Newsletter for games through 9-18-18

HAPPY MULTIPLES OF 9 DAY!

RACES: Washington turned a 5-1 week (and 9 of the last 10 run) into a half game lead in the NL East, where nobody else had more than 3 wins…Atlanta and the Nats are tied over the last 20 games and Atlanta has the edge over the last 30…Both teams are also in impressive WOR territory…The Cubs picked up a couple games on the Brewers, who might have a big enough cushion with only a few weeks left…The Dodgers had a perfect 7-0 week to bring themselves to within striking distance of the DBacks…Rockies had a winning week and Padres were an impressive 4-1…Boston edged forward by a couple in the East, and while Cleveland is coasting in the AL central the Chisox and Twins each had solid weeks…Houston has taken a solid-sized lead in the AL west, and Anaheim, who has the best AL west record over the last 20 games, has jockeyed into second place…Tampa Bay cooled off, kind of, and is now a front-runner for the second wildcard spot…Angels can now challenge for that…Cardinals are scraping for a playoff chance but don’t blame the pitching…their real team ERA is 3.16, behind only Houston…Tampa Bay is 3rd at 3.22…best real OPS goes to Washington, followed by the Dodgers….of all the ASFBL subjective decisions that have been made, I am happiest about keeping the Angels associated with Anaheim, as they are not in the Los Angeles city limits, or the Los Angeles county limits, and I refuse to drive to Los Angeles to see the Angels play…BIG WEEKS: Chris Sale struck out 27 in 18 innings last week…the real news is that opponents managed to score 2 runs…Zack Wheeler (now of the Nats) threw 16 innings…emerging Anaheim (yes, Anaheim) closer Ty Buttrey (who has the nickname “Butt”) stranded all 3 inherited runners while striking out 12…Jonathan Villar and Justin Smoak each hit 4 homers last week…Smoak knocked in 10…Justin Turner powered the Dodger surge by hitting .400 over 30 AB…

FEATS AND FAILURES

Charlie Morton of HOU had 11 strikeouts against DET on 9/10/2018
Josh James of HOU had 16 strikeouts against DET on 9/11/2018
Zack Wheeler of WAS had 10 strikeouts against PHI on 9/11/2018
Chris Sale of BOS had 11 strikeouts against TOR on 9/11/2018
Jose Quintana of CHC had 10 strikeouts against MIL on 9/11/2018
Reynaldo Lopez of CWS had 11 strikeouts against KCR on 9/11/2018
TEX and LAA played 13.5 innings on 9/11/2018
Anibal Sanchez of ATL struck out 4 times against SFG on 9/11/2018
Mike Clevinger of CLE had 10 strikeouts against TBR on 9/12/2018
Justin Verlander of HOU had 12 strikeouts against DET on 9/12/2018
Carlos Rodon of CWS had 12 strikeouts against KCR on 9/12/2018
Patrick Corbin of ARI had 10 strikeouts against COL on 9/12/2018
Marcus Semien of OAK struck out 4 times against BAL on 9/13/2018
Fernando Rodriguez Jr. of BOS had 10 strikeouts against TOR on 9/13/2018
Curtis Granderson of TOR struck out 4 times against BOS on 9/13/2018
Russell Martin of TOR struck out 4 times against BOS on 9/13/2018
Jack Flaherty of STL had 12 strikeouts against LAD on 9/13/2018
Yoan Moncada of CWS struck out 4 times against BAL on 9/14/2018
Avisail Garcia of CWS struck out 4 times against BAL on 9/14/2018
Blake Snell of TBR had 12 strikeouts against OAK on 9/14/2018
Ramon Laureano of OAK struck out 4 times against TBR on 9/14/2018
Whit Merrifield of KCR hit 3 home runs against MIN on 9/14/2018
Jorge Bonifacio of KCR had 5 hits against MIN on 9/14/2018
CWS and BAL played 13.5 innings on 9/15/2018
Charlie Morton of HOU had 10 strikeouts against ARI on 9/15/2018
Chris Sale of BOS had 16 strikeouts against NYM on 9/16/2018
Matt Olson of OAK hit 3 home runs against TBR on 9/16/2018
Matt Olson of OAK had 7 RBI against TBR on 9/16/2018

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Newsletter for games through 9-9-2018

OBLONG BALL INTRUSION

Let’s congratulate Steve Skrovan, lifelong Browns fan, on the first season opener that didn’t end in a loss since 2004.  Of course, it did end in a tie, and those can’t happen in baseball, but still.  As more proof that baseball holds more promise, Steve’s Indians went on a 7-0 tear and he wrapped his hands more firmly around the first place prize in the AL central…

CRUCIAL SERIES

The Brewers took 2 of 3 from the Cubs, a big series for them….and they really owe a debt of gratitude to the Nationals, who swept the Cubs in 4…the dust settled with a 4.5-game surge for the Milwaukeeans…in the NL East, the Braves ran into the buzzsaw of the Bosox (best AL record in the ASFBL) and the DBacks (best NL record in the ASFBL), which gave the Nationals a chance to pick up some ground…”Never Say Die” award goes to Pittsburgh, who ignored the standings and went 5-1…Tampa Bay just won’t stop; they weren’t paired against the top of the division this week but they did go 5-1, all in divisional games, and still have the best AL record over the last 30 games…by kind of a lot…saving the best for last, there have never been baseball races closer or better than our AL West, where 4 teams remain within 2.5 games of first…Oakland won series against the Yankees and Texas, while Houston swept Minnesota but dropped to Boston…Anaheim broke even with 2 road series…and all those teams owe Baltimore, who managed to take all 3 from the Mariners…Tampa is the hottest team and the Yankees are dangerous (they would lead the other 2 AL divisions), but the Bosox are holding down the fort, first place, and the top record in the ASFBL…

FEATS AND FAILURES

Austin Jackson of ATL struck out 4 times against BOS on 9/3/2018
BOS and ATL played 14.5 innings on 9/3/2018
Tyler Saladino of CWS hit 3 home runs against DET on 9/3/2018
Logan Forsythe of MIN struck out 4 times against HOU on 9/3/2018
CC Sabathia of NYY had 10 strikeouts against OAK on 9/3/2018
Jacob deGrom of CIN had 11 strikeouts against PIT on 9/4/2018
Carlos Carrasco of CLE had 13 strikeouts against KCR on 9/4/2018
David Bote of CHC struck out 4 times against MIL on 9/4/2018
Eduardo Escobar of MIN struck out 4 times against HOU on 9/4/2018
Carlos Gonzalez of SEA struck out 4 times against BAL on 9/4/2018
Jonathan Schoop of BAL robbed 3 hits against SEA on 9/5/2018
Kris Bryant of CHC struck out 6 times against WAS on 9/6/2018
CHC and WAS played 18.5 innings on 9/6/2018
Zack Greinke of ARI had 11 strikeouts against ATL on 9/6/2018
Matthew Boyd of CIN had 10 strikeouts against SDP on 9/7/2018
Hunter Renfroe of SDP struck out 4 times against CIN on 9/7/2018
Justin Verlander of HOU had 11 strikeouts against BOS on 9/7/2018
Jake Cave of MIN hit 4 home runs against KCR on 9/7/2018
Kyle Freeland of COL had 10 strikeouts against LAD on 9/7/2018
Patrick Corbin of ARI had 10 strikeouts against ATL on 9/7/2018
Giancarlo Stanton of NYY struck out 4 times against SEA on 9/7/2018
Carlos Gonzalez of SEA struck out 5 times against NYY on 9/7/2018
Mitch Haniger of SEA struck out 5 times against NYY on 9/7/2018
NYY and SEA played 17.5 innings on 9/7/2018
Corey Kluber of CLE had 12 strikeouts against TOR on 9/8/2018
Blake Snell of TBR had 13 strikeouts against BAL on 9/8/2018
Jack Flaherty of STL had 10 strikeouts against DET on 9/8/2018
Zack Godley of ARI had 10 strikeouts against ATL on 9/8/2018
Steven Souza of ARI struck out 4 times against ATL on 9/8/2018
HOU and BOS played 14.5 innings on 9/9/2018
Noah Syndergaard of BAL had 10 strikeouts against TBR on 9/9/2018
Vidal Nuno of TBR had 10 strikeouts against BAL on 9/9/2018
Jacob deGrom of CIN had 13 strikeouts against SDP on 9/9/2018
Mike Montgomery of CHC struck out 4 times against WAS on 9/9/2018
Walker Buehler of LAD had 10 strikeouts against COL on 9/9/2018