Week #17

Just two more weeks left in the regular season! This is how the playoffs would look if they started today:

Conference 1:
Division Winners:    Destroyers 78    Beginners 67
Wildcards:    Hummers 72    Wiseguys 67    Cobras 65    Stingrays 60
Out of Playoffs:    Fury 55    Barracudas 51    Lightning 47    Clippers 45

Conference 2:
Division Winners:    Connection 81    Oysters 78
Wildcards:    X-Men 70    Puppies 59    Blackjacks 57    Contributors 56
Out of Playoffs:    S.T.L. 55    Intimidators 54    Death 53    Redbirds 52

As you can see, several playoff spots and a few division titles are on the line as we go into the final 2 weeks of regular season action.

Now, lets see how the week #16 results turned out:

Fury 4    Beginners 1
Coach Rogan rallies his Fury team to post a convincing 4-1 near sweep over division leader the Beginners. The Fury are still on the outside of the playoffs, but a two more weeks like this and anything can happen. Coach Rogan summed up his Fury team's performance this year best, "If only all games were in the division, I would win this league". Yes, the Fury do have the best division record in the league at 27-8. Led by Aurilla's big 35 points this week, Coach Rogan is hoping for a repeat performance the next two weeks and try and make his way into the post-season. Coach Alford's Beginners team is holding on to the A Division lead, but the Cobras are still just two points back. Coach Alford has to be disappointed with this weeks effort from his team, as the last two weeks of the regular season is not the time for your team to go in the tank. The division title is the Beginners for now, can they hold on?

Lightning 2    Cobras 3
Coach Maze and his Cobras squad pick up 3 more points on the division leader, inching ever closer to taking the A Division lead. Coach Maze had to be a little disappointed with the  4 point loss on Friday, and really going mad with the 1 point loss on Saturday. Solid weeks by Nevin and Fick led the way this week for Coach Maze, and the crafty veteran that Maze is, he will not settle for just a wildcard birth in the playoffs. Coach Larry continues to marvel at his team. Last week the Lightning post 173 points and 4 wins. With essentially the same lineup this week, they score 92 points. Although this drastic swing in points is nothing new to the Lightning team, it is to Coach Larry, being a veteran of many fantasy baseball leagues. Although the Lightning are out of the playoff race, the team may yet respond with one more big week and ruin someone's playoff chances. 

Destroyers 5    Stingrays 0
Talk about teams going in opposite directions! Coach Steve and his Destroyers team continue to pile up the wins and now have a 6 point lead in the B Division. Not that long ago the Destroyers were sitting in the middle of the pack but they have had a great month of July and put themselves into the driver's seat in the B Division. Yet another 20 point week from top OF Gonzalez led the way as Coach Steve looks towards the playoffs and the first round bye. The Myers boyz continue to struggle with their Stingrays squad. The 'Rays are in the playoffs for now, but the last month has not been good to Merv n Mike. Injuries have really hurt the 'Rays and inconsistent performances have caught up with the team as well (see Manny's second single digit week in the last three weeks). The Stingrays hold a 5 point lead on the final wildcard spot, but confidence is running low in the Stingrays dugout these days.

Wiseguys 3    Contributors 2
Coaches Chris and George post big wins on Friday and Saturday to hold on and get the deciding point over the Contributors. The Wiseguys were lead yet again by a 33 point week from Chipper, and the 'Guys are locked into a wildcard birth in the postseason. Coach McSwain and his team are in a battle for a wildcard birth, but a average weekend let Coach McSwain down and his team is still in the heated playoff battle. Despite the 2 win week, the Contributors now hold the final playoff spot, and Coach McSwain is holding out hope that Junior comes around these last two weeks and leads the team to the postseason.

Barracudas 1    Puppies 4
Coach Levitre has his Puppies team playing well, holding the 2nd wildcard spot right now, and also has finally got this score reporting thing down! The Puppies had a big week from Caminiti finally, and the team looks forward to the playoffs, barring a late season stumble. The 'Cudas have another bad week, all but assuring that Coaches Bert n Pam will be watching the playoffs from this year. The 'Cudas had a big week from their Yankees pitching staff, but the rest of the team basically took the weekend off, something the 'Cudas could not afford. Bert n Pam still have two weeks left to ruin someone's playoff chances, and the 'Cudas have shown they are capable of posting big numbers to do just that.

Hummers 1    Oysters 4
Same old, same old for the Oysters again this week. Coach JR must be getting tired of saying "Oysters win". I guess this just may be the year for Seattle teams in baseball. Nothing fancy for the Oysters this week, just every player on the team scored in double digits, as the Oysters posted a league high 186 points this week. Coach Tyler is watching helplessly as the B Division crown slips away from his Hummers team. The Hummers are locked into a wildcard spot, but Coach Tyler still holds out hope that his team can catch the Destroyers. The Hummers did get the top 10 bonus point this week, by virtue of a three way tie for 9th and 10th place, that is about all the good that happened to Coach Tyler this week.

Clippers 4    S.T.L. 1
The Spoilers.......I mean the Clippers post a solid week and deal a major setback to the S.T.L. team's playoff hopes. Coaches Harry and Mike find themselves in this position unfortunately, as they would like nothing more that to defend their title on the field. But that will not happen, so the the Clippers are left to rain on someone's parade, a job they did quite well this week. Coach Woog was feeling pretty good this late in the year that his team was still in the thick of the playoff race. Well, that feeling is still there, but another couple of weeks like this and Coach Woog will be watching from home. Solid weeks from Olerud, Soriano and Gonzalez (hmmm, where did he get all those players???) were just not enough to get more than the one win.

Connection 4    Intimidators 1
Welcome back! The real Connection team is back and Coach Scott couldn't be happier these days. After several off weeks, the Connection is back with 177 points and 4 wins. That is the team Coach Scott built and he is out to prove that the regular season was no fluke. This team is good and the favorite to win it all this year. Anything less will be a disappoint to Coach Scott and his team. The Intimidators are still in the playoff race, but this week was a step back in the drive to claim the final wildcard spot. The team posted a respectable 146 points, but against the league leaders that was just not enough. Coaches Ed/Jeff still can make the playoffs in their first year in the league, but the race is tight and any more 1 win weeks and those hopes will be dashed.

Redbirds 2    X-Men 3
Coach Al gets the deciding 3rd win this week, thanks to the X-Men posting a huge 63 point game to now be part of a 3-way tie for the high game of the year side-pot. The X-Men have a wildcard spot locked up and Coach Al looks forward to the postseason. Coach Hanshe and his team are still on the outside of the playoff race, and Coach Hanshe suffers yet another tough week as his opponent goes off for 63 points on Saturday. It has been a frustrating year for the Redbirds, but maybe a late season weekly sweep the next two weeks will change all that. It could happen.......

Death 3    Blackjacks 2
The Commish's Death team continues to play respectable baseball, something that is a mjaor accomplishment these days for the team. The Commish wonders "what if" his team had scored 4 more points on Friday to get another win, and a top 10 finish. That would have really made the wildcard race quite interesting. Coach Phillips gets just enough out of his team to get 2 wins as the Blackjacks are still in the playoffs for now. All Coach Phillips needs is one more solid week from his team and they can pop open the champagne in their rookie season.

Week #17 Awards:

Player of the Week:    Bonds, X-Men    39 Points
Stud Bonds continues his amazing season as he leads the league this week and propels the X-men to a 63 point game on Saturday, tying the league high. 

Pitching Staff of the Week:    Seattle, Oysters     46 Points 
Oysters win! Oysters win! Oysters win! There is something we haven't heard much of this year! :>)

Boxscore Blunder of the Week:    Puppies
Just kidding........ that is kind of habit I guess. No major problems this week, hence the  weekly results were posted Monday night. Funny how that works?

Quote of the Week:    Coach Scotty, Connection
"Everyone laughed when I picked him up in the 9th round.  Who's laughing now............... hahahahahahahahahahahahaha" Coach Scotty is referring to the return of Nomar to his team. The rich get richer!

Good luck to everyone in week #18!

The Commish


PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF THE COMMISH'S CORNER:


CLICK ON LINK TO VIEW THAT WEEK'S REPORT

COMMISH'S CORNER WEEK #1

COMMISH'S CORNER WEEK #2

COMMISH'S CORNER WEEK #3

COMMISH'S CORNER WEEK #4

COMMISH'S CORNER WEEK #6

COMMISH'S CORNER WEEK #7

COMMISH'S CORNER WEEK #8

COMMISH'S CORNER WEEK #9

COMMISH'S CORNER WEEK #10

COMMISH'S CORNER WEEK #15

COMMISH'S CORNER WEEK #16