Embed from Getty Images
If it feels like the 2020 baseball season just started, well, that’s basically true. However, we’re also more than half way through the abbreviated 60 game slate. I think we all entered this season ready to expect the unexpected, and that is pretty much what we have gotten. Critical injuries, particularly to pitchers, have decimated rosters. Multiple MLB teams have had week’s worth of games wiped out due to positive COVID-19 tests. Seven inning doubleheaders and wacky extra inning rules have become a common occurrence. The season has also had its good moments though, like the breakout of a new wave of stars, including the ones who will be covered below.
One thing I was expecting from this shortened season was chaos at the top of the standings. But that really hasn’t proven to be the case… at least not yet. The Darkhorses have been in first or second place every day of the season since the opening weekend and have held the top spot for almost two straight weeks now. So, as has become an annual tradition, the Darkhorses are right in the thick of the race as we head into September. But that’s about the only thing this season has in common with recent years. No longer are the Kings their chief competition. In fact, the Kings are one of probably three teams that have little to no shot at winning the title this year. Their house of cards tumbled quickly when Justin Verlander was lost to an arm injury in the first week of the season. The wildly underachieving Jackalope offense and Komodos pitching staff have left them as the other two teams with little hope for a championship season. But everybody else should feel like they still have a shot. The Cougars, Moonshiners and Demigods are having breakout years. The Mavericks have overcome some tough pitching losses to remain in the thick of things. The Beanballers have bounced back from a very slow start to get back into the conversation. And the Choppers have amazingly had the best pitching staff in the league despite losing Chris Sale for the season this past spring. The Darkhorses would seem to be the favorites, not only because of their current lead, but also because they are pretty healthy at the moment. Of course, that could change in a hurry.
This will probably be the one and only Players of the Month article this season since I don’t usually bother with such things after September. Usually following the first month of the season in April, the awards are based on stats accumulated in March in addition to April. But this time, I elected not to include the July stats since there was over a week’s worth of games played in that month, compared to typically just a few days in March. That said, the winners would have been the same even if I had included the July stats. But the statlines below are August only. As usual, these are completely based on highest PAR for the week and month.
Here are the award winners for July and August of 2020.
Batters of the Week:
Week 1 (7/23 – 7/26) – Nelson Cruz, Komodos
Week 2 (7/27 – 8/2) – Aaron Judge, Mavericks
Week 3 (8/3 – 8/9) – Fernando Tatis, Demigods
Week 4 (8/10 – 8/16) – Juan Soto, Mavericks
Week 5 (8/17 – 8/23) – Jose Abreu, Cougars
Week 6 (8/24 – 8/30) – Manny Machado, Mavericks
Pitchers of the Week:
Week 1 (7/23 – 7/26) – Shane Bieber, Choppers
Week 2 (7/27 – 8/2) – Shane Bieber, Choppers
Week 3 (8/3 – 8/9) – Frankie Montas, Kings
Week 4 (8/10 – 8/16) – Aaron Nola, Demigods
Week 5 (8/17 – 8/23) – Yu Darvish, Moonshiners
Week 6 (8/24 – 8/30) – Lucas Giolito, Cougars
Half of the Batter of the Week honors so far this season have gone to Mavericks hitters, and three different ones at that, displaying the depth of that roster. While the game may be shifting younger and younger, particularly among position players, a few veterans are still going strong including 40 year old Nelson Cruz and 33 year old Jose Abreu, who is having his best season since his rookie campaign so far. Due to the way pitching starts are scattered, it is extremely difficult for someone to win Pitcher of the Week two weeks in a row, but that’s exactly what Shane Bieber did to start the season. Two of the three pitchers selected in the first round of the draft in March (Lucas Giolito and Frankie Montas) won weekly honors. Giolito did so on the strength of the season’s first no-hitter. Two players have really stood head and shoulders above their peers so far this season. And they happen to be the Batter and Pitcher of the Month for August.
Batter of the Month:
Fernando Tatis, Demigods
.313 AVG, 11 HR, 24 RBI, 31 R, 4 SB, 3.10 PAR
Pitcher of the Month:
Shane Bieber, Choppers
1.63 ERA, 0.905 WHIP, 4 W, 0 SV, 57 K, 3.80 PAR
Fernando Tatis Jr. has almost single-handedly turned the Demigods from a historically weak team a year ago, the worst in franchise history, to a championship contender this season. The first overall pick in the draft has lived up to the hype and then some. He currently leads the league in PAR (by more than a full point), home runs, runs batted in and runs scored. He is also hitting over .300 and has seven steals. Ronald Acuna’s rookie season last year was among the best this league has ever seen, but Tatis is one-upping him this year, albeit he won’t come close to Acuna’s counting stat numbers due to the abbreviated season. At the moment, Tatis would almost certainly win not only Rookie of the Year, but Most Valuable Player as well. The Demigods do have some ground to make up as they remain slightly below average in batting points, but Tatis could certainly continue to push them up the standings. Tatis won this award going away, but Mookie Betts and Jose Abreu were the closest competition.
What is amazing about those Shane Bieber August numbers above is that they don’t even include his first two starts of the season, which earned him weekly honors. As mentioned above, the Choppers lead the league in pitching points despite not having the services of Chris Sale. Bieber is the reason why. He already has a two point lead in Pitching PAR with a ridiculous 1.20 ERA and a league leading 84 strikeouts in just 52 2/3 innings pitched. Bieber is following up an impressive rookie season with an even better sophomore campaign. The Choppers do have a tall hill to climb to get into the title chase due to a scuffling offense. If they can improve upon that though, Bieber and the pitching staff are primed to keep them in the hunt. Because two of Bieber’s best starts came in July, this particular award wasn’t a runaway. Pitchers from opposite sides of Chicago, Moonshiners’ Yu Darvish and Cougars’ Lucas Giolito, came in second and third.