Roll with your big dogs.
I don’t like to give
fantasy advice because I don’t think I’m an expert.
I mean, I haven’t won a
title in years.
I’m not that good.
But I have learned that
you roll with your big dogs no matter what.
Bryce Harper will never sit
no matter who is pitching.
Jose Altuve will never sit
no matter who is pitching.
Matt Chapman and George
Springer also get that honor in my lineup. (Jesse Winker will get that
designation soon.)
So why on Earth would you
bench Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story?
Because they’re facing
your fantasy pitcher?
Come on.
When told this on Slack, I
immediately commented, “Dumb strategy.”
To make matters worse, it
was Nolan’s birthday. So, of course, he was going to have a fun night, right? (I take that back, he was 3-for-17 on his birthday leading up to yesterday, but to be fair, his last birthday outing in 2017 was a 2-for-4 showing with two doubles and two RBIs.)
He led off his 28th birthday with
a two-run homer in the first and finished 2-for-5 with the homer and two RBIs. Trevor Story was 2-for-4 with three
stolen bases.
Lesson learned I guess.
Start your big dogs and treat birthday boys better!
Guess it doesn’t matter
much right now on Wednesday. He’s got a huge lead on the Cheese Steaks.
WELCOME MATZ
Steven Matz had a Trevor
Rosenthal kind of night: Infinity ERA, infinity WHIP.
He gave up eight runs —
six earned — in the Phillies 10-run first inning, and he didn’t record an out.
It was ugly, and par for
the course for the Steaks who now sport an ugly 8.16 ERA through 28.2 innings.
It will take some time to bring that one down.
At least he can feel good
about re-grabbing Scott Kingery off the waiver wire. His 3-for-5 night with a
homer and five RBIs can make everything better, right?
DUDE, SETTLE DOWN!
I felt the wrath of Dude’s
offense last week as he hit over .300 for the week.
He’s over .300 again this
week and it made me run to the season stats to see where he’s at.
The answer: .304 for the
season.
That’s crazy.
The JLB record for a
season is .296 (Sex Panthers in 2009), and we haven’t seen a number close to
that in years.
Cheese led the League in
2018 with a .274 average. Crox and I posted above .280 averages in 2017 with
Crox taking the title at .286.
Prior to that, it was a
pair of .287 averages in 2009 and 2011, and two .285 averages in 2011 and 2012.
Since the expansion to 12
teams, no one has batted over .287.
So it will take a lot for
the Dude to maintain this. That’s just the facts of averages.
He does have some high
average guys in Alex Bregman and Michael Brantley who will help keep that
average in JLB record territory, but the reason he is sitting at .304 is because
of the extraordinary starts by Cody Bellinger (.433), Elvis Andrus (.394),
Wilson Ramos (.321), Jeff McNeil (.418) to keep it above .300, too.
It will be tough for those
guys to keep those career-best numbers going.
I give Bellinger the best
chance at staying above .300 all season.
All that said, this doesn’t
take away from the fact that the Dude has an offense that we all should worry
about. It is potent and it will keep him in the hunt for a National League
title, for sure.
.
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