lead as they cruised to another Shocker Cup victory over Team Orange, who was outclassed and outplayed in every facet of the game. Round one of the Shocker Baseball League playoffs concluded the next day and while most of the matchups were just as decisive as the Shocker Cup, there was a little bit of final day drama that occurred. We'll recap the round one action and then see if round two might provide more intrigue and we'll do that right now.
(1) The Hot Corner vs. (8) Ninja Blacksox
For four and a half months, Bryan Archuleta was the undisputed cock of the walk in this league. Arch was chewing up opponents on a weekly basis and all of these wins culminated into a best regular season we have ever witnessed. But as August was approaching, all was not well for this dream team. Arch was subtly showing some cracks that even he admitted to when asked about it. The bats were starting to cool off late in the season and Arch's Aces were getting roughed up more than we had seen all year. Hot Corner didn't play like a crap during this matchup but every time Arch needed a big day from his players, they looked like a team that was out of gas at the end of a long season. Arch has been on the other side of an 8 seed upset and he was able to ride that all the way for a championship so even though he knew an upset was possible and he had already pocketed some cash, this first round exit will be tough for Arch to forget. He flirted with a Sunday miracle but when Castillo's troops stood their ground, it meant an early grave for Arch in 2015.
The Blacksox are a team that were never really taken seriously throughout the season by anyone. Castillo would have a couple strong weeks here and there but this team generally lacked the star power to make the league take notice. I don't want to diminish Castillo's big time upset in round one but looking at the boxscore, I still can't bring myself to call this team a legit title contender. Castillo did just enough to pull out a win and his small margin of victory or ties in steals, ERA, WHIP, and SVHD's easily could've swung the other way in Arch's favor. I'm not saying that Castillo doesn't deserve to advance and I know that every matchup will have tight races for a handful of categories but Castillo may have caught Arch at the right time in order to advance. It's still a great win for Yo and even though it sounds like I'm the jealous hater that is trying to diminish everyone's accomplishments in this league (which I am), Castillo deserves a lot of credit for pulling this off. McCutchen contributed big time when Yo needed it and these guys are playing care free baseball that is obvious to everyone inside and outside of the Blacksox dugout.
(1) The Hot Corner vs. (8) Ninja Blacksox
For four and a half months, Bryan Archuleta was the undisputed cock of the walk in this league. Arch was chewing up opponents on a weekly basis and all of these wins culminated into a best regular season we have ever witnessed. But as August was approaching, all was not well for this dream team. Arch was subtly showing some cracks that even he admitted to when asked about it. The bats were starting to cool off late in the season and Arch's Aces were getting roughed up more than we had seen all year. Hot Corner didn't play like a crap during this matchup but every time Arch needed a big day from his players, they looked like a team that was out of gas at the end of a long season. Arch has been on the other side of an 8 seed upset and he was able to ride that all the way for a championship so even though he knew an upset was possible and he had already pocketed some cash, this first round exit will be tough for Arch to forget. He flirted with a Sunday miracle but when Castillo's troops stood their ground, it meant an early grave for Arch in 2015.
The Blacksox are a team that were never really taken seriously throughout the season by anyone. Castillo would have a couple strong weeks here and there but this team generally lacked the star power to make the league take notice. I don't want to diminish Castillo's big time upset in round one but looking at the boxscore, I still can't bring myself to call this team a legit title contender. Castillo did just enough to pull out a win and his small margin of victory or ties in steals, ERA, WHIP, and SVHD's easily could've swung the other way in Arch's favor. I'm not saying that Castillo doesn't deserve to advance and I know that every matchup will have tight races for a handful of categories but Castillo may have caught Arch at the right time in order to advance. It's still a great win for Yo and even though it sounds like I'm the jealous hater that is trying to diminish everyone's accomplishments in this league (which I am), Castillo deserves a lot of credit for pulling this off. McCutchen contributed big time when Yo needed it and these guys are playing care free baseball that is obvious to everyone inside and outside of the Blacksox dugout.
Nobody expected Yo to be here and we'll see if he can do as good of a job next round of fending off his opponent in the final week as he did to Arch in an upset that turned the Shocker League upside down.
(2) Arvada Astros vs. (7) Finger Betters
Lance had little reason to panic during this matchup as he had much better talent at many more positions and the result was never much in question. The Astros are about as low maintenance as you will find in fantasy baseball and they casually out-hit and out-pitched their opponents much like they have done all year long. You would think that Josh Donaldson would cool off at some point in August but holy hell is that man burning with the fire of 50 suns. Donaldson scored 15 runs, blasted 5 dingers, drove in 19 teammates, and hit his way to an incredible 1.271 OPS during this series. Donaldson wasn't the only one to hit with power as four other Astros had an OPS above 1.000 this week. Laser was able to trot out one solid pitcher after another this round and this was the case of the bigger and better team simply doing what we expected them to do.
It was going to take a combination of hard work and luck for Petty to pull this off but he was clearly in over his head this round and no amount of roster moves was going to help him out. Petty did his best to fire as many bullets as possible but almost all of these bullets were off target. When you're relying on guys like Jerome Williams, Jered Weaver, Ryan Vogelsong, and Wade Miley to beat a team of the Astros caliber, it's not going to work 99 times out of 100. Granted, some of Kevin's streamers did a decent enough job but he needed to get a bunch of free agents to pitch below a 2.66 ERA and 1.12 WHIP, which is like asking a B player in the Shocker Cup to fire off a 75. Petty even lost in the SVHD's category with all of his relievers, which tells you that they weren't getting many chances during this entire matchup. Sometimes there's not any amount of roster moves that is going to get the job done against a great team and even Kevin conceded that his task was too tall even for a guy that makes five roster moves while you're asleep.
(3) Harry Doyle vs. (6) Heads UP
In an attempt to give some life to the playoff chase, I warned the league that you DEFINITELY did not want to get a 7 or 8 seed because your playoff ride would be a quick one. Of course that was dumb and inaccurate as Downs was able to earn himself a 6 seed, avoid the top two teams, and then walk directly into Matt Suer's buzzsaw. It's safe to say that Harry Doyle is peaking at the right time and that's based on the three new playoff records he just set. Jeff Petty used to hold the playoff record for Runs Scored, Homers, and RBI's in a single matchup and those are now all gone thanks to the Tom Emanski-like batting clinic Matty just put on. The old record for Runs Scored was 103 and Matty obliterated that by scoring 124. The old record for homers was 35 and Matty hit 38. The RBI record used to be 111 and Matt Suer took that down by driving in 119 as a team. I should highlight the key contributors like Cespedes, Sano, and Daniel Murphy but this entire lineup was en fuego and put Downs in a figure four leg lock and forced him to tap out pretty quickly.
Tim's helplessness was apparent when I saw him on Thursday as he knew there was absolutely nothing he could do. Downs' team was outclassed at the plate as it's going to be hard to advance when you hit 28 fewer homers than your opponent and knock in 65 fewer runners in two weeks. Downs did attempt to keep it close in the pitching department and he had to appreciate Zack Grienke once again being the best pitcher on either team but there was no saving this team regardless of the pitching performances. Sometimes you just have to look at the other dugout and tip your cap at the opponent and if Tim wasn't dizzy from watching Matt's batters jog around the bases every night, he would've raised his hat in respect with one hand while waiving a white flag with the other hand.
(4) The Balloon Knots vs. (5) Stroke My Shaft
This was our closest and best matchup of round one. Just when it looked like Zach would run away with it, he would make a coupe of dumb pickups. Just when you thought Jeff Petty was in command, his team would have a couple of lousy days to keep Z alive. J. Petty's cold hitting in the final days and the pitching staff's inability to go deep into games are the main reasons he will have to wait another year for that elusive championship trophy. The Knots did a decent enough job with the sticks but they did lose the home run battle, which was a pretty staggering loss considering they were the top home run hitting team during the regular season and by a lot, too. Jeff had the lead in many of the pitching stats and even though he had three more starts than Suer, he still lost the K and QS battles, which was a killer. I do not wish to do any actual research on this but I'm wondering if Jeff's lack of quality RP's might've burned him. Having 3-4 RP's over a two week span might help drive the ERA and WHIP down over time and this might've helped him find a way to win those battles, which were tight races throughout. It might not have made a difference and now I've just thrown out a theory without anything to back it up, which makes me sounds like one of the trolling windbags on any sports channel now.
Stroke My Shaft started this matchup with about half of the starting pitchers that J. Petty had and when Zach decided to trade punches by picking up a bunch of FA SP's, he almost stuck his jaw out far enough to get knocked the (bleep) out. I will continue to say this until I'm purple in the face; starting a Rockies pitcher at Coors Field is going to end poorly. It might not happen each and every time but you're playing with fire if you decide to go this route. This goes double for a rookie pitcher and even though Jon Gray and Chris Rusin were coming off of very good outings, there are more important factors that should've been looked at before Zach put them in the rotation. Gray's 37.80 ERA and Rusin's 49.50 ERA for this matchup helps prove this point. This totally shifted the momentum to J. Petty's side and Zach had to then go all-in with this strategy and start sending out as many pitchers as he could find to take back the ERA and WHIP stats. Suer more than made up for it with big time performances from Severino, Nola, and Ian Kennedy, which helped him take back the lead and save some personal humiliation of coaching his way out of the playoffs. Suer sweated this one out and will hope that he can stay out of his own way in round two.
(2) Arvada Astros vs. (7) Finger Betters
Lance had little reason to panic during this matchup as he had much better talent at many more positions and the result was never much in question. The Astros are about as low maintenance as you will find in fantasy baseball and they casually out-hit and out-pitched their opponents much like they have done all year long. You would think that Josh Donaldson would cool off at some point in August but holy hell is that man burning with the fire of 50 suns. Donaldson scored 15 runs, blasted 5 dingers, drove in 19 teammates, and hit his way to an incredible 1.271 OPS during this series. Donaldson wasn't the only one to hit with power as four other Astros had an OPS above 1.000 this week. Laser was able to trot out one solid pitcher after another this round and this was the case of the bigger and better team simply doing what we expected them to do.
It was going to take a combination of hard work and luck for Petty to pull this off but he was clearly in over his head this round and no amount of roster moves was going to help him out. Petty did his best to fire as many bullets as possible but almost all of these bullets were off target. When you're relying on guys like Jerome Williams, Jered Weaver, Ryan Vogelsong, and Wade Miley to beat a team of the Astros caliber, it's not going to work 99 times out of 100. Granted, some of Kevin's streamers did a decent enough job but he needed to get a bunch of free agents to pitch below a 2.66 ERA and 1.12 WHIP, which is like asking a B player in the Shocker Cup to fire off a 75. Petty even lost in the SVHD's category with all of his relievers, which tells you that they weren't getting many chances during this entire matchup. Sometimes there's not any amount of roster moves that is going to get the job done against a great team and even Kevin conceded that his task was too tall even for a guy that makes five roster moves while you're asleep.
(3) Harry Doyle vs. (6) Heads UP
In an attempt to give some life to the playoff chase, I warned the league that you DEFINITELY did not want to get a 7 or 8 seed because your playoff ride would be a quick one. Of course that was dumb and inaccurate as Downs was able to earn himself a 6 seed, avoid the top two teams, and then walk directly into Matt Suer's buzzsaw. It's safe to say that Harry Doyle is peaking at the right time and that's based on the three new playoff records he just set. Jeff Petty used to hold the playoff record for Runs Scored, Homers, and RBI's in a single matchup and those are now all gone thanks to the Tom Emanski-like batting clinic Matty just put on. The old record for Runs Scored was 103 and Matty obliterated that by scoring 124. The old record for homers was 35 and Matty hit 38. The RBI record used to be 111 and Matt Suer took that down by driving in 119 as a team. I should highlight the key contributors like Cespedes, Sano, and Daniel Murphy but this entire lineup was en fuego and put Downs in a figure four leg lock and forced him to tap out pretty quickly.
Tim's helplessness was apparent when I saw him on Thursday as he knew there was absolutely nothing he could do. Downs' team was outclassed at the plate as it's going to be hard to advance when you hit 28 fewer homers than your opponent and knock in 65 fewer runners in two weeks. Downs did attempt to keep it close in the pitching department and he had to appreciate Zack Grienke once again being the best pitcher on either team but there was no saving this team regardless of the pitching performances. Sometimes you just have to look at the other dugout and tip your cap at the opponent and if Tim wasn't dizzy from watching Matt's batters jog around the bases every night, he would've raised his hat in respect with one hand while waiving a white flag with the other hand.
(4) The Balloon Knots vs. (5) Stroke My Shaft
This was our closest and best matchup of round one. Just when it looked like Zach would run away with it, he would make a coupe of dumb pickups. Just when you thought Jeff Petty was in command, his team would have a couple of lousy days to keep Z alive. J. Petty's cold hitting in the final days and the pitching staff's inability to go deep into games are the main reasons he will have to wait another year for that elusive championship trophy. The Knots did a decent enough job with the sticks but they did lose the home run battle, which was a pretty staggering loss considering they were the top home run hitting team during the regular season and by a lot, too. Jeff had the lead in many of the pitching stats and even though he had three more starts than Suer, he still lost the K and QS battles, which was a killer. I do not wish to do any actual research on this but I'm wondering if Jeff's lack of quality RP's might've burned him. Having 3-4 RP's over a two week span might help drive the ERA and WHIP down over time and this might've helped him find a way to win those battles, which were tight races throughout. It might not have made a difference and now I've just thrown out a theory without anything to back it up, which makes me sounds like one of the trolling windbags on any sports channel now.
Stroke My Shaft started this matchup with about half of the starting pitchers that J. Petty had and when Zach decided to trade punches by picking up a bunch of FA SP's, he almost stuck his jaw out far enough to get knocked the (bleep) out. I will continue to say this until I'm purple in the face; starting a Rockies pitcher at Coors Field is going to end poorly. It might not happen each and every time but you're playing with fire if you decide to go this route. This goes double for a rookie pitcher and even though Jon Gray and Chris Rusin were coming off of very good outings, there are more important factors that should've been looked at before Zach put them in the rotation. Gray's 37.80 ERA and Rusin's 49.50 ERA for this matchup helps prove this point. This totally shifted the momentum to J. Petty's side and Zach had to then go all-in with this strategy and start sending out as many pitchers as he could find to take back the ERA and WHIP stats. Suer more than made up for it with big time performances from Severino, Nola, and Ian Kennedy, which helped him take back the lead and save some personal humiliation of coaching his way out of the playoffs. Suer sweated this one out and will hope that he can stay out of his own way in round two.
Shocker Final Four Preview
(5) Stroke My Shaft vs. (8) Ninja Blacksox
Both of these semifinal matchups are really even and we should see a lot of back-and-forth from Zach and Castillo here. I've said it close to 50 times already but the boring steadiness of Zach's lineup is going to be a main reason to why this matchup will be tight. You're tired of hearing it from me but if you look at the player rater for any of the batters on SMS, it never gets too high or too low, no matter how many days you want to go back. That's not to say there isn't any hot or cold players on this roster currently. Adam Jones is helping drive the Orioles right out of the playoff race as he's been simply horrendous lately and will need to consider connecting with a baseball relatively soon. Same goes for A-Rod who is finally starting to look like a 39 year old man with 79 year old hips. Zach will lean on Blackmon and Matt Kemp, wait Matt Kemp??? yes, Matt Kemp to stay hot and carry this team. Zach's pitching staff came on at the perfect time last round and I am guessing Suer will be less active with the SP's on his roster and hope for a less turbulent ride to victory than he saw in round one.
Castillo is probably walking around with his chest puffed out an inch or two more than usual and who could blame him after he pulled off quite possibly the biggest upset in Shocker League history. Even though Castillo beat our best team last round he's arguably going up against a better team currently than the one he saw in round one. Castillo would've lost to Suer if they had played each other last week and in order for Yo to advance, he's might need his opponent to experience a brief cold streak much like Arch did. I'm not calling the Blacksox a total fluke but they are going to need a couple batters to get in the zone because like Zach's team, there isn't a lot to get excited about when you see this lineup card. The pitching on this team has gotten much better over the last month and there's no reason to think they will slow down now. Raisel Iglesias has been a great pickup for Yo and he's helped boost the already high K totals that Price and Shields have posted lately. All three units (batting, starting pitching, and relief pitching) are really evenly matched in this matchup so I really think this series could fluctuate on a daily basis in terms of who has the lead.
Prediction: In the end, the Blacksox get a couple of homers and QS's on the final Sunday to help win the tiebreaker. Blacksox survive 5-5-2 and advance.
(2) Arvada Astros vs. (3) Harry Doyle
This matchup is going to be fantastic. These are the two teams that are playing better than everyone else and even though it's a shame that this isn't the championship matchup and the loser will win $0, this is still must see TV. Baseball Tonight used to run a segment called "Going, Going, Gone" where a screaming baseball would introduce all of the home runs for that day throughout the league and you would want to make sure you were parked in front of the TV to witness the rapid fire homers. I would venture to say that if Baseball Tonight decided to run that segment for the next two weeks, 50% of the batters would be from the Arvada Astros or Harry Doyle. Both of these fantasy teams are putting up fantasy numbers and it could take 30 home runs to win the HR category this series. The Astros might not have enough fire power to overtake Doyle with the bats but they do have an advantage with the arms as this rotation continues to be one of the best, if not the best in our league. Laser will probably need to try to win at least two hitting categories and then attempt dominate from the mound in order to advance in this one. That could definitely happen if Lackey, Wacha, Harvey, and McHugh stay on a roll. There is some concern, though, as Strasburg is fighting a nagging injury for the 782nd time this year and Matt Harvey is starting to go up against an innings limit that could take away valuable innings for Lance. There's no way Donaldson can continue this pace but there are plenty of hitters on this roster that should bust some slumps and can help Laser trade blows with Matty for the next 10 days.
Watching Matt Suer's fantasy team is like watching a Michael Bay movie right now. The explosions are bigger and more ridiculous every 20 minutes and just when you think you've seen the last bomb go off, BOOM, another woofer shaking explosion comes through on the big screen. Lucroy is finally hitting, Votto is getting on base practically every time he's up, Pollack is a legit MVP candidate, Cespedes keeps crushing, and Sano looks like King Kong with a Louisville Slugger. Doyle is already blasting bombs in this matchup and the only concern right now for Matty is if he can get enough steals and reduce the amount of K's in order to complete a batting category sweep. Matty also has the potential to bomb with the pitchers and even though they've been pretty good lately, this unit has been known to meltdown a time or two this year. There are also some inning limit concerns floating around on Matty's side, which can be more than annoying to deal with as a fantasy owner. If Matty can avoid the pitching implosions and continue with the batting explosions, it should be enough but if a couple of these relievers piss one away or if a few starters get lit up, it's going to be a power hitting vs. power pitching dogfight that could end on the final Sunday. Brace for the BOOM.
Prediction: This too goes to a tiebreaker where Lance's pitchers rack up the K's while lowering the ERA, which allows him to advance 6-6-0.
Overall, I think we're in for an entertaining two weeks of fantasy baseball around these parts. I know America is starting to shift their focus to the gridiron but if you're still invested in baseball and this Shocker League, the rest of the season will be worth your time.
Both of these semifinal matchups are really even and we should see a lot of back-and-forth from Zach and Castillo here. I've said it close to 50 times already but the boring steadiness of Zach's lineup is going to be a main reason to why this matchup will be tight. You're tired of hearing it from me but if you look at the player rater for any of the batters on SMS, it never gets too high or too low, no matter how many days you want to go back. That's not to say there isn't any hot or cold players on this roster currently. Adam Jones is helping drive the Orioles right out of the playoff race as he's been simply horrendous lately and will need to consider connecting with a baseball relatively soon. Same goes for A-Rod who is finally starting to look like a 39 year old man with 79 year old hips. Zach will lean on Blackmon and Matt Kemp, wait Matt Kemp??? yes, Matt Kemp to stay hot and carry this team. Zach's pitching staff came on at the perfect time last round and I am guessing Suer will be less active with the SP's on his roster and hope for a less turbulent ride to victory than he saw in round one.
Castillo is probably walking around with his chest puffed out an inch or two more than usual and who could blame him after he pulled off quite possibly the biggest upset in Shocker League history. Even though Castillo beat our best team last round he's arguably going up against a better team currently than the one he saw in round one. Castillo would've lost to Suer if they had played each other last week and in order for Yo to advance, he's might need his opponent to experience a brief cold streak much like Arch did. I'm not calling the Blacksox a total fluke but they are going to need a couple batters to get in the zone because like Zach's team, there isn't a lot to get excited about when you see this lineup card. The pitching on this team has gotten much better over the last month and there's no reason to think they will slow down now. Raisel Iglesias has been a great pickup for Yo and he's helped boost the already high K totals that Price and Shields have posted lately. All three units (batting, starting pitching, and relief pitching) are really evenly matched in this matchup so I really think this series could fluctuate on a daily basis in terms of who has the lead.
Prediction: In the end, the Blacksox get a couple of homers and QS's on the final Sunday to help win the tiebreaker. Blacksox survive 5-5-2 and advance.
(2) Arvada Astros vs. (3) Harry Doyle
This matchup is going to be fantastic. These are the two teams that are playing better than everyone else and even though it's a shame that this isn't the championship matchup and the loser will win $0, this is still must see TV. Baseball Tonight used to run a segment called "Going, Going, Gone" where a screaming baseball would introduce all of the home runs for that day throughout the league and you would want to make sure you were parked in front of the TV to witness the rapid fire homers. I would venture to say that if Baseball Tonight decided to run that segment for the next two weeks, 50% of the batters would be from the Arvada Astros or Harry Doyle. Both of these fantasy teams are putting up fantasy numbers and it could take 30 home runs to win the HR category this series. The Astros might not have enough fire power to overtake Doyle with the bats but they do have an advantage with the arms as this rotation continues to be one of the best, if not the best in our league. Laser will probably need to try to win at least two hitting categories and then attempt dominate from the mound in order to advance in this one. That could definitely happen if Lackey, Wacha, Harvey, and McHugh stay on a roll. There is some concern, though, as Strasburg is fighting a nagging injury for the 782nd time this year and Matt Harvey is starting to go up against an innings limit that could take away valuable innings for Lance. There's no way Donaldson can continue this pace but there are plenty of hitters on this roster that should bust some slumps and can help Laser trade blows with Matty for the next 10 days.
Watching Matt Suer's fantasy team is like watching a Michael Bay movie right now. The explosions are bigger and more ridiculous every 20 minutes and just when you think you've seen the last bomb go off, BOOM, another woofer shaking explosion comes through on the big screen. Lucroy is finally hitting, Votto is getting on base practically every time he's up, Pollack is a legit MVP candidate, Cespedes keeps crushing, and Sano looks like King Kong with a Louisville Slugger. Doyle is already blasting bombs in this matchup and the only concern right now for Matty is if he can get enough steals and reduce the amount of K's in order to complete a batting category sweep. Matty also has the potential to bomb with the pitchers and even though they've been pretty good lately, this unit has been known to meltdown a time or two this year. There are also some inning limit concerns floating around on Matty's side, which can be more than annoying to deal with as a fantasy owner. If Matty can avoid the pitching implosions and continue with the batting explosions, it should be enough but if a couple of these relievers piss one away or if a few starters get lit up, it's going to be a power hitting vs. power pitching dogfight that could end on the final Sunday. Brace for the BOOM.
Prediction: This too goes to a tiebreaker where Lance's pitchers rack up the K's while lowering the ERA, which allows him to advance 6-6-0.
Overall, I think we're in for an entertaining two weeks of fantasy baseball around these parts. I know America is starting to shift their focus to the gridiron but if you're still invested in baseball and this Shocker League, the rest of the season will be worth your time.