| Rank | Team | Points | Pts Back | Moves |
| 1 | Harder's Hitters | 55 | - | 104 |
| 2 | Biloxi Ibexes | 46.5 | 8.5 | 34 |
| 3 | Hollywood Weasels | 44 | 11 | 21 |
| 4 | chi-town hustlers | 43.5 | 11.5 | 63 |
| 5 | ChowdaHeads | 43 | 12 | 41 |
| 6 | Khronic | 40 | 15 | 36 |
| 7 | Wombats | 36 | 19 | 22 |
My hitting has been solid, leading the league in runs, home runs, and stolen bases, while being second in runs batted in. Only in on base percentage are Harder's Hitters below average, fifth in the league. Overall, offense has contributed 30 of the 55 points.
The pitching has been a different story.
Harder's Hitters are first in holds and second in strikeouts, but fourth in saves, fifth in wins and ERA, and sixth in WHIP.
My strategy was to dominate early in holds, drafting for high strikeout, low whip set-up guys on good teams...Daniel Bard of the Red Sox and Rafael Soriano of the Yankees were my two high picks. In fact, with a comfortable lead now in holds (45 with a pack of four teams between 36 and 38) and a five-team dogfight for second in saves, I just traded Bard to the ChowdaHeads straight up for closer Andrew Bailey (I asked for Jonathan Papelbon, but was turned down, and chose Bailey over Kyle Farnsworth).
The ChowdaHeads lead with an astronomical 70 saves, with five teams packed between 48 and 52. I'm in the middle at 51. Thus, any drop-off in save accumulation and I lose two points, any gain and I gain two points, one over each of my closest pursuers. Adding Bailey to Seattle's Brandon League and Anaheim's Jordan Walden gives me a leg up, as three of the other four have only two active closers each.
The Biloxi Ibexes (52) have Sergio Santos, Kevin Gregg, and Frank Francisco, the Hollywood Weasels (52) have Mariano Rivera and Chris Perez, the Wombats (50) have Jose Valverde and Jon Rauch, and the chi-town hustlers (48 saves) have Joakim Soria, Joe Nathan, and Neftali Feliz.
A side benefit is that the ChowdaHeads, with 29 holds at present, could take points from my closest pursuers in holds if Bard is productive enough.
In the meantime, I have both Aaron Crow of the Royals and Alfredo Aceves of the Red Sox, both of whom qualify as starting pitchers (as well as relievers), and both of whom have been accruing saves (and, in the case of Crow, strikeouts). Any day I don't have two regular starting pitchers going I place Crow and Aceves in those roster slots; if I have one starter, I bench Crow.
That strategy, plus the return of Soriano from the disabled list, should allow me to keep the lead in holds and Bailey should get me second in saves, a net positive of two points in the standings.
Including holds in this league leads to some unique strategies, such as over-drafting set-up guys and valuing relievers who get holds and also qualify as starters more highly than otherwise.
My other strategy, with an innings maximum in this league, is to make sure most if not all of my pitchers are high strikeout per inning guys.
In fact, the Biloxi Ibexes, who lead in strikeouts, are also exceeding their allowable innings at this point in the season. Taking their strikeout rate times my team's innings puts us behind by only nine strikeouts, not the 35 nominal ones.
With starters Felix Hernandez, Brandon Morrow, Francisco Liriano, and Gio Gonzalez all having seasons of elevated WHIPs but decent strikeout numbers there may not be much hope of gaining in wins, but I feel good about closing the lead in strikeouts and possibly stealing a point from the second place Ibexes.
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