Eight days of regular season left coming into yesterday. One point ahead of the second place team in my A.L.-only, home 4x4 league.
Every category except for WHIP is in play for me and/or my opponent. I won't go into all of the permutations here, except to say that things are obviously crazily tight. It is worth noting that we're only in direct competition in two categories: home runs and batting average.
One of my hopes as the week started was that my opponent would lose a point or two in wins.
Glanvillage (2nd place team) 64
Gueros 64
Batteries 63
Towers 62
Despite the fact that Glanvillage was tied with one team and ahead of two others in wins, I seemed to have an advantage based on the number of starts the Batteries and Towers had left compared to Glanvillage. Glanvillage was carrying three starting pitchers compared to six for the Batteries, six for the Towers and four for the Gueros. With all of those starts, surely either the Batteries or the Towers could tie or pass Glanvillage.
Glanvillage didn't have a starter going until today, so I thought that by the end of tonight, I'd have a good idea of how many wins points I could expect Glanvillage to lose.
Well now I know!
Monday
Jerome Williams pitches well for the Batteries but get a no decision for the Angels. Oh well. It's just one start. No big deal.
Tuesday
It's all Towers on Tuesday. Brett Cecil only makes it through three innings. Matt Thornton - who the Towers waived on Sunday - picks up a relief win. Derek Holland does get a win, so now the Towers are tied with the Batteries but only one behind Glanvillage.
The Yankees announce that another Towers pitcher - Phil Hughes - is still suffering through back spasms and might not start on Wednesday.
Wednesday
Here's where everything goes wrong. The day starts badly when the Tigers announce that Max Scherzer and Doug Fister will split the day's start. The Towers have Scherzer while Glanvillage has Fister; a Tigers win would seem to almost guarantee a Fister win. Phil Hughes not starting today also becomes official, so the Towers lose a start.
- Batteries: Jeremy Hellickson no decision, Ubaldo Jimenez loss, Felipe Paulino no decision.
- Gueros: Michael Pineda no decision, Tommy Hunter no decision, Brandon McCarthy no decision.
- Towers: Scherzer no decision.
- Glanvillage. Fister win and David Robertson win
Really? Fister and Robertson get wins and all three of Glanvillage's competitors get shut out.
I'm not naive. I didn't expect nine wins in nine tries for the Batteries, Gueros and Towers. But one?!?!?
Some of the games sting more than others. Hellickson was facing CC Sabathia, but he probably outdueled him. Hunter would have won with another third of an inning pitched. And McCarthy was in line to win before the bullpen blew it for him.
So how do wins look now?
Glanvillage 66
Gueros 64
Batteries 63
Towers 62
It isn't quite over yet. The Towers and Batteries still have six starters to Glanvillage's three, and everyone will probably get one more turn. But it doesn't look good.
I still could win the league (I'm still a point up overall this morning). But one of the categories where I was looking for help doesn't look like it's going to go my way. This stings.
1 comment:
I hear ya. There are four contenders for the title right now in my league, and I'm have a very, very, very narrow lead. Steals, Average, wins, strikeouts, ERA, and WHIP could all go well or poorly for me in the next week. A nail biter!
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