Powers' Rankings: Week 9

Do we officially have another legitimate playoff contender? Will Weymouth ever lose? Do robots have feelings? The answers to these pressing questions of the week can be found in this week's Powers' Rankings by clicking below....

Powers' Rankings: Week 9

By: Max Powers

Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
1	1	2	Weymouth Shaddupu 8-0-0		If there still were any doubters they should have been silenced by now. Even with a lackluster offensive performance, Shaddy-Poo finds a way to come out with their 8th straight victory. Week 9 Match Up: Tijuana
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
2	3	3	San Juan Guerites 4-3-1		Besides Weymouth, San Juan is the only other team that has not lost to a Western Division team this season (3-0). The balanced schedule could end up helping the Guerites the most. Week 9 Match Up: Tokyo
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
3	2	1	Dublin Snake Chasers 3-2-3		The score may have seemed close, but Dublin would have lost to just about any other team in the league last week. Hell, they would have lost by the same score if they had been playing Rakeville, so there's that. Week 9 Match Up: Bridgewater
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
4	4	10	Tijuana Hispanics 4-2-2		Now that's how you take advantage of a bye week. Now Tijuana is sitting pretty atop the west all by themslves, but we all saw how Weymouth dealt with the last top Western Division team they faced. Week 9 Match Up: Weymouth
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
5	6	5	Las Vegas Doggs 3-3-2		Just 1 week after losing to the Poo, Vegas put up numbers that would have given Weymouth their 1st loss. To be fair, most teams actually did the same (except Dublin). Instead, a victory against frequent trading partner QC was in the cards. There were 7 players in the Vegas line up that had at one point worn the blue and pink. Week 9 Match up: Rio De Janeiro
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
6	5	7	Rio de Janeiro Cristos 2-3-3		Finally getting healthy, Rio was primed to make a stance. Instead, they fell flat against San Juan, knocking them back to familiar territory: 7th place. Week 9 Match Up: Las Vegas
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
7	10	9	Tokyo Omyoujis 4-3-1		Playoffs?! Tokyo hasn't qualified for the playoffs since 2012, where they were disposed of in the 1st round by once great Rakeville. Perhaps their 8-2 victory last week over the Rockets wasn't exactly equal retribution, but it still must have felt nice. You know, if robots can feel. Week 9 Match Up: San Juan
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
8	7	4	Quebec City Piglets 2-4-2		For whatever it's worth, the Piglets could have lost 8-2 last week, but thanks to some last second magic by Gregory Polanco and Jay Bruce they came out losing just 5-3. How do you rack up 89 K with a 3.61 ERA and just 2 Wins? Week 9 Match Up: San Fernando Valley
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
9	11	6	Santo Domingo All-Star Factory 3-5-0		Santo Domingo is actually a pretty well rounded team if you really break it down, they just find ways to do just enough to lose most weeks. They could still find a way to sneak into the playoffs at the last second like 2016. Week 9 Match Up: Rakeville
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
10	8	11	Bridgewater Weasels 3-4-1		It was either going to be Tokyo or Bridgewater making the leap from the basement and, well, you already read Tokyo's write up so....it wasn't Bridgewater. Week 9 Match Up: Dublin
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
11	9	7	Rakeville Rockets 3-4-1		"[Tony} Watson is the devil", said GM Jack Reed right after he trading him back to Vegas. Watson garnered 2 saves for the Rockets in the two weeks he was employeed in Rakeville, a category they have failed to win in any match up this season. Week 9 Match Up: Santo Domingo
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
12	12	12	San Fernando Valley Jets 1-7-0		Only 302 days left until the 2018 MaDraft Week 9 Match Up: Quebec City
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes

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EHCC Trehde Rumors

In the wake of the Quebec City/Las Vegas mega trade that sent Xander Bogaerts packing to cover the hole in Vegas, while asking Jake Arrieta to sure up the Piglet's rotation, the EHCC is a buzz with new rumors across the league. Every team wants to make their team better, whether it's better now to win the current match up, or to win it all in 2019 - there's usually something for everyone out there, you just have to be willing to dig deep to find it. Here's some rumblings that have been heard from around the league....

EHCC Trehde Rumors

By: Jim Fierkes, EHCCTrehdeRumors.com

Selling Low on Schwarber?

The Las Vegas Doggs have reportedly received 3 separate phone calls regarding the availability of slugger Kyle Schwarber. GM Howe Dogg has recently added Schwarber, along with about half of the current Doggs' roster, to the league trading block, making him an intriguing "buy low" candidate for any team. Seems like a long shot for the Doggs to give up the outfield for anything less than they gave up for him just last season, considering his age and current position versatility, though it's expected Schwarber will have no chance of putting on the mask and pads behind the plate in 2018, but may have a future at First Base as well as in the Outfield instead. (The information was first reported by Connor Intabedd of the Reno Weekly Rag)

McCutchen Requests Trade

Andrew McCutchen has been benched by manager Hank Scorpio in Vegas, as he hasn't bounced back into form as quickly as Scorpio was hoping he would after acquiring the veteran from Quebec City, replacing Jay Bruce in the Vegas outfield. After hearing the news of his benching, McCutchen has requested that GM Howe Dogg take the reigns and trade him to a place where he's wanted. Howe Dogg has stated that he will do just that, only issue is that no one seems to want him. 

"We barely wanted him. He doesn't fit with our future at all. We chose him over [Evan] Longoria just because he was still able to play the outfield and we thought he might be able to supplement the lose of Jay [Bruce]. We were wrong it seems," manager Hank Scorpio told reporters in yesterday's post-game press conference. It seems as though there's already bad blood in Vegas between McCutchen and Scorpio, and we wouldn't expect to see McCutchen cut any time soon, as Scorpio has shown he can be stubborn toward his players who don't perform. (This information was first reported by Max Powers of Baseball Tri-Weekly)

Closers Changing Hands

With Tijuana's recent signing of Brad Hand, he adds to the list of shaky closers making up the Hispanics' bullpen. Tijuana has dominated the Saves category this season, currently leading the lead in the stat, and has yet to lose or even tie the category in any of their first seven match ups. If they want to continue their dominance in the 'pen, they'll need to start making phone calls for some more solid options to assist Brandon Kintzler. Multiple Tijuana pitchers (Feliz, Cishek, Mauer) have already lost their jobs it seems, and Hand is slated to move cities in the coming month or so, probably losing his newly announce closing responsibilities. Lucky for Tijuana, it looks as though there's a few teams out there looking to shop their closers San Fernando and San Juan have both expressed their interest, or intention or shopping around at least one, or multiple closers for the right price. In the past 3 seasons, at least two established closers have been traded between the MiDraft and the Trade Deadline each year, so the odds are someones' bullpen is getting an upgrade. (This information was first reported by Skip Clifton of the San Diego Chronicle)

Rocketeers

While the league was buzzing about Eric Thames and all his dongs, Jedd Gyorko has quietly lived in his shadow raising his stock under the radar. GM Jack Reed has taken notice and has been busy working the phones. His phones only work in one direction - outgoing calls only - so if he doesn't get through to another GM they'd never even know Gyorko was on the market. And ultimately, there's no way for another GM to get in touch with Reed beyond carrier pigeon. Rumors are swirling the only conversations that have actually taken place are with new manager/AGM Hank Scorpio in Vegas. Scorpio has already made one deal with Rakeville, shipping off Tommy Watson for a conditional 2018 MaDP, which is shaping up to be a terrible deal for both teams as Watson has given up 5 ER in 4.2 IP for Rakeville thus far, but only needs 15 more Saves to activate the 1st Round condition on the MaDP. Rakeville would prob be best to try to move Watson soon before he regains form, or before he does more damage. Rakeville is currently in line to have the #3 overall MaDP. (This information was first reported by J.C. Stapelton of EhSPN)

Rio Making Upgrades with Themselves

It seems it's going to be tough for the Cristos to make a deal as they simply don't know what they need. They're ultimately trading with themselves int he next few weeks, as they's recently seen the return of Robinson Cano (an upgrade over their previous 2B option of, well, the ghost of Ryne Sandberg) and is expecting to upgrade SS and 3B with Troy Tulowitzki and Josh Donaldson respectively. Their rotation should also get a jolt in the coming week or two with the addition of David Price and Steven Matz. So it should come as no surprise that Rio's GM Tom Brady has formally told other teams that he is not in the market for anyone except his own players at the moment. We'll expect him to change his stance when inevitably Ryan Zimmerman contracts Lyme Disease and Nelson Cruz gets scurvy. (This information was first reported by a squirrel at the Rio Times. Apparently all their reporters are sick and have temporarily been replaced by wild rodents. That breaking news is an EHCCTrehdeRumors.com original)

Jim Fierkes is the editor and contributor to www.EHCCTrehdeRumors.com. When he's not scouring the internet for the next big scoop to post on his blog that was ultimately heard and written by someone else first, he's collecting peach pits that look like the late Al Davis. 

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EHSPN Fact or Fiction - Week 8

J.C. Stapleton hosts this week's podcast, featuring EhSPN Talking head Skip Paymeless and the elder, but still coherent Gus Peck. They discuss Weymouth's undefeated start, Rio's coaching staff and the excitement that is building in Dublin.

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Sponsored by www.Joeywillanimateyourscoreboard.com

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Powers' Rankings: Week 8

The best get better, the worst get worse. Everyone else is pretty close to the same. Is Rio bringing players back to life? Is Dublin a powerhouse again? Did the Doggs lose whatever bite they might have had? Click below to find out....

Power's Rankings: Week 8
By; Max Powers

Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
1	1	2	Weymouth Shaddupu 7-0-0		Squeaking by Vegas last week keeps the streak alive, and keeps the Poo at the top of the rankings. Setting up the anticipated Week 8 match up in a possible Championship preview. Week 8 Match Up: Dublin
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
2	2	1	Dublin Snake Chasers 3-1-3		Took care of a struggling All Star Factory in dominant fashion (7-2), Dublin's largest margin of victory on the season. With other teams treading water it's enough to solidify the Irish as the best in the West (for now). Week 8 Match Up: Weymouth
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
3	3	3	San Juan Guerites 3-3-1		Medical staff is hard at work to make sure they don't lose Manny Machado and Dallas Keuchel for any elongated length of time. Week 8 Match Up: Rio de Janeiro
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
4	4	10	Tijuana Hispanics 3-2-2		The Hispanics haven't won since Week 4, but they get to play San Fernando this week, so they have that going for them, which is nice. Week 8 Match Up: San Fernando Valley
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
5	5	7	Rio de Janeiro Cristos 2-2-3		Cano, Donaldson, Matz could all be back in the Rio line ups by the end of this upcoming week. It's like making a midseason trade without giving anything up. Week 8 Match Up: San Juan
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
6	6	5	Las Vegas Doggs 2-3-2		Not sure Las Vegas deserves to be this high, but they held their own against the best team in the land. A poor showing against Quebec City should knock them down a peg or two however. Week 8 Match Up: Quebec City
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
7	7	4	Quebec City Piglets 2-3-2		GM Pat Renaud was heard whispering under his breath on Sunday, "When am I going to learn that streaming doesn't work for me?", as Matt Cain threw ERA and WHIP down the drain for the Piglets on Sunday. Luckily for them, streaming probably won't be an issue this week. Week 8 Match Up: Las Vegas
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
8	9	11	Bridgewater Weasels 3-3-1		Will this team ever lose? Probably, but that's 4 straight weeks without going back to their expected ways. The Weasels stand just 2.5 games back from a playoff spot. Week 8 Match Up: Santo Domingo
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
9	10	7	Rakeville Rockets 3-3-1		Rakeville wanted to win 7-2, but settled for 5-3 against the worst team in the league. When does the so called fire sale begin? Week 8 Match Up: Tokyo
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
10	11	9	Tokyo Omyoujis 3-3-1		Ok, they deserve to move up, but mostly only because of how poorly Santo Domingo has been doing. So, there you go. Week 8 Match Up: Rakeville
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
11	8	6	Santo Domingo All-Star Factory 2-5-0		Remember earlier this season when Santo Domingo was in the thick of it and sitting on top of the Western Division? Remember last season when they fought like hell and made the playoffs. Hell, Remember 2013? Those were the days. Week 8 Match Up: Bridgewater
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
12	12	12	San Fernando Valley Jets 1-6-0		9 games separate Weymouth from the 2nd best team. 10.5 games separate San Fernando from the second worst teams. Only 8 games separate the second best (San Juan) from the second worst (Bridgewater/Rakeville) records. Week 8 Match Up: Tijuana
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes

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EHCC 2017 Performance ⅓

There's an old saying in baseball that it takes a third of season to figure out you really have, a third of a season to fix it and a third of a season to see what happens. We're a third of the way through the 2017 fantasy baseball season. What do you really have?
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Stephen Eh's Top 5 Hitters and Pitchers so far this season

Well, well, we're through the first quarter of the season and I gotta tell you, it's a great time to be alive.  We got the warm weather coming out, Memorial Day and BBQing around the corner, and it's time for the ballers to establish themselves and announce to the rest of the league that they mean business.  So I'm gonna break down the top 5 hitters and pitchers in the first quarter of the season.

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Powers' Rankings: Week 7

What a boring Week. Let's hope Week 7 has more intrigue.  Click below to find out what impact all the close match ups had on the rankings...

Powers' Rankings
By: Max Powers 
Contributors: Stephen Eh Smith, Max Powers


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Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
1	1	2	Weymouth Shaddupu 6-0-0		The Poo have tied their best start of the season with a 6-0 run. Just last season, Weymouth started the first 6 weeks undefeated, with an almost identical overall record (40-15-5). A win versus rival Doggs should cement a new team record of 7 straight to begin the season. Week 7 Match Up: Las Vegas
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
2	3	1	Dublin Snake Chasers 2-1-3		Dublin really doesn't deserve to be the second team on this list....but neither does anyone else. So that one single loss counts for something. Week 7 Match Up: Santo Domingo
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
3	2	3	San Juan Guerites 3-3-0		You lost to Rakeville? We all have bad weeks, but Rakeville? Week 7 Match Up: Bridgewater
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
4	4	10	Tijuana Hispanics 3-2-1		Tijuana sits in the bottom 3 of more than half of the hitting categories in the EHCC, including "leading" the league in lowest batting average. That's going to require a lot of H2H luck each week to be sustainable all season. Week 7 match Up: Rio de Janeiro
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
5	8	7	Rio de Janeiro Cristos 2-2-2		Rio shares a top spot in the West with Dublin. At this point, that's like being proud to be sharing a double fudgicle with your German Sheppard. Pretty sure that German Sheppard is getting the whole thing, whether you like it or not. Week 7 Match Up: Tijuana
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
6	5	5	Las Vegas Doggs 2-2-2		Vegas is always trying to make that blockbuster move to catch the eye of the league. Losing to Bridgewater is also a good way to catch their eye, so they're 2 for 2. Week 7 Match Up: Weymouth
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
7	6	4	Quebec City Piglets 2-3-1		Is Jake Arrieta the answer? Week 7 Match Up: Tokyo
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
8	7	6	Santo Domingo All-Star Factory 2-4-0		The only team to go from playoff spot to outlier this past week. Just shows it only takes one week to shake things up, and that .500 might not be good enough this season. Week 7 Match Up: Dublin
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
9	9	11	Bridgewater Weasels 3-3-0		There's something in the water in Bridgewater apparently. After starting off 0-3, they ran off 3 wins in a row, albeit against RAK, SFV, and LV. Hey, wins are wins, even if they happen just to remind us they can. Week 7 Match Up: San Juan
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
10	10	7	Rakeville Rockets 2-3-1		Was Rakeville's win against San Juan something to build on, or simply false hope? Two weeks against TKO and SFV may help determine that. Week 7 Match Up: San Fernando Valley
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
11	11	9	Tokyo Omyoujis 3-3-0		They keep winning, but the voters are not impressed. Just doing enough to keep them above San Fernando. A win versus Rakeville in two weeks might sway them however, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Week 7 Match Up: Quebec City
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes
12	12	12	San Fernando Valley Jets 1-5-0		Attendance hit a high point for the season, as Weymouth transplants in San Fernando Valley took over the stadium. It didn't hurt that SFV had a Free Kayak Day promotion on Thursday. Week 7 Match Up: Rakeville
Current Rank	Last Week	Pre Season	Team		Notes

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