Archive for the ‘Mavericks’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

2018 Season Preview: Part IV

Saturday, March 31st, 2018

Embed from Getty Images
We’ve reached the final portion of the 2018 DTBL season preview.  Not surprisingly, the two teams projected to finish at the top of the standings are the same squads that occupied those spots most of last season as well.  In case you are curious, they were not projected to finish first or second in this series last spring.  Those spots belonged to the Kings and Choppers, who finished ninth and seventh respectively.  So being tabbed a pre-season favorite most certainly doesn’t guarantee success.  Having said that, it would be pretty surprising if these teams aren’t in the hunt again this year.  They both added some exciting young talent to already loaded rosters.  Not a whole lot separates these teams in the projections.  One point, to be exact.  One of them is projected to lead the league in pitching points.  Its probably not the team you expect.  Here are the top two DTBL Championship contenders.

Nick’s Naturals

Category – Projected Rank (2017 Rank)

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

Summary:

The overall projected ranking of the Naturals is about what one might have expected.  But the individual category rankings are pretty shocking.  Last year, the Naturals had the best offense in the league, but were ultimately unable to stick with the Mavericks because of a below average pitching staff.  In this year’s draft, they continued to add pieces to the offense while only selecting one starting pitcher in the first half of the draft (Garrett Richards).  Yet now they are projected to lead the league in pitching points, with the bulk of that staff being the same as the one that struggled a year ago.  The main reason for this is fairly obvious:  health.  Noah Syndergaard is the Naturals best pitcher, but threw just 30 innings a year ago.  David Price was also hurt much of the year and finished the season in the bullpen.  If those two are healthy all year, the Naturals are close to a lock to exceed their ’17 pitching numbers.  James Paxton and Carlos Carrasco carried the rotation last year and will be complementary pieces again this season.  Felipe Rivero joins Raisel Iglesias to give the Naturals two excellent closers.  I wouldn’t call the bullpen a strength, but it should be decent.  The batting projections are slightly concerning as they don’t like the Naturals chances of leading the league in batting points again this year.  But there are still some very high upside youngsters on this roster, including Yoan Moncada, Victor Robles and Lewis Brinson, who have all been among the top ranked prospects in baseball the past few years.  Nolan Arrenado is projected to be their top hitter again this year.  A healthy Trea Turner would be right up there too.  Joey Votto, Justin Upton, Miguel Cabrera and Marcell Ozuna are among their dependable veteran bats.  I think it is very likely the Naturals will exceed these offensive projections.  If they do, they might be the championship favorites.  At any rate, it would be surprising if they aren’t in a pennant race again this year.

Marc’s Mavericks

Category – Projected Rank (2017 Rank)

  • Batting Average – 5th (8th)
  • Home Runs - 5th (3rd)
  • Runs Batted In - 3rd (6th)
  • Runs Scored – 5th (6th)
  • Stolen Bases – 4th (3rd)
  • Earned Run Average - 1st (1st)
  • WHIP Ratio - 1st (1st)
  • Wins – 5th (1st-T)
  • Saves – 10th (6th)
  • Strike Outs - 1st (2nd)
  • Total Batting Points - 3rd (7th)
  • Total Pitching Points - 3rd (1st)
  • Total Points - 1st (1st)

Summary:

The defending champs appear to be well positioned to become the first DTBL team to repeat since the 2011 Darkhorses finished off their four-peat.  But this is not quite the same Mavericks team that won it all a year ago.  They still have an elite pitching staff, but may not be able to smoke the rest of the pack in most pitching categories again this year.  On the other hand, they won it all despite having a mediocre offense last year.  This squad looks much stronger with the bats, despite not being a priority in the draft outside of first round pick Ozzie Albies.  Mike Trout and Aaron Judge pretty much guarantee that the Mavericks offense won’t suck.  The Orioles infield duo of Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop are also the Mavericks top infielders.  The outfield is in good hands with Trout, Judge, Andrew Benintendi and Nomar Mazara.  While the Mavericks aren’t expected to finish at the top of the league in any of the batting categories, they also don’t have an obvious weakness.  The pitching staff remains loaded.  Clayton Kershaw, Stephen Strasburg and Yu Darvish have been carrying the rotation for years, and are back to do it again this season.  Zack Godley is a nice addition as well.  Perhaps the most intriguing pitcher on the roster is Alex Reyes, who they drafted in the second round with a pick they received from the Komodos for Aroldis Chapman.  It isn’t clear what role Reyes will play when he returns from Tommy John surgery in May or June, but the latest word is that he will be a starter.  That would be a huge boost to the Mavericks win and strikeout potential.  The bullpen is full of power arms that may not accumulate a ton of saves, but will be a boon to the other four pitching categories.  Not included in these projections is Keone Kela, who they recently signed as a free agent and appears to be the choice to close games for the Rangers.  Also with Kenley Jansen, the Mavericks should have a decent shot of not finishing last in saves like these projections have them.  They may not demolish the rest of the league in ERA and WHIP as they have in recent years, but this still looks like it could be the best pitching staff in the league.  The Mavericks appear poised to finish in the top four of the league for the seventh straight season:  a remarkable run of sustained success.

Below are the full 2018 projected standings.  As you can see, not a whole lot separates the Mavericks, Naturals and Kings at the top.  Past seasons have shown these projections to be compelling, but certainly not infallible.  Let’s see how it all plays out.  Welcome to the 26th Dream Team Baseball League season!

Posted in Mavericks, Naturals | No Comments »

Komodos Nab Bellinger

Monday, March 19th, 2018

Embed from Getty Images
The 2018 DTBL Draft kicked off Thursday, March 8.  The first pick belonged to the league’s newest member, Kat’s Komodos.  Inheriting a Gators roster that was well stocked with hitters but very much lacking in pitching, the biggest question going into the draft was if they would select a player based on need or take the best player available.  The Komodos did the latter, picking the consensus top player in the draft pool, Dodgers first baseman Cody Bellinger.  As usual, the first round as a whole skewed young with nine DTBL rookies selected, four of whom didn’t make their MLB debuts until after the All-Star break last season.  The first round was light on pitching this year as eight of the top ten were hitters.

In retrospect, the decision to take Bellinger with the first pick was probably pretty easy for the Komodos.  The reigning National League Rookie of the Year will give them a huge power boost and may even position them as one of the deepest offensive teams in the league.  Bellinger made his presence known right from the start.  He was a NL All-Star as a rookie.  He hit 39 home runs with 97 RBI and 87 runs despite not making his debut until late April.  His .267 average was quite respectable for a slugging rookie and he even stole 10 bases.  Bellinger should be a star for the Komodos for a long time to come.

In many ways, the Kings faced a similar predicament to the Komodos with the second pick and made the same decision, taking the player they believed to be the best available despite it not being a position of great need.  With that pick, the Kings selected first baseman turned outfielder Rhys Hoskins.  The Phillies young slugger came up through the minors as a modestly rated prospect who did nothing but mash at every level of the minors.  That continued in the majors, despite also having to learn a new position at the big league level.  Hoskins slugged 18 homers in just 50 major league games, pumping out a ridiculous 1.014 OPS.  With the Phillies signing Carlos Santana this winter, it appears they will continue to deploy Hoskins to the outfield.  Even if that goes poorly, Hoskins’ bat will force its way into the lineup on a daily basis.

With the third pick, the Jackalope were able to do both of the things mentioned above:  pick the best player available and fill a glaring hole in the roster.  They selected Yankees starting pitcher Luis Severino.  Severino is technically a DTBL rookie, having never appeared on an active roster before.  But this is the second time he has been drafted.  The Naturals picked him in the 5th round in 2016, but he started the season in the minors and was released in May.  After that disappointing ’16 campaign, he was removed from the league last year, causing us to miss out on his breakout season.  In 2017, he became one of the most dominant pitchers in the league, posting a 2.98 ERA, 1.04 WHIP with 14 wins and 230 strikeouts.  The Jackalope pitching staff really struggled a year ago, making Severino a perfect fit.  They are also quite heavy on Yankees now, employing Severino, Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez, Didi Gregorius, Sonny Gray and Dellin Betances.  Not a bad group.

The top three of the draft seemed pretty clear cut.  Predicting who would go fourth and beyond was a bit more challenging.  The Choppers had the fourth pick and used it on second baseman Whit Merrifield who went from relative obscurity to fantasy monster during the course of the 2017 season.  The Royals infielder hit .288 with 19 home runs, 34 stolen bases, 80 runs and 78 RBI.  He was a plus contributor to all five categories, but especially stolen bases.  The Choppers had the worst offense in the league last year (in terms of batting points), so adding a do-it-all infielder makes plenty of sense.  It remains to be seen if the power was real, but in today’s home run climate, it seems quite possible it was.

Last year, the Moonshiners somewhat regretted passing on a young Red Sox up-and-comer in the first round in Andrew Benintendi.  They ensured that the same mistake wouldn’t be made again this year, grabbing third baseman Rafael Devers with the fifth pick.  Devers was just 20 years old when he made his MLB debut last summer.  But he earned his promotion by demolishing every level of the minors on his way up.  And the hitting continued when he reached the big leagues.  He hit .284 with 10 homers in 58 major league games.  Considering his age, the sky is the limit with this guy.  Early signs are that he is going to be a great hitter with above average power.  That should make him a fixture at hot corner for the Moonshiners for a very long time.

While hitters took most of the spotlight of the first round, there were a couple very intriguing pitchers selected as well.  The second of those was Twins starter Jose Berrios, picked sixth by the Darkhorses.  Berrios earned elite prospect status on his ascension up the minor league ladder, but a rocky MLB debut season in 2016 dampened expectations a bit.  But in 2017, he regained his status as an exciting young hurler.  He posted a solid 3.89 ERA and 1.229 WHIP with 14 wins and 139 strikeouts in 145 innings, helping lead the Twins to a surprising Wild Card berth.  He should immediately boost a Darkhorses pitching staff that finished last in ERA, WHIP and wins last season.

The Demigods selected the lone non-DTBL rookie of the first round with pick number seven.  Outfielder Ender Inciarte continues to be one of the more underrated all-around players in baseball.  With a weak Braves team around him last year, he managed to hit .304 with 11 homers, 93 runs scored and 22 stolen bases.  What a difference a year can make to a player’s stock.  The Darkhorses drafted Inciarte for the second time last year, in the 12th round.  Now he’s a first rounder.  For the record, the Darkhorses also drafted him in the fourth round in 2016.  With the investment of a first round pick, I have a feeling he will stick around for a while this time with the Demigods.

Following that selection of a DTBL “veteran”, the Cougars picked an outfielder who will be a rookie in this league, but is actually almost three years older than Inciarte.  Now 30 years old, Tommy Pham broke out big time for the Cardinals in ’17.  He hit .306 with 23 home runs and 25 stolen bases, becoming a legitimate five category force, seemingly out of nowhere.  This has become a consistent trend in the Cardinals organization:  late blooming non-prospects becoming excellent major league contributors.  There are plenty of reasons to believe Pham’s breakout is sustainable, most notably that he has been able to harness his degenerative vision problems.

For the second straight year, the Naturals used their first round pick on one of the top prospects in baseball who probably will spend a bulk of the upcoming season in the minors.  With the ninth pick, they selected young Nationals outfielder Victor Robles.  Considered the possible heir apparent to Bryce Harper in the Nats outfield, should Harper decide to take his talents elsewhere next winter, Robles has elite hitting, fielding and running skills.  Though not a big time slugger to this point of his career, scouts believe that will come as well.  MLB.com has him ranked as the #6 prospect in baseball and #1 among those who have already made their MLB debuts.  Robles is just 20 years old, so this is a long-term play for the Naturals.

Finally, the defending champion Mavericks closed out the first round by selecting another young hitter who splashed onto the scene late in the 2017 season, Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies.  Albies hit .286 with six home runs and eight stolen bases in 57 big league games, basically replicating the numbers he posted in AAA as a 20 year old.  So for those of you scoring at home, that’s three first round picks on guys who will enter the ’18 season at age 21 or younger (Albies, Devers, Robles).  The Mavericks don’t really have any holes, but Albies will slot in nicely at 2B.

The first round didn’t feature any trades this year, but there have been three separate deals since the first round ended, involving six different teams.  First, the Mavericks continued a revamp of their bullpen, dealing Aroldis Chapman to the Komodos for their second round pick (11th overall).  That pick was used on a very interesting pitcher, Alex Reyes.  Reyes should return from Tommy John surgery in May.  While his exact role remains a mystery, there are a few intriguing possibilities including closer or spot starter.  The fact that he will be designated as a reliever for this season could make him extremely valuable once he is healthy.  Meanwhile, Chapman gives the Komodos a reliable anchor in their bullpen which had no such commodities on the returning roster.

The next trade saw the Choppers flip their second round pick (14th overall) to the Naturals for outfielder Andrew McCutchen.  Once one of the best players in the league, McCutchen quietly put up pretty strong numbers across the board last year and will now be applying his craft in San Francisco.  As mentioned above, the Choppers needed a boost to their offense, so McCutchen should help to that end.  The Naturals used the acquired pick on the top closer in this draft, Pirates lefty Felipe Rivero, a former teammate of McCutchen’s.  Rivero had a dominant debut as a closer in ’17, saving 21 games with a 1.67 ERA and 0.889 WHIP.

The third deal was a swap of power hitters, in an attempt to clear position log jams on both ends.  The Kings dealt their longtime slugging outfielder Jay Bruce to the Cougars for first baseman Justin Bour.  On the Kings side, this was mostly a move to clear an overcrowded outfield, but also to get younger.  Trading away Bruce allowed them to select rookie outfielder Willie Calhoun with their subsequent pick, in the fifth round.  Of course, hours after they drafted Calhoun, he got sent to the minors.  But this was a future value play anyway.  Meanwhile, the Cougars didn’t have much use for Bour after drafting Justin Smoak and Bruce fills a need for a power hitting outfielder.

With four rounds remaining in the draft, we should easily finish up with time to spare before Opening Day.  Thanks to everyone for keeping things moving.  I hope to start my season preview articles this upcoming weekend.  Until then, keep up the good work!

 

 

Posted in Choppers, Cougars, Darkhorses, Demigods, Draft, Jackalope, Kings, Komodos, Mavericks, Moonshiners, Naturals | No Comments »

Judge Rules Over Rookies

Wednesday, November 15th, 2017

Embed from Getty Images
Let’s cut to the chase.  Putting Aaron Judge at the top of the ballot for Rookie of the Year was probably one of the easiest decisions each of us made this year.  That’s not to say there weren’t many good first year players in the league this year.  Quite the opposite, actually.  But none of those other rookies had one of the best offensive seasons in recent league history during their maiden voyages.  Judge did.  He already won the American League Rookie of the Year award and is likely to be a strong contender for the DTBL Most Valuable Player award which will be announced next week.  Mavericks outfielder Aaron Judge is the unanimous selection as the 2017 DTBL Rookie of the Year.

Before I go too much further, I need to point out that I have not yet completed the post-season adjustments to the 2017 PAR totals.  Because of the offensive explosion in the league this season, expect hitters’ PAR totals to go down a bit.  With that said, Judge just posted the fourth highest batting PAR for seasons in which it has been calculated to date (since 2009).  Granted, two of the three totals ahead of Judge’s 11.0 were also accumulated this year.  So it was a hitter friendly environment.  Nonetheless, Judge’s numbers speak of themselves.  He slugged 49 home runs, finishing second in the league behind Giancarlo Stanton and also second in league history among rookies, trailing only Ryan Howard’s 58 homers in 2006.  His 120 runs scored ranked third in the league and he also drove in triple digits:  106.  Additionally, he stole nine bases and hit a very respectable .287.  Not bad for a guy with swing-and-miss issues.  Judge led the Mavericks in HR, RBI and R.  Perhaps his most impressive feat was topping Mike Trout to lead the Mavericks in batting PAR.  It is the first time in Trout’s career that he has not led them in that category.

This was a pretty special season for the Mavericks organization, and Judge was obviously a huge part of that.  After hitting just .179 with four homers in 27 games at the end of 2016, none of the ten DTBL teams decided to select Judge during the draft this March.  But the Mavericks wisely moved in with a free agent claim in the second week of the season.  One season does not make a career, but this is already looking like the biggest free agent heist in league history.  One day we may look back and wonder how in the world Aaron Judge was not among the 280 players on a DTBL roster to start this season.  Actually, that day has already passed.  Anyway, all the Mavericks got out of their early season free agent signing was one of the best seasons in recent memory, and with it, a league championship.

I probably would have had to question anybody who didn’t put Judge #1 on their ballot.  Fortunately, that didn’t prove necessary as he received all ten first place votes for a point total of a perfect 100.  Jake Arrieta was a unanimous choice for this award two years ago, but the last hitter to do it was Judge’s Mavericks teammate Mike Trout.  Trout was also the last Maverick to win this award.  Comfortably finishing in second place was Gators third baseman Jose Ramirez who shocked everybody by hitting .318 with 29 home runs and 17 stolen bases.  Ramirez appeared on all ten ballots and received eight of the ten second place votes for a total of 64 points.  Finishing third was another breakout star with little hype entering the season, Moonshiners 7th round pick, Robbie Ray.  The hard-throwing lefty struck out 195 in just 143 innings for the Moonshiners.  Ray also received votes from all ten people and was the third choice for seven of them, finishing with 46 points.  The only first round pick to finish in the top five was Jackalope catcher Gary Sanchez.  Definitely one of the favorites for this award entering the season, Sanchez did not disappoint.  He clubbed 33 homers at one of the few remaining positions where big offensive numbers are hard to come by.  Sanchez was only on half the ballots, but accumulated 17 points.  Finally, a relief pitcher sneaked into the five hole.  Darkhorses closer Corey Knebel wasn’t signed as a free agent until May, but racked up 39 saves anyway.  An interesting note about him is that he was technically on a DTBL roster a year ago, but the Moonshiners never put him on their major league roster, preserving his rookie status into this season.  Knebel received one second place vote which helped him reach 15 total points and this fifth place ranking.

Click here to view the full voting results.

Even though all of the major MLB awards are being announced this week, you are going to have to wait until next week to find out who won the other two big DTBL awards.  Next up will be the Cy Young award, which will probably be announced next Monday.

Posted in Awards, Mavericks | No Comments »

Mavericks Rise to the Occasion

Wednesday, October 4th, 2017

Embed from Getty Images
The Mavericks drafted Mike Trout in the second round of the 2012 DTBL Draft, which remains nearly undisputed as the best draft pick in league history, since the inaugural draft. Not coincidentally, since the day they drafted Trout, the Mavericks have been a championship contender. Clearly they have been the most dominant franchise in the league over the past half-dozen years. But one fairly important thing was missing during that stretch: a league championship. Well, their sustained excellence has finally been rewarded. For the third time in franchise history, Marc’s Mavericks are the DTBL Champions.

Since 2012, the Mavericks have finished in second place three times, third once and their “worst” finish was fourth place a year ago, when they were only 3 1/2 points behind the league champs. Prefer judging teams’ individual season performances by points rather than place of finish? Well, the Mavericks have been consistently dominant in that area as well. They haven’t finished with fewer than 66 points since 2011. This year, no other team even came close to that mark. They won the league by a convincing 11 1/2 points. Since 2008, the only team with a larger margin of victory was the 2015 Jackalope.

So what made this Mavericks squad slightly better than their recent teams that fell just a little short? Well, from a points perspective, not a lot changed. It was largely a matter of all other contenders having fatal flaws while the Mavericks continued to ride a dominant pitching staff and a good, but not great, offense. The Mavericks once again had the best pitching staff in the league. They led the way with 43 1/2 pitching points and have now topped the league in pitching four of the past five seasons. On the hitting side, they actually took a slight step back from a year ago, finishing with 29 batting points, which was bested by seven other teams.

It’s actually pretty shocking that the Mavericks finished eighth in offense, because they had a bunch of guys who had outstanding seasons. They lacked the offensive balance of a few other teams, but had plenty of star power. As usual, Mike Trout was dominant. But a thumb injury cost him nearly 1/3 of the season and prevented him from leading the team in PAR for the sixth straight season. Instead that honor went to another guy who the Mavericks somehow found off the scrap heap better known as the free agent pool. All rise…

Aaron Judge was signed as a free agent by the Mavericks during the second week of the season. The mammoth outfielder was in the draft pool, but was passed over by 120 other players. In fairness, Judge had the look of a potential bust of a prospect having shown major contact problems during his first MLB stint. Some were surprised he even made the Yankees Opening Day roster. But the Mavericks beat the rest of the league to the punch and signed him following his solid start to the season. 49 home runs later, Judge is a mortal lock to win Rookie of the Year and will receive strong MVP consideration as well. With Judge a free agent signing, Trout a second round pick and Clayton Kershaw a sixth round pick, it is hard to say which current Maverick was the biggest steal in franchise history, but all three rank right up there in league history as well.

Besides Trout and Judge, the Mavericks also got great seasons from a number of other hitters: third basemen Manny Machado (33 HR, 95 RBI) and Mike Moustakas (38 HR), first round draft pick Andrew Benintendi (20 HR, 20 SB) and speedy outfielder Billy Hamilton. Hamilton led the league with 58 stolen bases. But the biggest surprise had to be second baseman Jonathan Schoop. All the ninth round pick from 2016 did was hit 32 bombs with 105 RBI.

Enough about the hitters though. It was the continued excellence of the Mavericks pitching staff that carried them to this championship. They led the league in ERA and WHIP by wide margins and tied the Demigods for most wins. Both the rotation and bullpen were unmatched in terms of dominance. Unlike the offense, which featured some key newcomers, the pitching staff was the same old guard. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Clayton Kershaw and Stephen Strasburg did the heavy lifting, with an assist from Yu Darvish. Strasburg’s performance was especially key since the rotation didn’t have quite the same depth as previous versions. Kershaw was unable to make it through a full healthy season again, but still wound up finishing in the top three in the league in ERA, WHIP and tied for first in wins. Strasburg wasn’t as flashy, but topped 200 strikeouts and had his best season since 2014.

The bullpen gave the Mavericks a huge advantage over the rest of the league in ERA, WHIP and especially strikeouts. Kenley Jansen and Dellin Betances both topped 100 strikeouts. Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman may have done the same had they been 100% healthy for the full season. Aroyds Vizcaino, who finished the season as the Braves closer, couldn’t even crack the Mavericks lineup most of the year. This bullpen was truly an embarrassment of riches.

Another way in which you can see how loaded the Mavericks roster was is in the quality of the players they cast aside. Four players they released at some point this year could receive consideration as keepers for teams that signed them later in the year: Josh Bell, Byron Buxton, Steven Souza and Dylan Bundy. It is going to be very interesting to see how the Mavericks cut down to 16 keepers this winter, because they have a lot more guys than that who most teams would want.

This is the third DTBL Championship for the Mavericks and the first in over a decade (2004, 2006). They are now tied with the Cougars for the fourth most DTBL titles, trailing the Kings (6), Darkhorses (5) and Naturals (4). Only the Kings have more top two finishes than the Mavericks’ eight. The Mavericks are pretty clearly one of the league’s elite franchises. Now they have a recent championship to prove it.

Congrats to Marc on a great season! Much more to come over the next few weeks as I recap the 2017 season.

Posted in Mavericks | No Comments »

September Storylines

Saturday, September 9th, 2017

Embed from Getty Images
In some circles, it is believed that I have magical powers that allow me to alter the state of the championship race by declaring certain teams dead, thereby causing those teams to actually find their way back into the race. There has been little proof of this, however, as what was described as a two team race a month ago has now become more of a solo act. The Mavericks now hold a double digit lead with just three and a half weeks to go. Is it over? Are the Mavericks a lock to win their first championship in 11 years? Eh, not exactly.

While the Mavericks have held a double digit lead for a couple weeks now, they are not completely bulletproof. On the batting side, they hold precarious leads over chasing teams in pretty much all five categories. And they are currently nursing several injuries to hitters. Without any free agent signings remaining, they don’t have a lot of options to replace injured players either, not that the free agent pool has anybody worth signing at this point anyway. As for pitching, they are sitting pretty and it seems highly unlikely they could lose more than a point or two in pitching categories, especially with Clayton Kershaw healthy again. Perhaps someday I will come up with a way of calculating championship odds, but for now, I’m going to take a blind guess instead. I’d give the Mavericks close to a 90% chance of winning the title, with the other 10% split between the Naturals and Demigods. I suppose a few other teams could enter the picture with a couple ridiculously hot weeks. But it is pretty much the Mavericks title to lose.  There, I said it.

So the championship race may not be particularly exciting right now, but there are some other very interesting storylines to follow down the stretch. First is the impressive power display by Jackalope outfielder Giancarlo Stanton (spoiler alert: he will be mentioned again below). Stanton currently sits at 53 home runs and has a great chance to be the first person to reach 60 since 2001. In fact, if you exclude the seasons during the peak of the steroid era (1998-2001), Stanton could surpass the next highest single season home run total (Ryan Howard, 58, 2006). While the actual single season home run record (73) is probably not realistic, Stanton does have a great shot at a different kind of home run record: margin of victory for the home run crown. In 1995, Albert Belle hit 10 more homers than any other player. Nobody else has repeated that feat since. Currently, Stanton leads Moonshiners’ Khris Davis by 14 home runs. At his recent pace, hard to imagine Stanton not expanding upon that lead.

The MVP and Cy Young races are both way too close to call right now. In fact, there are so many hitters in play for MVP that I’m not even going to mention all of them here. On the pitching side, Chris Sale and Max Scherzer have been the presumptive Cy Young leaders most of the summer, but Corey Kluber has been coming on strong and a now-healthy Kershaw can’t be ignored either. Will Sale reach 300 strikeouts? If he gets to 302, it will be the highest single season mark since 2002.

Now a belated look back at the award winners for August 2017:

Batters of the Week:

Week 18 (7/31 – 8/6) – Willson Contreras, Demigods
Week 19 (8/7 – 8/13) – Giancarlo Stanton, Jackalope
Week 20 (8/14 – 8/20) – Rougned Odor, Naturals
Week 21 (8/21 – 8/27) – Byron Buxton, Choppers
Week 22 (8/28 – 9/3) – Jose Ramirez, Gators

Pitchers of the Week:

Week 18 (7/31 – 8/6) – Cole Hamels, Demigods
Week 19 (8/7 – 8/13) – Corey Kluber, Demigods
Week 20 (8/14 – 8/20) – Gio Gonzalez, Gators
Week 21 (8/21 – 8/27) – Masahiro Tanaka, Choppers
Week 22 (8/28 – 9/3) – Jeff Samardzija, Moonshiners

August was a good month for veteran pitchers.  Four of the five Pitchers of the Week are at least 31 years old, with Tanaka being the young guy (28).  It was also a good month for a few under-the-radar stars like Jose Ramirez and Gio Gonzalez.  The Moonshiners July trade for Jeff Smardzija has been paying dividends as well.  But let’s face it, August was all about one guy, who obviously won the Batter of the Month award:

Batter of the Month:

Giancarlo Stanton, Jackalope
.349 AVG, 18 HR, 37 RBI, 28 R, 1 SB, 4.81 PAR

Pitcher of the Month:

Corey Kluber, Demigods
1.96 ERA, 0.630 WHIP, 5 W, 0 SV, 54 K, 4.35 PAR

As amazing as Jose Altuve’s July was, Giancarlo Stanton kicked it up another notch in August.  He had the best month of this season by a player, by far, according to PAR.  His 4.81 August PAR is a full 1.3 points higher than any other Player of the Month has earned this season.  He slugged an insane 18 home runs in August, which is the second highest single month total in league history, trailing only Sammy Sosa’s 20 homers in June of 1998.  As outlined above, this has a chance to be a truly historic season for Stanton.  He is firmly in the mix for MVP now as well.  You want to know who has had the second best month this season?  The Mavericks’ Manny Machado, who put up 3.9 PAR in August, but somehow didn’t come close to winning this monthly honor.

Not to be overlooked, Corey Kluber also posted the highest monthly PAR we’ve seen from a pitcher this season, coming in at 4.35.  He was nearly unhittable in the month, leading qualified pitchers in ERA, WHIP, wins (tied) and strikeouts.  He has also inserted himself into the Cy Young conversation, which didn’t seem possible a month ago.  Nobody came close to snatching this honor from Kluber, but recently traded Justin Verlander was the runner-up.

Posted in Awards, Demigods, Jackalope, Mavericks | No Comments »

Trout Injury Dampens Mood

Saturday, June 3rd, 2017


You never want to see any player lose significant time due to injury, but especially not the elite players who make the game so fun to watch.  So when Mike Trout hit the disabled list earlier this week with a torn ligament in his thumb that figures to sideline him for a couple months, the whole baseball world took a hit.  Obviously, there are ramifications in this league as well.  The Mavericks have held a small but consistent lead almost the entire season so far.  But that will be put to the test in a big way in the upcoming months.  Can a team that was already mediocre offensively tread water long enough until Trout returns?

The list of teams that figure to benefit from this opportunity is long.  In fact, at the 1/3 mark of the season schedule, all ten teams are legitimately still in the race.  Even before Trout went down, the Mavericks weren’t blowing away the competition.  And no team has completely tanked to this point either.  Due to an issue with my stats source, the stats haven’t been updated through Friday’s games yet, so I’m writing this looking at the numbers through Thursday.  At that time, the Mavs held a slim 1/2 point lead on the Naturals and just a point ahead of the Moonshiners as well.  Meanwhile, even the last place Choppers were only 20.5 points behind.  Making up that much ground in four months is certainly doable.

The month of May saw 1,060 home runs hit across MLB, the second highest single month total in history.  Yet, shockingly, the DTBL Batter of the Month went to a guy who hit one measly homer.  But first, here are the guys who won the weekly honors in May.

Batters of the Week:

Week 5 (5/1 – 5/7) – Billy Hamilton, Mavericks
Week 6 (5/8 – 5/14) – Mookie Betts, Kings
Week 7 (5/15 – 5/21) – Corey Dickerson, Gators
Week 8 (5/22 – 5/28) – Charlie Blackmon, Cougars

Pitchers of the Week:

Week 5 (5/1 – 5/7) – Chris Sale, Choppers
Week 6 (5/8 – 5/14) – Zack Greinke, Moonshiners
Week 7 (5/15 – 5/21) – Stephen Strasburg, Mavericks
Week 8 (5/22 – 5/28) – Lance McCullers, Kings

No big surprises on the pitching list as some of the best pitchers in baseball were at the top of their games in May.  Even though pretty much all of the players listed above were strong contenders for Pitcher of the Month, the award went to someone else.  With the exception of Hamilton, the weekly award winners were certainly part of the huge power surge in May.  But as I hinted at earlier, it wasn’t a gaudy home run total that clinched the Batter of the Month honor.  Here are the players of the month for May 2017:

Batter of the Month:

Billy Hamilton, Mavericks
.288 AVG, 1 HR, 14 RBI, 27 R, 18 SB, 3.10 PAR

Pitcher of the Month:

Max Scherzer, Kings
2.27 ERA, 0.824 WHIP, 3 W, 0 SV, 60 K, 3.19 PAR

Safe to say Hamilton had the green light in May.  He stole 18 bases, which was six more than any other player.  He currently leads the league in steals with 28, which is twice the total of the next highest player!  He is on pace to blow past the DTBL single season stolen base record which is held by Jose Reyes who stole 78 bags in 2007.  Nobody has reached the 60 plateau since 2011, which Hamilton seems close to a lock to achieve, barring injury.  The rest of the offensive numbers were solid in May for Hamilton too.  It will be important for him to keep up the respectable hitting numbers while keeping the Mavericks offense afloat without Trout.  The race for this award wasn’t as close as you might have thought, but the runner-up was Jackalope first baseman Paul Goldschmidt.

I had to do a double-take when I saw Scherzer atop the May pitching PAR leaderboard.  He had a couple very poor outings in the month, by his standards, including a game I saw in person in Atlanta in which his velocity was down and his command was off.  Yet he rebounded in a big way, striking out 24 batters in his final two starts of the month, one which was a complete game and another that was one out shy of that.  In total, he led the league with 60 strikeouts in the month.  He just barely won this award, edging out Kings teammate Lance McCullers and the Darkhorses’ Carlos Martinez.  This is the second time in three years that Scherzer has won this award in the month of May.

Posted in Awards, Kings, Mavericks | No Comments »

2017 Season Preview: Part III

Sunday, April 2nd, 2017


As I’m sitting here writing, the first official game of the 2017 season just ended with the Rays beating the Yankees.  And now the second game, featuring the Giants and Diamondbacks, is underway.  So, welcome to the 2017 season!  We still have four more teams to cover in our season preview series, however.  In this edition, we’ll take a look at the teams projected to finish in third and fourth places.  The teams that remain have all been regulars near the top of the standings in recent seasons, so there aren’t any big surprises here.  The pair of teams covered in this particular article were probably both slightly disappointed by their place of finish from 2016, but both will be serious contenders this season.  These teams are projected to finish within seven points of the top placed squad.  Here is a preview of the 2017 Naturals and Mavericks.

Nick’s Naturals

Category – Projected Rank (2016 Rank)

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

Summary:

Believe it or not, the Naturals are the only team projected to finish in the top half of the league in both batting and pitching points.  So a strong argument could be made that this is the most balanced team in the league.  They have clearly improved an offense that was very disappointing a year ago.  They used their first three draft picks on exciting young infielders:  Yoan Moncada, Dansby Swanson and Jose Peraza.  Moncada is the big name of that trio, but the other two figure to be much more important pieces for this season.  Add those guys to an existing foundation of Miguel Cabrera, Joey Votto and Nolan Arenado and you’ve got yourself quite the infield.  The outfield isn’t bad either with Trea Turner, Andrew McCutchen and Justin Upton.  It would be hard to imagine the Naturals finishing in the bottom half in batting points again this year.  The pitching staff is pretty interesting as well.  It’s essentially the same core as last year, with Noah Syndergaard and Carlos Carrasco as the aces.  David Price’s health is certainly a major concern at the moment, however.  The saves projection may be a tad light because it doesn’t include free agent signing Blake Treinen.  I’m not sure how the Naturals wound up getting him being fifth in free agent priority, but they aren’t going to complain.  They don’t have a standout closer, but they ought to be able to rack up a bunch of saves with the five closers currently on the roster.  After two disappointing seasons in sixth place, the Naturals definitely look like a title contender for this season.  They are possibly the most complete team in the league.

Marc’s Mavericks

Category – Projected Rank (2016 Rank)

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

Summary:

Another season, another year with the Mavericks having the best pitching staff in the league.  I could have just copied and pasted whatever I wrote in this section about the Mavericks pitchers last year, because this is almost literally the exact same staff.  The gist:  they are good.  They are projected to blow away the rest of the league in ERA, WHIP and strikeouts.  Not surprising with a rotation led by Clayton Kershaw, Yu Darvish and Stephen Strasburg.  They even managed to reacquire a couple hurlers who they cut a couple months ago:  Matt Harvey and Taijuan Walker.  The newcomers to the rotation are Kenta Maeda and Sean Manaea, who may seem like unnecessary luxuries.  But keep in mind that one of the big reasons why the Mavericks were unable to win the championship last year is because they suffered injuries to almost all of the previously mentioned pitchers.  This year, they are loaded with depth in case that happens again.  The bullpen is borderline unfair.  Only two closers:  Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen, but Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances are such reliable strikeout machines that they hold significant value as setup men.  It would be hard to imagine the Mavericks not regaining the top spot in the league in strikeouts.  There are questions on offense, however.  These projections don’t show a lot of promise beyond Mike Trout and Manny Machado.  The Mavericks don’t need a great offense to win this league, but they will need a couple other hitters to have breakout years.  Andrew Benintendi, Byron Buxton, Addison Russell, Nomar Mazara and Tim Anderson are all candidates to do just that.  No matter what happens with the bats, this will be a championship contender on the strength of the league’s best pitching staff.

Posted in Mavericks, Naturals | No Comments »

Story-book Beginning

Monday, March 20th, 2017


Thought to be a weaker than usual draft class, at least compared to the past few seasons, there was still no shortage of young potential superstars taken in the first part of the 2017 DTBL Draft.  The 25th version of this pre-season ritual kicked off Thursday, March 9.  The Cougars decided to start things with a Story, Trevor Story to be exact.  What followed in the first round was the typical parade of youngsters, this year mostly dominated by hitters.  But there were a couple intriguing pitchers selected as well.  Potential tends to trump proven performance in the early stages of this league’s drafts, but that was especially the case this year as a player who will likely start the season in the minors was among the first five players taken.  I don’t recall that ever happening before.  Here’s a recap of how the first round went down.

The Cougars kicked things off with perhaps the surest thing among this DTBL rookie class.  A year ago at this time, Trevor Story was earning his spot as the Rockies starting shortstop, despite not yet having made his MLB debut.  It didn’t take long for him to make an impression though.  He cruised his way through his first four months in the big leagues, slugging 27 home runs with 72 RBI and a .272 average.  He appeared to be a lock for the NL Rookie of the Year award.  But then he tore a ligament in his thumb and missed the final two months of the season.  Nonetheless, he appears to be a safe bet as a major power contributor at a premium position playing in the hitters paradise in Denver.  He was pretty close to a no-brainer selection for the Cougars who finished dead last in homers last year.

The Jackalope followed by selecting another slugger who wasted no time making an impression in the big leagues.  Despite not making his season debut until August, catcher Gary Sanchez slugged his way to being the runner up for AL Rookie of the Year.  In just 53 games, Sanchez hit 20 home runs while posting a .299 average.  Sanchez should immediately become one of the best fantasy catchers in the league, and considering how shallow the talent pool is at that position, could be irreplaceable for the Jackalope for some time to come.  Sanchez going second was easily the earliest selection of a catcher since Buster Posey was the first overall pick in 2011.

On paper, this appeared to be a hitter heavy draft, with no pitchers as obvious selections at the top of the draft.  But the Gators were in serious need of pitching help and believe they found a potential ace in Aaron Sanchez.  Sanchez is technically not a DTBL rookie, having debuted as a relief pitcher for the Naturals in 2015.  But last year was his first chance to earn his stripes as a starter and it went quite well.  He won 15 games with a 3.00 ERA, marks that exceeded all Gators starters last year.  He will join Jose Quintana in hopes of improving the league’s worst pitching staff of a season ago.

Like Sanchez, the fourth overall selection is also not a DTBL rookie.  The Moonshiners picked shortstop Jonathan Villar, who prior to 2016 had been a fantasy and real-life afterthought.  The Brewers picked him up from the Astros in exchange for a low level minor leaguer.  In Villar’s three seasons in Houston, he hit a total of 10 home runs and never topped 18 steals in a season.  Then he showed up in Milwaukee and slugged 19 homers with a MLB leading 62 stolen bases in 2016.  From cast-off to one of the most valuable fantasy players in the entire league.  It is hard to know for sure if last season was the new normal for Villar, but if he even comes close to reaching those numbers again, this will be a great pick by the Moonshiners.  Villar went hitless in 17 at bats for the Naturals way back in 2014, yet he is still just 25 years old.

The fifth pick was unquestionably the biggest risk/reward selection of the first round.  The Naturals went with the White Sox newly acquired phenom Yoan Moncada.  A third baseman for this season, he will likely shift to 2B in the future.  Moncada was the main piece of the winter blockbuster that sent Chris Sale from Chicago to Boston.  For service time and development reasons, Moncada is unlikely to begin the season in the majors.  But he is regarded as either the best or second best prospect in the game, depending on the publication.  He has impressive power and speed, making him an incredibly intriguing fantasy asset.  The Naturals have had success with taking chances on top prospects.  Just last year, they took Trea Turner despite knowing he would begin the year in the minors. That certainly paid off.  Of course, that was an eighth round pick, not fifth overall.  So there is tremendous risk with this selection as well, but the payoff could be huge.

The next two picks were guys with similar lofty prospect pedigrees to Moncada, but who have proven themselves a little more in the big leagues.  The Darkhorses were probably extremely surprised to be able to draft third baseman Alex Bregman with the sixth pick in the draft.  Although not a position of need for them, Bregman’s talent was far too enticing to pass up.  Despite getting off to a very rough start upon promotion, Bregman rebounded nicely to hit .264 with eight homers and 34 RBI in just 49 games.  He figures to anchor the hot corner for the Darkhorses and Astros for some time to come.

While many publications have Moncada ranked as the top prospect in baseball, others give the nod to his former Red Sox teammate, outfielder Andrew Benintendi.  Benintendi can flat out hit.  He had a solid big league debut, which led to him being a starter for the Red Sox in the post-season, just a month into his big league career.  The Mavericks will add him to their impressive stable of young talent.

The eighth pick featured the second pitcher of the draft.  The Choppers selected Royals lefty Danny Duffy.  Duffy was once a highly touted prospect, but had only a modest track record before last season.  But he is now the unquestioned ace of the Royals staff.  He struck out 188 batters in 180 innings with an impressive 3.51 ERA and 1.14 WHIP.  The Choppers now lay claim to three of the best left-handed pitchers in baseball:  Duffy, Chris Sale and Jon Lester.

The first round of the previous two DTBL drafts featured three Cubs.  This year, just one.  With the ninth pick, the Demigods took Cubs catcher Willson Contreras.  Contreras also started hitting immediately upon promotion.  He hit .282 with 12 home runs in 76 games.  He immediately earned regular time, both behind the plate and in the outfield, for a team loaded with talent.  He will join Buster Posey to create an enviable catching duo for the Demigods.

The Kings ended the first round the way it started, with a Rockie.  The defending champions selected outfielder David Dahl.  Dahl was a candidate to be selected earlier in the round, but probably fell a bit due to a rib injury that he continues to nurse.  He will almost certainly begin the season on the disabled list.  However, it is hard to pass up on a power/speed guy who plays half his games in Colorado.  Dahl hit .315 with seven home runs and five stolen bases in 63 big league games.

There were not any trades involving first round picks, but there was one deal completed during the first round and two more in the second.  Here is a brief summary of those deals.  The Kings traded promising young outfielder Gregory Polanco to the Moonshiners for established star third baseman Kyle Seager.  The primary motivation for the Kings was to clear a bit of space in their crowded outfield (and eventually led to their interest in picking Dahl) while acquiring a proven commodity at a weak spot on their roster.  Meanwhile, the Moonshiners added a much needed potential young star in Polanco.  He and Villar could immediately become their best offensive players.

The Moonshiners were not done dealing, however.  They also sent their long time star second baseman Ian Kinsler to the Jackalope for a second round pick (12th overall).  That pick was used to select promising young closer Edwin Diaz.  Kinsler spent ten impressive years with the Moonshiners and will now help solidify the Jackalope middle infield.

Finally, the third trade of the early portion of the draft sent Odubel Herrera from the Naturals to the Demigods for the Demigods’ second round pick (19th overall).  The Naturals used that pick on shortstop Jose Peraza.  Herrera gives the Demigods another power/speed guy who fills a major need for outfield depth.

In summary, the first round featured eight DTBL rookies, two who still have MLB rookie eligibility (Moncada and Benintendi), and nine guys who are 25 or younger (all but Duffy).  While there may not have been as many top level certain superstars in this draft, there was still an impressive infusion of young talent.

Posted in Choppers, Cougars, Darkhorses, Demigods, Draft, Gators, Jackalope, Kings, Mavericks, Moonshiners, Naturals | No Comments »

Three Near Misses

Saturday, October 29th, 2016


The Kings winning the championship by the narrowest of margins, a year after finishing dead last, was a pretty good story in and of itself. But even if things had turned out differently, we were pretty much guaranteed to have a compelling narrative on our hands with this year’s champion. There were the Demigods, still looking for their first ever league title, dealing with the tragic loss of their star pitcher. Then there were the Choppers, who have quietly been among the better teams in the league the past four years, but hadn’t come particularly close to winning it all since their last championship 17 years ago. Finally, there were the Mavericks, who have probably been the league’s best franchise the past five years but have somehow not won a championship in a decade. In the end, these three teams fell painfully short of their ultimate goal.

This could have, maybe even should have been the Demigods big moment. As I already outlined in the Kings championship article, the Demigods very well could have won their first DTBL championship had they not suffered the ultimate loss with a week left in the season when their young phenom pitcher, Jose Fernandez, was killed in an accident. One more win would have elevated the Demigods to co-championship status and one fewer win for the Kings would have given the Demigods the outright crown. But there were other ways in which this appeared to be the Demigods year to win as well. In the summer months, they were by far the most balanced team in the league. While the Kings were dealing with a ton of injuries and a struggling pitching staff and the Mavericks were basically playing two or three pitchers short, it was the Demigods who were near the top of the league in both batting and pitching points.

As has been the case with the Demigods for several years now, their strength was their lack of weaknesses. Jose Altuve is probably the only player on their team who will receive MVP consideration, but the list of positive offensive contributors is long. Freddie Freeman, David Ortiz, Francisco Lindor and Matt Kemp (?!) were some of their top hitters. A late season surge (and Kings collapse) gave them the league lead in average, home runs and RBI. They finished just one point behind the Darkhorses for most batting points in the league. On the pitching side, they were also near the top of the league despite finishing a distant last in saves. Their rotation was as good as anybody’s, led by Fernandez, Corey Kluber and Johnny Cueto. Veterans Cole Hamels and John Lackey were pretty good on the back-end of that rotation as well. That’s five pitchers who accumulated 5+ PAR. No other team had more than three.

The Choppers ultimately fell short of their first championship season in 17 years. But this was easily their best effort since then. It was their fourth straight season finishing in the top four of the standings, but their smallest margin of defeat since their championship in 1999. They finished 2 1/2 points behind the Kings. The last time they finished fewer than nine points off the lead was way back 2001. But this wasn’t just a matter of keeping it close. With just a week left in the season, they found themselves in a first place tie with the Demigods. Unfortunately for them, they were unable to put together a great final week to win it all.

There are a lot of similarities between the Choppers and Demigods. The Choppers also had a solid all-around team with few weaknesses. They don’t have an obvious MVP candidate, but do have plenty of hitters who had really good years. Perhaps first on that list would be Anthony Rizzo. Mark Trumbo easily led the league in home runs with 47. D.J. LeMahieu sat the final weekend of the season to preserve his NL (and DTBL) batting title, but that wasn’t particularly helpful for the Choppers. Finally, the veteran trio of Adrian Beltre, Albert Pujols and Dustin Pedroia all had very productive years for the Choppers as well. The pitching staff was really the strength of the Choppers though. They finished just 1/2 point behind the ballyhooed Mavericks staff with 39 1/2 pitching points. The rotation was led by three of the games best southpaws: Jon Lester, Chris Sale and J.A. Happ (yes, Happ belongs in that discussion). The bullpen was decent, but saves was the only pitching category in which the Choppers did not finish in the top three.

I’m not exactly sure what to say about this Mavericks season. On one hand, going into the season, they were expected to be one of the teams to beat, just like they are every year, thanks to their impeccable pitching staff. So not winning it all would have to be a bit of a disappointment. But then when you look at how many devastating injuries hit their staff, it was something of a miracle that they were even in the race until the end. When all was said and done, the fourth place finish was their lowest since 2011. But it was their third time in the past five years in which they finished within four points of a championship. Shockingly, it has now been ten years since their last DTBL title.

The Mavericks entered this season staring at the possibility of having the following five pitchers anchor their rotation for most of the season: Clayton Kershaw, Stephen Strasburg, Matt Harvey, Yu Darvish and Taijuan Walker. All five of those guys, along with their top alternative Joe Ross, fought through signifcant injury problems and not one of them reached the 150 IP requirement for ERA and WHIP leaderboard qualification. A team that was supposed to have one of the best starting staffs ever finished the season with Anibal Sanchez and Anthony DeSclafani (a reliever) in their rotation. Despite all of that, they still led the league in pitching points, thanks to an untouchable bullpen of Kenley Jansen, Andrew Miller, Dellin Betances and Aroldis Chapman. With just a little more potent offense, they could have won the league. But it was pretty much just a two man show on offense. Mike Trout and Manny Machado continue to be two of the best players in baseball, with Trout having his best all-around season since his DTBL rookie year. I guess Hanley Ramirez had a pretty good season as well. But that’s about it. The final fourth place finish was disappointing for the Mavericks, but they once again acquitted themselves as one of the league’s elite franchises.

Sorry it took me so long to get to this article. Hopefully, I’ll actually have a chance to write about the rest of the teams before the post-season award season kicks off. So much more to come soon!

Posted in Choppers, Demigods, Mavericks | No Comments »

Kings Lead Widens

Monday, September 5th, 2016


The Kings have been in first place for a majority of the season, but things were getting a little too close for comfort in early August as the Mavericks and Demigods were in hot pursuit.  They even briefly surrendered the top spot.  But in the last few weeks, they have built up a more comfortable lead once again.  As September hit, the lead was up to 9  1/2 points, though that has dropped down to 6 1/2 as of today.  The race is far from over, but the Kings are definitely in the driver’s seat.

It has pretty much been a three team race since the All-Star break.  A month ago, the Demigods may have actually been the presumed favorite just because the Kings and Mavericks were fighting through some serious injury problems.  This is still a major problem for the Mavericks, who haven’t been able to field a full, healthy rotation since June.  The Kings injuries were mostly on the offensive side as they seemed to suffer a new ailment every day in late July.  But things have been patched up recently and they continue to field the league’s best offense.

At first glance, the Kings simply don’t seem to have a championship caliber pitching staff.  But two of their long time aces have really stepped up of late:  Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.  Those two guys have led the Kings into the top half of the league in pitching points, which seemed like an unreachable goal as recently as a month ago.  The Kings are still dead last in ERA, yet are in the top three of every other pitching category, which is a little strange to say the least.  But this pitching resurgence has pushed the Kings back up to the 80 point mark in the standings.  If they can hold onto that, they should be able to finish off the improbable worst to first turnaround.

This race is far from over though.  The Kings are extremely vulnerable in a whole bunch of categories, especially on the pitching side.  The Demigods are the closest competition at the moment.  All year, they have looked like the most balanced team, and as mentioned earlier, some might have considered them the favorite when the Kings and Mavericks were losing players left and right.  The Demigods have possibly been the healthiest team in the league.  But now they need to go on a run to get back into the race for their first championship.

Perhaps the team most worth watching in the final month is the Mavericks.  In some ways, it is quite remarkable that they are still in this race despite losing basically their entire rotation for significant portions of the season.  But the band is going to start coming back together this week as Stephen Strasburg and Clayton Kershaw are expected to make their returns from the disabled list.  It shouldn’t take long for the Mavericks to gain points in pitching categories with those two back in the lineup.

Finally, the Choppers and Darkhorses aren’t completely eliminated yet, but will need to get hot in a hurry to get back in the race.  Four weeks to go.  Will the Kings become the DTBL’s first six time champion?  Here are the award winners for August 2016.

Batters of the Week:

Week 18 (8/1 – 8/7) – Brandon Phillips, Cougars
Week 19 (8/8 – 8/14) – Charlie Blackmon, Cougars
Week 20 (8/15 – 8/21) – Kris Bryant, Cougars
Week 21 (8/22 – 8/28) - Josh Donaldson, Jackalope

Pitchers of the Week:

Week 18 (8/1 – 8/7) – Kyle Hendricks, Moonshiners
Week 19 (8/8 – 8/14) – Rick Porcello, Darkhorses
Week 20 (8/15 – 8/21) - Ian Kennedy, Cougars
Week 21 (8/22 – 8/28) - David Price, Naturals

It was a weirdly strong month for players on the non-contending teams.  Not one of the weekly awards went to a player on one of the top four teams.  The last place Cougars had three different hitters and a pitcher take home weekly honors.  This carried over to the monthly awards as well, which were won by teammates from a non-contender.  Here are the DTBL monthly award winners for August 2016:

Batter of the Month:

Brian Dozier, Moonshiners
.302 AVG, 13 HR, 27 RBI, 27 R, 3 SB, 3.23 PAR

Pitcher of the Month:

Kyle Hendricks, Moonshiners
1.28 ERA, 0.780 WHIP, 4 W, 0 SV, 36 K, 3.36 PAR

The month of August saw the Moonshiners creep up the standings a little bit, no longer in serious danger of finishing dead last for the first time in franchise history.  The August surge was largely due to the month’s top two players:  Brian Dozier and Kyle Hendricks.  Dozier is having a career year, already surpassing his previous season highs in home runs and RBI.  In August, he led the league in home runs with 13 and was near the top in RBI and runs, with 27 apiece.  The Moonshiners offense has been carried most of the season by their two second basemen, Dozier and Ian Kinsler.  A whole host of other hitters challenged for the monthly award, with Nolan Arenado as the closest competition.

In an absolutely loaded rookie class, one player has gone largely overlooked, until now.  Kyle Hendricks has been the most surprising star of the Cubs magical season, making a run at Jake Arrieta for the title of ace of the staff.  He has unquestionably been the ace of the Moonshiners staff, a rotation containing former Cy Young winners Felix Hernandez, Zack Greinke and Dallas Keuchel.  Hendricks was the pretty clear winner of the August honor, but Max Scherzer and Rick Porcello had great months as well.

Posted in Awards, Demigods, Kings, Mavericks, Moonshiners | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »