Going into the final week of Period 4, Todd Zola had a big lead over Jeff Erickson, who in turn led Mike Gianella by seven points. Zola stumbled in week four, finishing 26th on the night, while Erickson finished 11th and Gianella tied for fifth. Lots of action, but the results ended much the same, with the three week-three leaders finishing atop the board after week four closer but in the same order.
Zola, Erickson and Gianella win golden tickets to the August 26th Tout Daily Finals, when a season champion will be crowned based on that night’s play.
For Erickson it is his second ticket of the year to the finals, and he’ll get to enter two teams in the 15 team finals field, and play for a third ticket in Tout Daily Period 5, which starts next Friday, July 29th.
Other holders of tickets to the Finals are Brian Walton, Rick Wolf, Rob Leibowitz, Tim Heaney, Tristan Cockcroft, Jason Collette, Patrick Davitt and Patrick Mayo.
Ray Murphy and Brian Walton finished seven and eight points back of Gianella, respectively, finishing fourth and fifth for the Period.
As each Tout Daily Period ends, all eyes fall on the race for the golden tickets, and the Friday night contest is overlooked. Last night’s first place team was Ron Shandler’s, edging Michael Beller and Ray Murphy.
Shandler was one of only two Top 10 teams to roster Jonathan Gray, in Colorado, and was rewarded with the night’s second-best pitching performance.
Big nights from Joey Votto and Christian Yelich, plus another strong game from popular pick Daniel Murphy, pushed Shandler to the top position, despite a woeful games from Tanner Roark and Jordy Mercer.
Shandler’s winning total was 26 points fewer than the winning total in week 3, and the lowest total winning points in Period 4.
Michael Beller rostered two meh pitchers on the night, Danny Duffy and Matt Shoemaker, who each cost $5,900, and received meh performances, but Duffy scored a Win. Beller used the money he saved to roster Nolan Arenado, Dexter Fowler, and Cameron Maybin, who did enough to prevail over all but Shandler.
Ray Murphy was the only other Top 10 team to roster Jonathan Gray, and he coupled him with Lance McCullers, the night’s best pitcher, who generated 21 points. Alas, his only solid hitter was Cameron Maybin and he came up one point short of first.
You can see all the night’s results at RTSports.com/tout-wars.
You can see the whole leaderboard here.
You can play daily fantasy baseball at RTSports.com, for prizes or just for fun.
Come back here, to Toutwars.com, next Friday afternoon, for the Touts’ top picks for Friday night, and follow that night’s action at RTSports.com.