Newsletter for games through 6-21-2015

COMMENTARY:  The Cardinals and Rockies tied for the best record with a 6-1 mark…neither team is in first…every NL division-leader had winning record, something only the Orioles could manage in the AL…and the O’s used it to take a 1-game lead over the Yankees and move into first…but Toronto, Tampa, and Boston also had winning weeks as well, and Toronto and Boston actually gained ground on the Orioles even as the Orioles moved into the divisional lead…Washington inched another game forward in the NL East, although Atlanta and Miami each had winning weeks…4 of the 5 teams in the NL central had 5-win weeks or better, including the Cubs and Brewers, each at 5-2…the Brewers are now +3 WOR…Chisox were the only winning team in the AL central…A’s and Angels each gained ground in the AL west despite playing a series against each other…Oakland won 2 of 3…4 divisions have races tighter than 2 games…Colby Rasmus — last year acquired by the fantasy Mets and subsequently benched by the actual Blue Jays — led the ASFBL with 5 HR last week…Logan Forsyth (Rays) and Albert Pujols (Angels) each had 12 RBI…Pujols only hit .276 while doing it…Boston is last in the AL east, but went 5-2 and has the best WOR in the division…every division leader has a positive-WOR number…not one ASFBL team is dead-on the actual record, although Cleveland is closest and within a half-game…Giants have the best ASFBL record, Reds have the best WOR…Cody Anderson of Cleveland struck out 20 batters last week; Chris Archer has “only” 18…but Archer pitched only 14.67 compared to Anderson’s 19…Anderson has 8 actual IP…Trout hit .593 for the Angels last week….he also robbed opponents of 4 hits…do you walk him to pitch to Pujols?…Bill Hamilton stole 6 bases for the Reds last week…he was only on base 9 times…10 hits, but 2 were HR….real league ERA is 3.85; ASFBL is 3.39, mostly because those guys that have an ERA of 15.43 in 16 innings and get DFA’d never see the virtual mound…TJ McFarland of Baltimore retired 7 batters last week, all by strikeouts…Cardinal defenders have allowed the fewest runners they might have converted to outs, with only 40 difficult-plays-not-made and errors…league high is 42…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Jake Arrieta of CHC had 10 strikeouts against CLE on 6/15/2015
David Price of DET had 10 strikeouts against CIN on 6/15/2015
Sonny Gray of OAK had 12 strikeouts against SDP on 6/15/2015
Evan Gattis of SDP struck out 4 times against OAK on 6/15/2015
Robbie Ray of ARI had 11 strikeouts against LAA on 6/15/2015
A.J. Pierzynski of ATL hit 3 home runs against BOS on 6/15/2015
A.J. Pierzynski of ATL had 7 RBI against BOS on 6/15/2015
Danny Salazar of CLE had 10 strikeouts against CHC on 6/16/2015
Max Scherzer of WAS had 11 strikeouts against TBR on 6/16/2015
Nate Karns of TBR had 10 strikeouts against WAS on 6/16/2015
Pedro Ciriaco of ATL had 5 hits against BOS on 6/16/2015
Jose Reyes of TOR struck out 4 times against NYM on 6/17/2015
Chris Sale of CWS had 15 strikeouts against PIT on 6/18/2015
Matthew Joyce of LAA had 6 RBI against ARI on 6/18/2015
Clayton Kershaw of LAD had 11 strikeouts against TEX on 6/18/2015
Starlin Castro of CHC had 6 RBI against MIN on 6/19/2015
Trevor Bauer of CLE had 10 strikeouts against TBR on 6/19/2015
Anibal Sanchez of TBR had 10 strikeouts against CLE on 6/19/2015
Joey Butler of TBR struck out 4 times against CLE on 6/19/2015
James Shields of BOS had 11 strikeouts against KCR on 6/20/2015
Jake Arrieta of CHC had 10 strikeouts against MIN on 6/20/2015
Chris Archer of COL had 10 strikeouts against MIL on 6/21/2015
Adam LaRoche of HOU struck out 4 times against SEA on 6/21/2015
Cody Anderson of CLE had 13 strikeouts against TBR on 6/21/2015

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Newsletter for games through 6-14-2015

RANDOM: Sitting in a hotel in Dallas, and being thankful that we have narrowly avoided the first-ever ASFBL rainout due to Hurricane-cum-tropical-storm Bill.  The power was flickering.  I am quite sure the Rangers will not be playing tonight.  The disabled list has been re-coded, so if there are remaining errors they now fall in the category of bugs to fix, so let me know if issues continue to arise.

ERRATUM: I incorrectly identified Miami as the NL East leader; the correct team, of course, is Andy Somers’ Nationals.  It’s been updated on the newsletter.

COMMENTARY: The Dodgers ran a perfect 6-0 record for the best record in the NL….they were only able to pick up half a game on the Giants…The Reds had the only winning week in the NL central….Washington went 5-1 to move 3 games up in the NL East, but the Braves went 4-3 to keep the race tight…the Yankees stormed into a tie in the AL East and every team is within 6 games of first…three divisions have 3rd-place teams that are double-digits out…Kansas City renewed its show of strength with a 5-1 record to keep a safe distance out, although every team in the division was .500 or better and the Indians matched the 5-1 mark…kudos to the Bosox, the Chisox, and the Rangers, all of whom had winning weeks despite having some distance to close in the standings…Texas had the only winning record in the AL West…The Giants and Royals are both in the top-4 of the WOR standings, which is especially impressive since both the actual clubs have really strong records…Dodger pitching has allowed only 121 walks, best in the league…highest is 243…Oriole relievers have inherited the most runners…Miami has allowed only 9% of inherited runners to score, and they are the only team in single-digits…Toronto has the highest team batting average and has scored the most runs….the Cubs lead the league with 62 stolen bases…Fowler hit .429 for the Cubs this week….deGrom threw 10 shutout innings against the Giants but the Mets lost in 14…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Chris Sale of CWS had 10 strikeouts against HOU on 6/8/2015
Clayton Kershaw of LAD had 11 strikeouts against ARI on 6/8/2015
Jimmy Rollins of LAD struck out 4 times against ARI on 6/9/2015
Chris Carter of CLE had 6 RBI against SEA on 6/9/2015
Williams Perez of DET had 12 strikeouts against CHC on 6/9/2015
Brandon Barnes of COL struck out 4 times against STL on 6/9/2015
Masahiro Tanaka of NYY had 12 strikeouts against WAS on 6/9/2015
Carlos Rodon of CWS had 12 strikeouts against HOU on 6/9/2015
Sonny Gray of OAK had 11 strikeouts against TEX on 6/10/2015
Kyle Blanks of TEX struck out 4 times against OAK on 6/10/2015
Steve Pearce of BAL hit 3 home runs against BOS on 6/11/2015
Chris Archer of COL had 11 strikeouts against MIA on 6/11/2015
Starlin Castro of CHC struck out 4 times against CIN on 6/11/2015
Corey Kluber of CLE had 12 strikeouts against DET on 6/12/2015
Kyle Blanks of TEX struck out 4 times against MIN on 6/12/2015
Evan Gattis of SDP struck out 4 times against LAD on 6/12/2015
Lance McCullers of HOU had 11 strikeouts against SEA on 6/12/2015
Ben Gamel of NYY had 5 hits against BAL on 6/13/2015
Kelly Johnson of ATL had 5 hits against NYM on 6/13/2015
Chris Sale of CWS had 11 strikeouts against TBR on 6/13/2015
Clayton Kershaw of LAD had 11 strikeouts against SDP on 6/13/2015
Howie Kendrick of LAD struck out 4 times against SDP on 6/13/2015
Steven Matz of COL had 12 strikeouts against MIA on 6/14/2015
Joe Ross of WAS had 11 strikeouts against MIL on 6/14/2015

Newsletter for games through 6/7/15

THE DISABLED LIST IS INJURED: Baseball-reference.com has changed its DL to an “injury report” that not only includes guys not on the DL but is also inaccurate.  They do have accurate info on the individual team roster pages, so I’ll be coding the program to download those pages and read the DL info from them.  I’m hopeful to have it by next Monday, but more likely it’s the week after.  In the meantime, let me know if any of your players are marked incorrectly and I’ll make the changes manually.  Sorry for the hassle…should have this resolved soon.

COMMENTARY: The Reds had a perfect 6-0 week to move into a dead tie with the Cards in the NL central…and the Cards themselves went 5-2 this week…Boston had the second-best  ASFBL weekly record at 6-1, and every team in the AL East is now even-or-better in WOR….Cleveland posted the best record and only winning week of any team in the AL central….the actual Tribe are in last place, but Skrovan’s crew are in the middle of the pack….Colorado went 5-1 in the NL West, and the Giants went 4-2 to move into first place by a relatively solid 2.5 games…Atlanta crept a half game closer in the NL East; the Nationals still lead by 1.5…Texas went 4-2 and posted the best record in the AL West, proving that any team in the division is dangerous…with the big week Cincinnati also moved into first place in the WOR standings with 12.5….Baltimore is second with 9…Depending on how you look at it, Cleveland owns the “most due to adjust” or “most unlucky” pitching staff; the fantasy ERA is .66 higher than the real ERA…other contenders are Boston (.55) and the Mets (.51)….most overperforming staff is Arizona, at .44 under the actual ERA…Nelson Cruz hit 5 HR for Seattle…Panik hit .565 for Colorado…Chris Archer struck out 22 in 16 innings.

WHO’S THE BEST?  The chart below is a week out of date — I put it together over the weekend and before this set of games — but it shows run differentials (thanks to Adam Symonds), ASFBL win %, and power ratings (which use actual stats).   Here are the top 10:

			Power ratings	Run diff	Win pct	total
Los Angeles			1	1	2	4
San Francisco			6	4	1	11
Houston			8	2	3	13
Kansas City			3	7	5	15
Detroit			2	11	4	17
Cincinnati			5	5	14	24
Baltimore			4	10	12	26
Oakland			7	14	7	28
New York (NYY)			16	3	11	30
Washington			18	6	6	30

Washington and Yankees have lower power ratings but are winning tons of games…the Dodgers are a clear #1 and are the only team in the top 2 of all categories….the Royals are doing worse than their power rankings suggest, so they might get better yet…Detroit is winning tons of games despite a relatively low run differential…Oakland too…the Reds have a much better run differential than win percentage, so look for that to come up as well.

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Jaime Garcia of STL had 11 strikeouts against MIL on 6/1/2015
Chris Davis of BAL struck out 4 times against HOU on 6/1/2015
Andrelton Simmons of ATL had 5 hits against ARI on 6/1/2015
Max Scherzer of WAS had 14 strikeouts against TOR on 6/1/2015
Chris Archer of COL had 11 strikeouts against LAD on 6/1/2015
Aaron Sanchez of TOR had 12 strikeouts against WAS on 6/3/2015
Jonathan Herrera of CHC robbed 3 hits against WAS on 6/4/2015
Colby Rasmus of WAS struck out 5 times against CHC on 6/4/2015
Eric Hosmer of KCR struck out 4 times against CLE on 6/4/2015
Marlon Byrd of CIN hit 3 home runs against PHI on 6/4/2015
Marlon Byrd of CIN had 6 RBI against PHI on 6/4/2015
James Shields of BOS had 13 strikeouts against MIN on 6/4/2015
Charlie Blackmon of COL had 5 hits against MIA on 6/5/2015
Danny Salazar of CLE had 12 strikeouts against BAL on 6/5/2015
Cole Hamels of PHI had 11 strikeouts against SFG on 6/5/2015
Sonny Gray of OAK had 12 strikeouts against BOS on 6/5/2015
Erik Johnson of CWS had 10 strikeouts against DET on 6/6/2015
Yoenis Cespedes of DET had 6 hits against CWS on 6/6/2015
Tyler Collins of DET had 6 hits against CWS on 6/6/2015
James McCann of DET had 5 hits against CWS on 6/6/2015
David Freese of LAA struck out 4 times against NYY on 6/6/2015
Jaime Garcia of STL had 11 strikeouts against LAD on 6/6/2015
Chris Archer of COL had 11 strikeouts against MIA on 6/6/2015
Mike Zunino of SEA struck out 4 times against TBR on 6/7/2015
Michael Pineda of NYY had 11 strikeouts against LAA on 6/7/2015

Newsletter for games through 5/31/15

TRADES BY OWNER through June 2 (courtesy of Leo Leckie)
21 – Leo Leckie – Colorado
16 – Rick Wynne – San Francisco
9 – Gordon Leckie – Detroit
7 – Andy Somers – Washington
6 – Adam Symonds, Adam – Seattle, Jim Casey – Houston, Josh Clark – Kansas City, Scott Treffer – San Diego, Steve Horak – Chicago (CWS), Steve Leslie – Pittsburgh, Tom O’Toole – Tampa Bay
5 – Greg Achten – Anaheim
4 – Ben Leckie – Miami, Mark Yee – New York (NYY), Tony Bernacchi, Tony – Boston
3 – Danny Wildes – Atlanta, Jon Bruschke – New York (NYM), Steve Skrovan – Cleveland
2 – Chuck Ballingall – Los Angeles, John Weerts – Oakland, Mark Chen – Baltimore, Tim Walsh – Minnesota
1 – Hugh Brown – Toronto, Jim Gerety – Texas, Raphael Malveaux – Cincinnati

LINEUP UPDATES: 29 lineups submitted this week; thanks again!

COMMENTARY: Pittsburgh and Texas, each scrapping a little bit, both turned in winning weeks…as did every team in the AL west, with Oakland and Seattle going 6-1…Washington went 5-1 and moved to within a half game of the Marlins…the Cards moved up by a nose in the NL central and now lead by a game and a half…the Dodgers went 5-1 to move into a dead tie with the Giants, who had a winning week themselves…Toronto was the only team in the AL east with a winning record, and they are lurking toward the middle of the pack but are definitely within striking distance…of the 4 most active traders (see list above), only the Giants have a positive WOR figure…of the top five WOR teams — Miami, Cincinnati, Oakland, San Francisco and Baltimore — three are in first place…Kansas City cooled a bit and now has a reasonable win percentage, but they still have the best winning percentage in the league…Dodger pitching has issued only 92 walks, tops in the league, and the Dogs are the only team still in double-digits…top MLB team batting average is .275, held by KC; top ASFBL team average is .274, held by Toronto….the Dodgers lead both leagues in homers, with 73 in MLB and 80 in ASFBL…five ASFBL teams have squad ERAs under 3.00, but only the Cardinals have done that in real life…Cleveland pitchers lead MLB in strikeouts with 496; the fantasy squad has 490…DBack fielders have saved 93 hits, tops in the ASFBL…those add up over a season…the Dodger batters have 207 walks, tops in the ASFBL, and are followed by Washington at 206; top actual total is 199 (Cleveland)…Time to pitch around him: Marwin Gonzales had 8 RBI for Houston batting 8th against Baltimore on the 27th; Alex Presley, batting 9th, went 0 for 5…Hadn’t really looked at this before, but the website tells me this is the 153rd newsletter that we’ve published on the site…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Hector Santiago of LAA had 17 strikeouts against SDP on 5/25/2015
Justin Upton of SDP struck out 4 times against LAA on 5/25/2015
James Shields of BOS had 11 strikeouts against MIN on 5/25/2015
Giancarlo Stanton of MIA robbed 3 hits against PIT on 5/25/2015
Josh Hamilton of TEX struck out 4 times against CLE on 5/26/2015
Marwin Gonzalez of HOU had 8 RBI against BAL on 5/27/2015
John Church of NYM struck out 4 times against PHI on 5/27/2015
Max Scherzer of WAS had 15 strikeouts against CHC on 5/27/2015
Jorge Soler of CHC struck out 4 times against WAS on 5/27/2015
Chris Carter of CLE struck out 4 times against SEA on 5/28/2015
Carlos Perez of LAA robbed 3 hits against DET on 5/28/2015
Jose Reyes of TOR struck out 4 times against MIN on 5/29/2015
Neil Walker of PIT struck out 4 times against SDP on 5/29/2015
Felix Hernandez of SEA had 11 strikeouts against CLE on 5/29/2015
Chris Carter of CLE struck out 4 times against SEA on 5/29/2015
Nolan Arenado of COL robbed 3 hits against PHI on 5/29/2015
Chi Chi Gonzalez of TEX threw a no-hitter against BOS on 5/30/2015
Andrew Cashner of COL had 14 strikeouts against PHI on 5/30/2015
Jordan Pacheco of ARI struck out 4 times against MIL on 5/30/2015
Hunter Pence of PIT struck out 4 times against SDP on 5/30/2015
Neil Walker of PIT had 5 hits against SDP on 5/30/2015
Cole Hamels of PHI had 16 strikeouts against COL on 5/31/2015
Joe Panik of COL struck out 4 times against PHI on 5/31/2015