clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

The Ding Dong Challenge: Mike Trout let everyone down

Sign up for Week 13 action!

Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome to the Ding Dong Challenge, a game were we try and correctly predict who will hit the most home runs in a given week, keep score throughout the entire season and win a free, awesome t-shirt. Here’s last week’s report card and this week’s list of “elites”. If you want to play, just pick one player from the “elites” and two players from the “everyone else” category (which is just everyone who’s not elite), then list your team in the comments. The sooner you create your team, the better as you only get the homers from when your team is posted till the end of the week.

So as many of you probably noticed there was no ding dong challenge last week. I was busy and didn’t have the time to throw it all together. I promise I have a good excuse:

But I’m back now. The wedding and honeymoon are over and now it’s time to get back to a lot of big, long dongs. The best way to celebrate a marriage.

So housekeeping, since there were no lineups last week, I’ve decided to take the lineups submitted for Week 11 and drag them through Week 12 of the challenge. This means double dingers! Let’s see what those numbers look like...

Week 11 + 12 report card

Name Week 11 + 12 Total Elite Everyone Else 1 Everyone Else 2 Total Ding Dongs
Name Week 11 + 12 Total Elite Everyone Else 1 Everyone Else 2 Total Ding Dongs
The Real Slim Shaney 8 Mike Trout (2) Eric Thames (4) Justin Turner (2) 55
Pete Rogers 8 J.D. Martinez (4) Travis Shaw (1) Mark Trumbo (3) 39
Feslenraster 8 Jose Ramirez (1) Enrique Hernandez (3) Matt Carpenter (4) 26
Mark Abell 5 Mike Trout (2) Panda Sandoval (2) Mitch Haniger (1) 44
Salti Cracker 5 Mike Trout (2) Paul Goldschmidt (3) George Springer (0) 43
Sixtus74 4 Mike Trout (2) Freddie Freeman (1) Miguel Andujar (1) 48
Heath Capps 0 -- -- -- 11
Brian Creagh 0 -- -- -- 9
Wallstreet1975 0 -- -- -- 7

Everyone picked Mike Trout this extended week and everyone got more or less let down. Trout knocked home only two dingers in a two week span. That’s like a dinger a week! Meanwhile, my boy Just Dingers Martinez went yard four times over the last two weeks and helped me get back on track, which is exactly what I wanted him to do.

Big week for Eric Thames and Matt Carpenter who matched Martinez’s output with four ding dongs.

Heath and Brian, get back on the wagon.

And of course for those curious, here’s the perfect lineup from the last two weeks:

Elite: Aaron Judge (6)
Everyone Else 1: Avisail Garcia (8)
Everyone Else 2: Alex Bregman (6)

That’s 20 frickin points right there. *Wide eyed emoji*


Week 13 Elites

Name Team G PA HR R ISO
Name Team G PA HR R ISO
Mookie Betts Red Sox 71 324 22 71 0.331
Jesus Aguilar Brewers 79 280 22 45 0.327
J.D. Martinez Red Sox 85 367 27 64 0.317
Mike Trout Angels 91 401 25 68 0.315
Jose Ramirez Indians 87 390 24 60 0.298
Aaron Judge Yankees 85 386 25 63 0.292
Nelson Cruz Mariners 76 319 22 39 0.282
Nolan Arenado Rockies 84 369 22 58 0.277
Eugenio Suarez Reds 73 321 19 45 0.275
Javier Baez Cubs 85 335 17 56 0.270
Francisco Lindor Indians 87 409 23 79 0.267
Khris Davis Athletics 80 347 21 47 0.264
Aaron Hicks Yankees 69 288 16 44 0.263
Paul Goldschmidt Diamondbacks 89 394 20 60 0.260
Evan Gattis Astros 80 295 18 37 0.260
Joey Gallo Rangers 87 343 21 46 0.258
Matt Carpenter Cardinals 84 356 17 53 0.255
Eduardo Escobar Twins 84 350 14 40 0.254
Bryce Harper Nationals 88 388 21 55 0.254
Brandon Nimmo Mets 77 280 12 44 0.253
Kyle Schwarber Cubs 78 307 17 43 0.249
Manny Machado Orioles 88 382 21 43 0.248
Teoscar Hernandez Blue Jays 71 309 13 39 0.247
Trevor Story Rockies 89 379 17 45 0.246
Giancarlo Stanton Yankees 86 381 21 52 0.243

Anyone not on this list is an Everyone Else. Reminder: you pick one Elite and two Everyone Else each week so choose wisely! Leave your team in the comments if you want to play this week (and feel free to leave your twitter handle as we’ll give a shoutout each week to the previous week’s winner).