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)

Newsletter for games through 9-3-2023

COMMENTARY

The Mets had a pretty decent week, and I attribute it to my decision to remove Julio Urias from my active roster…huge improvement in digital clubhouse chemistry and overall karma…respect women, dude…still 19 games behind Adam Symonds’ Phillies, however…feats and failures are below, but there’s a nice symmetry to 3 players hitting 3 homers this week…the whole world is turning into Jose Altuve…Cubs are probably pretty safe with a 7.5-game lead with a month to go, but the Brewers have picked up 5 games over the last 30 and have to feel good about taking 2 of 3 from the division-leaders this week…Miami is scuffling but is a dangerous spoiler and they took 2 games from Tampa this week…Tampa still leads the league in wins and win percentage…and is 7 games ahead of the actual club…Ben is having himself a year…Padres have the best NL west record over the last 10 games and helped themselves this week in the NL wildcard dogfight…Dodgers still have the best record over the last 20 and hold the largest lead of any first-place team…the Astros jumped Texas with a perfect week to take a 2 game lead in the AL West…right now, the top 3 teams in the AL west would make the playoffs…Joey Meneses of Washington has a 23-game hitting streak, tops in the league…Michael Harris III of the Astros and TJ Friedl of the Reds are each at 21…Tyler Holton of Detroit hadn’t allowed a run in 24 appearances and the run ended on August 25th….Devin Williams of the Brewers hasn’t allowed a run in 21 appearances and the streak is active…the Reds‘ roster leads the league in total vowels with 530, but the Oakland roster has the longest average player name (first and last combined) at over 11.9….in true Oakland fashion, they aren’t doing it with superstars like Christian Encarnacion-Strand (28), but with steady consistency up and down the roster….way to go, Justin Armbreuster (18) and Christian Walker (16)…

FEATS AND FAILURES

Adam Duvall (Arizona) hit 8 RBI (on 8/28/2023 against Los Angeles)
Luis Castillo (Seattle) struck out 11 batters (on 8/28/2023 against Oakland)
Luis Campusano (San Diego) hit 3 homers (on 8/28/2023 against St. Louis)
William Contreras (Milwaukee) hit 3 homers (on 8/29/2023 against Chicago (CC))
Elly De La Cruz (Cincinnati) struck out 4 times (on 8/30/2023 against San Francisco)
Patrick Bailey (San Francisco) struck out 4 times (on 8/31/2023 against San Diego)
Alejandro Kirk (Tampa Bay) struck out 4 times (on 9/1/2023 against Cleveland)
J.T. Realmuto (Philadelphia) hit 3 homers (on 9/1/2023 against Milwaukee)
J.T. Realmuto (Philadelphia) hit 8 RBI (on 9/1/2023 against Milwaukee)
Heston Kjerstad (Baltimore) struck out 4 times (on 9/2/2023 against Arizona)
Shawn Armstrong (Tampa Bay) struck out 11 batters (on 9/2/2023 against Cleveland)
Jose Caballero (Seattle) struck out 4 times (on 9/2/2023 against New York (NYM))
Kyle Tucker (Arizona) struck out 4 times (on 9/3/2023 against Baltimore)
Jonathan Schoop (Oakland) struck out 4 times (on 9/3/2023 against Anaheim

Newsletter for games through 8-27

COMMENTARY

ASFBL safetey update: No fans have rushed Danny Wildes nor any of his Braves during ASFBL play…Danny is not safe from Adam Symonds and his Phillies this week, however, as they went 6-0 and nudged into first place by half a game…Adam can thank Pat Walsh of the Giants who took a game from the Braves in order to open the space necessary for Adam to complete his run into first place…Greg Achten has not waived a third of his roster…although the ASFBL Mets could probably safely do that and have all their guys clear…Paul Block’s Nationals went 5-1 on the road, taking down the Yankees and division-rival Miami…Mark Druyos is in a fight for the second wildcard spot and he made his case with a 5-1 week, best in the division…DBacks hit a soft spot in the scuffling Reds but also took 2 games from Texas, helping out Houston and Anaheim…nobody in the AL west had a winning record, however, and Ben Brockreide still holds the divisional lead by 2 games…Toronto and Tampa were each 5-1 this week and are each 20-10 over their last 30…Hugh Brown and Boston went 5-2 and he’s battling with Anaheim and Baltimore for the last playoff spot…they won’t catch the Twins and are a longshot for the wildcard run, but Mike Mendoza’s Royals just keep rolling…5-1 record this week was the best in the division, and the only winning record in the AL central…Detroit is having a tough year but has a winning record in 1-run games…the Chisox aren’t a very good actual club but Leo has them at +7 WOR and he’s 21-15 within the division…the Padres are +4 WOR, had a winning week, and helped out the Cubs by taking 2 of 3 from the Brewers this week…the AL West has 4 teams with winning records; the AL West has three…Seattle is struggling (who could have forseen the August the actual club had?) but Cal Raleign hit .440 last week with 3 homers…Mookie Betts of the Dodgers hit .478, stole 2 bases, and knocked in 6 runs…no fantasy team has scored more than the Dodgers, who are 46 runs ahead a of the Rangers…Tampa is third…the Royals lead the ASFBL in stolen bases with 158..the Reds lead MLB with 153…the ASFBL Braves lead the league in homers, just like the real club…Texas leads the ASFBL with a team average of .283, slightly ahead of the MLB leader Atlanta at .276…best ASFBL net fielding team is the Astros, who have allowed only 22 more hits than they have taken away…Corbin Carroll of San Diego was a single short of the cycle on 8/27/2023 against Milwaukee…Carroll came over in a trade way back on April 17…the long game paid off…

FEATS AND FAILURES

Jake Bauers (Cincinnati) struck out 4 times (on 8/21/2023 against Anaheim)
Elehuris Montero (St. Louis) struck out 4 times (on 8/21/2023 against Pittsburgh)
Matt Wallner (Minnesota) struck out 4 times (on 8/22/2023 against Milwaukee)
Royce Lewis (Minnesota) struck out 4 times (on 8/22/2023 against Milwaukee)
Spencer Strider (Tampa Bay) struck out 13 batters (on 8/22/2023 against Colorado)
Anthony Volpe (Los Angeles) struck out 4 times (on 8/23/2023 against Cleveland)
Manny Machado (San Diego) hit 3 homers (on 8/23/2023 against Miami)
Shohei Ohtani (Anaheim) struck out 11 batters (on 8/25/2023 against New York (NYM))
Kodai Senga (New York (NYM)) struck out 11 batters (on 8/25/2023 against Anaheim)
Jeff McNeil (Arizona) hit 6 RBI (on 8/26/2023 against Cincinnati)
Elly De La Cruz (Cincinnati) struck out 4 times (on 8/26/2023 against Arizona)
Jared Triolo (Pittsburgh) struck out 4 times (on 8/26/2023 against Chicago (CC))
Darell Hernaiz (Oakland) had 5 hits (on 8/27/2023 against Chicago (CWS))

Newsletter for games through 8-20-23

COMMENTARY

This is the time of year when the cream rises…Rick Wynne’s Dodgers went 6-0…Mark Druyos’ DBacks were 5-2…the division is surely sewn up since the Dodgers are up by a full 17 games — which is by itself worth mentioning — but Marks’ club had the 2nd-best record in the NL this week and he’s in a 4-team shootout along with the Brewers, Giants, and Padres for the last wildcard spot…wildcard teams win World Series, and getting into the playoffs is the priority right now…back in the NL East the Braves and Phillies are on cruise control, but both are sitting in very safe playoff positions…neither team had a week to write home about, but the Padres picked up a few games on the Giants and are only 3 back of Arizona for the last wildcard spot…Tampa Bay righted the ship and ran the table for a perfect week, staying comfortably ahead of Johnny Mac’s Jays, even though they went 4-1…while the actual Yankees collapse, Mark Yee posted a winning week…the Twins have the biggest lead in the AL but the Royals and Guardians each had 4 wins…Leo does not have to fire either his club President or his GM since he’s 7 games ahead of the actual Chisox…Houston picked up 2 games in the AL West to move under 3 games behind the Rangers…Jim Casey can thank Chris Zewiske, since the Brewers swept the Rangers on the road to open the space…both the NL East and AL West have real, live divisional races where the Braves and Rangers lead the Phillies and Astros by 2.5 each…Oakland went 5-1 and the most entertaining race may be the Wins Over Reality standings, where the Athletics are tied with the Royals at +18 a piece…in the midwest show downs, the Chisox and Cleveland each took 2 from the Cubs…FIVE weeks left with the season ending on Oct 1…October 5 lineup will play the last 4 games of the season out…Good luck to everyone down the stretch! Remember that the spoiler lineups are as important as the contenders in determining how the season ends!

FEATS AND FAILURES

• Ji Hwan Bae (Pittsburgh) stole 3 bases (on 8/15/2023 against New York (NYM))
• Mickey Moniak (Anaheim) struck out 4 times (on 8/15/2023 against Texas)
• Jeremy Pena (Kansas City) hit 6 RBI (on 8/16/2023 against Seattle)
• Spencer Strider (Tampa Bay) struck out 11 batters (on 8/16/2023 against San Francisco)
• Elehuris Montero (St. Louis) struck out 4 times (on 8/17/2023 against New York (NYM))
• Clayton Kershaw (New York (NYM)) struck out 11 batters (on 8/17/2023 against St. Louis)
• Hunter Renfroe (Anaheim) struck out 4 times (on 8/18/2023 against Tampa Bay)
• Logan Webb (Toronto) struck out 11 batters (on 8/19/2023 against Cincinnati)
• Matt McLain (Cincinnati) struck out 4 times (on 8/19/2023 against Toronto)
• Pete Alonso (Oakland) hit 3 homers (on 8/19/2023 against Baltimore)
• Christian Yelich (Milwaukee) had 5 hits (on 8/19/2023 against Texas)
• Drew Waters (Kansas City) struck out 4 times (on 8/20/2023 against Chicago (CC))

Newsletter for games through 8-6-23

COMMENTARY

Kyle Barraclough of Boston threw a no-hitter on 7/31/2023 against Seattle…it’s almost news when a no-hitter is thrown and only one pitcher is in the box score…Philadelphia and Milwaukee had the big weeks in the NL…Symonds’ group went 5-2 to move within 2 games of the Braves and their 70 wins is second-best in the NL…the Brewers had the best record in the National League at 6-1 and narrowed the Cub lead to single-digits…which is still a longshot, but this writer can never forget the 1969 season…Dodgers cruised at 4-2 and are 10 games up with a reasonable shot at the top seed in the league…my plan to best the actual Mets more or less depended on Clayton Kershaw coming off the DL by now…much respect to the Cardinals and Diamondbacks who have been dealt mediocre hands by the actual clubs and are staying active to improve on the actual effort…Toronto and Baltimore are duking it out for second place in the AL East and this round went to Toronto, who picked up a game and a half last week…best AL central record over the last 30 games goes to the Tigers at 17-13…13-7 over the last 20…Chisox are 21-15 within the division, same as the Twins…and kudos to Tim Walsh; this seems like his year…top 3 teams in the AL west went a collective 16-4 this week…Angels and Astros have gone 7-3 over the last 10 but Texas has actually gained ground by going 8-2…Oakland is 14-11 in one-run games and has a +10 WOR…hear me out — the worst team in modern baseball history is the 1962 Mets; this year’s Royals are making a run at that low-water mark; right after the Met sell-off the actual Royals swept the actual Mets…I think that all makes the present Met team the worst club since 1962, at least for the last half-season…in a preview of what might be late-round NL playoff ball, the Braves swept the Cubs…Oakland took 2 against the Giants…in a show of strength, Anaheim took 2 of 3 from Atlanta…Just about 50 games left in the season…good luck to everyone down the stretch!

FEATS AND FAILURES

Corbin Carroll (San Diego) stole 3 bases (on 7/31/2023 against Colorado)
Jon Berti (Miami) struck out 4 times (on 7/31/2023 against Philadelphia)
Spencer Strider (Tampa Bay) struck out 12 batters (on 7/31/2023 against New York (NYY))
Ramon Urias (Baltimore) struck out 4 times (on 7/31/2023 against Toronto)
Justin Steele (Chicago (CC)) struck out 11 batters (on 8/1/2023 against Cincinnati)
Ezequiel Tovar (Colorado) struck out 4 times (on 8/1/2023 against San Diego)
Randal Grichuk (Colorado) struck out 4 times (on 8/1/2023 against San Diego)
Edouard Julien (Minnesota) struck out 4 times (on 8/1/2023 against St. Louis)
Tom Murphy (Toronto) struck out 5 times (on 8/1/2023 against Baltimore)
Andres Gimenez (Cleveland) struck out 4 times (on 8/2/2023 against Houston)
Zack Gelof (Oakland) struck out 4 times (on 8/2/2023 against Los Angeles)
Aaron Judge (New York (NYY)) struck out 4 times (on 8/2/2023 against Tampa Bay)
Yohel Pozo (Chicago (CWS)) had 5 hits (on 8/2/2023 against Texas)
Jared Triolo (Pittsburgh) struck out 4 times (on 8/3/2023 against Milwaukee)
Jordan Westburg (Baltimore) struck out 4 times (on 8/4/2023 against New York (NYM))
Davis Schneider (Toronto) hit 3 homers (on 8/5/2023 against Boston)
Brandon Lowe (Washington) struck out 4 times (on 8/5/2023 against Cincinnati)
Yandy Diaz (Tampa Bay) had 5 hits (on 8/6/2023 against Detroit)
Bryce Miller (Oakland) struck out 12 batters (on 8/6/2023 against San Francisco)
San Francisco and Oakland played 14.5 innings on8/6/2023

Newsletter for games through 7-23-23

COMMENTARY

Leo was perusing MLB news site and found an article by Mark Feinsand who listed the 17 players most likely to move at the trade deadline…and 4 of them are on Leo’s ASFBL team (Giolito, Lopez, Lynn, and Middleton)…Johnny Mac sent me this 2 weeks ago and I’ve been meaning to include it: “Two weeks in a row, one of my Jays’ starters pitched 7 no hit innings, only to have the bullpen lose the no hitter…Last week it was Kikuchi and this week it was Trevor Richards. Both games were 1-0 wins!”…Remember that next week is the trade deadline…any moves you make need to be entered by the August 1 lineup deadline…The NL East acted like the AL East, with the worst record in the division 4-2 and a collective performance of 22-8…Philly couldn’t close the gap on the 5-1 Braves, but they are +5.5 WOR and making it more of a race than the actual club…AL East is the story of the Jays and Rays…in a real-life season that is basically the Thunderdome, both ASFBL clubs are doing better than the actual clubs…Baltimore isn’t the feel-good story of the actual MLB, but Mark Chen is within 3 games of the wildcard spot…Ben Leckie has the Rays with the most wins in the league…Braves and Dodgers are chasing them…I was feeling pretty smug about the Kershaw/Verlander swap 6 weeks ago when Verlander’s ERA was over 4.5 and Kershaw was on route to the all-star game, then I sent Rick an email about how equitable the trade was on a day they both started and had identical pitching lines…now Verlander has an ERA of 3.24 and Kershaw is on the DL…next year we need to add a rule that Rick can’t use his crystal ball anymore…Nobody in the NL central had a winning week, but the Cards had the same record as the division-leading Cubs and the Pirates are still +2 WOR despite a tough week…Dodgers are 22-8 over their last 30 and are in a reasonbly comfortable spot in the NL West despite the Diamondbacks and Giants doing better than the actual clubs…take away Rick’s +5 WOR and the three teams would be within 2 games of each other…Mike Mendoza is going to earn the nickname “Magic” with what he’s done with the Royals…and ungodly +17 WOR…a 5-2 week…really impressive…Leo has gotten more out of the Chisox than the actual club can muster at +3 WOR…he’s a scary spoiler going down the stretch…Anaheim made a big move in the AL West and is now only 3 games back…Texas had the misfortune of playing the Dodgers and Rays in the same week, and the Angels won both their series against Pittsburgh and the Yankees…mad respect for John Weerts and his +8 WOR with a team the actual owner is trying to dismantle…there are no digital ASFBL fans chanting “sell the team”…Feat of the Week goes to Will Brennan of Cleveland who had 7 RBI on 7/17/2023 against Pittsburgh…

FEATS AND FAILURES

Ian Happ (Chicago (CC)) struck out 4 times (on 7/17/2023 against Washington)
Freddie Freeman (Los Angeles) had 5 hits (on 7/18/2023 against Baltimore)
Stone Garrett (Washington) struck out 4 times (on 7/18/2023 against Chicago (CC))
Joey Votto (Cincinnati) struck out 4 times (on 7/19/2023 against San Francisco)
Corbin Burnes (Milwaukee) struck out 11 batters (on 7/19/2023 against Philadelphia)
Matt Chapman (Toronto) struck out 4 times (on 7/19/2023 against San Diego)
Tyler Glasnow (San Diego) struck out 12 batters (on 7/19/2023 against Toronto)
Joe Ryan (Minnesota) struck out 11 batters (on 7/20/2023 against Seattle)
Matt Thaiss (Anaheim) struck out 4 times (on 7/21/2023 against Pittsburgh)
Mike Ford (Seattle) hit 3 homers (on 7/21/2023 against Toronto)
Danny Jansen (Toronto) hit 8 RBI (on 7/22/2023 against Seattle)
Canaan Smith-Njigba (Pittsburgh) struck out 4 times (on 7/23/2023 against Anaheim)

Newsletter for games through 7-16-23

LIFE IMITATING ART

So earlier this year we had a surge in offense in the ASFBL, and my first question was whether this was part of an MLB trend or not…and once I’d corrected my blunder, this headline appeared: MLB has offensive outburst not seen since 1894…so, we had too much offense, then we corrected to match the MLB totals, then MLB adjusted to us and had 12 teams score in double-digits in one day…stay till the last inning because you might just see something you’ve never seen before…

COMMENTARY

Even in the short week, not a single NL team was undefeated…kudos to the Padres, who turned in the only 3-win week…Pirates, Reds, and Cards all gained ground…over in the AL, the Jays, Bosox, and Twins ran the table…Royals are now +13 WOR despite a 1-2 week…top 3 teams in the AL central are a combined +21 WOR…the AL East, as it is in real life, is like the Thunderdome, with 4 teams above .500…that’s an amazing pace, and the real clubs are so hot that only the Rays are doing better than the actual club…Texas remains in first in the AL west and trails only the Rays in total league wins, but neither the Angels nor the Astros seem ready to concede the division…unlike Arte Moreno, Greg Achten has assembled a pitching staff, and Jim Casey is Jim Casey…which is to say he’s always improving everything at every position…Cubbies had a rough start but Cody Bellinger hit .448 over the past 7 games…Chase Pinder of the Cards started off hitting .500 in 18-AB, which would have been the best hitting week in the return if not for Travis Jankowski of the Rangers hitting .524 in 21 AB…also stole 4 bases and walked 8 times…only two post-break trades, but twenty-nine owners submitted lineups…it was cool to see De La Cruz steal 3 bases including home on 2 pitches, but I’m still trying to figure out how to code “defense just kind of stops paying attention to the runner on 3rd after he stole the base”…reminder the AUGUST FIRST is the trade deadline, and that coincides nicely with our lineup entry deadline 2 weeks from now…time to make your final roster tweaks…or overhauls…if you’re in the south, try to stay indoors, and if you’re in the northeast, try to stay dry…tough year for the Yankees, but I think Mark Yee scored a Lars Nootbaar 1 of 5 rookie card…might be the best acquisition anyone in the ASFBL has made this year…

FEATS AND FAILURES

The main failure this week was that I deleted the file, so great feats will remain unreported…

Newsletter for games through 7-9-23 — The All-Star Break!

PASSING OBSERVATINGS

Will the real baseball savants please stand up? The website had left off the Sunday stats for pitchers, which apparently the baseball-savant.com staff didn’t notice, but 3 ASFBL owners did…talk about attention to detail…a friend sent me a New York Times article titled “why I’m still a Mets fan” — part of the commentary was that the worst days weren’t when they blew a lead in the 8th inning, but when it was an off day…some years I really get into the All-Star game, some years it just feels like 3 off days…hope you found the game and weekend engaging!

COMMENTARY

Guardians have the best bullpen in MLB, with an ERA of just over 3.00….they are only second in the ASFBL, with an actual ERA of 2.83 and just behind Houston who’s at 2.82…Steve improved his bullpen, and Jim improved it a little more…curiously, however, the Dodgers have a better inherited runner scoring percentage…and the Dodgers have inherited the most runners in the league so far (204), more than twice as many as the Mariners…those are totals from guys on the actual roster right now, not what’s happened in actual games…Twins and Astros are tied for the league lead in WHIP…Cubs, Dodgers, and Giants are percentage-points behind them…Yankees are scuffling in ASFBL and real life, but the ASFBL team is second in the league in strikeouts…Chisox are also in the top six…I haven’t coded in a function for stealing home, but maybe recent events mean that I should…Padres have the best fielding in the league, allowing only 7 more baserunners on bad plays and errors than they have taken away with hit-saving plays…Rangers lead the league with 518 runs scored…Rays and Dodgers are also over the 500 mark…Braves lead the league in homers…in the AL, five teams vying for 3 wildcard spots are within 4 games of each other…and the Bosox are only 8 games out, which makes them a dark horse, but it can be done…Royals lead the league in WOR, which is Mike Mendoza using the scoring scheme exactly as intended…a bad team makes it easier to jump in the standings…NL playoff race might already be set, but six teams are in the 10-15 games back range, which would require an incredible run to make the playoffs, but here in digital Mets land 1969 never fades from memory…Nobody in the AL had more than 4 wins last week…kudos to the Orioles and Jays for inching closer in the NL East….Dodgers finished strong with the only 6-0 finish in the league and moving themselves 2 games into first…Phillies picked up a half game on the Braves in the NL East….Reds and Cardinals both had winning weeks, with the Cards tying the Brewers for the best week in the division…Rays and Rangers are the only ASFBL teams with 60 or more wins going into the break…can’t wait for the games to start up again, and good luck to everyone down the stretch!

NEWSLETTER FOR GAMES THROUGH 7-2-23

COMMENTARY

Cubbies ran the table and may be running away with the NL central going into the break…Reds have the second best within-division record at 14-10…Diamondbacks and Dodgers marched lockstep at 4-2…Mark Druyos holds the divisional lead and Rick Wynne is doing better compared to the actual club…the entire division is .5 above reality, and it’s taken a skid over the past 10 games by the Giants and Rockies to push it that low…tough out there in the west…the Braves are just a good actual team and Danny Wildes is holding a steady helm…8-2 over the last 10, 5-1 this week and still a game behind the actual club…can’t shake Adam Symonds and the Phillies, though, who are +6.5 WOR and only 4.5 back…Mark Chen’s Baltimore club had the best record in the brutal AL East and is only a game back of Ben Leckie’s Rays over the last 30 games…Boston was 4-2 and Hugh Brown has them within a game of the real club…Tim Walsh’s Twins are still the class of the AL central but stumbled a bit this week, while Leo’s Chisox and Mike Mendoza’s Royals each had 4 wins…Mike has that Royal team +10 WOR and has taken a really crumbly actual club and turned them into a factor in the division…Ben Brockreide’s Texas club is making a run, 7-0 this week and 9-1 over the last 10…yesterday wasn’t as terrible for Greg Acthen as the actual Angels, since Trout had been traded last May…John Weerts is as active as anybody, having completed one trade for each of the past 3 weeks and has the club at +5 WOR…he’s got no plans to move to Las Vegas…Seattle is scuffling but put together a 4-2 week…Mickey Moniak of Anaheim was no doubt the player of the week, hitting .478 while the league still adjusts in the favor of pitchers…Dodgers sweeping the Rockies was the only road sweep of the week…eight home teams swept a series…only the Astros, Guardians, and Brewers have actual bullpen ERAs under 3.00…the actual ERAs of the starting Atlanta pitchers is 3.16….Astro pitchers give up the fewest free passes, walking only 6.2% of the batters…Oakland pitchers are second…Kansas City leads the ASFBL in stolen bases with 92…one more week till the All-Star break!

FEATS AND FAILURES

Cincinnati and Baltimore played 14.5 innings on 6/26/2023
Joey Votto (Cincinnati) struck out 4 times (on 6/27/2023 against Baltimore) 
Dylan Cease (Chicago (CC)) struck out 12 batters (on 6/27/2023 against Philadelphia) 
Bo Naylor (Cleveland) struck out 4 times (on 6/27/2023 against Kansas City) 
Jake Burger (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 4 times (on 6/28/2023 against Anaheim) 
Kevin Gausman (Toronto) struck out 11 batters (on 6/28/2023 against San Francisco) 
Josh Lowe (Tampa Bay) struck out 4 times (on 6/29/2023 against Arizona) 
Jesus Sanchez (Miami) struck out 4 times (on 6/29/2023 against Boston) 
Jake Rogers (Detroit) struck out 4 times (on 6/30/2023 against Colorado) 
Anthony Volpe (St. Louis) struck out 4 times (on 6/30/2023 against New York (NYY)) 
Mickey Moniak (Anaheim) struck out 4 times (on 7/1/2023 against Arizona) 
Jarren Duran (Boston) struck out 4 times (on 7/1/2023 against Toronto) 
Paul DeJong (St. Louis) struck out 4 times (on 7/2/2023 against New York (NYY))

Newsletter for games through 6-28-23

PROGRAM UPDATE

So just when you all had convinced me that there was something that needed investigation, the Angels went and scored 25 runs and made me think “well, maybe that’s just baseball.” But your case was persuasive enough that I pressed on, and discovered that league-wide our batting average was about 30 points higher than MLB and that runs per game were about .3 higher, which got me looking, and I found the bug.

OK, in fairness to me, I had assumed that “p_opp_batting_avg” meant “opposing batting average allowed by a pitcher and that “batting_avg” meant something else…apparently, “p_opp_batting_avg” meant “the batting average allowed to opposing pitchers” (sometimes I think baseball-savant is too detailed for their own good). When that was null, I set the opponent batting average allowed to an above-average number. Since nobody had pitched to any opposing pitchers this year (baseball-savant evidently does observe the Shohei Ohtani rule), every pitcher had their batting average allowed higher than it should have been. That having been corrected, scoring was down this week since we correct in 25-at-bat units (although it’s a rolling 25 AB, so it’s always looking 25 AB into the future).

Anyway, thanks to all for their patience working through this, I appreciate your sharp eyes and gentle nudging, and I’ll keep tracking us to make sure we get back to the MLB averages…

COMMENTARY

…and after all that, Cleveland scored 18 runs against Oakland on the 22nd…during that same game, Jose Ramirez hit for the cycle…Shane Beiber threw a no-hitter the next day….You’re messing with me, Skrovan….Atlanta produced the only winning record in the NL East to extend their lead…still having a hard time shaking Philadelphia…Pirates were 5-2 and are doing better than the MLB club, which itself is a good-news story…Reds haven’t gone on a 12-game winning streak but they are 18-12 over their last 30…sometimes better to be consistently good than white-hot…and all those stats keep piling up…Arizona is clutching a 1-game lead over the Dodgers and 3 games over the Giants, but only Rick Wynne’s club is in positive WOR territory…Boston and the Yankees each had winning weeks…Kansas City had a 5-2 week to add to their impressive +9 WOR count…Anaheim and Houston were a combined 15-5, which is really impressive considering that they played each other this week…Angels are 9-1 over their last 10…only 3 other teams have won 7…Cubs are the only team that’s both in first place in their division and also top-5 in WOR…Reds have a winning record within their division…Leo’s Chisox hold second place and have a winning record within their division…league-wide batting average dropped 10 points this week…Kikuchi of Toronto has allowed more homers than any other ASFBL pitcher….Gerrit Cole leads the ASFBL in strikeouts…Ohtani is second…Soler of Miami leads the ASFBL in homers…Ohtani is fifth…Arraez is hitting .404 in the ASFBL, and staying above the mark even with the corrections in place…hitting .399 in real-life…Baltimore and Toronto are within striking distance of the last wildcard spot…the Twins also got a no-hitter from Pablo Lopez on the 23rd, which must surely be the first time in ASFBL history we’ve had 2 no-hitters on the same day…very appropriately, James Outman struck out 4 times this week…in 2 separate games….

FEATS AND FAILURES

Adolis Garcia (Texas) struck out 4 times (on 6/19/2023 against Chicago (CWS)) 
Texas and Chicago (CWS) played15.5 innings on6/19/2023
TJ Friedl Jr. (Cincinnati) struck out 4 times (on 6/19/2023 against Colorado) 
Nick Pratto (Kansas City) struck out 4 times (on 6/19/2023 against Detroit) 
Logan Webb (Toronto) struck out 11 batters (on 6/19/2023 against Miami) 
Shohei Ohtani (Anaheim) struck out 12 batters (on 6/20/2023 against Los Angeles) 
James Outman (Los Angeles) struck out 4 times (on 6/20/2023 against Anaheim) 
Matthew Boyd (Detroit) struck out 13 batters (on 6/20/2023 against Kansas City) 
Mike Ford (Seattle) struck out 4 times (on 6/20/2023 against New York (NYY)) 
Jack Suwinski (Pittsburgh) struck out 4 times (on 6/20/2023 against Chicago (CC)) 
Julio Teheran (Chicago (CC)) struck out 11 batters (on 6/20/2023 against Pittsburgh) 
Luken Baker (St. Louis) struck out 4 times (on 6/20/2023 against Washington) 
Javier Baez (Detroit) struck out 4 times (on 6/21/2023 against Kansas City) 
Framber Valdez (Arizona) struck out 11 batters (on 6/21/2023 against Milwaukee) 
Ryan McKenna (Baltimore) struck out 4 times (on 6/21/2023 against Tampa Bay) 
Jack Larsen (Seattle) struck out 4 times (on 6/22/2023 against New York (NYY)) 
Jordan Westburg (Baltimore) struck out 4 times (on 6/23/2023 against Seattle) 
James Outman (Los Angeles) struck out 4 times (on 6/24/2023 against Houston) 
Pete Alonso (New York (NYM)) struck out 4 times (on 6/24/2023 against Philadelphia) 
Ryan McKenna (Baltimore) struck out 4 times (on 6/25/2023 against Seattle) 
Jake Burger (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 4 times (on 6/25/2023 against Boston) 
Ryan Noda (Oakland) struck out 4 times (on 6/25/2023 against Toronto)