Like Dale in Step Brothers, I manage a baseball team… a fantasy baseball team. I’ve mentioned this team many times in previous blogs. I play in fantasy leagues for baseball, football, and basketball. As football season approaches, we may see the birth of a Fantasy Feature right here on this website. For today’s entry, we will talk about the fantasy impact of Friday’s baseball games… it’s better than talking about who won the Stanley Cup tonight. Don’t even get me started…
We start with the Cubs in Philly. They posted a 2-1 win, with Jake Arrieta pitching another great game. Someone in our league has been trying to sell high on him. He has pitched surprisingly well, which is the story for most of the Cubs starting rotation this year, which surprisingly I’m not in on in our league. However, I am in on Starlin Castro, who was the extent of the offense tonight for the Cubs, as he launched a 2 run HR. Later, he got hit by a pitch by Fausto Carmona… oh wait, Roberto Hernandez, who was immediately tossed with no warning, This led to Ryne Sandberg coming out to argue, who was also sent to the locker room. Sandberg was a fantasy stud in his hey day. The Cubs tried to blow it in the bottom of the 9th. Up 2-0, Neil Ramirez, who has been a nice surprise out of the bullpen, came on to close the deal. The inning started with a lead off double with historic significance to Jimmy Rollins. A fantasy stud in his prime, he recorded his 2,234th hit for the Phillies, tying the franchise record of one of the biggest Cub killers of all time: Michael Jack Schmidt. Man did that guy murder us, especially in Wrigley Field. The next 2 batters in the inning were some more fantasy stars of the past, as Chase Utley popped out, and Ryan Howard struck out, bringing us 1 out from the win. Ex-Cub Marlon Byrd stepped to the plate. (I hate when an ex-Cub comes up in a big situation). He only walked, and advanced to 3rd, as Domonic Brown singled to right, to cut the lead to 2-1. Carlos Ruiz struck out looking to end the game, as the Cubs improved to 27-38, only 11.5 games out of 1st place. We’ll take it any way we can get it.
We turn to the South Side, where the Sox hosted KC. Jose Quintana, the Sox #2, gave up 6 runs in the first 2 innings. The 5-run first inning was highlighted for me, by Lorenzo Cain’s 2-run double. A recent acquisition on my team, he has been on fire lately for the Royals. Although the Sox struck back in the bottom of the 1st with Jose Abreu’s sac fly, they could not recover. Jose Abreu, along with Encarnacion, Puig, and Wainwright, has been leading the 1st place team in our league. There’s only one guy within 200 points of him, and that’s the 2nd place team who is 134 points shy. Jose Quintana is on that 2nd place team. With a 3-7 record, he has been less than impressive. Only if the Sox had the rest of the Cubs starting pitching to go with Sale and their offense… It seems like it’s that way a lot. If we could combine the 2 teams, we may actually have a contender. The Sox now drop to last place in the division, only 3.5 games out, with a 33-35 record. Isn’t it fun being average?
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Well, back to my fantasy team, my pitching tonight was efficient. With only 1 starter in action, Drew Hutchison got another W. He’s been solid for the 1st place Blue Jays, as he returns from Tommy John surgery. Both my relievers got a save tonight, which was very satisfying. If you could have 2 relievers in fantasy baseball, who would they be? Well, I have Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen, and I’m pretty damn happy about that. With a 44 point lead, and 7 starters going this weekend, I’m pretty sure I can hold on to win for the 8th time in 9 weeks. I’m patting myself on the back now.
OK, that was kind of fun. Maybe we don’t wait until football season, and unleash the fantasy feature for the 2nd half of the baseball season… We’ll see. OK, I just can’t resist… It should be the Blackhawks that lifted the Cup tonight. The last time I’ll mention it, we should have beaten those LA bastards, and taken care of the Strangers from New York. We could have had 3 in 5 years, but now LA has 2 in 3 years. So, 4 of the last 5 Cups have been won by either the Hawks or the Kings. I smell another playoff matchup next year, which would officially stamp the word rivalry between these teams, if it isn’t already. I was going to get in the fantasy hockey league this year, but wasn’t in town on the draft night. It’s a bunch of Canadians in the league, which was won by… my co-worker, our fantasy league commissioner, whose team was full of Blackhawks, playing in his first hockey league. It’s fun to manage fake teams. If I could only get a shot at being GM for the Cubs one day… oh the moves I would make.
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