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)