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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.
Week 18 scorecard
| Name | Week 18 total | Elite | Everyone Else 1 | Everyone Else 2 | Total Dongs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Week 18 total | Elite | Everyone Else 1 | Everyone Else 2 | Total Dongs |
| Pete Rogers | 4 | Pete Alonso (1) | Rafael Devers (1) | Yuli Gurriel (2) | 100 |
| Calvin C | 4 | Cody Bellinger (0) | Rafael Devers (1) | Trey Mancini (3) | 73 |
| GratefulMatt | 3 | Christian Yelich (1) | Aaron Judge (0) | George Springer (2) | 94 |
| Heath Capps | 3 | Christian Yelich (1) | Aaron Judge (0) | Francisco Lindor (2) | 96 |
| Feslenraster | 2 | Christian Yelich (1) | Ramon Laureano (1) | Lourdes Gurriel Jr (0) | 82 |
| Punk is Dead | 1 | Christian Yelich (1) | Aaron Judge (0) | Manny Machado (0) | 79 |
| Mark Abell | 1 | Cody Bellinger (0) | Aaron Judge (0) | Matt Olson (1) | 82 |
| Ezra Laemmle | 1 | Javier Baez (1) | Austin Meadows (0) | Alex Verdugo (0) | 83 |
| Dark Passenger | -- | -- | -- | 2 | |
| Ghoji Blackburn | -- | -- | -- | 20 | |
| Salti Cracker | -- | -- | -- | 46 |
Round of applause for myself and Calvin C for taking the win last week, but really, an even bigger round of applause for Calvin since he also found the best dinger hitter of the group. Who would have thunk it would’ve been Trey Mancini leading the way with three home runs last week out of all the guys picked? That’s why this game is fun (and sometimes really really really annoyingly stupid): you never know who’s gonna just get hot and start painting the parking lot with bombs.
A big week for Christian Yelich and Aaron Judge selections but neither really were able to live up to their billing. Has Judge done much of anything this season so far? I feel like every time he shows up on this, he does a whole bunch of nothing and just lets people down. I don’t know but it seems maybe it’s time to pass on the giant of the outfield this season.
With that, onto Week 19!
Week 19 Elites
| Name | Team | G | PA | HR | ISO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Team | G | PA | HR | ISO |
| Christian Yelich | Brewers | 97 | 433 | 36 | 0.370 |
| Mike Trout | Angels | 100 | 450 | 34 | 0.363 |
| Cody Bellinger | Dodgers | 102 | 439 | 34 | 0.343 |
| Peter Alonso | Mets | 104 | 443 | 34 | 0.338 |
| Hunter Renfroe | Padres | 96 | 350 | 29 | 0.329 |
| Nelson Cruz | Twins | 78 | 342 | 26 | 0.321 |
| Josh Bell | Pirates | 103 | 446 | 27 | 0.310 |
| George Springer | Astros | 74 | 341 | 24 | 0.306 |
| Anthony Rendon | Nationals | 91 | 398 | 22 | 0.293 |
| Edwin Encarnacion | Yankees | 97 | 434 | 30 | 0.285 |
| Gary Sanchez | Yankees | 77 | 328 | 24 | 0.279 |
| Max Kepler | Twins | 97 | 437 | 28 | 0.278 |
| Franmil Reyes | Padres | 97 | 346 | 26 | 0.275 |
| Daniel Vogelbach | Mariners | 98 | 389 | 25 | 0.274 |
| Eugenio Suarez | Reds | 103 | 430 | 28 | 0.273 |
| Joc Pederson | Dodgers | 96 | 349 | 23 | 0.272 |
| Charlie Blackmon | Rockies | 89 | 409 | 21 | 0.272 |
| Mike Moustakas | Brewers | 98 | 418 | 26 | 0.271 |
| Jorge Soler | Royals | 107 | 443 | 28 | 0.269 |
| Max Muncy | Dodgers | 103 | 421 | 26 | 0.266 |
| Alex Bregman | Astros | 103 | 460 | 26 | 0.262 |
| Matt Chapman | Athletics | 104 | 443 | 23 | 0.262 |
| Trevor Story | Rockies | 93 | 419 | 22 | 0.262 |
| Renato Nunez | Orioles | 100 | 400 | 25 | 0.262 |
| Rhys Hoskins | Phillies | 104 | 459 | 22 | 0.260 |
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).