Week Reviews

BACKYARDBRACKET 2021: BCS REVIEW MOSTLY BECAUSE I WON THE FUCKER

AnActualBear, , , , , , Leave a comment

FIRSTLY LET ME BE “FAIR”…

and “balanced” and once again congratulate the Lacey Township Backdoor Sliderz for their many years and half-years of success. Which are now over. Because I fucking WON which shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to you cretons, I’ve done so a buncha times since I’ve been in this god forsaken league. To the point that my victory season may be the very thing that brings the Backyard to its knees. Well it was already on its knees so it’s more likeeee this may be thing that murders it once and for all. The very thought of the blog wielding the championship would have, years ago, been a truly terrifying prospect. Just week after week of me tooting my own horn throughout a probably unsuccessful title defense but ALAS the world has changed. I’ve grown bored with the blog and likely with fantasy sports as a whole so INSTEAD, instead what you’re getting is a ~review~ for historical preservation purposes but one where I likely keep referencing how I don’t want to write these things anymore over and over. One thing I’ll just add once is as far as I’m concerned this league should have been a $20 buy in years ago and so ULTIMATELY, for the rest of my life I’m going to feel like each and every one of you owe me $20. So think about THAT next time you try and criticize me, you bastards. And now withour further adieu, onnnn with the review thingie……..

#1 LAKEHURST LEVIATHANS

DEFEATED 8.5 – 5.5 BY THE TRULY INSPIRATIONAL CHAMPEENS…

#2 ISLAND BEACH BEARS

8.5 – 5.5

[BRACKET MVP — Salvador Perez [LL] (12 Rs, 9 HRs, 22 RBIs, .414 OBP) *Please note this was all for naught BUT, had the Leviathans won the whole shebang, they would have had Salvy’s HR tear to thank in many ways. Interestingly the LL’s backup C (Yasmani Grandal) also went off over the course of their playoff run (12/22, 8 Rs, 2 2Bs, 5 HRs, 15 RBIs, friggin .633 OBP) but again, history gets to be written by the victors so history shall forget the really great work by these Lakehurst catchers OH WELL…..

MVP:  Jeimer Candelario  –  Didn’t really see this one coming BUT Jeimer put up the finest numbers of anyone in the BCS and that’s how this works so take your crown JC. 10/27, 7 Rs, 3 2Bs, 1 3B, 2 HRs, 7 RBIs, .433 OBP     **MVP OF BCS OBVIOUSLY**                

LVP: Matt Manning  –  Mr. Manning did the Leviathans no favors, with the ugliest ERA in an overall ugly ERA battle between these two teams.  3.2 IP, 8 ER, 1 K, 19.64 ERA **LVP OF BCS OBVIOUSLY**     

Bears Hitter Of Note:  Akil Baddoo was kicked to the curb by the Slugs, perhaps at a time when he was being heavily platooned, and he’s still being pretty steadily platooned, but WHATEVS the Bears were moreee than happy to pick him up Baddoo is a Baddood (sry)(6/20, 6 Rs, 2 2Bs, 2 HRs, 4 RBIs, .417 OBP).

Bears Pitcher Of Note:  Blake Snell suckeddddd for a large portion of the year but conveniently turned it the fuck on come playoff time and that is appreciated (7 IP, 0 ER, 10 Ks, 1 QS, 1 W, 0.00 ERA).

Leviathans Hitter Of Note:  This is truly the first I’m learning that Jorge Polanco has 27 HRs this season, and well two of them came in the BCS matchup (7/22, 4 Rs, 2 2Bs, 2 HRs, 6 RBIs, .360 OBP).

Leviathans Pitcher Of Note:  A one Matthew Boyd had the second-worst ERA for the Leviathans and really I just want to note that the 3 Tigers starters they trotted out gave them ERAs of 10.80, 11.25, & 19.64 GO ROOT FOR THE CLEVELAND GUARDIANS INSTEAD SHANE (4 IP, 5 ER, 6 Ks, 11.25 ERA).

ASSORTED MUSINGS/ANALYSIS:  I WON AND YOU ALL LOST AND I WON… Because I was involved in this one (moreso because I WON this one), and because it’s been so longgg since the thrilling matchup nobody paid attention to (I was going to write something weeks ago but yanno, didn’t, so now I’m just doing it for historical documentation) I’m going to cover it OLD SKOOL STYLE, the way I covered it back when I gave more of my time to the blog and back when my good friend and former co-owner Mike Odom won his first solo championship. Which means covering it day by fucking day…….

2021 BCS DAILY BREAKDOWN…

Monday – Bears: 5 Rs, 2 2Bs, 2 HRs, 6 RBIs, .286 OBP—13 IP, 13 Ks, 5.54 ERA, 3 S, 1 H Leviathans: 5 Rs, 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBIs, .240 OBP—14 IP, 10 Ks, 5.14 ERA, 1 W, 1 S, 1 H

Prettttttty BLEH start for both storied franchises (the Leviathans stories are mostly about how bad they were in the earlier years of their existence but STILL, stories…) as both teams failed to crack .300 OBP and both teams pitched like shit. The latter would become a pattern. On the bright side of things all 4 of the Bears RP-type spots contributed, 3 Saves and 1 Hold on a Monday as an early sign of the solid Bear Bullpennin’ to come.

Tuesday –  Bears: 8 Rs, 4 2Bs, 2 HRs, 7 RBIs, 1 SB, .358 OBP—14.2 IP, 20 Ks, 1.84 ERA, 1 QS, 2 W, 2 S, 1 H Leviathans: 6 Rs, 2 2Bs, 1 HR, 5 RBIs, .321 OBP—12 IP, 13 Ks, 9.00 ERA, 1 S

Tuesday saw the Bears put together the most complete pitching line prrrrobably of the whole matchup, which again had absolutely terrible pitching. But Blake Snell was a beacon of bright light all playoffs for the Bears and he did good work here, and the Bears notched a Win a Save and a Hold out of their 3 SP-eligible relievers. Bullpens win championships.

Wednesday – Bears: 16 Rs, 5 2Bs, 1 3B, 5 HRs, 11 RBIs, 1 SB, .574 OBP—4 IP, 6 Ks, 2.25 ERA, 2 S, 1 H Leviathans: 8 Rs, 4 2Bs, 2 HRs, 7 RBIs, 1 SB, .358 OBP—10.1 IP, 13 Ks, 1.74 ERA, 1 QS, 2 W, 1 S

The best offensive day for either team came on Wednesday and belonged to the Bears, whomst ~at this point~ were feeling pretttttttty good about their chances as they had managed to pull away in several offensive categories. a 3B and HR from Max Muncy and a 4 R, 2 HR, 6 RBI performance from Nick Castellanos helped spark a Bears offense that hummed along to a .574 OBP and I am sure Shane was displeased with this day. Despite the fact that the Leviathans quietly had a fine offensive showing themselves, as well as their best pitching day, but none of this is really about them now is it.

Thursday – Bears: 6 Rs, 1 2B, 4 HR, 9 RBIs, .289 OBP—8.1 IP, 12 Ks, 1.08 ERA, 1 QS, 1 H Leviathans: 7 Rs, 2 2Bs, 2 HRs, 8 RBIs, 1 SB, .442 OBP—3.2 IP, 1 K, 19.64 ERA

A light-ish Thursday that saw the Bears go another +2 in the HR category, while grabbing their second and LAST quality start (a QS total that would be matched by the Leviathans, again this shit was ugly). The matchup felt pretttttty well at hand from the Island Beach perspective if you were to stop things right here. Shoutout to Matt Manning for doing his best to sink Lakehurst’s ERA once and for all and forever.

Friday – Leviathans: 12 Rs, 2 2Bs, 7 HRs, 12 RBIs, .411 OBP—9.2 IP, 11 Ks, 5.59 ERA, 1 S Bears: 9 Rs, 4 2Bs, 1 3B, 2 HRs, 6 RBIs, .309 OBP—11.2 IP, 9 Ks, 10.03 ERA, 1 W, 1 S, 1 H

Friday rolled around and WHOAAAAA signs of life from the Leviathans. Without earlier in the week padding the margins this 7 HR barrage from Lakehurst might have been a devastating start to the weekend for the Bears, and while certainly not a welcome sight they emerged from Friday night still on top. An additional triple helped sooth matters, and the pattern continued of grabbing bullpen stats in the midst of an awful ERA week. But credit where credit is due for the Leviathans offense, they went bonkers on Friday evening due in part to that Nolan Arenado guy they stole and his 2 HRs. WHERE is the criminal investigation into that trade, I ask you all….

Saturday – Leviathans: 12 Rs, 2 2Bs, 5 HRs, 13 RBIs, 1 SB, .586 OBP—22.1 IP, 19 Ks, 6.45 ERA, 1 W, 1 Hold Bears: 8 Rs, 4 2Bs, 2 HRs, 7 RBIs, 1 SB, .358 OBP—13.2 IP, 18 Ks, 8.56 ERA, 2 W

Saturday came and went with another ONSLAUGHT from the Leviathans bats, with the Bears chipping in a solid day in a lesser performance just to maintain a bit of a freakin leaddddd here. Things looked far less in the bag heading into Sunday, again a testament to a Lakehurst squad that showed a bit o’ heart in their weekend performance. 2 HRs out of Salvy Perez that dong-hitting madman of an old man catcher, I dunno what the fuck THAT was out of him but I don’t like it. Witchcraft.

Sunday – Leviathans: 10 Rs, 1 2B, 4 HRs, 9 RBIs, .373 OBP—8.1 IP, 4 Ks, 3.24 ERA, 1 QS, 1 W, Bears: 7 Rs, 1 2B, 1 3B, 3 HRs, 9 RBIs, .304 OBP—9.2 IP, 7 Ks, 9.31 ERA

Sunday was oneeee lastttt day of the Leviathans bats outclassing the Bears bats and like the entire weekend before it amounted to the Bears holding on to just enough cats….

Amazon.com: Pussy Magnet Costume : Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry

to sneak away with the victory. VALIANT comeback attempt by Lakehurst but they were ultimately undone by the cruel hands of fate, falling too far behind mid-week, etc. etc. etc. If this series had gone another two days or so the Leviathans might have completed the comeback but that isn’t how this series work I AM YOUR CHAMPEEN EMPEROR BOW BEFORE ME YOU PEASANTS. Ahem.

AND SO IN THE END…….In the end the X*Rayz Bears BLOG finally completes its destiny. While it probably would have been better for ~the Backyard~ and for humanity if Shane’s hard work as League Commish and guy that had to turn around a terrible team (to be fair a lot of that was of his own creation) was rewarded with a championship, that’s not what the fuck happened now is it. And I can confidently say that was a karma thing for this Arenado trade, a trade that may TORPEDO THE WHOLE LEAGUE AS WE KNOW IT. But it’s not about the #1 seed Lakehurst Leviathans, who engaged in shady trade dealings with owners that may not even be real people, it’s about the #2 seed Island Beach Bears that took them the fuck out and it’s about me typing this thing up like A MONTH after the fact just to clear it from my “things I was maybe going to get around to doing” schedule even though I am typing into the fucking void right now. It’s been real, void.

For the X*Rayz Bears this marks their franchise’s FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP and their owner’s FOURTH OVERALL championship, his first since the Great Dynasty Split of whatever year that was……that split occurred prior to the 2015 season, is when that was. Let the record show Mr. Odom Me has now stood atop the Backyard Mountain at the conclusion of 4 of 7 14 seasons in the Backyard, folks. Let’s Go To The Bear Parade.

Let's Go To The Bear Parade: Molly McIntyre: 9780997730524: Amazon.com: Books

WHAT’S NEXT, OR WHAT’S IT ALL MEAN, OR WHATNOT

First let’s just re-run what I wrote the last time I thought I was done writing these things up…..

What’s next for the league or whatfuckingever? I imagine it will continue and I imagine I will continue to be in it. Which is okay I guess. Either way on that one, tbh, but what I’m really interested in opining about is what’s next for this horrifically named blog.

When I started this blog in 2015 I wante….jkjkjk I didn’t start this fucking thing, Mike did. Hence the ridiculous name. I think there was another wordpress named “Backyard Views” or “Views From The Backyard” or some shit and it was just filled with bad poetry, and honestly I prefer that one. ANYWHO, BEHOLD Mike’s first post:

“Oh hey guys.

This site is here to continue with the overwhelming information stream that we already have for our fantasy baseball page, and life in general. I’ve been thinking about making this for a while, mostly to track some of the happenings on the site, and really to give everyone a forum to post, well, anything they want really. Mainly we will focus this thing on the fantasy baseball page, but hey, go nuts with whatever you’d like.

Please note: This will be a good storage site for all of our favorite stories, rankings, T’d Up episodes, Trade Block discussions, etc.

There’s also an app, so maybe it’ll be good. I’ll check it out and let you know.

Feel free to make an account and post something. Ya know.

Lobman”

Wow wouldjya look at that Mike was even sort of ENCOURAGING poetry to be posted on here, is how I read that. Can’t believe Brian continues to let that opportunity go to waste.

ANYWHO when I look at that post now there’s a picture of an enlarged prostate just below it (“Urologist: Enlarged Prostate? Do This Immediately (Try Tonight), and that feels pretty fucking fitting here. This thing has gotten a bit longgggg in the tooth, as have I, and we’ve grown together…..me and this thing. Both for the worse. I’m FAR TOO indispensable a County employee to continue to hastily bang out reviews whilst @ work, and also FAR TOO busy being fucking cool (or napping or drinking or something) when not @ work so it’s tough to say…..what the future holds…..for this blog. Also, if I’m being perfectly honest WordPress’ new format fucking sucks a spiky one. I am DISGUSTED by the spacing on these latter posts of mine and I have no plans to learn how to properly format these things, and the blog deserves better. Deserves better spacing. Deserves better effort all around.

There’s a temptation to Viking Funeral this thing but also that sorta defeats the purpose of whatever it was I was attempting to do this year, by putting out shitty reviews of the Backyard Bracket and such. So it stands as some sort of historical record. And PERHAPS there’s some sort of collaborative effort to reclaim its glory as something capable of making an owner quit the league, but the key word there is “collaborative” and you’re all lazy fucks so uhhhh….yea. BASICALLY I’m just saying this thing might get pretty dusty in the 2021 fantasy season (I guess we are gonna have one of those?) and this is me making peace with that. If this is my last post my only regret is not saying meaner things about Dochney in it. Cuz

FUCK

THAT

GUY

STILL HOLDS UP, I gotta say. And I feel like it was something I was comfortable leaving asmy last blog post and then I just haddddd to go and win the next season and so naturally I needed to make sure that was properly documented in the internet’s permanent ink and so here were are. For those reasons I don’t want to write over top of it too much but I’ll just add, beyond all that stuff above, I just need to add that I that I reserve the right to stick to my occasionally-voiced vow to retire if I won the championship in 2021. Because I won the championship in 2021. And so I can quit if I want to and nobody can stop me.

AND EVEN IF I do not retire in 2022, that is if there is even a league to not retire from, this…..blog……must…..end. At least the part of it where I write this stuff up, it seems like Shane was keeping up with the weekly records pretty solidly which is commendable because he works like 7 jobs and has like eleventeen kids so I don’t think I should be complaining about having less time at work to write these things up (I mostly refuse to consider doing it on *actual free time* but it’s like DOES SHANE EVEN HAVE THAT?!). But yea really I want to blame WordPress’ wonky piece-of-shit new writing format for the slow decline and eventual death of this blow these days. Put THAT on their conscience yanno? I SHAN’T wrestle with this buggy bullshit any longer.

It’s hard to write this thing coherently when I give so little of a shit about this post and it’s hard to not close this with a nod to Kurt Cobain’s suicide letter and it’s better to burn out than fade away. And this thing has sorta been doing a bit of both of those things over the past two-ish years (much like our planet), hence me quarter-assedly writing a post that I will not like “advertise” in a Backyard chat I do not exactly check up on regularly (just about never, clearly, but let it be known I appreciate you all IRL but these MOBILE PHONES mannnn…..they’re the devil I tell you….not sure if anyone’s suggested this yet). So it’s time to hang up the ole’ typewriter gang, and maybe down the line examine why I use so many parentheseseses when I get the time. This is perhaps the most hideous post I’ve ever posted and I think that’s the best way to sign off. Rock and roll can never die.

YOUR 2021 CHAMPEEN (and don’t you chumps fucking forget it)(see here’s the parentheses thing again, they have no business being featured in this many sentences and I kind of do it in texts and at work at times and it’s like WHAT IS THIS ABOUT REALLY?),

The Island Beach Bears

This was beautiful work Brian gotta say….
Less beautiful but still appreciated…

#BEARFOREVER ❤
BACKYARDBRACKET 2021: BCS REVIEW MOSTLY BECAUSE I WON THE FUCKER

BACKYARDBRACKET2020: BCS REVIEW & WHAT COMES NEXT FOR BACKYARDVIEWS

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FIRSTLY LET ME BE FAIR…

and congratulate the Lacey Township Backdoor Sliderz for winning an IMPRESSIVE and NEARLY UNPRECEDENTED 2.5 BCS Titles in a row. 0.5 BCS Titles from tying the all-time in-a-row record with a chance to overtake that in a theoretical 2021 season that we will theoretically be having in the Backyard. It is absolutely impressive what the Lacey contingent has accomplished in their first 2.5 seasons. Even though it came via a tie (thanks to a SIX inning 5 ER CG, no less) to an “8th seed” team that shouldn’t have been allowed in the Bracket. Even though that was how it all went down. The Backdoor Sliderz are clearly the best roster in the Backyard and somehow that’s allowed them to win 2.5 titles in a row, which is I dunno good I guess. It’s like having pocket aces and not getting fucked on the river or something, I guess? 2.5 hands in a row. And there’s nothing I can say here that can change that. And to attempt to say more would be to have to write more words and I’ve already planned a BUNCHA words for the finale down there so let’s just MOVE ON, BRIEFLY TOUCH ON THE BCS MATCHUP, BRIEFLY TOUCH ON THIS BLOG’S UNCERTAIN FUTURE, WORK IN SOME MORE CAPS LOCK AND PARENTHESES AND BE DONE WITH THE 2020 FANTASY BASEBALL SEASON. Sounds like an excellent plan. (ONWARD…..)

#8 Astoria Isotopes

DEFEATED VIA TIEBREAKBER BY THE PIECES OF SHIT BELOW THIS SENTENCE…

#6 Lacey Township BackdoorSliderz

7-7

[BRACKET MVP — Freddie Freeman] (he did alotta good stuff the whole Backyard Bracket go look it up if you don’t believe me)

BCS MVP — Juan Soto (6 Rs, 2 2Bs, 2 HRs, 5 RBIs, 3 SBs, .571 OBP

BCS LVP — Paul DeJong (2 Rs, 1 2B, 1 RBI, .200 OBP

WHAT WENT RIGHT — Backdoor Sliderz:

Aaron Nola grabbed a hideous 6 inning “CG”…..the Braves kept on fucking hitting…..5 gents with 5 RBIs (Freeman, Soto, Albies, Bregman, Will Smith for some reason) and 4 gents with 4 RBIs (Brandon Lowe, Tatis Jr., Teoscar Hernandez, Maikel Franco) and boom you’ve out-RBI’d the ‘Topes bats with only 9 gents…..24 Ks outta deGrom…..

WHAT WENT WRONG — Isotopes

Aaron Nola grabbed a hideous 6 inning “CG”…..sub-40 Rs & RBIs isn’t a GREAT sign of your team offense clicking, I guess, I dunno…..6 SBs is enough to win a lot of weeks but NOT THIS WEEK, cuz yanno the LTBS had 10 and all…..pretty bleh K numbers if you ask me…..

This one was ULTIMATELY a valiant-ish effort from the ‘Topes, but with Arenado out the offense could not keep pace with the……Braves basically. A 3 Save Sunday scored them the tie and makes that disgusting CG a hard pill to swallow, but hey these things happen. Next time find a disgusting CG of your own.

WHAT’S NEXT

What’s next for the league or whatfuckingever? I imagine it will continue and I imagine I will continue to be in it. Which is okay I guess. Either way on that one, tbh, but what I’m really interested in opining about is what’s next for this horrifically named blog.

When I started this blog in 2015 I wante….jkjkjk I didn’t start this fucking thing, Mike did. Hence the ridiculous name. I think there was another wordpress named “Backyard Views” or “Views From The Backyard” or some shit and it was just filled with bad poetry, and honestly I prefer that one. ANYWHO, BEHOLD Mike’s first post:

“Oh hey guys.

This site is here to continue with the overwhelming information stream that we already have for our fantasy baseball page, and life in general. I’ve been thinking about making this for a while, mostly to track some of the happenings on the site, and really to give everyone a forum to post, well, anything they want really. Mainly we will focus this thing on the fantasy baseball page, but hey, go nuts with whatever you’d like.

Please note: This will be a good storage site for all of our favorite stories, rankings, T’d Up episodes, Trade Block discussions, etc.

There’s also an app, so maybe it’ll be good. I’ll check it out and let you know.

Feel free to make an account and post something. Ya know.

Lobman”

Wow wouldjya look at that Mike was even sort of ENCOURAGING poetry to be posted on here, is how I read that. Can’t believe Brian continues to let that opportunity go to waste.

ANYWHO when I look at that post now there’s a picture of an enlarged prostate just below it (“Urologist: Enlarged Prostate? Do This Immediately (Try Tonight), and that feels pretty fucking fitting here. This thing has gotten a bit longgggg in the tooth, as have I, and we’ve grown together…..me and this thing. Both for the worse. I’m FAR TOO indispensable a County employee to continue to hastily bang out reviews whilst @ work, and also FAR TOO busy being fucking cool (or napping or drinking or something) when not @ work so it’s tough to say…..what the future holds…..for this blog. Also, if I’m being perfectly honest WordPress’ new format fucking sucks a spiky one. I am DISGUSTED by the spacing on these latter posts of mine and I have no plans to learn how to properly format these things, and the blog deserves better. Deserves better spacing. Deserves better effort all around.

There’s a temptation to Viking Funeral this thing but also that sorta defeats the purpose of whatever it was I was attempting to do this year, by putting out shitty reviews of the Backyard Bracket and such. So it stands as some sort of historical record. And PERHAPS there’s some sort of collaborative effort to reclaim its glory as something capable of making an owner quit the league, but the key word there is “collaborative” and you’re all lazy fucks so uhhhh….yea. BASICALLY I’m just saying this thing might get pretty dusty in the 2021 fantasy season (I guess we are gonna have one of those?) and this is me making peace with that. If this is my last post my only regret is not saying meaner things about Dochney in it. Cuz

FUCK

THAT

GUY

#BlogForever #BearForever

BACKYARDBRACKET2020: BCS REVIEW & WHAT COMES NEXT FOR BACKYARDVIEWS

BACKYARDBRACKET2020: HELLSCAPE YEAR’S APPROPRIATELY MAILED IN (AND LATE) ROUND TWO REVIEW/BCS PREVIEW

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THE GIF REFERS TO…

both me writing up another one of these and this RECYCLED BCS matchup from two years ago, but we shall get to that in due time. Probably a lot quicker than it usually takes to get to that. Anywho ONCE AGAIN I am here to do my due diligence and put together something I plan on nobody reading. Just to capture a moment in time yanno? This must be what it is like to be a “Soundcloud rapper”…..welp we are down to our final two and it’s a familiar final two, with one of them being VERY familiar to the BCS as of late. So that’s…..I don’t want to call it an “accomplishment” but that’s something. It’d be more of an accomplishment if you fuckers ponied up and added a small cash prize to this slog, like I suggested years ago (particularly now that you’re all “degenerate gamblers,” but I digress. Let’s see how we got here, ONWARD…..

#2 Ocean Gate Fishing Club

DEFEATED BY

#8 Astoria Isotopes

9-5

WHAT WENT RIGHT — TOPES:

A couple of schmucks (Wainwright & Minor) put together those cute 7 IP CGs and those ended up being the difference, really…..4 measley SBs were enough to win that cat by 1…..the Fishing Club had a sub-40 RBI week which I’ve now decided is some sort of arbitrary cutoff for good vs. bad RBI weeks…..probably most importantly on the offense side was DJ LeMahieu being a man possessed (9 Rs, 4 2Bs, 4 HRs, 10 RBIs, .516 OBP)

WHAT WENT WRONG — Fishing Club

None of their schmucks were able to throw 7 IP CGs…..only 3 SBs from a team that used to steal more bases, LOOKIN AT YOU Trea Turner…..sub-40 RBIs and sub-30 Rs aren’t great….. on 10 HRs feels a little light…..a few fellas (Sano, Solak, Grossman) put up some ugly OBP numbers to drag down the team OBP, below the other team’s OBP…..somehow tied in QS even though they put up a 2.73 ERA and the ‘Topes put up a 4.41…..

#4 Barnegat Banana Slugs

DEFEATED BY

#6 Lacey Township Backdoor Sliderz

9.5-4.5

WHAT WENT RIGHT — LTBS

The Braves offense was once again fairly murderous…..got 7 RBIs outta Keston Hiura somehow…..got the victory in the Ks cat even with deGrom exiting his start early…..but chyea those Braves have just been murder for like a month…..

WHAT WENT WRONG — Slugs

They failed to grab a 2nd (and then ideally 3rd) Hold and they ran into a Butt Sliderz offense that was HAWT, that’s pretty much it folks…..OBP and RBIs were a little low (you can sort of blame Adalberto & Vladito for both) but why nitpick…..

BCS PREVIEW

#6 Lacey Township Backdoor Sliderz

vs.

#8 Astoria Isotopes

OVERVIEW:

It’s 2018 all over again folks, only THIS TIME the world is a smidge more hell-ish. Which I think is reflected here. The LTBS are the 6 seed once again but THIS TIME they’re facing a ‘Topes team that was the 8th seed and has no business being here, and also THIS TIME it is Doch’s 3rd straight BCS appearance and threatens to be his 3rd straight title (if he wins this sentence will be altered to delegitimize said title don’t worry). GUESS WE WILL SEE WHAT HAPPENS OR WHATEVER

GUYS™ TO WATCH:

BATS BATTLE — DJ LeMahieu (‘Topes) vs. Freddie Freeman (LTBS)

It’s the BCS so it’s going to come down to BEST vs. BEST and in this case we are referring to the two best hitters since the calendar hit September 1, and that’s been Freeman and LeMahieu for the whole LEAGUE if the “score” thing is to be believed. Unfortunately Acuna Jr. is third in that metric and I don’t know how he isn’t second, that metric is a bit of a mystery (also fellow ATL/LTBS Adam Duvall is 5th which just shows you how ridiculous those dumb Braves have been) so the ‘Topes will have to contend with THAT. But yea DJ will need to stay hawt and then maybe the ‘Topes hope law of averages cools down the Braves O a bit.

ARMED CONFLICT — German Marquez (‘Topes) vs. Jacob deGrom (LTBS)

SOMEHOW the two Coors pitchers are the ‘Topes best QS options, they both go twice this week but Marquez is the one that provides a bunch more Ks and ALSO the one that’s already went and given them a QS on Monday. They will seek another this weekend and ideally two from his counterpart (KYLE FREELAND, not sure why I was treating him as if he was in WITSEC). For the Butt Sliderz, they’ll get deGrom twice this week and he’s already gotten things popped off with a 7 IP 2 ER 14 K performance Monday evening. Thank GOODNESS that wasn’t a doubleheader or else the ‘Topes would have really been smartin’. But yea the LTBS are about as set up as they could as for in the finale between two deGrom starts and two from Aaron Nola INCLUDING a doubleheader start this very evening (ahem….. CG alert). So maybe I should have gone with Nola. And if I wrote this before that 14K game I probably would have but I didn’t and now I’ve written too much to go back and change it. Let’s move on.

PREDICTION:

Those who don’t learn from history are something something something, let the history teachers finish that one. But yea I would be a FOOL to not expect the LTBS to continue their run, and I am no fool, so that is what I expect them to do. Shall start writing the post that dismisses this as a legit 3peat now. Backdoor Sliderz WIN IT ALL AGAIN, 8-6

BACKYARDBRACKET2020: HELLSCAPE YEAR’S APPROPRIATELY MAILED IN (AND LATE) ROUND TWO REVIEW/BCS PREVIEW

BackyardBracket2019: Your Better Late Than Never Round 2 Review / BCS Preview

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Playoffs 2019

AT LONG LAST the 2019 season nears its conclusion, as we are actually on like DAY THREE of the BCS and it’s anyone’s chip to win. First I need to tell you how the two teams still standing got here. Let’s do that, using my own personal fave KEY CAT format (the cat key is so kewt)…

(ps if you think I’m covering the consolation bracket you have another thing coming bucko)

 

 

 

 

Image result for lucas giolito GIF

Ocean Gate Fishing Club Defeat What Were At The Time Known As The East Coast Kings  –  7-5-2

 

 

MVP:  Lucas Giolito  –  If Lucas Giolito is even a smidddddge less dominant in his lone start of the week perhaps it’s the Kings that move on to the BCS. But that isn’t what happened, Giolito dominated and the Kings lost.  9 IP, 0 ER, 12 Ks, 1 QS, 1 W, 1 CG, 0.00 ERA

 

LVP:  Brendan McKay  –  On the flip side of the young stud pitcher coin you have Mr. McKay who was NOT dominant, and only lasted 2 innings in his lone start. First time in the Bracket jitters, one surmises.   2 IP, 3 ER, 1 Ks, 13.50 ERA    

 

 

 

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Quality Starts. It isn’t too often that you see a QS matchup end 9-7, not in TODAY’S BASEBALL no sir. But that is what happened, in a week where both teams got on base at a pretty good clip and pitched WELL with the Fishing Club pitching well-er. Giolito had that dagger CG shutout, Shane Bieber (2 QS) continued being a lot better than I thought he was gonna be, and some guy named Brock Burke also contributed 2 QS of his own. The Kings got 2 QS apiece out of Kershaw and Strasburg, and pitched quite well overall, but ultimately that slight edge in QS pointed to slightly better numbers across the board for the Fishing Club staff. And because of that, they move on.

 

 

Assorted Musings Should I Feel Like Musin’:  The Fishing Club had the most QS, most Ws, best ERA in Round 2…Jose Abreu had the most RBIs in the round (11)…The Kings had the best OBP in R2 by a pretty good margin, they also owned one of the two players in the whole damned round with 3 or more HRs (Gleyber Torres, 3 HRs)… LOOK WHERE THAT GOT EM.…

 

 

 

 

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Lacey Township BackdoorSliderz Defeat Point Loma X-Rayz  –  9-5-0

 

 

MVP:  Justin Verlander  –  Nobody really JUMPS off the page for their performances here (though there was plenty of decent performances) and I just think that a CG in a playoff matchup is super clutch, particularly if you’re the higher seed, and so fuck it I’m giving it to the other pitcher that threw a CG.  9 IP, 2 ER, 11 Ks, 1 QS, 1 CG

 

LVP:  Jon Lester  –  Gonna pin this one on Jon Lester because he’s still a Sawk to me. THANKS FOR NOTHIN’, JON LESTER.  4.1 IP, 6 ER, 2 Ks, 12.46 ERA    

 

 

 

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ERA. LIVE BY THE BULK DIE BY THE BULK. The X-Rayz are alway at the forefront of Backyard innovation and the bulk reliever strategy has served them well on many-a-week (it basically did its job of winning Ks and Ws in this week, tbh) BUT the dark side is sometimes your bulk relievers get lit up and sometimes your actual starters don’t pull their weight either and then boom you lose ERA 2.74 to 5.60. Truthfully the ERA is not entirely the fault of bulk relievers (the X-Rayz managed just 2 QS to the Sliderz’ 7) BUT guys like Jalen Beeks (9 ER in 10 IP), Austin Pruitt (6 ER in 5.2 IP), and Wade LeBlanc (4 ER in 4.1 IP) did the X-Rayz no favors. Conversely you have the BackdoorSliderz getting 2 QS out of Aaron Nola (oops) and a CG out of Justin Verlander and a gem out of deGrom (7 IP, 1 ER, 13 Ks) and so yea that team was the one that won. The X-Rayz needed near-perfect pitching to have a shot at the upset and they did not….get…..that. The ERA tells us so.

 

Assorted Musings Should I Feel Like Musin’:  The X-Rayz tossed ONE HUNDRED NINETEEN innings utilizing 31 pitchers in this matchup (92 IP from 21 pitchers for Lacey Twp)….The X-Rayz also racked up 7 triples which feels excessive…Freddie Freeman had the most HRs in R2 (4), Juan Soto had the most Rs (13)in Week 16…

 

 

 

BACKYARD CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES PREVIEW

 

AND SO IT IS FINALLY UPON US……once again……cuz this happens every year we have a league obviously….

 

 

 

 

#1  LACEY TWP BACKDOORSLIDERZ                                                                                                                                              VS.                                                                                                                                            #3 OCEAN GATE FISHING CLUB

img_4671                                                                                                                                           

        img_4678

                    

 

I mean in a way WHAT IS TO REALLY PREVIEW HERE, it’s Cody Bellinger & Ronald Acuna Jr. vs. Mike Trout & Mookie Betts. But in another way, that’s not entirely accurate as these two teams sneakily finished 1-2 in overall ERA. So let’s try and touch on that as well. In the past I’ve done this corner by corner so let’s start with the CHALLENGERS to the throne, the Ocean Gate (sometimes Trout) Fishing Club. The OGFC finished with this season with the #3 seed, which certainly came in handy when they tied the #6 seed in the first round. They did so riding the bats of the guys I mentioned above but ALSO Josh Bell has 33 HRs and 104 RBIs right now and ALSO Jose Abreu was a smart deadline addition and ALSO Trea Turner and that trio of Cubs sluggers are still here and ALSO Yordan Alvarez (21 HRs in 219 ABs, .420 OBP) has been on fucking fire. If there’s a team in the league that can challenge Lacey Twp in the Bats Dept., this is the team. And FORTUNATELY, for those rooting against back-to-back championships just on general principle (not sure who would do such a thing), this team isn’t built on bats alone. Gerrit Cole, Shane Bieber, Luis Castillo, & Lucas Giolito are all very good starting pitcher mens and Felipe Vazquez, Josh Hader, & Seth Lugo are good reliever mens. And the Fishing Club will need just about everyone I name-dropped and/or alluded to in this paragraph to be on their fucking game because uhhh, they’re challenging a team that’s lost once in 19 matchups (TO THE BEARS MIGHT I ADD).

And that team, is of course and unfortunately the top-seeded defending champeen Lacey Township BackdoorSliderz. The Sliderz have breezed through the entire season by pairing a feared group of youthful hitters with an equally impressive pitching staff, truly there’s been no real holes on this team all season (hence only losing once, to the Bears). Acuna Jr., Soto, Bellinger, Albies, Bregman those are all good players and that’s from the paragraph I wrote last season and OH they also have Keston Hiura now and Freddie Freeman is still here and still good and at this point it’s just a small blessing that Fernando Tatis Jr. is donezo for the seasono. Every time I write out these names I feel like apologizing to the rest of the league, so lets switch to pitching so I can just quickly apologize for Aaron Nola (overrated) and move on to the other guys. Verlander, deGrom, Greinke are all older or old-ish but very good, they also have Walker Buehler whom is very young but very good. Their bullpen is solid enough to where I don’t feel like mentioning them but ALSO I probably should because they had 7 Saves in Round 2 (I assume Roberto Osuna is to blame but fuck him). ANYWHO, this team lead the league in Runs and HRs and OBP I do believe and they also were basically top 5 across the board and that’s why they are at where they are at, which is one win away from back-to-back championships for the first time since 2013 (I think we all know whom that was but A REFRESHER IF NEEDED:  https://backyardviewsblog.com/2016/08/31/the-history-of-the-league-2011-2013-special-dynasty-edition/).

 

Overall, it’s hard to argue that these two teams don’t deserve to be in the BCS because ON PAPER they have perhaps the two most impressive rosters and IN ACTUAL PERFORMANCE yanno……one team only lost once all year, the other grabbed the 3 seed (and they’re notorious underachievers). Fortunately this preview is being released while everything’s pretty much a toss-up, everyone feel free to take your sides now because EITHER WAY the league is saddled with another unfortunate champeen. Pick the lesser of two evils I guess? If you give a shit at all?

 

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BackyardBracket2019: Your Better Late Than Never Round 2 Review / BCS Preview

Playoff Review – Opening Week

mikelobmanLeave a comment

Playoffs 2019

Well, this is a weird feeling. For the first time in the history of the league, yours truly the TWO time champeeen River City Bad Dude–Margs are not chasing another title run. I know the rest of the league is as broken up as I was about this fact, but in respect of the remaining playoff chasers, we will press on and give a QUICK review of this first round of the playoffs in the year of our lord 2019. Without further ado:

BYE Weeks: Lacey Twp backdoor Sliderzzzzzzzz(z), East Coast Kings

They both did a nice job managing (not managing) their rosters and setting themselves up for their respective weeks in Round 2. Good for them.

 

Consolation Bracket:

Fiers

Lakehurst Leviathans defeat THE NEW LOOK River City Fightin’ Margs – 9-3-2

NOTES: Shane keeping Mike Fiers has paid immediate dividends, as his centerpiece for 2020 throw a 6 inning 5 earned GEM. This start further entrenches him in the Leviathans 2020 rotation (I assume). Anyways, nobody really gives a fuck about the consolation bracket, but its really fucking swell to see Bryce Harper hit dingerZ when they don’t actually matter. Both teams had solid OBP’s (Shout out to the 2019 OBP record for Shane this week BUT THE MEDIA ISN’T REPORTING THAT) and didn’t start the requisite 12 which is just fine for this situation.

Next Up: Honestly who cares.

 

Jap

Rojo’s Renegade Force defeats Barnegat Banana Slugs – 7-3-4

NOTES: I dunno. Aristides Aquino had a very nice week. The Renegades got some strong Japanese power with an Ohtani JROLL, as well as a lovely outing from Yu Darvish. One must think that this momentum will really push The Renegades into good form for next seas…………. Nevermind. Uh, moving on!

Next Up: Again, Nobody Cares

 

Actual Bracket:

Ramirez
J-Ram heating up at the right time for the X-Rayz

Pacific Beach X-Rayz Start lots of guys, defeat Island Beach Bears – 9-3-2

NOTES:

You just know you’re in for a long playoff week when you look at your opponent’s starting roster on a Monday and find 8(!) random pickups on for a doubleheader in Yankee Stadium. That’s not what you want, and for Sean’s Bears, the random beat-down continued throughout the entirety of the week. There’s no way to know if Sean actually paid attention this week, but if he did, he would have seen that the X-Rayz started 40 FORTY different batters! If I were Mikey T, I’d make some claim that this was DEFINITELY a record. I’m not sure if it was, but it was a record. Anyways, Jose Ramirez is good again, so he gets my MVP of the week award for this matchup. Also, it can’t feel good to see FORMER Bear, Domingo German tossing a 7-inning gem against his former team. Again, I’m not sure Sean noticed.

FOR THE BEARS, Max Munchy had a nice week, and the team sure got a lot of holds. Marcus Semien rung up a JROLL moral victory, and the Bears did not start 40 batters this week. That’s like all I got here. The real winner here are the Bears, as now their owner can paddle out to sea on his boogie board without having to worry about checking his roster. I think at the end of the day, both teams got what they wanted, and that’s really what this league is all about.

Ocean-Paddle-Boarding-300x200
Sean, the ocean waits for theeeeeeeee

Next Up: Pacific Beach X-Rayz travel to the back woods of Lacey Township to face our defending champion. I expect too many wrestling comments.

 

Matchup of the Playoff Week, SPONSORED BY DICK’S SPORTING GOODS:

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The Ocean Gate Trout Fishing Club TIE and DEMORALIZE and END the SEASON of the Astoria Isotopes – 6-6-2

NOTES:

Wooooo boy. I mean, where to begin here. This matchup had EVERYTHING, and by everything, I mean that I really started following what was going on around 5:30 on Sunday night. But the drama was palpable heading into that 7pm Little League whatever the fuck that is that they do every year now. It honestly looked like the Fishing Club had this thing all done and dusted at the end of the day on Saturday, but low and behold the #Dopes decided to go out and have a fairly RIDICULOUS 6 homer 14 RBI Sunday afternoon (along with 2 holds and 2 saves) to take a 7-5 lead into this now historic 7pm game. Now, I didn’t watch the game, mainly because A-Rod is so terrible to listen to and he wears uncomfortably tight dress shirts, but the situation had the Topes getting into the semifinals if the score held. The OGFC needed a homer and a double from one of the Bell/Bryant/Rizzo trio, which in hindsight was entirely plausible.

The chat was FILLED with T comments saying, “I WANT THE CHAMP” and talking about his impending matchup with The BDSliderz. I remember thinking to myself “Just how much will I laugh if Bryant doubles, then Rizzo homers right behind him?” very early on in the game (while tracking on my phone, again A-Rod isn’t good). WELL GUYS you’ll never guess what happens in the 5th inning! Mitch Keller gives up a quick double to Kris Bryant, to prompt Mikey T to say something along the lines of “Uh Oh”. Now, we all knew what was coming next, which was inevitably the end of the Dopes I mean Topes season. Trying to rile up my good friend T, I said “Hey wouldn’t it be funny if Rizzo homered here?”. The chat BLEW UP. Rizzo had done it, something ALL TOO MANY have done off of Mitch Keller this season, but this one mattered. The Bryzzo combo had officially sent the hopes of Topes 2nd title crashing down in the Williamsport night. Many little leaguers were cheering. I assume T was not. Heroy was hungover and somewhat down about his victory. Nobody wins sometimes.

Let’s just give a big ole MVP to Bryzzo here for disemboweling the Topes on a late Sunday night.

Next Up: The OGFC head to the East Coast (?) to face the Kings, where there’s no doubt where Heroy will concede victory to R-mac about 15 times and proclaim that he doesn’t really care about this league anyways and wants it all to end.

TO SUM UP THIS WEEK:

Welcome
To the Club, Guys

Playoff Review – Opening Week

2019 WEEK 17 QUICK HITTERS

AnActualBearLeave a comment

Ohtano_size_restricted
Rumor is this guy’s pretty fleet of foot (QUICK), he wears #17, so uhhh yep….

 

 

OH YEAAAA FEELIN goooood here at the blog. Not so good that I actually want to write out a Week Review but good enough to write out a QUICK HITTAZ. Which honestly will likely offend the people that tried to HIJACK this blog even more. I suspect SOME PEOPLE find Quick Hitters offensive because of its brevity and to those people I say:

“Brevity is the brother of brilliance” — George Steinbrenner, allegedly, like at least once…

I also say fuck you, write a review yourself then you illiterate bastards. ON TO Week 17 Quick Hitters…

 

BUT FIRST, an important note on the tie-breaking procedures that will undoubtedly affect that whole Backyard Bracket thing that’s gonna start in another week….

 

Head to Head playoff tiebreakers:

  1. Head to Head
  2. Wins
  3. Division Record
  4. Total Season Stats
  5. Record Last 9 Games
  6. Longest Win Streak
  7. Most 10+ category win weeks
  8. Coin flip

More than 2 team tiebreakers:

  1. Head to Head (requires a complete sweep by one team)
  2. Wins
  3. Division Record
  4. Record Last 9 Games
  5. Longest Win Streak
  6. Most 10+ Category Win Weeks
  7. Coin Flip

 

What does all of that mean for The Backyard Bracket this year?! FUCK IF I KNOW, I thought about writing up detailed scenarios but that already seems really hard. Please refer to Mike’s crudely written charts as a starter course:

 

 

 

 

WEEK 17 QUICK RESULTS: 

 

Kings (10-7) over Leviations (6-11) — 10-1-3

MVP:  Noah Syndergaard (14 Ks, 2 QS, 1 W, 0.63 ERA)

lvp:  Justin Upton (0-10)

 

Banana Slugs (6-10-1) over X-Rayz (6-8-3) — 8-4-2

MVP:  Vlad Guererro Jr. (3 HRs, 11 RBIs, .536 OBP)

          lvp:  Mallex Smith (2-22, 3 SBs, .167 OBP)

 

Isotopes (8-9) over Renegades (7-9-1) — 8-4-2    

MVP:  Nolan Arenado (6 Rs, 2 HRs, 6 RBIs, .385 OBP)

          lvp:  Victor Robles (1-16, 2 Rs, .286 OBP)

 

Bears (7-9-1) over Fishing Club (8-8-1) — 8-6-0

MVP:  Austin Meadows (1 3B, 3 HRs, 6 RBIs, .350 OBP)

          lvp:  Kris Bryant (LVPOTW)

 

BBOTW:  BackdoorSliderz (16 and ONE) over Bad Dudes (6-8-3) — 11-2-1

MVP:  Walker Buehler (MVPOTW)

   lvp:  Wilson Contreras (3-16, 1 R, 1 RBI, .188 OBP)

 

 

WEEK 17 QUICK NOTES:

 

  • The Kings wrapped up the #2 seed in Week 17, and those fux in Lacey have had the #1 seed wrapped up since like early June, so we have our top two all set for the #BackyardBracket. #s 3 through 6 will be an ABSOLUTE MESS, but that mess will have sorted itself out by this time next week (hopefully).

 

  • The Isotopes stopped the bleeding in Week 17 with a much-needed win (previously had lost 4 in a row, previous to this previously had won 7 in a row, previous to the previous to the previous previously had lost their first 5 to start 2019) over the Renegade Force. With the victory they now find themselves poised to grab the #3 seed or the 4 or the 5 or the 6 or the 7.

 

  • The Bears lead the league in runs scored for the second week in a row, perhaps coinciding with Jose Altuve having two working legs perhaps coinciding with the team trolling their owner for declaring they couldn’t win out. They still might not win out, but probably need a W combined with a Renegade Force L to make the playoffs. They’ve already won though, when you really think about it.

 

  • The Banana Slugs managed to stave off formal elimination in Week 17 with a victory over the X-Rayz, both teams would be out if the playoffs started today (I think? I know for da Slugs) but THEY DON’T, so that’s fortunate for them and for the league as a whole. Need to sort this mess out.

 

  • UNFORTUNATELY that means there is one team that has been eliminated from #BYB contention and that team is the Lakehurst Leviathans, a blog favorite. Regardless of coming up short of their goal in the 2019 season the Leviathans can hold their heads hight for TWO (2) reasons:  1- They have more wins this season than their first two seasons combined, in a particularly brutal year within the Backyard. and 2- They called out ESPN in a tweet which netted us a potential free trial on Fantrax, or maybe it inspires ESPN to get their shit together, or maybe some combo of the two. Hats off to the 2019 Lakehurst Leviathans, look forward to seeing what they can do in 2020 (should the league exist, @Brian ;)).

 

 

 

 

WEEK 17 QUICK AWARDS / JROLLS

 

 

 

 

MVP OF THE WEEK: 

 

 

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WALKER BUEHLER (partly cuz he was last time so it saves me from finding a new GIF)

9 IP, 1 ER, 15 Ks, 1 QS, 1 W, 1 CG, 1.00 ERA

 

 

 

 

 

LVP OF THE WEEK:

 

 

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KRIS BRYANT (partly so I could use this GIF…)

13/20, 2 Rs, .150 OBP

 

 

 

 

 

WEEK 17 JROLLS:    

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  • Javier Baez (ECK, 1)  [8/24, 5 Rs, 3 2Bs, 1 3B, 1 HR, 5 RBIs, 2 SBs, .360 OBP]

 

  • Trevor Story (BBS, 3)  [6/22, 6 Rs, 1 2B, 1 3B, 3 HRs, 5 RBIs, 1 SB, .385 OBP]

 

 

UPDATED JROLLs REPORT (through Week 17):

 

1.)  Adalberto Mondesi (LL)  –  4

2.)  Trevor Story (BBS)  –  3

3.)  Whit Merrifield (BBS)  –  3

4.)  Elvis Andrus (ECK/RRF)  –  2

5.)  Christian Yelich (ECK)  –  2

6.)  Fernando Tatis, Jr. (LTBS)  –  2

7.)  Ahmed Rosario (OGFC)  –  2

8.)  Francisco Lindor (ECK)  –  2

9.)  Trea Turner (OGFC)  –  2

10.)  Kolten Wong (PBX)  –  1

11.)  Cody Bellinger (LTBS)  –  1

12.)  Ender Inciarte (BBS)  –  1

13.)   Ronald Acuna, Jr.  (LTBS)  –  1

14.)  Byron Buxton (RCBD)  –  1

15.)   Kelvin Gutierrez (PBX)  –  1 

16.)   Ronny Rodriguez (RRF)  –  1

17.)  Javier Baez (ECK)  –  1

18.)  Mookie Betts (OGFC)  –  1

19.)   Jonathan Villar (IBB)  –  1

20.)  David Dahl (RCBD)  –  1

21.)  Trey Mancini (LL)  –  1

22.)  Yasiel Puig (BBS)  –  1

23.)  Juan Soto (LTBS)  –  1

24.)  Jose Ramirez (PBX)  –  1

25.)  Oscar Mercado (RRF)  –  1

26.)  Freddy Galvis (AI)  –  1

27.)  Starling Marte (LL)  –  1

28.)  Marcus Semien (IBB)  –  1

29.)  Keston Hiura (LTBS)  –  1

30.)  Lourdes Gurriel, Jr. (PBX)  –  1

31.)  Austin Meadows (OGFC @ z time)  –  1

32.)  Adam Eaton (LL)  –  1

 

 

Thank you for tuning in to Week 17 QUICK HITTERS

 

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2019 WEEK 17 QUICK HITTERS

2019 Week 16 Review: “Return of Rollins, Return of Key Cat, Exposing of Doch As Fraud” Edition

AnActualBearLeave a comment

Image result for edwin encarnacion GIF
Amazing that he was able to celebrate like this and still had the time to leg out a decisive double…

 

 

 

OUR LONG BACKYARDONAL NIGHTMARE IS OVER. A few weeks ago the Lacey Township BackdoorSliderz were some sort of undefeated unstoppable juggernaut (likely influenced by some wholly unsustainable BABIPs but I digress), their heel of an asshole of an owner had taken over the blog with promises of timely content and copious wrestling references, and things looked bleaked folks. Fast forward a few weeks and there has been very little content (FRAUD), and the BackdoorSliderz have finally tasted defeat in the 2019 Backyard season (FRAUD), and now I have returned to write about it in longform while also restoring Jimmy Rollins to his rightful JROLL throne. If you’re threatening an undefeated season culminating in a second straight championship we are forced to take you seriously because that THREATENS the 3PO greatest team of all time narrative. And that allows you a little leeway within the blogosphere. But now you’re just some fraud that’s got a first round bye that’s got to HOPE AND PRAY their team’s insanely good fortunes aren’t running out all at once at the worst possible time. Better to be .450 BABIPing in August and not April, folks. To be fair they also have insanely good players BUT you also have to yanno, HOPE AND PRAY those guys don’t slump or get injured. I see vulnerability in the Lacey’s beady little eyes…..

Oh yea there’s also some other matchups that happened, the X-Rayz finally bulk reliever’d their way to the Ks record, etc. etc. etc. all will be covered BUT FIRST…..

 

 

 

Image result for jimmy rollins GIF
For you, His Dochness…..

 

 

 

 

 

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East Coast Kings Perhaps Permanently Pummel Playoff Plans Pertaining Towards The Barnegat Banana Slugs (Probably?)  –  12-2-0

 

MVP:  Nelson Cruz  –  Honestly I forgot the Kings even HAD Nelson Cruz (been kinda outta the review game for a minute) but LOVE IT LOVE HIM love the energy, he’s my second favorite Old Man Masher in baseball (see opening GIF for #1).  12/29, 10 Rs, 1 2B, 7 HRs, 13 RBIs, .485 OBP     

 

LVP:  Yasiel Puig  –  Yasiel just didn’t contribute much stuff this week, and that’s about as much analysis as I intend to give here. On the Yasiel front.  4/21, 4 Rs, 2 2Bs, .292 OBP        

 

Image result for jimmy rollins 

JROLLs:  Francisco Lindor (2, ECK)

 

 

 

 

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HRs. The poor Banana Slugs likely mashed as hard as they’ve mashed all season (7th in HRs) but it still wasn’t enough against a locked in Kings squad, and they lost the HRs cat 25-17. That means 8 more runs for the Kings (the won Rs 60-48), at least 8 more and obviously more than 8 more RBIs for the Kings (they won RBIs 70-57), perhaps a slight OBP bump (the won OBP .363 to .357). Put it all together and you have two teams that had impressive offenses in Week 16 but yanno, one was more impressive. And so that one….won.

 

 

Assorted Musings Should I Feel Like Musin’:  Haven’t talked pitching in a Kings matchup so let’s do that, shout out to a weirdly dominant streamed Steven Matz CG shutout for the Kings. Also shout out to the fact that mayyybe just maybe Trevor Bauer isn’t the super-established ace Trevor Bauer likely thinks he is. I consider him a super-established whiny little bitch, however…

 

What’s Next (Week 17):  ECF v. LL (9-7 v. 6-10)

                   
   RRF @ AI (7-8-1 @ 7-9)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image result for jose ramirez gif

Pacific Beach X-Rayz Rack Up A Shit Ton Of Strikeouts, Also Do Other Things Well In Big Beatdown of Astoria Isotopes  –  10-1-3

 

MVP:  Jose Ramirez  –  JOSE RAMIREZ SIGHTING. The X-Rayz have turned around an ugly start to the season but Jose has mostly been an afterthought even during said turnaround. That is up until July; 9 HRs in a month that has seen the X-Rayz go 3-0. If J-Ram keeps it going into the #BackyardBracket this team can make noise folks.  12/30, 7 Rs, 3 2Bs, 4 HRs, 9 RBIs, 2 SBs, .441 OBP     

 

LVP:  Mike Moustakas  –  More like Mike MOSTSUCKASS, AMIRITE? I hate that I’m dignifying that bad name joke, and also this was a real toss up between Mike and Khris (2/22, 2 RBIs), but ultimately we are going with Moustakas and with that shitty name joke and that is just how things are.  1/15, 1 R, .182 OBP    

 

 

 

Image result for key cat

 

Strikeouts. In a week where the X-Rayz set a new and rather tough to top record in the Ks department, I guess I have to go with Ks here. Ever the Innovator Odom has really taken a shine to this whole “bulk reliever” craze because of course he has, but it’s worth noting the EFFECTS here. The ‘Topes rocked a 9.513 K per 9 in Week 16, better than the X-Rayz 9.217, but WHAT’S THAT MATTER when the latter team tosses 116.2 innings to your 84.2, THIRTY TWO MORE INNINGS THROWN on the Pacific Beach side. And that’s how you set a Ks record and win the cat 119-89, and that’s how you grab 11 wins, and usually there’s a risk of ERA ruin but the ‘Topes managed to suck more (X-Rayz won ERA 4.71 to 5.53), and that’s how you get your doors relatively blown off (also only hitting like 6 HRs doesn’t help) and get leapfrogged in the Backyard Bracket Standings.

 

 

Assorted Musings Should I Feel Like Musin’:  Eight bulk relievers used by the X-Rayz in Week 16, not sure what his usual is but SEEMS LIKE A LOT… ‘Topes were league-worst in Wk 16 in Runs, HRs, RBIs and I guess that’s just what happens when Khris Davis is slumping HARD… Also a real rollercoaster of a season for Astoria, whom started out 0-5 then won 7 in a row and have now lost 4 in a row…

 

What’s Next (Week 17):  PBX v. BBS (6-7-3 v. 5-10-1)

                   
   AI v. RRF (7-9 v. 7-8-1)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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River City Bad Dudes Best A Super Invested Definitely Started Twelve Pitchers* Rojo’s Renegade Force Squad  –  9-4-1

*one was an opener but beggars can’t be choosers

 

MVP:  Miguel Sano  –  Miguel Sano is a fat turd (whoever had “turd” twice in Blog Bingo gets a prize) who strikes out too much and is probably a piece of shit, BUT he’s mashing taters this season and mashed some taters in Week 16 and I guess that’sa ll the MVP of the week part cares about. Nice tie-in to the River City Mashers hidden in this paragraph, FAN SERVICE for longtime Backyard fans. The Doch Blog never delivered this sort of stuff, or any sort of stuff really. A totally Weak and Low Energy blogger. ANYWHO YEA MIGUEL SANO.   9/27, 6 Rs, 4 HRs, 11 RBIs, .379 OBP     

 

LVP:  Masahiro Tanaka  –  I mean, FOR FUCKS SAKE Masahiro. You get LVP of the Week cuz I’m not sure I’ve seen that many runs given up in quite some time. And it was against the Red Sawks so SHAME ON HIM.  3.1 IP, 12 ER, 4 Ks, 32.40 ERA    ***LVP OF THE WEEK***     

 

 

 

 

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Holds. You lost AT YOUR OWN GAME ROJO. The Bad Dudes won Holds 4-1 and that isn’t necessarily why they won the MATCHUP (the .342 to .311 OBP disparity probably more damning) but it IS necessarily all I want to talk about here cuz this matchup bores me.

 

 

Assorted Musings Should I Feel Like Musin’:  Renegade Force perhaps making league history as the first team to knowingly (I think) start an “opener,” THIS LEAGUE JUST GETS WACKIER AND WACKIER…

 

What’s Next (Week 17):  RCBD @ LTBS (6-7-3 @ 15-1) *BBOTW*

                   
   RRF @ AI (7-8-1 @ 7-9)

 

 

 

 

 

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Lakehurst Leviations Continue DREAM SEASON, Notch Sixth Win At Ocean Gate Fishing Club’s Expense  –  9-5-0

 

MVP:  Didi Gregorius  –  Both Didi and JD Martinez did real work in Week 16 (pretend Judge is JD in the GIF above) but Didi did slightly better work and fuck the sawks and so on and so forth.  11/26, 5 Rs, 4 2Bs, 1 3B, 2 HRs, 13 RBIs, .448 OBP     

 

LVP:  Francisco Mejia  –  On the opposite end of the spectrum, Mejia did the very opposite of work and contributed nothing but a few base hits and no wonder this goddamned owner always harrasses me about Gary Sanchez.  4/16, .294 OBP    

 

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JROLLs:  Trea Turner (2, OGFC) ; Adam Eaton (1, LL)

 

 

 

 

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Triples. This matchup was tiiiiiiiight all over the place man, but it’s always an unfortunate circumstance when your team musters more than one three-bagger and still loses the cat. And that was the case here so lets highlight Heroy sadness, two triples (AND ONE JROLL) out of the OGFC and they get bested by a Leviathans team that put up four despite the absence of Adalberto. Tough break kiddo. Other tough breaks include 1 “point” losses in SBs, QS, and Holds but this paragraph was about the triples so we are gonna STICK TO THE TRIPLES.

 

 

Assorted Musings Should I Feel Like Musin’:  The Leviathans had 69 RBIs (nice.)… ALSO, with this victory the Leviathans have more wins in Year 3 than they had in Years 1 and 2 COMBINED (double nice.)(#TrustTheProcess)…

 

What’s Next (Week 17):  LL @ ECK (6-10 @ 9-7)

                   
   OGFC v. IBB (8-7-1 v. 6-9-1)

 

 

 

 

 

2019 WEEK 16 BACKYARD BATTLE OF THE WEEK, SPONSORED BY THE 1985 CHICAGO BEARS’ WEEK 13 DEFEAT

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https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/bears/ct-85-bears-dolphins-oral-history-spt-1129-20151128-story.html

 

 

 

 

 

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Island Beach Bears Accomplish Everything They Needed To In 2019 Season, Slay The Lacey Township BackdoorSliderz Beast Fucking Finally (they are now allowed to go win the championship or whatever I guess*)  –  7-6-1

*jkjk we root against any and all back-to-back chamPEEN challengers ’round here, fuck them I want ’em bounced in Round 2..

 

 

MVP:  Edwin Encarnacion  –  Were there better performers in Week 16 both on the Bears and on other teams? I mean yea PROBABLY (definitely). But this was another performance in a long line of CLUTCH PLAYOFF PERFORMANCES (as far as I’m concerned I just won the playoffs) wherein Encarnacion, win or loss, gave us a heroic effort. In this case we needed doubles and he HEROICALLY contributed FIVE, 45% of his total heading into Week 16. Good. Man.  11/32, 6 Rs, 5 2Bs, 1 HR, 3 RBIs, .400 OBP     ***MVP OF THE WEEK/PROBABLY YEAR***    

 

LVP:  Alex Bregman  –  Bad week outta Breggy and a quiet week outta a few other ButtSliderz Starz in Week 16, it’s almost like that’s how baseball is supposed to work as opposed to having EVERYTHING GO YOUR WAY ALL YEAR LONG. Suck it, turds.  1/17, 3 Rs, 1 2B, 1 RBI, .238 OBP          

 

 

 

Bears Hitter Of Note:  Jonathan Villar heard rumors of other owners BALKING at requested returns (probably justifiably so) when those owners came asking about himand so he went out and had himself a week on them basepaths (10/33, 9 Rs, 1 2B, 2 HRs, 5 RBIs, 5 SBs, .361 OBP).

Bears Pitcher Of Note:  When you trade away all of your other good pitchers you’re left with one good pitcher and then that good pitcher likely ends up your pitcher “of note” in these winning situations, and his name is Mike Clevinger (14 IP, 4 ER, 14 Ks, 2 QS, 2 Ws, 2.57 ERA).

 

BackdoorSliderz Hitter Of Note:  Lets all point at Cody Bellinger and laugh because he DIDN’T absolutely bludgeon me in Week 16 and perhaps he isn’t Barry Bonds, which would be nice for me and my trade psyche (he’s still really good and young and I regret that trade and that trade only)(I’ll still trade any mothafucka)(4/18, 4 Rs, 1 2B, 2 RBIs, .333 OBP).

BackdoorSliderz Pitcher Of Note:  And just for FAIR and BALANCED reporting of the FACTS I’ll not do the thing where I try and single out a bad performance here… Robbie Ray had double digit Ks in back-to-back starts so good for him, STILL LOST LOSER (12 IP, 5 ER, 21 Ks, 2 QS, 1 W, 3.75 ERA).

 

BBOTW BREAKDOWN

 

How many words does one owe history? When will enough be written about our triumphs in WWII, about the moon landing, about the moments that DEFINED civilization? Can enough words ever be written? I posit that they cannot, which is why this blog will fail regardless of how long I write about one of the greatest regular season victories (if not THE greatest) in Backyard history (and I intend to write a buncha words and they won’t even be particularly interesting but THE WORD COUNT, oh the word count). Sure teams have gone on some runs, won some games in a row, even won some championships in a row 😉 . But has there ever been a team that remained undefeated this late into one of our regular seasons? No seriously I am asking. And IF SO, could that team have possibly been helmed by a more despicable owner than the one that currently presides over the Lacey Township BackdoorSliderz? This one I can answer myself:  no, for that would be impossible.

Comeuppance has been a long time coming for this team, a talented unit to be fair but one that also has been hashtag BLESSED with some lucky bounces in its day. I think they beat the Banana Slugs in a week when they had like a .270-something OBP, I think Fernando Tatis Jr. and Keston Hiura have had UNSUSTAINABLE BABIPs to begin their respective careers, I think this had to happen the way it happened. At the hands of your fearless, really at this point less-than-part-time, blogger (and perhaps part-time lover) because only HE would then chronicle the great moment in glorious detail. And only HE, thanks to his own human failings, would be able to perfectly set up a Sunday Night Scenario that quite frankly I didn’t see enough applause for the in chat. Edwin Encarnacion is a BACKYARD TREASURE and he deserves your respect. Perhaps no player is more synonymous with their respective franchise, and obviously no player more perfectly epitomizes the GLORY DAYZ of back-to-back-to-back championships for this (once proud, now multiple times renamed) franchise, and now he has basically delivered a fourth championship. Feels like I’ve won the championship this season. You’re all free to keep playing and do the whole “Backyard Bracket” thing but yanno…..whatever.

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There was a time when I planned to break down each day of this HISTORIC VICTORY FOR THE ISLAND BEACH BEARS, but holy shit that sounds exhausting and its difficult enough to piece together the play-by-play just from Sunday. So yea with that caveat in place lets now get fucking pumped up and lets fucking LETS BREAK DOWN THIS HISTORIC MATCHUP’S HISTORIC SUNDAY, SHALL WE?! FUCK YEA LETS:

DAY 7 (Sunday, 7.28.19 Anno Domini)

The Island Beach Bears enter day 7 of their battle WEARY and sensing defeat. Things were lookin’ kinda solid with the BackdoorSliderz offense scuffling, and then Saturday they uhh unscuffled. Categories as of Sunday AM were as follows (not because I think anyone wants to read this shit, but because I want to pump up this word count to up the obnoxious):

Runs – Bears lead 53 to 38

Doubles – Sliderz lead 14 to 12

Triples – Bears lead 2 to 0

HRs – Bears lead 11 to 9

RBIs – Sliderz lead 44 to 37

OBP – Sliderz comfortably ahead just take my word for it

SBs – Bears lead 7 to 4

 

Ks – Bears lead 80 to 69 (nice.)

QS – Bears lead 9 to 5

CGs – Bears haven’t had one all goddamned year, surprised the ButtSliderz didn’t grab one but yea this ended up 0-0

Ws – Tied 6 to 6

Saves – Sliderz lead 4 to 1

Holds – Bears lead 5 to 1

ERA – Sliderz lead like 2 something to 3 something

 

BEARS LEADING 7-5-2

This lead, this lead is a mirage and the Bears know it. For what you DON’T see up there, though certainly I had the room to note it, is the Bears have maxed out their starts by Sunday AM (and amassed a measly 80 Ks doing so) while the BackdoorSliderz would be trotting out four arms for the final day:  Kyle Gibson, Robbie Ray, Walker Buehler, and AARON NOLA. The last arm is of obvious added significance, it’s an arm that already logged a start for the Bears earlier in the week and an arm they then traded away because dynasty is boring make some trades you pussies. It is also an arm that what was SUPPOSED TO BE starting only once in Week 16, was sort of important to me to avoid facing my sweet sweet Aaron in 2019. Alas he ended up getting bumped up to Sunday, and Lacey ownership did what Lacey ownership does best:  paid lip service to sitting him as some sort of courtesy or signaling of their high moral fiber but MERELY A SIGNAL, they were never gonna sit him WERE THEY (Bears ownership wouldn’t have wanted that, but also was drinking at the time of the initial message so didn’t really offer that opinion clearly one way or the other, so could Doch have even KNOWN what I wanted? Has he ever known what anyone else ever wanted? Has he failed to please everyone in his life?)?! ANYWHOM, ultimately Nola got the nod and that was the right move I wouldn’t have wanted a bullet left in the chamber.

SO, and stay with me now, what we have at this point is the Bears BASICALLY expecting Ks and Ws to go to Lacey, with a possibility of them going 4-4 in QS and tying that up as well….. things seemed bleak to say the least. As I alluded, the BackdoorSliderz had already used a 16 run/4 double/5 HR/15 RBI/.460 OBP Saturday to overtake OBP and generally signal the end times for the Bears upset chances. Or so we thought :))))))))))))))) It would require a good amount of good Lacey pitchers pitching poorly for the Bears to retake the ERA lead, and we had already done everything in our power to try and grab more Ks or more Ws or whatever by signing a buncha shitty SP-eligible relievers and treating it like BCS Sunday. And so at this point Bears ownership was on the beach not paying much mind to these sorts of longshot hypotheticals, is what I’m saying.

FAST FORWARD to late afternoon and suddenly the BackdoorSliderz pitching staff has managed to blow the ERA lead by pitching jusssttttt poorly enough, suddenly the Bears are told they’re clinging to a 7-6-1 advantage, and even more suddenly they must reckon with all of those fucking random SP relievers they brought in to try and grab additional pitching stats. Pretty quickly it was assumed by Bears ownership, QUITE CORRECTLY (because they’re actually super smart and stuff), that those shitty relievers were shitty for a reason and so they would fuck said Bears and return said ERA lead and the overall lead with it probably upon their first opportunity…. almost instantaneously Colin McHugh did just that. Around the same time just GENERAL LIFE LIVING, the sort of thing Rojo has tried to tell us all about from high atop the mountains, prevents Bears ownership (me) from subbing out a resting Nicholas Castellanos for a not-resting Hunter Renfroe. By the time of this realization the DEFINITELY EXPECTED Luis Perdomo earned runs have also crossed the plate and we’ve officially written off ERA (evidently we shouldn’t have we only lost 3.90 to 3.86, I would have been haunted by Josh Tomlin if things broke poorly), now turning the attention to catching the evil LTBS RBIs and/or 2Bs while also defending a slim lead in HRs.

This is gripping stuff, one would imagine, if both owners were both scowling MLBTV and furiously refreshing computer screens to follow along. And in fact for the sake of this blog post we are going to say that Doch definitely was doing precisely that, in some sad little Lacey cave like the ones people used to pretend Bin Laden was hiding in. There’s some parallels there. At some point we know the LTBS closed the HR gap to one (thanks to Soto or Conforto or Santana or one of those fucks, but this isn’t their story) and at some other point we now know Marcus Semien and Danny Santana have homered to give the #DongsCat it’s final margin of victory for the Bears. Small margin, small total overall but it’s not the size that counts. So ALL GOOD ON THE HRs, hooray for the good guys. RBIs inched close (another size pun in here somewhere), some thanks due to Travis D’Arnaud for contributing 7 RBIs for the IBB while only bequeathing 2 RBIs for the LTBS (he’s filled in admirably for Gary Sanchez), but ultimately despite our best efforts bad things sometimes happen to good people and good things sometimes happen to bad people (see Doch’s 2018 season) and so we couldn’t close the gap there. And by “best efforts” I mean we couldn’t close the gap because Hunter Renfroe hit a grand slam on the fucking bench, with plenty of space for him in our not-being-used RF slot.

SO RBIs weren’t working out and its down to doubles to slay the beast. Ozzie Albies knocked the lone Sunday double for Lacey, the very excellent Danny Santana and Jonathan Villar and Travis D’Arnaud chipped in their own two-baggers for Island Beach (left out a “two-bagger” joke about Dorothy here), and by the time the dust had settled we arrived at a very unsatisfying 6-6-2 tie heading into Sunday Night Sawks-Yanks. This could not stand, however….

SUNDAY NIGHT SAWKS-YANKS (7.28.19 Anno Domini)

The Yankee-loathing Lacey outfit has no participants in the Sunday night game, the Bears have ❤ Edwin Encarnacion ❤ and Aaron Hicks. The Bears need one double or 4 RBIs to finally hand the BackdoorSliderz a much-needed loss in 2019, and the presence of Edwin in this equation has them quietly CONFIDENT….. so confident they are not watching the game one bit, and are going to Mellow Mushroom. I think I’m back from Mellow by the time Edwin evidently smokes a single in the top of the 5th…..

….that moves Hicks to 3rd and no farther, so yea running out of innings but WE ARE FINE EVERYTHING IS FINE. STILL. I think at this point I’m “watching a documentary” on PFAS, Edwin would not betray this organization.

In the 7th inning, we get what we need and by “we” I mean THE LEAGUE AS A WHOLE needed:

 

Encarnación doubled to left center, Hicks to third.
PITCH TYPE MPH
1 Double Slider 82

 

Print that out and smoke it folks, I’m giving you PITCH TYPE and everything here. I will also note the double was hit off of Bad Dudes RELIEVER PHENOM EXTRAORDINAIRE Darwinzon Hernandez.

 

Bears win 7-6-1

Bears win self-proclaimed “last week they give a shit about winning”

Undefeated season for the ButtSliderz is off the table, which is a bit of a relief I think we can all agree

Bears now have to keep giving a shit until formally eliminated from playoffs (TAKE NOTE ROJO), which isn’t a relief per se but is still FINE ITS FINE we can pay attention to a fantasy baseball league while still existing in the world (TAKE NOTE LOBMAN, OR MAYBE ROJO, I am forgetting the gripes at this point)….

The league is saved and you’re all fucking welcome

Look I know this one was a bit of a coin flip in several spots and we just have easily could have allowed the LTBS to escape with yet another win and they’re still the current favorites (though clearly I think we’ve exposed some kinks in the armor, not gonna tell anyone what they are it’s a big secret) for that OTHER champeenship still to be awarded. I know all these things. But I also know that this shit needed to end and so Edwin ended it, and so nobody ever ask me if he was available to trade for ever again. Notta one of youz. ANYWAYZ Week 17 has the Bears still in the bracket hunt weirdly enough, so they’re gonna head to Ocean Gate and try and beat those jackasses. And if they don’t at least they beat this jackass. This jackass and his ButtSliderz take on the River City Bad Dudes in our Backyard Battle Of The Week.

 

What’s Next (Week 17):  IBB @ OGFC (6-9-1 @ 8-7-1)

                   
LTBS v. RCBD (16-1 v. 6-7-3) *BBOTW*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Had to get one more in ^ 

 

2019 Week 16 Review: “Return of Rollins, Return of Key Cat, Exposing of Doch As Fraud” Edition

Week 11 Review

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WEEK 11 RECAP BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE NEW AND IMPROVED BLOG ADMINISTRATION!!!

 

 

Week 11 is in the books and the Backyard Blog is getting a much-needed facelift.  It is about time the people get what they want.  For weeks people have been complaining about lazy writing and the journalistic integrity of the blog with all the biased writing that has been going on.  By popular demand, our last blog editor has been fired and replaced by a reputable journalist who has experience in providing the type of writing this blog has been lacking. 

Before we get to the Week 11 recap, we must address another issue with the blog.  Many people around the league have been complaining about the name of the weekly recognition that goes to a hitter who fills every stat category.  This has been called the J-Roll for years, but everyone knows that this name was just not any good for this recognition.  This has been especially true considering the on-field issues that Jimmy Rollins has had, those issues mainly consist of him playing for the Phillies and being guilty by association of being half the double play tandem with Chase Utley for so many years.  This blog holds itself in more respect now and will not be associated with a man who would make slides so dirty that they end a man’s career like Utley has in the past.  Sorry Jimmy, I am sure you are a nice enough guy, but the prestigious stat filler recognition has a black eye because of your association with a guy like Utley.

So, without further ado.…. I present to you……

 

 

The Jericho

Image result for chris jericho is excellence gif

 

We are breaking down the walls here at the blog, so drink it in maaaaaaaaan.  You know what happens to people who do not like the new name for those who get a run, RBI, double, triple, home run, and steal throughout the week?  You know what happens to those who are not down with Jericho?  THEY MAKE THE LIST!

Jericho is the perfect namesake for the new prestigious recognition.  The Ayatollah of Rock-n-Rolla has accomplished so much in his life and is a role model to all.  Jericho is recognized by many as the G.O.A.T.  He was the first ever Undisputed WWF Champion, held the WCW World Championship twice, the World Heavyweight Championship three times, the Intercontinental Championship a record nine times, he’s a Tag Team Champion, United States Champion, WCW Cruiserweight Champion and World Television Champion.  He is the man of 1,004 holds, a Triple Crown Champion and Grand Slam Champion.  The Alpha has authored New York Times Bestseller books as well as have roles in legendary films such as MacGruber.  He has had success wherever he goes including the music industry with his band Fozzy, who’s song Judas has reached as high as 7th on the US hard rock charts.  This man truly is a jack of all trades and is the new gold standard of filling the stat sheet in a given week in the Backyard.

 

The Backyard is Jericho!

Image result for chris jericho gif

Now that we have the long overdue renaming to the Jericho out of the way, let’s get down to recapping Week 11.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Pacific Beach X-Rays and River City Bad Dudes are kissing their sisters with another tie this week at a score of 6-6-2

Image result for edwin diaz

Doch Thoughts

This is the second time these teams have tied each other this season.  This may a Backyard first, certainly the first time it has happened in the AD era.  Pretty solid weeks all around from both teams except for ERAs.  Odom had yet another 100 plus k week on the back of his bulkers.  He throws a lot of volume out there with his no light day’s mentality.  Sometimes ERA will suffer but no denying he racks up the counting stats.  Also, Mallex Smith (2 home runs this week) is a power hitter now, maybe the greatest power hitter of our generation, only time will tell.

Shout out to my man David Dahl as he racked up a Jericho for the Bad Dudes (7 Runs, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 1 SB, .452 OBP) 

 

MVP

Scott Kingery (XYZ) – 7 runs, 3 2Bs, 1 3B, 4 HRs, 8 RBIs, .542 OBP

MVP of this matchup could have easily gone to Manny Machado for the Bad Dudes (11 runs, 2 2Bs, 3 HRs, 6 RBIs, .500 OBP).  Those 11 runs are impressive, but the Bad Dudes lost the run category 63-56.  Losing that category plus losing the home run category by 1 dinger while Kingery had 1 more home run than Machado this week solidifies the MVP of the matchup for Kingery.  Kingery sure is making the best of his time in centerfield for the Phillies with Herrera being out having his off-field issues.  He was a stolen base shy of getting the ever-prestigious Jericho.  Kingery will probably be dropped by Odom the next game he doesn’t start if he is still even on this team by the time of this writing.  Who can keep up with Odom’s roster and his Rays Ways philosophy?  A philosophy that is built on riding hot players and they picked a good time to ride with Kingery. 

 

LVP

Ewin Diaz (XYZ) – 3 IP, 4 ER, 2 Ks, 1 SV, 12.00 ERA

There were players with much higher ERAs on both teams, but Edwin is LVP this week because Odom lost the saves category by 1 and Diaz blew a save for the Mets on Thursday.  If that save isn’t blown, Odom wins the matchup instead of the tie.  There might be people more deserving of the LVP award, but I am also a little bitter about that blown save myself. Edwin, get it together, because old man Cano stinks and you’re the prize of that trade.

 

Jericho’s

Dahl (RCBD)

 

Next week

XYZ (2-6-3) vs LTBS (11-0) *****MATCHUP OF THE WEEK*****

RCBD (3-5-3) vs T (6-5)

 

 

 

The Banana Slugs (3-7-1) outlast the Lakehurst Leviathans (4-7) 7-5-2

Image result for trevor bauer meme

 

Doch Thoughts

This was a close matchup with about 8 categories that could have easily swung in the opposite direction.  Runs were separated by 1, RBI by 2, Steals by 1, and tied in doubles.  I’m sure there was some Sunday anxieties being expressed in the chat that I may have missed.  Brian was able to hold on though with his pitching leading the way winning the pitching categories 5-1-1.  Some of the offensive categories really came down to the wire.  

 

MVP

Trevor Bauer (BBS) – 16.2 IP, 1 ER, 14 Ks, 2 QS, 1 CG, 1 W, 0.54 ERA

This was one hell of a 2-start week for Trevor Bauer that the previous blog administrator may have ignored because of personal biases against Bauer.  The Sunday CG shutout against the Tigers was a major factor in the victory for the Slugs this week, which is why he gets the MVP over guys like Scherzer, Story, or even the surprise Jericho from Trey Mancini

 

LVP

Leviathans Pitching Staff – they stunk

6.78 ERA is not very good for the week.  That team down in Barnegat are known for their pitching over their hitting but they were not completely lights out this week when compared to their standards.  Slugs only had a 4.50 ERA, which is very beatable in a given week, but they still won the pitching categories 5-1-1.  Credit to the Slugs for their 90 Ks which will always be solid, but the Leviathans pitching needed to show up more and steal a category or 2 here to give themselves a chance.  I’ll highlight the Sunday stream of Ariel Jurado who gave up 7 runs against the Reds in 3 innings without recording a single K.  

 

Jericho’s

Trey Mancini (LAKE)

 

Next Week

BBS (3-7-1) vs BEARS (4-6-1)

LAKE (4-7) vs RRF (6-4-1)

 

 

 

Astoria Isotopes pitch slap Island Beach Bears 10-2-2

Image result for charlie blackmon gif

 

Doch Thoughts

At one point on Sunday I am pretty sure I saw the Bears being shut out.  This matchup was by far the most lopsided of the week.  Isotopes stay the second hottest team in the league with their 6th straight victory after their 0-5 start.  T told that Island Beach sweathog to keep the noise down while he took his robe off to show all the ladies what a real man is supposed to look like.  I wish I could think of more Rick Rude quotes for T at this time, but that is going to have to do for now.  Win again next week and you get some more Rick Rude love T. 

 

MVP of the Week*****

Charlie Blackmon (T) – 12 runs, 4 2Bs, 1 3B, 6 HRs, 15 RBIs, .568 OBP

Chuck was scorching hot this week and was a steal away from the Jericho.  I’ll say he led the Topes to victory, but in all reality, T could have left Blackmon’s spot in his lineup open all week and still would have won with ease.  Only runs would have flipped in the Bears favor without Blackmon in the lineup, while triples and home runs would have been tied.  That just shows how much the Topes dominated the Bears this week.  Shout out to the resurgent Hunter Pence as well.  Don’t feel like going back and listing his stats but trust me when I say he was good this week and fantasy relevant again.  Early leader for comeback player of the year.

 

LVP

Joc Pederson (IBB) – 0/15, 1 BB, .063 OBP

Ummmmm yea, ugly week for Joc.  At least he made a nice catch, I think that was this week anyway but could have been last week.  ‘Nuff said, moving on.

 

Next Week

T (6-5) vs RCBD (3-5-3)

BEARS (4-6-1) vs BBS (3-7-1)

 

 

 

Rojo’s Renegade Force with the clean victory over Ocean Gate Fishing Club 6-3-5

Image result for ohtani gif

 

Doch Thoughts

The Renegade Force did not have to cheat to earn this victory.  They also started 12 pitchers this week which is a nice change of pace for this squad.  The Renegade force were led by their hitting as they received 4 out of their 6 category wins from the hitters on the squad.  There were 3 Jericho’s in this matchup between Ohtani, Trea Turner, and Mookie Betts.  I wonder if the Fishing Club watched the season finale of Wicked Tuna last night.  If he didn’t, let’s just say I will be more then disappointed and be requesting he change his name yet again, because it stinks and Wicked Tuna rocks.  The Fishing Club did get a combined 8 home runs out of the trio of rookies Alvarez, Senzel, and Jimenez.  Something to watch out for moving forward as these guys all look legit.  Brendan Rodgers on the other hand can’t buy any consistent playing time out in Colorado.

 

MVP

Eric Hosmer (RRF) – 5 runs, 3 2Bs, 12 RBIs, .400 OBP

Did Eric Freaking Hosmer just have 12 RBI this week?  I was about to give this honor to Ohtani for his Jericho, or to one of the 3 pitchers Rojo had that had themselves nice little 2 start weeks.  But Hosmer gets it because a 12 RBI week is impressive for anyone.  I’ll tell you guys what that was the quietest 12 RBI week I have ever seen.  The San Diego first baseman only had 3 extra base hits and none of them left the yard.  It was well documented in the chat the scoring that was going on in the San Diego and Colorado series, so perhaps I shouldn’t be so surprised.  Hosmer is a man who I thought got overpaid by San Diego and a guy I thought should be bouncing around the waiver wire in fantasy circuits, but perhaps ROJO knows something I don’t.  Either way, there is no denying his 12 RBIs were huge in the contest that was neck and neck in that category. 1 2

 

LVP

Austin Meadows (OGFC) – 2/21, 2 Runs, 1 2B, 1 3B, .174 OBP

Not a good week for a guy who has been on the block for the Fishing Club.  This Fishing Club narrowly lost out in runs and RBI this week and could have used anything from Meadows.  This award could have also gone to Amed Rosario, who Heroy still insists is good and worth a roster spot when just about every Mets fan in the league (only 2 at this point) disagrees with that assessment.  Nobody wants Rosario to be good more than me, but I am afraid he just isn’t.  The Fishing Club offense is still very good even with the blackhole known as Rosario in the lineup every day.  Oh, and uh yea back to LVP Meadows, you’ll bounce back I’m sure, no doubt you’re better than Rosario.

 

Jericho’s

Ohtani (RRF)

Betts (OGFC)

Turner (OGFC)

 

Next Week

OGFC (5-5-1) vs ECK (6-5)

RRF (6-4-1) vs LAKE (4-7)

 

 

 

Fan favorite underdogs from Lacey put up another gritty win against the East Coast Kings 8-4-2

Image result for tatis jr. gif

 

Doch Thoughts

The good guys of the league from Lacey keep on trucking as they were able to overcome adversity once again for another victory, improving their record to 11-0.  This makes 16 straight victories dating back to the infamous ROJO tie late last season.  The man behind the team in Lacey does everything right and should be looked at as a role model to the rest of the league.  A league that should aspire to be more like him when they grow up, even though he is the youngest member of the Backyard.  He is charitable, humble, charismatic, handsome, and overall just a terrific guy.  Women want him and men want to be him.  The chat could not be happier that such an outstanding person keeps pulling out victories in the Backyard.  But there’s more to life then the Backyard, and the chat wishes nothing but the best in life to that handsome devil down in Lacey.  He deserves it for his hard work and dedication day in and day out.

Oh, yea there was a matchup here…. Huge performance by Ketel Marte and his 5-homer week for the Kings.  Marte now has like 20 home runs or some shit which doesn’t seem right.  Freeman keeps raking, Bellinger keeps hitting homers, Tatis Jr had a Jericho and Verlander keeps defying father time.  Backdoor Sliderz were 2 RBIs away from the 60/60 club this week.  The Kings were also impressive with their 64 runs, but fell a little short this week.

 

MVP

Ozzie Albies (LTBS) – 7 Runs, 5 2Bs, 3 HRs, 9 RBIs, 1 SB, .452 OBP

This one almost went to Tatis Jr with his 3 3Bs while picking up a Jericho, but the RBIs separated Albies from Tatis this week.  Albies was a 3-bagger shy of a Jericho himself, which is often the stat that eludes the Jericho hopefuls out there.  The Braves are one of the hottest teams in baseball currently, which is good for the Backdoor Sliderz who roster about a third of their lineup. 

 

LVP

David Price (ECK) – 1.1 IP, 6 ER, 2 Ks, 40.50 ERA

Not a good start at home against Texas for Price.  Paxton was also disappointing for the Kings this week, but nothing looks uglier than an ERA north of 40!  Price still is pitching well this year with his 71 Ks and 3.52 ERA even after his horrific start.  He’ll bounce back, if his elbow doesn’t flare up again, which seems to happen every year.

 

Jericho’s

Tatis Jr (LTBS)

 

Next Week

LTBS (11-0) vs XYZ (2-6-3) ****MATCHUP OF THE WEEK*****

Dochney’s matchups will stay matchup of the week until he is beaten.

ECK (6-5) vs OGFC (5-5-1)

 

 

 

And that’s all folks.  Thanks for tuning in to check out the highly anticipated debut of the new blog administration.  Unlike the old guard, we will be taking notes and suggestions from fans out there to continue improving the blog for everyone to enjoy.  Hope you have enjoyed your read and good luck in your matchups. 

Week 11 Review

2019 Week 10 Quick Hitters

AnActualBearLeave a comment
Image result for jt realmuto gifI mean for a catcher he’s pretty fleet of foot. THIS WAS PROBABLY A TRIPLE…

 

 

YEA I DON’T really have much to say here. My team continues to be bad, there’s that OTHER TEAM that continues to be good, uhhhh everyone that won in 10 did so fairly breezily. Yea that’s all I got. It is called Quick Hitters people. ON TO Week 10 Quick Hitters…

 

 

 

WEEK 10 QUICK RESULTS: 

 

BackdoorSliderz (TEN AND OH) 11-3-0 over Fishing Club (5-4-1)

Renegade Force (5-4-1) 10-2-2 over Banana Slugs (2-7-1)

X-Rayz (2-6-2) 10-3-1 over Bears (4-5-1)    

Kings (6-4) 9-1-4 over Bad Dudes (3-5-2)

Isotopes (5-5) 11-2-1 over Leviathans (4-6)

 

 

WEEK 10 QUICK NOTES:

 

  • Pretty much alllll massacres in Week 10. The Kings were the only winners not to take double digit cats, and they weren’t exactly engaged in a nailbiter (9-4-1).

 

  • A NEW ALL-TIME RECORD for two-baggers set by the Fishing Club (32), but even with that fortune those schmucks couldn’t defeat that team that’s also defeated everyone else in the league thus far. A team The Blog officially Does Not Respect.

 

  • In other record news the X-Rayz tied the all-time Wins record whilst CLOBBERING me and my Bears. So that’s somethin’ to note. Shout out to Adrian Sampson for his 7 K CG, partly cuz I was told to and partly cuz he’s weirdly good all of a sudden? news, being halfway through the season also means our evil defending champeen

 

  • And SINCE I’m shouting out records shout out to the Banana Slugs for a truly abysmal offensive showing, a (possibly all time but possibly not but definitely in my eyes) record low .254 OBP. Gross stuff.

 

  • Also the ‘Topes have now won 5 straight after losing their first five so that’s uhhh QUITE THE TURNAROUND. There’s possibly another team with a stronger win streak but who really gives a fuck, about that…..or about ANYTHING, when you really think about it.

 

 

 

 

WEEK 10 QUICK AWARDS / JROLLS

 

 

 

 

MVP OF THE WEEK: 

 

 

Image result for walker buehler gif

 

 

WALKER BUEHLER

15 IP, 1 ER, 20 Ks, 2 QS, 2 Ws, 0.60 ERA

 

 

 

 

 

WEEK 10 LVP OF THE WEEK: 

 

 

TPham
Going with Pham but TAKE YOUR PICK really……

 

 

TOMMY PHAM

1/14, .188 OBP

 

 

 

 

 

WEEK 10 JROLLS:    

Related image

 

 

 

 

  • Francisco Lindor (ECK, 1)  [8/24, 7 Rs, 2 2Bs, 1 3B, 3 HRs, 4 RBIs, 1 SB, .385 OBP]

 

 

UPDATED JROLLs REPORT:

 

1.)  Adalberto Mondesi (LL)  –  3

2.)  Trevor Story (BBS)  –  2

3.)  Whit Merrifield (BBS)  –  2

4.)  Ronny Rodriguez (RRF)  –  1

5.)  Kelvin Gutierrez (PBX)  –  1

6.)  Fernando Tatis, Jr. (LTBS)  –  1

7.)  Ronald Acuna, Jr.  (LTBS)  –  1

8.)  Elvis Andrus (ECK)  –  1

9.)  Jonathan Villar (IBB)  –  1

10.)  Kolten Wong (PBX)  –  1

11.)  Cody Bellinger (LTBS)  –  1

12.)  Ender Inciarte (BBS)  –  1

13.)  Ahmed Rosario (OGFC)  –  1

14.)  Byron Buxton (RCBD)  –  1

15.)  Christian Yelich (ECK)  –  1

16.)  Francisco Lindor (ECK, 1)

 

 

 

Thank you for tuning in to Week 10 QUICK HITTERS

 

Image result for jt realmuto gif

2019 Week 10 Quick Hitters

2019 Week 8 Review: “JK JUST QUICK NOTES” EDITION

AnActualBearLeave a comment

Image result for office space
Because if ESPN can do it, so can I

 

LIKE I SAID there may be some sort of more review-y review type format for Weeks 7-9 woven into June Power Rankings but in the mean time just want to keep the basic league results available. Call it QUICK NOTES call it BASIC RESULTS don’t even read it, I don’t give a shit. Just don’t want to lose track of the JROLLs tbh…

 

 

WEEK 8 VERY BASIC RESULTS: 

 

OGFC (5-3) over IBB (3-4-1)

BBS (2-5-1) over PBX (0-6-2)

ECK (5-3) over LL (4-4)

LTBS (8-0) over RCBD (3-4-1)

‘Topes (3-5) over ‘Gades (4-3-1)

 

 

 

 

 

WEEK 8 MVP OF THE WEEK: 

Image result for max kepler gifMAX KEPLER, edging out the Rizzos and Rosarios and Nados and Gleybers of the world due to a flawed system (which is mine, and not ESPN’s, for a change)

 

8/13, 8 Rs, 3 2Bs, 3 HRs, 10 RBIs, 1 SB, .600 OBP

 

 

 

 

WEEK 8 LVP OF THE WEEK: 

Image result for leury garcia gifLEURY GARCIA

 

2/18, 1 R, .111 OBP

 

 

 

 

 

WEEK 8 JROLLS:    

Image result for jimmy rollins gif

 

 

NONE

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image result for jimmy rollins white sox

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week Eight Quick Notes Quickly Noted

 

2019 Week 8 Review: “JK JUST QUICK NOTES” EDITION