Newsletter for games through 9-25-22

LINEUP DEADLINE ANNOUNCEMENTS

So our next lineup is due on Oct 4 to play games through Oct 2, but the season ends on October 5. So if we wait until the following Tuesday like normal that’s 6 days to wait while no real stats are accumulating. So, we’ll have our normal lineup due on Oct 4, the real MLB season will end on Oct 5, I’ll do the download on Thursday, Oct 6, and the following MONDAY, 10th the final regular-season lineup will be due. That means you’ll have from Friday, Oct 7, through Monday, Oct 10, to enter your final regular-season lineup. Should be able to start the playoffs on Friday, Oct 14.

PENNANT RACES!!!!!

Wow, a week without multiple no-hitters….guess we need to focus on the races with a week and a half to go…

AL East: Toronto picked up 2 games in a crucial week by splitting 2 games with the Phillies and then sweeping division-rival Tampa Bay…the Yankees split with Boston and Pittsburgh for a 3-3 week…that would be the Pirates playing the role of spoilers and giving the Jays the boost, although the baseball gods definitely help those who help themselves. A big Jays boost was the start Kevin Gausman turned in on the 21st, striking out 12 batters…

AL Central: Cleveland is imitating reality and is within 1 game of the team that clinched the division, while the Twins are +9 WOR and knocking at the door…The Guardians gained ground to emerge as the clear frontrunner by taking the last game of a head-to-head series and then taking 2 of 3 from both the Chisox and WOR-champ Texas clubs…and Steve can thank Greg Achten and the Angels for sweeping the Twins in a huge boost to the Cleveland efforts..

AL West/Wildcard: Houston has clinched the division and the top seed, so they are playing to avoid digital injuries, but they can still hack up the other races since nobody in a fight wants to take on the best team in the league with the season on the line…but the Rays, who are fighting for relevance, took 2 of 3 and Baltimore, who can finish above .500 and in positive WOR territory, earned a split…Texas holds the top wildcard spot by about 3 games with about 8 to go with the Yankees and Twins currently in the last 2 playoff spots…but Boston is only a half-game behind the Twins and Anaheim would need a strong week, but coming off their 5-2 week has a shot.

NL East: The Mets finally gained on Atlanta but with 8 games to go the 6.5 game lead seems pretty safe…kudos to Andy Somers who, in his last year in the league, has the best WOR in a strong division…the 98 wins that Danny Wildes has racked up would tie him for best in the AL and he seems a sure bet to beat his person best reasons with 99 wins that he had in 2018 and tied in 2019…those last 2 world series appearances are no fluke and this will be his 5th consecutive year in the playoffs…

NL Central: It’s the division nobody can claim as none of the top 3 teams could pull off a winning record last week…the Cardinals gained a half game by going .500, and it was a tough week to draw the Dodgers…they took 2 of 3 from the Padres to extend their lead…Milwaukee caught the Mets on an upswing but still took a game from them, but Josh Clark can thank Raphael Malveaux for keeping the Reds competitive and splitting a 4-game set with the Brewers…Gordie has worked magic with the Cubs but may have run out of juice for the divisional race although the Chicagoans are right in the thick of the wildcard…Milwuakee is only a game and a half back, and this one is going down to the wire…

NL West/Wildcard: A 6-2 week pushed Rick Wynne to 115 wins, officially making this his best season ever and the record-setting 16th times he’s had a 100+ win season…the playoffs are always a crapshoot, and while Kimbrel has been the actual Dodger Achilles’ Heel Rick has slotting in Evan Phillips and his 1.20 ERA as the closer…Colorado is having a phenomenal year at +16 WOR (best in the NL, 2d overall)…if the season ended today, the Mets and Brewers would have the top 2 wildcard spots locked up with 92 and 89 wins, abut then the logjam hits with the Phillies (82 wins), Cubs (81 wins), and Rockies (81 wins) in a dead heat for the final spot…

FEATS AND FAILURES

Brandon Marsh (Anaheim) struck out 4 times (on 9/19/2022 against Seattle) 
Shohei Ohtani (New York (NYM)) struck out 13 batters (on 9/21/2022 against Milwaukee) 
Shane McClanahan (Tampa Bay) struck out 13 batters (on 9/21/2022 against Houston) 
Daulton Varsho (Baltimore) struck out 4 times (on 9/21/2022 against Detroit) 
Jake Cave (Minnesota) struck out 4 times (on 9/22/2022 against Kansas City) 
Alek Manoah (Toronto) struck out 12 batters (on 9/22/2022 against Tampa Bay) 
Christian Arroyo (Texas) kicked 3 errors (on 9/23/2022 against Cleveland) 
Adam Frazier (Seattle) struck out 4 times (on 9/23/2022 against Kansas City) 
Carlos Correa (Minnesota) struck out 4 times (on 9/23/2022 against Anaheim) 
Jo Adell (Anaheim) struck out 5 times (on 9/23/2022 against Minnesota) 
Lance Lynn (Anaheim) struck out 12 batters (on 9/23/2022 against Minnesota) 
Jacob deGrom (New York (NYM)) struck out 12 batters (on 9/24/2022 against Oakland) 
Hunter Brown (Texas) struck out 12 batters (on 9/24/2022 against Cleveland) 
Luke Williams (San Francisco) struck out 4 times (on 9/24/2022 against Arizona) 
Luke Raley (Tampa Bay) struck out 4 times (on 9/25/2022 against Toronto) 
Yordan Álvarez (New York (NYM))  had 5 hits (on 9/25/2022 against Oakland) 

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Newsletter for games through 6-19-22

MILESTONES

Got this email from Rick Wynne last week (thank you!): “Was just noticing that Leo is only 5 wins away from winning # 2,500 !!”…that number is now down to 3…Rick also pointed out that he’ll pass 3,000 wins next year, and I should make 2,500…this league has some history…

COMMENTARY

How can I possibly have Shohei Ohtani and Jacob deGrom and be sinking so quickly in my own division? I feel like Arte Moreno…although I will not be turning fantasy management over to Phil Nevin any time soon…maybe I should ask Danny Wildes, who’s Braves gained more ground, or Andy Somers, who’s Nationals went a perfect 5-0, or Adam Symonds, who’s Phillies are 13-7 over the last 20…Danny is threatening to take a double-digit lead in the NL East and I’m afraid to calculate when he will clinch it…the magic number is “he probably already has”…Josh Clark inched another half-game in front of Chris Zewiske and the Cards and Brewers although both had winning weeks…that one is gonna go down to the wire…the Dodger lead keeps getting larger…the all-time ASFBL record is 124 wins by the New York Yankees in 1998…almost before the ASFBL Modern Era…that record belongs to Mike Gortenburg…most notable of late is the 113 wins by Rick himself in 2019 also with the Dodgers…right now he’s sitting at 109 wins with 16 games to go…Colorado had a winning week with an all-Chicago and all-Leckie set of opponents…San Diego swept 4 games against Arizona to stay in the thick of the NL wildcard showdown…the actual Yankees are surging, the ASFBL Jays are holding steady, and when the dust settled on the ASFBL this week Mark Yee pulled to within half a game of Johnny Mac and Toronto…Mark owes some gratitude to Alan Minsky and the Rays who took 3 of 5 from the Jays…the only sub-.500 team in the actual AL East is the Bosox, and Hugh Brown has them +8 WOR…that division is tough…AL Central has been a race all year and Steve Skrovan marched upward with a 5-2 week to move within a game of the Twins…Cleveland took 3 of 4 in head-to-head games this week…feels like early playoff baseball…Ben Brockreide is really getting it done with the Rangers, and the real question is whether his +23 WOR is enough juice to make a post-season run…he’s currently got a firm hold on the top wildcard spot, and he’d lead the other two divisions…+23 puts him in the top-20 ASFBL finishes all-time…

GEMS OF THE WEEK

Julio Urias (still with Los Angeles) threw a no-hitter on 9/5/2022 against San Francisco…congrats to the Dodgers on the feat and as we all wait to see how the new rules encourage more balls in play both the ASFBL and the MLB are seeing some impressive pitching and strikeout performances this year…Jacob deGrom threw a no-hitter of his onw on 9/9/2022 against Miami while striking out 19….which is 1 short of the actual Met high total last week…I think that’s 5 no-hitters in the last 3 weeks…gotta take a look at the pitcher change algorithm in the off season, but in a year where deGrom gets yanked with a perfect game in tact in MLB I think my old-school “don’t pull the starter if he’s got a no-hitter going” rule might be getting dusty…

FEATS AND FAILURES

Willy Adames (Milwaukee) struck out 4 times (on 9/5/2022 against Colorado) 
Jake McCarthy (Washington) hit 6 RBI (on 9/5/2022 against St. Louis) 
Shohei Ohtani (New York (NYM)) struck out 11 batters (on 9/6/2022 against Pittsburgh) 
Joey Meneses (Texas) struck out 4 times (on 9/6/2022 against Houston) 
Cody Thomas (Oakland) struck out 4 times (on 9/6/2022 against Atlanta) 
Alex Bregman (Cleveland)  had 5 hits (on 9/7/2022 against Kansas City) 
Stone Garrett (Arizona)  had 5 hits (on 9/7/2022 against San Diego) 
Mike Minor (Cincinnati) struck out 11 batters (on 9/8/2022 against Chicago (CC)) 
Isan Diaz (San Francisco) struck out 4 times (on 9/9/2022 against Chicago (CC)) 
Brandon Woodruff (Anaheim) struck out 12 batters (on 9/9/2022 against Houston) 
Tyrone Taylor (Milwaukee) struck out 4 times (on 9/9/2022 against Cincinnati) 
Buddy Kennedy (Arizona) struck out 4 times (on 9/9/2022 against Colorado) 
J.T. Realmuto (Toronto) struck out 4 times (on 9/10/2022 against Texas) 
Corey Dickerson (St. Louis)  had 5 hits (on 9/11/2022 against Pittsburgh) 
Chad Pinder (Detroit) struck out 4 times (on 9/11/2022 against Kansas City) 
Nick Pratto (Kansas City) struck out 5 times (on 9/11/2022 against Detroit) 
Alfonso Rivas (Oakland) struck out 4 times (on 9/11/2022 against Chicago (CWS)) 
Seiya Suzuki (Baltimore) struck out 4 times (on 9/13/2022 against Washington) 
C.J. Cron (Colorado) struck out 4 times (on 9/13/2022 against Chicago (CWS)) 
Mitch Haniger (Seattle) struck out 4 times (on 9/13/2022 against San Diego) 
Carlos Rodon (San Francisco) struck out 11 batters (on 9/13/2022 against Atlanta) 
TJ Friedl (Cincinnati)  had 5 hits (on 9/14/2022 against Pittsburgh) 
Brandon Marsh (Anaheim) struck out 4 times (on 9/14/2022 against Cleveland) 
Kevin Gausman (Toronto) struck out 12 batters (on 9/14/2022 against Tampa Bay) 
Eric Thames (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 4 times (on 9/14/2022 against Colorado) 
Oneil Cruz (Pittsburgh) struck out 4 times (on 9/15/2022 against New York (NYM)) 
Austin Hays (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 4 times (on 9/16/2022 against Detroit) 
Nestor Cortes (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 11 batters (on 9/16/2022 against Detroit) 
Zach Remillard (Detroit) struck out 4 times (on 9/16/2022 against Chicago (CWS)) 
Luis Castillo (Cincinnati)  threw a no-hitter! (on 9/16/2022 against St. Louis) 
Darin Ruf (San Francisco) struck out 4 times (on 9/16/2022 against Los Angeles) 
Clayton Kershaw (Los Angeles) struck out 11 batters (on 9/16/2022 against San Francisco) 
Josh Jung (Texas) struck out 4 times (on 9/17/2022 against Tampa Bay) 
Christian Walker (Philadelphia) struck out 4 times (on 9/17/2022 against Atlanta) 
Nathaniel Lowe (Atlanta) struck out 4 times (on 9/18/2022 against Philadelphia) 
Gleyber Torres (New York (NYM)) struck out 4 times (on 9/18/2022 against Pittsburgh) 

Newsletter for games through 9-11-22

RULES UPDATE

Since the MLB rosters expanded to 28 on Sept 1, we’ll expand the ASFBL rosters to 28 starting with next week’s lineups (max 14 pitchers). We’ll have lineups on the 20th, 27th, and Oct 2, and then the season ends on Oct 5. Playoff rosters must be trimmed back down to 26 (13 pitcher max). No waivers are relevant starting Oct 2. Thanks to Mark Chen for pointing out the Sept 1 roster expansion…that wasn’t included on the original list of rules changes and slipped my notice. Appreciate it, Mark!

And, I HAVE KILLED THE BUG. Did everything but call in an exterminator and leave traps laying around the code. But I think that AAA players who were traded and then promoted will stay with the correct fantasy team, although I will ask you all to be vigilant in letting me know if any sneak through…

COMMENTARY

It should not seem anti-climactic for a week to have a no-hitter in the wake of last week that saw TWO no-hitters and a cycle, so the fact that Julio Urias’ gem on 9/5/2022 against San Francisco was a perfect game should be impressive…The Atlanta Braves are on an 18-2 tear, which is amazing. They are paced by Austin Riley, who has 37 HR, and Max Fried, who has 18 wins. In fact, three Atlanta pitchers have 10 wins or more (Wright and Strider are the other 2)…and that’s making the most of the home-grown talent…the NL central is a race for the ages, with the Cardinals sneaking out by a half game on their 5-2 performance while the Brewers checked in at 5-3…the Cubs ran the table, and are currently tied for the 3rd wildcard spot with the Phillies…both of those teams are dangerous to the top of their divisions and in the playoffs…think I messed this up before, but Rick Wynne and the Dodgers are chasing his all-time win record of 113 that he set in 2019…he needs 8 more wins with 23 to go…Toronto and New York both sit at the top of the AL East but both had losing weeks as Boston went 5-1…they are +9 WOR and only 3 back for the divisional lead…the other awesome race is in the AL Central, where the Twins rode a 5-2 record to a 3-game lead in the AL Central…Guardians lead the actual division and are +1.5 WOR, but the Twins are a solid +9 WOR…the Minnesotans were pretty active this year with 9 trades that involved 4 teams…every trading partner was in the AL…Anaheim had the best record in the west at 4-2, although the big news in that division is Houston’s 10.5 game lead and the +21 WOR that Texas has put up…Seattle is back to being competitive and is 6-4 over the last 10…this is the time of the season where the spoiler wins make a big difference…

FEATS AND FAILURES

Willy Adames (Milwaukee) struck out 4 times (on 9/5/2022 against Colorado) 
Jake McCarthy (Washington) hit 6 RBI (on 9/5/2022 against St. Louis) 
Shohei Ohtani (New York (NYM)) struck out 11 batters (on 9/6/2022 against Pittsburgh) 
Joey Meneses (Texas) struck out 4 times (on 9/6/2022 against Houston) 
Cody Thomas (Oakland) struck out 4 times (on 9/6/2022 against Atlanta) 
Alex Bregman (Cleveland)  had 5 hits (on 9/7/2022 against Kansas City) 
Stone Garrett (Arizona)  had 5 hits (on 9/7/2022 against San Diego) 
Mike Minor (Cincinnati) struck out 11 batters (on 9/8/2022 against Chicago (CC)) 
Isan Diaz (San Francisco) struck out 4 times (on 9/9/2022 against Chicago (CC)) 
Jacob deGrom (New York (NYM)) struck out 19 batters (on 9/9/2022 against Miami) 
Jacob deGrom (New York (NYM))  threw a no-hitter! (on 9/9/2022 against Miami) 
Brandon Woodruff (Anaheim) struck out 12 batters (on 9/9/2022 against Houston) 
Tyrone Taylor (Milwaukee) struck out 4 times (on 9/9/2022 against Cincinnati) 
Buddy Kennedy (Arizona) struck out 4 times (on 9/9/2022 against Colorado) 
J.T. Realmuto (Toronto) struck out 4 times (on 9/10/2022 against Texas) 
Corey Dickerson (St. Louis)  had 5 hits (on 9/11/2022 against Pittsburgh) 
Chad Pinder (Detroit) struck out 4 times (on 9/11/2022 against Kansas City) 
Nick Pratto (Kansas City) struck out 5 times (on 9/11/2022 against Detroit) 
Alfonso Rivas (Oakland) struck out 4 times (on 9/11/2022 against Chicago (CWS))

Newsletter for games through 9-4-22

COMMENTARY

So the actual Mets took 2 of 3 from a really good Dodger team and then proceeded to bonk against a scuffling group of Nationals…my ASFBL Mets took 2 of 3 from a better-than-really-good Dodgers team and then proceeded to have Andy Somers’ Nationals make it clear that they were not going to roll over and took 2 of 3 from the Mets…I’ve gotta write a less realistic simulation…reality, meanwhile, was having no bearing on Danny Wildes’ Braves who ran the table and have had about a 10-game turnaround in under a month…the Mets have a winning record over the last 30 games but the Braves are 23-7….meanwhile, the Cardinals and Brewers went a combined 11-2 and are now locked in a dead tie in the NL Central…Toronto and the Yankees had matching 6-1 records allowing the Jays to hold a 2.5 game lead…Minnesota went 3-3 while the Guardians slid at 1-5 to drop 1.5 back…that’s 3 divisions where first and second are separated by a total of 4 games…Seattle and Texas were each 5-1…the Mariners got some long-languishing pitchers back in the action…man, just don’t sleep on Baltimore, who went 4-2 and are 20-10 over the last 30…and kudos to the Phillies who were also 5-1 and 19-11 over the last 30…Anaheim took 2 of 3 from Astros, which isn’t exactly being a spoiler for a team with a 10.5 game lead in September, but is definitely a point-of-pride series that Arte Moreno would envy…Texas finished the week 20 games over the actual club, and is becoming a clear frontrunner in the WOR standings…TWO NO-HITTERS ON THE SAME DAY…Zac Gallen of the Rockies did it against Cincinnati, and Adam Wainwright Yankees did it against Tampa Bay, and both on September 4…and while two no-hitters on one day is amazing, there were actually 3 on the week…Sonny Gray (San Diego) no-hit the Giants on August 31…in none of those 3 games did the winning team score more than 4 runs…Gallen’s gem was a perfect game…

FEATS AND FAILURES

Parker Bugg (Miami) struck out 11 batters (on 8/30/2022 against Tampa Bay) 
Randal Grichuk (Oakland) struck out 5 times (on 8/30/2022 against Washington) 
J.T. Realmuto (Toronto) struck out 4 times (on 8/30/2022 against Chicago (CC)) 
Jacob deGrom (New York (NYM)) struck out 13 batters (on 8/30/2022 against Los Angeles) 
C.J. Cron (Colorado) struck out 4 times (on 8/30/2022 against Atlanta) 
Edmundo Sosa (St. Louis) struck out 4 times (on 8/31/2022 against Cincinnati) 
Jonathan Aranda (Tampa Bay)  had 5 hits (on 8/31/2022 against Miami) 
Dylan Cease (Colorado) struck out 17 batters (on 8/31/2022 against Atlanta) 
Salvador Perez (Kansas City)  had 5 hits (on 9/1/2022 against Chicago (CWS)) 
Salvador Perez (Kansas City)  hit for the cycle! (on 9/1/2022 against Chicago (CWS)) 
Shohei Ohtani (New York (NYM)) struck out 11 batters (on 9/1/2022 against Los Angeles) 
James Outman (Los Angeles) struck out 4 times (on 9/1/2022 against New York (NYM)) 
Seiya Suzuki (Baltimore)  had 5 hits (on 9/1/2022 against Cleveland) 
Daulton Varsho (Baltimore) hit 6 RBI (on 9/1/2022 against Cleveland) 
Luis Garcia (Detroit) struck out 11 batters (on 9/2/2022 against Kansas City) 
Kyle Schwarber (Washington) struck out 4 times (on 9/2/2022 against New York (NYM)) 
TJ Friedl (Cincinnati)  had 5 hits (on 9/3/2022 against Colorado) 
TJ Friedl (Cincinnati)  hit for the cycle! (on 9/3/2022 against Colorado) 
Chris Okey (Cincinnati) struck out 4 times (on 9/3/2022 against Colorado) 
Aaron Judge (St. Louis) hit 3 homers (on 9/3/2022 against Chicago (CC)) 
Yu Chang (Cleveland) struck out 4 times (on 9/4/2022 against Seattle) 

Newsletter for games through 8-28-22

COMMENTARY

Fantasy players who have shown some clutch down the stretch: Nolan Arenado, a fantasy Yankee, hit .462 last week…scored more runs (5) than he knocked in (4)…Carlos Correa, a fantasy Twin, hit .455 and knocked in exactly as many as he scored (6)…Abreu of the Chisox had 5 doubles last week…actually, the same number as Arenado…and Rutschman of the Nationals, although he did it in only 17 AB…Realmuto of the Jays score 9 runs last week while hitting .370…most impressively, he hit for the cycle on 8/23 against Boston…nobody else scored more than 8…five fantasy players hit homers last week, with Christian Walker of the Phillies doing it on only 8 hits and Matt Olson of the Braves doing it with 11…Aaron Judge, a fantasy Cardinal, walked 9 times last week…nobody else waled more than 7…Bubba Thompson of the Twins stole 5 bases last week…got caught once…Manoah of the the Jays pitched an ASFBL-high 14.67 innings last week and only gave up 1 run…18 ASFBL pitchers had double-digit strikeout totals last week, but Alexis Diaz of the Reds did it while only walking one batter….and he only pitched 6 innings…Buck Farmer of the Reds struck out 10 in 8.33 relief innings but allowed 3 of 7 inherited runners to score…Cleveland swept Seattle last week, in a series the Twins had to care about a lot…meanwhile, the Twins swept the Giants, in a series Cleveland had to care about a lot…the rest of the AL East can thank the Rangers for taking 3 from Baltimore…Atlanta made the first major move in the NL East and went 6-0…all in road games…much like the actual club, the Phillies are just a better team now than they were at the all-star break and are 18-12 in the last 30…St. Louis had the brutal 8-game week and ran out of gas a little bit at 3-5, giving the Brewers a chance to pick up a full game even though they only went 3-3…Cubs are only 3.5 back…it doesn’t matter a ton in the NL West race anymore, but the 5-1 week the Dodgers put together puts them 8 games up on the actual club…which is saying something, because the actual club has the best record in baseball…I’m going to call it now and say the Rays are going to be a spoiler before it’s all over in the AL East…Jays inched forward to a 2.5 game lead with Boston 3.5 behind the Yankees…that big Cleveland week put then a half-game ahead in the AL Central for the first time in what seems like months…Houston is the class of the AL right now, a solid 15 games ahead of anyone else…Texas is finishing strong and would take a wildcard spot if the season ended today…watching this Yankee/Angel series on TV this week and seeing the stands packed with New York fans gives me fond memories of seeing the games with Josh Clark…

FEATS AND FAILURES

Keston Hiura (Milwaukee) struck out 4 times (on 8/22/2022 against Los Angeles) 
Michael Chavis (Pittsburgh) struck out 4 times (on 8/23/2022 against Atlanta) 
Michael Harris (Atlanta)  had 5 hits (on 8/23/2022 against Pittsburgh) 
Alek Manoah (Toronto) struck out 11 batters (on 8/23/2022 against Boston) 
James Outman (Los Angeles) struck out 4 times (on 8/23/2022 against Milwaukee) 
Jake McCarthy (Washington)  had 5 hits (on 8/23/2022 against Seattle) 
Carlos Rodon (San Francisco) struck out 14 batters (on 8/24/2022 against Detroit) 
Eugenio Suarez (Seattle) struck out 4 times (on 8/25/2022 against Cleveland) 
Justin Verlander (Cleveland) struck out 12 batters (on 8/25/2022 against Seattle) 
Donovan Solano (Cincinnati)  had 5 hits (on 8/25/2022 against Philadelphia) 
Brandon Lowe (Tampa Bay) struck out 4 times (on 8/26/2022 against Boston) 
Max Fried (Atlanta) struck out 12 batters (on 8/26/2022 against St. Louis) 
Rowdy Tellez (Los Angeles) struck out 4 times (on 8/27/2022 against Miami) 
Luke Williams (San Francisco) struck out 4 times (on 8/27/2022 against Minnesota) 
MJ Melendez (Kansas City) struck out 4 times (on 8/28/2022 against San Diego) 
Ian Happ (Chicago (CC)) struck out 4 times (on 8/28/2022 against Milwaukee) 
Robbie Ray (Seattle) struck out 12 batters (on 8/28/2022 against Cleveland)