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)

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Newsletter for games through 8/21/22

COMMENTARY

Bad news from the Met fantasy dugout…fantasy Met Yordan Alvarez got a virus and had to leave a game last week, and due to poor trainer behavior he infected fantasy Met Shohei Ohtani who had to leave his start with a virus the next day…gotta add that as a setting to our lineups page…four of six divisions have a race where fewer than 2 games separate first from second…it doesn’t get tighter than the NL central where the Brewers are up by a half game over the Cardinals, and after a 5-1 week the Cubs are only 3.5 back…three teams within 3.5 games of each other…Mets and Braves marched in lockstep with 4-3 records…Reds were also 5-1 in the central…Dodgers cooled down to a 4-3 week, which would be great by just about anybody else’s standards, but the Padres showed some fight at 5-2…the divisional lead is an ungodly 30 games, but the Padres are battling with the Phils, Cubs, and Rockies out for the final wildcard spot…those 4 teams have between 63 to 66 wins each…so if you looked at the AL East you’d see the Jays, Yanks, and Bosox in a tight race at the top, and you’d see the upstart Orioles lurking only 4.5 back and ready to make a run…and if you did, you’d miss the fact that the DRays actually had the best record on the week at 6-1…Cleveland had the only perfect record in the division and moved to within a game of the Twins…both teams are now in positive WOR territory…doesn’t it seem like Oakland does something like this about every other year? John’s team had the best record at a perfect 7-0 and is now +8 WOR…as the actual club gets worse Oakland has a real shot at overtaking the top-3 WOR clubs…

FEATS AND FAILURES

Kyle Tucker (Philadelphia)  had 5 hits (on 8/15/2022 against Cincinnati) 
Justin Verlander (Cleveland) struck out 11 batters (on 8/15/2022 against Detroit) 
Max Stassi (Anaheim) hit 6 RBI (on 8/15/2022 against Seattle) 
Jonathan India (Cincinnati) struck out 4 times (on 8/16/2022 against Philadelphia) 
Matt Olson (Atlanta)  had 5 hits (on 8/16/2022 against New York (NYM)) 
Max Muncy (Los Angeles) hit 8 RBI (on 8/16/2022 against Milwaukee) 
Max Muncy (Los Angeles)  had 5 hits (on 8/16/2022 against Milwaukee) 
Ty France (Seattle) struck out 4 times (on 8/16/2022 against Anaheim) 
Terrin Vavra (Anaheim) struck out 4 times (on 8/16/2022 against Seattle) 
Zack Wheeler (Philadelphia) struck out 11 batters (on 8/17/2022 against Cincinnati) 
David Peralta (Oakland) struck out 4 times (on 8/17/2022 against Texas) 
Sean Murphy (Oakland) hit 6 RBI (on 8/17/2022 against Texas) 
Corbin Burnes (Milwaukee) struck out 12 batters (on 8/17/2022 against Los Angeles) 
Jake Lamb (Los Angeles) struck out 4 times (on 8/17/2022 against Milwaukee) 
Trea Turner (Los Angeles) struck out 4 times (on 8/18/2022 against Milwaukee) 
Tyrone Taylor (Milwaukee) struck out 4 times (on 8/19/2022 against Chicago (CC)) 
Cristian Javier (Chicago (CC)) struck out 11 batters (on 8/19/2022 against Milwaukee) 
Jacob deGrom (New York (NYM)) struck out 15 batters (on 8/19/2022 against Philadelphia) 
Merrill Kelly (Arizona) struck out 12 batters (on 8/19/2022 against St. Louis) 
Nolan Gorman (St. Louis) struck out 4 times (on 8/19/2022 against Arizona) 
Cavan Biggio (Toronto) struck out 4 times (on 8/20/2022 against New York (NYY)) 
Salvador Perez (Kansas City) struck out 4 times (on 8/20/2022 against Tampa Bay) 

Newsletter for games through 8/14/22

COMMENTARY

Sorry for the late posting, and things should settle back to normal next week…Appreciate the kind words some of you sent via email…Kudso to Rick Wynne, who has built a powerhouse, and had a 5-0 week…he’s 25-5 over the last 30, which is only 1 game better than the actual club…that’s one tough WOR road…Jays, Bosox, and Yankees are separated by 1 game in the best divisional race in the ASFBL…but Mark Chen’s Orioles just finished off a 7-0 week, best in the ASFBL, and moved to within 4 games of first place…smart money is on Ben’s Rangers, but there’s a chance all 3 wildcard teams could come from the same division…Cleveland and the Chisox are creeping closer in the AL central and could make a big move with one strong week…Aaron Judge leads both ASFBL and MLB in homers, and actually has more in real-life, so he could heat up down the stretch as he adjusts upward…Juan Soto has 103 walks to lead MLB and 96 to lead the ASFBL…Arraez is hitting .337 for the fantasy club and .336 for the actual Twins…it takes 15 wins to lead either MLB or ASFBL, and Verlander has done it for the actual Astros but Fried and Gonsolin have done it in the ASFBL…Alcantera leads both leagues in innings, with 2 more in MLB (173 vs 171)…Garrett Cole has 184 strikeouts for the actual Yankees, and Rodon and McClanahan have him beat in ASFBL…McClanahan has topped the 2-century mark at 211…Isan Diaz of the Giants hit .480 in the ASFBL last week with 4 doubles…no homers but he knocked in 9…Kyle Tucker had 4 homers and 10 RBIs for the Phillies last week…and hit all 4 homers in one game…Texas has a solid WOR lead at +16…Cubbies are the only other team in double-digits with 13.5….Colorado, the Dodgers, and Angels are all dark horses but are +8 or better….having a lot of fun simulating the NL East race with Danny Wildes….the Brewers vaulted 2.5 games up in the NL central and now lead the division by 2 games…

FEATS AND FAILURES

Gleyber Torres (New York (NYM)) struck out 4 times (on 8/8/2022 against Cincinnati) 
Max Scherzer (Anaheim) struck out 11 batters (on 8/8/2022 against Oakland) 
Jose Abreu (Chicago (CWS))  had 5 hits (on 8/9/2022 against Kansas City) 
Randy Arozarena (Tampa Bay) struck out 4 times (on 8/9/2022 against Milwaukee) 
DJ LeMahieu (New York (NYY)) hit 7 RBI (on 8/9/2022 against Seattle) 
Aaron Ashby (Milwaukee) struck out 11 batters (on 8/10/2022 against Tampa Bay) 
Nolan Arenado (New York (NYY)) hit 7 RBI (on 8/10/2022 against Seattle) 
Kyle Tucker (Philadelphia) hit 4 homers (on 8/11/2022 against Miami) 
Kyle Tucker (Philadelphia) hit 9 RBI (on 8/11/2022 against Miami) 
Kyle Tucker (Philadelphia)  had 5 hits (on 8/11/2022 against Miami) 
Framber Valdez (Houston) struck out 11 batters (on 8/11/2022 against Texas) 
Trayce Thompson (San Diego) hit 6 RBI (on 8/12/2022 against Washington) 
Eric Haase (Detroit) struck out 4 times (on 8/12/2022 against Chicago (CWS)) 
Vaughn Grissom (Atlanta)  had 5 hits (on 8/13/2022 against Miami) 
Matt Chapman (Philadelphia) struck out 4 times (on 8/14/2022 against New York (NYM)) 
Jacob deGrom (New York (NYM)) struck out 12 batters (on 8/14/2022 against Philadelphia) 
Gio Urshela (Minnesota) struck out 4 times (on 8/14/2022 against Anaheim) 

Newsletter for games through 8-7-22

ROSTER NOTE

The code is struggling with the situation where a AAA player is traded and subsequently promoted…I’ll look into making program fixes but in the meantime alert me if any of the players you traded for suddenly disappear…like, not actually on the roster, not like “we signed Jason Heyward for $184m and he’s hitting .211” disappeared…

COMMENTARY

Obviously running behind this week, so these are passing observations and not deep analysis…I’ve been thinking about it all week, but I can’t think of anything funnier than the MLB Angels hitting 7 home runs and losing…tipping my hat to Danny and Adam, who each gained ground in the NL east and are tied for the best record over the last 30 games…the entire NL central was 1 game under .500, and four of the teams went 3-3…all the Dodgers do is win, with another 6-1 week and a 25-5 mark over the last 30…Rockies and Padres each played 8 games last week…not as bad as the 9 the Oakland played earlier this year, but that’ll drain your bullpen…Johnny Mac‘s Jays got a length out ahead of the pack in the AL East…seems like his name comes up every year when the pennant races heat up…Yanks and Baltimore were each 4-2, and Mark Chen’s Orioles are playing the same spoiler role as the actual club…Mark Yee’s New Yorkers are behind the actual club but +11 and they’re a good team…Mike Mendoza’s Royals are a long way back but have the best AL Central record over the last 30 games…Twins continue to hold the top spot, and much like Everyone Loves Raymond reruns the Guardians seem to be there eternally…top four teams in the AL West are all 6-4 over the last 10…Anaheim had the best week…Houston is now +4 over the actual club, while Texas continues to lead the ASFBL in that category…kudos to those who found the easter egg tucked into the box score…this one was a player ejected for concealing a potato…

FEATS AND FAILURES

Cooper Hummel (Arizona) struck out 4 times (on 8/1/2022 against Cleveland) 
Michael Chavis (Pittsburgh) struck out 4 times (on 8/2/2022 against Milwaukee) 
Gleyber Torres (New York (NYM)) struck out 4 times (on 8/2/2022 against Washington) 
Nelson Cruz (Washington) struck out 4 times (on 8/2/2022 against New York (NYM)) 
Austin Riley (Atlanta) struck out 4 times (on 8/2/2022 against Philadelphia) 
Eugenio Suarez (Seattle) struck out 4 times (on 8/3/2022 against New York (NYY)) 
Tyler Nevin (Baltimore) struck out 4 times (on 8/3/2022 against Texas) 
C.J. Cron (Colorado) struck out 4 times (on 8/3/2022 against San Diego) 
Jorge Alfaro (San Diego) struck out 4 times (on 8/3/2022 against Colorado) 
Matt Olson (Atlanta) struck out 4 times (on 8/4/2022 against New York (NYM)) 
J.T. Realmuto (Toronto)  hit for the cycle! (on 8/4/2022 against Minnesota) 
Aaron Judge (St. Louis) hit 7 RBI (on 8/5/2022 against New York (NYY)) 
Aaron Judge (St. Louis)  had 5 hits (on 8/5/2022 against New York (NYY)) 
Tommy Edman (St. Louis)  had 5 hits (on 8/5/2022 against New York (NYY)) 
Luis Rengifo (Anaheim)  had 5 hits (on 8/5/2022 against Seattle) 
Brandon Marsh (Anaheim) struck out 5 times (on 8/6/2022 against Seattle) 
Pete Alonso (Anaheim) hit 6 RBI (on 8/6/2022 against Seattle) 
Luis Rengifo (Anaheim)  had 5 hits (on 8/6/2022 against Seattle) 
Nathaniel Lowe (Atlanta) hit 3 homers (on 8/6/2022 against New York (NYM)) 
Nathaniel Lowe (Atlanta)  had 5 hits (on 8/6/2022 against New York (NYM)) 
Brandon Marsh (Anaheim) struck out 5 times (on 8/6/2022 against Seattle) 
Matt Chapman (Philadelphia) struck out 4 times (on 8/7/2022 against Washington) 
Nathaniel Lowe (Atlanta) struck out 4 times (on 8/7/2022 against New York (NYM)) 
Jacob deGrom (New York (NYM)) struck out 12 batters (on 8/7/2022 against Atlanta) 
Salvador Perez (Kansas City) struck out 4 times (on 8/7/2022 against Boston) 
Carlos Correa (Minnesota) struck out 4 times (on 8/7/2022 against Toronto) 
Tyler O'Neill (New York (NYY)) struck out 4 times (on 8/7/2022 against St. Louis)

Newsletter for games through 7-31-22

TRADE TALES

I honestly don’t remember a week this active ever before…Leo has done an excellent job of chronicling the seasonal totals, so I won’t repeat that here, but on the week…there were FIFTY ONE trades, starting last Wednesday. when Texas, Colorado, the ChiSox, Baltimore, Detroit, and Houston started on day 1. three trades have involved free waives, which is the first time all year that free waivers have been traded…a total of 139 players were involved…twenty-six different teams made trades…the biggest trade involved 8 players (Washington offer Josh Bell, Patrick Corbin, Carl Edwards Jr., Keibert Ruiz, and to Houston for Bailey Falter, Rhys Hoskins, Phil Maton, Ryan Pressly, and Kyle Schwarber) and came in at 11:25pm California time….1:25am Central and 2:25am Eastern…plenty of big names flying around and plenty of roster tweaks…thanks to all for making this a really fun trading deadline!

THE DARK CLOUD

I’m not one to openly mourn the loss of public personas, but if you’ll indulge me I just want to say that Vin Scully was a national treasure. I don’t like the Dodgers at all (lingering resentment about the 1988 NLCS), but when my kids were first born and I would endlessly circle our block with a stroller the big treat in my day was being able to put a game on my portable AM radio just to hear Scully talk about baseball…I can’t think of any other time in my life I’ve listened to something I didn’t care about just to hear the way it was being described…thanks to those of you who shared on email…

I’LL TAKE TWO, PLEASE

Jon Gray (Texas) threw a no-hitter! (on 7/26/2022 against Seattle)

Marcus Stroman (Chicago (CC)) threw a no-hitter! (on 7/29/2022 against San Francisco)

..the most amazing thing is that both pitchers are with their original clubs…

COMMENTARY

So watching MLB I saw that the Angels and Nationals basically tanked their rosters while the Mets bolstered theirs, and so naturally the Mets immediately lost to the Nationals and the Angels won at home…anyway, winning the trades is no guarantee of immediately winning more games…one of the truer aphorisms of baseball is that on any given day anything can happen…big mover in the AL East was early-trading partner Baltimore, who went 5-2…it’s a longshot, dark-horse route but Mark’s team is single-digits from first place…with the actual Bosox sellers at the trade deadline it will be fun to see whether Hugh Brown — doing one of the absolute best jobs in the ASFBL this year by taking a bad team, holding first, and posting a +8 WOR — can hang on to first in a tough division…Bosox made two 1-for-1 deals on the week…Tim Walsh has the Twinkies at the top of the AL central but all other teams had winning records this week, with the Royals taking the prize at 6-1 and Skrovan’s Guardians checking in at 5-2…the cumulative divisional WOR is +7 and no team is more than a half-game behind the actual team…you gotta love Texas and Ben Brockreide is riding a +14 WOR…still got a ways to catch the Astros but went 5-2…after Trader Jim Casey — I’m not putting quote marks around the Trader because if that isn’t his full legal name by now it should be — pulled off the last 3 trades, including the Soto/Bell blockbuster, he has a 6-1 record and 10-game lead to show for it…Toronto, Texas, and the Yankees are the NL wildcard frontrunners but Baltimore, the ChiSox, Cleveland, and Anaheim still have a shot…Atlanta and the Mets continue to trade punches at the top of the NL East, where Danny Wildes held to the top spot, but Adam Symonds’ Phillies had the best record in the division and he front-loaded his trades…they are 17-13 over the last 30…the Braves made three trades on the week but also did some roster maneuvering the week prior to set their rotation for the year…Zewiske’s Brewers took advantage of a Cardinal stumble to move to within a half game…Gordon’s Cubbies were the most active team at the trade deadline and posted a 5-1 record out of the gate…and that 3-team race is a thing to behold, where the 3 teams are a collective 21 games ahead of the MLB teams…the NL West, and maybe the entire NL, is all about the Dodgers, who cruised to a 6-1 week, but it says something that the Rockies went 1-6 and are still +6 WOR…mad respect to Al Benedek for pulling the trigger on multiple trades in August while sitting 28 games back…moved some named players…and, in what was the single most awesome moment of the week and the finale to any trading deadline flurry, the Padres and Tigers traded Luis Garcia for…Luis Garcia…brilliant!

FEATS AND FAILURES

Joe Dunand (Miami) struck out 4 times (on 7/25/2022 against Cincinnati) 
Matt Chapman (Philadelphia) hit 3 homers (on 7/25/2022 against Atlanta) 
AJ Pollock (Houston) struck out 4 times (on 7/25/2022 against Oakland) 
Martin Maldonado (Los Angeles) struck out 4 times (on 7/25/2022 against Washington) 
Bobby Witt (Los Angeles) struck out 4 times (on 7/25/2022 against Washington) 
Eric Thames (Los Angeles) struck out 4 times (on 7/25/2022 against Washington) 
Jeremy Pena (Boston) struck out 4 times (on 7/26/2022 against Cleveland) 
Marcus Semien (Texas) hit 6 RBI (on 7/26/2022 against Seattle) 
Adolis García (Texas)  had 5 hits (on 7/26/2022 against Seattle) 
Adolis García (Texas)  hit for the cycle! (on 7/26/2022 against Seattle) 
Corbin Burnes (Milwaukee) struck out 12 batters (on 7/27/2022 against Minnesota) 
Dylan Carlson (St. Louis) struck out 4 times (on 7/27/2022 against Toronto) 
Shohei Ohtani (New York (NYM)) struck out 11 batters (on 7/27/2022 against New York (NYY)) 
Joe Musgrove (Houston) struck out 11 batters (on 7/28/2022 against Seattle) 
Rhys Hoskins (Washington) struck out 4 times (on 7/29/2022 against St. Louis) 
Teoscar Hernandez (Toronto)  had 5 hits (on 7/29/2022 against Detroit) 
Nick Pratto (Kansas City) struck out 4 times (on 7/30/2022 against New York (NYY)) 
Justin Verlander (Cleveland) struck out 11 batters (on 7/31/2022 against Tampa Bay) 
Logan Webb (San Francisco) struck out 11 batters (on 7/31/2022 against Chicago (CC)) 
Andrew Velazquez (Anaheim) stole 3 bases (on 7/31/2022 against Texas)

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) 

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) 

Newsletter for games through 6-26-22

FEAT OF THE WEEK!!

Chris Taylor of the Dodgers struck out 4 times against the Reds on June 21…on the very next day he hit for the cycle…momentum only lasts as long as tomorrow’s starting pitcher…

COMMENTARY

All-star break is coming up, which you might want to keep in mind as you think ahead with your starting rotations…the week starting July 18 will be a short one…Brewers lead the ASFBL in homers with 110..only the Braves also have triple-digits at 104…Top 6 ASFBL homer teams are all in the NL, which is what happens when you make the DH universal, I suppose…MLB leader is the Yankees with 124…only 3 of the top 6 MLB teams are from the NL…Dodgers lead the ASFBL in runs and are 2d in MLB…actual Astros have scored 318 runs, but Jim Casey has his team at 354…I don’t have tables of data for easy comparisons on this one, but that’s pretty good…generally, ASFBL scoring is a little lower than the MLB average…only by about 10 runs over 75 games so far…Rockies are 8-2 over the last 10 games, which would be the best in the NL had not their division-mate Dodgers checked in at 9-1…Astros are best in the AL at 8-2 (now +1 WOR) and Bosox are at 7-3…Greg Achten is blowing away the AL with +11 WOR and nobody else is more than +6…the ASFBL Yankees are scuffling a bit (nobody was going to keep up with that actual Yankee performance), but if you are a sports memorabilia collector at all you owe it to yourself to check out his facebook page…my facebook timeline tells me that 10 years ago Rick Wynne, Tim Walsh, Leo Leckie and I caught a spring training game together…the Leckie family is a collective +17.5 WOR and nobody has a negative number…Oakland should just hire all of them…still impressed that Ben Leckie and John Weerts are in such strong WOR territory in such a strong division…Guardians, Chisox, and Royals all had 5 wins this week and all in the AL Central…Cleveland has the best AL pitching with an ERA of 3.24, and the next 4 teams are all in the AL East (Yankees, Jays, Bosox, and Rays)…Giants ERA hovers at the league average but they’ve allowed fewer homers than any other team…Miami has the best MLB stats for any starting rotation, with an ERA of a measly 2.41…Astros have the best actual bullpen at 2.34, followed by the Cardinals at 2.72…Baltimore can pitch, with an overall team ERA of 3.55…

FEATS AND FAILURES

Connor Joe (Colorado)  had 5 hits (on 6/22/2022 against Miami) 
Tyler Nevin (Baltimore) struck out 5 times (on 6/22/2022 against Washington) 
Washington and Baltimore played 14.5 innings on6/22/2022
Hunter Dozier (Detroit) struck out 4 times (on 6/22/2022 against Boston) 
Austin Riley (Atlanta) struck out 4 times (on 6/23/2022 against San Francisco) 
Darin Ruf (San Francisco) struck out 4 times (on 6/23/2022 against Atlanta) 
Sandy Alcantara (Miami) struck out 11 batters (on 6/24/2022 against New York (NYM)) 
Giancarlo Stanton (New York (NYY)) struck out 4 times (on 6/25/2022 against Houston) 
Shane McClanahan (Tampa Bay) struck out 12 batters (on 6/25/2022 against Pittsburgh) 
Victor Robles (Washington) struck out 4 times (on 6/25/2022 against Texas) 
Jorge Soler (Miami) struck out 4 times (on 6/25/2022 against New York (NYM)) 
Gerrit Cole (New York (NYM)) struck out 15 batters (on 6/25/2022 against Miami) 
Corbin Burnes (Milwaukee) struck out 11 batters (on 6/26/2022 against Toronto)