Pick-Em Finale Does Not Disappoint

  We were owed drama and we got it.  Wally Mash entered Month One’s Pick-Em Finale with control of their own payout destiny, but they also entered as a player in one of the two Finale match-ups.  

  Jackal Attack took down the Orlando Splitters and LeBronto defeated Wally Mash – a combination of picks that only one GM laid claim to, and it wasn’t Wally Mash.  With the perfect two-for-two Finale, the Say Hey Kids’ General Manager passed Wally Mash and finished Month One with four out of five correct picks, the only GM to do so.  Wally, London, Orlando, LeBronto, and Perth tallied three correct picks and had they collected a fourth, Orlando and Perth would have beat Say Hey in the fantasy points scored tiebreaker, but alas.

  Jackal Attack’s victory over Orlando is pretty well summed up if you compare the performances of the two 2023 Rookies of the Year – Gunnar Henderson (JKL) and Corbin Carroll (SPLT).  Gunnar led Jackal with a gutsy 54 FPts during the Week Four match-up, while Corbin managed an impressive, but not in a good way, negative 1.5 FPts.  Carroll’s slump was lessened by the #HumKid of the Week, Erick Fedde (58.67 FPts), along with Juan Soto’s 41.5 FPts and Elly De La Cruz’s 41.5 FPts, but the Splitters couldn’t muster enough.  Jackal flaunted Gunnar’s 54 FPts on top of 50 FPts from Eduoard Julien and 34.5 FPts from Shohei Ohtani.  Orlando ran out twelve more plate appearances during the week, and matched Jackal with 33 team singles, but they fell 15 extra-base hits short of Jackal and that was ultimately the difference.

  On a contrary note, the LeBronto Blue James stepped to the plate thirty-five times less than Wally Mash in the second Finale match-up, but collected nineteen more Hitting FPts thanks to a five home run differential while striking out twenty-one fewer times. Jose Ramirez (43.5 FPts) finally got hot for LeBronto, and Kyle Tucker (33.5 FPts) combined with the newly acquired Bailey Ober (26.92 FPts) rounded out their top three.  Seth Lugo and his 30 FPts were team best for Wally, followed by Marcell Ozuna’s 29.5 FPts and Rafael Devers’s 28 FPts.  Colton Cowser, a former #HumKid of the Week, cooled off for Wally in this one and only managed 9.5 FPts in a match-up that fell short of the win column by just sixteen points.

Jackal Atop New Power Ranks

  Later this week, we will see the first reconciliation of the 2024 Preseason Power Rankings via Month One’s update.  Sneaking a peak… Jackal Attack, Nashville, and Eastside are moving in the right direction.  Jackal’s up five spots and, from the Jackal Den, claims the league’s top rank. Meanwhile, the Nashville Stars and Eastside Bombers are each up four spots from their original eighth and ninth positions respectively.  Pablo, Golden City, and the Say Hey Kids are on the other end of this equation unfortunately.  Pablo’s down nine spots from fifth to fourteen after a rocky start.  The Gatekeepers move down from four to ten, and Say Hey has fallen from the number two spot down to seven with this Month One update.

  We won’t see another Power Ranking update until the end of May so there’s bound to be some more movement from where things stand today.  Use this as motivation or staying power – but any complaints with what’s shown are filed against a 100% formula-based, bias-absent, power rankings system via a masterfully created Excel spreadsheet.  Please create an X account for your Franchise if you have not already and fill the timeline as you see fit, @HumBabeDynasty.

LeBronto Catches Trout

  TRADE ALERT!  The HumNow has asserted itself as THE place to advertise your trade block players apparently.  The Eastside Bombers advertised Mike Trout via a prior HumNow release, and things went so far as to include one of the proposed mock trades as a framework for the deal that executed this past week.

  The LeBronto Blue James are at it again, acquiring their newest superstar, Mike Trout, at the expense of Zac Gallen, Mason Miller, and Sam Basallo.  Bailey Ober and Jeremy Pena were added to the LeBronto haul and in the early goings, things have certainly played to the Blue James’ advantage.

  Since execution of the trade on April 25, 2024, a twenty-three fantasy point advantage swings in favor of LeBronto.  Mike Trout only tallied six of those points, but Bailey Ober threw his best outing of the season, good for 26.92 FPts, and Pena collected 17 FPts of his own in the new threads.  Mason Miller kept dealing after landing in Eastside (23.17 FPts, 2 Saves, 5 Ks), but naturally Zac Gallen was removed from his first Eastside start with an injury scare.  He tallied just 3.75 FPts in the five inning performance, and thankfully, is reported to be in good-enough-health to still make his next scheduled start.

  Eastside does seem to own the better half of this trade from a dynasty perspective – Zac Gallen a top tier starting pitcher in a league where those are nearly unattainable, plus young flourishing prospects by way of Mason Miller and Samuel Basallo.  But Mike Trout, is Mike Trout, and when you field him next to … dare I say, Kyle Tucker … you’ve got nothing to be upset about.  Well done to both General Managers for getting this thing done and hopefully this paves the way for more deals like this yet to come in the 2024 HumBabe Dynasty season.