Newsletter for games through 4-21

COMMENTARY

Just focusing on the amazing events of this week…the NL Central went bonkers…Brewers, Cubs, and Reds combined to go 17-2…Diamondbacks are 10-1 within their own division….Blue Jays are undefeated in interleague games, undefeated in 1-run games, and +6 WOR…Dodgers are 9-1 in their last 10 games and needed all of them; they picked up only a half game on the DBacks who were 5-2 on the week…AL East is 20-7 in interleague games…every single team in the division is .500 or better against the NL…Royals are a perfect 10-0 within the division….in horserace news, Adam Symonds forgot to submit an opening day lineup, which I think is the only lineup deadline of any sort he has ever missed, and maybe the only deadline he’s ever missed in his life, but got busy in week two and immediately picked up 2 games to move within a game of the stumbling Mets…Brewers are a perfect 7-0 withing their division, and the Pirates and Cubs haven’t played a divisional game yet…After all those trades were done, Jim Casey now has the Astros +6 WOR and only 2 games behind really good Texas team…I am Christian, my spouse is Jewish, and neither of us are Catholic, but I’ll be saying a prayer to Saint Jude Thaddeus on behalf of Al Benedek and his Chisox…Saint Jude is the patron saint of lost causes…hand in there, Al…after Toronto, every other AL East team is 6-4 over the last 10…Refsnyder of Boston and Garrett Cooper of the Cubs are tied for the ASFBL lead in batting average, and they both are hitting .407 over 27 AB…Contreras of Milwaukee is hitting .400 over 90 AB…Duran of Boston, De La Cruz of teh Reds, and Turang of Milwaukee have all stolen 9 bases, and all have been caught at least once…Acuna Jr. has stolen 9 and never been tagged out…Dodgers lead the ASFBL with 41 homers…Baltimore leads the AL with 40…Dodgers also lead the league in runs, but Atlanta is second with 132…Braves are a little slow out of the gate but don’t sleep on that offense…Bosox have the best team ERA at 2.76, and the Cubs lead the NL at 2.91…five ASFBL teams have ERAs over 5.00, and none of them are the Rockies…only three MLB teams are over 5.00, and one of them is Colorado…Jays have the lowest team WHIP…best fielding net goes to Miami, who have robbed 3 more hits than they’ve allowed with errors or bad plays…the pitch clock has not substantially sped of the length of ASFBL games, which still clock in at about 8 seconds, most of which is saving time…

ASFBL OPENING DAY!

Kind of cool to be doing the downloads in Jackie Robinson day…and thanks to all for a very smooth first week…I think that all 30 owners entered lineups or had something carry over from spring training that worked…Shout out to Sam Sauber, the rookie of the week, who has the Giants at +2 WOR…Leo deserves a pat on the back for putting up 13 wins with the Jays…that’s also a league-leading +5 WOR…Rick Wynne is tops in the NL with 12 wins…five more teams checked in with 11 wins…Rob Perkins has the surprising Pirates atop the NL central with the fantasy team matching the actual club perfectly, but Josh Clark had the best owners week with +5 WOR to launch the Cardinals into a tie…four of five NL central teams had winning records…three of five NL East teams are at zero WOR, dead even with the starts of their actual clubs…my Mets had a good week, but since I haven’t made a single transaction yet I’m pretty sure it’s just luck…and I’m reasonably sure that Jose Butto isn’t going to keep his ERA under 1.00 all year and serve as my ace…Royals are in first place in the AL central, and they hung on even after going 1-5 over their last 6…it’s looking like a tough year for hard core Chisox fans but a huge opportunity for WOR improvements…the fantasy club is just 1-15 but is still within 2 games of the actual club…Texas played six one-run games and won five of them…the Pirates got 16.33 innings out of Martin Perez, and he allowed only one run over that stretch…Kikuchi of Toronto allowed only 3 hits over 11 innings…Cotton Cowser of the Orioles mashed 5 homers and hit .522 to open the season…kudos to Hugh Brown’s Bosox who are +1 WOR and piled up 10 wins…with all that’s wrong with the world today, I am delighted to live in an era where, every day, I can come home and stream basically any game I want, no matter when it started, and can either start from the beginning, join it live, or have a quick recap get me up to speed…it’s changing the way I experience baseball…thanks to all for a great opening week! Next upload is on Monday the 22d!

World Series Results — ASFBL newsletter on 10/13/23

The first four games were slugfests, with the Dodgers scoring 11 to win game 1 and the Rays scoring 9 to win game two. Then the pitching took over, with the Rays taking a 2-1 series lead with a slim 3-2 win in game 3. Making it even closer, the Dodgers evened it up 2-2 with a 1-0 shutout. Tampa returned the shutout favor 4-0 to take the lead 3-2, and in game six the Tampa bullpen turned in 4 scoreless innings while the offense scraped out 4 runs….Mookie Betts went 3-3 and JD Martinez homered for the Dodgers, but Rene Pinto — a bit player with some pop — hit a 3-run homer as Earl Weaver smiled somewhere up in the ether…Ben Leckie has a lifetime win percentage of 53% and more than 900 wins and is a relative newcomer with 10 ASFBL seasons under his belt…this is his first year managing Tampa Bay and previous stops include Miami, Detroit, Arizona, and Colorado…he’s never had a sub-.500 WOR season and was the WOR champ in 2021 with Arizona at +19, and was +18 with Colorado in 2022…congrats on your first World Series appearance and your first league championship, and congrats on extending the family dynasty!

Rick Wynne is as central to the ASFBL as anyone…if there’s a league record, he probably holds it…sure, he leads the ASFBL all-time in wins with more than 3,000, but that’s 500 more than second place…his lifetime win percentage is 63% — sixty-three percent — and the next closest is Mike Gortenberg at 59%…the all-time MLB record is 61.5%, held by Joe McCarthy, and the closest modern-day record holder is Earl Weaver at 58.3%…like Ben, he’s never had a sub-..500 WOR season, but unlike Ben he’s had 30 seasons under his belt, joining the league in 1993 with his beloved Pirates…he’s been an east-coaster as long as I’ve known him, but he’s toured the NL West having managed Colorado, Arizona, San Francisco, and now the Dodgers…Rick has been in the league since I was mailing dot-matrix printer outputs from a grad student apartment in 1993 and excelled in every incantation of the code base…he’s had more than 100 wins eighteen times…I could keep culling his record for more amazing accomplishments and be here well into the evening before I ran out of something new to amaze me…and as always, the best thing about Rick is his even temper, good humor, brilliant mind, and effusive collegiality that makes every interaction with him something that makes you feel better about yourself. One of the best things about this three-decade endeavor has been getting to know you, Rick, and here’s hoping we find ourselves together at a spring training game again before it’s all over. Another great season, my friend!

That’s a wrap on 2023, Leo will be in touch during the offseason, and thanks to everyone for my favorite diversion in a world that increasingly needs them. See you next spring!

LCS results — 10-11-23

DODGERS OVER BRAVES

The Braves lost the opener and then got their bats going in game 2, scoring 9 runs off of Verlander and 2 relievers…the Dodger pitching then took over, holding the Braves to just 3 runs over the next 3 games…Verlander acquitted himself in the series-sealing game 5 with 8 shutout innings and Kimbrel got the final out…Fried, another post-season return from the injured list, turned in a quality start before the Dodgers got to the bullpen…Danny Wildes supplant Rick Wynne as the guy with the best record in the league, which is no small feat, even if the DCS didn’t go his way…Danny has over 1,500 career ASFBL wins and a lifetime win percentage of 54%, putting him in the top-20 all-time for both figures…he entered the league in 2006 with San Diego, jumped to Philly in 2009, Pittsburgh in 2013, and has been with Atlanta since 2015…He’s had back-to-back 100+ win seasons and been in the playoffs every year sin 2017, finishing 9 games up on the actual club in both 2017 and 2018, made the World Series in 2021 after winning it all in 2020 while finishing second in wins-over-reality…he’s got a long and distinguished ASFBL career and is a steady hand at the helm…his 2015 Braves team had a losing record and only 59 wins in 2016 as he slid to -9.5 WOR, so it says a lot about his resiliency to turn it around starting the very next year and run into the playoffs for seven straight seasons after his worst finish…great season, Danny, and I look forward to our NL East battles next year!

RAYS OVER ORIOLES

The AL East was a battle royale all year and it came down to the final series for the league…Baltimore’s ASFBL club was a little under-performing relative to the MLB group but had been the hotter team going in, while the Rays had been strong all season but were limping a little bit going into the playoffs…after splitting the first two games the Rays’ bats just took off and they scored 24 runs over 27 innings to take the final 3 games of the series…the Orioles wouldn’t go quietly, however, and they put up 8 runs in the final frame of the set…Mark Chen is an all-time good guy with a wonderful spirit and sense of humor and the first to let me know when I’ve managed to sneak a good line into the newsletters…he has over 1,600 career wins over 21 seasons and he’s been with Baltimore every single one of them…he had a run of 5 straight playoff years between 2013 and 2017, made it to the World Series in 2017, and followed that up with an astounding +31 WOR to finish first in the league in that category in 2018…in Baltimore’s dismal 2021 season he finished +16 WOR, and skippered the club into the LCS this year…he finished +16 WOR or better five times…Mark has a great baseball mind and knows how to play the hand he’s dealt to get the most out of it…congrats on another great season, Mr. Chen!

WORLD SERIES

Rays host the Dodgers, two day fantasy break from the last game of the LCS so the games start on November 1…I’ll ask Rick and Ben to submit their lineups by Thursday night so we can run the games on Friday morning, and the season will be a wrap!

2023 DCS results

Tampa Bay edges Toronto

Toronto took the first game but dropped into a 1-3 hole before fighting back 9-8 in an epic game 5. Blake Snell held the fort down for five innings and the offense put up 8 runs in game 6 led by Yandy Diaz’ 3 RBI including a homer…Poche ended the series on a 3-pitch save…Johnny Mac has more than 1,500 career wins and a career winning record overall…he started the league in 1999 and won the league by 2001…after a 4-year gap he came back and won it again in 2006 and he’s been in the playoffs for each of the past 4 years…Toronto is his 8th team and he briefly led the Rays in 2011, finishing +10 WOR that year…he’s kept the Jays for each of the past 4 years and put them in the playoffs every single time…a guy with a true passion for baseball and an encyclopedic knowledge of sports, John has been a force in the league for all 19 years he’s been in it, and we look forward to seeing you in the spring, my friend!

Year of the Bird

Baltimore was shut out in game 1 and then ran the table to become the only lower seed to advance out of the DCS round…the actual Baltimore team is just so good and this fantasy club was a definitely a dark horse that was ready to take the race to the poll when it counted…John Means pitched seven shutout innings to close the series making the 3 runs of offense, including Kjerstad’s homer, just enough…“Trader” Jim Casey is one of those guys who’s made their mark in the league not just with their knowledge and dedication but with raw personality…he is almost always in the top in the league in total trades, total players traded, and total trade partners…he once suggested we hold winter meetings to work out even more deals…he’ll always respond to your trade offer and give you a shout out during the year…he made seven trades this year over the 24 hours before the trade deadline, five of which were completed after midnight California time…that streak included trades with 7 different teams…he’s got over 2,100 total wins and a lifetime win percentage of 54%…a serial monogamist, he entered the league in 1995 and held the Cubbies through 2002, flirted with Toronto and Cleveland in 2007 and 2008, had an ongoing affair with San Francisco between 2009 and 2014, and has been with Houston ever since…and in the playoffs every year since 2017…his 102 wins last year were just 1 shy of his lifetime high in 2010 with the Giants, and he had to go +8 WOR this year to get the Astros to 98 wins…he’s had a winning record every year since 2015…enjoy the hot stove season, Jim, and I know we’ll see you come the spring!

Padres test the Dodgers

The upstart Padres, making it into a postseason the eluded the highly-paid MLB club, got to push their division rivals in the DCS…the Padres dropped game 1 by a single run, evened up the series with a 5-run victory in game two, before the Dodger pitching kept their bats in check and they found themselves looking upward and down 3 to 1 after four games…the Dodgers sealed it with Verlander — who they had acquired in a preseason trade for Kershaw — sealed the deal by pitching into the 7th…Rick Wynne favorite Craig Kimbrel contributed a multi-inning save…Al Benedek is an ASFBL millenial, having entered the league in 2000 and thus having just completed his 23rd year…he’s won two divisional titles, one with the Chisox in 2000 and one with the Cards in 2002…between 2018 and 2021 he has finished in the top-10 WOR or the playoffs, and adds an advancing playoff appearance this year…the Padres are his 9th team and the club he has managed the longest…his +16 WOR in 2109 was second in the league that year…Al has a perennial good temper and his next complaint will be his first…you are enormously pleasant to work with, Al, and congrats on a great season!

Brewers take it Seven before the Braves prevail

The clubs split the first 4 games at two apiece…the Brew Crew took command with a 5-2 win in game five, but the Braves flexed their slugging muscle to score 9 runs in game six to even the series…the decisive game was a defensive battle, and Sean Murphy — the 9th place hitter — had the game’s only homer but it came with two on base and five Atlanta pitchers combined to keep the Brewers to 1 run…it was the only 7-game series in the DCS round and it took all Atlanta had to sneak into the LCS…with more than 1,800 career wins, Chris has turned in 22 ASFBL seasons…and in a pattern people with names like Bruschke feel qualified to speak to, you want a Brewer manager named something like Zewiske…after one quick year with the Padres in 2001 he took hold of the Brewers and has skippered them for the next 22 years…in a true testament to commitment, his first playoff appearance was 2017 but after missing the post-season from 2001 to 2017, he’s been in the playoffs six of the past seven season…he was +15 WOR in 2015 and been within seven games of the actual club ever since…he took the team into the LCS in 2018 and 2021…Chris is a guy who knows baseball and is there, rain or shine, every season…congrats on another terrific season, Mr. Zewiske!

LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

…and then there were four…Rays host the Orioles in an AL East matchup, Braves host the Dodgers…will have the schedule set by this evening, and I’ll ask for the lineups to be entered by tomorrow night so we can run the games Wednesday morning…will wrap the season up by this Friday…Good luck to our Final Four!

2023 Wildcard round Results

In the actual MLB, all 4 series ended in a 2-game sweep. In the ASFBL not a single one of our 5-game series ended in a sweep. Your winners:

Padres upset the division-winning Cubs; after the Cubbies took game one the Padres scored 14 runs in games two and four and survived a 1-0 pitching duel in game three. The ChiCubs had more wins on the season but finished slowly with a 2-8 record over their last 10 games and the Padres rolled in winning 8 of the last 10 and 16 of the last twenty…baseball is about being good over the long season and getting hot at the right time, and Al’s Friars heated up when it counted the most. Gordie is a league stalwart, and his teams have won more than 2200 games over the years…of all owners who have ever won 2000 games his 54% win rate would put him in the top 3 all-time…he’s been in the league since 1994 and has averaged +13 WOR over the past 3 seasons…he won it all in 1994, made it to the LCS in 2019, and last appeared in the wildcard round with his beloved Cubbies in 2021…this marks his 4th playoff appearance in the past 5 years and he’s had a winning record every year since 2006…you are part of a family legacy, Gordie, and it’s been truly great getting to stay in touch with you over the decades.

Brewers out-last the Phillies in five…Philly took games 1 and 4 but in the decisive — and only — 5th game, Freddy Peralta pitched into the 8th and Uribe sealed it down in the 9th…Yelich and Tellez each homered for the Brewers, and Chris Zewiske was able to pull off what the actual Brewers couldn’t, and advanced in the wildcard round…Adam Symonds has been a nonstop force since joining the league in 2003…this year’s 103 wins is a lifetime high and the 6th time he’s skippered a team to 90 wins or more…it’s his 9th playoff appearance, and in 2015 he won it all while finishing 20 games ahead of a middling Seattle club…Adam is a truly terrific Dad, remarkable scholar, and wonderful spouse, and is truly one of the good guys on the planet earth…congrats on another fantastic season, Adam!

Baltimore bests Minnesota in four…the Baltimore team is just deadly dangerous and actually finished the season with one more win that the Twins….in the final game the Twins got to Dean Kremer for 5 runs but Hall and Cano pitched four scoreless innings out of the bullpen, and the 6 runs they got when they chased Dunning in the 3rd were enough…Tim Walsh has 2,027 wins in the ASFBL, which is 9th all-time…he’s been in the league since 1998 and had the Twins every year but one…while the actual Twins have had epic playoff struggles until this year, Tim had his club in the LCS in 2019 and 2020…he’s been at or head of the actual Twin record for each of the last 3 seasons…Tim is part of that famed spring training photo Leo still has, and he’s brought Pat into the League…Tim is also a great Dad and a good-hearted Minnesotan…can’t believe it’s been 25 years, Tim, but I really look forward to seeing you back in the league every year.

Jays survive the Rangers….Texas took game 1 but some great Blue Jay pitching held the day, with Kikuchi and Gallen turning in strong starts in the last two games and the offense doing just enough to get it done…with an email address like “JohnnyMacLives4Sports” you know he’s always tuned in to the latest player developments…after bouncing around with a number of different franchises John has taken Toronto into the playoffs for 3 of the past 4 seasons…Ben Brockreide hung tough in the most evenly-matched series on the board, as each team had 96 wins…Ben is relatively the most upstart owner in the wildcard round, while Gordie, Adam and Tim have all been in the league for 20 years or more Ben is in his 6th season and playing with the powerhouses; this is his 4th playoff appearance in the past 5 years; after having losing seasons in 3 of his first 4 years he’s won 90 or more games in each of the past 2 years and has never had negative-WOR season, averaging +10.2 for his entire duration in the league…you make bad teams good and good teams better, Ben, and you have really studied the simulation and how to make the details work in your favor…congrats on another great year and we’ll see you next season!

DCS matchups:

Jays at Rays (AL east slugout)

Baltimore at Houston (3 of 4 remaining teams are from the AL East)

Brewers at Braves

Padres at Dodgers (NL west home cooking)

It’s a long season and anything can happen over 7 games…good luck to the DCS teams! Down from 30 to the final eight…Please submit your lineups by Sunday night so we can play the games on Monday morning.

Newsletter for games through 10-1-23

PLAYOFF NOTES

This morning I’ll get the newsletter out; tonight I’ll set up the playoff schedules. I’ll ask for wildcard lineups to be in by Friday night so we can run them Saturday morning. We more or less follow the MLB format except that the wildcard round is 5 games and all others are 7. You can get a playoff rule refresher by clicking on the rules link on the top of the page.

END OF THE REGULAR SEASON!!!

National League

Top seed: Danny Wildes was being pushed hard by the Phillies but finished strong, going 5-1 including a sweep of the 91-win Cub team, and giving Atlanta the best record in either league. The late push guarantees them home field advantage for the entire playoff season…the Braves led the league in batting average at .279 and home runs with 272..team ERA was 3.71, a top-6 finish

Second seed: Ricky Wynne did not have a great finish but didn’t need it, and the Dodgers finished with 101 wins (+1 WOR) and cruised to a division win by 15 games, a victory twice as large as any other division leader. The Dodgers led the ASFBL in scoring, with more runs than the Braves, and finished with an NL-best 3.43 ERA.

Third seed: Like the Dodgers, the Cubs limped across the finish line but a season of excellence gave them the cushion they needed. Gordon Leckie had the club +8 WOR and proving what many Cub fans had been saying all year, that with better management the club has potential…91 wins is a great season by any account, and the team ERA of 3.58 was a top-4 finish; this is a team to worry about in the postseason.

Fourth seed: Adam Symonds would have won or been tied for first in any of the other 5 divisions, and this Phillie team is scary…the team ERA is identical to Atlanta at 3.71 and with 136 steals he’s got one of the faster teams in the playoffs…this is a wildcard team that looks every bit like an elite division winner.

Fifth seed: the Brewers and Padres each had 86 wins, but Chris Zewiske’s team gets the nod with a 4-3 regular-season head-to-head advantage. They dropped 2 of 3 to St. Louis — almost making Josh Clark a spoiler — but took 2 of 3 from the Cubs at home to hold serve against the Mets and DBacks and get their playoff card punched.

Sixth seed: Al Benedek got a team into the playoffs that didn’t make it in real life, and that was a feat for an actual Padre club that had a disappointing season…he finished +4 WOR and needed a 5-1 week to grab the final spot, which was accomplished with on-the-road series wins against the Chisox and Giants.

Kudos to: The Diamondbacks and Mark Druyos, who finished within a game of the over-achieving actual club, and judge got nudged by the Phillies and Padres who had impressive runs…the Rockies finished strong with a 5-1 week, and the Marlins went 6-1 and played spoiler by sweeping the Mets.

Wildcard series matchups: Padres at Cubs, Brewers at Phillies.

American League

Top seed: Tampa Bay has only been playing .500 ball over the last 30 but had such a specular start they finish with the best AL record overall, and cruised to win a really competitive division by 7 games…their 812 runs trails only Texas in the AL and their 3.44 team ERA is best in the American circuit…Ben Leckie finished +4 over a great team and this newsletter might have more views than the Rays have fans in attendance at their next playoff game.

Second seed: Jim Casey and Houston kept the gas pedal down and finished 5-1 by sweeping the Diamondbacks and taking 2 of 3 from Seattle…they led the ASFBL in ERA at 3.28 and logged 1,619 strikeouts…the team can pitch…and they have the best fielding of any team in the ASFBL playoffs.

Third seed: Tim Walsh, a Minnesota Team lifer, has kept a steady helm and won the division by 7 games despite the Guardians, Chisox, and Royals all having plus-WOR seasons…pitchers on the current active roster threw only 456 innings and have an EAR of 3.72, so Tim has pulled the team into the playoffs with a revamped pitching staff.

Fourth seed: Texas dropped 2 of 3 to the Jays in their first series but won 3 of 4 in the second set to nudge out the Jays on the first tiebreaker 4-3…they needed every win in the 5-2 week to secure the spot and although they dropped 2 of 3 to the Angels they swept Seattle, taking care of business when they had to. Welcome back to the playoffs, Ben Brockreide!

Fifth seed: Johnny Mac and the Jays tied the Rangers with 96 wins and used their 5-win week to storm into the playoffs…they took 2 of 3 from the struggling Yankees, which they had to do to stay in the hunt, and very impressively swept the Rays to secure the wildcard spot. The Jays are balanced, with both the offense and pitching finishing right around the top-10 spot.

Sixth seed: Mark Chen and Baltimore got into the playoffs, matching the accomplishment of the feel-good story of the MLB…the 5-1 week kept the competitors at bay, and the split with Washington was good enough to go along with a sweep of Boston to secure the spot…the actual club was going to be hard to match but Mark had the cards in his hand when he needed them, finishing the season on 20-10 run to secure the playoff spot.

Kudos to: Steve Skrovan and the Guardians had the best final 30 games of any AL team, finishing 21-9…Greg Acthen took the Anaheim Trainwrecks to 12 games over the actual club and even with 4 wins came up just short in the playoff race…Mike Mendoza of Kansas City and John Weerts of Oakland had massive WOR seasons, finishing first and second in the ASFBL…Leo Leckie just never gives up and never stops trying to make even small improvements and finished 3rd in the WOR overall at +14.

Wildcard matchups: Orioles at Minnesota, Jays at Texas.

Newsletter for games through 9-24-23

MUSINGS

In the “things you can’t code for” category, Carson Fulmer — a former high draft pick who’d be bouncing around the majors but never pitched more than 32 innings in any year and had missed all of 2022 — got into a game with the Angels on Sept 24 and threw 70 pitches…the very next day he pitched again and threw another inning…and he was better in the second appearance…every year as we pass through the dog days of the baseball season, football starts and my attention shifts for about two weeks…then I realize there are pennant races going on and my TV is back on baseball games first…I am really enjoying the competitive races for the last playoff spots…

NATIONAL LEAGUE RACES

The Braves and Phillies are having a run…the Braves are up by a game and both teams went 5-2 this week…and they’re in a 4-team race with the Dodgers and Rays for the best record in the league…gotta hand it to Ben Leckie, as the actual Rays have take on a little water he’s found a way to keep them in the elite teams…all four of those teams are pretty good in real life and all four owners have them in positive WOR territory…Cubs and Dodgers have their divisions wrapped up and whoever doesn’t win the East will get the top wildcard spot…Brewers sitting in the second spot with 83 wins and coming off a 5-2 week…and just behind are the 81-win Padres, the Diamondbacks with 80, and a dark-horse Met team with 79. The combined record for the top 4 wildcard contenders in the NL was 18-7…the Mets limped along at 2-5…it was the Phillie buzzsaw that did in the New Yorkers, who swept 4 games at home…Miami also took a game in a 3-contest set…where there is life there is hope, and the Giants have 77 wins and would need a sweep and some luck, but in a world where Carson Fulmer can throw 70 pitches and talk his manager into putting him in the next day, I guess anything is possible.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Rays and Twins are safely atop their divisions, and the AL West will likely go down to the wire…while contenders Houston, Texas, and Anaheim couldn’t crack .500 this week, the Oakland team went 5-2…if the season ended today, all the wildcard teams would come from the east, with Toronto at 91 wins, followed by Baltimore (83) and Boston (82)…of that group, only the Jays topped .500 on the week…Anaheim sits only 1 game behind Boston, and they close the season at Oakland…that’s either a favora+ble schedule or a huge spoiler opportunity depending on whether Oakland can put up another 5-win week…in the “We Believe in Miracles” contest Cleveland has 76 wins, so with a perfect week and a collapse by the other 3 wildcard teams the Guardians could sneak in…

BIG SERIES COMING UP

Texas and Anaheim is relevant to the playoffs for both teams…Boston draws Tampa and Baltimore while the Orioles play Washington in addition to the Bosox…man, that Baltimore-Boston series looks big…Padres play the Giants and Chisox, Brewers have Cards and Cubs, and DBacks have Chisox and Astros. Giants, Cubs, A’s, and Nationals have serious spoiler potential…

BETTER THAN REALITY

Kansas City is +17 and has been dominating this category all year, but Oakland is now only a game back. Leo’s Chisox are a real team not good enough to contend, but he’s got them +14 and in 3rd overall…special shout out to Adam Symonds who has made a really good Philly team even better, and Greg Achten who’s made a really bad Anaheim team a relevant playoff force…I live 10 minutes from Anaheim Stadium, and I don’t anticipate the Angel-Oakland season-ending series is going to result in traffic delays along the freeway…it’s easy to say that Oakland has the worst owner in baseball, but for my money Moreno is a strong contender, and he’s ahead in the “number of federal indictments” metric…

FEATS AND FAILURES

J.T. Realmuto (Philadelphia) hit 6 RBI (on 9/18/2023 against Atlanta)
Hunter Greene (Cincinnati) struck out 11 batters (on 9/18/2023 against Minnesota)
Pablo Lopez (Minnesota) struck out 11 batters (on 9/19/2023 against Cincinnati)
Heston Kjerstad (Baltimore) struck out 4 times (on 9/19/2023 against Houston)
Rafael Ortega (Texas) stole 3 bases (on 9/19/2023 against Boston)
Logan Gilbert (Seattle) threw a no-hitter! (on 9/20/2023 against Oakland)
Cade Marlowe (Seattle) struck out 4 times (on 9/20/2023 against Oakland)
Brandon Drury (Anaheim) struck out 4 times (on 9/20/2023 against Tampa Bay)
Bobby Dalbec (Boston) struck out 4 times (on 9/20/2023 against Texas)
Jack Suwinski (Pittsburgh) hit 3 homers (on 9/22/2023 against Cincinnati)
Adolis Garcia (Texas) struck out 4 times (on 9/22/2023 against Seattle)
Wilyer Abreu (Boston) struck out 5 times (on 9/23/2023 against Chicago (CWS))
Hunter Greene (Cincinnati) struck out 12 batters (on 9/23/2023 against Pittsburgh)
Brett Phillips (Anaheim) struck out 4 times (on 9/23/2023 against Minnesota)
Mark Canha (Arizona) hit 10 RBI (on 9/23/2023 against New York (NYY))
Seth Brown (Washington) struck out 4 times (on 9/23/2023 against Atlanta)
Ezequiel Tovar (Colorado) hit 3 homers (on 9/24/2023 against Chicago (CC))
Ezequiel Tovar (Colorado) hit 9 RBI (on 9/24/2023 against Chicago (CC))
Liover Peguero (Pittsburgh) struck out 4 times (on 9/24/2023 against Cincinnati)
Gabriel Moreno (Kansas City) struck out 4 times (on 9/24/2023 against Houston)
Blake Snell (Tampa Bay) struck out 11 batters (on 9/24/2023 against Toronto)

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Newsletter for games through 9-17-23

COMMENTARY

The Dodgers had an offensive outburst this week…JD Martinez hit 3 homers against Sand Diego on the 12th, Yanier Diaz hit 3 homers against the Martiners on the 16th, and in that same game Anthony Volpe came a single short of the cycle…all of that on route to a 5-1 week, tying Rick with Danny Wildes and the Braves for the best NL record…Danny was 4-2, and edged 1 game up on Adam Symonds and the Phillies for the divisional lead…which creates quite a battle for the last 2 wildcard spots…Milwaukee sits at 78 wins having taken 3 of 4 from the Marlins, but losing 2 of 3 to a Washington team playing spoiler…the Padres have 77 wins, having swept Oakland on the road but dropping 2 of 3 in Los Angeles…the Mets are showing unexpected competence, and the resurgence of Lucchesi, Quintana and Butto has provided a decent rotation…they also sit at 77…the Dbacks are at 76 games, and they dropped 2 of 3 at home to the Cubs and hit the Mets during their hot streak…Mark has the club 14-16 over the last 30 and over .500 in interleague play…Pat Walsh has the Giants 4-3 on the week and 11-9 over the last 20 to hold at 74 wins, just 4 behind the Brewers…the Giants took 3 of 4 from Colorado but the Guardians stayed competitive as an NL spoiler, taking 2 of 3 in Arizona…back in their home league they got swept at home by a Texas team that really needed the wins…that’s five teams fighting it out for the last 2 spots…in the actual AL west there are 3 teams within a game of each other for the divisional title…in the ASFBL, it’s Houston and Texas taking it to the wire with the Astros up by two and half games…the Rangers wasted no opportunity and were 6-1 on the week and are 9-1 over the last 10…the Astros swept Oakland but dropped two of 3 to Kansas City…Oakland had a tough week but the club is still 13 games up on the MLB roster…with Minnesota and Tampa Bay in fairly comfortable division leads, and Texas (88 wins) and Toronto (87) wins in pretty safe wildcard spots, the real action is between the Bosox, Orioles, and Angels for the last spot…Baltimore has the edge with 80 wins, and they split four with the Rays, but Josh Clark’s Cardinals were strong as an interleague spoiler and took 2 of 3 from Baltimore in Camden…the Bosox split with the Yankees but swept a crucial series against the Jays, picking up 2 games on Baltimore…Anaheim has the highest hill to climb, as they have had to go +10 WOR to get into the race with the Orioles and Bosox, and put together a 4-2 week to tighten things up…they swept Seattle but Brian Sullivan’s Tigers were the spoiler, taking 2 of 3 in Anaheim…at least Greg didn’t have to clean out anyone’s locker during the series…Ronald Acuna has a 21-game hitting streak going…longest this season was Joey Meneses of Washington at 23, and that streak ended in June…Hoby Milner of the Brewers has gone 21 appearances without allowing an earned run, but he’s allowed unearned runs in 2 of his last 4 outings…Dodgers lead the ASFBL with 842 runs, 64 more than anyone else…they are still behind the actual Braves, who have 875…Two more regular season lineups to enter! Those spoiler lineups matter, and we had 26 lineups submitted last week!

FEATS AND FAILURES

J.D. Martinez (Los Angeles) struck out 4 times (on 9/11/2023 against San Diego)
Dominic Smith (Washington) had 5 hits (on 9/11/2023 against Pittsburgh)
Forrest Wall (Washington) had 5 hits (on 9/11/2023 against Pittsburgh)
Ryan O’Hearn (Kansas City) struck out 4 times (on 9/12/2023 against Chicago (CWS))
J.D. Martinez (Los Angeles) hit 3 homers (on 9/12/2023 against San Diego)
J.D. Martinez (Los Angeles) hit 7 RBI (on 9/12/2023 against San Diego)
Jake Cave (Texas) struck out 4 times (on 9/12/2023 against Toronto)
Aaron Judge (New York (NYY)) struck out 4 times (on 9/13/2023 against Boston)
Jordan Montgomery (New York (NYY)) struck out 12 batters (on 9/13/2023 against Boston)
Josh Lowe (Tampa Bay) struck out 4 times (on 9/14/2023 against Baltimore)
Ceddanne Rafaela (Boston) struck out 5 times (on 9/14/2023 against New York (NYY))
J.P. Crawford (New York (NYM)) struck out 4 times (on 9/14/2023 against Arizona)
Brett Phillips (Anaheim) struck out 4 times (on 9/15/2023 against Detroit)
Detroit and Anaheim played 14.5 innings on 9/15/2023
Trea Turner (Philadelphia) struck out 4 times (on 9/15/2023 against St. Louis)
Yainer Diaz (Los Angeles) hit 3 homers (on 9/16/2023 against Seattle)
Yainer Diaz (Los Angeles) had 5 hits (on 9/16/2023 against Seattle)
J.D. Martinez (Los Angeles) hit 6 RBI (on 9/16/2023 against Seattle)
Luis Robert Jr. (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 4 times (on 9/17/2023 against Minnesota)

Newsletter for games through 9-10-23

SCHEDULE REVIEW

We have 3 more lineup deadlines on Sept 19, Sept 26, and Oct 3. And players waived on those last 2 dates will be not be reassigned since there isn’t enough time for them to be assigned to the new teams and used by the final deadline…next week I’ll post a review of the playoff tiebreakers…

COMMENTARY

Will Benson of the Reds was a single shy of the cycle on Sept 6 against the Mariners…it was part of a 19-run barrage but was the Reds’ only win of the week…Atlanta went 6-1 to pick up the game they needed to tie the Phillies for first place in the NL East…the Braves had all their games at home and took advantage of the NL Central rivals while the Phils took 2 of 3 at home from Miami and then 2 of 3 on the road from the Padres…the next closest-divisional race is the AL West, where Houston inched another game out in front of the Rangers and is now up by 3 with 3 weeks left…the big series was head-to-head, and Houston swept all 3 games on the road after the Padres took 2 of 3 from them in San Diego…the big races are for the wildcard spots…the Philly/Atlanta runner-up has one spot locked up in the NL, which leaves the Brewers, DBacks, and Padres all within a game of each other for the last 2 spots…Giants are a dark horse at 70 wins, and the Mets have an outside shot with 71…of that crowd, the Brewers had the best week at 4-2, taking two road series from the Pirates and Yankees…in the AL, the Jays lead the wildcard pack with 86 wins and Texas is right behind them with 82, and both seem reasonably safe. After that the Orioles sit at 77 with Anaheim and Boston at 74…putting 3 teams in serious contention for the final spot….Cleveland is gasping for oxygen but has a mathematical chance after their perfect 7-0 performance…hats off to Baltimore, who did all their own work by sweeping the Angels and Bosox on the road….really strong week for the playoff contender…Boston couldn’t make headway against the Orioles, but they did take 2 of 3 from the Rays who lead the entire ASFBL in wins…tough week for the Angels who hit the join Oriole/Guardian buzzsaws, but at least they didn’t have to release some weird statement about how they might trade Mike Trout if it was OK with him…Bobby Witt Jr. leads the ASFBL with 11 triples…Luis Arraez has 197 hits, but he only leads Corey Seager of Texas by 6 batting average points, .347 to .341…so I’m impressed by Matt Olson, but my brain is just having a hard time processing the fact that Hank Aaron doesn’t hold every single Atlanta home run record….

FEATS AND FAILURES

Daniel Cope (Colorado) struck out 4 times (on 9/4/2023 against Arizona)
Logan Gilbert (Seattle) struck out 14 batters (on 9/4/2023 against Cincinnati)
Elly De La Cruz (Cincinnati) struck out 4 times (on 9/4/2023 against Seattle)
Zac Gallen (Toronto) struck out 11 batters (on 9/4/2023 against Oakland)
Giancarlo Stanton (Philadelphia) struck out 4 times (on 9/4/2023 against San Diego)
Cal Raleigh (Seattle) hit 3 homers (on 9/5/2023 against Cincinnati)
Matt Vierling (Detroit) had 5 hits (on 9/5/2023 against New York (NYY))
Gleyber Torres (Houston) struck out 5 times (on 9/5/2023 against Texas)
Adam Frazier (Baltimore) had 5 hits (on 9/6/2023 against Anaheim)
Jazz Chisholm Jr. (Miami) stole 3 bases (on 9/6/2023 against Los Angeles)
Liover Peguero (Pittsburgh) struck out 4 times (on 9/6/2023 against Milwaukee)
Wilyer Abreu (Boston) struck out 4 times (on 9/6/2023 against Tampa Bay)
Jordan Lawlar (Arizona) struck out 4 times (on 9/7/2023 against Chicago (CC))
Josh Lowe (Tampa Bay) had 5 hits (on 9/8/2023 against Seattle)
Randy Arozarena (Tampa Bay) hit 6 RBI (on 9/8/2023 against Seattle)
Randy Arozarena (Tampa Bay) had 5 hits (on 9/8/2023 against Seattle)
Isaac Paredes (Tampa Bay) hit 9 RBI (on 9/8/2023 against Seattle)
Ceddanne Rafaela (Boston) struck out 4 times (on 9/9/2023 against Baltimore)
DJ Stewart (New York (NYM)) struck out 4 times (on 9/9/2023 against Minnesota)
Leody Taveras (Philadelphia) struck out 4 times (on 9/9/2023 against Miami)
Mason Miller (Oakland) struck out 12 batters (on 9/9/2023 against Texas)
Davis Schneider (Toronto) struck out 5 times (on 9/9/2023 against Kansas City)
Yainer Diaz (Los Angeles) had 5 hits (on 9/9/2023 against Washington)
Akil Baddoo (Detroit) struck out 4 times (on 9/10/2023 against Chicago (CWS))
Corbin Carroll (San Diego) stole 3 bases (on 9/10/2023 against Houston)
J.D. Martinez (Los Angeles) struck out 4 times (on 9/10/2023 against Washington)