The longest "week" in the JLB season is finally over, and for me and Breakfast, good riddance.
Unfortunately for both of us, we swap opponents for Week 2.
The Dude and the Gamblers. Go figure, those two would have the best Week 1 wins. (JUST MORE EVIDENCE! BAN THE DUDE!)
Will Smith (.415, 17 hits, 8 RBIs, 3 walks), Jose Altuve (.375, 15 hits, 3 HRs, 4 walks, 8 runs scored) and Shohei Ohtani (.320, 16 hits, 2 HRs, 7 RBIs, 10 runs) led the way, along with Christian Walker, who hit 3 HRs and drove in 10 runs.
Zac Gallen led the way on the mound with 2 wins, and fifth-round pick Garrett Crochet is somehow one of the top SPs after 2 starts. He has 13 Ks, no walks and a 2.45 ERA in 11 innings of work so far.
All-in-all, this is what we expect from the Dude this year; it's just surprising to see him hold the Breakfast to only four wins.
It was the Breakfast's worst opening start since 2019 when the Dude won 16-5-1. Breakfast had the last laugh, however, winning his first of four World Series titles that season.
The Breakfast now move on to play the Main Line Gamblers, who handed the Slammers his worst opening loss since 2021 with a 14-7-3 win, fueled by an absolute pitching disaster. The Gamblers only lost strikeouts and IRS to the Slammers on the pitching side, going 9-2-1.
An unfathomable 7 blown saves and 12 losses, five of which came from bullpen arms, help bloat the ERA to 5.65 and the WHIP to 1.457. The 7 blown saves has to be an all-time single-matchup record, and it definitely is the most in the Fantrax era dating back to 2017. There have been several teams to post 5 blown saves in a week, but no one had ever had 6 or more until now.
It was so spread apart that no one on the Slammers roster blew more than one save.
As the Dude said on Slack, "Wow. LOL."
Yes, LOL indeed.
At some point, it just becomes comical.
The Crox Sox didn't have that trouble pitching as his arms went 12-6 with a 2.99 ERA and 1.190 WHIP. He won seven pitching categories en route to a 13-8-3 win over Quad Eh.
Crox's win didn't come without some losses. He lost two infielders in the week, Royce Lewis and Trevor Story — yes, again for both. Story was quoted as saying he thinks he may be out for the season again.
Fortunately, Crox still has Ketel Marte and Xander Bogaerts who combined for 26 hits, 20 runs, 3 HRs, 11 RBIs, 2 SBs and 8 walks.
Philly Cheese also picked up 13 wins in the opening week, besting New Papa Choo 13-9-2 in a matchup that has by my count 12 categories that were close enough to go either way.
Choo went 10-4 with a 2.85 ERA and 1.119 WHIP, but that was only good enough to win a pair of those categories because Cheese went 11-5 with a 3.14 ERA and 1.086 WHIP. JV also had 10 quality starts — including the CG no-hitter — and 151 strikeouts. Choo also had 9 holds, which would have bested or tied every other team in the JLB except the one he was facing as Cheese posted a JLB-best 10 holds.
Cheese also won the home run battle by one which he can thank Mike Trout for because his four solo home runs were clutch. ... I joked on Opening Day that Mike Trout would hit like 40 bombs and have only 40-some RBIs. He's somehow on that pace.
Rocky Mountain joined the 13-win party beating the Tornadoes 13-10-1. Both teams got very lucky that they were facing each other because they did not really have any outstanding totals across the board. (To prove my point, I would have posted 13 wins had I been facing the Nutz.)
Nutz batted just .241 but was well in the clear with Topton's horrid .212 start.
On the flip side, Topton won ERA and WHIP with a 4.31 and 1.261 because Nutz was Slammer-like with a 5.95 ERA and 1.480 WHIP. (He only blew 3 saves, though).
Nutz benefited from the Pirates' hot start with Oneil Cruz, Bryan Reynolds and Ke'Bryan Hayes all posting double-digit hit weeks.
Lastly, the closest matchup was the Tots besting the Sex Panthers 11-10-3. The Panthers got several good starts out of Jared Jones, Brady Singer and Joe Ryan to sweep through the top half of the pitching categories with 7 quality starts, 3.36 ERA, 1.188 WHIP, 140 Ks and 49 walks.
Tots won seven of his cats on the offensive side thanks to Anthony Volpe (.424, 14 hits, 9 runs, HR, 3 RBIs, 3 SBs, 3 walks), Ian Happ (.333, 12 hits, 8 runs, 6 RBIs, 7 walks) and Seiya Suzuki (.286, 10 hits, 7 runs, 2 HRs, 12 RBIs, 5 walks).
Week 2 brings about the first of many divisional matchups and now the fun will really begin.
Well, that definition of fun will depending greatly on how many blown saves my group posts this week.
WEEK 2 MATCHUPS
Little Lebowski Urban Achievers vs. Bensalem Slammers
Series History: Dude leads 260-211-63
Last Meeting: 2023 NLDS-2, Dude won 16-6-2
Notes: Dude swept the Slammers in the two-week NLDS in 2023, and he has ended the Slammers seasons in back-to-back years after winning 13-9-2 in the 2022 NLCS. ... After Slammers won five of first six meetings, but the Dude has won 14 of last 17 meetings, including six of last seven.
Main Line Gamblers vs. Big Ol' Country Breakfast
Series History: Breakfast leads 231-178-53
Last Meeting: Week 18, 2023 - Breakfast won 12-10-2
Notes: Breakfast swept three meetings in 2023 and has won five of last six matchups.
Crox Sox vs. Sex Panthers
Series History: Crox Sox leads 221-171-48
Last Meeting: Week 18, 2023 - Crox Sox won 13-10-1
Notes: Crox Sox has won seven of last nine matchups.
Philly Cheese Steaks vs. Quad Eh All-Stars
Series History: Philly leads 215-153-50
Last Meeting: Week 18, 2023 - Philly won 16-6-2
Notes: Quad Eh won first two meetings in 2023, but fell in final matchup. ... Steaks had won five straight matchups prior to Quad Eh's two wins last season.
Topton Tornadoes vs. Big League Choo
Series History: Choo leads 179-159-42
Last Meeting: ALDS-2, Choo won 14-6-4
Notes: Choo swept the ALDS series winning 12-8-4 in the first leg and 14-6-4 in the second. Choo won all five meetings against Topton in 2023. ... Choo has won eight of last nine matchups.
Scott's Tots vs. Rocky Mountain Oysters
Series History: First meeting
Last Meeting: First meeting
Notes: What can I say?
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