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As we pull into the All-Star Break, the unofficial half way point of Rockem 17, a familiar face is at the top of the charts. Birdie has turned into BK and has dominated this year. For the first half of the year he has solidly been in the top 3 and for the last month he has held onto 1st place with an iron grip. D-Mac has been jumping ahead of John and falling behind him to second as well for the whole first half, but while he was busy welcoming his first child into the world, your humble Commish managed to creep like a creeper and tie him for second place right at the break.
Tom has been impressive the last month pumping up to fourth but no one has impressed more than BK himself as he was dead last (by a lot) on June 1st and now has propelled himself all the way to 5th hole. Truth is (as always) the middle of the league is packed and movement up and down the rankings is one good or bad night away. Fatty and Wilson are tied at 6th and both have spent time in first place but now reside smack dab in the middle.
Moon and Mike are lodged into 8th and 9th respectively while Jeff has seen the biggest swing having started ice cold, climbed to the top of the heap and then quickly fell back down sitting currently in 10th place. Bull is in first place with confusing name changes but has been towards the bottom most of this year as Vig currently has a familiar haunt, the wood paneled Rockem basement but with all of his moves he has pin-balled around the lower half of the standings.
Last year the top three held pretty much to form until the end of the year, will it be yet ANOTHER win for Biride? Stay tuned. To wrap up the first half I will continue the trend of picking one player who encapsulates your team thus far. In draft order…
Bone Droppers - 12th Place, Michael Conforto Season Ranking: 600
Last year Vig was in the top three until the final homestretch of the season and just barely slipped out. This year he came in with high expectations, just like Conforto. Both have sucked it up pretty proper so far this season, yet there is clearly time for them both to turn it around.
C-Town Highpockets - 11th Place, Ken Giles Season Ranking: 406
Bull tries to leech off the energy of the team name, but hasn't been able to put it all together yet this season. Funny that is kinda exactly what his 9th round pick Giles is doing..well was doing, he got sent down to Triple A. I am guessing this is news to Bull…maybe we should send him down to Rockem Triple A since he still has Giles in his starting lineup…
Ass In The Jackpot - 4th Place, Yuli Gurriel Season Ranking:103
Gurriel is playing above his preseason ranking but more accurately he has turned it on the last 14 days playing to a 7th overall ranking to coincide with Tom's late first half surge towards the top of the league. Oh and Gallagher is racist against Yu Darvish as well so this one was kinda no brainer, or more accurately, slant-eyer.
ephedraheartstoppers - 8th Place, Kyle Hendricks Season Ranking: 307
Both Moon and Hendricks are disappointing in Chicago so far this year. That said both have the potential to turn things around in a hurry…well maybe not a hurry, Moon isn't as fast as he once was.
C-Town - 5th Place, Xander Bogaerts Season Ranking: 42
BK's Bouncing Boy is his teams comp for the all-star break for one reason. Over the last 14 days XB has played to the 4th ranking overall in the league and BK has climbed from the doldrums to within striking distance from the top…we are all scared…and I can't stand Boston fans so I don't want them winning anything. Ever.
Ocean's Blyleven - 9th Place, Corey Knebel Season Ranking: 256
I was going to go with another bouncing boy here ala peanut butter jelly sandwiches…err…Myers, but in truth Mike's pitching has been pretty world class, however Knebel has been a major let down for a 7th round draft pick. Major let down, yup, Mike's squad so far…granted not as major a let down as Gary Sanchez though…so there is that…
Tangled Upton Blue - Tied for 2nd Place, Scooter Gennett Season Ranking: 23
While Don is not to focused on baseball right now, his team is still producing. This pick was tough because the preview robots all loved Don's squad picking him to finish in the money, but my preview saw a different result. Since I am writing this and not Russians spam bots, I will pick Gennett who I thought was a reach at 17th round and has proved to be one of hte best offensive players of the first half. Pretty amazing…like the miracle of life.
The Spearmint Rhinos - Tied for 6th Place, Jon Lester Season Ranking: 83
For most of the first half Wilson was sitting pretty in the top three or always floating around there. So was Lester, sporting an 83rd overall ranking however if you dig into the numbers you see some warning signs. Over the last 14 days Wilson has slide down the Rockem Sockem ladder, falling into a 6th place tie and Lester is ranked 581st over the last two weeks. Yikes. For an 8th round pick Lester could use a bit more consistency. Then again the league is so tight and Lester so good both can bounce back, but will they?!?
Honey Nut Ichiros - 1st Place, Mookie Betts Season Ranking: 1
Dominance. John has been owning this league the last few years and this is a great example of how, Betts fell to him in the second round and he is making us all pay by having an MVP season on the explosive Red Sox. No jokes needed and no one could have seen this coming…oh wait…
MakeBryceGreatAgain - 10th Place, Carlos Martinez Season Ranking: 292
Jeff had lots of options for this one. His patron team name player Bryce is certainly in the running, Joey Gallo can fit, but injuries, inconsistencies and a huge fucking WHIP has Martinez taking the nod. The last 30 days have not been kind to Jeff as he has fallen mightily and Martinez is ranked 480th over that month. Pretty much fits in the overarching theme of Jeffe's 2018 Rockem Campaign.
Cortez The Killebrew - Tied for 2nd, Justin Verlander Season Ranking: 9
I personally liked my squad a lot in the preseason post draft, and I have always loved Verlander. I am not sure if I thought he could be this good though as he is ranked 9th overall. That said he has slipped a little lately and my team looked stronger early on. At the break I managed to jump into a tie for second while Verlander jumps into the all-star game and hopefully Kate Upton's cleavage.
Dogzilla - Tied for 6th, Nick Markakis Season Ranking: 34
I guess Markakis just does well when he plays for a Donald. First time that Markakis is headed to an all-star in his career and he has really helped Fatty with the Batty's. But Fatone started off hot like Markakis and has slipped up over the last two weeks or so and NM's stats have done the same dropping to 252 overall for the last 14 days. Not a good trend, but Fatone has lead the whole league this year already, let's see if he can climb back to the top of the mountain and knock Birdie off his perch.
Enjoy the second half fellows.