Countdown! 10 Days to… What?

I’m in first place in the American Dream League. Here are today’s standings (click to enlarge):Screenshot 2014-09-19 14.08.53There are 10 days left in the season, and I find myself chewing over the categories, trying to find comfort, but there is little succor except that right now I’m in first place. Here are some of the things that my team needs to do:

Hit home runs. As the start of this week my team was one behind Jerry’s Kids, but is now four behind. And only one ahead of the Moose Factory. Passing the Jerry’s is the only offensive point I can add.

Steal bases. I’m three steals ahead of the Moose Factory, but they’ve been running a lot. I lost Alex Rios and Brock Holt, and Erick Aybar isn’t running. I put James Jones in on Wednesday and he stole a base. That’s good.

Win games. At the start of the week I was four wins ahead of Jerry’s Kids, but that is down to one. I’ve got Kevin Gausman tonight against the Red Sox. Jerry’s have Hiroki Kuroda against the Blue Jays. If Gausman doesn’t win I may have to insert Hector Noesi for his Sunday start, which is alarming. I could use some relief wins.

Get a save. A month ago I had three more saves than the BB Guns, who had no closers. But suddenly Aaron Sanchez saved two games for the Blue Jays and now I have a one save lead.

The bottom line for my team is I have an upside of one point in home runs, and that’s pretty much it (barring a complete pitching meltdown for one of the teams ahead of me in ERA and WHIP). I have a downside of about three and a half points.

Let’s look at my main competitor, the Burn Bags:

He’s one homer behind the Fine Tooners in Home Runs. (Potential: +1)

He’s tied with the Moose Factory in RBI, and they are four RBI behind the Palukas and Nova. (Potential: +2.5)

In Batting Average, there are four teams between .2605 and .2580. All four of those have been switching places almost every day. The Bags are the last of the four because his hitters have been very cold. A hot streak would be devastating, to me. (Potenial: +3)

In Wins the Bags are tied with the Palukas and one behind the BBs. (Potential: +1.5)

In Saves the Bags are two saves ahead of the Tooners and the Peppermartins and three saves ahead of the Hackers. I had expected the Tooners and Peppers to both pass him weeks ago, and time is running out. (Potential: -1)

He has potential to fairly easily add seven points to his total. If he adds four of those I’m going to have a hard time bettering his score. At this point, it seems, it’s much more about what his team does than mine.

Should be fun.

Here are the current categories:

HITTING

Screenshot 2014-09-19 14.37.46

PITCHING

Screenshot 2014-09-19 14.38.02