Post by Ken Rosenthal on Apr 18, 2016 9:29:26 GMT -5
NEW YORK - Ken Rosenthal here, bringing you all the action from Week 2 around the league.
If you thought Week 1 was a bit surprising, Week 2 offered a few more strange outcomes and upsets that have fans of Base Knock Dynasty Baseball scratching their heads.
A quick note of appreciation of the new league logo, which includes "the bat flip", a personal favorite.
So as always, take a seat, grab a snack, and enjoy some (occasionally very) opinionated writing about your team. Previous rankings will be noted in parenthesis.
Group 5: The Next Year's Draft Prospects Fan Club
#30: New York Mets (0-2)
The Mets nearly did the unthinkable and by scoring 100 points in a contest, but fell short at 96.8. This group is rightly named, because New York would be wise to begin scouting for the draft in the summer of 2017.
#29: Toronto Blue Jays (0-2)
Hats off this week to outfielder Melvin Upton Jr.. He wound up with a usage rate above 50% after scoring 25.5 points. I suppose that's more of a depressing stat than an uplifting one.
#28(27): Chicago White Sox (1-1)
The White Sox followed up their fortunate win in Week 1 by losing by over 100 points to the Rays from Tampa. It'll be somewhat of a key matchup between the Sox and the Indians next week (Battle for worst in the division?)
#27(28): Cleveland Indians (0-2)
Not many teams can trade away an elite talent like Giancarlo Stanton and still put forth a somewhat respectable week (nearly scoring 250 points). Second baseman Ian Kinsler and outfielder Starling Marte were back at it again, scoring 70 points between the two.
#26(25): St. Louis Cardinals (0-2)
St. Louis now has losses to both Chicago and Pittsburgh in the division and turn to face the surprisingly spectacular Milwaukee Brewers. This has all the makings of a very rough start for the team that puts out Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, and Jose Fernandez. Nick Markakis... yes, you heard that right... led the team in scoring this week.
#25(26): San Francisco Giants (1-1)
Two things. The Giants scored over 200 points. The Giants won a game, defeating the sinking Atlanta Braves. Great performance by starter Jerad Eickhoff, who scored 26.4 points in 7 innings with 9 strikeouts. Quite impressive.
Group 4: The So-So's... The Not-so-great's... the Okay's
#24(21): Kansas City Royals (0-2)
Look no further than the next two match-ups with the New York Yankees that could determine the direction of the Royals season. Kansas City plays New York two out of the next five weeks, including a meeting in Week 3.
#23(20): Atlanta Braves (0-2)
When you lose to the Giants, something is not right. The Braves have three huge divisional games coming up in a row with Washington, Miami, New York (Mets) on the docket. The chances of an 0-4 start are rising quickly with the impressive starts by the Nationals and Marlins.
#22: Boston Red Sox (0-2)
The Red Sox get to keep their position at #22, because they nearly shocked the league by knocking off the defending champs. This was despite a down week from superstar shortstop Carlos Correa (10.5 points). Ultimately, Boston fell flat on the last day, as Texas went on 33.6-8 terror to recover the win. Still, an impressive showing for Boston.
#21(24): Seattle Mariners (1-1)
Easy win this week against Toronto. The rumors are swirling about various potential deals involving the Mariners, who are trying to shake things up. It came at the cost of some bullpen depth, but the team made a solid move to add a starting catcher in Chris Iannette.
#20(23): Colorado Rockies (1-1)
Perhaps the shocker of the week. The Colorado Rockies hand the San Diego Padres their second loss of the season. Colorado had ten starts from their staff this week, which led the league. As we've seen in years past, depth in the rotation can be crucial. Rockies get the D'backs next week.
Group 3: The possible playoff participants
#19(18): Pittsburgh Pirates (1-1)
275 points isn't that bad of a showing... but it won't get it done against the Milwaukee Brewers apparently this season. Pittsburgh shipped out a starter in Mike Pelfry to San Diego... signifying... who knows what at this point. One terrific sign, Kenta Maeda looks like the real deal (60.1 points through three starts).
#18(15): New York Yankees (1-1)
If New York had played the Angels from Week 1, this could've been a contest, but L.A. meant business and the Yanks didn't have a chance. A great showing by starter Charlie Morton (38.6 points in two starts), who saw that kind of a week coming?
#17(19): Detroit Tigers (1-1)
Detroit got the win against Kansas City despite falling under 250 points for the week. Now they move on to the extremely important game against the division rival Minnesota Twins, who have scored nearly 100 points more than the Tigers through the first two games.
#16(17): Minnesota Twins (1-1)
The Twins played well in a tough loss to the Orioles in Week 2. Third baseman Trevor Plouffe was great, scoring 31 points with 3 multi-hit games. As was stated previously, Minnesota now plays Detroit. This is definitely one to watch for Week 3.
#15(11): Los Angeles Dodgers (1-1)
Apologies to the Dodgers for such a steep drop off in their ranking this week. They didn't play all that poorly, but were still over-matched against Arizona. Yasmany Tomas was terrific, scoring 29.5 points (19 in one two-homer day). The team gets a free-bee against the Mets next week.
#14: Oakland Athletics (1-1)
Oakland resembled the team from last season that went 16-3 slightly more-so in Week 2 than they did in Week 1. Oakland was, however, playing the Cleveland Indians. The schedule is favorable at the start here. Oakland will need to pick up all the wins they can get.
Group 2: The Contenders... They're for real
#13(7): Cincinnati Reds (0-2)
The Committee of One feels obligated to bump the Reds down after two losses to divisional opponents, and the road doesn't get any easier with the Chicago Cubs on the slate next week. Still, the Reds obviously still belong in the Contenders bracket... as they've been extremely unlucky. I mean, who scores the second-most points in the league through two weeks and has two losses?
#12(16): Houston Astros (2-0)
From #20 to #12 in just two weeks is quite the jump, but Houston has definitely earned the recognition after posting a week-high 393.1 points in Week 2 to defeat their division rival from Cincinnati. First baseman Albert Pujols was the man this week, scoring 33.5 points.
#11(13): Baltimore Orioles (2-0)
The Orioles made a bold move early, as they went out and acquired superstar outfielder Giancarlo Stanton. The trade with Cleveland makes Baltimore a likely playoff participant and potential contender to knock of Tampa Bay in the AL East.
#10(12): Washington Nationals (2-0)
Washington's first two weeks' resume is quite impressive, as it now includes wins over the San Diego Padres and the Miami Marlins. Outfielder Randal Grichuk had a strong week, posting 37 points in a well-balanced scoring attack for Washington overall.
#9(4): San Diego Padres (0-2)
Losing in Week 1 was bad enough, but now dropping a second straight match-up to the lowly Colorado Rockies? The Padres need to breath deeply in Week 3 and take care of business in San Francisco. Failure to do that may result in some panic on the west coast.
#8(10): Milwaukee Brewers (2-0)
Your top scoring team through the first two weeks of the season is none other than the Milwaukee Brewers, who have an impressive 739.6 points. It should be an easy win against St. Louis next week, but Milwaukee has Houston, Chicago, and a re-match with Cincinnati to look forward to in Weeks 4 through 6.
#7(8): Texas Rangers (2-0)
The defending champions barely suffered an onslaught from the Red Sox from Boston, and thankfully for Texas, they move on to 2-0. The Rangers can make a statement win next week by beating the up-and-coming Baltimore Orioles.
#6(5): Miami Marlins (1-1)
Yes, the Marlins were unable to beat the Nationals. But if you look at this objectively, Miami is 5th in the league in scoring (611.6) through two games. If they beat Philadelphia next week, all of the worries will be gone before fans can say the word: rivalry. It should be a great Week 3 match-up.
#5(9): Chicago Cubs (1-1)
Chicago bounced back with a win against the Cardinals in Week 2, and has scored the 4th most points thus far. With all of their cap space, the Committee of One would have liked to see the team make a go for Stanton, but the Orioles snatched him up first. A win against Cincinnati next week would send the Reds to 0-3, something the Cubs would love to see early on in the season.
#4(6): Arizona D'backs (2-0)
The Committee of One sort of moved up Arizona by default. But then again, they are 2-0 and are averaging over 250+ points per week thus far. Adrian Beltre showed he can still do it (27.5 points), despite getting up their in years.
Group 1: The Best of the Best
#3: Tampa Bay Rays (2-0)
The Rays have quite the easy start with Cleveland (W), Chicago (W), and Seattle lined up for the first three weeks. But hey, a win is a win, and all signs show that they'll have three of them heading into Week 4. A terrific performance by MVP-candidate Nolan Arenado (51 points).
#2: Los Angeles Angels (2-0)
Mark Trumbo exploded for the Angels with 51 points in a 5 home-run week. Los Angeles pummeled the Yankees, and has an easy week against Toronto for next week. The Angels may as well look ahead to a Week 4 game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
#1: Philadelphia Phillies (2-0)
Philadelphia holds on to the #1 spot despite a pathetic showing against New York (even though it didn't take much to beat the Mets). Things get tough in Week 3 though, and the Phillies will have to flex their muscle against Miami to show they're worthy of staying on top.
Biggest +: Astros/Cubs +4
Biggest -: Reds -6
Week 3 GoTW: Marlins vs. Phillies/Reds vs. Cubss
Week 3 Match-ups & The Committee's Predictions (in bold)
Rockies vs. D'backs
Cardinals vs. Brewers
Pirates vs. Astros
Cubs vs. Reds
Dodgers vs. Mets
Nationals vs. Braves
Giants vs. Padres
Marlins vs. Phillies
Mariners vs. Rays
Indians vs. White Sox
Royals vs. Yankees
Athletics vs. Red Sox
Twins vs. Tigers
Angels vs. Blue Jays
Orioles vs. Rangers
The Committee's record:
Wk. 2: 12-3
Overall: 22-8
If you thought Week 1 was a bit surprising, Week 2 offered a few more strange outcomes and upsets that have fans of Base Knock Dynasty Baseball scratching their heads.
A quick note of appreciation of the new league logo, which includes "the bat flip", a personal favorite.
So as always, take a seat, grab a snack, and enjoy some (occasionally very) opinionated writing about your team. Previous rankings will be noted in parenthesis.
Group 5: The Next Year's Draft Prospects Fan Club
#30: New York Mets (0-2)
The Mets nearly did the unthinkable and by scoring 100 points in a contest, but fell short at 96.8. This group is rightly named, because New York would be wise to begin scouting for the draft in the summer of 2017.
#29: Toronto Blue Jays (0-2)
Hats off this week to outfielder Melvin Upton Jr.. He wound up with a usage rate above 50% after scoring 25.5 points. I suppose that's more of a depressing stat than an uplifting one.
#28(27): Chicago White Sox (1-1)
The White Sox followed up their fortunate win in Week 1 by losing by over 100 points to the Rays from Tampa. It'll be somewhat of a key matchup between the Sox and the Indians next week (Battle for worst in the division?)
#27(28): Cleveland Indians (0-2)
Not many teams can trade away an elite talent like Giancarlo Stanton and still put forth a somewhat respectable week (nearly scoring 250 points). Second baseman Ian Kinsler and outfielder Starling Marte were back at it again, scoring 70 points between the two.
#26(25): St. Louis Cardinals (0-2)
St. Louis now has losses to both Chicago and Pittsburgh in the division and turn to face the surprisingly spectacular Milwaukee Brewers. This has all the makings of a very rough start for the team that puts out Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, and Jose Fernandez. Nick Markakis... yes, you heard that right... led the team in scoring this week.
#25(26): San Francisco Giants (1-1)
Two things. The Giants scored over 200 points. The Giants won a game, defeating the sinking Atlanta Braves. Great performance by starter Jerad Eickhoff, who scored 26.4 points in 7 innings with 9 strikeouts. Quite impressive.
Group 4: The So-So's... The Not-so-great's... the Okay's
#24(21): Kansas City Royals (0-2)
Look no further than the next two match-ups with the New York Yankees that could determine the direction of the Royals season. Kansas City plays New York two out of the next five weeks, including a meeting in Week 3.
#23(20): Atlanta Braves (0-2)
When you lose to the Giants, something is not right. The Braves have three huge divisional games coming up in a row with Washington, Miami, New York (Mets) on the docket. The chances of an 0-4 start are rising quickly with the impressive starts by the Nationals and Marlins.
#22: Boston Red Sox (0-2)
The Red Sox get to keep their position at #22, because they nearly shocked the league by knocking off the defending champs. This was despite a down week from superstar shortstop Carlos Correa (10.5 points). Ultimately, Boston fell flat on the last day, as Texas went on 33.6-8 terror to recover the win. Still, an impressive showing for Boston.
#21(24): Seattle Mariners (1-1)
Easy win this week against Toronto. The rumors are swirling about various potential deals involving the Mariners, who are trying to shake things up. It came at the cost of some bullpen depth, but the team made a solid move to add a starting catcher in Chris Iannette.
#20(23): Colorado Rockies (1-1)
Perhaps the shocker of the week. The Colorado Rockies hand the San Diego Padres their second loss of the season. Colorado had ten starts from their staff this week, which led the league. As we've seen in years past, depth in the rotation can be crucial. Rockies get the D'backs next week.
Group 3: The possible playoff participants
#19(18): Pittsburgh Pirates (1-1)
275 points isn't that bad of a showing... but it won't get it done against the Milwaukee Brewers apparently this season. Pittsburgh shipped out a starter in Mike Pelfry to San Diego... signifying... who knows what at this point. One terrific sign, Kenta Maeda looks like the real deal (60.1 points through three starts).
#18(15): New York Yankees (1-1)
If New York had played the Angels from Week 1, this could've been a contest, but L.A. meant business and the Yanks didn't have a chance. A great showing by starter Charlie Morton (38.6 points in two starts), who saw that kind of a week coming?
#17(19): Detroit Tigers (1-1)
Detroit got the win against Kansas City despite falling under 250 points for the week. Now they move on to the extremely important game against the division rival Minnesota Twins, who have scored nearly 100 points more than the Tigers through the first two games.
#16(17): Minnesota Twins (1-1)
The Twins played well in a tough loss to the Orioles in Week 2. Third baseman Trevor Plouffe was great, scoring 31 points with 3 multi-hit games. As was stated previously, Minnesota now plays Detroit. This is definitely one to watch for Week 3.
#15(11): Los Angeles Dodgers (1-1)
Apologies to the Dodgers for such a steep drop off in their ranking this week. They didn't play all that poorly, but were still over-matched against Arizona. Yasmany Tomas was terrific, scoring 29.5 points (19 in one two-homer day). The team gets a free-bee against the Mets next week.
#14: Oakland Athletics (1-1)
Oakland resembled the team from last season that went 16-3 slightly more-so in Week 2 than they did in Week 1. Oakland was, however, playing the Cleveland Indians. The schedule is favorable at the start here. Oakland will need to pick up all the wins they can get.
Group 2: The Contenders... They're for real
#13(7): Cincinnati Reds (0-2)
The Committee of One feels obligated to bump the Reds down after two losses to divisional opponents, and the road doesn't get any easier with the Chicago Cubs on the slate next week. Still, the Reds obviously still belong in the Contenders bracket... as they've been extremely unlucky. I mean, who scores the second-most points in the league through two weeks and has two losses?
#12(16): Houston Astros (2-0)
From #20 to #12 in just two weeks is quite the jump, but Houston has definitely earned the recognition after posting a week-high 393.1 points in Week 2 to defeat their division rival from Cincinnati. First baseman Albert Pujols was the man this week, scoring 33.5 points.
#11(13): Baltimore Orioles (2-0)
The Orioles made a bold move early, as they went out and acquired superstar outfielder Giancarlo Stanton. The trade with Cleveland makes Baltimore a likely playoff participant and potential contender to knock of Tampa Bay in the AL East.
#10(12): Washington Nationals (2-0)
Washington's first two weeks' resume is quite impressive, as it now includes wins over the San Diego Padres and the Miami Marlins. Outfielder Randal Grichuk had a strong week, posting 37 points in a well-balanced scoring attack for Washington overall.
#9(4): San Diego Padres (0-2)
Losing in Week 1 was bad enough, but now dropping a second straight match-up to the lowly Colorado Rockies? The Padres need to breath deeply in Week 3 and take care of business in San Francisco. Failure to do that may result in some panic on the west coast.
#8(10): Milwaukee Brewers (2-0)
Your top scoring team through the first two weeks of the season is none other than the Milwaukee Brewers, who have an impressive 739.6 points. It should be an easy win against St. Louis next week, but Milwaukee has Houston, Chicago, and a re-match with Cincinnati to look forward to in Weeks 4 through 6.
#7(8): Texas Rangers (2-0)
The defending champions barely suffered an onslaught from the Red Sox from Boston, and thankfully for Texas, they move on to 2-0. The Rangers can make a statement win next week by beating the up-and-coming Baltimore Orioles.
#6(5): Miami Marlins (1-1)
Yes, the Marlins were unable to beat the Nationals. But if you look at this objectively, Miami is 5th in the league in scoring (611.6) through two games. If they beat Philadelphia next week, all of the worries will be gone before fans can say the word: rivalry. It should be a great Week 3 match-up.
#5(9): Chicago Cubs (1-1)
Chicago bounced back with a win against the Cardinals in Week 2, and has scored the 4th most points thus far. With all of their cap space, the Committee of One would have liked to see the team make a go for Stanton, but the Orioles snatched him up first. A win against Cincinnati next week would send the Reds to 0-3, something the Cubs would love to see early on in the season.
#4(6): Arizona D'backs (2-0)
The Committee of One sort of moved up Arizona by default. But then again, they are 2-0 and are averaging over 250+ points per week thus far. Adrian Beltre showed he can still do it (27.5 points), despite getting up their in years.
Group 1: The Best of the Best
#3: Tampa Bay Rays (2-0)
The Rays have quite the easy start with Cleveland (W), Chicago (W), and Seattle lined up for the first three weeks. But hey, a win is a win, and all signs show that they'll have three of them heading into Week 4. A terrific performance by MVP-candidate Nolan Arenado (51 points).
#2: Los Angeles Angels (2-0)
Mark Trumbo exploded for the Angels with 51 points in a 5 home-run week. Los Angeles pummeled the Yankees, and has an easy week against Toronto for next week. The Angels may as well look ahead to a Week 4 game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
#1: Philadelphia Phillies (2-0)
Philadelphia holds on to the #1 spot despite a pathetic showing against New York (even though it didn't take much to beat the Mets). Things get tough in Week 3 though, and the Phillies will have to flex their muscle against Miami to show they're worthy of staying on top.
Biggest +: Astros/Cubs +4
Biggest -: Reds -6
Week 3 GoTW: Marlins vs. Phillies/Reds vs. Cubss
Week 3 Match-ups & The Committee's Predictions (in bold)
Rockies vs. D'backs
Cardinals vs. Brewers
Pirates vs. Astros
Cubs vs. Reds
Dodgers vs. Mets
Nationals vs. Braves
Giants vs. Padres
Marlins vs. Phillies
Mariners vs. Rays
Indians vs. White Sox
Royals vs. Yankees
Athletics vs. Red Sox
Twins vs. Tigers
Angels vs. Blue Jays
Orioles vs. Rangers
The Committee's record:
Wk. 2: 12-3
Overall: 22-8
