Week 12 MLB Power Rankings
Week 12 Power Rankings
Tier 1
1- Wait ‘ Til Next Year (9-2) [-]
2- Win’s Up Doc (8-3) [-]
Tier 2
3- The BamO’s (6-5) [+3]
4- Sporty Strauss (7-4) [-]
5- Ornery Otters (5-6) [-2]
6- $traight Cash Homie (5-6) [+1]
7- The Pullies (6-5) [+1]
8- Cooper Troopers (7-4) [-3]
Tier 3
9- Minnesota Moose Knuckles (3-8) [+1]
10- Las Cabras (5-6) [-1]
11- Shepherd Goods Choppers (3-8) [-]
12- DTC Porkchop Express (2-9) [-]
(Tier 1) Now that everyone has played each other, this league – officially in the home stretch – has rounded into form. Finally, after all of this time, there are 6 teams above .500 and 6 teams below. The current top-six teams definitely all hold the highest probabilities of making the playoffs, but it’s still far from a guarantee for anyone past the top-2 with two great teams lurking at 5-6. At the top, Wait ‘Til Next Year (1) has only a week or two before he will clinch, but he’s effectively clinched with a 4-game advantage over the 7-seed with six weeks left. That’s massive given the health of his best hitter this season, Bryce Harper, who just went down with a broken wrist that could shake up the outcome of both this year’s League of Leagues final standings AND next year’s, because wrist injuries for batters aren’t the easiest to recover from.
Win’s Up Doc (2) has a 3-game advantage over teams that are outside looking in with head-to-head victories against both 5-6 teams. With that, he probably only needs one more win to guarantee a ticket to the postseason. Two would certainly get him in, and the schedule from here on out is pretty tough. The BYE is less of a guarantee – both from threats within his division (Struass/Otters) and threats from the Shepherd Goods Division.
(Tier 2) A prime candidate to take the aforementioned SG Division and potentially even a BYE is The BamO’s (3), who are the biggest riser lately. Sam has a squad that is hitting some ridiculous point totals, and he won one of the most important games of the season vs the Ornery Otters (5) in one of the highest-scoring affairs to date – a matchup in which both teams eclipsed 500 points. With another game between The BamO’s and the Ornery Otters, that matchup could decide who makes the playoffs. Their points scored so far this season is super close, and now Sam has a 1.5 game lead over Korey. These are clearly two of the top-5 teams in the League of Leagues, but there’s no guarantee they can both make the playoffs. However, The BamO’s’ remaining schedule is very difficult while the Otters draw the MN Moose Knuckles and the Cooper Troopers the next couple of weeks – two matchups that should put him back above .500 before his rematch with Sam.
This past week, Sporty Strauss (4) finished one of his only two easy games remaining this season (other than a battle with DTC Porkchop Express in the first week of divisional play). The other 5 games are against the literal 5 highest-scoring teams in the League of Leagues, and Sporty Struass only probably needs to win one of these games to make the playoffs. He has a 2-game advantage over the 5-6 teams with head-to-head victories against both, so that’s really a 2.5-game advantage. However, he does play both of these teams. He plays $traight Cash Homie in Week 13 and the Ornery Otters in Week 15. Those could end up being the two most important games in all of the League of Leagues’ inaugural season.
Speaking of $traight Cash Homie (6)… he is the unlucky team so far this season. When his team goes off, like it did this past week, he plays a terrible team who scores the least amount of points in a week. He’s currently out of the playoffs despite being top-4 in scoring – a tough beat for a team that is looking to prevent the last-place penalt. Going forward, the schedule still isn’t bad at all. He draws Las Cabras for the seconds straight week, which should get him above .500. Then he starts looking forward to another matchup with the Cooper Troopers (8), a team he could knock out of the playoffs and increase his best chance of not getting last place. He’s already beaten Coop and has a significant points advantage against him, so knocking the Cooper Toopers down another loss would go a long way towards improving his playoff odds.
Coop, himself, is still in a good spot, but he’s going to need to win some games down the stretch. It starts against the SG Choppers this week, which is a must-win. He’d still have a 2-game advantage with five weeks remaining if he beats the Choppers. Then he has one more game against Las Cabras that should be a win. He needs both of those and MAYBE one more win with how low-scoring his team is to make the playoffs. Right now, 10 looks to be the safe number for Coop while 9 is possible depending on tiebreakers.
Last in Tier 3 are The Pullies (7) who are a good but not great team. Peter and Eric have a great chance at winning the division to get the $200 gift card. Then who knows, perhaps they end up with a BYE. Perhaps they can get 2nd or 3rd in MLB and cash out a bit more. The Pullies really should think about selling and getting a better draft pick, because (right now) it’s looking like they might play themselves out of a dynamic pick.
(Tier 3) Las Cabras (10) drop down into the last Tier with an awful week. Trevor and Jordan are clearly tanking and they to improve their draft pick status. But now, current team is a bit of a disaster. Even though they have 5 wins, they are clearly one of the 3 worst teams in the League of Leagues. They aren’t as bereft as the Choppers or DTC Porkchop Express, but the scoring output still shows them to be worse – especially with a disastrous performance against a team they could have edged out for the playoffs or, at the very least, a consolation BYE. Las Cabras’ fun little run is probably over, and now they shift focus to edging out the MN Moose Knuckles for the opportunity to play DTC Porkchop Express in the first round of the playoffs.
The MN Moose Knuckles (9) aren’t great by any stretch, but if there’s any team that could pull a shocking run this season, it’d be the Knuckles. After this week against the Ornery Otters, he plays the 4 lowest-scoring teams in the League of Leagues down the stretch. Hall should be looking to make some small moves this week to improve his rotation and give himself a chance against the Ornery Otters, a team he would conceivably knock out of the playoffs. Then he’d face his stretch of bad teams with a hopeful record of 8-9 at the end of the season. It’s not likely, but not impossible, he could get to 9-8, though it’s unclear if he wants to. The MN Moose Knuckles have shown no signs of tanking
On the other hand, the SG Choppers (11) and DTC Porkchop Extress (12) are both in full tank mode. One team is always more competitive than the other, and DTC Porkchop Express has a few players that really shouldn’t be rostered – let alone started. But there’s little chance he can win now (until the Consolation Playoffs where he plays bad teams every week),
Remaining Schedules Power Rankings
Note: the total points of the remaining teams is a good marker of strength of schedule, and is added up throughout the rest of the five matchups and is a primary marker for these rankings (calculated Sunday morning)
(1) SG Choppers (11) – 27,840 points by remaining teams
Cooper Troopers (8) – LOSS [3-9]
Las Cabras (10) – WIN [4-11]
MN Moose Knuckles (9) – LOSS [4-10]
The BamO’s (3) – LOSS [4-11]
The Pullies (7) – LOSS [4-12]
$traight Cash Homie (8) – LOSS [4-13]
Projected Record: 4-13
(2) Wait ‘Til Next Year (1) – 28,830 points by remaining teams
Win’s Up Doc (2) – LOSS [9-3]
Pullies (7) – WIN [10-3]
Sporty Strauss (4) – WIN [11-3]
Cooper Troopers (8) – WIN [12-3]
Las Cabras (9) – WIN [13-3]
MN Moose Knuckles (10) – WIN [14-3]
Projected Record: 14-3
(3) Ornery Otters (5) – 29,000 points by remaining teams
MN Moose Knuckles (9) – WIN [6-6]
Cooper Troopers (8) – WIN [7-6]
The BamO’s (3) – WIN [8-6]
Win’s Up Doc (2) – LOSS [8-7]
Sporty Strauss (4) – WIN [9-7]
DTC Porkchop Express (12) – WIN [10-7]
Projected Standings: 10-7
(4) Las Cabras (10) – 29,080 points by remaining teams
$traight Cash Homie (6) – LOSS [5-7]
SG Choppers (11) – LOSS [5-8]
DTC Porkchop Express (12) – LOSS [5-9]
Wait ‘Til Next Year (1) – LOSS [5-10]
Cooper Troopers (8) – LOSS [5-11]
MN Moose Knuckles (9) – LOSS [5-12]
Projected Standings: 5-12
(5) MN Moose Knuckles (9) – 29,250 points by remaining teams
Ornery Otters (5) – LOSS [4-8]
DTC Porkchop Express (12) – WIN [5-8]
SG Choppers (11) – WIN [6-8]
Wait ‘Til Next Year (1) – LOSS [6-9]
Cooper Troopers (8) – WIN [7-9]
Las Cabras (10) – WIN [8-9]
Projected Standings: 8-9
(6) $traight Cash Homie (6) – 29,340 points by remaining teams
Las Cabras (10) – WIN [6-6]
Sporty Strauss (4) – WIN [7-6]
Cooper Troopers (8) – WIN [8-6]
The BamO’s (3) – LOSS [8-7]
The Pullies (7) – WIN [9-7]
SG Choppers (11) – WIN [10-7]
Projected Record: 10-7
(7) Cooper Troopers (8) – 29,490 points by remaining teams
SG Choppers (11) – WIN [8-4]
Ornery Otters (5) – LOSS [8-5]
$traight Cash Homie (6) – LOSS [8-6]
Wait ‘Til Next Year (1) – LOSS [8-7]
MN Moose Knuckles (9) – LOSS [9-8]
Las Cabras (10) – WIN [9-7]
Projected Standings: 9-8
(8) The BamO’s (3) – 29,820 points by remaining teams
Sporty Strauss (4) – WIN [7-5]
Win’s Up Doc (2) – LOSS [7-6]
Ornery Otters (5) – LOSS [7-7]
The Pullies (7) – WIN [8-7]
$traight Cash Homie (6) – WIN [9-7]
SG Choppers (11) – WIN [10-7]
Projected Standings: 10-7
(9) Win’s Up Doc (2) – 29,790 points by remaining teams
Wait ‘Til Next Year (1) – WIN [9-4]
The BamO’s (3) – WIN [10-4]
The Pullies (7) – WIN [11-4]
Ornery Otters (5) – WIN [12-4]
Sporty Strauss (4) – LOSS [12-5]
DTC Porkchop Express (12) – WIN [13-5]
Projected Standings: 13-5
(10) DTC Porkchop Express (12) – 29,930 points by remaining teams
The Pullies (7) – LOSS [2-10]
Wait ‘Til Next Year (1) – LOSS [2-11]
Las Cabras (10) – LOSS [2-12]
Win’s Up Doc (2) – LOSS [2-13]
Ornery Otters (3) – LOSS [2-13]
Sporty Strauss (4) – LOSS [2-14]
Projected Standings: 3-14
(11) The Pullies (7) – 29,980 points by remaining teams
DTC Porkchop Express (12) – WIN [7-5]
Wait ‘Til Next Year (1) – LOSS [7-6]
Win’s Up Doc (2) – LOSS [7-7]
The BamO’s (3) – LOSS [7-8]
$traight Cash Homie (6) – LOSS [7-9]
SG Choppers (11) – WIN [8-9]
Projected Standings: 8-9
(12) Sporty Strauss (4) – 30,190 points by remaining teams
The BamO’s (3) – LOSS [7-5]
$traight Cash Homie (5) – LOSS [7-6]
Wait ‘Til Next Year (1) – LOSS [7-7]
Win’s Up Doc (2) – WIN [8-7]
Ornery Otters (3) – LOSS [8-8]
DTC Porkchop Express (12) – LOSS [8-9]
Projected Standings: 8-9
PROJECTED Playoff Seeding
Wait ‘Til Next Year (14-3) *BYE
Win’s Up Doc (13-4) *BYE
$traight Cash Homie (10-7)
The BamO’s (10-7)
Ornery Otters (10-7)
Cooper Troopers (9-8)
PROJECTED Bracket
Sporty Strauss (8-9) *BYE
The Pullies (8-9) *BYE
MN Moose Knuckles (8-9)
Las Cabras (5-12)
SG Choppers (4-13)
DTC Porkchop Express (2-15)
Notes: Sporty Strauss still has (by far) the toughest remaining schedule. That isn’t changing anytime soon, and his team is hurt and underperforming. The more you dig into his outlook, the more pessimistic you will become. Luckily, he has beaten both the Cooper Troopers and The Pullies, two other teams currently projected with 9 wins – of which only one of them makes the playoffs under the current projections.
The Pullies’ tough schedule also leads one towards being pessimistic about their playoff odds. Pat and Kyle in a two-week stretch after this week is brutal.
Current Playoff Seeding
Wait ‘Til Next Year (9-2) *BYE
Win’s Up Doc (8-3) *BYE
The Pullies (6-5)
Sporty Strauss (7-4)
Cooper Troopers (7-4)
The BamO’s (6-5)
Consolation Bracket
Ornery Otters (5-6) *BYE
$traight Cash Homie (5-6) *BYE
Las Cabras (5-6)
SG Choppers (3-8)
MN Moose Knuckles (3-8)
DTC Porkchop Express (2-9)
Week 11 High Score
The BamO’s (Sam)
550 points
Notes: The BamO’s take the high score of the week award by beating the team that got it last week and would have gotten it again this week if not for Sam Bam. The BamO’s need more of this coming, however, to make the playoffs. If they keep dominating good teams, the sky is the limit for this roster.
Week 11 Low Score
Las Cabras (Trevor/Jordan)
310 points
Notes: Las Cabras are toast. You can’t score like this an expect to make the playoffs. And they are closer to DTC Porkchop Express’ league-worst scoring than anyone else, being within 50 points of Craig’s awful points total. Expect Las Cabras to not only drop out of the playoff race but to finish 10th or 11th in the standings as well as a 10th or 11th place total finish.
Week 11 MVP
Logan Webb (The BamO’s)
60.5 points
Notes: A 60-point week from a pitcher is always good enough to win MVP if that score is close. The BamO’s rode this SF stud in two starts – one for 29.5 points that wasn’t even a win and another for 31. He allowed only 8 hits in both games. Webb was a great draft pick, and he’s going to be a player The BamO’s can rely upon for years to come.
Week 11 LVP
Harrison Bader (SG Choppers)
2 points
Notes: This is where selling as many players as the Choppers have really hurts. Bader is an okay player who is having a bad year and could have been benched for any number of former Choppers. But these losses are what Dye wants, and Sporty Strauss is happy to oblige.
Week 12 Matchups
Wait ’Til Next Year (1) vs Win’s Up Doc (2)
The BamO’s (3) vs Sporty Strauss (4)
Ornery Otters (5) vs MN Moose Knuckles (9)
$traight Cash Homie (6) vs Las Cabras (10)
The Pullies (7) vs DTC Porkchop Express (12)
Cooper Troopers (8) vs Shepherd Goods Choppers (11)
Week 12 MATCHUP of the WEEK
Sporty Strauss (4) vs The BamO’s (3)
Notes: Another stellar League of Leagues matchup, but get used to something here… pretty much every Sporty Strauss (4) matchup from here to the end of the season is going to be the MATCHUP OF THE WEEK because of how important Sporty Strauss’ playoff odds are to the League of Leagues.
If Sporty Strauss misses the playoffs, Win’s Up Doc just needs to manage to get 3rd Place at the very least to tie Sporty Strauss for the league victory. And if Win’s Up Doc came in 3rd and Sporty Strauss won the Consolation Bracket, Wait ‘Til Next Year, The BamO’s (3) or the Ornery Otters could force a 3-way tie for first place with an MLB Championship – creating a fascinating tie that would determine a winner (though $$ would be distributed evenly amongst any tied teams.
So yes… this game is important! Both teams need to be setting their lineups rigorously, targeting pitchers with great matchups. With the return of Brandon Woodruff to Sporty Strauss and the return of Joe Musgrove to The BamO’s this week, this matchup looks razor-tight. The BamO’s have a slight edge on two-pitcher weeks with George Kirby drawing the Orioles and the Athletics – both of which are plus matchups. Wainwright gets Miami and Philly, which are also good considering Harper won’t be playing. A lot of what will determine this matchup is the pitching, and any good starts from the bottom of these rotations would be very welcome.
Lineups (80 Hitter plays, 10 SP Plays)
C - Austin Nola vs Will Smith
1B - Carlos Santana vs Pete Alonso
2B - Nolan Gorman vs Jazz Chisholm, Jr.
3B - Manny Machado (???) vs Eduardo Escobar
SS - Tim Anderson vs Dansby Swanson
CF - Mike Trout vs Starling Marte
CO - Taylor Ward vs Max Kepler
CO - Charlie Blackmon vs Randy Arozarena
DH - Giancarlo Stanton vs Luke Voit
UTIL - Alex Bregman vs Jonah Heim
UTIL - Riley Green vs Rowdy Tellez
UTIL - JP Crawford vs Connor Joe
UTIL - Nick Castellanos vs Cody Bellinger
SP1 - Justin Verlander (NYY) vs Joe Musgrove (@LAD)
SP2 - Tony Gonsolin (SD) vs Miles Mikolas (@PHI)
SP3 - Adam Wainwright (MIA) vs Logan Webb (CHW)
SP4 - Adam Wainwright (@PHI) vs George Kirby (BAL)
SP5 - Brandon Woodruff vs George Kirby (OAK)
SP6 - Dylan Cease (@SF) vs Corey Kluber (@TOR)
SP7 - Kyle Gibson (STL) vs Zach Plesac (MIN)
SP8 - Lance Lynn (@SF) vs Noah Syndergaard (@CHW)
SP9 - Roansy Contreras (MIL) vs Noah Syndergaard (@HOU)
SP10 - Jeffrey Springs (@TOR) vs Hunter Greene (@CHC)
Sporty Strauss: Advantage at 9/20 positions
The BamO’s: Advantage at 11/20 positions