PSPBL Week 13 Power Rankings

Jhoan Duran and the Pride may have lost this week, but they still don’t have a lot to worry about (Imagn Images)

Week 13 was an eventful week in the PSPBL, though maybe not as impactful as it may first seem.

While yes, the Pride’s win streak was finally snapped by the rising Zimas, it had no real impact on the standings. The Pride still have a very comfortable lead on everyone for the top seed. The Zimas probably got more benefit than any damage done to the Pride, as they’re rather solidly the sixth seed for the moment and look like a team very much on the rise.

As for the rest of the league’s results, all we really saw were the division leaders and wild card teams stand pat. Honestly, the next most notable thing about this week was BDPH announcing they’re going to call it a day after this season, a bittersweet marking of the passage of time more than anything.

The Power Rankings don’t move much this week, either, and the changes really only reflect what we’ve talked about already.

On with the countdown:

1. LANCER PRIDE (Hitting 1st, Pitching +1 to 1st): Even with the loss, the Pride actually see their pitching split improve this week such that they’re now on top of all three hills. With league best numbers in six different categories, and being just off the pace in a seventh, the Pride are still far and away the league’s best team. The biggest factor that was somewhat under control in their loss this week was the fact their offense largely took the week off, however, their batting average going into the week was solid enough that, even with a .224 mark this week, they still lead the league in that category. The Pride are fine for now, though this week was a lesson that there’s always the chance great teams can run into an opponent on the wrong week and anything can happen at any time.
2. EAMUS CATULI (Hitting 2nd, Pitching -1 to 7th): Catuli dropped a close decision to Bikini where their offense was competitive but their sinking pitching continued to be troubling. This week saw Catuli post a 5.36 ERA, a 7.59 strikeout rate and finish minus-1 in net wins. None of those are great. Catuli strikes out far less batters than any other team in the league and their ERA and net wins numbers are also bottom quadrant. For better or worse, this week looked like a representative performance from Catuli, albeit maybe a slow one offensively, and it wasn’t good enough to beat another team that appears playoff bound. That should be mildly disconcerting in the Catuli camp, even if they are comfortably the two seed for now.
3. (+3) JOHN JACOB ZIMAHEIMER SCHMITT (Hitting +3 to 3rd, Pitching +1 to 6th): Yup, this tracks. The Zimas posted some absolutely crazy offensive numbers this week in the process of ending the Pride’s run at history. Runs: 47. Homers: 18. RBI: 52. Slash line: .324/1.020. WHIP: 0.91. All of those weren’t going to be touched by the Pride or anyone most weeks. To say the Zimas are getting hot at the right time is an understatement, and considering we’ve seen them have the opposite problem — starting the season hot, then falling off the table — before, one is tempted to say they’ve learned a thing or two in their quest to figure out the PSPBL. It’s easy to forget the Zimas are one of the league’s most recent team entrants, but they know what they’re doing and have quickly become a year-in, year-out challenger. They’re just three games under .500 right now, but if things continue to go as they have, they might speed back above that mark shortly and could present a challenge in the postseason to any team that takes them on.
4. (-1) SOUTH BEND BENDERS (Hitting 8th, Pitching -1 to 2nd): At this point, it’s starting to feel like the Benders are what they are — a team with solid, nay very good, pitching, but major holes in the offense that will consistently weigh them down. The problem with that is it’s a lot easier for teams to rise up and tie a pitching category or two with a two-start starter getting a quality start and a win or a shuffling of relievers to get another save or hold, while there’s simply no cure for consistently poor offense. We point this out repeatedly in these writeups, but the Benders are now 33–67–4 (.337) on the season offensively. When your offense is almost always taking a 6–2 loss, as was the case this week, it’s going to be tough for your pitching to overcome. The Benders are now 18 games under .500 and eight and a half games back of Bikini in the Glorioso. It might be time for them to consider some moves to get the offense in line if they want to make a late charge.
5. (-1) RHUBARB BIKINI (Hitting -1 to 4th, Pitching 8th): While Bikini sinks a spot in the Power Rankings this week, it’s more because of the rise of the Zimas than anything else. Catuli actually was a good matchup for Bikini, as their hitting is at least competent while their pitching, though not very good generally, went up against Catuli’s, which has struggled in recent weeks. Bikini is on the precipice of getting back to .500 for the first time since Week 5. No, that’s not actually a big deal in reality given their command on the Glorioso right now, but it is a big deal spiritually, as it means they’d be back to a spot where they at least appear more successful than not. They do have a 7–6 matchup record, so their head’s above water there. Ultimately, Bikini is in a good place and, considering they’re 12 games above .500 over the last six weeks, you can fairly say things are trending correctly.
6. (-1) FUKUROUND AND FINDOOT (Hitting 7th, Pitching +1 to 3rd): Mixed movement for F&F this week as their pitching goes up a spot but their overall ranking sinks one, though their big win over the Hackers softens any blow. That said, there is something worth watching for F&F with regards to their hitting numbers. F&F strikes out a lot — only BDPH whiffs more — while their errors and average numbers are slightly below average and their OPS figure is pretty much at the league average. That’s not tragic, but it doesn’t add up to F&F’s offensive win percentage, which is the best in the league now at 59–35–10 (.615). That means it’s safe to say F&F is overachieving offensively … something that could be notable in the postseason. Granted, they’re also slightly underachieving pitching-wise, where they’re just five games over .500 at 47–43–14. However, when you consider those hitting totals, you might see an area where teams in the postseason could come up and give F&F some trouble.
7. (+1) BIGADODDLEDOOPENGUINHEADS (Hitting -1 to 5th, Pitching +2 to 10th): A loss to HDH certainly isn’t a great sign for this BDPH team, which has gone 20 games under .500 over the last five weeks. Nonetheless, we’d be remiss here if we didn’t somewhat mourn the announcement BDPH is saying farewell to Pfeifer Sports pfantasy play at the end of this baseball season. On the one hand, BDPH truly hasn’t had a lot of success on the baseball side, doing far better on the football end. On the other, though, Matt Miller has brought a lot of personality to the league, particularly in interactions with his sister, Susan, and we’ll miss the crazy team names, the drop-in comments in the chat and the ability to use words like “siblicide” when one of the Miller teams beats the other. The league loses something without BDPH, and while we certainly will never oblige a team to reconsider how they’re using their time, we are a little blue about knowing this era of the PSPBL is passing us by. For that, we tip our caps to BDPH this week and hope they enjoy their last few weeks of time in the league.
8. (-1) JUDAS PRIESTER (Hitting -1 to 6th, Pitching 9th): Priester was the beneficiary of going up against the Benders’ offense this week, which allowed them to win the homers category despite only hitting six and the RBI category despite only gettting 27. Yes, nine stolen bases pops off the page, but ultimately, Priester won this week more because they faced a very one-sided opponent, which didn’t even do that well on that one side where they’re pretty good, more than anything. Still, Priester is quite comfortably the second wild card seed and they’ll take every win, whether or not they have to work all that hard for it. Priester has areas of strength, no doubt, like stolen bases and, oddly enough, fielding errors. But the rest of their numbers look decidedly mediocre across the board. Again, it’s hard to tell with this team because it’s undergone a pretty massive overhaul. We can’t really debate the position, but we’re curious what they’ll bring to the table in the postseason.
9. HARRY DOYLE’S HANGOVER (Hitting -1 to 11th, Pitching 5th): Don’t look now, but the ghost ship, a team that hasn’t been touched all season long, is actually on a five-week lossless streak right now and is technically the last team out of the playoffs at 15 games under .500, six games back of the Zimas for the final wild card spot and seven games back of Bikini in the Glorioso. Their pitching this week, albeit by accident, was outstanding: A 1.26 ERA, an 11.30 strikeout rate and, somehow, five net wins. That said, there is a concern. Total innings pitched for HDH this week? Just 28.2, or, put another way, just 1.2 innings above the innings limit. That’s awful close to handing over pitching categories, something that could have an impact on the postseason race. Among the teams remaining on their schedule that could truly benefit from such a tilt: Catuli, the Zimas, BDPH, and Fall Guy. We’re hoping that doesn’t happen, but we can’t rule out the possibility.
10. (-1) FALL GUY STUNTMAN ASSOCIATION (Hitting 12th, Pitching -1 to 4th): Fall Guy got a two-category win over Mercy this week in a matchup that felt oddly irrelevant, given these two teams’ history of championships. That said, while Fall Guy continued to get solid pitching on the whole, they were helped by Mercy’s pitching rolling over and playing dead with a 7.98 ERA that actually matched their 7.98 strikeout rate (hint: that’s not good) and negative numbers in both net saves and net wins. Fall Guy has had a rough go of it this summer, even passing a kidney stone last week after overhauling their team with en masse trades. A two-matchup win is a step in the right direction, and it stops the bleeding of a stretch where they’d lost five of their last six. However, a two-category win over the league’s worst team doesn’t immediately shout “we’re back in it” as much as it does “yikes this kidney stone hurts yeow,” which has nothing to do with fantasy baseball but is still something we can imagine anyone with a kidney stone shouting.
11. ANDY HACKS AT 3–0 (Hitting 9th, Pitching 11th): Nothing much changes for the Hackers this week, whose 2026 campaign is increasingly starting to look like a lost cause. The offense just isn’t there, as they won the runs and net stolen bases categories this week but looked like the lesser team compared to F&F. The pitching also just isn’t there, as they went minus-4 in the net wins column this week and couldn’t run with F&F’s sparkling numbers with a 4.59 ERA. The Hackers still have just the two matchup wins over Fall Guy and have gone 27 games under .500 over the last 10 weeks. It doesn’t look like a massive turnaround is on the way, ergo it looks like this season just wasn’t meant to be a good one for this team.
12. HAVE MERCY (Hitting +1 to 10th, Pitching 12th): The good news for Mercy is their offense is showing signs of life, hitting .302 this week with nine homers and eight net stolen bases. The bad news is, Susan could probably go to a little league diamond near her and find better pitching than what she got from her troupe this week. Things blew up, nay exploded, for Mercy this week, with her pitchers allowing nearly an earned run an inning with a WHIP just under 2.00 and a walk rate of 4.70. Honestly, it’s a bit of a surprise Mercy’s net wins number was just minus-2 given those figures. Mercy’s pitching is now league worst in four categories and very close to it in a fifth. It’s fair to say things didn’t work out for this club when it came to pitching this year and, no matter how much their offense gets it together in the final weeks, the damage looks a little too irreparable to be recoverable. •