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Friday, May 15, 2020

NL East - Preview or What-if Season to Date

This blog includes summaries of interleague games which count in our AL Statis-pro season but do not count in the official NL Statis-pro seasons.

With Major League Baseball hoping that play an 82-game schedule, this blog covers the results of our NL East games using Statis-pro cards for current rosters. These cards and rosters simulate the projected hitting, pitching and fielding for each player on a 2020 team (including rookies and new stars from Japan and Cuba).

These might be previews of an upcoming 82-game season or if MLB is unable to play it might become a "what-if" blog like our 2020 March Madness. You can also click on the AL West, AL East, AL Central, NL Central or NL West. We use ballpark factors.

Division Statis-Pro Results to Date

Washington 8-4
Atlanta 6-6
New York Mets 6-6
Philadelphia 4-8
Miami 4-8

Click for google doc grid of all games.

NL East vs. AL East
Atlanta at Toronto won 10-8, 8-0. One of the most shocking series to date as leadoff Biggio reached 6 of 10 times and Guerrero went 8 of 10 with a 1.400 slugging percentages to get credit for a 5 games to 1 win and move up to .500 at 12-12.

Washington won 2-1, 8-4 at Baltimore.

Miami at Tampa Bay won 6-1, 2-0 (5 games to 1). The Rays are the best team in Florida.

Philadelphia at NY Yankees won 10-3, 2-1 (5 games to 1). The Yanks line-up and bullpen are both scary good.

NY Mets won 6-3 at Boston won 7-3 (series split 3-3). Red Sox might fall back toward .500 with key players lost (Betts, Price) and Mets pen looks like it finally really should have a great year - but so far both stayed right at .500 for the year.

Toronto 2, NY Mets 1. Cy Young runner-up Hyun-Jin Ryu outduels Cy Young Inner Jacob deGrom.
NY Mets 4, Toronto 3. Mets seemingly great pen nearly has a 2019 type meltdown again as Diaz strikes out the side after allowing 2 walks, then 2 hits and 2 runs. Former Yankee Dellin Betances with key Hold.

Atlanta 8, Baltimore 4. Albies cycle.
Atlanta 8, Baltimore 1 (sweep)

NY Yankees 3, Miami 1. Cole went 6 innings for the win, and LeMahieu and Torres homered for the win. New Marlins leadoff and former Oriole Villar started the game with a triple off Cole and raced home (on base running and speed A) on a safe fly, but Cole was scoreless the rest of the way.
Miami 3, NY Yankees 2. AL teams continued to struggle in this series of games with DH's on the bench in NL parks. Ford hit a solo Homer and Torres hit his second in 2 games, but even in this seemingly biggest mismatch the Yanks managed only 1 run in the 2-game series outside of the 4 solo shots. LeMahieu (clutch CD5) the day twice with with run saving diving catches for double plays but eventually the Marlins scrapped together a 3-run inning to get the split 3-2.

Washington 6, Boston 4. Kendrick (4 for 4, 2 doubles) and Soto (HR) picked up where the left off last year in the battle of the last 2 world series champs.
Washington 5, Boston 1. Newcomer Thames' 3-run Homer showed he might replace the only player lost to the champs -Rendon. Former Astro Harris one of the top few relievers in the game finished as one of three great Nats relievers. Between those two and rookie SS Carter Kieboom and former Marlin and Yankee Starlin Castro, this Nats team looks slightly better than last year's champs we believe though some are picking them closer to .500.

Tampa Bay 1, Philadelphia 0. Ace Morton and closer Anderson combined for a 1-0 shutout.
Philadelphia 4, Tampa Bay 3 (10 innings). The as usual dominant Rays pitching came within two outs of consecutive shutouts behind Snell and relievers. However, with Anderson the only reliever above PB2-7 used in the first game, former Yankee Didi Gregorius blasted a 2-run Homer then Bruce added a solo shot with 2 outs to send the game to extra innings 3-3. Fielding was the difference in the 10th as Phillies catcher Realmuto jumped on a ball tipped into the ground and started a double play. In the bottom of the 10th Rays' 3rd baseman Diaz, a great batter but one of the worst fielder's in the game, misplayed a bases loaded line drive to allow McCutchen to score the winning run.

NL Central - Preview or What-if Season to Date

This blog includes summaries of interleague games which count in our AL Statis-pro season but do not count in the official NL Statis-pro seasons.

With Major League Baseball hoping that play an 82-game schedule, this blog covers the results of our NL Central games using Statis-pro cards for current rosters. These cards and rosters simulate the projected hitting, pitching and fielding for each player on a 2020 team (including rookies and new stars from Japan and Cuba).

Division Statis-Pro Results to Date

St. Louis 10-2 - Cards won't win 5 of 6 all year, but they have the potential to beat out the Brewers.
Milwaukee 8-4
Cincinnati 10-8 - Sonny Gray is the ace of a strong rotation with three great relievers to back them up. The addition of a great new leadoff man in Shogo Akiyama and getting Moustakas from the Brewers to hit cleanup gives the Reds a chance for a winning record.
Chicago Cubs 10-8
Pittsburgh 6-6

Click for google doc grid of all games.

NL Central vs. AL Central

Detroit won 6-2, then Chicago Cubs swept 8-2. One interesting moment arose in the second game. Cubs starting pitcher Quintana was due to hit in the bottom of the 3rd with 2 outs and bases loaded.

When the pitcher is hitting you skip the PB and go straight to the 11-88 random number (unless his career ops is at least .425) and refer to the column below for the hitting card. I misread at first, but Quintana has the standard NL pitcher hitting card which gives him a single on an 11-14, and all pitchers strike out up to 48.

The card was a 15 - missing an RBI hit by one. However, if Cubs starter Jon Lester had been on the mound, he would have doubled. His .317 career OPS puts him on the .300 ops line which as you can see from the chart gives him a double on a 15 or 16.

Cincinnati 7-1 sweep and 2-0 over Royals. The combination of four excellent PB2-8 reds pitchers - ace Sonny Gray and 3 relievers in the second game - allowed only 6 hits in 2 games to the Royals. The Reds hit 5 home runs to the 6 total Royals hits. Suarez hit 2 of the HRs in the first game to propel a 7-1 sweep. Moustakas hit a 2-run Homer in the second game to break a scoreless tie in the 6th.

Milwaukee won 10-8 in 11 at KC which win 6-5

Cincinnati win 4-3 (10) at Detroit 9-8 (10). 3 games each. Reds Shogo Akiyama leading off as perhaps the most exciting new card.

Pittsburgh at Chi White Sox won 16-2, 1-0 White Sox 5 games to 1

Chi Cubs sweep 17-7 at Minnesota won 5-2 (Cubs 4 he's to 2)

St. Louis win 4-1 and (sweep) 6-1 at Cleveland. The Indians still have the scary top of the order, but if they don't produce in a given game they are much weaker because the once mighty bullpen looks very average this year and they just don't have the sluggers in the bottom half of the order they often had.

St. Louis 6, KC 1. Sweep. Flaherty (pb2-8 and HR 23 when hitting) had 2 hits in sweep.
St. Louis 4, KC 3. Mondesi, only speed AA led off both games with doubles and in the 9th beat out a single and stole 2nd with potential tying run, but Gallegos got last 2 out for save. KC Keller had no-hitter and 3-0 lead when Molina pinch hit (I normally make catchers play one of two games) and hit a 3-run HR.

Milwaukee 2, Detroit 0. Woodruff and Hader combine on shutout.
Milwaukee 11, Detroit 3. We tried dropping the 1-2 hitters to 7-8 to have Yelich lead off and Hiura 2nd to get them as many at bats as possible. Garcia from TB and Smoak from Toronto put nice bats behind them and with Suter and Claudio upgraded to pb2-8 cards they have a killer trio to wrap up games. Looks like a contender.

Cleveland 5, Cincinnati 2.
Cleveland 4, Cincinnati 3. Great simple new batter and pitcher cards (see below), and Lorenzen gets the "Babe Ruth" award again for hitting homers on 26-31 in addition to being a 2-8 pitcher. However, neither he or any Reds pitcher could stop Jose Ramirez.

Pittsburgh 3, Minnesota 2. Two 2-8s, rookie Burdo and Kela, wrapped up the pitchers duel.
Pittsburgh 10, Minnesota 1 (sweep). Joe Musgrove led a shocker with a complete game and a base-clearing double (the HR 23 on his card indicates when batting he hits a Homer on a 23 and has hits up to there).

ChiSox 5, Chi Cubs 2.
ChiSox4, Chi Cubs 2.

AL West - Preview or What-if Season to Date

With Major League Baseball hoping that play an 82-game schedule, this blog covers the results of our AL West games using Statis-pro cards for current rosters. These cards and rosters simulate the projected hitting, pitching and fielding for each player on a 2020 team (including rookies and new stars from Japan and Cuba).

These might be previews of an upcoming 82-game season or if MLB is unable to play it might become a "what-if" blog like our 2020 March Madness. You can also click on the AL East, AL Central, NL East, NL Central or NL West. We use ballpark factors.

Hou	35	13
LAA	23	19
Oak	24	18
Sea	15	27
Tex	15	27

Division Statis-Pro Results to Date

Houston Astros 35-13 - the top enemy of the rest of baseball is loaded for another shot. We did make a slight adjustment to their batting cards based on the apparent advantage they had in 2017 that translates into Zips projections. However, rookie phenom Alvarez was not on that team and already delivered a 9th inning blast to complete a rally from down 8-0 against the Dodgers, and with a loaded line-up, and incredible few relievers to back up Verlander and Greinke, this is the team with the clearest path to win their division.
Los Angeles Angels 23-19 - The big acquisition of World Series hero Rondon is not quite as big in the game because Zips expects him to fall back a bit at age 30 from last year's career year. If MLB resumes and he is hitting at last year's clip, that adds even more power between Trout and Ohtani. Angels did beat A's 5 games to 1 in an early series to try to initially claim the No. 2 spot in the division to try to shoot for Houston or a wild card. If Ohtani pitches as well as bats they have a contender.
Oakland 24-18. Three gold glove infielders (Clutch Defense 5) who also bring power give the A's enough pop. The rotation starts with two lefty PB2-8 elite starters - so if in fact Sean Manaea is back to full-strength after missing last year and rookie Jesus Luzardo is really that good, then perhaps they can rebound from a disappointing 5 games to 1 series loss to the Angels and be the team to give the Astros a challenge. The game we have coming up that will be something in real life is the Astros visit to Oakland in which they face Manaea and then the man who turned them in for the electronic sign stealing - Mike Fiers.
Seattle 15-27. After their ace Gonzales the Mariners hope their big ballpark can protect really weak pitching by holding a few extra balls in the park. They have some speed and some power, but will be a little uphill. In our game we added prospects Jake Fraley and Jarred Kelenic to the top of the line-up as they project to hit with some pop.
Texas 15-27. Kluber from Indians gives them decent ace (though not the dominant Indians ace he was a few years ago), but still might not be enough pitching or hitting.

Click for google doc grid of all games. Read across for each team's wins against every other foe, then top to bottom for their losses. Below is only AL vs. AL through May 15, but google doc will include inter league and stay up to date.

For all AL West vs. NL West games (2 series each), click on the NL West blog All other games are below.

Minnesota wins 4-3 and 10-5 (not a sweep) at Seattle.

Houston sweeps 14-8, then wins 7-6 in 14 innings vs Texas

Oakland swept twice, 7-1 and 7-3

LA Angels won 8-7 and 6-2 in 12 innings over Boston

Houston won 5-1, then Yankees won 4-1. See score sheet at the bottom of this blog.

Houston sweeps Seattle twice, 8-4 and 8-2. At the 36-game mark the Astros 6-0 sweep over Seattle left them 3 games ahead of every other AL team. Vogelman's 3-run HR in the 9th to cut the Astros lead to 8-4 was too late to stop the sweep. (If team wins and led by at least 5 at the end of the 8th inning without using their closer, they are credited for a 3-0 sweep).

Greinke allowed only 4 hits and 1 run in 8 innings and Brantley's grandslam in the 7th provided the sweep. Springer led off the second game with a HR and Altuve had 4 of the Astros 14 hits in the second game blowout.

Oakland swept 7-1, then rallied for 6-5 win over Texas.

Houston won 5-2 in 12 innings and 3-2 against Oakland.

LA Angels won 2-1, then Texas 6-4

LA Angels swept 10-1, Mariners won 4-1

Seattle 4, Oakland 2. (Chapman injured on line drive)
Oakland 8, Seattle 3 (no sweep, up 4 inn after 8).

Houston 5, LA Angels 0 (sweep). Verlander 6.2, 0 W, Teheran 3, 5 L. Alvarez 3-run HR.
Houston 4, LA Angels 3. McCullers 2.2, 3. Bindy 6,3. W- Peacock, LButtrey, S Usuna. Garneau GW HR. Bullpen 7.1 scoreless.

Baltimore 5, Texas 1.
Texas 9, Baltimore 8.

Seattle 6, Texas 1 (sweep)
Seattle 6, Texas 2

LA Angels 10, Oakland 0 (sweep)
LA Angels 4, Oakland 3 (12 innings).

Minnesota 7, Houston 3 (12 innings). Greinke's 1-hit shutout ended the 9th when Kepler followed an Altuve error with a game-tying 3-run Homer to force extra innings. Kepler added a grandslam in the 12th for the win in a rematch of last year's Statis-pro ALCS won by Houston.
Houston 3, Minnesota 1.

AL East - Preview or What-if Season to Date

With Major League Baseball hoping that play an 82-game schedule, this blog covers the results of our AL East games using Statis-pro cards for current rosters. These cards and rosters simulate the projected hitting, pitching and fielding for each player on a 2020 team (including rookies and new stars from Japan and Cuba).

These might be previews of an upcoming 82-game season or if MLB is unable to play it might become a "what-if" blog like our 2020 March Madness. You can also click on the AL West, AL Central, NL East, NL Central or NL West. We use ballpark factors.

Balt	14	32
Bost	17	25
NYY	27	21
TB	27	15
Tor	22	20

Division Statis-Pro Results to Date

Tampa Bay 27-15 - best rotation and deep relief have them in first though Yanks cards look a little better.
New York Yankees 27-21 - not only incredible line-up, but the team that can bring in relief pitchers as early as the 4th inning that are better than many teams stoppers, and with Cole coming from Astros as ace could be scary good. (The biggest cutoff is TB and NYY have great deep bullpens, and the rest of the division is very weak as soon as their starter leaves)
Toronto 22-20- fun line-up with Biggio's son, Guerrero's son, and Gurriel's little brother in a hitters park they can rally. Adding one of best starters in Ryu from Dodgers helped them to .500 including split with Yankees, if they can just get through middle innings to Giles to close.
Boston 15-21 - still a strong betting line-up but with out former MVP Betts. What really hurts them this year is Sale injured for the season on top of Price leaving, so far in game leaving them mismatched vs. opposing aces in the division with blue Jays Ryu (2nd in NL Cy Young with Dodgers), Yankees Cole (2nd in AL Cy Young with Astros), and Rays Morton (3rd in AL Cy Young).
Baltimore 14-34 - former Reds SS on an MVP-level so far to make Orioles offense exciting, but so far pitching having a tough times in brutal division.

For all the results of the AL East vs. NL East games (2 series each team) click on NL East blog. All of the other AL East games are below:

East

NY Yankees won 4-1, Cleveland swept 8-3

See AL West for Baltimore getting swept 6 games.to none by Oakland.

See AL West for Boston losing 4 games to 2 to Angels.

Baltimore won 7-6, then Toronto won 4-1.

Tampa Bay won 6-5 and cleveland won 4-3.

Tampa sweeps 6-1 then wins again 5-1 at Baltimore. Meadows stroked three triples in the 2-game series and the best starting rotation in baseball did the rest. The Orioles managed only a run in the bottom of the 9th in the first game and then one run in the bottom of the 1st inning in the second game. In the rest of the series, the Rays allowed only 2 hits in 16 innings pitched, as Snell took a shutout into the 9th and then Glasnow went longer than usual with seven innings to require only the deadly duo of Yarbrough (who can go a few innings normally) and then one of the best closers in the game in Anderson to wrap up. The Rays stretched their lead to two games over the Yankees at the 36-game mark. In real news, Snell received some negative press for saying he did not plan to play this year if the deal went though for players to play at reduced salaries, and while we don't want to weigh in on any players vs. management issues, we only note that this Rays team looks like it really has a chance at the AL East if Snell does pitch.

NY Yankees won 5-3 and 6-5 at home vs Baltimore. Yankees third baseman Mike Tauchman rallied them from down 4-0 against the last place Orioles, hitting a 3-run homer in the 7th and then a big single in the 8th after Aaron Judge added the go-ahead 2 run homer. That single helped the Yankees to an insurance run for a 6-4 lead, which they needed with the Orioles rallied to score again Britton in the top of the 9th for the 6-5 final. Chapman was used to Save the 5-3 win in the first game. To keep innings realistic our league rules are that each reliever can pitch in only one of each 2-game series, though long relievers can go up to three innings in that game.

Boston won 13-10 in 10 innings, Toronto swept 7-1.

Fenway did not help the red Sox - as three deep drives in the two games resulted in only one triple that resulted in no runs, and two catches on the track.

Yankees 6-2, then Toronto 5-3.

Tampa 6-2 and 8-3 sweep over Red Sox.

ChiSox 5, Toronto 3. Keuchel 5, 2, Ryu, 3.2, 2 (w Cishek, L Gaviglio, S Bummer. Jimenez HR, 2b.
ChiSox 3, Toronto 1. Gonzalez 5,1, Roark 6.2, 1, W-Cease, L-Bass. Anderson GW-HR.

Boston 10, Baltimore 1 (sweep), Rodriguez 9 IP, 1 R, W; Means 3.1, 4 L. Martinez 2b, HR, 3 rbi.
Baltimore 5, Boston 3, Milone 6, 2 W, McHugh 2.2, 3 L. Iglesius HR, 3b.

NY Yankees 2, Tampa 0 (7 innings, rain). Cole 7, 0 W, Morton 5.2, 2 L. Ford HR, W.
NY Yankees 5, Tampa 2. Happ 4,3, Chirinos 3, 2 (w Britton, L Beeks, S Chapman). Judge 2b, 1b, GW Hr.

Tampa 21, Toronto 5.(sweep) Tampa 21 runs on 21 hits.
Toronto 3, Tampa 0 (10 innings). Shoemaker no-hitter into 8th. Fisher started in 2nd and Biggio on 1st in 10th per extra inning rules, and on Bichette single Fisher OBR A gunned down at home by Renfroe's T5. However Vlad Guerrero JR hit 3-run Homer on last card in deck for win.

New York 7, Boston 4
Boston 12, New York 8 (10 inn)

Baltimore 5, Texas 1.
Texas 9, Baltimore 8.

Chicago WS win 13-9 and 9-6 at Detroit