Newsletter for games through 9-28: End of regular season

Here we go with the playoffs in the first season in MLB to conclude without a single fan interference call! Below are the seedings and notes; observe that seeds 1-3 go to the division champs, 4-6 go to the second place teams, and 7 and 8 go to the wildcards.

ITEMS OF NOTE

Top WOR finishes for a teams not in the playoffs are to Ben Leckie of Arizona, Pat Walsh of the Tigers, and Ben Brockreide of the Rangers. None of the those actual teams was very good and all these managers did good work with a short hand. Special kudos to Pat who was also a first-year owner. This league can take some getting used to, so congrats to Gary and Steve for staying competitive until the end — each club scratched out wins in the final week and all games mattered given how tight the races were. Finally, congrats to Andy of the Nats, who finished strong (4-1) and was in a 3-way tie for the last spot out in the NL. In the AL, Alan and his Rays deserve notice for a strong finish and climbing to within one game of the final spot, and ditto to John and the Athletics who gained 2 games in the final week but came up 1 game short of the second spot in the AL West. Long-timers Hugh Brown and Jeremy Moore had tough seasons but each was competitive with their actual clubs. And another great time with Steve Leslie, Josh Clark, and Rob Perkins, who are always a pleasure to interact with during the season.

Finally, I just want to thank everyone for sticking with this and with me through the end. This season was truly an experiment and between the cancellations, makeups, lack of AAA players, new sim, record-DL moves and general chaos this was an ASFBL season like no other, and you’ve all made it a lot of fun for me and helped make it better. Final technical note; the “weekly” stats count back 7 days and this week had an extra day, so the Monday games aren’t counted in the weekly numbers on the standings but are, of course, counted in the overall win totals.

NL DIVISION WINNERS

Seed #1: Dodgers (46 wins). Finished with a strong 4-1, kept alive Rick’s streak of positive-WOR finishes, and had the best regular-season record.

Seed #2: Braves (42 wins). 70% win percentage is no joke, it’s 10 points better than Danny’s best finish ever, and that Braves club has some players on it.

Seed #3: Reds (34 wins). It means something to win a division where 4 teams make the playoffs and Raph finished with a good week….great cap to his 15th season…

NL SECOND-PLACE TEAMS

Seed #4: Padres (36 wins). This is the feel good team of the season and one Al Benedek has captained to strong WOR finishes each of the last 2 years…dangerous in any 5-game series.

Seed #5: Phillies (35 wins). Adam Symonds always makes his teams better, and in this case 7 games better over only a 60-game span. It’s his first playoff appearance since he won it all in 2015…

Seed #6: Cubs (32 wins). Gordon…good to see a Chicago guy manage this team into the playoffs…3rd appearance for Gordie at the head of the Cubs in the last 4 years.

NL WILD CARD

Seed #7: Pirates (29 wins). Up and down week but Mike nudged to the front of the wildcard pack…completed 2 trades with the Phillies, including the last of the year, and added Gurriel from the Astros. Phenomenal first-year finish.

Seed #8: Brewers (28 wins). It’s not how good you were over the season, it’s how hot you are in September/October, and the Brewers were 7-3 over the last 10…Chris has been in the league since 2001 and has a lifetime above-.500 record…been with the Brewers since 2002, and this is his 3rd playoff trip in 4 years.

AL DIVISION WINNERS

Seed #1: Cleveland (37 wins). First place and top seed thanks to a 5-game flip in the standings on the last week…hard to finish better than that. Strong lead-in for the returning champ.

Seed #2: Houston (35 wins). Finished on a 5-0 run and winning 8 of the last 10…traded for Clevinger but he’s had enough pitching so far.

Seed #3: Baltimore (32 wins). Mark is simply having a great year in a tough division…stumbled over the last week a little but still finished +7 WOR.

AL SECOND PLACE

Seed #4: Chisox (35 wins). Tough finish for Leo but if you were looking to adjust up you’d rather do it in the playoffs than the final week. All his trades this year were with teams from Los Angeles; goes into the playoffs with Tommy LaStella.

Seed #5: Yankees (31 wins, better intra-divisional record than Toronto). Biting and clawing into the playoffs and finishing with 14 wins over the last 20 games, Mark Yee nudged the Jays by a single within-division game. Pulled the trigger on 3 trades in the first week and then stood pat…and the formula payed off as the season went on.

Seed #6: Angels (28 wins). This team collapsed in real life but Greg had them at +2 WOR and the division was wide-open…didn’t have the strongest finish but won 12 of the last 20 and held off a charging Oakland team…active right up until the trade deadline and added some pitching, which could be key in the shorter series.

AL WILDCARD

Seed #7: Twins (34 wins). A step behind the actual club but enter the playoffs with a winning record over the past 10 games…held a good hand and goes into the playoffs fully stocked with actual Twins, and is riding in on his second consecutive playoff appearance…Tim’s been in the ASFBL since the last century.

Seed #8: Toronto (31 wins). Life, taxes, and Johnny Mac…always around fantasy sports, always doing good things with his teams. Held off a charging Rays team and came within 1 intra-divisional game of 2d place and only 2 games from first place outright.

PLAYOFF NOTES AND RULES

In all games, the higher seed is the home team and its 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6, and 4 vs 5. You can review the playoff rules, but as a quick review the WCS series are best-of-5 games, the DCS, LCS, and World Series are all best-of-7. Stats and overuse figures are now frozen; adjustments continue. You can use a 3-starter rotation, and all games have the DH.

I’ll enter the series today and all lineups are due by Friday at midnight (your time; as usual, courtesy changes are accepted until I wake up Saturday morning). I’ll run the games as soon as I can over the weekend adjusting for my high school senior’s SAT exam (or its probable cancellation) and making sure the new sim knows what to do with playoff stats. We’ll anticipate results by Sunday, and we generally take lineups every 2-3 days from the winners.

Let the playoffs begin! Good luck to all the remaining teams!

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Newsletter for games through 9-20-20

ON MOURNING

Just taking a moment to reflect on life, baseball, and everything. A few of us have posted on email how this baseball season seems…distant? Hollow? I was struck that as I was reading those emails yesterday the LA Times re-posted on ESPN a column on almost exactly the same topic (headline in the same section today: “Why can’t the Angels win?”) but it was based on the players’ perspective. My own thought, which is slightly more hopeful, is that it definitely feels different but I still put the day games on the tablet next to my computer so I can follow along…I like opening the baseball app on my phone to take my mind off whatever misery is playing across the evening news on my TV. Baseball is still something I enjoy following and thinking about. Anyway, Andy is right, and both the 2020 MLB and ASFBL seasons are best thought of as experiments, but I just wanted to take a moment to thank you all for sticking with it and giving me a much-needed distraction in a crazy time.

COMMENTS AND UPDATES

As a coding note, the feedback you all sent me did help me find a bug in the longevity calculations…basically, in some situations it vaulted guys (who weren’t) into max-starter pitch count limits…fix will appear next week…Mike Mendoza has the best win percentage of any newcomer, and a very impressive +10 WOR…that’s first place in the ASFBL…Gary and Pat also have positive-WOR figures in their first year in the league….Steve’s Miami club was 4-2 on the week and is .500 in a very competitive division…St. Louis actually has the best record in the NL central over the last 30 games…The Dodgers keep rolling, and Rick is back to +3 WOR with one week to go…Danny’s Braves are the juggernaut to challenge the Dodgers; they’ve got the second-best record in the ASFBL and their current win percentage is Danny’s all-time best…the Padres and Phillies have also been strong over the last 30…the Yankees continue to charge in AL East and the Rays put together another winning week…they’re 1.5 behind Toronto, but they gained 2 games last week…Baltimore and their +7 WOR continue to hold the top of the division…The top 4 teams in the AL central are all within 2 games of their actual team performance…Leo’s holding the top spot with the Chisox, Tim gained the most ground this week with the Twins, and returning champ Steve has the best WOR in the group…the AL west is absolutely fascinating; the second-place team will make the playoffs and will almost certainly do so with a losing record …Greg’s Angels and John’s A’s are locked up for the second spot…Angels finish against the Padres and Dodgers, A’s finish with the Dodgers and Mariners…and hats off to both, since it would have been easy to mail it in for both of them…the second AL wildcard spot has 27 wins right now, and five teams have 23 wins or more…those teams gotta run the table, but two teams in the AL had 5 wins last week…quick summary of the NL wildcard situation: literally every team is not only in the running but within 2 games of the second spot…breaking out my tiebreaker abacus right now…near this old monopoly game…the ouija board…old TI 99 computer…you know what? I’m just gonna use the ouija board….

FEATS AND FAILURES

Tyler Stephenson (Cincinnati) struck out 4 times (on 9/14/2020 against Pittsburgh)
Nick Tropeano (Pittsburgh) struck out 15 batters (on 9/14/2020 against Cincinnati)
Giancarlo Stanton (Washington) struck out 4 times (on 9/15/2020 against Tampa Bay)
Alex Avila (Minnesota) struck out 4 times (on 9/15/2020 against Chicago (CWS))
Dansby Swanson (Atlanta) struck out 5 times (on 9/16/2020 against Baltimore)
Chance Sisco (Baltimore) struck out 4 times (on 9/16/2020 against Atlanta)
Ronald Acuna Jr. (Atlanta) struck out 4 times (on 9/16/2020 against Baltimore)
Ian Anderson (Atlanta) struck out 11 batters (on 9/16/2020 against Baltimore)
Wilson Ramos (New York (NYM)) struck out 4 times (on 9/16/2020 against Philadelphia)
Aaron Nola (Philadelphia) struck out 11 batters (on 9/16/2020 against New York (NYM))
Dane Dunning (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 11 batters (on 9/16/2020 against Minnesota)
Anthony Bemboom (Anaheim) struck out 4 times (on 9/16/2020 against Arizona)
Kenta Maeda (Minnesota) struck out 11 batters (on 9/17/2020 against Chicago (CWS))
Gio Gonzalez (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 11 batters (on 9/17/2020 against Minnesota)
Tyler Glasnow (Tampa Bay) struck out 11 batters (on 9/17/2020 against Baltimore)
Cameron Maybin (Detroit) struck out 4 times (on 9/17/2020 against Cleveland)
Mike Clevinger (Houston) struck out 11 batters (on 9/17/2020 against Texas)
Yoan Moncada (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 4 times (on 9/18/2020 against Cincinnati)
Tyler Stephenson (Cincinnati) struck out 5 times (on 9/18/2020 against Chicago (CWS))
Jake Cave (Minnesota) struck out 4 times (on 9/18/2020 against Chicago (CC))
Jared Walsh (Anaheim) struck out 4 times (on 9/18/2020 against Texas)
Kevin Gausman (San Francisco) struck out 12 batters (on 9/18/2020 against Oakland)
Zach Plesac (Cleveland) struck out 11 batters (on 9/19/2020 against Detroit)
Corbin Burnes (Milwaukee) struck out 16 batters (on 9/19/2020 against Kansas City)
Justin Turner (Los Angeles) had 5 hits (on 9/19/2020 against Colorado)
Rafael Devers (Chicago (CC)) struck out 4 times (on 9/19/2020 against Minnesota)
Jose Berrios (Minnesota) struck out 11 batters (on 9/19/2020 against Chicago (CC))
Eric Hosmer (San Diego) had 5 hits (on 9/19/2020 against Seattle)
DJ Stewart (Baltimore) struck out 4 times (on 9/20/2020 against Tampa Bay)
Luis Castillo (Cincinnati) struck out 13 batters (on 9/20/2020 against Chicago (CWS))
Maikel Franco (New York (NYY)) hit 8 RBI (on 9/20/2020 against Boston)
Kyle Lewis (Seattle) struck out 4 times (on 9/20/2020 against San Diego

Newsletter for games through 9-13-20

SCHEDULE TWEAKS

The Pittsburg-St. Louis series that was cancelled earlier this year will be made up with one game on 9/18 and two games the day after the last regularly scheduled game of the year on 9/28. MLB scheduled that double-header on 8/27, but we’ve bumped it to the end of the season since that should have the least impact on the overuse issues. And also because I forgot to make the change on August 27.

BIG GAME

Dakota Hudson (St. Louis) threw a no-hitter on 9/11/2020 against Cincinnati…no help with great plays on defense and no errors…struck out 13 and only walked two…strange karma to throw your best on 9-11 and get 13 strikeouts on an Friday…

COMMENTARY

Rick Wynne ran the table in the NL West and is now +2 WOR…as of now, his streak of never having hit negative WOR is in tact…he also has a 5 game lead over the Padres and the best record in the ASFBL…and those Padres were 5-2…but the best job in that division might be Ben Leckie who has the Dbacks 5.5 games over the actual club…newcomer Gary Ruud seems to have caught the hang of things and is now within 2 games of the actual Giants…Atlanta and Philly are racing in the NL East, with Danny Wildes getting the better of the division this week and inching out by another game…He’s 8-2 over the last 10, tied with the Dodgers…Danny has made the playoffs 6 of the last 7 years, turned in consecutive 99 win seasons, and actually skippered the Phillies (who are now chasing him) between 2009-2012…Raph has turned the Reds into a big machine, but Gordon Leckie‘s Cubs and Jeremy Moore’s Cards each gained ground this week…Raph is having a phenomenal season but Gordon could catch him…in fact, every team in the NL central had a winning record this week except for the Reds…that rushing sound you hear from the AL East are Alan Minsky’s Rays and Mark Yee’s Yankees charging toward the top of the division…but right now Mark Chen has the Orioles in the top spot by virtue of a +7.5 WOR…and is the only owner in the East to be in positive territory other than Steve Leslie’s Bosox…Leo Leckie rounds out the Leckie family sweep with the top spot in the AL Central and the best record in the senior circuit…he’s in a dogfight with Steven Skrovan who has the Indians 3 games up on the real club, the only AL central team who’s ahead of the actual team…Jim Casey’s Astros lead the west, but this week went to Ben Brockreide’s Rangers, who went 6-1 and immediately turned from also-rans to serious contenders for that last wildcard spot…as things stand now, Tim Walsh’s Twins have a solid bead on the top AL wildcard spot, but 8 teams have between 20 and 22 wins and are vying for the final playoff berth…in the NL the logjam is tighter and literally every single team has a shot at the wildcards…all 9 teams who aren’t in first or second have between 18 and 23 wins, so one big week could swing it all…oddity of the week: The Twins are only 16-18 within their division but are 11-3 in inter-league play…road takeout must be tastier than home cooking…

FEATS AND FAILURES

• Shane Bieber (Cleveland) struck out 11 batters (on 9/7/2020 against Kansas City)
• Stephen Piscotty (Oakland) struck out 4 times (on 9/7/2020 against Houston)
• Christian Walker (Arizona) struck out 4 times (on 9/7/2020 against San Francisco)
• Manuel Margot (Tampa Bay) struck out 4 times (on 9/8/2020 against Washington)
• Miguel Rojas (Miami)  had 5 hits (on 9/8/2020 against Atlanta)
• Garrett Cooper (Miami) hit 6 RBI (on 9/8/2020 against Atlanta)
• Lewis Brinson (Miami) hit 6 RBI (on 9/8/2020 against Atlanta)
• Lewis Brinson (Miami)  had 5 hits (on 9/8/2020 against Atlanta)
• Corbin Burnes (Milwaukee) struck out 13 batters (on 9/8/2020 against Detroit)
• Miguel Sano (Minnesota) struck out 4 times (on 9/8/2020 against St. Louis)
• Joey Gallo (Texas) struck out 4 times (on 9/8/2020 against Anaheim)
• Jacob deGrom (Anaheim) struck out 12 batters (on 9/8/2020 against Texas)
• Anderson Tejeda (Texas) struck out 4 times (on 9/8/2020 against Anaheim)
• Erick Mejia (Kansas City) struck out 4 times (on 9/9/2020 against Cleveland)
• Patrick Corbin (New York (NYY)) struck out 11 batters (on 9/9/2020 against Toronto)
• Yoan Moncada (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 4 times (on 9/9/2020 against Pittsburgh)
• Sixto Sanchez (Miami) struck out 12 batters (on 9/9/2020 against Atlanta)
• Ian Anderson (Atlanta) struck out 11 batters (on 9/9/2020 against Miami)
• Cameron Maybin (Detroit) struck out 4 times (on 9/9/2020 against Milwaukee)
• Willi Castro (Detroit) struck out 4 times (on 9/9/2020 against Milwaukee)
• Dinelson Lamet (San Diego) struck out 11 batters (on 9/9/2020 against Colorado)
• Curt Casali (Cincinnati) struck out 4 times (on 9/9/2020 against Chicago (CC))
• Blake Snell (Tampa Bay) struck out 14 batters (on 9/10/2020 against Boston)
• Mike Kickham (Boston) struck out 14 batters (on 9/10/2020 against Tampa Bay)
• Aaron Nola (Philadelphia) struck out 12 batters (on 9/10/2020 against Miami)
• Trevor Bauer (Cincinnati) struck out 16 batters (on 9/10/2020 against Chicago (CC))
• Dakota Hudson (St. Louis) struck out 13 batters (on 9/11/2020 against Cincinnati)
• James McCann (Chicago (CWS)) hit 6 RBI (on 9/12/2020 against Detroit)
• Eloy Jimenez (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 4 times (on 9/12/2020 against Detroit)
• Franmil Reyes (Cleveland) struck out 4 times (on 9/12/2020 against Minnesota)
• Adam Duvall (Atlanta) struck out 4 times (on 9/13/2020 against Washington)
• Max Scherzer (Washington) struck out 12 batters (on 9/13/2020 against Atlanta)
• Deivi Garcia (New York (NYY)) struck out 13 batters (on 9/13/2020 against Baltimore)
• Ke’Bryan Hayes (Philadelphia) struck out 4 times (on 9/13/2020 against Miami)
• Lucas Giolito (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 11 batters (on 9/13/2020 against Detroit)
• Willi Castro (Detroit) struck out 4 times (on 9/13/2020 against Chicago (CWS))
• Matt Kemp (Colorado) struck out 4 times (on 9/13/2020 against Anaheim)
• Jacob deGrom (Anaheim) struck out 11 batters (on 9/13/2020 against Colorado)

Newsletter for games through 9-6-20

NOTES AND NOTHINGS

There have been some tweaks over the weekend, with some bug fixes to batted-ball distributions and pitcher use and removing (in most places) the “ ” character string in place of a non-breaking space…the batters and pitchers of the week now appear among the list of things on the left-hand sidebar for your perusal during the most boring of your zoom meetings next week…I can quickly tell, for instance, that Hyun Jin Ryu of the Buffalo Blue Jays pitching 14 innings and struck out 20 last week…the big new feature is the WATCH function on the box scores; click it and you get a batter-by-batter walkthrough of each game…or that three Philly hitters all hit .300 or better this week, including Rhys Hoskins who hit 5 HR, which is not surprising since they played my Mets…Meanwhile, Atlanta and Philadelphia combined to go 12-1 last week adn grab command of the top of the NL East…Rick Wynne finally came down to earth with a 4-2 week, and he’s dead-on zero WOR…for those of you new to the league, Rick has played for over 20 years and never finished with a negative WOR, but the combination of the red-hot actual Dodgers and the short season makes this one exciting challenge…it was a tough week all-around for the NL central, but newcomer Michael Mendoza has the Pirates 3.5 better than the real club, which isn’t too shabby, and Jeremy Moore’s Cardinals had the best record in the division…you kind of felt it coming, but Alan Minsky’s Rays went 5-1 and jumped right back into the thick of things…and the big story in the AL has to be Mark Chen’s Orioles, sitting atop the AL East with the 2d best record in the AL and an AL-best 6.5 games over reality…Raph’s Reds own the top spot in either league at 8.5…Leo is clinging to the top spot in the AL central but got a serious challenge from the Indians this week, who went 5-1…the Tigers, led by newcomer Pat Walsh, were undefeated…tough year for the Royals, but Josh Clark has them performing better in the division and in 1-run games than they’re doing overall…the big move in the AL West was Seattle, now +1 WOR and in second place

PENNANT RACES

Top 6 in the NL are: Atlanta, Philly, Cincinnati, Cubs, Dodgers, and Padres (!)…top 2 wildcard teams would be Washington who’s only 1 game up on the logjam of Giants, DBacks, and Rockies, and it could totally be the case that 4 teams from the NL West make the playoffs…talk about unprecedented times…But if 19 wins gets you in the last playoff spot at this point nobody else has fewer than 16.

In the AL, The Orioles, Jays, Chisox, Cleveland, Astros, and Seattle hold the automatic spots, and Minnesota is a health 5-6 games ahead in the top wildcard spot…after that, the Rays, Bosox, Yankees, Tigers, A’s and Angels are all locked up between 17-19 wins…one strong week is going to make all the difference…

FEATS AND FAILURES

• Adam Haseley (Philadelphia) struck out 4 times (on 8/31/2020 against Washington)
• Adam Duvall (Atlanta) hit 6 RBI (on 8/31/2020 against Boston)
• Freddie Freeman (Atlanta) had 5 hits (on 8/31/2020 against Boston)
• Carlos Carrasco (Cleveland) struck out 12 batters (on 8/31/2020 against Kansas City)
• Hyun Jin Ryu (Toronto) struck out 14 batters (on 9/1/2020 against Miami)
• Alec Bohm (Pittsburgh) hit 6 RBI (on 9/1/2020 against Chicago (CC))
• Trea Turner (New York (NYY)) hit 3 homers (on 9/1/2020 against Tampa Bay)
• Mike Brosseau (Tampa Bay) struck out 4 times (on 9/1/2020 against New York (NYY))
• Myles Straw (Houston) had 5 hits (on 9/1/2020 against Texas)
• Nolan Arenado (Colorado) had 5 hits (on 9/2/2020 against San Francisco)
• Jason Kipnis (Chicago (CC)) struck out 4 times (on 9/2/2020 against Pittsburgh)
• Yu Darvish (Chicago (CC)) struck out 12 batters (on 9/2/2020 against Pittsburgh)
• Tyler Glasnow (Tampa Bay) struck out 11 batters (on 9/2/2020 against New York (NYY))
• Shane Bieber (Cleveland) struck out 13 batters (on 9/2/2020 against Kansas City)
• Max Scherzer (Washington) struck out 11 batters (on 9/3/2020 against Philadelphia)
• Luis Castillo (Cincinnati) struck out 14 batters (on 9/4/2020 against Pittsburgh)
• Wil Myers (San Diego) hit 7 RBI (on 9/5/2020 against Oakland)
• Greg Garcia (San Diego) struck out 4 times (on 9/5/2020 against Oakland)
• Zach Davies (San Diego) struck out 11 batters (on 9/5/2020 against Oakland)
• Randy Arozarena (Tampa Bay) had 5 hits (on 9/5/2020 against Miami)
• Nicholas Castellanos (Cincinnati) struck out 4 times (on 9/5/2020 against Pittsburgh)
• Trevor Bauer (Cincinnati) struck out 11 batters (on 9/5/2020 against Pittsburgh)
• Victor Reyes (Detroit) stole 3 bases (on 9/5/2020 against Minnesota)
• Delino DeShields (Cleveland) struck out 4 times (on 9/6/2020 against Milwaukee)
• Nicholas Castellanos (Cincinnati) hit 6 RBI (on 9/6/2020 against Pittsburgh)
• Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (Toronto) had 5 hits (on 9/6/2020 against Boston)
• Nicky Lopez (Kansas City) struck out 4 times (on 9/6/2020 against Chicago (CWS))
• Matt Foster (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 13 batters (on 9/6/2020 against Kansas City)
• Joe Hudson (Seattle) struck out 4 times (on 9/6/2020 against Texas)
• Josh Fuentes (Colorado) struck out 4 times (on 9/6/2020 against Los Angeles)

Newsletter for games through 8-30

RANDOM MUSINGS

The trade deadline passed…our abbreviated season saw 12 deadline deals involving 16 teams…that eclipsed the 11 total trades that had preceded this week, which is understandable since you were just figuring out which guys you had…still a pretty active showing…there still seem to be a few too many blowouts, and I’ll be back in the coding dungeon again this weekend to make sure those aren’t bugs…and thanks again to all for your incredible patience and good nature…there were 28 lineups submitted last night, which is amazing given the tumultuous season we’re having, both online and on TV (since that’s the only way to see them these days)…Rick’s Dodgers are scary; they had another perfect week, they’ll have me scrambling to see if I can figure out the longest win streak in ASFBL history, they are dead even with the actual Dodgers, and their actual, real-MLB team ERA is 2.18…Equally impressive are Ralph’s Red, who are now +9 WOR…Philly and Arizona would be the last 2 in if the season ended today…Atlanta and Washington are slugging it out atop the NL East, and Adam’s Phillies lurk not far behind and in positive WOR territory…the Marlins also went 5-2 last week…most of the last-place teams are currently within 4-5 games of the last playoff spot, so a good week or who would get them in the playoffs…Al Benedek has the ASFBL Padres one game ahead of the actual, feel-good-story-of-the-San-Diego-lifetime Padres…the Buffalo Blue Jays, Indians and Angels all had 5-win weeks in the AL…only Leo’s Chisox were perfect…the poor Rays; some combination of the actual team out-performing their stats, the freakish injury list, and the best players having to absorb way more playing time than real life while the mediocre (Ji-Man Choi) being most available have cursed Alan…this is worse than the electoral college…Oakland’s stumble has opened up 2d place (and a playoff spot) in the AL West, but I wouldn’t count out the A’s…they still have the 2d best actual bullpen (1.82 ERA) and are above-average in most hitting categories…award categories are going to be weird this year, but the clear leader in the “not gonna get any love from TLC” category is Andre Scrubb of the Astros…

FEATS AND FAILURES

Jonathan Villar (Miami) struck out 5 times (on 8/24/2020 against Washington)
Max Scherzer (Washington) struck out 14 batters (on 8/24/2020 against Miami)
Luis Castillo (Cincinnati) struck out 13 batters (on 8/24/2020 against Milwaukee)
Ryan McBroom (Kansas City) struck out 5 times (on 8/24/2020 against St. Louis)
Mark Canha (Oakland) struck out 4 times (on 8/24/2020 against Texas)
Lance Lynn (Texas) struck out 15 batters (on 8/24/2020 against Oakland)
Justin Upton (Anaheim) struck out 4 times (on 8/24/2020 against Houston)
Dylan Bundy (Anaheim) struck out 12 batters (on 8/24/2020 against Houston)
Jo Adell (Anaheim) struck out 4 times (on 8/24/2020 against Houston)
Matt Kemp (Colorado) struck out 5 times (on 8/24/2020 against Arizona)
J.T. Realmuto (Philadelphia) hit 6 RBI (on 8/25/2020 against Washington)
David Bote (Chicago (CC)) hit 6 RBI (on 8/25/2020 against Detroit)
Jon Berti (Miami) stole 3 bases (on 8/25/2020 against New York (NYM))
Franmil Reyes (Cleveland) struck out 4 times (on 8/25/2020 against Minnesota)
Mike Moustakas (Cincinnati) struck out 4 times (on 8/25/2020 against Milwaukee)
Brandon Woodruff (Milwaukee) struck out 13 batters (on 8/25/2020 against Cincinnati)
Jose Abreu (Chicago (CWS)) hit 6 RBI (on 8/25/2020 against Pittsburgh)
Nick Tropeano (Pittsburgh) struck out 11 batters (on 8/25/2020 against Chicago (CWS))
Zac Gallen (Arizona) struck out 15 batters (on 8/25/2020 against Colorado)
Josh Fuentes (Colorado) struck out 4 times (on 8/25/2020 against Arizona)
Eric Thames (Washington) struck out 4 times (on 8/26/2020 against Philadelphia)
Aaron Nola (Philadelphia) struck out 13 batters (on 8/26/2020 against Washington)
Triston McKenzie (Cleveland) struck out 12 batters (on 8/26/2020 against Minnesota)
Trevor Bauer (Cincinnati) struck out 12 batters (on 8/26/2020 against Milwaukee)
Sean Murphy (Oakland) struck out 4 times (on 8/26/2020 against Texas)
Jo Adell (Anaheim) struck out 4 times (on 8/26/2020 against Houston)
Wil Myers (San Diego) struck out 4 times (on 8/26/2020 against Seattle)
Raimel Tapia (Colorado) struck out 4 times (on 8/26/2020 against Arizona)
Chris Taylor (Los Angeles) struck out 5 times (on 8/26/2020 against San Francisco)
Edwin Encarnacion (Los Angeles) struck out 4 times (on 8/26/2020 against San Francisco)
Dustin May (Los Angeles) struck out 11 batters (on 8/26/2020 against San Francisco)
Kevin Gausman (San Francisco) struck out 12 batters (on 8/26/2020 against Los Angeles)
Mike Clevinger (Houston) struck out 11 batters (on 8/27/2020 against Anaheim)
Andrew Heaney (Anaheim) struck out 14 batters (on 8/27/2020 against Houston)
Cesar Valdez (Baltimore) struck out 14 batters (on 8/27/2020 against Tampa Bay)
Gerrit Cole (Washington) struck out 14 batters (on 8/27/2020 against Philadelphia)
Zach Eflin (Philadelphia) struck out 12 batters (on 8/27/2020 against Washington)
Kyle Farmer (Cincinnati) struck out 4 times (on 8/27/2020 against Milwaukee)
Jake Cave (Minnesota) struck out 5 times (on 8/28/2020 against Detroit)
Adalberto Mondesi (Kansas City) struck out 4 times (on 8/28/2020 against Chicago (CWS))
Ryan McBroom (Kansas City) struck out 4 times (on 8/28/2020 against Chicago (CWS))
Lucas Giolito (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 14 batters (on 8/28/2020 against Kansas City)
Harrison Bader (St. Louis) struck out 4 times (on 8/28/2020 against Cleveland)
Shane Bieber (Cleveland) struck out 16 batters (on 8/28/2020 against St. Louis)
Fernando Tatis Jr. (San Diego) struck out 4 times (on 8/28/2020 against Colorado)
Chris Paddack (San Diego) struck out 12 batters (on 8/28/2020 against Colorado)
Cody Bellinger (Los Angeles) struck out 4 times (on 8/28/2020 against Texas)
Austin Allen (Oakland) struck out 4 times (on 8/28/2020 against Houston)
J.D. Davis (New York (NYM)) struck out 5 times (on 8/29/2020 against New York (NYY))
Yoan Moncada (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 4 times (on 8/29/2020 against Kansas City)
Tim Anderson (Chicago (CWS)) had 5 hits (on 8/29/2020 against Kansas City)
Framber Valdez (Houston) struck out 12 batters (on 8/29/2020 against Oakland)
Max Scherzer (Washington) struck out 14 batters (on 8/29/2020 against Boston)
Tony Gonsolin (Los Angeles) struck out 19 batters (on 8/30/2020 against Texas)