Well boys, we are officially in the thick of it now. The Draft has come and gone, opening day is in the the rearview mirror, and the first big test for the 12 League members has been completed as we head into October with the first round of divisional play completed. With three games in the books the season is starting to take shape, teams are contemplating major shakeups, and storylines are starting to emerge. Lets take a look at the major stories in each division so far, before we break out the League Power Ratings.
THE EAST
We start of course with defending League Champion Frank The Tank, who is off to a blistering 3-0 start in his title defense. Led by the feared Mahomes/Kelce stack, Frank has swatted away all challenger in the early going, gaining an early 2 game cushion in the divisional race. Frank has now won 11 straight games dating back to last season, the longest winning streak of his career and tied for the second longest winning streak in the last 15 seasons.
Behind Frank are a trio of 1-2 teams all struggling to break out from the pack. Jacky G is the only team in the division to top 100 points in all three weeks, but has just one win to show for it. After an opening week win, the Maven hasn’t been able to top 91 points in either of the next two. BJC will carry a bit of momentum into week 4, after he finally got a W last week and snapped what was an 11 game losing streak dating back to last year.
THE CENTRAL
The only division without an undefeated team, The Central is certainly a bit murkier than The East. Tied at 2-1 each are Cody’s So Much Honey squad and Meade’s Lobster Beesc bitches. Meade made early waves in The League when he jumped out to a 2-0 start and accused other League members of being beholden to the Yahoo projections, while he himself has done nothing except start the highest possible projected lineup each and every week. Fortunately, he was smacked in the mouth this past week. Cody, meanwhile, has picked up where he left off last season, looking once again to insert himself into the playoff picture. After not making the postseason in his first three years in The League, Cody has reached the dance in 7 of the last 9 years.
Rounding out the bottom half are Jay and Commish, who made it there in very different ways. Jay is among the League leaders in points, but has been a bit snake bitten so far, dropping the last two. Commish lost the first two and finally came away with his first win of the year last week, but it wasn’t an especially impressive performance. Both teams made big trades with teams in the West this week, and hope to be Movin’ On Up in the standings quickly.
THE WEST
Pacing the Wild West are quite possibly the two best teams in the early going, Marky Mark’s Middle Of Spine Hurts and grand wizard of the Koo Kupp Klan Nicky Diamonds. Mark sits undefeated at 3-0, led by powerhouses Josh Allen and Nick Chubb. His team isn’t even firing on all cylinders yet. Meanwhile Diamonds has cruised out to a 2-1 start, the zero-RB strategy he employed in the draft working out to near perfection thus far as he sits second in The League in points scored.
Olsen’s Outatime might soon be outaplayers if the injury bug doesn’t relent soon. He’s missing three starters from the lineup this week in a crucial matchup with the Commish to try and get back to .500. On the plus side, the Tee Higgins acquisition looks like its already paying dividends. And rounding out the division is our most recent Anthem singer, Vaffy kid. After a narrow loss in week 1 that saw him score 130 points, it has been two straight weeks of poor showings. The Deandre Swift injury forced his hand into dealing for Jamaal Williams and Diontae Johnson this week in an effort to turn the tide on a ship that has lost 7 straight since last year.
And now to the Official League Power Ratings, 2022 edition. The League Power Rating, or LPR for short, is part of The League Historical Society’s efforts to compare teams not just today, but across the entirety of The League’s history. LPR measures average points per game (compared against the league average in points per game that season), ability to put up huge point totals while avoiding clunkers (high score + low score, again compared to the league average), and of course winning percentage. There are currently 194 individual seasons logged in The League’s database, and the average LPR is a nice even 100. Which is the point. So if your LPR is, say 110, that means you are 10% better than the average team not only this season, but in all season’s past. And if your LPR is 90, you’re 10% worse than the average team. The lowest LPR ever recorded is 69.6, and the highest is 141. The highest since 2007 however is 128.3. The ratings so far here in 2022
- MiddleOfSpineHurts – 125.5
- Frank The Tank – 124.1
- So Much Honey – 121.7
- Koo Kupp Klan – 119.4
- Lobster Beesc – 107.9
- Movie’ On Up – 99.9
- 2 Feets In – 95.9
- Outatime – 87.1
- Dear Leader – 84.6
- Meat Mavens – 81.9
- Brainbusters – 80.1
- Feed Me MOORE – 71.1
NOTE ON SURVIVOR
As you all know, there are currently three League members on death row for the crime of being terrible at fantasy football in the first three weeks: BJC, Ant, and Vaf. Their appeals have been rejected, and their executions will take place this coming Tuesday, at 9 AM, along with whoever else is terrible at fantasy football in Week 4. The manner of their deaths is TBD.