Newsletter for games through 7-24-22

REMINDERS

The trade deadline is AUGUST 2, and along with MLB there are no longer post-deadline waiver trades, so make all your final moves this week. This was the short week after the break, but we’ll be back to using full starting rotations with the next lineup. I really want to, but league rules prevent me from using Albert Pujols as a reliever even though he’s pitched an inning…

COMMENTS

Starting the second half in style, Jon Gray (Texas) threw a no-hitter on 7/21/2022 against Miami….Three walks away from a perfect game…Only took 112 pitches, which seems to be the main limiting factor on no-hit bids these days…The actual Boston club hit such a rough patch that their negative run differential over a 5-game span was matched only by the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, which is notable because that team was so bad it is almost impossible for any modern club to match their awfulness…the team was owned by guy who also owned another club and traded all their good players to himself on the other team…they played 154 games, won only 20 (13%, a major-league record often excluded as prior to the modern era), and had a total attendance of 6,088…they had won 54.4% of their games the year before and between 1881 and 1888 their best pitcher was…wait for it…Cy Young…which is a very long-winded way of saying that Hugh Brown’s bunch — despite their 16-0 loss on the 22d, did much better than either the 1899 Spiders or the 2022 Bosox in the 3 games after the break, winning 1 of 3…and he’s still in first…Yankees and Jays each gained ground, and the team in that division with the best record over the last 30 games is the Orioles…Twins continue to cruise in the AL Central and were the only team with a perfect record in the short week…they only played 2 games…Yankees and Astros both played five…Ben Brockreide has pushed his Texas club into the top AL Wildcard spot and the +12 WOR is the best in the league…looking at the second-half race, the wildcard race, at present, revolves around whether Anaheim, Cleveland, or the Chisox can pick up enough ground to grab a wildcard spot…they are all about 5 games back, but there’s plenty of time left…tipping my hat to Danny Wildes, who has the Braves in first in the NL East and held the spot with a 2-1 record…since his major roster shake-up, Adam Symonds has the Phillies 16-14 over the last 30…Harper is coming back…Josh Clark’s Cardinals picked up 2 games, which is something in a 3-game week and in a race that is separate by only 3 games…and that’s a division where the Cubs and Brewers are a combined +11.5 WOR…Arizona is not a good team, and Mark Druyos doesn’t have a lot to play for, but he’s got ’em +1 WOR and 17-13 over the past 30…I’m impressed…the best MLB regular-season record ever belongs to the 1906 Chicago Cubs at 76%…the best ASFBL finish ever was Boston in 1995 at 69%…Rick Wynne currently has the Dodgers at 74%…

FEATS AND FAILURES

Franmil Reyes (Cleveland) struck out 4 times (on 7/22/2022 against Chicago (CWS)) 
Andres Gimenez (Cleveland)  had 5 hits (on 7/22/2022 against Chicago (CWS)) 
Shane McClanahan (Tampa Bay) struck out 14 batters (on 7/22/2022 against Kansas City) 
Corbin Burnes (Milwaukee) struck out 14 batters (on 7/22/2022 against Colorado) 
Julio Rodriguez (Seattle) struck out 4 times (on 7/22/2022 against Houston) 
Framber Valdez (Houston) struck out 12 batters (on 7/22/2022 against Seattle) 
C.J. Cron (Colorado) struck out 4 times (on 7/23/2022 against Milwaukee) 
Giancarlo Stanton (New York (NYY)) struck out 4 times (on 7/24/2022 against Baltimore) 
Seby Zavala (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 4 times (on 7/24/2022 against Cleveland) 

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Newsletter for games through 7-17-22

RULES CHANGES

Well, tweaks really. The penalty for a shortstop playing second base will be be dropped from 10 points to 5. When a player is promoted to MLB and has a ton of AAA stats but very very MLB appearances the averaging will happen as it always has but the real AB/IP totals will be set to the MLB actuals, not the average of their MLB and AAA appearances. That’s more a bug fix than a rules change, but I thought I’d point it out. Other changes will happen in the off-season.

COMMENTARY

Atlanta vaulted into first place in the NL East with a 5-2 record on the last week before the All-Star break…the Mets pine hopefully for the return of Alvarez and deGrom, making the digital team doctor the MVP…Philles — many of whom needed to go, but not all of them, nor was Adam’s email missive a mafia-style threat — responded to the shake-up with a 5-1 record…Cardinals did the same trick in the NL central, displacing the Brewers on the last day before the break…Cubs sit at +10.5 WOR…3-2 is a slow week for the Dodgers, but a winning record is a winning record, and the Rockies held to second with a best-in-division 5-2 mark…Mark Druyos is gutting out his inaugural campaign with a mediocre Arizona club he inherited from the actual ownership, but he’s +1 WOR and was 4-2 this week…Mark Yee’s facebook feed is filled up with sports memorabilia acqusitions, and he’s bought himself some karma: The Yankees were 5-1 this week, and he’s got the best divisional record over the last 10 and 20 games….Mark Chen has the fantasy Orioles doing what the actual club is, and they are 18-12 over the last 30 games, 1 game behind Texas for best in the AL…Minnesota finished strong and surged with a 6-0 record to take frontrunner status in the AL central…Chisox lurk in second at +1.5 WOR and Steve Skrovan had a tough week but stays active in the league and has a way of getting the Clevelanders to improve down the stretch…the AL West has some darned impressive WOR figures, and that’s good news for Houston who is coasting with the second-largest divisional lead, but Anaheim, Texas, and Oakland are all in strong WOR territory and could pounce if the Astros stumble…Did you all see All-Star, HR derby first round winner, and ASFBL Met Albert Pujols during the break? I’m as surprised as anyone, and he had a real shot to win the second round two…old guys rule…

FEATS AND FAILURES

Jack Suwinski (Pittsburgh) struck out 4 times (on 7/11/2022 against Miami) 
José Abreu (Chicago (CWS))  had 5 hits (on 7/11/2022 against Cleveland) 
Tim Anderson (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 4 times (on 7/11/2022 against Cleveland) 
Corey Seager (Texas) hit 3 homers (on 7/11/2022 against Oakland) 
Eric Haase (Detroit)  had 6 hits (on 7/11/2022 against Kansas City) 
Jordan Luplow (Arizona) struck out 4 times (on 7/11/2022 against San Francisco) 
Paul Goldschmidt (New York (NYY)) struck out 4 times (on 7/12/2022 against Cincinnati) 
Julio Rodriguez (Seattle) hit 6 RBI (on 7/12/2022 against Washington) 
Yadiel Hernández (Washington) struck out 4 times (on 7/12/2022 against Seattle) 
Gerrit Cole (New York (NYM)) struck out 14 batters (on 7/12/2022 against Atlanta) 
Tim Beckham (Minnesota) hit 6 RBI (on 7/12/2022 against Milwaukee) 
Jon Gray (Texas) struck out 11 batters (on 7/13/2022 against Oakland) 
Taylor Ward (Anaheim) struck out 4 times (on 7/13/2022 against Houston) 
Jonathan India (Cincinnati)  had 5 hits (on 7/14/2022 against New York (NYY)) 
Dansby Swanson (Atlanta) struck out 4 times (on 7/14/2022 against Washington) 
Aaron Judge (St. Louis) struck out 4 times (on 7/14/2022 against Los Angeles) 
David Bote (Chicago (CC)) struck out 4 times (on 7/15/2022 against New York (NYM)) 
Brian Keller (Boston) struck out 11 batters (on 7/15/2022 against New York (NYY)) 
Oneil Cruz (Pittsburgh) struck out 4 times (on 7/16/2022 against Colorado) 
Sergio Alcantara (Atlanta) hit 7 RBI (on 7/16/2022 against Washington) 
Nolan Jones (Cleveland)  had 5 hits (on 7/16/2022 against Detroit) 
Jesus Sanchez (Miami) struck out 4 times (on 7/16/2022 against Philadelphia) 
Bryan De La Cruz (Miami) struck out 4 times (on 7/16/2022 against Philadelphia) 
Jason Vosler (San Francisco) struck out 4 times (on 7/16/2022 against Milwaukee) 

Newsletter for games through 7-10-2022

KARMA

The summer schedule is such that Greg Achten and I go one Angels game a year in July every season, and we almost always make a trade. The players involved in that trade almost always immediately get injured, demoted, deported, detained, or dismissed. I give you last year’s DeGrom-for-Trout trade, which basically put DeGrom on the DL and insured Trout would never return from the injury. You could basically fund your retirement by taking out insurance policies on the guys we trade. But this year that got amped up with a different owner — Jim Casey and I only talked about trading Pena and Alvarez, and both players ran face-first into each other within 24 hours…on the other end of the specturm, three weeks ago Josh Clark and I swapped Dominic Smith for Albert Pujols when both guys were hitting below .200…since then Pujols has hit .286 with 2 homers and Smith has an OPS of .710 for the month of July with 5 doubles…change of fantasy scenery really helped the actual performance of both players…

TRADE TALLIES

Last week I wondered aloud whether this season was our most active trading one of all time…and Leo, naturally, produced a set of records that spoke to the question. I’ll repost his thoughts here: “We’ve tied last year’s total trades this week! Last year’s total WAS the second most total trades in recent history (2015-2021), but it’ll be eclipsed this year next week. Will the 2022 season rival the record 166 total trades of 2015? Will the individual record of 35 total trades be eclipsed as well? Stay tuned”

2021 – Gordon Leckie 34 trades, 129 total trades

2020 – Adam Symonds 5 trades, 23 total trades

2019 – Leo Leckie 28 trades, 124 total trades

2018 – Leo Leckie 29 trades, 115 total trades

2017 – Leo Leckie 35 trades, 110 total trades

2016 – Gordon Leckie / Leo Leckie 22 trades, 80 total trades

2015 – Leo Leckie 35 trades, 166 total trades

COMMENTARY

Remember the trade deadlines is AUGUST 2...big individual performance of the week was Rhys Hoskins (Philadelphia) who hit for the cycle on 7/10/2022 against St. Louis…the Braves ran a 6-1 week into a dead tie for first in the NL East…ASFBL Diamondback Jose Altuve had 7 RBI against the Giants on the 5th, but only hit one homer…Pirates had the best week in the AL Central and gained ground on everyone at 5-1…Padres went 5-1 but nobody could keep up with the Dodgers and their 7-0 week…they’ll face a better Angels team this week than the actual club…the consensus seems to be that the AL East is the best division in MLB and in the ASFBL four of five teams have winning records, and the Orioles went 5-2 this week…Jays gained ground on Boston…Rays had the best week in the division at 5-1…top of the AL central remains strong with the Chisox moving the most this week…Twins and Indians are both in positive-WOR territory…Astros matched the Dodger perfect week this cycle, and even at +10 WOR the Angels are 10 games back…Texas is +7 WOR and tied for second…Vogelbach of Pittsburgh hit .500 last week…Jose Ruiz of the Chisox gave 8 shutout relief innings and stranded all 3 runners he inherited…enjoy the All-Star break!

FEATS AND FAILURES

Max Scherzer (New York (NYM)) struck out 12 batters (on 7/4/2022 against Cincinnati) 
Ali Sanchez (St. Louis) struck out 4 times (on 7/4/2022 against Atlanta) 
David Peralta (Los Angeles) struck out 4 times (on 7/4/2022 against Colorado) 
Randy Arozarena (Tampa Bay) struck out 4 times (on 7/5/2022 against Boston) 
Jose Altuve (Arizona) hit 7 RBI (on 7/5/2022 against San Francisco) 
George Springer (Toronto) struck out 4 times (on 7/5/2022 against Oakland) 
Jeimer Candelario (Detroit) struck out 5 times (on 7/7/2022 against Chicago (CWS)) 
Eric Haase (Detroit) struck out 4 times (on 7/7/2022 against Chicago (CWS)) 
Ian Happ (Chicago (CC)) struck out 4 times (on 7/7/2022 against Los Angeles) 
Luke Voit (San Diego) struck out 4 times (on 7/8/2022 against San Francisco) 
Raimel Tapia (Toronto)  had 5 hits (on 7/8/2022 against Seattle) 
Spencer Strider (Atlanta) struck out 11 batters (on 7/9/2022 against Washington) 
Max Scherzer (New York (NYM)) struck out 13 batters (on 7/9/2022 against Miami) 
Shohei Ohtani (Anaheim) stole 3 bases (on 7/10/2022 against Baltimore) 
Shane McClanahan (Tampa Bay) struck out 12 batters (on 7/10/2022 against Cincinnati) 

Newsletter for games through 7-3-22

TRADE DEADLINE ANNOUNCEMENT

MLB deadline is August 2, so ours will be too. Get your trades in by the Tuesday, August 2 lineup. We don’t really keep records on this, but we seem to be on track to have more that we’ve every had before.

COMMENTARY

The fun fact of this week in MLB is those 3 Pirate guys you’ve never heard of who all had 3-homer games on consecutive days…that didn’t happen in the ASFBL this week, but Patrick Wisdom of the Cubs and a 3-homer, 9 RBI game on the 29th and Oscar Mercado of the Guardians and 3 homers and 7 RBI on July 3rd…fireworks one day early…the Braves moved into within a game behind the Mets thanks to a 5-1 week…Miami was also 5-1…I’m really counting on Scherzer and deGrom to help me out…the Brewers were even more assertive in the NL Central and went 6-0 to pull to within a game of the Cardinals, no slouches at 4-2…both teams are in firmly positive WOR territory….the Mets are not…Rick Wynne just keeps doing it with the Dodgers and has firm control of the NL West…and the best record in the league by 7 games…the only drawback he’s facing is that he’s getting slightly less of of Tony Gonsolin than Dave Roberts is, since the ASFBL Gonsolin has 2 losses…both he and the real guy have 10 wins…the Yankees and Jays have to be making Boston nervous, both with 5 wins this week…Bosox still have a semi-comfortable 5.5 game lead…kudos to Baltimore for their 4-2 week…the AL Central had a Cleveland-Minnesota showdown this week, and while they slugged it out en route to a 3-2 series win for the Twins the Chisox went 6-0 to make the big move in the division…every team in that division is within 1.5 games of the actual club performance…Houston gained ground in the AL West thanks to a 4-2 week and the fantasy Angels playing like the actual Angels…except they didn’t strike out 20 times in any game this week…Angels still hold the top wildcard spot in the AL…Texas is only 1 game back of them….every AL division leader has at least a 5-game lead but the top 4 wildcard spots are separated only by 1.5 games…Six AL teams are closer to the wildcard spot than first place…only three in the NL….thanks to all of you who took time out of your Independence Day celebration to get your lineups in….12 more trades this week!

FEATS AND FAILURES

Max Stassi (Anaheim) struck out 4 times (on 6/27/2022 against Chicago (CWS)) 
Jorge Mateo (Baltimore) struck out 4 times (on 6/27/2022 against Seattle) 
JT Brubaker (Pittsburgh) struck out 14 batters (on 6/29/2022 against Washington) 
Kyle Schwarber (Philadelphia) struck out 4 times (on 6/29/2022 against Atlanta) 
Aaron Nola (Philadelphia) struck out 12 batters (on 6/29/2022 against Atlanta) 
Sandy Alcantara (Miami) struck out 11 batters (on 6/29/2022 against St. Louis) 
Nolan Gorman (St. Louis) struck out 4 times (on 6/29/2022 against Miami) 
Nick Gordon (Minnesota) hit 7 RBI (on 6/30/2022 against Cleveland) 
Willy Adames (Milwaukee) hit 6 RBI (on 6/30/2022 against Pittsburgh) 
Kolten Wong (Milwaukee) stole 3 bases (on 7/1/2022 against Pittsburgh) 
Framber Valdez (Houston) struck out 12 batters (on 7/1/2022 against Anaheim) 
Victor Reyes (Detroit)  had 5 hits (on 7/2/2022 against Kansas City) 
Josh Smith (Texas) struck out 4 times (on 7/2/2022 against New York (NYM)) 
Julio Rodriguez (Seattle) hit 3 homers (on 7/2/2022 against Oakland) 
Trevor Story (Boston) struck out 4 times (on 7/2/2022 against Chicago (CC)) 
Mike Trout (Milwaukee) struck out 4 times (on 7/3/2022 against Pittsburgh) 
Jose Suarez (Atlanta) struck out 13 batters (on 7/3/2022 against Cincinnati) 
Luke Voit (San Diego) struck out 4 times (on 7/3/2022 against Los Angeles)