People WHAT A WEEK in the Apex Fantasy Baseball League. WOW. We had crazy comebacks, back and forths, new records set (good and bad), and best of all a TIE. Simply amazig. I have nothing else to say except that I'm ready to dive in!

Before I dive in, however, quick thing to say. If you're reading this and wondering "hey, Jake didn't tell me this was out!" you'd be correct. As stated last week, I'm only giving notifications via push now. I'm getting you goons out of my inbox/outbox. You can read the details about that on the previous newsletter.

Stats Stats Stats

Little something different for yall this week. I've made a season-tracker for the Braves, you can take a look here or in the "Sports in the Real World" section, I'll have it linked there every week. That'll be a little pet project of mine, and I'll expand it to include the Red Sox and Orioles and, eventually, all the teams. But for now its only for my one true love, hope you enjoy.

Recaps

Nathan 386 - 99 Garrett

It was an internal struggle to decide whether or not to give Garrett the Mark DeRosa award this week. I was close, believe you me. But as you'll soon learn there are bigger hogs to roast for that award. Speaking of hogs, what a slaughter this game was. Nathan's took that heartbreaking L in week 3 personally, and curb-stomped Garrett into submission. Not only did Garrett set a record low for points scored, 99 amounting to only 14.1 per day, but Nathan set another record for a high in points, scoring over 55 per day. Nathan had four players break 30 points, finishing the week with 4 of the top 5 scorers on the week led by Shohei Ohtani's 42 points and Matt Olson's 35 points (that beautiful man). All of that just to only need 100 points to beat a Garrett team that paid the money to play this game yet refuses to touch his team. Did I wrong you? Did the league wrong you? Why must you weigh on us like this?? Nathan will face 4-0 Xan this week in a top-tier matchup, while Garrett will be an automatic win for Seb.

Xan 262 - 209 David

This was perhaps the only tame matchup of the week. Xan jumped out to a mid-week lead thanks to an incredible 29-point outing from our Prince of Pitchers Max Fried, who went 8IP 0ER with 9Ks against the Red Sox, and he just never looked back. Cal Raleigh also is getting it together as he broke 30 points this week to lead this matchup thanks to 4 dingers. David just couldn't quite keep up, and his lineup, rife with injury designations, fell flat. Nothing to be too ashamed about David, Xan is 4-0 and everyone that's 4-0 at this point in the season is in a tier above that of average men. You can take solace with fellow plebs like Ethan. Despite the L, David's bats are HOT. His .287 aveage this week and .265 on the season both lead the league, but his hitting is coming at inopportune times. His 150 RBIs and 42 HRs this year are only good for 5th place. You gotta hit with guys on, my man. David will play a Joe team that came oh so close to finding the win column this past week, while Xan locks lips with Nathan.

Jake 250 - 235 John Luke

You know you'd think a final-day comeback after being down all week would be good for the Game of the Week, at least an honorable mention, but Jake's persistence only lands this matchup at #3 on the week because of how wild the next two were. You almost have to feel bad for John Luke. He led by as much as 51 during the week, and entered Sunday with a 12-point lead and looking for his debut dub. But a flimsy 9 points on Sunday opened the door for Jake to burst through with a 16er from Royals pitcher Justin Wrobleski to top the comeback effort and secure Jake's 4th win on the season and doom JL to another week of winlessness. Jake did have some slightly off weeks from Joses Ramirez and Soriano but Jazz Chisholm picked up some slack to match Yordan Alvarez's 24. John Luke can keep his chin up, though. His 235 is his best outing to date, and his team is improving. There are 16 more games to play, learn from your 0-4 and drive on! You outscored David this week, and you play him now, so things are going to be alright!

Ethan 241 - 235 Joe

Talk about some wild swings. Ethan led this game by almost 60 on Tuesday, just another stinker from Joe right? Wrong! Joe put up a whopping 106 points on Friday, the same day Ethan put up -6, to go from down 30 to up 80! Joe with a massive comeback to finally earn a spot on the winners' podium! Oh, but wait! Sunday scaries?? Ethan puts up 78 points on Sunday, 39 of which game from Padre's pitcher Michael King and Giant's Landon Roupp, to come all the way back and edge out Joe by six points to end the week. In the battle of the beatens, Ethan crawls out, scratched and bruised but a victor nonetheless. sort of like John Luke, I have to feel for Joe. He's been more active with lineup management and the results are there, but this is fantasy and luck is a real thing. Joe, keep at it, and you'll get em next time! Ethan, now the proud owner of a win, will face John Luke, the sad owner of no wins, this week while Joe turns to a downtrodden David, still in search of that elusive first win.

Seb 304 - 304 Clark

Ohhh yeahhhhhh this is what I am TALKING about. A tie bro?? HELL yeah. On top of it being a tie (already amazing) the journey to get there was equally amazing. Seb had a tangible though not insurmountable lead throughout the week, going so far as to talk shit to Clark on Wednesday when he was up 60 points. But through the back half of the week Clark chipped away at the lead, closing by 25 points on Thursday, 19 on Friday, keeping it close until the very end. Down by 7, only Padres and Dbacks left to play, Clark sends Ildemaro Vargas up with the bases loaded and the man rips a triple into the corner to clear the bases with a 6-point triple, following closesly after by scoring a run which pulled the match into a 304-304 tie. A Tatis fly-out later and the dust cleared with our first tie as a league. Great job gentlemen, even if you're not happy with the result you can rest assured knowing I am. Clark will try to leave his tying ways behind as he faces 4-0 Jake this week, and Seb gets an auto-win against Garrett.

The Mark De Rosa "I'm Bad at My Job" Award

I've been waiting all week for this one boys. Who's bad at thier jobs?? THE PHILLIES OF PHILADELPHIA AND THE METS OF NEW YORK. These teams have been absolute GARBAGE in the month of April, and I LOVE it. How bad have they been? Let's talk about it:

• As of Monday, April 6th, both teams were 6-4 with a .600 winning percentage
• Over the next 20 days, both teams would go 3-15 (.166)
• Both teams sustained a 10+ game losing streak in that stretch
• The two teams now share the bottom spot of the league at 9-19

How bad is 3-15? Well the worst record of all time is 36-117 (.235) from the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics. These teams have been worse than that for over 20 days now. The 2025 Rockies were 43-119 (.265). Accoriding to FanGraphs, the Mets have $370M in salary committments this year, the Phillies have $286M. the 2025 Rockies had $128M. These teams are spending 2.2-2.8x as much as a team that went 43-119, and they're doing worse than that team. Simply amazing.

Sports: In the Real World

• Braves: Another week, another couple of series wins for the Bravos, now 8-0-1 on the year and leading the majors with a 20-9 record. Michael Harris is batting .323 and has been on an absolute tear, while Matt Olson and Drake Baldwin are tied for the 3rd most RBIs in the MLB. The Braves has the Tigers coming to town this week, and go to Denver to play the Rockies this weekend.
• Red Sox: Things are not great in Boston. A 3-4 week this past week could be worse, yes, but the middle of the week was a 4-game skid, all to division opponents including getting swept at home by bitter rivals the Yankees. Connelly Early is the only SP on the Sox with an ERA under 4, and even Wilyer Abreau's batting average has sunk below .300. But we look ahead, and the Sox are currently on a 2-game win streak with Toronto and Houston on tap this week, neither of whom are stellar competition.
• Orioles: A 3-3 week isn't too bad, not going to win you divisions but it'll keep the fans happy for now. As long as Taylor Ward and Gunner Henderson are playing, the Orioles will have opportunites to win. Ward is batting .312 so far this season and Henderson is tied for 5th in the MLB with 9 HRs. The Orioles have the Astros to start the week before heading to a tough series in NY vs the Yankees.