Newsletter for games through 6/26/2016

NO HITTER!  Julio Teheran threw the gem on 6/21 against the Marlins…needed only 81 pitches, struck out nine, and only walked one.  Kazmar committed an error behind him, but the performance was more than enough to earn a 5-0 win…the actual Braves look like they’ve cashed it in this year, but its fun to see outstanding fantasy performances like this one…congrats to Danny Wildes!

REMINDER: MLB trade deadline is 8/1 and for us that equates to the lineups due on 8/2.

COMMENTS:  Cubs continue to roll, but the Brewers had the best divisional record of the week at 4-1….top 3 teams in the NL west all locked up with identical 4-3 records, and the best record in the division belonged to the Padres at 4-2…they are -1 WOR and could make a serious run in the WOR standings….Two perfect records in the AL, including Baltimore with 5 wins and the Indians with 6…Indians, of course, gained exactly no WOR ground…but the division lead is up to 5.5 games…Texas, Houston, and Oakland all had winning records and gained on Seattle, who was a step under .500 at 3-4….if you wiped out Seattle’s +7 WOR, they’d be behind all 3, so the division lead is purely a function of managerial aptitude…this is fairly unprecedented territory for the ASFBL, but the smallest division lead is still 5 games…but the wildcard chases are brutal….longest hitting streak of the season goes to Charlie Blackmon of the Astros, who hit in 33 straight games until being locked out on June 8…next longest were 22 (Nick Castellanos, Detroit) and 21 (JT Realmuto)….longest active strike is Paulo Orlando of the Royals at 18…Will Harris of the Astros went 18 games without giving up an earned run, which finally happened on June 21…Roberto Osuna of the Jays went 17 games without allowing anything…Fernando Rodney of the Padres has the longest active streak at 15…Rodney’s real ERA is all of .31 and he’s a run over in ASFBL so he’s adjusting down…With the longest batting streak and longest consecutive scoreless appearance streak both going to the Astros, you might say that Jim Casey is the best streaker in the ASFBL….Paul Goldschmidt hit 5 HR and had 13 RBI for the DBacks last week…he hit .517…details are below, but note that Toronto had 2 separate players hit 3 HR and log 8 RBI in a single game last week…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Carlos Carrasco of CLE had 12 strikeouts against TBR on 6/20/2016
Tyler Naquin of CLE struck out 4 times against TBR on 6/20/2016
Anthony DeSclafani of BAL had 17 strikeouts against SDP on 6/21/2016
Rick Porcello of BOS had 10 strikeouts against CWS on 6/21/2016
Tyler Webb of NYY had 10 strikeouts against COL on 6/21/2016
Whit Merrifield of KCR struck out 4 times against NYM on 6/22/2016
Lance McCullers of HOU had 10 strikeouts against LAA on 6/22/2016
Jabari Blash of SDP struck out 4 times against BAL on 6/22/2016
Edwin Encarnacion of TOR hit 3 home runs against ARI on 6/22/2016
Edwin Encarnacion of TOR had 8 RBI against ARI on 6/22/2016
Paul Goldschmidt of ARI hit 3 home runs against TOR on 6/22/2016
Jerad Eickhoff of PHI had 10 strikeouts against MIN on 6/22/2016
Avisail Garcia of CWS robbed 3 hits against BOS on 6/23/2016
Jake Arrieta of CHC had 11 strikeouts against MIA on 6/23/2016
Miguel Cabrera of DET robbed 3 hits against SEA on 6/23/2016
Jake Peavy of SFG had 10 strikeouts against PHI on 6/24/2016
Max Scherzer of WAS had 11 strikeouts against MIL on 6/24/2016
Brandon Finnegan of CIN had 10 strikeouts against SDP on 6/24/2016
Tyler Anderson of COL had 10 strikeouts against ARI on 6/24/2016
Evan Gattis of HOU struck out 4 times against KCR on 6/24/2016
Anthony Rizzo of CHC struck out 4 times against MIA on 6/24/2016
Devon Travis of TOR hit 3 home runs against CWS on 6/25/2016
Devon Travis of TOR had 8 RBI against CWS on 6/25/2016
Jon Lester of CHC had 11 strikeouts against MIA on 6/25/2016
Willson Contreras of CHC struck out 4 times against MIA on 6/25/2016

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Newsletter for games through 6-19-2016

REMINDER: If you make changes to your starting pitchers on the roster page, you also need to change the rotation assignments on the rotation change page.  You can find it on the main dashboard (the place you get sent to immediately after login), and it usually just involves clicking the “have computer automatically set rotation” button.

PLAYER ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE WEEK:  Adam Duvall of the Reds hit for the cycle on 6/13/2016

OWNER ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE WEEK: Cleveland native and super-fan Steve Skrovan entered a lineup only one day after the Cavaliers delivered the first championship to the Rock and Roll Capital of the World in a half-century…I am awarding him rights to all of LeBron James’ baseball stats if he goes all Michael Jordan…

COMMENTS: Go big Red…Cincinnati posted a 6-1 record, best in their division, and pulled themselves into positive WOR territory…The Giants had the only perfect 6-0 in the AL, matching the actual team’s torrid pace, and tightened their grip on first place…you gotta pull for Steve to make his inagural playoff appearance, and 80 games in he sure seems on track…the Yankees posted a perfect 6-0, only one in the AL, and pulled even with WOR…sweep victims were the Twins and Rockies, and the 6 wins included 2 shutouts…Detroit picked up a game and a half on Cleveland, and is only one back in the tightest ASFBL divisional race…the NL central is tough as usual; Rick Wynne is dead even WOR, but it’s going to be tough to be the Cubs and their 70% win clip…and the Cardinals are at +7 WOR; second in the NL central, second in the ASFBL WOR standings…Josh Donaldson hit 5 HR last week, tops in the ASFBL…Joe Panik may have had the perfect week for a leadoff hitter; .409, 4 stolen bases, no strikeouts….of course, he was batting 7th…not bad out of your #7 hitter…I would not suggest that a holy man like Rick Wynne is turning to the occult to reverse Cub fortunes, but Rizzo’s computer generated ID number is 28-666…it is the only place anywhere in the database that “666” appears…the Brewers have 68 real stolen bases, miles ahead of the Houston’s second-place mark at 55…they have 76 fantasy stolen bases, also tops in the league…Baltimore has 9, and the Mets are dead last with 7….in fact, Milwaukee has more than the Mets, Orioles, Mariners, and Cardinals combined…Arizona has the most hit-saving plays at 132…that’s about a hit and a half they save their pitchers every game…Texas took 2 out of 3 from the Cardinals while being outscored 13-8…it’s not how many you get, it’s when you get ’em…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Marco Estrada of TOR had 11 strikeouts against PHI on 6/13/2016
Marcell Ozuna of MIA struck out 4 times against SDP on 6/13/2016
Joey Votto of CIN hit 3 home runs against ATL on 6/13/2016
Adam Duvall of CIN had 5 hits against ATL on 6/13/2016
Jose Fernandez of MIA had 17 strikeouts against SDP on 6/14/2016
Jason Heyward of HOU robbed 3 hits against STL on 6/14/2016
Jason Heyward of HOU struck out 4 times against STL on 6/14/2016
Adam Conley of MIA had 12 strikeouts against SDP on 6/15/2016
Matt Carpenter of STL hit for the cycle against HOU on 6/15/2016
Danny Duffy of KCR had 12 strikeouts against CLE on 6/15/2016
Jon Lester of CHC had 14 strikeouts against WAS on 6/15/2016
Jonathan Lucroy of MIL had 5 hits against SFG on 6/15/2016
Stephen Strasburg of WAS had 16 strikeouts against SDP on 6/18/2016
Chris Davis of BAL struck out 4 times against TOR on 6/18/2016
Clayton Kershaw of LAD had 12 strikeouts against MIL on 6/18/2016
Joc Pederson of LAD struck out 4 times against MIL on 6/18/2016
Brandon Belt of SFG hit 3 home runs against TBR on 6/19/2016
Albert Almora of CHC had 5 hits against PIT on 6/19/2016
Julio Urias of LAD had 11 strikeouts against MIL on 6/19/2016
Max Scherzer of WAS had 11 strikeouts against SDP on 6/19/2016
Jose Fernandez of MIA had 12 strikeouts against COL on 6/19/2016

Newsletter for games through 6-12-16

RANDOM:

It’s been a long road trip — this newsletter is brought to you courtesy of the Salt Lake City airport, and would have arrived 20 minutes sooner had the two female missionaries in front of me in the security line not brought every imaginable liquid and gel in quantities larger than 3 ounces…but you will be happy to know that the official ASFBL laptop has been thoroughly inspected and is now TSA approved….as a technical note, the sharp eyes of Rick Wynne discovered that there is a bug where injured starting pitchers can still appear; I manually tracked those down this week but will have a code fix in by next Wednesday…

COMMENTARY:

The aforementioned Mr. Wynne sent this to me last week: “My Cubs are being bit by one-run losses, which is no one’s fault but my own.  Of my 19 losses so far this season, 13 have been by one-run !  68% !!  Wondering if anyone else can point to such a disparity ?  So I am 28-6 in games decided by more than one-run and 10-13 in one-run games !”…all 3 of my losses this week were by 1 run…I love having you in the league, Rick, but please stop jinxing me…Cards had the best week in the NL and the only perfect 6-0, but they only picked up a game on the 5-1 Cubs…Nationals and Marlins each gained a half game this week…Rockies went 5-1 and now four teams in the NL west are all within 5 games of first place…Bosox only played 5 but won them all, inched a half game forward, and are  a half game out of the WOR lead…Rays and Jays also had 5 wins each…Skrovan’s Indians picked up a game and a half and held to first another week…Twins still have the best WOR in the division….tough week in the AL west, with only the A’s posting a winning record and that was 3-2…it’s a tough year in Anaheim; Greg went 2-5 and picked up a game in WOR…Arenado and Cano are 1-2 in the leage RBI lead…Rockies are actually 29 runs scored behind the Mariners on the season…Bosox lead everyone by 34…Arizona has one more bad play and one more good play than Washington, and those 2 teams set the standard for defense in the ASFBL…Chris Davis of the Orioles hit .333 last week…Khris Davis of the A’s hit .318…Top 4 ERA-leading teams are in the NL, which is no surprise, but all 3 NL divisions have at least one team in the top 4…NL east has two…Jays lead the AL, followed by Seattle…Mariners have more saves…Tampa Bay pitchers have issued the fewest walks…Met relievers have 9 more saves, but the National bullpen leads the league in preventing inherited runners from scoring…Feat of the week was surely Jose Fernandez of Miami who posted had 17 strikeouts against the Twins….

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Robbie Ray of ARI had 10 strikeouts against TBR on 6/6/2016
Chris Davis of BAL struck out 4 times against KCR on 6/6/2016
Eduard Santos of OAK had 12 strikeouts against MIL on 6/7/2016
Madison Bumgarner of SFG had 11 strikeouts against BOS on 6/7/2016
Paulo Orlando of KCR robbed 3 hits against BAL on 6/8/2016
Jayson Werth of WAS had 5 hits against CWS on 6/9/2016
Ryan Braun of MIL struck out 4 times against NYM on 6/9/2016
Ryan Rua of TEX struck out 4 times against HOU on 6/9/2016
Ricky Nolasco of MIN had 10 strikeouts against BOS on 6/10/2016
Jon Lester of CHC had 11 strikeouts against ATL on 6/10/2016
Chris Carter of MIL struck out 5 times against NYM on 6/10/2016
Brandon Moss of STL hit 3 home runs against PIT on 6/11/2016
Matt Shoemaker of LAA had 11 strikeouts against CLE on 6/11/2016
Brett Wallace of SDP struck out 4 times against COL on 6/11/2016
Franklin Gutierrez of SEA struck out 4 times against TEX on 6/12/2016
Robbie Ray of ARI had 10 strikeouts against MIA on 6/12/2016
Rickie Weeks of ARI struck out 4 times against MIA on 6/12/2016
Nick Castellanos of DET robbed 3 hits against NYY on 6/12/2016

Newsletter for games through 6-5-16

RANDOM: This newsletter is brought to you on a new laptop and from the Long Beach airport, thanks to the extreme efficiency of the security check-in line.  That prior sentences is not a typo.  I got through security in less time than it takes a Jared Weaver fastball to reach home plate, so about 3 minutes…the second half of the previous sentence was literal…anyway, my apologies for the slowness of the upload Monday, but the new laptop/system switch did play a role, and I think we are over the hiccups.

COMMENTARY: The big week in the NL went to the Miami Marlins, who went 6-1., including a sweep of the division-leading Mets..nobody else had more than 4 wins, with the Nationals checking in second at 4-2…ten teams had winning records at 4-3 including the Phillies, Brewers, Pirates, and the entire freaking NL west…all of them…nobody in that division has a negative WOR…a sad and slightly pessimistic Tony Bernacchi saw his Bosox limp into the season with a very slow start over the first 2 weeks…he muttered something to me about “a long summer of disappointments”…his Sox posted the best record in the AL East and gained yet more ground, having clearly taken control of the division and sporting the largest lead int he league…and the most wins in the ASFBL…the Yankees never say die and finished 4-2…Detroit rolled the best record in the league with the only perfect 6-0 mark…but the Indians lost little ground thanks their 5-2 mark….the Indians and Mets both continue to hold to divisional leads, and both of 2014s bottom-two WOR teams are in positive WOR territory this year…Houston and Texas each had winning records and took advantage of the Mariners’ 2-5 stumble…some hope for the rest of the AL west is that Mariner pitchers have the highest ERA-under-reality mark (-.51) and look to adjust upward…Reds are the most likely to adjust toward better performance, averaging a full run and a half over their actual numbers…in a feast-or-famine series against Colorado, Red pitchers allowed 1 run in two games, but gave up 16 runs in the other 2…all team batting averages are within .008 of their actual figures…top 3 teams in power ratings are the Cubs, Nationals, and Rangers…only 1 of those teams is in first, which should probably make the Mets and Mariners a little nervous…Rangers have the best actual fielding ratings in the ASFBL…Corey Seager hit 6 HR for the Dodgers after his torrid week in reality…Victor Martinez and Miguel Cabrera each hit better than .500 last week…that’s some 1-2 punch…Fernando Abad struck out 13 in 6 innings for the Twins last week…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Max Scherzer of WAS had 11 strikeouts against PHI on 5/30/2016
Aaron Nola of PHI had 10 strikeouts against WAS on 5/30/2016
Nelson Cruz of SEA hit 3 home runs against SDP on 5/30/2016
Jose Fernandez of MIA had 15 strikeouts against PIT on 5/30/2016
Chase Utley of LAD struck out 4 times against CHC on 5/30/2016
Brooks Pounders of KCR had 10 strikeouts against TBR on 5/30/2016
Corey Dickerson of TBR struck out 4 times against KCR on 5/30/2016
Dae-ho Lee of SEA had 6 RBI against SDP on 5/31/2016
Madison Bumgarner of SFG had 12 strikeouts against ATL on 6/1/2016
David Ortiz of BOS hit 3 home runs against BAL on 6/2/2016
David Ortiz of BOS had 6 RBI against BAL on 6/2/2016
Jon Niese of PIT had 10 strikeouts against MIA on 6/2/2016
Carlos Gomez of PIT struck out 4 times against MIA on 6/2/2016
Drew Pomeranz of SDP had 12 strikeouts against SEA on 6/2/2016
Noah Syndergaard of NYM had 16 strikeouts against MIA on 6/3/2016
Stephen Strasburg of WAS had 10 strikeouts against CIN on 6/3/2016
Clayton Kershaw of LAD had 11 strikeouts against ATL on 6/3/2016
Steven Souza of TBR struck out 4 times against MIN on 6/4/2016
Max Scherzer of WAS threw a no-hitter against CIN on 6/4/2016
Max Scherzer of WAS had 13 strikeouts against CIN on 6/4/2016
Jose Fernandez of MIA had 13 strikeouts against NYM on 6/4/2016
Neil Walker of NYM struck out 4 times against MIA on 6/4/2016
Byron Buxton of MIN struck out 4 times against TBR on 6/5/2016
Greg Garcia of STL had 5 hits against SFG on 6/5/2016
CC Sabathia of NYY had 11 strikeouts against BAL on 6/5/2016

 

Newsletter for games through 5-29-2016

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Saves now appear on the team pages, and this time they’re accurate.  Thanks to the sharp eyes of Mark Chen, I dug into the code and discovered that if a guy pitched 3 innings and ended a game he got credited with a save even if his team didn’t win.  In a way, I guess it’s accurate to say he preserved the loss, but I thought it better to stick to the MLB rule.  They have been cleaned up and any erroneously awards saves have been deleted…the number of lineups submitted this week was down slightly, which I take to mean that the number of good Memorial Day barbecues attended was up.

FEAT OF THE WEEK:  This has got to be a league record, it would be an MLB record: Jose Fernandez of MIA had 22 strikeouts against TBR on 5/25/2016…took 122 pitches, and after he was lifted 2 of his inherited runners scored, but the Marlins still won 5-2.

COMMENTARY: The Cubs continue to roll, posting the best record in the NL central, but still can’t shake the Cards who lurk only 3.5 back and won 4 games themselves…Cards are +6 WOR…The Marlins made a big move in the NL East, going 5-2….in the West, the top (Giants) and bottom (Padres) each went 4-2, and each are now -1 WOR…Bosox rolled the only perfect record on the week and turned their 6 wins into a 4-game lead in the AL East…about a year and half ago Steve Skrovan and I were battling it out for last place in the WOR standings; this week both teams lead the division…the White Sox, Royals, and Tigers all stand only 2.5 back…no other division has a second-place team closer than 3.5…thanks to Andy Somers for his kind words about my Mets, but this is the last week with David Wright and a decent portion of the early start has been luck…Houston and Texas each won 5 games in the AL west…Seattle still has a comfortable lead, but it’s early….Boston leads the league in strikeouts (473) and the bullpen has allowed only 8% of inherited runners to score…Philly still leads the league at 6%…Baltimore still leads the league with 92 homers…the Giants lead with 241 walks…the Braves have the best defense so far, having robbed 59 hits…Arizona and Cleveland are tied for the stolen base lead with 41…Ben Zobrist hit .625 for the Cubs last week….Will Myers of the Padres hit 5 HR…Marte Starling of Pittsburgh stole 3 bases and knocked in 6 runs…

FEATS AND FAILURES

Khris Davis of OAK had 6 RBI against SEA on 5/23/2016
Alex Wood of LAD had 14 strikeouts against CIN on 5/23/2016
Steven Souza of TBR struck out 4 times against MIA on 5/23/2016
Adam Rosales of SDP struck out 4 times against SFG on 5/24/2016
Neil Walker of NYM had 6 RBI against WAS on 5/24/2016
Matt Wisler of ATL had 10 strikeouts against MIL on 5/24/2016
Kirk Nieuwenhuis of MIL struck out 4 times against ATL on 5/24/2016
Justin Upton of CIN struck out 4 times against LAD on 5/24/2016
Matt Wieters of BAL had 5 hits against HOU on 5/24/2016
Jose Fernandez of MIA had 22 strikeouts against TBR on 5/25/2016
Nathan Eovaldi of HOU had 14 strikeouts against BAL on 5/25/2016
CC Sabathia of NYY had 11 strikeouts against TOR on 5/26/2016
Matt Wieters of BAL struck out 4 times against HOU on 5/26/2016
Michael Taylor of WAS robbed 3 hits against STL on 5/27/2016
Madison Bumgarner of SFG had 13 strikeouts against COL on 5/27/2016
Chris Davis of BAL struck out 4 times against CLE on 5/27/2016
Stephen Strasburg of WAS had 11 strikeouts against STL on 5/28/2016
Steven Souza of TBR struck out 4 times against NYY on 5/28/2016
Anthony Gose of COL struck out 4 times against SFG on 5/28/2016
Avisail Garcia of CWS struck out 4 times against KCR on 5/28/2016
Marco Estrada of TOR had 10 strikeouts against BOS on 5/28/2016
Vance Worley of BAL had 10 strikeouts against CLE on 5/28/2016
Nick Ahmed of ARI robbed 3 hits against SDP on 5/29/2016
Tommy Joseph of PHI robbed 4 hits against CHC on 5/29/2016
Joe Mauer of MIN had 5 hits against SEA on 5/29/2016
Noah Syndergaard of NYM had 10 strikeouts against LAD on 5/29/2016
Joc Pederson of LAD struck out 4 times against NYM on 5/29/2016