5×5 Mixed League MVP: Troy Tulowitzki (.429, 4 HR, 8 R, 8 RBI, 0 SB; $64.58) homered on Tuesday, homered twice on Wednesday, and hit another on Sunday, all in Rockies wins, easily posting the highest RotoValue of the week. It continues an excellent comeback season, and he’s on pace to set career bests in HR, RBI, and batting average (.351). He hasn’t attempted a steal since his season-ending groin injury, so he’s no longer a 5 category threat, but with his other numbers, his owners shouldn’t mind.
Best pitcher: Kris Medlen entered the week with just 1 win on the season, but a respectable 3.48 ERA. Now he’s tripled his win total, and lowered his ratio stats also with two victories without yielding an earned run. On Monday he held the Pirates to just one unearned run in 7 innings to win, and he followed that with 6.67 shutout innings against the Dodgers on Saturday, giving him a 0.951 WHIP and 0.00 ERA on the week. He fanned six in each start, giving him a dozen for the week, and a RotoValue of $43.72 in the 5×5 Mixed League.
AL MVP: Yoenis Cespedes hit .345 with 4 HR, 7 R, and 6 RBI to top the AL in both 4×4 ($40.58) and 5×5 ($43.44) deeper formats. Mike Carp was the 5×5 runner-up, earning $39.43 after hitting .500 with 3 HR, 7 R, and 6 RBI, and in just 16 AB, while Brett Gardner ($38.78, .520, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 1 SB) was the 4×4 runner-up, barely edging out Carp ($37.14). Cespedes’s extra HR outweighed Carp’s and Gardner’s better batting averages.
Top AL Pitcher: Chris Tillman won both his starts, compiling a 2.08 ERA and 0.846 WHIP with 13 Ks over 13 innings to post the best pitching line of the week, earning $29.82 in 5×5 and $29.85 in 4×4. Ryan Dempster was the only other starter to win twice in the AL, so he’s the 5×5 runner-up at $23.99 despite a mediocre 4.15 ERA. He did have 12 Ks in 13 innings. But in 4×4, the ageless Mariano Rivera ($23.07) edged out Dempster for the second best line. Without strikeouts as a cumulative category, Rivera’s 4 saves in 4 scoreless innings (albeit with a so-so 1.500 WHIP) ranked higher than Dempster’s two starts. R.A. Dickey had the week’s best start, coming within 2 outs of a shutout of San Francisco, yielding just 2 hits, 2 walks, and 0 runs in the win.
For NL-only leagues, the top players were different for 4×4 and 5×5 deep leagues.
In the 4×4 league, Dodgers phenom Yasiel Puig was worth more than Tulowitzki. Puig hit .464 with 4 HR and 10 RBI, giving him a $57.97 RotoValue, compared to Tulo’s $50.94. Run to the waiver wire to claim him if he’s still available in your league. Amazingly, Puig had 10 RBI on the week despite batting leadoff in each game. In the 5×5 NL only, Puig earned $47.90, second best behind Tuluwitzki’s $49.13. The difference was in runs scored. Despite reaching base 14 times on the week while batting leadoff, the only 4 runs Puig scored were on his 4 HRs. Tulo had 2 fewer RBI, but 4 more runs scored, and so earned more in 5×5. Puig is moving to the cleanup spot for tonight’s game, where scoring only on HRs for a week would be less unusual. Oh, and it should give him lots more RBI opportunities.
Not surprisingly Kris Medlen was the most valuable pitcher in 5×5, but in 4×4 he was edged out by Dodgers closer Brandon League, who pitched 3 scoreless innings and yielded just 1 hit and 1 walk in three appearances, notching 2 saves and a relief win. In 4×4, that wound up being worth $40.22, just ahead of Medlen’s $38.44 RotoValue. In 5×5, that League had just 2 strikeouts dropped his value to $26.74, behind not only Medlen ($39.10), but also starters Jordan Zimmermann and Julio Teheran. Teheran fanned 11 in 8 scoreless innings to beat Pittsburgh in his only start of the week, earning $28.36, while Zimmerman had two excellent starts, giving up 2 unearned runs in 8 innings against the Mets last Tuesday for a no-decision, and then beating the Twins with 7 shutout innings on Sunday, giving him a RotoValue of $35.66.