Murderer’s Row Win Back-to-Back for Only Second Time This Season

Murderer’s Row went into their week 18 matchup against rival Salt Bae with one mission, to avenge a 5-5 tie from their week nine contest. The Bae may be a new team in the league, but they have soon become a close rival, joining an ever-growing list including ItsNotRyanItsRyne and Screw the ‘Stros.

Fantasy sports are very competitive, and when you factor in personal friendships among the team managers, some of these matchups can get very intense. People want to win championships; however, winning these matchups is a great consolation prize for bragging rights until the following season.

In this week’s matchup, Murderer’s Row came through wonderfully to extend their win streak to two in a row while putting a dragger in this season’s series with Salt Bae. The final score may have been 6-2-2 in favor of the Row, but when we examine the numbers, anyone can see that a bunch of the categories came down to the final games on Sunday afternoon.

In an astonishing 83 at-bat advantage (246-163), Murderer’s Row did not use those opportunities to blow up this matchup and leave Salt Bae in the dust. Instead, the teams took things down to the wire, leaving both managers stressed with how the final numbers would play out.

The only category that either team won convincingly was batting average, strikeouts, and WHIP. The final ERA numbers could have gone either way because one lousy outing by a pitcher could have ruined the day. The seven remaining categories were decided by five points or less, with saves by just one point. The two teams tied RBIs with 26 apiece, and both pitching staffs secured two victories. After that, one good day from anyone in the lineup could have altered the final score. The Row won runs by just three points and stolen bases by four. Strikeouts were their forte this week, with the category being the only secure category win. Some could point out that the team lost batting average because they had more opportunities, but Salt Bae took care of business in their limited options.
The week 18 matchup was almost a clean sweep for Murderer’s Row. However, they were on the losing end after Monday night, trailing 3-2-5. Things took a turn for the best after Tuesday, and the Row grabbed a 5-3-2 lead and never looked back. They rode the momentum straight through the weekend and into the victory column, reaching a winning record (84-83-13) for the first time in a month.
The once-great fictional lawyer Vincent Gambini described his courtroom record by saying, “win some, lose some.” That would be a perfect way to describe Murderer’s Row season and place in the team statistics. There are some pretty good numbers and win/loss records in the following chart. No matter how you look at them, this team is still not a contender.As the season winds down, the pitching staff hopes to secure the top spot in the WHIP category, even as the offense tries to get out of the basement with home runs. The saves category is all but a lost cause at this point, and so are runs and RBIs. The team’s best hope for respectability is to finish among the league’s best in ERA, WHIP, batting average, and stolen bases.

After securing back-to-back wins, the overall league standings have not budged. The gap between fifth and sixth is down to five games, but the gap between being a playoff team and not has gotten wider at 14 games. It will be an uphill climb for the defending league champions Screw the ‘Stros but could use Murderer’s Row help in next week’s matchup.HOMERsexuals and Bad News Bears have been going head to head all season for the top spot. If the season ended today, there would only be a 2.5 game divide between the two heavyweights. Meanwhile, down in the bottom, Chod’s Team witnessed any progress they made recently slip away, and the gap to get out of the basement widen a bit to 5.5 games. The bulk of the teams in the middle of the standings are separated by five games, with third and fourth only one game apart.