DTBL News

Author: Kevin

  • Year of the Jackalope


    When discussing the greatest teams in DTBL history, a few clubs usually make the short list: 1994 Cougars, 2000 Kings, 2007 or 2008 Darkhorses. What makes those championship squads stick out is the way in which they dominated the competition, winning the league by double digit points in each case. Well, there is a new team to add to the conversation. Prior to this year, the largest margin of victory in league history was 14 points by the ’94 Cougars. In the 10-team era, the record was 13 by the ’00 Kings. In 2015, the Jackalope blew away those marks finishing with 85 points, 19 clear of the next closest team. Jay’s Jackalope are the 2015 Dream Team Baseball League Champions!

    On the last day of April, the Jackalope claimed the top spot in the standings for the first time this year.  They dropped to second a few times in early May.  But then on May 16, they took over first place for good.  Before summer officially began, they had built a double digit lead and were never really challenged again.  The Mavericks made a nice run in the middle of the summer to briefly cut the lead to single digits, however, it was back to a 20+ margin before you knew it.

    It wasn’t just the season-long domination that made the Jackalope the talk of the league the entire year.  It started in March when they made several franchise altering trades to completely revamp their roster.  At the time, those deals appeared to signal a desire to rebuild.  Teams who think they are on the verge of being a title contender don’t usually trade away several of their best players.  But the Jackalope did just that.  Gone were Felix Hernandez, Aroldis Chapman, Albert Pujols and Yasiel Puig.  Other than Puig, those lost pieces were quite productive for their new teams.  But the Jackalope survived just fine without them.  In came Gerrit Cole, Josh Donaldson, Adam Jones and Anthony Rendon.  Even an injury plagued season from Rendon couldn’t turn those deals sour.  Donaldson was arguably the best player in the league.  Cole elevated his game to become one of the best pitchers around.

    In addition to the trades, one other key March move paved the way for what was to come.  In a first round dominated by young sluggers, the Jackalope zigged while those ahead of them zagged and selected the first pitcher of the draft with the sixth overall pick.  That draft pick:  Jake Arrieta.  All Arrieta would go on to do is lead the league in wins (22) and pitching PAR (16.32) while compiling one of the best second halves of any pitcher in league history.

    The pitching staff, led by Arrieta, Cole and Sonny Gray, wound up accumulating 40 pitching points, just three behind the Mavericks who were expected to have a historically strong pitching staff (and more-or-less did).  But the Jackalope were almost as good.  The bullpen was stellar as well, with Mark Melancon leading the league with 51 saves, just four shy of the league’s single-season record.  Wade Davis had as much of a positive impact as any non-full time closer could.

    While their pitching was very good, it was the offense that won the league for the Jackalope.  They led the way with 45 batting points (out of a possible 50).  They finished in the top four of all five offensive categories and were tops in RBI and runs scored.  In addition to having the league’s top finisher in pitching PAR, they also had the top two in batting PAR.  Donaldson and Paul Goldschmidt finished essentially tied at the top with 8.45 marks.  That should set up a very interesting MVP vote with those two among the leading candidates.  Donaldson proved his ’14 campaign was no fluke, beating all of his previous year’s hitting stats by wide margins.  He led the league in runs (122), finished second in RBI (123) and fifth in home runs (41).  But Goldschmidt may have had even better numbers across the board, with a .322 average, 33 HR, 110 RBI, 100 R and a sneaky 21 stolen bases.  The last players to match/exceed those numbers in all five categories were Ryan Braun and Matt Kemp in 2011.

    Donaldson and Goldschmidt weren’t the only shining stars for the Jackalope offense.  Giancarlo Stanton also looked like a MVP candidate in the first half.  But a broken wrist wound up costing him the entire second half of the season.  Most teams would not have been able to overcome such a significant injury to a top player.  In fact, the Jackalope suffered a bunch of injuries to key players.  But they had a whole stable of other solid contributors to keep them going strong:  Eric Hosmer, D.J. LeMahieu, Brett Gardner, Adam Jones and a rejuvenated Ryan Braun to name a few.

    This is the second DTBL title for the Jackalope.  The first came back in 2011.  They had been slowly building towards that title, assembling a pitching staff the likes of which the league had not seen before.  I would say this 2015 championship was far more surprising.  Since the ’11 title, they had finished in the middle of the pack a couple times and came in dead last just two years ago.  The only other last to first turnaround that can compare would be the Darkhorses, who made the shocking jump in consecutive years (2006-2007).  The Jackalope join the Choppers, Gators and Mavericks as two time champs, leaving no teams with just a single title.

    There will be time to review what went wrong for the rest of the league another day.  Truthfully, it didn’t matter.  The Jackalope were going to win the league this year regardless.  I’ll start my reviews of the rest of the league next week.  In the meantime, enjoy the start of the MLB post-season.  Congrats to Jay on a well earned title and thanks to everyone else for another fun season.

  • Players of the Month: September


    We have reached the final weekend of the 2015 DTBL season! No, this hasn’t been the most thrilling pennant race we’ve ever witnessed. Yes, the Jackalope are going to cruise to their second league title in a matter of days. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything worth watching in the season’s final weekend. For one thing, there is a heck of a race brewing on the other end of the standings. The Kings have found themselves in last place for most of the past few weeks, but their “lead” to get the first pick in next year’s draft is hardly safe. The Gators and Cougars are just a point ahead and seven of the league’s ten teams are within seven points of the bottom of the standings! Many years, teams would probably rather finish dead last than just a few spots higher. But with next year’s draft shaping up to possibly be the most loaded draft this league has ever seen, all ten teams should have an opportunity at picking up blue-chip young stars in the first round. But enough talk about the race to the bottom…

    With just four days of October games on the schedule, it probably would have made sense to save my last monthly awards article until after the season. But I figure I might as well get this out of the way now so I can focus on showering the Jackalope with praise next week. So here are the September Batter and Pitcher of the Month, with only stats in the month of September counting towards the award rankings.

    Batters of the Week:

    Week 22 (8/31 – 9/6) – Nolan Arenado, Naturals
    Week 23 (9/7 – 9/13) – Yoenis Cespedes, Gators
    Week 24 (9/14 – 9/20) – Bryce Harper, Darkhorses
    Week 25 (9/21 – 9/27) – Starling Marte, Gators

    Pitchers of the Week:

    Week 22 (8/31 – 9/6) – Dallas Keuchel, Moonshiners
    Week 23 (9/7 – 9/13) – Masahiro Tanaka, Choppers
    Week 24 (9/14 – 9/20) – Stephen Strasburg, Mavericks
    Week 25 (9/21 – 9/27) – Jake Arrieta, Jackalope

    A little more variety in terms of players and teams in the weekly awards for September. Interesting that Harper and Strasburg were the winners in the same week while their Nationals season was flushed down the drain. The monthly award winners are a second time honoree and a guy who has just missed the past few months. Here are the players of the month for September:

    Batter of the Month:

    Nolan Arenado, Naturals
    .339 AVG, 11 HR, 32 RBI, 19 R, 1 SB, 2.53 PAR

    Pitcher of the Month:

    Clayton Kershaw, Mavericks
    1.84 ERA, 0.818 WHIP, 5 W, 0 SV, 58 K, 4.29 PAR

    Also the league’s best player in June, Arenado is the first/only player to win two monthly awards this year. His league leading 11 homers and 32 RBI in September have moved him into the MVP discussion. He leads the league in RBI and is in the top five in home runs and PAR. He won the award by a comfortable margin, but Shin-Soo Choo and Bryce Harper were his closest competition.

    After a bit of a slow start, by his standards, Kershaw is finishing the year in his usual form: as one of the best pitchers on the planet. His five wins and 58 strikeouts led the way in September. He easily leads the league in strikeouts for the season, and needs just six strikeouts on Sunday to become the first to reach 300 in a season since Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson in 2002. Despite those absurd numbers, he just barely won this award over last month’s winner, Jake Arrieta. It will be a fascinating Cy Young race between those two and Kerhaw’s Dodger teammate Zack Greinke… not to mention several others having incredible years.

    Enjoy the final weekend and early congrats to Jay!

  • Players of the Month: August


    I have to be honest, this isn’t shaping up to be a particularly interesting DTBL pennant race. The Jackalope have continued their season-long reign of supremacy. After a nice run by the Mavericks in July, August may have been the best month yet for the first place Jackalope. On Tuesday, the lead had ballooned to 20 points. It’s not over, but it would take a pretty epic collapse for the Jackalope not to claim their second DTBL Championship. So what made their August so special? Well, you’re about to find out. First, here are the players who earned Player of the Week honors during the month of August:

    Batters of the Week:

    Week 17 (7/27 – 8/2) – Lucas Duda, Kings
    Week 18 (8/3 – 8/9) – Josh Donaldson, Jackalope
    Week 19 (8/10 – 8/16) – Adam Jones, Jackalope
    Week 20 (8/17 – 8/23) – Josh Donaldson, Jackalope
    Week 21 (8/24 – 8/30) – Edwin Encarnacion, Darkhorses

    Pitchers of the Week:

    Week 17 (7/27 – 8/2) – Sonny Gray, Jackalope
    Week 18 (8/3 – 8/9) – David Price, Naturals
    Week 19 (8/10 – 8/16) – Madison Bumgarner, Cougars
    Week 20 (8/17 – 8/23) – Chris Archer, Cougars
    Week 21 (8/24 – 8/30) – Jake Arrieta, Jackalope

    Wow, that’s a lot of Jackalope! Yes, a Jackalope won either Batter or Pitcher of the Week every week in August.  So naturally, they will be taking home both of the monthly individual awards as well. Here are the award winners for August 2015:

    Batter of the Month:

    Josh Donaldson, Jackalope
    .324 AVG, 11 HR, 35 RBI, 29 R, 2 SB, 3.05 PAR

    Pitcher of the Month:

    Jake Arrieta, Jackalope
    0.43 ERA, 0.685 WHIP, 6 W, 0 SV, 43 K, 4.93 PAR

    On the strength of two Player of the Week honors, Donaldson was a fairly obvious choice for Player of the Month. He accumulated an impressive 3.05 PAR in the month, moving him into first place in the league in Batting PAR, just ahead of Jackalope teammate Paul Goldschmidt. As long as they don’t split votes too badly, they appear to be the leading candidates for MVP too. Edwin Encarnacion was the runner-up and the only other real contender for this month’s honor.

    Arrieta made a pretty dramatic claim for the monthly award in his most recent start, throwing a no-hitter against the Dodgers in LA. You can’t really do much better than a 0.43 ERA and six wins in a single month. With his incredible August, Arrieta has vaulted right into the Cy Young mix. The August pitching award race wasn’t particularly close, but Madison Bumgarner was the runner-up.

  • Players of the Month: July


    As the temperature started to heat up this summer, so did the DTBL Championship race.  The Jackalope finished July in the same spot as all of the previous months:  first place.  But what was once a 20+ lead has been trimmed to single digits entering the season’s final two months.  This has had nothing to do with the Jackalope falling back to the pack.  They have steadily held around 85 standings points.  But what has changed is the total of their closest competition, the Mavericks.  The Mavs are closing in on the 80 point mark as well, thanks to their pitching staff starting to materialize the way most expected before the season.  Also, the offense has received a huge lift from a player that I will be touching on in just a bit.  Before we get to the players of the month, here are the guys who earned weekly honors in July:

    Batters of the Week:

    Week 13 (6/29 – 7/5) – J.D. Martinez, Demigods
    Week 14 (7/6 – 7/12) – Mike Trout, Mavericks
    Week 15 (7/17 – 7/19) – Adrian Gonzalez, Darkhorses
    Week 16 (7/20 – 7/26) – Carlos Gonzalez, Kings

    Pitchers of the Week:

    Week 13 (6/29 – 7/5) – Jordan Zimmermann, Naturals
    Week 14 (7/6 – 7/12) – Chris Sale, Choppers
    Week 15 (7/17 – 7/19) – Clayton Kershaw, Mavericks
    Week 16 (7/20 – 7/26) – Jacob deGrom, Darkhorses

    The Batter of the Month race came down to two of the guys listed above while the pitching award was a four horse race won by a guy who has been nearly unhittable for two straight months.  Here are the award winners for July 2015:

    Batter of the Month:

    Mike Trout, Mavericks
    .367 AVG, 12 HR, 24 RBI, 20 R, 1 SB, 2.32 PAR

    Pitcher of the Month:

    Zack Greinke, Moonshiners
    0.95 ERA, 0.579 WHIP, 4 W, 0 SV, 34 K, 3.69 PAR

    Trout and Carlos Gonzalez had nearly identical numbers in the month of July.  It wound up being the one home run and stolen base advantage that tilted this award to the Mavericks outfielder.  As mentioned above, Trout has been largely responsible for the Mavericks making a significant dent into the Jackalope lead.

    There were four pitchers who led the way in July, coming from just two MLB teams.  Greinke took the top spot, barely edging out his Dodgers teammate Clayton Kershaw.  And not far behind those two were a pair of Cubs:  Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester.  But in the end, Greinke’s incredible 43 inning scoreless streak, dating back to mid-June, sealed this honor.  Greinke allowed just four runs in the month of July and has allowed more than three runs in a start just once this entire season.  Plagued by poor run support early in the year, he was able to add four victories in the month too.

  • It’s a Walk Off!


    Nolan Arenado was the last position player on either All-Star roster to take his turn at the plate in Sunday’s 22nd Annual DTBL All-Star Game at his team’s, the Naturals, home park of Hobbs Field.  A late defensive replacement for the American Division All-Stars, he finally got his chance to swing the bat with a man on and one out in the bottom of the 9th.  Three pitches later, he launched a Trevor Rosenthal delivery deep into the seats in left-center field for a two run, walk-off home run to give the American Division a 2-1 victory over their National Division counterparts.

    For the most part, this game was a carbon copy of the last few DTBL All-Star Games.  It featured the game’s best pitchers at the top of their powers, striking out hitters left and right.  For the third consecutive year, at least 26 batters struck out in the game, this year being the highest total of them all at 30.  I don’t have great records of the games prior to 2005, but since then, this was the most strikeouts in an All-Star Game.  American pitchers compiled 16 K’s while the National squad had 14 of their own.

    There were scoring opportunities in this game, but most of them were not converted into runs.  Dallas Keuchel got the start on the mound for the American All-Stars and pitched two scoreless, hitless innings.  On the other side, Max Scherzer also completed two frames without allowing a run.  Probably the most impressive pitching performance was put up by the National’s second pitcher, Chris Archer.  He was on such a role that he was allowed to throw three innings, striking out seven total, including six consecutive batters.  Through six innings, neither team had touched home plate.

    The top of the seventh brought the game’s first run.  With two outs and nobody on for the National Division, two consecutive left handed hitters delivered hits against the tough lefty reliever Zach Britton.  Jason Kipnis reached on a single and scored on a clutch two out double by his Cougars teammate Charlie Blackmon.  The National All-Stars had a chance to build on that 1-0 lead in the 8th following a leadoff double by Albert Pujols.  But Glen Perkins retired the next three hitters in order, including a pair of strikeouts.  The game remained 1-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth.

    Aroldis Chapman got the nod to start the final half inning, but walked the leadoff man, Paul Goldschmidt.  After retiring Ryan Braun on a flyout, Chapman was relieved and Trevor Rosenthal came in to attempt to lock it down.  That he did not.  The first man he faced was the aforementioned Nolan Arenado, who promptly hit a two run home run to send the American Division home with a 2-1 victory.

    As I mentioned, I don’t have great records of the All-Star Games pre-2005, so I am unable to confirm if we’ve had a walk-off hit before.  I am fairly certain this is the first walk-off home run though.  Despite only getting that one at bat, Arenado was the unanimous choice as the game’s Most Valuable Player.  Zack Greinke was credited with the win thanks to his perfect ninth inning on the mound.  Rosenthal took the loss.  Although there is no such thing, the obvious winner of the Least Valuable Player would have been Miguel Cabrera, who took the golden sombrero striking out in all four of his plate appearances.  Fortunately for him, his Naturals and American teammate, Arenado, saved the day. The only other American hitter with a significant contribution was Starling Marte, who had a game high three hits (no other player on either team had more than one) and stole a base.

    This game ended a streak of four consecutive losses for the home team in the DTBL All-Star Game.  But it continued the streak of games dominated by the pitchers.  Five of the past six games have featured six or fewer total runs scored.  In many ways, this is very representative of the league itself though, where pitching numbers continue to improve year-to-year.  The early years of the DTBL All-Star Game featured some absurd shootouts, so I guess what comes around goes around.  Click here to view the full box score from this year’s game.

    Congrats to Nick on managing his squad to a victory and thanks to both Nick and Dom for taking the time to play out the game.  Although the All-Star Game is not a particularly important part of a fantasy baseball season, it is something I look forward to doing every summer, so thanks for at least humoring me and I hope you enjoyed it as well.  On to the rest of the season!

  • 2015 DTBL All-Stars


    The first half of the 2015 DTBL season has been dominated by the Jackalope, so it is no surprise that they have been rewarded with a whole slew of All-Star selections.  In the last couple weeks, the Mavericks have reduced the Jackalope lead a bit, and many of the players responsible for that are on the list below as well.  Examining the full standings, the balance of power between the American and National Divisions seems relatively even.  The American squad boasts the first place squad, but two of the bottom three as well.

    As has been the case for the last several years, pitchers have continued to dominate all across the league.  The current league-wide ERA of 3.24 is well below the record full season low of 3.31, set just last year.  So it is not a huge surprise that some pitchers with incredibly strong resumes won’t be part of this year’s All-Star Game.  Just to name a few, Felix Hernandez, Jake Arrieta, David Price and Johnny Cueto didn’t make the cut.  Nor did some relievers with out-of-this-world numbers like Wade Davis and Dellin Betances.  Overall, the American Division seems to have the stronger pitching staff, but I’ll give a slight edge to the National Division on offense.

    The 22nd annual DTBL All-Star Game is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, July 19 at 9 p.m. EDT, 6 p.m. PDT.  Due to their top two finishes last season, Nick and Dom will be the managers for the All-Star squads.  Nick’s Naturals will be the host for the game, which will once again be played out using OOTP.  The managers were responsible for breaking all ties in the vote and for selecting the 23rd player on each roster. Here are the 2015 DTBL All-Stars.

    American Division

    Starters:

    • Pitcher – Dallas Keuchel, Moonshiners (1st All-Star appearance)
    • Catcher – Evan Gattis, Jackalope (2nd)
    • First Base – Paul Goldschmidt, Jackalope (3rd)
    • Second Base – Brian Dozier, Moonshiners (1st)
    • Third Base – Josh Donaldson, Jackalope (2nd)
    • Shortstop – Troy Tulowitzki, Naturals (4th)
    • Outfield – Nelson Cruz, Gators (3rd)
    • Outfield – Giancarlo Stanton, Jackalope (3rd)
    • Outfield – Starling Marte, Gators (1st)

    Reserves:

    • Catcher – Derek Norris, Choppers (1st)
    • First Base – Miguel Cabrera, Naturals (9th)
    • Second Base – Dee Gordon, Gators (1st)
    • Third Base – Nolan Arenado, Naturals (1st)
    • Outfield – Ryan Braun, Jackalope (6th)
    • Outfield – Brett Gardner, Jackalope (1st)
    • Pitcher – Sonny Gray, Jackalope (1st)
    • Pitcher – Gerrit Cole, Jackalope (1st)
    • Pitcher – Chris Sale, Choppers (4th)
    • Pitcher – Zack Greinke, Moonshiners (4th)
    • Relief Pitcher – Glen Perkins, Naturals (1st)
    • Relief Pitcher – Mark Melancon, Jackalope (1st)
    • Relief Pitcher – Huston Street, Gators (3rd)
    • Relief Pitcher – Zach Britton, Gators (1st)

    National Division

    Starters:

    • Pitcher – Max Scherzer, Kings (2nd)
    • Catcher – Buster Posey, Demigods (4th)
    • First Base – Albert Pujols, Mavericks (8th)
    • Second Base – Jose Altuve, Demigods (2nd)
    • Third Base – Todd Frazier, Darkhorses (2nd)
    • Shortstop – Hanley Ramirez, Mavericks (5th)
    • Outfield – Bryce Harper, Darkhorses (1st)
    • Outfield – Mike Trout, Mavericks (4th)
    • Outfield – J.D. Martinez, Demigods (1st)

    Reserves:

    • Catcher – Brian McCann, Darkhorses (3rd)
    • Second Base – Jason Kipnis, Cougars (3rd)
    • Third Base – Manny Machado, Mavericks (1st)
    • Outfield – Charlie Blackmon, Cougars (1st)
    • Outfield – Joc Pederson, Mavericks (1st)
    • Outfield – Lorenzo Cain, Mavericks (1st)
    • Pitcher – Chris Archer, Cougars (1st)
    • Pitcher – Jacob deGrom, Darkhorses (1st)
    • Pitcher – Clayton Kershaw, Mavericks (5th)
    • Pitcher – Madison Bumgarner, Cougars (3rd)
    • Relief Pitcher – Trevor Rosenthal, Demigods (2nd)
    • Relief Pitcher – Jeurys Familia, Kings (1st)
    • Relief Pitcher – Aroldis Chapman, Mavericks (2nd)
    • Relief Pitcher – Andrew Miller, Mavericks (1st)

    All-Stars per team:

    • 9 – Jackalope, Mavericks
    • 5 – Gators
    • 4 – Cougars, Darkhorses, Demigods, Naturals
    • 3 – Moonshiners
    • 2 – Choppers, Kings

    Miguel Cabrera and Lorenzo Cain were selected as the 23rd players for each roster.  The rosters feature 22 first time DTBL All-Stars, including an incredible group of young superstars like Bryce Harper, Joc Pederson, Sonny Gray and Chris Archer.  Over half of the American team will be making their DTBL ASG debuts.  Another interesting item is the number of All-Stars who were involved in trades just this past March:  Josh Donaldson, Gerrit Cole, Zack Greinke, Albert Pujols, Hanley Ramirez and Aroldis Chapman.  So all of these top performers are paying big dividends for their new squads.  Here are the full voting results.  Much more All-Star Game coverage will be coming soon.

  • Players of the Month: June


    June was another very good month for the Jackalope.  They maintained a healthy lead of near 20 points throughout the entire month.  They continue to lead the league in both batting and pitching points.  This is especially impressive since they haven’t exactly had a healthy roster at any point this season.  The latest injury will be their biggest challenge to date.  Giancarlo Stanton will miss at least a month with a broken hand.  A top MVP candidate prior to the injury, Stanton has been just one of several outstanding performers for the first place squad.  This injury might give other teams a little more hope though.

    Besides the Jackalope maintaining their comfortable lead, the other top stories of June involved a couple pitchers putting up historic runs of starts.  One led to a Pitcher of the Month honor, which I will get to in a bit.  But I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Max Scherzer’s incredible run of three consecutive starts with a no-hitter (and near perfect game) sandwiched between two other near no-hitters.  Amazingly, that was not enough to earn Scherzer his second straight Pitcher of the Month award.  In fact, somehow, he didn’t even take home a Pitcher of the Week honor, despite being a hit batsman away from throwing a perfect game!  My method for selecting those honors makes it a near certainty that the weekly pitching award goes to the top starting pitcher who throws two quality starts in a week.  Unfortunately for Scherzer, those three starts came in separate weeks.  Anyway, it was a pretty impressive month for him.  Here are the weekly award winners from June:

    Batters of the Week:

    Week 9 (6/1 – 6/7) – Jose Bautista, Choppers
    Week 10 (6/8 – 6/14) – Giancarlo Stanton, Jackalope
    Week 11 (6/15 – 6/21) – Manny Machado, Mavericks
    Week 12 (6/22 – 6/28) – Nolan Arenado, Naturals

    Pitchers of the Week:

    Week 9 (6/1 – 6/7) – Chris Archer, Cougars
    Week 10 (6/8 – 6/14) – Chris Sale, Choppers
    Week 11 (6/15 – 6/21) – Anibal Sanchez, Kings
    Week 12 (6/22 – 6/28) – Collin McHugh, Cougars

    The races for the monthly awards were both extremely tight with a lot of deserving candidates narrowly missing.  Here are the award winners for June 2015:

    Batter of the Month:

    Nolan Arenado, Naturals
    .304 AVG, 12 HR, 33 RBI, 24 R, 0 SB, 2.57 PAR

    Pitcher of the Month:

    Chris Sale, Choppers
    1.83 ERA, 0.812 WHIP, 2 W, 0 SV, 75 K, 3.77 PAR

    You know the Naturals must have a pretty good infield when Troy Tulowitzki is only their second best Rockies infielder.  Nolan Arenado had an incredible month of June and finished with a flourish.  His 33 RBI easily led the league and were the most in a month since Miguel Cabrera had 34 last May.  Arenado just barely edged out a pair of Mavericks for this award:  Manny Machado and Albert Pujols.

    It is very hard to win the Pitcher of the Month award with only two wins in the month.  But when the rest of your numbers are setting records, you can overcome criminally poor run/bullpen support.  That’s what Chris Sale did in June.  He is currently riding an eight start streak of striking out at least 10 hitters.  He is only the second player in the past 100 years to accomplish such a feat.  His 75 strikeouts in 44.1 June innings looks like a misprint.  It is also a DTBL single month record, surpassing the 72 whiffs Pedro Martinez recorded in June of 1997.

  • Pair of Nats Win May Honors


    The season’s second month saw the Jackalope open a small lead over several close pursuers into a gigantic lead which could take an extended run of good fortune for other teams to close.  When the calendar turned to June yesterday, the Jackalope lead was 18 points over the Darkhorses.  Incredibly, no other team was within 28 points of first place.  Obviously, there is more than enough time for other teams to get back into the race.  But for now, the Jackalope are sitting pretty.

    Since I still haven’t gotten around to putting together the new awards pages where all of the weekly and monthly winners will be listed, here are the players who have been named the batters and pitchers of the week since last month’s update:

    Batters of the Week:

    Week 4 (4/27 – 5/3) – Josh Reddick, Naturals
    Week 5 (5/4 – 5/10) – Bryce Harper, Darkhorses
    Week 6 (5/11 – 5/17) – Bryce Harper, Darkhorses
    Week 7 (5/18 – 5/24) – A.J. Pollock, Kings
    Week 8 (5/25 – 5/31) – Josh Donaldson, Jackalope

    Pitchers of the Week:

    Week 4 (4/27 – 5/3) – Sonny Gray, Jackalope
    Week 5 (5/4 – 5/10) – Michael Pineda, Darkhorses
    Week 6 (5/11 – 5/17) – Max Scherzer, Kings
    Week 7 (5/18 – 5/24) – Cole Hamels, Demigods
    Week 8 (5/25 – 5/31) – Carlos Martinez, Mavericks

    Unlike last month, the award winners from May do appear on the lists above.  Here are the best of May 2015.

    Batter of the Month:

    Bryce Harper, Darkhorses
    .360 AVG, 13 HR, 28 RBI, 24 R, 2 SB, 2.87 PAR

    Pitcher of the Month:

    Max Scherzer, Kings
    1.67 ERA, 0.907 WHIP, 5 W, 0 SV, 56 K, 4.07 PAR

    Besides the Jackalope, there were two other unstoppable forces in the month of May, and both play for the Washington Nationals.  Darkhorses outfielder Bryce Harper had the best month of his young career on the way to winning Player of the Month.  Meanwhile, Kings ace Max Scherzer seems to be adjusting well in his return to the National League.  He is the Pitcher of the Month.  Neither of these awards were very closely contested.  Harper and Scherzer were almost indisputably the best two players in baseball in May and are certainly among the favorites for the MVP and Cy Young awards too.

    Only two players in DTBL history have met or exceeded Harper’s five monthly stat totals from above:  Barry Bonds in May of 2001 and Jeff Bagwell in June of 1994.  That’s some pretty exclusive company.

     

  • Players of the Month: April


    Welcome to a new monthly feature: the naming of a Batter and Pitcher of the Month. For some quick clarification, this is not the same thing as Mike’s monthly DTBL Awards outlook, which he has generously volunteered to do again this year. Those articles focus on cumulative performances of players throughout the season on the leading candidates for the three post-season awards. Look for his post-April review in the next couple days. Instead, this new feature is based solely on the stats accumulated in the month being reviewed. The Batter and Pitcher of the Month will be objectively selected as the players who accumulated the highest PAR for the month. I’m not going to write much about the award winners, especially this month, since Mike will probably cover the same guys in his article.

    In the near future, I’ll be posting a new page on the site which will list all of the yearly, monthly and weekly award winners. These honors will also eventually show up on the player pages. Behind the scenes, I’ve already been capturing Batter/Pitcher of the Week winners each week. Again, these winners are the players who accumulate the highest PAR during the week. Basically, they are the players who show up on the main page under “Week’s Best” after the Monday morning update. I’m not going to take the time to write articles for the weekly awards, but plan to do so for the monthly winners. FYI, here are the players who have won the Batter and Pitcher of the Week so far this year:

    Batters of the Week:
    Week 1 – Adrian Gonzalez, Darkhorses
    Week 2 – Nelson Cruz, Gators
    Week 3 – Mark Teixeira, Cougars

    Pitchers of the Week:
    Week 1 – Sonny Gray, Jackalope
    Week 2 – Jacob deGrom, Darkhorses
    Week 3 – Jake Arrieta, Jackalope

    Interesting enough, none of those players were the winners of the monthly awards. Here are the award winners for April 2015.

    Batter of the Month:
    Paul Goldschmidt, Jackalope
    .338 AVG, 5 HR, 20 RBI, 18 R, 5 SB, 1.65 PAR

    Pitcher of the Month:
    Felix Hernandez, Moonshiners
    1.82 ERA, 0.808 WHIP, 4 W, 0 SV, 36 K, 2.89 PAR

    It was a very tight race among the hitters. Goldschmidt barely edged out Adrian Gonzalez, Nelson Cruz and Jose Altuve. His combination of power and speed (5 HR, 5 SB) proved to be the difference. There were a whole bunch of pitchers who had great Aprils. Chris Archer was right there with Hernandez, with Gerrit Cole and Johnny Cueto not far behind.

  • 2015 Season Preview: Part IV


    Last year, the 2014 season previews predicted two teams would stand out above the rest.  That’s exactly what happened, but not the two that had been projected to do so (Kings and Mavericks).  It was the Naturals and Demigods who blew away the rest of the league en route to record setting finishes, with the Naturals squeaking out the title by 2 1/2 points.  This year figures to be much different with a lot more teams projected to be in the championship mix.  In part, that is because no one team looks overwhelmingly strong on paper.  Even the two teams who will be covered in this final part of the 2015 season preview have a few noticeable weaknesses.  But what makes these teams appear to be the top title contenders is that even those weaknesses still put them above average in both hitting and pitching, the only two teams that can say that.  These were two of the top three finishers a year ago, so it is not surprising to see them among the favorites again in 2015.  Here are the projected top two title contenders.

    Dom’s Demigods

    Category – Projected Rank (2014 Rank)

    • Batting Average – 2nd (2nd)
    • Home Runs – 5th (4th-T)
    • Runs Batted In – 2nd (1st)
    • Runs Scored – 3rd (3rd)
    • Stolen Bases – 4th-T (3rd)
    • Earned Run Average – 6th (1st)
    • WHIP Ratio – 6th (2nd)
    • Wins – 3rd (1st)
    • Saves – 6th (5th)
    • Strike Outs – 4th (1st)
    • Total Batting Points – 3rd (2nd)
    • Total Pitching Points – 4th (1st)
    • Total Points – 2nd (2nd)

    Summary:

    The Demigods were a surprise title contender a year ago, just barely missing out on their first league championship.  But this year, they won’t catch anyone by surprise.  This is the most complete team in the league.  The only thing keeping them from being the overall favorite is that their strength from a year ago, their rotation, does not appear to be nearly as strong this year.  Losing Yu Darvish to a torn UCL in spring training was a terrible blow to what was the best pitching staff in the league a year ago.  Also, Jose Fernandez doesn’t figure to return to action until mid-season either.  That still leaves them with an impressive trio of Corey Kluber, Johnny Cueto and Cole Hamels.  But they are going to need some great performances from other hurlers to keep up with the team below.  The bullpen is only average, but shouldn’t kill them.  The good news is the offense looks very strong again this year.  All of the pieces seem to fit and they do not have an obvious weakness among their everyday players.  Jose Altuve and Carlos Gomez were two of the best players in the league last year.  If Dustin Pedroia and Evan Longoria can bounce back from disappointing ’14 campaigns, they could challenge for the best offense in the league.  It is the overall strength of both the hitting and pitching that makes the Demigods one of the clear favorites this year.  They came oh so close to their first championship last year.  Perhaps this will be the year instead.

    Marc’s Mavericks

    Category – Projected Rank (2014 Rank)

    • Batting Average – 9th (4th)
    • Home Runs – 1st (1st)
    • Runs Batted In – 4th (3rd)
    • Runs Scored – 8th (4th)
    • Stolen Bases – 7th (8th)
    • Earned Run Average – 1st (4th)
    • WHIP Ratio – 1st (4th)
    • Wins – 5th (4th)
    • Saves – 1st (6th-T)
    • Strike Outs – 1st (2nd)
    • Total Batting Points – 5th (3rd)
    • Total Pitching Points – 1st (3rd)
    • Total Points – 1st (3rd)

    Summary:

    It is hard to know what to make of the Mavericks’ 2014 season.  On one hand, they were projected to finish near the top of the league after just barely missing out on a title in ’13 with a historically great pitching staff.  But on the other, it seemed they weren’t likely to duplicate that kind of season without their phenom pitcher Matt Harvey.  So their third place finish was pretty good, but it was the first time they weren’t in the title hunt until the final days of the season since 2011.  Now Harvey is back and they appear to once again have one of the strongest pitching staffs this league has ever seen.  Harvey, Clayton Kershaw and Stephen Strasburg on the same team seems unfair.  These projections have them winning the league in four of the five pitching categories, and nobody else is close in any of the four.  In addition to the ridiculously loaded rotation, they have the scariest collection of bullpen arms in the league too.  They traded for Aroldis Chapman and drafted Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller to join Cody Allen and Kenley Jansen.  Those guys all strike out hitters at such high rates that their strikeout totals look like those of starting pitchers.  If they stay even semi healthy, it would be hard to envision any other team coming close to them in strikeouts.  ERA and WHIP are less predictable, but they are heavy favorites there too.  Now for the bad news.  Their offense doesn’t appear to be elite.  Mike Trout is though, and he is on their roster.  So if he can get some help from the supporting cast, they ought to be good enough in the hitting categories to compliment their insane pitching staff on their way to the top of the standings.  Hard to believe it has been nine years since their last title, but there have been a bunch of close calls since then.  This looks like it could be the year the Mavericks win their third league title.

    Here are the full projected standings and team stat totals.  As I have hinted at throughout these previews, these projections show a very tight race from top to bottom.  Only the Demigods are projected for 30+ points in both batting and pitching, while every team but the Gators has 25+ points in one or the other.  So the Mavericks and Demigods appear to be a little bit better than the next six teams.  But it wouldn’t take much for almost any team to get into the mix.  As we saw last year, these projections are not to be trusted.  It should be a great season.