Week 2
Another week in the books buds, cooked and medium rare. Aaron and Wes continue to stir the Elo pot, and early season troubles see chinks in the armor of perennial elites. Gleaning for company, I want to see some blood.
Matchups
The week’s top performance goes to Barbs and the APUCKS LEGENDS, sporting a 77 Index and posting a 7-3 win against the defending champion, beating Shitty Predictors (SP) 5-5 split. Barbs saw a decent uptick in performance from last week, sporting top marks across all three goaltending categories and playing second fiddle in PPP to only Jagz. Barbs 14 point take was enough meet Wes and Aaron for a 3 way tie for first in our teething season. He looks on to Lantz in the coming week. Jim moves on to Caruso; licking his wounds may spell for a rebound with an SP outlook of victory in the week of 3: 7-1. Barbs 8.8 elo pickup was 12% favorable to the week’s average and slots him 6th overall as he appreciates to the upper 50.
The top point get this week however belongs to Jagz and the Argonauts, issuing an 8-1 pounding to Sakopath and his early season woes. Zackary’s 17 point loot justified by a 74 Index vs Jason’s 30 saw him take top marks in Goals, +/-, and PPP for an 8.5 elo pickup. The 2nd ranked offense thus far this season, looks forward to jousting Draper in Week 3: SP’s 6-4 spells additional appreciation for Jagy’s future. Jason is poised to face Jim in the coming week. Hopefully he can find a new toy to uproot his 12th ranked offensive core.
Not intending to bury the lead, Aaron dropped his meat and to veg on the table once more this week, doling a 7-3 loss to TK and Pengu Fallen. Aaron’s 61 Index only a half-step back from last week’s performance was good enough for a 10.9 elo swipe as Teek’s squad seems to be finding the back of the net by quantity over quality, Goals and Shots saving him from further loss. Tk’s 47 Indexed performance is nothing to dust off the shoulder, but rather ran into Aarons hot hand for a swift slap to the face. TK looks to bounce back this coming week against Kuchy, but SP’s 4-5 prediction reads stagnant. Aaron on the other hand seeks his next victim in Radical; will the onslaught continue? SP seems to think so, outlining a 5-3 skirt in Week 3.
Rad Dad bounced back this week with a 5-4 slip past J Drape. The 3 elo take was marginal given the rollover from last year’s performance for both of these franchises, and fits the bill for Rad and Drapers 33 and 21 power ranked performances respectively. The week felt more like a push for both of these heads as they have room for growth and retooling. Here’s to hoping one of them can find their feet.
Caruso and Evan’s matchup proved to be as expected as Tom’s 6-4 finish failed to meet SP’s expectation of 6-3, for a 1 elo point pickup on the week. Tom can take solace in his 58 Indexed performance, a decent uptick from last week but should be disappointed to not take more from Evan’s 31 Index on the week. Caruso’s 2nd ranked goaltending bailed him out of a bad situation and Evan’s lower 50 performance thus far this season sports only 4 categories above league average. Both teams should have bought some regen for the laning phase. Evan butts heads with a wounded TK this week, where Keek’s boys look to rob Jim, currently abroad on his honeymoon. Strike while the iron’s hot as they say.
Finally, the 5-4 finish of Wes and Lantz’s matchup was deceptively corrective to the Elo makeup of the league. Given Wes’s leave of absence left his Elo at an all time low last season, and Lantz ended the season at an all time high, this week’s 10 point swing saw the total range reduced to 135 on a 32 point basis. Again a testament to Lantz’s prior seasons’ performance, he still tops the charts for the league despite the two week skid, where Wes still has 43 points to makeup before he hands off the dunce hat. SP spells a 6-4 win for Wes on Sako in Week 3, and a 4-6 loss for Lantz at Barbs, but don’t sleep on him. Despite early season woes, Lantz holds a 54 Index on the season power ranked 5th overall. Looks to see him upset one Draper or Caruso in the coming weeks as they sit on hollow thrones.
Commissioner’s Note
Good week yinz. Please keep those dues coming in if you have not yet. I’ve said it at the draft and the past two weeks now, but no one has contacted me about dues and we’re still 6/12. Hollar at me.
Additionally, a concerned manager contacted me this week regarding parity and our league’s future with reference to past and future performance of inherited and expansion teams. Although a bit ironic given the turmoil of the first couple weeks this year, as we move forward I’m going to continue keeping my eye on each of your squads performance over the past few seasons leading into this years activity. As our core of managers becomes more concrete, it may behoove us to focus on parity and assure that our squads don’t become stale as part of the fun in enjoying fantasy sports is the fresh look of each new season and knowing this could be the year regardless of prior performance. I have parity schemes from keeper contract to full redrafts in my repertoire that we can explore if more managers express concern. I’m happy to listen to all inquiries, so again hit me up if you have some input you’d like heard or toss it in the groupme for general discussion. We’re 10% of the way through the season already. Stay fly dudes.