Statis-Pro Giants still behind Real Giants - Lose to Brewers

 While we put the Giants back in the Statis-Pro NL league and they won enough games to get close to .500, they fell back with losses to the Brewers.

Even the bottom of the Brewers 4-man rotation allowed only a combined one run in 11 innings, and the two acquired players we hit behind Yelich, Vogelbach and Adames, combined for six hits in the two games.

The Giants 27-33 record in the game is qlmost exactly the FanGraphs projection (72-90 record is .444 while their Statis-Pro record is .450), but nowhere near their current first place record in the NL West as everyone waits to see if they are for real.

Nats Crushed by Harper, McCutchen, Relegated Phils

Scherzer held a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 8th with two on and one out. His SR (endurance) was down to 1, meaning he would need to leave with the next baserunner or runner allowed.

McCutchen then drilled a clutch batting (BD) homer to make it 3-1 and send Scherzer to the showers, and then it go worse.

Two Phillies relievers game up another 4 runs in the inning to give the Phils a 7-1 lead, one more run then they needed for the game to be recorded as a 3 games to 0 sweep rather than the Nats getting credit for 1 win and 2 losses if the score had stayed 3-1. We record each game as a 3-game series in this way, because on average a team sweeps a series 14% of the time (and is swept themselves 14%) and teams win by 5 runs or more 14% of the time. We use the score at the end kf the 8th inning and the reliever with the lowest ERA (closer for the game) cannot pitch before the 9th to get credit for a sweep).

Former Nat Bryce Harper then homered in the first inning of the second game of Strasburg to give the Phils credit for a 5 games to 1 win in the series. It was the first time all season that q relegated team (Phils, Marlins, Rockies or Pirates from the NL) won a series at least 5 games to 1 against one of the 11 NL teams advancing. On average, when any of the 11 teams play each other the average series (par) is a 3-3 game split. Prior to the Nats loss to the Phillies, the average series against a relegated team was a 4 games to 2 game series - so going 1-5 vs a relegated is 3 games below "par."

Now that all 11 teams have finished 9 series, their grid below shows if how many of 6 "game" they won against each opponent. If an s appears before a number under a certain opponent, that indicates they still need to play that opponent. S10 indicates they will play is series 10 (the next series), s11 means they play in series 11, etc for s12, s13 and s14. The record appears by the team and how many games back each is from the 1st place Mets, and a record to the far right indicates whqt theor record would be if they went 3-3 in every series against one of the other teams on the grid, and 4-2 in every remaining series against a relegated team.

Improved Cubs Destroy Weakened DBacks

 

Arizona's stunning great start with their projected cards came crashing down to earth against the Cubs, whose prospects suddenly look great.

After the adjustments for players whose actuql 2021 stats are way ahead of way behind their projected cards, the Cubs have an incredible five relievers with either a PB2-8 (top 15% of all pitchers) or pb2-9 (top 5%) amd that accounted for 6 scoreless innings to let them rally from a 7-4 deficit to 11-7 win in 10 innings.

The Diamondbacks pitching adjustments are the opposite - with only ace starter Gallen even a pb2-7 (above average) and all other starters and relievers now either average (pb4-7) or worse.

The Cubs 8-0 sweep in the first game behind Hendricks complete game - as the Dbacks allowed the Cubs to slug for 57 total bases to only 17 bases on hits for the DBacks.

The Cubs ugged more than .500 points higher than the DBacks for the two games - .760 to .246.

Baez and Pederson hit three homers each, and contreras and the improved Marisnick hit 2 each, with Happ drawing 4 walks and hitting a homer to give the Cubs 11 homers total.

While the Cubs are 26-28, they have finished playing the 9 toughest opponents meaning the get to play their last 5 series against the teams that were originally relegated and have barely won a third of their games, meaning the cubs would project to go almost 20-10 the rest of the way.

The dbacks look ok at 28-26, but they next play the Mets and Dodgers- two of the top 3 teams in iur league.

Padres Settle for split despite allowing no earned runs

 Really strange series, the Padres allowed zero earned runs in two games for a split. 

After Darvish allowed only one Braves hit, an infield single, through 8 innings, Albies led.of the 9th with a "little league homer." Albies lined a double to left and scored when it skipped past Pham. The padres held on for a 2-1 win.

In the second game, Musgrove's shutout was spoiled with bases loaded when he induced an apparent inning ending double play that Tatis threw away to allow all three braves to score and privide a 3-2 win.

Machado homered in both games.

How Amazing would healthy Mets Be?

In real baseball, the Mets are leading the division despite more than half of their line-up in this Statis-pro game injured. In Statis-Pro we only take players out if they are injured long term (60 games etc.), and at full strength the Mets are in 1st in the entire NL by 3 games after beating the cardinals 4 games to 2 behind deGrom and an improved Stroman.

Lindor and Conforto are down at the top of the mineup, but JD Davis is even better than projected.

3 key links for this site

 The key three links for this blog site the links to two free games with player cards - Statis-Pro Baseball Game and the Value Add Basketball Game - and the database rating all the college basketball players of this century at www.valueadddbasketball.com.

We post this periodically as a reference.

Statis-Pro NL Schedule After Giants Back as 11th NL Team

We still question if the San Francisco Giants can last in the NL playoff race. However, when we updated our Statis-Pro cards for players who dramatically improved or fell short of their projections, it was amazing to see the incredible improvement of the entire rotation, plus Posey's home run range improving from 33-34 to 33-37. 

The Giants were one of five teams relegated after Series 6 of the season due to a record of 14-22. We let them go back and play Series 7 and 8 with the updated cards, and an 8-4 mark actually improved them to 22-26 to sneak ahead of the Cubs for 10th place of 11 (see photos of 2 series below).

At that stage we put them back in the mix, scheduling out Series 9-14 with all 11 of these teams playing the other 10, plus four other series against teams that had been relegated in either the AL or NL. While the Cubs are a game behind the Giants by one game in last place, the grid of games shows they are the only team that has yet to play a relegated team and thus gets to pay one in Series 11, 12, 13 and 14. That gives them a big chance to advance, since so far the 11 teams in the league are 85-47 against relegated teams.

 

Team	W	L	Win%	GB	Series 9
NYM	30	18	0.625	0	stl
MIL	31	23	0.574	-2	split LAD 3-3
ARI	27	21	0.563	-3	chc
STL	27	21	0.563	-3	nym
LAD	30	24	0.556	-3	split Mil 303
CIN	29	25	0.537	-4	split SF 3-3
ATL	25	23	0.521	-5	sd
SD	25	23	0.521	-5	atl
Wash	25	23	0.521	-5	Phil (relegated)
SF	25	29	0.463	-8	split Cin 3-3
CHC	21	27	0.438	-9	az
Relegated	47	85	0.356	NA
Total Record	342	342
Total Series	57

The Giants went 5-1 against the Pirates, as Gausman and Wood showed off their improved PB2-9 and PB2-8 cards, allowing only 4 total hits over a combined 12 2/3 innings. 

The Giants almost lost the series to the Marlins, but a 3-run rally in the bottom of the 9th inning of the nightcap gave them the split.

Series 9

LAD Split 3-3 with Milwaukee

Arizona vs. Chicago Cubs

Vs.lanta vs. San Diego

Cincinnvs.i split 3-3 San Francisco

NY Mets vs. St. Louis

Washington vs. Relegated

 

Series 10

Arizona vs.  NY Mets

Vs.lanta vs. LA Dodgers

Chicago vs. Relegated

Cincinnvs.i vs. San Diego

Milwaukee vs. San Francisco

St. Louis vs. Washington

 

Series 11             

Vs.lanta vs. Relegated   

Arizona vs. LAD

Cincinnvs.i vs. Washington          

Milwaukee vs. San Diego              

NYM vs. San Francisco   

AL Team vs. St. Louis      

AL Team vs. Chicago       

 

Series 12

Milwaukee vs. St. Louis

Chicago vs. San Francisco

Arizona vs. Vs.lanta

Cincinnvs.i vs. LA Dodgers

Relegated vs. San Diego

Relegated vs. St. Louis

Relegated vs. Washington

NY Mets vs. Relegated

 

Series 13

St. Louis vs. San Francisco

Arizona vs. Washington

Los Angeles vs. San Diego

All others playing Relegated teams

 

Series 14

LAD vs. St. Louis

All others playing Relegated teams.

Improved Giants pitchers face improved Reds Hitters

 The most improved pitching cards (Giants) could not hold the most improved batting cards (Reds), but the teams split the series 3 games apiece. 

Currently each team is in their 9th series and we scheduled through the 14th series below. At that point each team will have played the other 9 teams, plus the Giants and Phillies and 3 other relegated teams (from among 3 from the NL and 5 from the AL).

Here qre the 2 games between the Reds and Giants.

NL Most Improved and Biggest Disappointments

More than a quarter through the MLB season, we compared our NL Statis-Pro cards to each player's actual stats this season to adjust only the players who are dramatically better or worse than their card.

Adjusting Pitcher's Whose ERA is at least 1.00 Better or Worse than Card

In general, if a player's ERA this season is at least 1.00 better than the projected ERA on his card, then we improve his card's PB by one. (possible PBs from worst to best are 2-4, 2-5, 2-6, 4-7, 2-7, 2-8 and the best 2-9). Jacob deGrom's ERA is much improved, from a project 3.04 to his current 0.68, but he is already a PB: 2-9 so cannot improve.

Likewise if it's more than 2.00 better his PB improves by 2, and if his ERA is at least 1.00 worse then the PB is one worse etc.

Adjusting a pitcher's card actually improves their ERA by about 0.50, so we are giving these pitchers a new PB basically based on the average of the projected ERA used for the card and their current ERA.

We put some limits on it - such as not dropping a pitcher below the average PB: 4-7. Pitchers had to have thrown at least 23 innings (starting pitchers) or in at least 12 games (relievers) to be considered, and if a pitcher had now thrown that much they were considered to have a 5.00 ERA for these calculations.

The San Francisco Giants were by far the most improved staff with Johnny Cueto, Anthony DeSclafani, Kevin Gausman, Tyler Rogers and Alex Wood all improving by two PB. The following is the list of every Giants pitcher's card for which we adjusted the PB, listing what was on the card originally followed by the adjusted PB. The list of all NL pitchers we adjusted appear in the table at the bottom of this blog.

Adjusting Batters Whose OPS is at least 1.00 Better or Worse than Card

For any batter whose OPS this season is at least .150 batters better or worse than the projected OPS used for their cards, we likewise increased or decreased the home run range by two, and then if at least .250 by three, etc. While the Reds pitchers cards were close to the worst hurt by these adjustments, their batters were the most improved. 

Castellanos Home Run Range improved by 2, from 26-33 to 26.35, Naquin improved from 27-32 to 27-34 etc. Adding or subtracting one home run number actually improves the cards OPS by 0.40, so like with pitchers we are basically adjusting these players by averaging their current OPS with the projected one used to make the card.

The adjustments for all affected batters are listed just a little lower in this blog, before the pitchers' adjustments.

When you add up the changes for each team's pitchers and batters, and grade both their bats and pitchers on a scale of +10 to -10, the most improved team cards overall are the San Francisco Giants (0 for batter but +10 for pitchers for an overall +10), and the team that is much worse is the Arizona Diamondbacks (-6 batting and -3 pitching for an overall -9).

 

Team	Bat Improve	Pitch Improve	Overall
ARI	-6	-3	-9
ATL	-4	2	-2
CHC	4	3	7
CIN	6	-2	4
LAD	-5	5	0
MIL	-9	4	-5
NYM	-5	3	-2
PHI	-7	1	-6
SD	-5	5	0
SF	0	10	10
STL	-2	6	4
WSH	-1	0	-1

Our Statis-Pro NL season was proceeding with 10 teams, but with the Giants improving so much we ran the math for the Giants and Phillies as well in consideration of possibly putting them back in the league. Here are all the batters.

All Adjusted NL Batters

PLAYER	TEAM	Change	HR Range	New HR
N Ahmed	ARI	Worse	28-32	28-28
A Cabrera	ARI	Better	27-32	27-33
C Kelly	ARI	Much Better	24-28	24-34
T Locastro	ARI	Worse	31-32	28-28
J VanMeter	ARI	Worse	23-27	23-25
Daulton Varsho	ARI	Much Worse	26-31	26-26
C Walker	ARI	Worse	26-32	26-28
W Contreras	ATL	Much Better	26-28	26-33
T d'Arnaud	ATL	Worse	28-34	28-32
M Ozuna	ATL	Much Worse	28-36	28-33
C Pache	ATL	Much Worse	27-32	27-27
A Riley	ATL	Better	24-31	24-32
K Bryant	CHC	Much Better	24-31	24-33
J Heyward	CHC	Worse	26-31	26-27
N Hoerner	CHC	Much Better	32-33	32-35
J Marisnick	CHC	Much Better	25-31	25-33
N Castellanos	CIN	Much Better	26-33	26-35
T Naquin	CIN	Much Better	27-32	27-34
T Stephenson	CIN	Better	25-27	25-28
E Suárez	CIN	Worse	21-28	21-26
J Winker	CIN	Much Better	26-32	26-35
G Lux	LAD	Worse	27-33	27-31
Z McKinstry	LAD	Much Better	25-27	25-31
E Rios	LAD	Much Worse	22-28	22-23
J Bradley	MIL	Worse	25-31	25-27
K Hiura	MIL	Much Worse	24-32	24-27
O Narváez	MIL	Much Better	25-28	25-32
Daniel Robertson	MIL	Much Worse	25-26	22-22
Christian Yelich	MIL	Worse	25-32	25-28
P Alonso	NYM	Worse	18-28	18-26
M Conforto	NYM	Worse	25-32	25-28
J.D. Davis	NYM	Much Better	26-32	26-35
F Lindor	NYM	Worse	28-35	28-33
J McCann	NYM	Worse	26-32	26-28
Tomas Nido	NYM	Much Better	25-27	25-31
D Smith	NYM	Worse	28-34	28-32
A Bohm	PHI	Worse	32-35	32-33
D Gregorius	PHI	Worse	28-35	28-33
A Knapp	PHI	Much Worse	25-27	24-24
J Cronenworth	SD	Better	31-32	31-33
M Machado	SD	Worse	26-34	26-32
Will Myers	SD	Worse	24-32	24-28
T Pham	SD	Worse	26-31	26-27
Brandon Belt	SF	Worse	25-31	25-27
A Dickerson	SF	Worse	28-34	28-32
B Posey	SF	Much Better	33-34	33-37
M Carpenter	STL	Worse	21-24	21-22
A Knizner	STL	Worse	28-32	28-28
Y Molina	STL	Much Better	31-33	31-35
J Bell	WSH	Worse	24-31	24-27
R Zimmerman	WSH	Better	26-32	26-33

All Adjusted NL Pitchers

 

Player	TEAM	Change	Card PB	New Card
Stefan Crichton	ARI	Worse	2-7	4-7
Chris Devenski	ARI	Worse	2-7	4-7
Joakim Soria	ARI	Worse	2-7	4-7
Ian Anderson	ATL	Better	4-7	2-7
Grant Dayton	ATL	Worse	2-7	4-7
Max Fried	ATL	Much Worse	2-8	4-7
Luke Jackson	ATL	Better	2-8	2-9
Chris Martin	ATL	Much Worse	2-9	2-7
Tyler Matzek	ATL	Better	2-7	2-8
Huascar Ynoa	ATL	Much Better	2-4	4-7
Andrew Chafin	CHC	Better	2-7	2-8
Craig Kimbrel	CHC	Much Better	2-7	2-9
Dillon Maples	CHC	Much Better	4-7	2-8
Brad Wieck	CHC	Worse	2-7	4-7
Tejay Antone	CIN	Much Better	2-5	4-7
Cam Bedrosian	CIN	Worse	2-7	4-7
Luis Castillo	CIN	Much Worse	2-9	2-7
Amir Garrett	CIN	Much Worse	2-7	2-6
Wade Miley	CIN	Better	2-6	4-7
Trevor Bauer	LAD	Better	2-8	2-9
Caleb Ferguson	LAD	Worse	2-7	4-7
Victor Gonzalez	LAD	Much Better	4-7	2-8
Brusdar Graterol	LAD	Worse	2-7	4-7
Kenley Jansen	LAD	Better	2-8	2-9
Joe Kelly	LAD	Worse	2-8	2-7
Corey Knebel	LAD	Worse	2-7	4-7
Dustin May	LAD	Better	2-6	4-7
Jimmy Nelson	LAD	Better	2-7	2-8
Dennis Santana	LAD	Much Worse	2-7	2-6
Blake Treinen	LAD	Much Better	2-7	2-9
Freddy Peralta	MIL	Better	2-7	2-8
Brandon Woodruff	MIL	Better	2-8	2-9
Jacob Barnes	NYM	Much Worse	2-7	2-6
Jeurys Familia	NYM	Much Better	4-7	2-8
Tommy Hunter	NYM	Worse	2-7	4-7
Joey Lucchesi	NYM	Worse	2-7	4-7
Seth Lugo	NYM	Worse	2-7	4-7
Marcus Stroman	NYM	Better	2-7	2-8
Taijuan Walker	NYM	Much Better	2-6	2-7
Daniel Zamora	NYM	Worse	2-7	4-7
Archie Bradley	PHI	Worse	2-8	2-7
Connor Brogdon	PHI	Worse	2-7	4-7
Zack Wheeler	PHI	Better	2-8	2-9
Tim Hill	SD	Better	2-7	2-8
Dinelson Lamet	SD	Worse	2-8	2-7
Mark Melancon	SD	Better	2-8	2-9
Joe Musgrove	SD	Better	2-7	2-8
Emilio Pagan	SD	Better	2-7	2-8
Craig Stammen	SD	Better	2-7	2-8
Ryan Weathers	SD	Much Better	2-5	2-7
Johnny Cueto	SF	Much Better	2-5	4-7
Anthony DeSclafani	SF	Much Better	2-5	4-7
Kevin Gausman	SF	Much Better	2-7	2-9
Reyes Moronta	SF	Worse	2-7	4-7
Tyler Rogers	SF	Much Better	2-7	2-9
Alex Wood	SF	Much Better	4-7	2-8
Giovanny Gallegos	STL	Much Better	2-4	4-7
John Gant	STL	Much Better	4-7	2-8
Jordan Hicks	STL	Worse	2-7	4-7
Kwang HyunKim	STL	Better	4-7	2-7
Andrew Miller	STL	Worse	2-8	2-7
Alex Reyes	STL	Much Better	4-7	2-8
Sam Clay	WSH	Much Better	2-6	2-7
Patrick Corbin	WSH	Much Worse	2-8	4-7
Brad Hand	WSH	Worse	2-9	2-8
Will Harris	WSH	Worse	2-8	2-7
Daniel Hudson	WSH	Much Better	2-5	2-7
Austin Voth	WSH	Much Better	2-5	2-7

Dodgers + Pujols vs. Brewers + Adames

 The Brewers were scheduled to visit the Dodgers this round, and we started the round with that game due to the Brewers pickup of Willy Adames and Dodgers having picked uo Pujols.

Adames is the best of the player cards pictured, which changed teams.

As for the games, the Brewers managed to split with the Dodgers to stay a game qhead of the for second place. The biggest reason the Brewers are so much better in Statis-Pro than in the real season is that Hiura gives them an extra dominant hitting card based on his projections after a 0.938 ops his one full season.

In fact, he has plummeted more than 400 points to q 0.513 ops, worse.than a few.pitchers batting card.

Reds and Brewers split to end NL round.

 Reds and Brewers split to end NL round.

Cubs Fall Further Back, Shutout by Corbin Despite 11 Hits

Only Patrick Corbin's pb 2-8 (great) with a ton of hits allowed (11-26, while 11-23 is average) can allow nine hits in 6 innings without allowing a run. 

The Cubs actually outfit the Nats 11-9 but the Nats won the game 8-0 counting as a 3-game sweep. Contreras hit a 3-run homer to cap a 5-run first, but the Cubs could not hold the 5-run lead for sweep credit, settling for a 6-3 win and credit for winning 2 games to 1.

The Nats win the series 4 games to 2 and the Cubs drop further back into last place (10th).

In the final series of this round, the Reds need to go at least 3-3 to stay in the "for now" last playoff spot, but if they go 4-2 the would create a 5-way tie for 2nd place at 27-21. If they go 2-4, they would create a 4-way tie for the last playoff spot at 25-23.

If the Brewers go 5-1 they would tie the Mets for 1st place, but they just need to go at least 3-3 to stay in second.

Team	W	L	Win%	GB
NYM	30	18	0.625	0
MIL	25	17	0.595	-2
ARI	27	21	0.563	-3
LAD	27	21	0.563	-3
STL	27	21	0.563	-3
CIN	23	19	0.548	-4
ATL	25	23	0.521	-5
SD	25	23	0.521	-5
Wash	25	23	0.521	-5
CHC	21	27	0.438	-9

 Other 5 teams relegated for failing to win at least 16 of first 36 games.

Acuna slugs Braves above .500

 An early season favorite that has floundered in both the real season and Statis-pro, the Braves have finally broken above .500 in statis-pro. Acuna went 6 of 8 in the 2 game series against the Cardinals.

Fringe Players give Padres Split with DBacks

The "fringe players" we captured in our MLB roster review gave the Padres a 5-4 win to split with the DBacks, who win the opener 3-2.

On the Padres fringe players written out on the card near the top left of the photo, Tim Hill's PB2-7 standard fringe pitcher's card (top left) based on his projected 3.63 era was needed to get three outs in the bottom of the 7th after back-to-back doubles reduced Johnsons card to a pb4-7. In the top of the 6th Ha-Seong Kin's fringe card with a home run range of 26-31, delivered a 2-out rbi single.

The game also featured a rare extra base hit by a pitcher, when a "17" gave Musgrove a 2-out double. Tatis then tripled him home, and Pham 4-8 with a homer) singled him home.

 

Mets or Dodgers Team to Beat - Showdown

Our Statis-Pro standings seemed a little off with the Mets rise to first place, while everyone's preseason favorite the Dodgers were playing a little above .500 this season. However so far our season was a good early predictor. So far this season 10 of 15 teams are roughly as good (within .050 winning %) in Statis-Pro as the actual season, with these exceptions:

Better in real life than game: SF and Phil

Better in game then real life: AZ, Mil, Wash (with our 4-man rotation, Strasburg or Scherzer start half of the Nats games)

The great series between the Mets and Dodgers, after double checking all teams rosters in the previous blog, left the Mets still in first and with a series split. 

Pete Alonso's slugging (5 of 7, two doubles and homer) almost wasn't enough to get the split. Entering the 8th with a 7-1 lead, two Mets relievers allowed the first seven Dodgers to reach before Diaz came in with bases loaded and a 7-5 and converted a rare two inning save. Our rules discourage 2 inning saves. If a reliever Strattles 2 innings, he can only be at full strength for 4 batters, so Diaz was a pb 2-9 for his first four batters, the a 2-8 and finally a 2-7 for the last 2 faced.

It was the second straight game the Dodgers scored five runs, winning the first game 5-3 before losing 5-7 in the second game.

We'd love to see these two in a real NL Championship Series.

Here are the standings in our game play:

Mets 30-18  ---

Cardinals 25-17  2

Brewers 25-17.  2

DBacks 24-18   3

Dodgers 27-21.  3

Reds 23-19.  4

Padres 22-20.  5

Braves 21-21   6

Nationals 21-21. 6

Cubs 19-23. 8

Relegated- 16-20 or worse: SF, Col, Mia, Pit, Phil

Here are the match-ups for this round.

Process for updating MLB Board Game Rosters

Part of the reason we like playing the current season with projected cards is to use the actual rosters and see the strengths and weaknesses of each team, and if there are just a couple of injuries holding a team back. However, with teams constantly moving players on and off the roster to the alternate site or a minor league rehab, we do not want to update the roster before each game. Instead, every month or so we run through the following process.

We check the MLB Rosters against our stack of Statis-Pro Cards for each team using the following links:

1. If the card, or a fringe player we already listed on the team card, is on the MLB Roster for the team, we simply check it as a valid card.

2. If not, then we search for the name on the transactions page for the team and if the player is on the team but on the 10-day injured list, on a minor league assignment, or in the alternate camp we leave the player in the stack. If the player is on the 60-day injured list, the are suspended, or we don't e any transaction record during the season, then we put an X in the right hand corner to note we will not use the card in a game.

3. When done checking names on the roster, we look at any name for which we did not have a card or a fringe card listed, we first check the batters or pitchers cards to see if they have a projected card for this or any other team. If not, we look up the player's projected stats at Fan Graphs and note the projected ERA or OPS which will translate for a fringe card to use, and also note if a pitcher throws left or right, and if a batter bats left, right or switch. For example, the sample link is for JB Bukauskas and FanGraphs projects him with a 5.36 ERA which translates to a PB: 2-5 fringe card in our game.

The following are the rosters we are checking for the 10 teams in our NL League.

Arizona Diamondbacks - Taylor Clarke's fringe card (see bottom of blog) gives the Diamondbacks an extra PB: 2-6 starter which gives the option of a 3 inning relief appearance in our game.

Arizona	Diamondbacks	POS	BAT	THW	Proj
J.B.	Bukauskas	SP	R	R	5.36
Madison	Bumgarner	SP	R	L	card
Taylor	Clarke	SP	R	R	4.71
Stefan	Crichton	RP	R	R	card
Chris	Devenski	RP	R	R	card
Zac	Gallen	SP	R	R	card
Kevin	Ginkel	RP	L	R	card
Merrill	Kelly	SP	R	R	card
Yoan	Lopez	RP		R	card
Matt	Peacock	RP	R	R	6.01
Caleb	Smith	SP	R	L	card
Riley	Smith	SP	R	R	card
Joakim	Soria	RP	R	R	card
Luke	Weaver	SP	R	R	card
Alex	Young	SP	L	L	5.24
Nick	Ahmed	SS	R	R	card
Asdrubal	Cabrera	3B	B	R	card
Kole	Calhoun	RF	L		card
Eduardo	Escobar	3B	B	R	card
Carson	Kelly	C	R	R	card
Tim	Locastro	LF	R	R	card
Ketel	Marte	CF	S		card
David	Peralta	LF	L	L	card
Josh	Rojas	3B	L	R	card
Pavin	Smith	1B	L	L	card
Josh	VanMeter	2B	L	R	card
Daulton	Varsho	C	L	R	card
Stephen	Vogt	C	L	R	card
Christian	Walker	1B	R	R	card

Atlanta Braves - The 60-day injury losses of Soroko on the mound and d'Arnaud behind the plate are tough losses.

 

Atlanta	Braves	POS	BAT	THW
Ian	Anderson	SP	R	R	card
Victor	Arano	RP	R	R	4.16
Jesse	Biddle	RP	L	L	4.76
Grant	Dayton	RP	L	L	card
Jasseel	De La Cruz	SP	R	R	5.04
Max	Fried	SP	L	L	card
Luke	Jackson	RP	R	R	card
Chris	Martin	RP		R	card
Tyler	Matzek	RP	L	L	4.11
A.J.	Minter	RP	L	L	card
Charlie	Morton	SP	R	R	card
Will	Smith	RP	R	L	card
Drew	Smyly	SP	L	L	card
Josh	Tomlin	RP	R	R	card
Jacob	Webb	RP	R	R	4.89
Bryse	Wilson	RP		R	card
Huascar	Ynoa	SP	R	R	6.75
Ronald	Acuna	RF	R	R	card
Ehire	Adrianza	3B	B	R	card
Ozzie	Albies	2B	B	R	card
John	Camargo	2b	B		card
William	Contreras	C	R	R	card
Travis	d'Arnaud	C	R		OUT 60d
Freddie	Freeman	1B	L	R	card
Ender	Inciarte	CF	L		card
Alex	Jackson	C	R		card
Jeff	Mathis	C	R	R	0.515
Marcell	Ozuna	LF	R	R	card
Cristian	Pache	CF	R	R	card
Austin	Riley	3B	R	R	card
Pablo	Sandoval	3B	B	R	card
Dansby	Swanson	SS	R	R	card

Chicago Cubs - Both Matt Duffy and Nick Martini give the Cubs extra fringe bats with Home Run Ranges of 26-31.

 

Chicago	Cubs	POS	BAT	THW
Jason	Adam	RP	R	R	4.81
Adbert	Alzolay	SP	R	R	card
Jake	Arrieta	SP		R	card
Rex	Brothers	RP	L	L	5.14
Andrew	Chafin	RP	R	L	card
Zach	Davies	SP	R	R	card
Kyle	Hendricks	SP	R	R	card
Craig	Kimbrel	RP	R	R	card
Dillon	Maples	RP	R	R	card
Alec	Mills	SP	R	R	5.48
Justin	Steele	RP	L	L	4.95
Ryan	Tepera	RP	R	R	4.02
Keegan	Thompson	SP	R	R	5.66
Brad	Wieck	RP		L	card
Trevor	Williams	SP	R	R	card
Javier	Baez	SS	R	R	card
David	Bote	2B	R	R	card
Kris	Bryant	3B	R	R	card
Willson	Contreras	C	R	R	card
Matt	Duffy	3B	R	R	.704 C/C
Ian	Happ	cf	s		card
Jason	Heyward	RF	L	L	card
Nico	Hoerner	2b	R		card
Jake	Marisnick	CF	R	R	card
Nick	Martini	RF	L	L	0.698
Joc	Pederson	LF	L	L	card
Anthony	Rizzo	1B	L	L	card
Austin	Romine	2b	R		card
Eric	Sogard	3B	L	R	card
Ildemaro	Vargas	2B	B	R	card
Tony	Wolters	C	L	R	card

Cincinnati Reds - Toughest loss is slugger, PB2-8 reliever Mike Lorenzen on 60-day DL so card not used, leading to lots of fringe pitching cards to fill the innings. Jonathan India gives a 26-31 Home Run Range fringe player.

Cincinnati	Reds	POS	BAT	THW
Tejay	Antone	SP	R	R	4.84
Luis	Castillo	SP	R	R	card
Sean	Doolittle	RP	L	L	card
Carson	Fulmer	SP	R	R	5.42
Amir	Garrett	RP	R	L	card
Sonny	Gray	SP	R	R	card
Heath	Hembree	RP	R	R	5.49
Ryan	Hendrix	RP	R	R	4.53
Jeff	Hoffman	SP	R	R	card
Michael	Lorenzen	RP	R	R	OUT 60d
Tyler	Mahle	SP	R	R
Wade	Miley	SP	L	L	card
Cionel	Perez	RP	R	L	card
Sal	Romano	SP	L	R	card
Lucas	Sims	SP	R	R	card
Shogo	Akiyama	LF	L	R	card
Tucker	Barnhart	C	L	R	card
Alex	Blandino	SS	R	R	0.648
Nick	Castellanos	RF	R	R	card
Kyle	Farmer	SS	R	R	card
Jonathan	India	3B	R	R	.701 B/C
Mike	Moustakas	2B	L	R	card
Tyler	Naquin	RF	L	R	card
Mark	Payton	LF	L		card
Nick	Senzel	CF	R	R	card
Tyler	Stephenson	C	R	R	card
Eugenio	Suarez	3B	R	R	card
Joey	Votto	1B	L		card
Jesse	Winker	RF	L	L	card

LA Dodgers - The toughest blow for the Dodgers is not being able to use the PB: 2-9 card of former Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle, who is on the 60-day injured list.

 

LA	Dodgers	POS	BAT	THW	In Game
Trevor	Bauer	SP	R	R	card
Walker	Buehler	SP	R	R	card
Garrett	Cleavinger	RP	R	L	4.91
Tony	Gonsolin	RP		R	card
Victor	Gonzalez	SP	L	L	card
Brusdar	Graterol	RP		R	card
Kenley	Jansen	RP	B	R	card
Tommy	Kahnle	RP		R	OUT 60d
Joe	Kelly	RP	R	R	card
Clayton	Kershaw	SP	L	L	card
Corey	Knebel	RP		R	card
Dustin	May	SP		R	card
Jimmy	Nelson	SP	R	R	4.17
David	Price	SP		L	card
Dennis	Santana	SP	R	R	card
Blake	Treinen	RP	R	R	card
Julio	Urias	SP	L	L	card
Alex	Vesia	RP	L	L	4.31
Mitch	White	SP	R	R	4.43
Austin	Barnes	C	R	R	card
Matt	Beaty	1B	L	R	card
Cody	Bellinger	CF	L		card
Mookie	Betts	RF	R	R	card
Gavin	Lux	2B	L	R	card
Zach	McKinstry	2b			card
Max	Muncy	1B	L	R	card
Sheldon	Neuse	3B	R	R	0.691
DJ	Peters	CF	R	R	card
AJ	Pollock	LF	R	R	card
Edwin	Rios	3b	L		card
Keibert	Ruiz	C	B	R	card
Corey	Seager	SS	L	R	card
Will	Smith	C	R	R	card
Chris	Taylor	LF	R	R	card
Justin	Turner	3B	R	R	card

Milwaukee Brewers - Billy McKinney is one of the strongest fringe players with a 26-32 Home Run range for his projected .747 OPS.

 

Milwaukee	Brewers	POS	BAT	THW
Brett	Anderson	SP	L	L	card
Brad	Boxberger	RP	R	R	4.74
Corbin	Burnes	SP		R	card
J.P.	Feyereisen	RP	R	R	card
Josh	Hader	RP	L	L	card
Adrian	Houser	SP	R	R	card
Eric	Lauer	SP	R	L	card
Josh	Lindblom	SP		R	card
Freddy	Peralta	RP	R	R	card
Angel	Perdomo	RP	L	L	not found
Drew	Rasmussen	RP	R	R	card
Brent	Suter	SP		L	card
Patrick	Weigel	RP	R	R	5.56
Devin	Williams	RP	R	R	card
Brandon	Woodruff	SP	L	R	card
Eric	Yardley	RP		R	card
Jordan	Zimmermann	SP	R	R	5.56
Orlando	Arcia	SS		R	card
Jackie	Bradley	CF	L	R	card
Lorenzo	Cain	CF	R	R	card
Derek	Fisher	RF		L	card
Avisail	Garcia	CF	R	R	card
Keston	Hiura	2b		R	card
Luke	Maile	C	R	R	0.564
Billy	McKinney	RF	L	L	0.747
Omar	Narvaez	C	L		card
Jacob	Nottingham	C	R	R	card
Jace	Peterson	RF		L	card
Manny	Pina	C	R	R	card
Pablo	Reyes	LF	R	R	.689 C/C
Daniel	Robertson	SS	R	R	card
Travis	Shaw	3B	L	R	card
Tyrone	Taylor	RF	R	R	card
Luis	Urias	3B	R	R	card
Daniel	Vogelbach	1B	L	R	card
Christian	Yelich	LF		L	card
Kolten	Wong	2B	L	R	card

NY Mets - The tough break for the Mets is that with Carrasco moving to 60-day DL we took him out of the player cards. Robinson Cano's card already could not be used because he was suspened for the entire year. However, Lugo's card was already a strong 5th starter, so he takes Carrasco's spot in the rotation, and they did add two decent relievers with fring card Drew Smith (4.29 projected ERA is a PB2-6) and better yet the projected card for the Phillies Tommy Hunter (PB 2-7 with only 3 walks, 43-45, on card.

 

NY	Mets	POS	BAT	THW	In Game
Jacob	Barnes	RP	R	R	card
Dellin	Betances	RP		R	OUT 60d
Miguel	Castro	RP	R	R	card
Jacob	deGrom	SP	L	R	card
Edwin	Diaz	RP	R	R	card
Jeurys	Familia	RP	R	R	card
Robert	Gsellman	RP	R	R	card
Tommy	Hunter	RP	R	R	card
Aaron	Loup	RP	L	L	card
Joey	Lucchesi	SP	L	L	card
Seth	Lugo	RP		R	card
Trevor	May	RP	R	R	card
David	Peterson	SP	L	L	4.79
Drew	Smith	RP	R	R	4.26
Marcus	Stroman	SP	R	R	card
Taijuan	Walker	SP	R	R	4.28
Daniel	Zamora	RP		L	card
Albert	Almora	CF	R	R	card
Pete	Alonso	1B	R	R	card
Robinson	Cano	2B	L		NO SUSP
Michael	Conforto	RF	L	R	card
JD	Davis	3b	R		card
Luis	Guillorme	2b	L		card
Francisco	Lindor	SS	B	R	card
Patrick	Mazeika	C	L	R	0.631
James	McCann	C	R	R	card
Jeff	McNeil	3B	L	R	card
Tomas	Nido	C	R	R	card
Brandon	Nimmo	CF	L		card
Jose	Peraza	2B	R	R	0.632
Kevin	Pillar	CF	R	R	card
Dominic	Smith	1B	L	L	card
Jonathan	Villar	2B	B	R	card

St. Louis Cardinals - Many decent but not great fringe relievers are available to eat up innings when needed.

St. Louis	Cardinals	POS	BAT	THW
Genesis	Cabrera	RP	L	L	5.52
Seth	Elledge	RP	R	R	4.40
Jack	Flaherty	SP	R	R	card
Giovanny	Gallegos	RP	R	R	card
John	Gant	SP	R	R	card
Ryan	Helsley	RP	R	R	4.35
Jordan	Hicks	RP		R	card
Kwang	Kim	SP	L	L	card
Carlos	Martinez	SP	R	R	card
Miles	Mikolas	SP		R	card
Andrew	Miller	RP		L	card
Daniel	Pnce de Leon	RP	R		card
Alex	Reyes	RP	R	R	card
Adam	Wainwright	SP	R	R	card
Tyler	Webb	RP	L	L	card
Kodi	Whitley	RP	R	R	4.23
Jake	Woodford	SP	R	R	4.86
Nolan	Arenado	3B	R	R	card
Harrison	Bader	CF	R	R	card
Dylan	Carlson	LF	B	L	card
Matt	Carpenter	DH	L	R	card
Paul	DeJong	SS	R	R	card
Tommy	Edman	3B	B	R	card
Paul	Goldschmidt	1B	R	R	card
Andrew	Knizner	C	R	R	card
Yadier	Molina	C	R	R	card
John	Nogowski	1b	R		card
Tyler	O'Neill	LF	R	R	card
Edmundo	Sosa	SS	R	R	0.634
Lane	Thomas	LF	R	R	card
Justin	Williams	RF	L	R	card

San Diego Padres - Nice addition in PB2-7 leftie reliever in Tim Hill for his projected 3.63 ERA. Not quite a replacement for the PB2-8 (with hits only 11-21) for leftie Jose Castillo, who we leave out of the game because he is on 60-day DL.

San Diego	Padres	POS	BAT	THW
Austin	Adams	RP	R	R	card
Yu	Darvish	SP	R	R	card
Miguel	Diaz	RP	R	R	5.12
Tim	Hill	RP	R	L	3.63
Pierce	Johnson	RP	R	R	card
Keone	Kela	RP		R	card
Dinelson	Lamet	SP	R	R	card
Mark	Melancon	RP	R	R	card
Joe	Musgrove	SP	R	R	card
Chris	Paddack	SP	R	R	card
Emilio	Pagan	RP	L	R	card
Drew	Pomeranz	RP	R	L	card
Blake	Snell	SP	L	L	card
Craig	Stammen	RP	R	R	card
Ryan	Weathers	SP	R	L	5.14
Luis	Campusano	C	R		card
Victor	Caratini	C	B	R	card
Jake	Cronenworth	2B	L	R	card
Trent	Grisham	CF	L	L	card
Eric	Hosmer	1B	L	L	card
Ha-Seong	Kim	2B	R	R	0.707
Manny	Machado	3B	R	R	card
Jorge	Mateo	SS	R	R	card
Wil	Myers	RF	R	R	card
Austin	Nola	C	R	R	card
Tommy	Pham	LF	R	R	card
Jurickson	Profar	LF	B	R	card
Fernando	Tatis	SS	R	R	card

Washington Nationals - Perhaps the most fun fringe player is Ryan Zimmerman, who retired to skip last year but is back slugging, and is tied for the best fringe batters card in our league with a 26-32 Home Run Range for his projected .736 card.

Washington	Nationals	POS	BAT	THW
Dakota	Bacus	RP		R	card
Aaron	Barrett	RP		R	card
Sam	Clay	RP	L	L	4.93
Patrick	Corbin	SP	L	L	card
Paolo	Espino	RP	R	R	5.78
Erick	Fedde	RP	R	R	5.25
Kyle	Finnegan	RP	R	R	card
Javy	Guerra	RP		R	card
Brad	Hand	RP	L	L	card
Ryne	Harper	RP		R	card
Will	Harris	RP	R	R	card
Daniel	Hudson	RP	R	R	card
Jon	Lester	SP	L	L	card
Kyle	McGowin	SP		R	card
Tanner	Rainey	RP	R	R	card
Joe	Ross	SP	R	R	card
Max	Scherzer	SP	R	R	card
Stephen	Strasburg	SP		R	card
Wander	Suero	RP		R	card
Austin	Voth	SP	R	R	5.32
Alex	Avila	C	L	R	card
Josh	Bell	1B	B	R	card
Starlin	Castro	2B	R	R	card
Luis	Garcia	2b	L		card
Yan	Gomes	C	R	R	card
Josh	Harrison	2B	R	R	card
Yadiel	Hernandez	LF	L	R	card
Carter	Kieboom	3b	R		card
Jordy	Mercer	SS	R	R	0.672
Victor	Robles	CF	R	R	card
Kyle	Schwarber	LF	L	R	card
Juan	Soto	LF	L	L	card
Andrew	Stevenson	CF	L	L	card
Trea	Turner	SS	R	R	card
Ryan	Zimmerman	1B	R	R	0.736

The following is a snapshot of the fringe cards we use based on the batter's projected OPS or the pitcher's projected ERA.

Statis-Pro AL Also Hits 14-game Mark; Devers and Bieber Top Performers To Date

The Statis-Pro AL Season is well underway.

• The Boston Red Sox are getting hot, winning 5-straight to move into second place.
• Meanwhile the Minnesota Twins have lost 5-straight to plummet to the bottom of the AL West.
• The big surprise would be the Angels hot start, but will it last?
• As always, the Yankees and Astros remain the top contenders for the pennant.

This year our "Montana" league is the AL, which plays a straight-up one game = one game, unlike the "Alabama" league which is the NL this year which plays the variation where each game actually counts as 3 games. Therefore the NL teams below have actually all played 13 or 14 games so far, while the "42-game" records for the NL teams in other blogs are actually the result of 14 games played.

The Montana league also tracks Statis-Pro stats and so we will show the photos of some of the best AL players to date.

Early season award favorites:

MVP - Rafael Devers, Bos          .340  7 HR, 13 RBI’s (13 games)

Cy Young - Shane Bieber, Cle            3-0  0.37 ERA, (24 IP, 1 ER) (3 starts)

Statis Pro American League 

Standings

 

AL “East”

New York           10-4

Boston                 8-6

Cleveland             7-6

Tampa Bay           5-8

Toronto              2-11

 

AL “West”

Houston             9-4

Los Angeles        9-4

Chicago               8-6

Oakland              5-8

Minnesota         4-10

 

 

Who is hot:

Correa, Hou       .373       (19-51)

JIglesias, LAA     .351       (20-57)

ERosario, Cle     .345       (20-58)

Devers, Bos        .340       (18-53)

 

Home Runs

Devers, Bos        7

Torres, NY          7

Altuve, Hou        6

 

RBI’s

Torres, NY          17

Devers, Bos        13

Engel, Chi           13

 

Who is not:

Choi, TB              2 for 31

Walsh, LAA         2 for 33

Voit, NY              5 for 48 (0 HR, 1 RBI)

 

Pitching

Bieber, Cle         3-0         0.37       (24 IP, 1 ER)

Luzardo, Oak     1-0         0.82       (22 IP, 2 ER)

McCullers, Hou 2-1         1.29       (21 IP, 3 ER)

 

Aroldis Chapman (NY) and Raisel Iglesias (LAA) each with 5 saves.