Midseason Review: 2019

Now that we’re all one big division, we’ll just take a quick stroll through how 2019 is going during our first eight weeks of the season. And here are the midseason standings as well. [ Draft Reviews: Capcom | Marvel ]

Chunky Monkeys (8-0)
Sometimes you assemble a great team and know you’re headed for success. Sometimes you draft the Patriots DST, aka the greatest DST in fantasy football history. Monkeys are averaging a league second best 144.6 PF — against 109.9 PA, the third lowest in CTDB — and was only tested last week, in a 153.7 - 147.9 duel with Buffy that still left them undefeated. If they can secure a win against second place Custom J next week, that ninth win will have been their best regular season since 2016… Plus with only five more weeks to go, Evan has a shot at pulling off an undefeated regular season. The good news for the rest of CTDB is that Monkeys is one of two teams with zero dollars left for FAAB. So, um, there’s some hope I guess.

Custom J (7-1)
In his rookie season with CTDB, Josh’s Custom J team has obliterated expectations by using the fourth highest PF at 133.9 points — albeit against the lowest PA — to storm out to a wonderful record while leaving his other new owners in the dust. Their lone loss so far was at the hands of fellow new owner Marcus’ Masterminds in WK7, but if Josh can take down cousin Evan in this week’s huge WK9 matchup, Lamar Jackson and Nick Chubb could find themselves heading into the postseason as the top seed. Long live Custom Birds!

Gang Green (6-2)
Running out to their best season in three years, the Greenies are using the Deshaun Watson and Christian McCaffrey duo to steadily take down their opponents, sometimes in thrilling fashion, as a WK1 win was by just +1.3 points. They’ll get a shot at avenging their WK2 loss to Tiiite End Jammers in two weeks, but there also is a pretty big WK10 face-off versus Custom J’s coming up. It’s possible Greg could still take this team to a bye, as they’ve got the edge against the two teams right below them in the standings.

Crunch Bunch (5-3)
After starting off a shaky 2-2 in their rookie year, Eddie’s Crunch Bunch delivered a statement win in WK5, with a 224.2 - 150.1 beatdown of Buffy that is likely the historical high mark for one week. Since then, they’ve even thrown in another gigantic crushing of Phreaks in WK8, putting up 182.9 points and thrashing them by +83.9 points. Outside of a super dud in WK6 against older brother Josh, Crunch Bunch has four wins in their last five games and could be ready for a postseason run behind the running duo of Dalvin Cook and Aaron Jones. Oh yeah, all those epic scores mean these Crunchies are the lead leaders in PF, at 148.1 points each weekend.

City of Angels Masterminds (5-3)
Tied with Crunch Bunch, our last new owner haven’t seen quite the highs of Eddie or Josh, but are nonetheless positioned for a postseason slot. They only average 113.9 PF against 109.3 PA, which means they’ve been a little erratic, with some 90+ games leading to wins but just as often losses. The good news is that inconsistency seems to be behind the Masterminds as they have been over 105+ in the last month and have gone 3-1 since. A possible playoff defining matching versus Crunch Bunch looms in WK9, and then two very tough games at the end of the regular season. Can Aaron Rodgers take City of Angels into the playoffs?

Battle Angel (3-5)
If the season were to end today, Battle Angel would technically be in the playoffs but that might end up begin the case in five weeks. Vu’s team had an outstanding WK3 game, 177.5 - 166.7, versus Phreaks and managed to take down Fat Jubas by +5.1 points in WK6, but note that those two opponents are a combined 1-15 this seasons. With three games against teams with winning records left to go, Battle Angel might be hard pressed to even equal last year’s 5-8 record. If nobody else can step up to help out Russell Wilson, these Angels could be headed right back into the Toilet Bowl.

Tiiite End Jammers (3-5)
We just did our first franchise look at Jammers, and well, it looks like they’re headed for a down season after last season’s barely 0.500+ performance. Losing Antonio Brown to his various fiascos didn’t help and Jammers is averaging a second to last 105.8 PF. With three losses in their last four — with their sole win coming versus the Phreaks — Lei’s team is going to need some luck and some pluck to pick up that last playoff spot. The good news is that Julio Jones is out of his slump and Tyler Lockett has been quite consistent all year. The lack of a run game though limits this team’s upside.

LA Buffy (2-6)
Roger’s team has been about middle of the pack in both PF and PA but they’ve been on the losing end of some tough matchups. There was the -1.9 point loss to Custom J in WK3, the -4.2 loss to Jammers in WK4, and the narrow -5.8 matchup versus undefeated Chunky last weekend. Not to mention the historic high put up by Crunch Bunch versus them in WK5. So yeah, it’s just been a star-crossed year for Roger. If the return of Drew Brees can catapult this team to the postseason, well, okay it won’t. But Roger could have his sights set on winning a Toilet Bowl, which would be a welcome reward for a season gone all sideways. If they can’t get to four wins though, this will be their worst regular season since 2013!

Fat Jubas (1-7)
After notching only five wins last season and four the year before that, we thought drafting 2019 RD1.1 Josh Jacobs could turn this team’s fortunes around. If Jubas can’t pick up three more wins, they are headed toward their worst regular season ever — since 2001, the very start of CTDB. The schedule has done them no favors, as they are facing the second toughest PA in the league, with opponents throwing up 138.6 versus them. Even with a league average PF, that’s just not gonna cut it. While injuries have hit this team hard, the trio of Jacobs, Mike Evans, and Chris Carson seem to be good, but I guess it’s just not meant to be for Jubas this year. See you in the Toilet Bowl (again)!

Philadelphia Phreaks (0-8)
This upcoming matchup in WK9 represents Ping’s best chance to get a win this season. After riding Patrick Mahomes to the playoffs last season — and taking Capcom’s division title — it’s quite possible that Mahomes’ injury could send Phreaks tumbling to a dark crevasse. I mean, darker than now. As the lowest scoring team in CTDB, Phreaks already face an uphill battle as they put up just 100.3 points per week, but having the league’s toughest PA at 141.1 just leaves them no chance to do much of anything. Can they get a single win this year? Just one?!? FYI: Phreaks have had two two-win seasons, in 2003 and 2007. Should they manage to go defeated the whole season, they’ll match 2006 Fobsters, who went a wild 0-13.