All the final 2018 fantasy baseball rankings for hitters are done. For those that skipped today’s title, this starts the top 20 starters for 2018 fantasy baseball. This is NOT for 2019 (caps for those who can’t read titles; supposedly it’s easier to read caps, I have my doubts). This is a recap. Actually, RECAP, literally. Will these affect next year’s rankings? Sure. But not entirely. To recapitulate, these rankings are from our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater. We’re (me’re) using it to fairly gauge our (my) preseason rankings. Anyway, here’s the top 20 starters for 2018 fantasy baseball and how they compare to where I originally ranked them:
1. Max Scherzer – What’s the margin of error on my projections vs. Scherzer’s final line? .0004? Hashtag nailed it. Of course, I would never own Scherzer, but I can still marvel at him. Actually, he should be a Marvel superhero he’s so good, and those eyes. How surprised would you be if he was an actual cyborg? Here’s a question for you to gauge your level of surprise: if you time traveled from 1985 to present day and found out about Caitlyn Jenner, would that surprise you more or less than finding out Scherzer was really a cyborg? At the age of 34, he had a career high K-rate with a career high average velocity on his fastball! And this is from a guy who has always made that bread on Ks and velocity. This peak strikeout rate might also be directly related to how the entire league is all a bunch of little Dave Kingmans. Preseason Rank #1, 2018 Projections: 18-7/2.46/0.94/277 in 222 IP, Final Numbers: 18-7/2.53/0.91/300 in 220 2/3 IP
2. Justin Verlander – I alluded to this about fifteen times during the season, but this Verlander end-of-the-season ranking is downright shocking to me. Not saying our Player Rater is wrong, I’m saying I think common perception about how guys rank, due to their fantasy value, is wrong. If you were to put five ‘perts in a room, all five would give you a different guy who they think ended the season as the number two pitcher, after they described in detail their childhood memories of Strat-o-Matic. What I think we can take away from this is triplefold. First fold, wins play a huge part in a pitcher’s value and they have little control over them, i.e., Verlander vs. deGrom. Twofold, ERA and WHIP are great, but Ks matter too, and Verlander’s Ks were huge. Three fold, there’s no three fold. Preseason Rank #12, 2018 Projections: 16-9/3.41/1.15/223 in 212 IP, Final Numbers: 16-9/2.52/0.90/290 in 214 IP
3. Blake Snell – I loved, loved, lurved Snell coming into the season. Wrote a sleeper post about him. Begged everyone to draft him. Yet — again with some stank — YET! this year was nothing I could’ve dreamed in my wildest dreams. By the by, doesn’t YET! look like a cool way to spell yeti? No? Okay, that’s just me then. Lame-o’s! Preseason Rank #46, 2018 Projections: 13-9/3.68/1.30/185 in 183 IP, Final Numbers: 21-5/1.89/0.97/221 in 180 2/3
4. Jacob deGrom – Kinda continued from Verlander’s blurb, but it goes to show you what wins do to fantasy value. This is so important to understand. Hitters have potential five categories they can be good in, and average is based a bit on luck, and runs and RBIs are a bit team dependent. With pitchers, wins are impossible to predict. Starters don’t get saves. ERA and WHIP are a bit team dependent (fielding, shifts, yadda). Starters are in direct control of Ks. Yes, Ks feed ERA and WHIP, but no more than homers feed runs and RBIs. Best case scenario, a hitter gives you five categories — Betts or Yelich (and others but you get the drift). Best case scenario for a pitcher with no wins (and obviously no saves) is deGrom. DeGrom is only 20th overall on the player rater! He has 15 hitters ahead of him! And this is from a pitcher who I even think had one of the greatest pitching seasons ever. So, you’re drafting a top 5 starter praying for wins and automatically punting saves. You draft many top five hitters automatically punting a category? Praying for another category? Okay, PETA’s about to come to my house because I’m beating this horse to death. Preseason Rank #7, 2018 Projections: 16-9/3.06/1.15/221 in 195 IP, Final Numbers: 10-9/1.70/0.91/269 in 217 IP
5. Corey Kluber – Member that thing that seemed obvious about how you want younger starters? Yeah, well, what I’m saying is give me Lucas Giolito when he turns 33. Preseason Rank #3, 2018 Projections: 17-7/2.61/0.97/228 in 205 IP, Final Numbers: 20-7/2.89/0.99/222 in 215 IP
6. Aaron Nola – Mentioned this earlier in the season, but we just saw the last time in about five to seven years when Nola was draftable without reaching for him in the top 40 overall. Preseason Rank #16, 2018 Projections: 14-9/3.41/1.18/188 in 184 IP, Final Numbers: 17-6/2.37/0.97/224 in 212 1/3 IP
7. Gerrit Cole – If I’m being honest, I do try to be. I didn’t like Cole coming into this year. Of course, I didn’t know the Astros were dying pine tar the color of human flesh to mask it into their starters’ arms, but, nevertheless, didn’t like Cole. Owning Cole would’ve been nice, but not owning him didn’t kill me in leagues. Either way, Cole really makes you rethink that whole ‘Ray Searage is a pitching God’ narrative. Or makes you rethink your belief in God. Preseason Rank #35, 2018 Projections: 13-10/3.78/1.23/181 in 195 IP, Final Numbers: 15-5/2.88/1.03/276 in 200 1/3 IP
8. Chris Sale – I was listening to I’m Shipping Up to Boston, one of the all-time best fight songs, and was thinking how pumped up Sale must get when he hears that that they must have to hide all those shopping mall belly button piercing kiosks. Little did we know Sale is a pitcher and a belly itcher. Preseason Rank #4, 2018 Projections: 17-9/2.87/1.01/256 in 207 IP, Final Numbers: 12-4/2.11/0.86/237 in 158 IP
9. Luis Severino – Nailed his ranking with his Ks and innings, but he took anything but the conventional route to those numbers. It was like he was using Waze at rush hour and Waze sent him across a five-lane highway at the All-Star break. His 2nd half 5.57 ERA is ludicrously bad for a top 10 starter. On the bright side (if there is one), he had a .379 BABIP in the 2nd half and a higher K/9. It’s going to take all my monocles on all my cyclopses this preseason to rank him for next year. Preseason Rank #9, 2018 Projections: 16-8/3.10/1.06/222 in 190 IP, Final Numbers: 19-8/3.39/1.14/220 in 191 1/3 IP
10. Carlos Carrasco – I had real concerns about Carrasco in the preseason, and he ended up with stats near those I projected, so I guess what I’m saying is…I’m not sure what I’m saying. He met my lowered expectations and still was a top 10 starter? Meh, I guess. Preseason Rank #8, 2018 Projections: 15-10/3.35/1.12/217 in 194 IP, Final Numbers: 17-10/3.38/1.13/231 in 192 IP
11. Trevor Bauer – Went back and looked at the comments on the top 20 starters from the preseason, and, let’s just say, my Bauer ranking was a surprise to people. Ya’ll thought I had lost my mind with a ranking of 18th overall, and he ended up 11th after missing a month, due to a fluke injury. Imagine I projected one save too. You’d burn my ass at the stake. On a related note, I see a lot of people stanning on Bauer this October because of how smart he is about his pitching on the MLB Network, and I feel the helium pushing up his 2019 ranking. Someone even mentioned how he’s their 2019 early Cy Young candidate. I said he was my preseason 2018 Cy Young and people laughed at me. Mercilessly. Don’t believe me, look at our preseason predictions. (They should’ve been laughing about my Brinson pick for ROY. Woof.) Preseason Rank #18, 2018 Projections: 15-10/3.59/1.29/204 in 189 IP, Final Numbers: 12-6/2.21/1.09/221, 1 save in 175 1/3 IP
12. Miles Mikolas – When he signed — on December 5th — oh, what a night! — I said, “Signed with the Cardinals after having a 2.18 ERA with an 8 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9 in 424 2/3 IP in Japan. When I heard this, I tweeted out something obnoxious like, “But what’s his speed score?!” Ya know, cause people are saying Ohtani has an 80 speed. What I’m also saying is if Ohtani is super overrated, Mikolas might actually be a bargain. The verdict, as they say, is still out on Mikolas, but I’ve seen him compared favorably to starters like Maeda, Hendricks and teammate, Wacha. Plus, it’s the Cardinals, they make mountains out of anything that takes the hill. For safety’s sake, I’ll put him around a 7.2 K/9 and a 2.4 BB/9 which is 2013 Jose Quintana, a 3.51 ERA/3.86 xFIP guy. I see now why Mikolas is Greek for ‘Me likey.'” And that’s me quoting me! My only regret, I didn’t push him even harder. Preseason Rank #74, 2018 Projections: 11-4/3.64/1.23/115 in 144 IP, Final Numbers: 18-4/2.83/1.07/146 in 200 2/3 IP
13. Patrick Corbin – I drafted Corbin in multiple leagues because he was another guy I wrote a sleeper post on last year, but I’m still kicking myself I didn’t draft him in Tout Wars — Patkick? Yeah, that’ll work. — The night before one ‘pert was talking about how I should avoid Corbin and made a compelling case. Shows you have to trust your gut, even if you’ve only eaten boba for the last six months. Preseason Rank #49, 2018 Projections: 15-11/3.58/1.29/186 in 204 IP, Final Numbers: 11-7/3.15/1.05/246 in 200 IP
14. Zack Greinke – Yet another guy I absolutely nailed on preseason vs. end of the season. I’d blow on knuckles and wipe them on my shirt, but my hand is in a bucket of ketchup to see if it makes me pee red. Preseason Rank #15, 2018 Projections: 14-9/3.45/1.10/202 in 205 IP, Final Numbers: 15-11/3.21/1.08/199 in 207 2/3 IP
15. Mike Foltynewicz – This is going to seem cheap, but I told everyone to draft Faultynewwitch. Yes, his preseason ranking is nowhere near where he ended up, but that’s the whole point of starters. That is literally the thing no one else seems to get. I’ll draft Folty, Happ, Bauer and Mikolas and people will be like, “I like your hitting, but your pitching sucks.” You will hear this all over fantasy. That’s the #1 reaction to my teams after I draft them. I’m not saying I win every league, I don’t, but I’m not losing because I’m drafting cheap starters vs. the Kershaw’s of the world. Preseason Rank #85, 2018 Projections: 9-11/4.17/1.39/155 in 162 IP, Final Numbers: 13-10/2.85/1.08/202 in 183 IP
16. J.A. Happ – Member when I bet Podcaster Ralph that Happ would be more valuable than Ohtani? HAHAHAHAHA–*little voice in back of head reminds me that Ralph beat me in the RCL* Shut up, little voice! I was enjoying myself! By the way, I told you to avoid Ohtani, and said Mikolas was better value, I wanted Happ over Ohtani, so it’s natural to think I don’t like Ohtani. I do. A lot. I was just concerned he had only thrown 20-something innings in the last two years and had a torn elbow. Turns out those things were bad omens. Go figure. Preseason Rank #70, 2018 Projections: 12-9/3.66/1.30/161 in 187 IP, Final Numbers: 17-6/3.65/1.13/193 in 177 2/3 IP
17. Charlie Morton – You know what Morton makes me think? If Jake Arrieta were traded to the Astros, he’d be a Cy Young winner again. Pitchers should be paying the Astros to play for them for one year, then they can go on and have huge contracts elsewhere and suck. Preseason Rank #32, 2018 Projections: 12-8/3.54/1.20/168 in 154 IP, Final Numbers: 15-3/3.13/1.16/201 in 167 IP
18. Mike Clevinger – I liked him too, yes, but I wanted to mention one other thing in general about starters. I grabbed Clevinger in one league off waivers after he had, what I think was two bad starts. You can grab top 20 starters off waivers! Don’t believe me, look at my pickup of Freeland too in two leagues. One league was a 15-team mixed league. Preseason Rank #59, 2018 Projections: 10-7/4.08/1.31/159 in 152 IP, Final Numbers: 13-8/3.02/1.16/207 in 200 IP
19. Kyle Freeland – I’d say Freeland was the most out of left field. I racked my brain to try to think of other Rockies starters who had great years to see where Freeland ranked vs. them and I came up with one name: Ubaldo. Freeland had a better ERA than Ubaldo’s best year (2.85 vs. 2.88), but Ubaldo had a better K/9 and wins (19 vs. 17) so Ubaldo wins by, uh, hair. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 17-7/2.85/1.25/173 in 202 1/3 IP
20. David Price – Since I’ve been talking about how I liked so many of these guys, it’s only fair for me to say I had no interest in Price this past preseason. I thought things were unraveling for him, but now looking back, I don’t see why I was worried, he wasn’t bad in 2017, just injured. Guess now I have hindsight, and, in the preseason, I just had my head up my hind. Preseason Rank #40, 2018 Projections: 10-3/3.72/1.18/124 in 120 IP, Final Numbers: 16-7/3.58/1.14/177 in 176 IP
Grey,
what are your thoughts on this keeper deal? The league is H2H and we keep 10 guys.
I trade away Bellinger and Trea. In return I get Buehler, Jean Segura, and Scotter. Should i be asking for more? how far is this deal off?
As of right now these are my keepers:
Bellinger
Moncada
Albies
Trea
Suarez
Mazara
A.Hicks
Tucker
Paxton
Snell
on the bench (trade bait or guys i would consider keeping)
Donaldson
Newcomb
Sano
Not good
@Grey:
How far off is the deal?
He has degrom, votto, mondesi, segura, whit, upton, ozuna, corbin, buehler,
It’s not really close, tbh
@Grey: It’s an awful deal dude. Do NOT give up Trea and Bellinger for that. Run like hell! Grey is being nice, trying not to offend or upset you. I’m not running this website, so I can spell it out in plain English. DO. NOT. MAKE. THAT. TRADE.
Haha
Looks like Acuña went number 3 overall in the first nfbc draft of 2019. Soto 30. Marquez 57.
That’s ridiculous… I mean, I love him, but cmon
@Grey:
Well, he probably had the #2 second half among all OF’s, maybe all hitters: 19 HR 14 SB .322 BA
It’s definitely not a “bad” pick but hopefully he drops lower in most drafts. This was a heavyweight league too with money involved.
I don’t know, feels like a bad pick… I mean, not awful, I guess… But you can do safer, and get a solid OF later — Where did Yelich go?
@Grey:
10. Yelich
11. Baez
12. Bregman
13. Arenado
14. Machado
15. Harper
Yelich 7 spots after Acuna is a little goofy — Actually, all of those guys after Acuna are a little goofy, tho, maybe not Harper and Bregman. Machado is so undervalued
@Grey:
Agreed on Machado. He almost single handedly won me a league in 2015 when he hit 35 hr and stole 20 bags. I got him in round 8 after his shortened 2014 year. Strangely he stole 0 bases in 2016 though. Last two years seem to be his baseline. As long as his knee holds up he is gold. He carries some risk but so do a lot of guys.
A little risk, but he’s a pure 35-homer, 5-7 SB steal guy with a solid AVG
@Grey:
Personally, I like Acuna as a top 10-12 pick. I don’t think it’s too high at all for him. Agree, Machado is way undervalued. I have him on a keeper from last year. Got him with the #24 pick. Couldn’t believe he was still there. Wasted my #25 pick on Bellinger though.
@Harley Earl:
Let me clarify, #3 is too high. But top 10-12 doesn’t seem too high to me. There are safer bets, yes. But there aren’t any with higher upside.
10-12 seems about right… Maybe 12-15…Maybe even 9-10, but 3 is high
@Grey:
There will be several young studs (Acuña, Soto, Mondesi, Torres, Andujar, Albies, Guerrero that will all be top 100 next year but have a short track record. I think the problem is when we project too much with a small sample size. I like upside as much as anyone but have to balance upside potential with proven (but not moving into mid-30’s) numbers. I’d rather risk upside coming too early than trying to beat decline. The problem we all know is when young guys have too much upside projected hopefully and are taken too high. We’ve all done that but its a bad habit Ive learned.
Yeah, agreed 100%, can’t see myself taking Acuna before Machado, for instance
@Dave D: Exactly! No way I take Acuna over Machado!
Anyone heard of any issues getting money from Fantrax? My Fantrax account shows my money went to my paypal account on 10/10, but nothing has shown up yet in my account?
@The Great Knoche: Never mind. Figured it out.
Was just gonna say I could reach out to them if you needed it
Thoughts on Flaherty and Alex Reyes coming into 2019.. i can’t imagine Mikolas outperforming either over a full season with health concerns aside for the moment.. The Cardinals and over performers…. yeeesh
Flaherty pitched a ton of IP this past year, I’m worried on that, and Reyes hasn’t pitched a lot of innings ever, which is a concern…
@Grey:
Flaherty went 67 overall in the first NFBC. Buehler 46.
Seems like a reach?
Those are big time reaches, I wish I was in this league
@Grey:
Yeah. Kershaw went #6. Barf. What year is it? I’d much rather have Buehler at 46 than Kershaw at 6. But I’ll take neither. Marquez second half was awesome but at 57 is a bit reachy too. Folty went right after. A lot of reaches on SP IMO.
@Dave D:
Actually, I correct myself: Kershaw went #6 in rd 2, so 21 overall. Still makes me vomit.
Marquez and Folty are huge reaches… Everyone drafts for the year that just was rather than the year that will be
Kershaw shouldn’t be in the top 25 — that’s a terrible pick, and I have little confidence in this draft the more I hear it
@Grey:
Yeah, I dunno. The guy spearheading it is legit and says: ” This league has an Overall Main Event Winner.
Two or three multiple Main Event winners.
Main Event cashers.
Two or three NFBC Media types.
A drafter who finished in the top 5 Overall in the RotoWire competition this year.”
Must be the “Media types” making those picks. Fake news?
Yeah, I don’t know… Seems like a lot of drafting for 2018 vs. drafting for 2019… Also, from what I’ve seen is to get labeled an ‘expert’ is not that hard
@Grey:
Everything I’ve read suggests pitching will go higher in drafts next year, at least the top two tiers of pitching, because of the drastic dropoff afterward. I won’t draft pitching any higher than I normally do. I usually find a couple guys late that can help me, which I did last year with Flaherty, Ryu and Fiers. Pitching is too unpredictable and risky. The hitters are almost always a much more solid bet.
No reason pitching should go higher… People were saying to go higher this year too and it didn’t make any difference…
@Harley Earl: You make a good point. I thought the same thing, and many of the drafts I was in this year the pitching went as it had before!
No Kershaw? How?
Based on the 7 pitching categories in my league, Kershaw comes in at #11. Gotta be a mistake here.
Where is Kershaw? Why no Kershaw?
@Grey: What happened?
Not sure, what’s your take?
@Grey:
My take is Kershaw is the #11 SP in my league based on seven categories! (Wins, Saves, Holds, Ks, Whip, ERA, and Walks). That’s how the final ratings list him with those numbers anyway. #28 seems kinda low even with his numbers being less with less innings.
He’s solid in 5 of those categories, so top 15 seems about right
@Harley Earl: Kershaw is #28 on the Player Rater
Spoiler alert!
Well Price is a shocker…he had an ERA over 5 after his first 7 starts sooooooooooooo….you were right about Price until mid-may…he still had an ERA over 4 most of the year…sooooooooooo screw Price and Max and JV and Porcello for not winning a WS with the Tigers. lol
Haha, yup!
yo you didn’t place the Kersh in the top 20? He prob done anyway, won’t get 150 innings.
I bet you will fade a bit on Mikolas coming into next season cuz his low K’s. I picked him up in the 24th round so I’m all in to keep him.
I ain’t putting Mikolas in the top 20, doggie time fresh… You feel me, DTF? That’s not a weird acronym right?
Damn, forgot Kershaw, let me fix that!
The first place team in my league also had 4 starters on this list. Dang that was a great team. In a 16 team league, just too hard to beat.
@papasmurf: Yeah, that’s tough to overcome
Well, after reading your first few position recaps one would look at my roster and say “So, how’d this guy win?” Finally, looking at SP’s breaks it down. Bauer and Morton were bread and butter, but Folty was gravy. Got him at pick 319. By far my best pick of draft. Thanks, Folty!
I didn’t have top 5 at any position. I think I’m content at drafting a 6-9th ranked guy at every position. I’ll take seven 13 game winners with 175ks and a 3.25 era and a few 20/80 .280 guys any day.
@Dave D: Yeah, exactly… There’s at least 15 SPs from pitchers 20-35 off board to draft and you only need 5-6 of them… Then throw in late flyers in NFBC type leagues and you’re fine
@Grey:
Yeah, 5-6 SPs, a closer and a couple vultures and you’re good to go. Funny thing is I drafted one closer and just winged it on the 2nd and owned every Angel scrub that managed a SV. But because I was low on SV’s all year I drafted and played D. Robertson most weeks and he was quite productive. One or two high K, low whip guys who vulture wins and saves can help win a league. Kinda like A. Miller a few years back or also Hader this year. There are some hidden gems too that can come into play with injuries.
Yeah, completely, plus, you have maybe 2 or 3 starters all year, and cycle thru three to four others
Fair point on wins with degrom, but wins aren’t exactly completely unpredictable. Just look at the Vegas over unders for team wins. The mets was 80, the astros was 100.
We can’t exactly say that we are surprised Verlander got a boost in fantasy value from wins playing for the Astros and that degrom got hurt by a lack of wins playing for the Mets
A lot of sabermetric type fantasy experts ignore the quality of the team of the pitcher is on when ranking.
So yeah while the pitcher doesn’t have complete control over wins (same as hitters and rbis as you mentioned) the fantasy drafter has control over not reaching for good players on bad teams.
Not that you watch football but for the 10 other people maybe who read this it’s kind of like David Johnson on the Arizona Cardinals this year. he’s a great young running back but the team is brutal. If he played on the Rams he might be the number one fantasy player. But because he plays on the worst team in the league he’s been a huge disappointment.
Moral of the story, quality of team needs to have a much bigger factor in fantasy ranking.
In fact, if you look through the top 20 I’m pretty sure every single pitcher on this list aside from degrom played on winning teams, and in most cases the teams were significantly over 500
@Wally Pipp: this is good advice for when you wana over rank a guy like luis castillo for next year ;)
It’s so much less likely a starting pitcher is going to be really valuable for fantasy playing on a team like the Reds
@Wally Pipp: I can cherrypick guys too… Dallas Keuchel got the same number of wins as Wheeler, Keuchel was Astros #2 coming into this year and Wheeler was maybe Mets’ #3 prolly #4
@Grey: i didnt really cherry pick, i said basically the entire top 20 was on significantly winning teams. All you’re doing is pointing out that there are some exceptions to the rule which obviously that’s the case.
Not to mention wheeler was one of the best pitchers in the league of the second half, and keuchel is just ok. (Wheeler fip 3.25 – keuchel 3.7)
DeGrom was one of the best pitchers of the last 100 years in terms of ERA and that he couldn’t win more than 10 games is nothing more than luck about runs… Wheeler winning more games than him shows that… Literally anyone with 11 wins or more shows that… Mets had the 12th best offense in the 2nd half, Houston was 16th
@Wally Pipp: YOU are pointing out the exception in deGrom. His win total was an aberration, numbnuts
@Cram It: how ugly are you? Makes me sick how ugly you are.
@Wally Pipp: Yes, so ugly to point out that you’re argument, as usual, holds no water. So ugly to disagree with the great Wally Pipp
@Wally Pipp: They already do get a boost because W’s count in the ranking too. If you’ve got 4-5 guys in a tier, then sure, use a team’s offense as a tie-breaker within that tier.
For every David Johnson, there’s a Barry Sanders. Pretty sure whenever Barry took the field, the defense keyed on the run too. The cream usually rises… like deGrom and Snell.
I can’t thank you enough for the SP tips. Over the years, this is where checking in with your rankings, daily write-ups and draft style have made the difference.
Who uses QS instead of W? It’s biased toward AL. But ERA is biased toward NL. The league I run uses QS in addition to W (can’t quite pull the plug on tradition). Convince me to make the move (or at least present it to the league). To ‘balance’ out the hitting cats, we added OBP.
By the by – I won this H2H league with some combination of these gems: C-Mart, Lester, Berrios, Ryu, Manaea, Mikolas, Buehler, Flaherty, Stripling, Hill, and Bieber.
Berrios was a 3.15 ERAish with 5:1 K:BB rate in the first half. 4.63 ERA with a 2:1ish K:BB in the second half. Thoughts on him heading into next year?
@bigbear: No problem, bigbear! I like using Wins bc that’s what box scores and stats you hear about use… You don’t hear people talking about how a guy just missed a Quality Start, but just missed a Win, you hear… Don’t really think Quality Starts are more fair either, just makes SPs more valuable… Nice pitching staff! Yeah, Berrios dropped off big time, but I will like him again, he’s still very young
Before Bauer called out Houston:
Cole 1.73 ERA 0.79 WHIP
Verlander 1.36 ERA 0.73 WHIP
AFTER:
Cole 3.18 1.10
JV 2.92 0.97
Hhhmmmmmmmmmmm
I mean they weren’t bad by any means after being accused of using coca cola infused pine tar or whatever the heck it was. Just not otherwordly like they were to start the season.
Grey, who do you have for the WS? got to be Boston right?
Are you going to try to get tickets for any of the games or just couch it?
@Slappy Jack: That is interesting, wonder if there’s anything to it or weird coincidence… Boston’s an easy favorite, I’m going to root for LA since hometown and all… I might go to a game, it’ll be a, uh, gametime decision
@Slappy Jack: Prolly not tho, went last year and it cost like $1500
@Grey:
For that kinda money, you should at least get to hang out with a player, maybe dinner at Puigs house or something.
So he can lick me? Or worse, all the food
@Grey:
LOL. Forgot about the licking.
That’s like his main personality trait!
@Grey: I saw Boston-St. Louis Game 3 in 2013 in St. Louis. Sat 25 rows behind Cardinals dugout right about the on-deck circle. Only $1,000, which was good deal. Peeps next to me paid $1,500 and $2,000.
Honestly, I don’t know exactly what we spent, but I vaguely remember $1500… Might’ve been a bit more, maybe a bit less, but it was expensive — and it was the shortest game in World Series history with Kershaw throwing and it was over in like an hour and 45 minutes
@Grey: Yeah you didn’t get much value for your dollar! I saw game 3 of the 2013 series, which the Cardinals won on the infamous interference call at third base that allowed Allen Craig to score. At least I feel like I got value for my money!!
Haha, yup!
Won my roto drafting Nola in 6th, Paxton in 9th, a nd Snell in 17th. The other 3 arm i took in top 20 rounds were dropped early (Castillo, Arrieta, T Walker). In other words….DON’T DRAFT PITCHERS EARLY!!!!!!
@StewZilla: Exactly!
Grey!!!!
Amazing top 20 starters!
a. After looking at this RECAP, all I can say is – You da ma, mensch!
b. So I was wrong about LA not going to the WS!! Good luck, Dodgers! Hope you get to see a few games.
c. Mark Twain quote of the day for October 22
Susy died at the right time, the fortunate time of life, the happy age—twenty-four years. At twenty-four, such a girl has seen the hest of life—life as a happy dream. After that age the risks begin; responsibility comes, and with it the cares, the sorrows, and the inevitable tragedy.
Cheers,
Ante
@Ante Galic: A. I’m the da man, man? B. Let’s go Dodgers — clap clap CLAP CLAP C. Bummer!
@Grey: Grey!!!
Meant to write You da man, came out like You da ma as in YoYoMa, still good because it just means that you’re the top in your field as was YoYoMa for the cello, get it? You’re not making it any easier to get myself out the mess I made.
Sorry about the bummer, but reality hurts too. The quote comes from his autobiography.
Here’s another quote just for you and our gentle readers to make up for the depression.
ADAM [at Eve’s grave]: Wheresoever she was, there was Eden.
Cheers,
Ante
Aw, man, that’s depressing too! He’s at her grave!
@Grey: Grey!!!
You’re being picky. They’re in paradise!
Here’s the last one.
Mark Twain quote of the day for October 22 (supplemental)
As to the Adjective: when in doubt, strike it out.
Cheers,
Ante
If they’re in paradise why is one of them in a grave?
Love that adjective one, have heard it before…
Thoughts on Clevinger going forward?
Feels like he’s got a pitch mix and quality that will continue to play. What’s more exciting is that he has enough to continue to pitch well, even when one of his pitches doesn’t show up on any given day. He’s an old school pitcher who battles his way through games and doesn’t blow up often.
He may never with the Cy Young award, but I can see him being as a perennial top 15 for years to come.
@bbboston: Yeah, I like Clevinger… Could easily have a 2.85-3.15 ERA for a full year, so that puts him in convo for a #1 –Plus, Ks aren’t bad