Newsletter for games through 6-27-21

No hitter trend continues!

Jose Urquidy of Houston threw a no-hitter against Baltimore on the 21st…although his team-mates helped out with 6 runs (Brantley had a homer and 2 RBI), they blew the perfect game with two errors. Urquidy struck out 11 along the way in a 111-pitch gem.  Note to self — find a way to count up all the ASFBL no-hitters and see how close we are to the actual MLB totals this year…

Comments

Brewers and Pdares are the hottest actual teams with 9-1 records over the last 10 games…only the Cubs can say that in the ASFBL…they gained 3 games in the standings this week…the Pirates also crept up on Milwaukee with 4 wins…best MLB records is still with the Giants at .633, and in the ASFBL the Dodgers (.705) and Padres (.675) are both better…talk about a pennant race; crazy that those teams are in the same division….in fact, the division is a collective +27 WOR…so the NL west has the WOR leader (Arizona) and the 2 teams with the best records…wow…and this is totally crazy, but the Giants are the only team in the division with a negative WOR count, and they are also the ONLY team in the division with a better in-division record (.580) than outside of it…hats off to Danny Wildes who’s got the Braves on the top of the NL East…he should be getting a push from the Mets but I’ve managed to brilliantly skipper the club into last place…in fairness, I did have to invest all that time keeping JoLo and ARod from buying out my ASFBL franchise…Johnny Mac is the story in the AL East where he’s got the Jays +4.5 WOR and in first place….Yankees and Rays are easily within striking distance, however, and the Orioles at +9 WOR might not have the gas to challenge for the division but could easily be in the spoiler seat and challenge for the top WOR spot…they’re 3rd right now, and Minnesota is a tougher actual club to run against…Mike Mendoza continues to do great things with the Royals…he’s got a winning record while the real club is 10 games under .500…Leo still has a grip on the top spot and the best record in the AL despite a tough week…”Trader” Jim Casey pulled off 3 more trades this week and rode them to a 6-1 record and the top spot in the AL West….Angels and Rangers are still beating the real clubs and Oakland is starting to head up…5-2 this week…Adam Symonds really shook it up this week trading 7 players…that’s after moving 7 last week…no immediate returns (2-3 this week) but he’s only 2.5 behind the actual club and has a revamped roster going into the All-Star break…strange ASFBL oddity was that no home team swept a series this week, but the Braves, Astros, Angels, Mariners, Reds, and Jays all got a sweep on the road…Tatis Jr. leads the ASFBL with 26 homers…Acuna of the Braves has scored the most runs with 64…Reds and Cleveland each are in the top-3 in defense, saving almost as many hits as they allow with bad plays and errors…two more weeks before the All-Star break…26 lineups in this week! Thanks everyone!

Feats and failures

Max Scherzer (Washington) struck out 11 batters (on 6/22/2021 against Philadelphia) 
Jacob deGrom (Anaheim) struck out 17 batters (on 6/22/2021 against San Francisco) 
Zack Wheeler (Philadelphia) struck out 13 batters (on 6/23/2021 against Washington) 
Kevin Gausman (San Francisco) struck out 12 batters (on 6/23/2021 against Anaheim) 
Jose Altuve (Houston)  had 5 hits (on 6/23/2021 against Baltimore) 
Austin Riley (Atlanta) struck out 4 times (on 6/23/2021 against New York (NYM)) 
Fernando Tatis Jr. (San Diego) hit 6 RBI (on 6/23/2021 against Los Angeles) 
Randal Grichuk (Toronto) struck out 4 times (on 6/24/2021 against Baltimore) 
Ryan Jeffers (Minnesota) struck out 4 times (on 6/24/2021 against Cleveland) 
Bryan Reynolds (Pittsburgh)  had 5 hits (on 6/24/2021 against St. Louis) 
Freddy Peralta (Milwaukee) struck out 11 batters (on 6/25/2021 against Colorado) 
Carlos Rodon (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 11 batters (on 6/25/2021 against Seattle) 
Patrick Wisdom (Chicago (CC)) struck out 4 times (on 6/25/2021 against Los Angeles) 
Teoscar Hernandez (Toronto) struck out 4 times (on 6/27/2021 against Baltimore) 
Collin McHugh (Tampa Bay) struck out 16 batters (on 6/27/2021 against Anaheim) 
Jacob deGrom (Anaheim) struck out 11 batters (on 6/27/2021 against Tampa Bay) 
Randy Arozarena (Tampa Bay) struck out 4 times (on 6/27/2021 against Anaheim) 
Matt Chapman (Oakland) struck out 4 times (on 6/27/2021 against San Francisco) 
Julio Urias (Los Angeles) struck out 11 batters (on 6/27/2021 against Chicago (CC))

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Newsletter for games through 6-20

COMMENTS

No undefeated teams this week…but the Padres went 6-1 for the best record in the NL and the Yankees and Twins were each 5-1 to pace the American League…six teams are within 3 games of first in the AL East and West…the Oakland 3-3 mark gave them the best recrd in the west, although Anaheim is clutching to first…every division leader is doing better than the real club except for the Cubs, who are dead on the actual club performance…the collapse of the actual Diamonbacks has helped Ben Leckie vault into first-place WOR…the NL West is where the toughest fight is, with the Padres and Dodgers both 8 or more games ahead of the actual clubs…six more trades this week led by Texas, who is a division-leading +6 WOR…amazingly, of the 4 trades that Texas pulled out this week three were within the division…the best actual club is the Giants, who have exactly two guys hitting better than .270…team ERA of 3.27 explains the success…ASFBL club is hitting .245 compared the the .242 for the real-life guys, although they’ve scored 20 fewer runs (343 vs 363)….in MLB only the Padres and Mets have a better team ERA, and in ASFBL 8 teams have a better ERA, led by the Dodgers (3.00)…for real teams have ERAs under 4.00, but there are only 2 in the ASFBL, Dodgers and the Chisox….Ryan Thompson of the Rays inherited and stranded 6 runners this week…Dinelson Lamet of the Padres pitched the most innings last week (13.33) without allowing a run…Gerritt Cole of the Yankees struck out 18 but walked 11 in 11.67 innings…the digital umpires must have taken away his LED sunscreen…Matt Olson of Oakland had 5 homers last week and turned them into 12 RBI, both of which led the ASFBL…across the bay, Steve Duggar hit 3 homers but only knocked in 4…Bryan Reynolds of the Pirates had 2 doubles and 4 homers but only 6 RBI…the Reds are scuffling but are much better within the division (14-17) than outside of it, which is keeping them relevant…as a real-life digression, I don’t know who else saw that on Monday deGrom retired 8 straight before walking the pitcher…boy, did that pitcher have some trash to talk against team-mates….he’s only walked 10 guys all year and the pitcher was Kyle Muller, a rookie in his first MLB at-bat….wonder if he saved the ball….he has a legitimate shot of being able to say that reached base on deGrom for his only basepath appearance of his career.

Newsletter for games through 6-13-21

COMMENTS:

The actual DBacks are in a huge skid and have lost 21 straight road games…Ben Leckie’s team avoided that trap by not playing any road games this week, but he’s also won 5 of the last 10 road games, which will boost your WOR pretty fast…Ben is +13…on the other end of the spectrum, it was going to be hard for Alan to keep the Rays on pace with the 11-game win streak they’re on…and nothing seems to slow down the Orioles, who were 4-1 last week and are now +6 WOR…Seattle has been 5-5 over their last 10 in reality but the ASFBL version went 4-2 this week, best in the AL West…Miami swept Atlanta this week, in what’s a bigger ASFBL series than real-life…and the Rockies helped the rest of the NL East by taking 2 of 3 from the Braves…Cubs and Brewers are in a dead tie in the NL central and both had winning weeks this time around…Giants are the real-life surprise and went 5-1 in the ASFBL this week, all on the road…Pirates couldn’t play the spoiler against the Brewers this week, and Milwaukee swept the home series…Jays swept Boston in Boston…Daniel Bard of Colorado walked 8 runners in 7.33 innings but didn’t allow anyone to score…Tarik Skubal of the Tigers had 20 strikeouts in 9.67 innings last week…Leutge of the Yankees stranded all 5 runners he inherited this week…Salvador Perez of the Royals hit .364 and had 10 RBI last week…Ryan Jeffers of the Twins lead the ASFBL with 14 RBI…he only had 7 hits and only 2 HR….but also had 2 doubles and a triple…Justin Upton of the Angels led all of ASFBL with a .526 average on the week…Merrifield stole 6 bases…29 owners submitted lineups last week! Five more trades, including a PTBNL completion….in the quintessential trade that made both teams better, the Royals and Mariners swapped some big names and were a combined 8-5…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Salvador Perez (Kansas City)  had 5 hits (on 6/7/2021 against Anaheim) 
Whit Merrifield (Kansas City) stole 3 bases (on 6/7/2021 against Anaheim) 
Tucker Davidson (Atlanta) struck out 4 times (on 6/8/2021 against Philadelphia) 
Gregory Polanco (Pittsburgh) struck out 4 times (on 6/8/2021 against Los Angeles) 
Dominic Smith (New York (NYM)) struck out 4 times (on 6/8/2021 against Baltimore) 
Jose Devers (Miami) struck out 4 times (on 6/8/2021 against Colorado) 
Chas McCormick (Houston) hit 3 homers (on 6/8/2021 against Boston) 
Chas McCormick (Houston) hit 6 RBI (on 6/8/2021 against Boston) 
Chas McCormick (Houston)  had 5 hits (on 6/8/2021 against Boston) 
Teoscar Hernandez (Toronto) struck out 4 times (on 6/8/2021 against Chicago (CWS)) 
Jared Walsh (Anaheim) hit 6 RBI (on 6/8/2021 against Kansas City) 
Steven Duggar (San Francisco) struck out 4 times (on 6/9/2021 against Texas) 
William Contreras (Atlanta) struck out 4 times (on 6/9/2021 against Philadelphia) 
Yadiel Hernández (Washington) struck out 4 times (on 6/9/2021 against Tampa Bay) 
Jon Lester (Washington) struck out 12 batters (on 6/10/2021 against San Francisco) 
Lance Lynn (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 13 batters (on 6/11/2021 against Detroit) 
Jacob deGrom (Anaheim) struck out 11 batters (on 6/11/2021 against Arizona) 
Jonathan Villar (New York (NYM)) stole 3 bases (on 6/12/2021 against San Diego) 
Bobby Dalbec (Boston) struck out 4 times (on 6/12/2021 against Toronto) 
Ryan Jeffers (Minnesota) hit 7 RBI (on 6/12/2021 against Houston) 
Andrew Vaughn (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 4 times (on 6/13/2021 against Detroit) 
Tarik Skubal (Detroit) struck out 11 batters (on 6/13/2021 against Chicago (CWS)) 
Brandon Woodruff (Milwaukee) struck out 12 batters (on 6/13/2021 against Pittsburgh) 
Ben Gamel (Kansas City) struck out 4 times (on 6/13/2021 against Oakland) 
Joey Gallo (Texas) struck out 4 times (on 6/13/2021 against Los Angeles) 

NEWSLETTER FOR GAMES THROUGH 6-6-21

NO-HITTER! Sonny Gray (Cincinnati) threw a no-hitter on 5/31/2021 against Philadelphia…great news for the Reds this week…had 1 walk and struck out 11…no hit-saving plays behind him…by my count, that’s 6 ASFBL no-hitters this year, and the second by Sonny Gray…he also had a 1-hitter…and I don’t know how I missed this, but Corbin Burnes of the Brewers threw an 11-inning no hitter back on April 18…would have been a perfect game but for Kolten Wong’s error…

COMMENTS

The Rays moved into first in the AL East, with the Yankees and Jays lurking just behind and at or above the real-club performance…Orioles are heating up in real-life and Mark has them +3 WOR, so watch out…Alan shared a Theo Epstein piece on how modern stats/training are massively helping pitchers and I quipped to Steve Skrovan that the Orioles must not have gotten that memo when they put up 18 runs on his beloved Clevelanders…they put up 10 on the Mets the very next game…instant karma…fantasy Orioles and real Orioles have each scored double-digit runs four times this year…ASFBL club did it against the Mets on May 12…life imitating art, or at least fantasy simulations…Nationals have the best NL East record over the last 10 games…Braves holding to first despite a soft week…they’re 17-12 in the division…NL Central is a dogfight with the Cubs, Brewers, and Cards all within 1.5 games of each other…Cubs are 16-4 over their last 20…Chisox have the best record in the AL over the last 30 games, the last 20 games, and the last 10 games…they got 6 homers and 17 RBI out of Devers last week, which was an adjustment…he only hit .211 in real life…his ASFBL average is now within 6 points of his real average…he’s got 18 ASFBL homers and 15 in real life…Royals went 5-1 and pushed into positive-WOR territory…Houston righted itself and latched on to first with a 6-1 week…combined AL west record was 20-12 last week, and 19-6 if you count the top 4 teams…best inter-league record goes to the Dodgers, who are 9-3, followed by the Jays at 9-4….the two teams don’t play this year…top two WOR teams are Dodgers and DBacks, who share the same division…3 of the top 5 are in the west when you add in Anaheim…don’t count out Oakland, who’s been quietly moving up the standings and is shaving away at the WOR after that absurd real-life run…if they hit even WOR they’ll be in first…Matt Olson hit .478 for them last week…Texas is also a strong +4 WOR (top-6 in the ASFBL), and might have something to say about that division before it’s all over…Adam Frazier hit .478 for Pittsburgh last week..Houston had 4 players hit better than .400 last week (Gurriel, Tucker, Bregman, and Papierski)…makes Altuve’s .364 seem kinda small…there were 5 ASFBL trades since last week, which is pretty normal, but 4 were completed before the stats were updated on Monday, which is really unusual…25 lineups submitted last week…thanks for staying so on top of things!

FEATS AND FAILURES

Jacob deGrom (Anaheim) struck out 12 batters (on 5/31/2021 against San Francisco) 
Marcus Stroman (New York (NYM)) struck out 4 times (on 5/31/2021 against Arizona) 
Max Scherzer (Washington) struck out 12 batters (on 6/1/2021 against Atlanta) 
Andrew Stevenson (Washington) struck out 4 times (on 6/1/2021 against Atlanta) 
Buster Posey (San Francisco) struck out 4 times (on 6/1/2021 against Anaheim) 
Ryan Mountcastle (Baltimore) struck out 4 times (on 6/2/2021 against Minnesota) 
Brett Phillips (Tampa Bay) struck out 4 times (on 6/3/2021 against New York (NYY)) 
Kevin Kiermaier (Tampa Bay) struck out 4 times (on 6/3/2021 against New York (NYY)) 
Kevin Gausman (San Francisco) struck out 13 batters (on 6/3/2021 against Chicago (CC)) 
Franchy Cordero (Boston) struck out 4 times (on 6/4/2021 against New York (NYY)) 
Mike Wright (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 11 batters (on 6/4/2021 against Detroit) 
Jose Siri (Houston) hit 6 RBI (on 6/5/2021 against Toronto) 
Jorge Mateo (San Diego) struck out 4 times (on 6/6/2021 against New York (NYM))

Newsletter for games through 5-30-21

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

Bypassing the normal division-by-division review for random observations…on May 13 Raph’s Reds scored 13 runs in the 8th inning, erasing an 11-run deficit…only to give up 2 in the bottom of the 9th and go to extra-innings…where they scored in the top of the 10th and won 14-13…Two days earlier the Padres also scored 13 runs, this time in the 6th, and cruised to a 15-3 victory…those the the top-2 innings all year…there have been 167 shutouts so far in the ASFBL this year…the Yankees have thrown 7 shutouts on the road, tops in the ASFBL…most recently a 1-0 gem by Gerrit Cole against the Tigers on the last game of this week…Atlanta is the only team not to be shut out at home this year…the Chisox, Twins, Braves, and Astros haven’t been shut out on the road…which means Atlanta is the only team not to be shut out all year…the Braves did, however, shut out the Mets for 3 consecutive games between 5/17 and 5/19…there were seven games last week were more than 10 runs were scored, and twice by the Padres…two of those games involved shutting out the other team…on the other end of the spectrum, there were 11 games that ended 1-0…Dodgers have the best actual walk percentage at 11.6%…only the Yankees and Oakland are also over 10%…Atlanta and the Chisox have the best actual team OPS and are the only two over .800…If you look at the most ASFBL homers for the entire roster, the league leader is Torotno, but if you look at players on the active roster then it’s Toronto, however, if you pull from the actual games, then it’s Toronto…this leads me to believe that Toronto might be the team to call if you’re looking for power…pulling from the actual games so far the Padres have scored the most runs (286) and have the most hits (506), but if you look at the actual roster they drop down to the middle of the pack…Twins, Angels, and Texas have the best net defense, and the Nationals have straight up robbed the most hits with 27…Cardinals went 6-1 but lost ground to the Cubs who were 6-0…Oakland moved into second in the AL west with a strong 5-2 performance…Tigers produced a winning week, and are an easy team to cheer for…the actual Atlanta team is in shambles but Danny has this fantasy group firing on all cylinders and 8 games over .500…if you’ll permit two real-life digressions, you might have been able to estimate how interested I am in my day job by last week’s supplemental newsletter asking the question “What if the Angels never tried to make any trades?”…wonder how Tony LaRussa feels about Matt Joyce hitting a grand slam off of an infielder-turned-pitcher en route to a 17-3 win over the Reds last night…