On I think Wednesday, Bill Hicks left me a message at work saying he wanted to pick up Joe Mauer and cut David Ortiz.
The problem is that I had picked up Joe Mauer a week earlier. Hicks didn't know this because he hadn't gotten "the sheets" in the mail yet from when I had picked up Mauer. Because I was in Indy last week, I had gotten a few days behind.
Also because I was out at Indy last week, I was insanely busy at work and there was no way I was going to call him back to let him know he can't have Mauer because it takes an hour and a half just to get to the part where you tell him why you're calling. Wednesday night is my golf league - couldn't call him then. Thursday, Laura and I when out to a show with my Mom - couldn't call him then. Yesterday was our wedding aviversary so we went out to dinner - couldn't call him then either.
So I'm sitting here Saturday morning trying to figure out what to do. It would be unfair to force him to keep Ortiz because Boston is giving him a week of R&R and it was known that he wasn't going to play Friday night. So what I decided to do is retroactively trade him Joe Mauer for David Ortiz. That way, he gets the tranaction he wanted and we can move on.
David Ortiz is a great player, but if you didn't know, he's really sucking this year. That's why Boston is giving him time off. Joe Mauer is no slouch, and he's playing really well this year. Ortiz is also six years older, so someday, Joe Mauer will be a legitimately better player than Davis Ortiz. Maybe it will be this year.
In order to do this, I though it fair that I should be able to replace Mauer at first base with David LaRoche so I didn't have to take a zero. LaRoche scored 4 points. Mauer scored 5. So the deal will cost me 1 point this week, which remains to be seen if it will cost me a game in the standings.
Some of you may take issue with this. If you do, make me an offer for David Ortiz and I'll give it strong considertation.
That is all.
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Sunday, September 07, 2014
A Note About Suspended Games
On the website after the Friday night part of Game 2 of the World Series, I posted that some players from both teams would still get points from the completion of a suspended game between the Pirates and the Cubs. In the end, those players did not get those point. They didn't for three reasons:
As most of you know, our stats service Onroto publishes the daily stats to their website around 6:00 a.m. each morning. These stats exactly match those that you would see in the boxscores on Saturday morning if you looked. What you may not know is that after Onroto publishes the stats, any number of corrections to the stats may be made the the leagues offices. Onroto publishes these changes in "corrections" files that are posted on the website too. Typically they are minor things that have no bearing on FNFT. (e.g. changing a passed ball to a wild pitch - that sort of thing). But sometimes they are things that would affect FNFT. Here is the corrections file from 9/4:
As you can see, the official scorer changed a play on 9/1 (three days ago) on which Miguel Cabrera had originally been credit with a hit to a safe on error. This change affected Corey Kluber's stats and the fielder's stats. 9/1 wasn't an FNFT day, but if it was, to go back and change this in the FNFT records would be an incredible pain.
So, what I have always done - and will continue to do - is use the daily stats that Onroto publishes as "official" for FNFT purposes.
What does this have to do with suspended games? Well, what Onroto did on Saturday morning is published the stats from the part of the Pirates-Cubs game that had been played. On Sunday morning, they published the rest of the stats for the game in one of these corrections files. To use that, I would have had to go in and manually edit each player involved. For a World Series game that wouldn't have been that big of a deal, but for a regular season game it would have. Plus, I don't really keep track of all of the Major League suspended games. Most of them slip past me without my knowing. So, when a game is suspended, you will only get the portion of the game that was played and not the completion part of it. I will amend the rules to reflect this change.
- It didn't matter.
- I've never used stats from completions of suspended games on any other day.
- It would have been a pain in the ass to do so.
As most of you know, our stats service Onroto publishes the daily stats to their website around 6:00 a.m. each morning. These stats exactly match those that you would see in the boxscores on Saturday morning if you looked. What you may not know is that after Onroto publishes the stats, any number of corrections to the stats may be made the the leagues offices. Onroto publishes these changes in "corrections" files that are posted on the website too. Typically they are minor things that have no bearing on FNFT. (e.g. changing a passed ball to a wild pitch - that sort of thing). But sometimes they are things that would affect FNFT. Here is the corrections file from 9/4:
09.01 batters 1744 Miguel Cabrera Det game 1 H from 4 to 3 09.01 batters 1744 Miguel Cabrera Det game 1 Safe_error from 0 to 1 09.01 batters 5986 Mike Aviles Cle game 1 E from 0 to 1 09.01 pitchers 2429 Corey Kluber Cle game 1 H from 7 to 6 09.01 pitchers 2429 Corey Kluber Cle game 1 ER from 5 to 2 09.01 pitchers 2429 Corey Kluber Cle game 1 Safe_error from 0 to 1 09.03 batters 3123 Gregor Blanco SF game 1 E from 1 to 0
As you can see, the official scorer changed a play on 9/1 (three days ago) on which Miguel Cabrera had originally been credit with a hit to a safe on error. This change affected Corey Kluber's stats and the fielder's stats. 9/1 wasn't an FNFT day, but if it was, to go back and change this in the FNFT records would be an incredible pain.
So, what I have always done - and will continue to do - is use the daily stats that Onroto publishes as "official" for FNFT purposes.
What does this have to do with suspended games? Well, what Onroto did on Saturday morning is published the stats from the part of the Pirates-Cubs game that had been played. On Sunday morning, they published the rest of the stats for the game in one of these corrections files. To use that, I would have had to go in and manually edit each player involved. For a World Series game that wouldn't have been that big of a deal, but for a regular season game it would have. Plus, I don't really keep track of all of the Major League suspended games. Most of them slip past me without my knowing. So, when a game is suspended, you will only get the portion of the game that was played and not the completion part of it. I will amend the rules to reflect this change.
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Holy Grails
The FNFT website went online in 2003. In its early days it was simple a way to disseminate the box scores each week so I didn't have to mail them (to most of you).
Every year since 2003 I have tried to make the site better than it was the year before. Every year I have. Some of those changes were huge, like in 2008 when the roster system debuted. Other changes weren't so visible - they were more upgrades to things that happened behind the scenes - like in 2010 when I had to transition everything to our current stats service OnRoto. Last year I added Playoff Probabilities to the standings and added the Yahoo! links late in the year that most of you will first start using now.
This year's changes I think are pretty big. They are both things that I have been contemplating and trying to accomplish for a number of year and both are finally done. Thus, I call them Holy Grails.
MASTER PLAYER LIST
On the main menu of the roster system, under the "MLB Players" button, you will see a new table called "Master Player List". This is an alphabetical list of every player in the OnRoto database. This list includes many retired players and many minor league prospects, but if you are thinking of picking up a player, there is a 99.9% chance that his name is on this list. This will allow you to pick up prospects who are called up mid-season who have not yet appeared in a game and therefore are not yet on the Batter and Pitcher Stats.
TRADES
Under the newly designed FNFT Rosters menu, you can now submit your own trades without me being involved. You have been asking for this and I have been saying I'm working on it for three or so years. It's finally here.
This feature runs on the honor system like most things on the FNFT website. Any owner can post a trade for any player on any other team to any other team. It is up to all of you to use it only for its intended purpose and not for shenanigans and skulduggery.
Here is the process for posting a trade:
So, go ahead and try it. I'm serious. Post a trade from your team to Bill Hicks' team. Poke around to see that it took. When you are done, post another trade of the same players from his team back to yours. I'll see those posts in the transaction table and delete them and I'll know that you've given it a whirl.
Every year since 2003 I have tried to make the site better than it was the year before. Every year I have. Some of those changes were huge, like in 2008 when the roster system debuted. Other changes weren't so visible - they were more upgrades to things that happened behind the scenes - like in 2010 when I had to transition everything to our current stats service OnRoto. Last year I added Playoff Probabilities to the standings and added the Yahoo! links late in the year that most of you will first start using now.
This year's changes I think are pretty big. They are both things that I have been contemplating and trying to accomplish for a number of year and both are finally done. Thus, I call them Holy Grails.
MASTER PLAYER LIST
On the main menu of the roster system, under the "MLB Players" button, you will see a new table called "Master Player List". This is an alphabetical list of every player in the OnRoto database. This list includes many retired players and many minor league prospects, but if you are thinking of picking up a player, there is a 99.9% chance that his name is on this list. This will allow you to pick up prospects who are called up mid-season who have not yet appeared in a game and therefore are not yet on the Batter and Pitcher Stats.
TRADES
Under the newly designed FNFT Rosters menu, you can now submit your own trades without me being involved. You have been asking for this and I have been saying I'm working on it for three or so years. It's finally here.
This feature runs on the honor system like most things on the FNFT website. Any owner can post a trade for any player on any other team to any other team. It is up to all of you to use it only for its intended purpose and not for shenanigans and skulduggery.
Here is the process for posting a trade:
- Open your team's roster by clicking the '+' in front of your team. Under the "Trade To" column, after the player(s) you are trading, use the drop-down list to indicate which team is getting your traded player(s). When you are done, click the "Lock Traded Player(s)" button at the bottom of your roster. You must do this or the trade will not process. (When you select a name in the "Trade To" column, a blue disk will light up at the front of the row for that player. Once you click the "Lock Traded Player(s)" button the disk will go grey and the change is locked. You can also lock players one-by-one by clicking the blue disk or undo the selection by hitting the curly arrow next to it.)
- Next open the roster of the team you are trading with and under the "Trade To" column, select your name from the drop-down list for the players you are getting. Again, click the "Lock Traded Players" button at the bottom of the roster.
- When you are done, scroll to the very bottom of the page and click the "Submit Trade" button. This will move all of the traded players to the bench their new team and post the trade to the transaction table.
So, go ahead and try it. I'm serious. Post a trade from your team to Bill Hicks' team. Poke around to see that it took. When you are done, post another trade of the same players from his team back to yours. I'll see those posts in the transaction table and delete them and I'll know that you've given it a whirl.
Friday, September 06, 2013
2013 Playoffs - Game 5
9:00 p.m.
Ellsbury has hit a solo HR for Brett. He has 8 points and brings Brett to 45. Lincecum scored 5 for Tief and brings his total to 41. Each can still get points from his RP. It's going to come down to that. Tief gets Farquhar or 6 points from Melencon. Brett gets Grilli or Jansen. His other RP Reed did not play. If none of these other pitchers pitch, Tief will win. Stay tuned.
***10:10 p.m.***
Grilli warming up in the bullpen. Will probably pitch the 8th vs. the Brewers. Seattle goes up by 2 in top of the 9th. Farquhar likely to pitch the 9th for the save. This will wipe out the 6 from Melecon and put Brett up 45-41. This is for all the marbles.
10:12 p.m.
Farquhar in. Fly out by Butler. One out. Brett up 45-42. Moustakis flies out. Two out Brett up 45-43. Ground out. Game over. Farquhar goes 1-2-3 for the save. 8 points. Tief up 49-45. Grilli in. GO BREWERS!!!
10:15 p.m.
Aoki - Base hit. Tief up 49-44. Francisco lines out. Tief up 49-45. Brett needs two strikeouts. Lucroy 1-2 count. Ball. Another ball. 3-2. Foul tip. Ahhhhhh. Lucroy strikes out. One more strikeout and Brett wins. It's all up to Caleb Gindl. Foul. Ball. Foul. You've got to be kidding me. Strikeout. No fucking way. Brett 50, Tief 49.
10:40 p.m.
Congratulatory text messages have been exchanged. Brett will face Willi in the 2013 FNFT World Series beginning Friday night. Preview coming soon as soon as I get the tears out of my beer.
7:20 a.m. Thursday
Postmortem. I miscalculated Lincecum's points. He got 4 instead of 5 so Brett beat me by 2 points instead of 1. But it doesn't change the fact that Grilli needed to strike out BOTH of the last two batters he faced - and he did. If either Lucroy or Gindl would have hit the ball into play - even into a double play - I would have won.
This is the 4th year in a row that the two teams with the best regular season records have won their playoff series and gone on to meet in the World Series. In each of the previous three, the team with the worse record of the two has won the championship.
An email I just sent...(Willi:) "Thanks for the condolences. Brett had sent a text to me yesterday morning congratulating me on my win. I sent him back a great quote that was recently said by actress Valerie Harper (Rhoda from Mary Tyler Moore who has cancer) – “Don’t die until your dead.” Or as Yogi Berra famously said, “It ain’t over ‘till it’s over.” I was sitting there with 98.2% chance (based on Lucroy and Gindl’s strikeout rates) of making the World Series. All I needed is for either of the two of them to hit the flipping ball in play and I would have won. Popout, ground out – ANYTHING but a strikeout. FNFT will break your heart. Good luck in the Series."
A text from Brett last night..."Thank you. Tied I honestly feel horrible but it feels good yet too... I was literally on my hands and knees watching Grilli. Great friggin series."
Everything has a silver lining. I have reaffirmed to myself that in the history of civilization, the greatest of all of mankind's inventions is the game of baseball. Nothing else is even close. Regardless of how you were rooting, how can you not think that what happened last night isn't one of the coolest things ever?
Ellsbury has hit a solo HR for Brett. He has 8 points and brings Brett to 45. Lincecum scored 5 for Tief and brings his total to 41. Each can still get points from his RP. It's going to come down to that. Tief gets Farquhar or 6 points from Melencon. Brett gets Grilli or Jansen. His other RP Reed did not play. If none of these other pitchers pitch, Tief will win. Stay tuned.
***10:10 p.m.***
Grilli warming up in the bullpen. Will probably pitch the 8th vs. the Brewers. Seattle goes up by 2 in top of the 9th. Farquhar likely to pitch the 9th for the save. This will wipe out the 6 from Melecon and put Brett up 45-41. This is for all the marbles.
10:12 p.m.
Farquhar in. Fly out by Butler. One out. Brett up 45-42. Moustakis flies out. Two out Brett up 45-43. Ground out. Game over. Farquhar goes 1-2-3 for the save. 8 points. Tief up 49-45. Grilli in. GO BREWERS!!!
10:15 p.m.
Aoki - Base hit. Tief up 49-44. Francisco lines out. Tief up 49-45. Brett needs two strikeouts. Lucroy 1-2 count. Ball. Another ball. 3-2. Foul tip. Ahhhhhh. Lucroy strikes out. One more strikeout and Brett wins. It's all up to Caleb Gindl. Foul. Ball. Foul. You've got to be kidding me. Strikeout. No fucking way. Brett 50, Tief 49.
10:40 p.m.
Congratulatory text messages have been exchanged. Brett will face Willi in the 2013 FNFT World Series beginning Friday night. Preview coming soon as soon as I get the tears out of my beer.
7:20 a.m. Thursday
Postmortem. I miscalculated Lincecum's points. He got 4 instead of 5 so Brett beat me by 2 points instead of 1. But it doesn't change the fact that Grilli needed to strike out BOTH of the last two batters he faced - and he did. If either Lucroy or Gindl would have hit the ball into play - even into a double play - I would have won.
This is the 4th year in a row that the two teams with the best regular season records have won their playoff series and gone on to meet in the World Series. In each of the previous three, the team with the worse record of the two has won the championship.
An email I just sent...(Willi:) "Thanks for the condolences. Brett had sent a text to me yesterday morning congratulating me on my win. I sent him back a great quote that was recently said by actress Valerie Harper (Rhoda from Mary Tyler Moore who has cancer) – “Don’t die until your dead.” Or as Yogi Berra famously said, “It ain’t over ‘till it’s over.” I was sitting there with 98.2% chance (based on Lucroy and Gindl’s strikeout rates) of making the World Series. All I needed is for either of the two of them to hit the flipping ball in play and I would have won. Popout, ground out – ANYTHING but a strikeout. FNFT will break your heart. Good luck in the Series."
A text from Brett last night..."Thank you. Tied I honestly feel horrible but it feels good yet too... I was literally on my hands and knees watching Grilli. Great friggin series."
Everything has a silver lining. I have reaffirmed to myself that in the history of civilization, the greatest of all of mankind's inventions is the game of baseball. Nothing else is even close. Regardless of how you were rooting, how can you not think that what happened last night isn't one of the coolest things ever?
Thursday, June 20, 2013
The Zack Wheeler saga
I am going to make a ruling on something that benefits my own team and that you may think is unfair. But I'm going to do it anyway. I get Zack Wheeler - the phenom starting pitcher for the Mets.
You'd think that after 27 years of running a fantasy league that you would eventually get all of the kinks worked out and have rules to cover every possible situation, but it seems you never do.
The month of June, for reasons beyond the $cope of this discu$$ion, is when all Major League teams promote their top prospects. And these prospects become hot commodities for FNFT teams in contention for the playoffs. By this time of year all of the 'regular' players have been well picked over, so picking up these prospects is a chance to find a diamond in the rough. Whenever Team A announces that they are bringing up Prospect X, there's a very high likelihood that some FNFT team will try to pick up Prospect X within about two hours.
The problem of course is that Prospect X hasn't played any Major League games yet this year and therefore isn't listed in the stats - which is essentially the list of free agents. So to pick him up you have to leave a message on the FNFT MESSage Board - we've been through this.
On Tuesday night, the Mets had called up their other pitching phenom Zack Wheeler to make his Major League debut. I was keeping an eye on the game and after Wheeler made it through four innings unscored upon, I decided I would pick him up. Because afterall, every pitcher who has ever thrown 4 shutout innings at the beginning of his career has eventually been elected to the Hall of Fame.
So I went on the MESSage Board and posted the following, to the best of my recollection: "I am picking up Zack Wheeler (SP-NYM), cut Kevin Youkilis". Then at 5:26 a.m. Thursday morning, I actually made the transaction because Zack Wheeler was now listed in the stats that I had just posted at about 5:20 a.m.
Well the problem is that the message didn't take. You can believe that or not believe that. But if you've ever tried posting more than one or two messages on that thing I'm sure that you can find my claim at least plausible. I telling the truth. I wouldn't make that up. The FNFT MESSage Board is easily the least functional part of the FNFT website. I have trouble with it all the time. I'm sure a lot of you do to. I'd like to have something better, but that too is a different discussion.
Actually, none of this would really be a problem had not one of the leagues other piranha, Bredd posted a message at 8:45 p.m. on Wednesday claiming Wheeler. It came after mine - I swear. His message wasn't there when I posted mine. But because his message is her first tangible evidence of anyone wanting Wheeler, it could be claimed that Bredd should get him.
I'm going to rule in my favor for two reasons:
So I'm keeping Wheeler and perhaps I'll use him against Bredd in the playoffs. I'll fix all of this as soon as I can. OnRoto, our stats service, creates an ID for a player once he shows up on a list of Top 100 prospects. So all of these Zack Wheeler's, Yasiel Puig's, and Wil Myers' all could be included in a Master Players list somewhere and the system could allow you to pick them up from there in addition to from the regular stats pages. I'll add that to my list of things to do.
You'd think that after 27 years of running a fantasy league that you would eventually get all of the kinks worked out and have rules to cover every possible situation, but it seems you never do.
The month of June, for reasons beyond the $cope of this discu$$ion, is when all Major League teams promote their top prospects. And these prospects become hot commodities for FNFT teams in contention for the playoffs. By this time of year all of the 'regular' players have been well picked over, so picking up these prospects is a chance to find a diamond in the rough. Whenever Team A announces that they are bringing up Prospect X, there's a very high likelihood that some FNFT team will try to pick up Prospect X within about two hours.
The problem of course is that Prospect X hasn't played any Major League games yet this year and therefore isn't listed in the stats - which is essentially the list of free agents. So to pick him up you have to leave a message on the FNFT MESSage Board - we've been through this.
On Tuesday night, the Mets had called up their other pitching phenom Zack Wheeler to make his Major League debut. I was keeping an eye on the game and after Wheeler made it through four innings unscored upon, I decided I would pick him up. Because afterall, every pitcher who has ever thrown 4 shutout innings at the beginning of his career has eventually been elected to the Hall of Fame.
So I went on the MESSage Board and posted the following, to the best of my recollection: "I am picking up Zack Wheeler (SP-NYM), cut Kevin Youkilis". Then at 5:26 a.m. Thursday morning, I actually made the transaction because Zack Wheeler was now listed in the stats that I had just posted at about 5:20 a.m.
Well the problem is that the message didn't take. You can believe that or not believe that. But if you've ever tried posting more than one or two messages on that thing I'm sure that you can find my claim at least plausible. I telling the truth. I wouldn't make that up. The FNFT MESSage Board is easily the least functional part of the FNFT website. I have trouble with it all the time. I'm sure a lot of you do to. I'd like to have something better, but that too is a different discussion.
Actually, none of this would really be a problem had not one of the leagues other piranha, Bredd posted a message at 8:45 p.m. on Wednesday claiming Wheeler. It came after mine - I swear. His message wasn't there when I posted mine. But because his message is her first tangible evidence of anyone wanting Wheeler, it could be claimed that Bredd should get him.
I'm going to rule in my favor for two reasons:
- I honestly attempted to make a post claiming Wheeler before anyone else did. Swear. You could say that I should have check to make sure the message was posted, and I should have, but...
- The message that Bredd posted was: "dibs on wheeler Tom". (sic) Well first of all, it's Zack, not Tom. Second of all, saying "dibs" in not a transaction. A transaction is claiming one player and cutting another.
So I'm keeping Wheeler and perhaps I'll use him against Bredd in the playoffs. I'll fix all of this as soon as I can. OnRoto, our stats service, creates an ID for a player once he shows up on a list of Top 100 prospects. So all of these Zack Wheeler's, Yasiel Puig's, and Wil Myers' all could be included in a Master Players list somewhere and the system could allow you to pick them up from there in addition to from the regular stats pages. I'll add that to my list of things to do.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Playoff Picture
Here is the complete playoff picture after Friday night's games:
Jake has clinched his division and will face either Max or Tief in the playoffs.
John has clinched the wild card and will face Avery (almost 100% certain) or Joel (almost impossible) in the playoffs.
Joel entered Friday trailing Avery by 5 games and needed to go at lease 5-1 to have a chance. Unfortunately for him his starting pitching (Billingsley: -3) let him down for a second consecutive week. Barring a 3 home run game from his catcher Wilin Rosario he will not catch Avery for the division title.
Avery's pitcher tonight is Madison Bumgarner, although it would seem to matter little how he does.
The final playoff spot between Max and Tief is still too close to call although Max has a decided advantage going into Saturday. Tief trails by 22 points and would need his starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda to make up that difference and more for him to have a chance.
Updates throughout the day as time permits...
Jake has clinched his division and will face either Max or Tief in the playoffs.
John has clinched the wild card and will face Avery (almost 100% certain) or Joel (almost impossible) in the playoffs.
Joel entered Friday trailing Avery by 5 games and needed to go at lease 5-1 to have a chance. Unfortunately for him his starting pitching (Billingsley: -3) let him down for a second consecutive week. Barring a 3 home run game from his catcher Wilin Rosario he will not catch Avery for the division title.
Avery's pitcher tonight is Madison Bumgarner, although it would seem to matter little how he does.
The final playoff spot between Max and Tief is still too close to call although Max has a decided advantage going into Saturday. Tief trails by 22 points and would need his starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda to make up that difference and more for him to have a chance.
Updates throughout the day as time permits...
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Good Points
Joel posted the following on the FNFT Message board:
I just checked. In fact, a team's starting pitcher of record scores more than their relief pitcher of record only 64.2% of the time. The other 35.8% of the time either the reliever scores more of they're the same. Given the relative perceived value of starters and relievers, I don't think it a misrepresentation to say that relievers "often" score more. I stand corrected.
Be all of that as it may, I still like the new rule for relief pitchers. If the season ended today, we would have two relief pitchers in the auction next year. I think that's a good number. We'd have 10 starting pitchers. I think that's probably about right too.
Here is a discussion of the relief pitcher point system. And here. And here.
I think it's an excellent idea to add bonus points for multi-hit games. Hitters this year are averaging 4.11 PPG. That means that the average relief pitcher is worth almost one and a half times the average hitter. I think that's out of whack.
Let's say that we changed the scoring for hitters so that a guy's first hit in the game is worth one point and each hit after that is worth two.
You guys don't still look at boxscores and add up your points on Friday night, do you? 'Cuz this would make it a little more complicated. I can't imagine that anyone still does that.
If we made that change, the average score for hitters would go up to 4.93 PPG. Given that you start nine hitters, that would on average increase a team's score by a little over 7 points per game. I'd be fine with that. I also like that it favors BA hitters over power hitters.
It's great that you brought this up. I think that these debates are much better had in-season. By March all of this will be forgotten. Hoping others chime in.
If we want to make hitting worth more, we should provide bonus points for multi-hit games. A couple weeks ago, I had a guy get three hits.....total points=3. I understand that we prefer power hitters to slappers, but that's stupid. This change would help power hitters who can also hit for average. If necessary, we could juice up the power bonus too, but i really don't think that's necessary. The scoring system for relievers is way too generaous now too. They shouldn't be scoring more than starters, which is often the case.Starting pitchers this year (the ones that count) are averaging 12.33 points per game. Relief pitchers are averaging 5.71 PPG. I think it's an exaggeration to say that relievers "often" outscore starters. It would be more appropriate to say that they "sometimes" do.
I just checked. In fact, a team's starting pitcher of record scores more than their relief pitcher of record only 64.2% of the time. The other 35.8% of the time either the reliever scores more of they're the same. Given the relative perceived value of starters and relievers, I don't think it a misrepresentation to say that relievers "often" score more. I stand corrected.
Be all of that as it may, I still like the new rule for relief pitchers. If the season ended today, we would have two relief pitchers in the auction next year. I think that's a good number. We'd have 10 starting pitchers. I think that's probably about right too.
Here is a discussion of the relief pitcher point system. And here. And here.
I think it's an excellent idea to add bonus points for multi-hit games. Hitters this year are averaging 4.11 PPG. That means that the average relief pitcher is worth almost one and a half times the average hitter. I think that's out of whack.
Let's say that we changed the scoring for hitters so that a guy's first hit in the game is worth one point and each hit after that is worth two.
You guys don't still look at boxscores and add up your points on Friday night, do you? 'Cuz this would make it a little more complicated. I can't imagine that anyone still does that.
If we made that change, the average score for hitters would go up to 4.93 PPG. Given that you start nine hitters, that would on average increase a team's score by a little over 7 points per game. I'd be fine with that. I also like that it favors BA hitters over power hitters.
It's great that you brought this up. I think that these debates are much better had in-season. By March all of this will be forgotten. Hoping others chime in.
Monday, May 07, 2012
WC & Last 5
OK, so now I've added some columns to the standings. "WC" stands for games behind in the wild-card race. I've been adding that in late in the year - just putting it there a little earlier this year. "Last 5" is each team's record in the last five FNFT games. This was suggested to me by an owner who currently has a very impressive Last 5 record. Understandable that he would want to show it off.
Saturday, May 05, 2012
BAbip
I've added a new column to the online stats - BAbip or Batting Average on Balls In Play.
(I hope that this doesn't cause the stats tables to be too wide for your computer screen so that they start wrapping around and become difficult to read. If they do, let me know. Or change the screen resolution on your computer. Or get a new monitor.)
BAbip has become a widely followed stat in the sabermetric world and is something I'd like to have easy access to and use to evaluate players. Begin fair that I am, I'm providing it to everyone.
Several years ago a guy named Voros McCraken - a young punk baseball researcher like I used to be - discovered that if you only consider balls that are hit into play (excluding strikeouts, walks and home runs) that in the long run, players' batting average on those balls is relatively consistent from player to player. It is even more true for pitchers. The BAbip allowed by pitchers always tends to be about the same - regardless of whether the pitcher is Randy Johnson or Randy Wolf.
This phenomena has many implications in baseball research; most of which are beyond the scope of player evaluation for our league. However, if interpreted properly, it can be a useful tool for evaluating FNFT value.
The overall Major League BAbip, for all of baseball, tends to be right around .300. Since 1995, the highest it has ever been is .303 and the lowest it has been is .293. It's less consistent for individual players, but (and this is an important point) over the course of their careers the vast majority of players have a BAbip right around .300 as well. What this means is that a BAbip that is much higher or lower than .300 is not sustainable. BAbip therefore is a good proxy for measuring a player's luck.
In a nutshell, here is what you need to know:
If a player has a BAbip much higher that .300 it is likely that they have been lucky and their current stats are better than their inherent skill set would typically produce. In the future, this player is likely to have a decline in his statistics as compared to his recent performance. Conversely, a player with a BAbip much lower than .300 has most likely been unlucky. His skill are probably better than what his current statistics show and there is a good chance that his statistics will improve in the future.
Let's cherry pick a couple of examples. Jake Peavy right now is second in FNFT points. He's 3-1 with a 1.99 ERA. He's off to a very good start. But we all know who Jake Peavy is. He is not the second best pitcher in baseball. His BAbip right now is .218. Batted balls are turning into outs when he pitches. He's rolling a lot of snake-eyes. He likely won't be able to sustain this level of performance long term.
Zack Grienke and Yovani Gallardo are two other good examples. Their BAbip's right now are .369 and .360 respectively. Grienke and Gallardo are far down the list in FNFT points. Yet you know they are good pitchers. You would trade Jake Peavy even-up for either one of them. But they have both been unlucky. Balls that would typically be turned into outs are falling in for hits when they pitch. It's likely that fate will turn around and they will put up better numbers from here on out.
There are a thousand article online about BAbip if you'd like to read more. Use that stat if you wish. Ignore it if not.
(I hope that this doesn't cause the stats tables to be too wide for your computer screen so that they start wrapping around and become difficult to read. If they do, let me know. Or change the screen resolution on your computer. Or get a new monitor.)
BAbip has become a widely followed stat in the sabermetric world and is something I'd like to have easy access to and use to evaluate players. Begin fair that I am, I'm providing it to everyone.
Several years ago a guy named Voros McCraken - a young punk baseball researcher like I used to be - discovered that if you only consider balls that are hit into play (excluding strikeouts, walks and home runs) that in the long run, players' batting average on those balls is relatively consistent from player to player. It is even more true for pitchers. The BAbip allowed by pitchers always tends to be about the same - regardless of whether the pitcher is Randy Johnson or Randy Wolf.
This phenomena has many implications in baseball research; most of which are beyond the scope of player evaluation for our league. However, if interpreted properly, it can be a useful tool for evaluating FNFT value.
The overall Major League BAbip, for all of baseball, tends to be right around .300. Since 1995, the highest it has ever been is .303 and the lowest it has been is .293. It's less consistent for individual players, but (and this is an important point) over the course of their careers the vast majority of players have a BAbip right around .300 as well. What this means is that a BAbip that is much higher or lower than .300 is not sustainable. BAbip therefore is a good proxy for measuring a player's luck.
In a nutshell, here is what you need to know:
If a player has a BAbip much higher that .300 it is likely that they have been lucky and their current stats are better than their inherent skill set would typically produce. In the future, this player is likely to have a decline in his statistics as compared to his recent performance. Conversely, a player with a BAbip much lower than .300 has most likely been unlucky. His skill are probably better than what his current statistics show and there is a good chance that his statistics will improve in the future.
Let's cherry pick a couple of examples. Jake Peavy right now is second in FNFT points. He's 3-1 with a 1.99 ERA. He's off to a very good start. But we all know who Jake Peavy is. He is not the second best pitcher in baseball. His BAbip right now is .218. Batted balls are turning into outs when he pitches. He's rolling a lot of snake-eyes. He likely won't be able to sustain this level of performance long term.
Zack Grienke and Yovani Gallardo are two other good examples. Their BAbip's right now are .369 and .360 respectively. Grienke and Gallardo are far down the list in FNFT points. Yet you know they are good pitchers. You would trade Jake Peavy even-up for either one of them. But they have both been unlucky. Balls that would typically be turned into outs are falling in for hits when they pitch. It's likely that fate will turn around and they will put up better numbers from here on out.
There are a thousand article online about BAbip if you'd like to read more. Use that stat if you wish. Ignore it if not.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Yer Out!
Monday, April 30, 2:30 p.m.
I'm having an Internet outage at my home which is preventing you from accessing the roster system. It's also preventing me from updating the main website. But as always, you can find the latest information here at the FNFT Blog.
The guy at Time Warner says he's on it.
UPDATE: Well, it seems that my cable modem is fried. I have to take it in to Mayfair for a replacement. I'll try and do that tonight.
UPDATE 2: 6:30 p.m. New modem installed. Seems to be working like a charm.
I'm having an Internet outage at my home which is preventing you from accessing the roster system. It's also preventing me from updating the main website. But as always, you can find the latest information here at the FNFT Blog.
The guy at Time Warner says he's on it.
UPDATE: Well, it seems that my cable modem is fried. I have to take it in to Mayfair for a replacement. I'll try and do that tonight.
UPDATE 2: 6:30 p.m. New modem installed. Seems to be working like a charm.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
* * * CORRECTION * * *
On Saturday morning, unbeknownst to all of you, instead of doing the FNFT stats from the PC in my den - my normal place - I did them on my iPad by remote controlling my PC with it using a wonderful program called LogMeIn. (From the comfort of my morning throne, mind you. I know - you don't want to picture that.) I did this as a dry run in preparation for when I'm going to be at Indy in a few weeks. I wanted to see if I could do everything on the iPad and not have to bring a laptop computer along.
So what?
Well while the remote control software is very nice, it is still more cumbersome to control all of the highlighting of things with the mouse and all of the Ctrl-this and Alt-that functions I have to hit. And when I copied Friday's hitting stats to me spreadsheet, I unknowingly failed to copy about 25 rows of stats. About 7-8 of those players are in the league and so they were given credit for Saturday's game instead of Friday's game. John astutely noticed that I had two of his players wrong and pointed it out to me.
I fixed everything that needed to be fixed. So if you looked at the stats before 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, they were wrong and the new ones have been posted. John and Joe improve by one game. Joel and myself are one game worse. All of the player stats and playoff probability graph that I posted this morning have been corrected as well.
I will bring a laptop computer with me to Indy.
So what?
Well while the remote control software is very nice, it is still more cumbersome to control all of the highlighting of things with the mouse and all of the Ctrl-this and Alt-that functions I have to hit. And when I copied Friday's hitting stats to me spreadsheet, I unknowingly failed to copy about 25 rows of stats. About 7-8 of those players are in the league and so they were given credit for Saturday's game instead of Friday's game. John astutely noticed that I had two of his players wrong and pointed it out to me.
I fixed everything that needed to be fixed. So if you looked at the stats before 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, they were wrong and the new ones have been posted. John and Joe improve by one game. Joel and myself are one game worse. All of the player stats and playoff probability graph that I posted this morning have been corrected as well.
I will bring a laptop computer with me to Indy.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Playoff Probabilities
You'll notice that I've added a new column to the FNFT standings that appear on the website. This is a product of a new toy I created late last season and put the fishing touches on just last week. What it does is basically answers the question - if the rest of the season were to play out entirely at random, what are each team's chances right now of making the playoffs.
It starts with the current FNFT standings and generates random results for the rest of the season. Then it tallies which four teams would make the playoffs if the season went down that way. It repeats this process 10,000 times. A team's Playoff Probability as reported in the standings is the percentage of those 10,000 random iterations in which that team made the playoffs. In statistical speak, there are called Monte Carlo Projections.
Here are the standings right now:
As you can see only one team - me - has so far established a 50% chance of making the playoffs. That means that in roughly half of the random iterations my team was one of the playoff teams and in the other half it wasn't.
Also note that these percentages are not precise. Despite having identical records, Avery/Joel and Brett/Joe's percentage differ by 1%. That's just rounding and/or a random fluctuation. If I ran the simulation again they might be the same or they might be flipped the other way. It takes about two minutes to run 10,000 simulations. That's about how much time I'm willing to invest in this each week. If I ran more simulations, the percentages would be slightly more accurate but it wouldn't mean anything to anything.
Perhaps obviously, the better your record, the better chance you have of making the playoffs. The further ahead your are of the other teams in your division, the better your chance. My chance is helped by the two teams in my division that are off to very poor starts. The probabilities in the other two divisions are much more closely bunched.
If you have a good week, your playoff chances will go up. If you have a bad week they will go down. At the end season, four teams will be at 100% and all of the rest will be at 0%.
Take this for what it's worth. In 2004 I trailed Avery by 14 games after Game 23. I wound up winning the division by 11 games. I'm certain this system would have given me no chance to win. But that's why we play the games.
It starts with the current FNFT standings and generates random results for the rest of the season. Then it tallies which four teams would make the playoffs if the season went down that way. It repeats this process 10,000 times. A team's Playoff Probability as reported in the standings is the percentage of those 10,000 random iterations in which that team made the playoffs. In statistical speak, there are called Monte Carlo Projections.
Here are the standings right now:
| RED | W | L | Pct | GB | PL% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bill | 9 | 3 | .750 | -- | 38% |
| Connor | 8 | 4 | .667 | 1 | 34% |
| Jake | 7 | 5 | .583 | 2 | 31% |
| Tim | 6 | 6 | .500 | 3 | 26% |
| John | 4 | 8 | .333 | 5 | 20% |
| GREEN | W | L | Pct | GB | PL% |
| Avery | 8 | 4 | .667 | -- | 37% |
| Joel | 8 | 4 | .667 | -- | 38% |
| Brett | 6 | 6 | .500 | 2 | 29% |
| Joe | 6 | 6 | .500 | 2 | 30% |
| BLUE | W | L | Pct | GB | PL% |
| Tief | 9 | 3 | .750 | -- | 50% |
| Jacob | 5 | 7 | .417 | 4 | 32% |
| Max | 1 | 11 | .083 | 8 | 17% |
| Gerry | 1 | 11 | .083 | 8 | 17% |
As you can see only one team - me - has so far established a 50% chance of making the playoffs. That means that in roughly half of the random iterations my team was one of the playoff teams and in the other half it wasn't.
Also note that these percentages are not precise. Despite having identical records, Avery/Joel and Brett/Joe's percentage differ by 1%. That's just rounding and/or a random fluctuation. If I ran the simulation again they might be the same or they might be flipped the other way. It takes about two minutes to run 10,000 simulations. That's about how much time I'm willing to invest in this each week. If I ran more simulations, the percentages would be slightly more accurate but it wouldn't mean anything to anything.
Perhaps obviously, the better your record, the better chance you have of making the playoffs. The further ahead your are of the other teams in your division, the better your chance. My chance is helped by the two teams in my division that are off to very poor starts. The probabilities in the other two divisions are much more closely bunched.
If you have a good week, your playoff chances will go up. If you have a bad week they will go down. At the end season, four teams will be at 100% and all of the rest will be at 0%.
Take this for what it's worth. In 2004 I trailed Avery by 14 games after Game 23. I wound up winning the division by 11 games. I'm certain this system would have given me no chance to win. But that's why we play the games.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
FNFT All-Star Team
I had fun with this.
(Although I acknowledge it will probably be March before most of you read it.)
As Major League Baseball was handing out its awards, I wondered what it would be like if there were player awards for FNFT - an FNFT All-Star team if you will. There's really not much new here. Every year I post the list of points scored in FNFT games by every player who was on a roster. But I've never put them together in the form of a team. Until now. The FNFT All-Star team will be the top scoring player(s) at each position.
To be fair and balanced - which I am want to do - I decided the FNFT All-Star team would consist of 16 players. There will be eight pitchers (5 starters and 3 relievers) and eight hitters (on at each field position with three outfielders). This is very much like an FNFT starting lineup on a given week. I left off a DH because we really don't use a traditional DH. We allow anyone to fill that spot. If an actual DH, like David Ortiz, were among the top scorers, I would use subjective judgement as to where to put him.
Here are the FNFT All-Star teams for each year going back to 2000 - the "modern era" of FNFT - the first year for which I have complete data.
This year's All-Star team boasts a record 13 first-time All-Stars. The only returning players are Roy Halliday and Matt Kemp, each appearing on their second All-Star team, and reliever Jonathan Papelbon who is on the All-Star team for the fifth time. This is just one short of Curt Shilling's record six. Perhaps you'd want to consider that little fact when you vote for the FNFT Hall of Fame this spring.
Anyway, peruse away. My right thumb, which if you don't know, I smashed in a log splitter a few weeks ago, is still too sore to allow me to type my typical manefesto.
UPDATE: There's one little point I wanted to add. If you'll notice, the top 3 scoring players in 2011 were all starting pitchers. That was the case in 2010 too - as was it in 2009 and 2008. For four years in a row we haven't had a hitter in the top three. Last year the top five scoring players were starting pitchers. The year before that the top six were. The steroids era has ended. Hitters are not scoring as many points as they used to. We should adjust for that the way we did for relief pitchers a couple of years ago. Something like adding one extra point for a home run would probably work. In fact, that's what we did pre-steroids. I'll play with the numbers and make a recommendation.
(Although I acknowledge it will probably be March before most of you read it.)
As Major League Baseball was handing out its awards, I wondered what it would be like if there were player awards for FNFT - an FNFT All-Star team if you will. There's really not much new here. Every year I post the list of points scored in FNFT games by every player who was on a roster. But I've never put them together in the form of a team. Until now. The FNFT All-Star team will be the top scoring player(s) at each position.
To be fair and balanced - which I am want to do - I decided the FNFT All-Star team would consist of 16 players. There will be eight pitchers (5 starters and 3 relievers) and eight hitters (on at each field position with three outfielders). This is very much like an FNFT starting lineup on a given week. I left off a DH because we really don't use a traditional DH. We allow anyone to fill that spot. If an actual DH, like David Ortiz, were among the top scorers, I would use subjective judgement as to where to put him.
Here are the FNFT All-Star teams for each year going back to 2000 - the "modern era" of FNFT - the first year for which I have complete data.
This year's All-Star team boasts a record 13 first-time All-Stars. The only returning players are Roy Halliday and Matt Kemp, each appearing on their second All-Star team, and reliever Jonathan Papelbon who is on the All-Star team for the fifth time. This is just one short of Curt Shilling's record six. Perhaps you'd want to consider that little fact when you vote for the FNFT Hall of Fame this spring.
Anyway, peruse away. My right thumb, which if you don't know, I smashed in a log splitter a few weeks ago, is still too sore to allow me to type my typical manefesto.
UPDATE: There's one little point I wanted to add. If you'll notice, the top 3 scoring players in 2011 were all starting pitchers. That was the case in 2010 too - as was it in 2009 and 2008. For four years in a row we haven't had a hitter in the top three. Last year the top five scoring players were starting pitchers. The year before that the top six were. The steroids era has ended. Hitters are not scoring as many points as they used to. We should adjust for that the way we did for relief pitchers a couple of years ago. Something like adding one extra point for a home run would probably work. In fact, that's what we did pre-steroids. I'll play with the numbers and make a recommendation.
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Playoffs Wrapup
Wow. As FNFT ages (and as I do too), I am coming to realize that when I find the game of baseball most exciting is when I am doing live scoring and updates of FNFT playoff and World Series games. The real players, except for a few, are mostly going through the motions playing out the season. They obviously have no clue that their performances, combined in a tangled and random way, are creating something as riveting as sports entertainment gets. Last night did not disappoint. It was the closest and most exciting finish to the FNFT playoffs since they were first played four years ago. I wish I had blogged all of my website updates to have a permanent record of the events. I will try to recreate it as best I can here.
Brett and Jacob headed into Monday in a virtual dead heat. Brett led by only one point and both had starting pitchers going. Madison Bumgarner was up first for Brett and he threw a game for the ages. Thirteen strikeouts in 8+ innings - 33 points. The bar had been set. High.
While that was happening, Joel's "Plan B" pitcher Doug Fister of Detroit was throwing a gem of his own - a 13 strikeout, 36 point performance. Joel needed to make up a 47 point deficit going into Monday and there was rain in the forecast in Philly which could wipe out his "Plan A" pitcher Cliff Lee. There was hope. Still hope.
As the evening games got underway, Yunel Escobar was not in the starting for Jacob. He had jammed his wrist on Saturday as it apparent that he wasn't going to play. One hitter down, but one still to go for Jabob - the Rays B.J. Upton. Upton started the night 0 for 2.
In Philadelphia, the rain held off. Cliff Lee took the mound and Fister's 36 points were off the board. Joel Hanrahan, in the mean time, notched a workmanlike save and added 6 points to Joel's total. He was now only down by 41. Yipee. Cliff Lee and Jose Reyes would have to cover that.
Jacob's pitcher was Javier Vazquez. He chose Vazquez to start over Jeremy Hellickson because of a hot stretch in his last 4 starts. Hellickson had scored 29 on Sunday which at this point, would have left Jacob just short of Brett's total.
Vazquez started his game with three shutout innings. Cliff Lee started his game with three shutout innings. Vazquez gave up a run. Cliff Lee kept putting up zeros. Jose Reyes meanwhile was 0 for 2.
Then, in a far corner of the world called Tropicana Field, B.J. Upton hit a solo home run in a meaningless 4-1 game. Eight more points for Jacob. Game on.
Cliff Lee kept going. Clicking off inning after inning of shutout ball. The 47 point deficit had become 32, then 26, then 18... Could both Joel and Jacob pull off enormous comebacks on the same night?
Javier Vazquez retired the side on one hit in the 7th inning. His pitch count was 97 and the Marlins were winning easily. Assuming a win for Vazquez, Brett and Jacob were now tied at 71. Jacob needed only one more point for the win. But the Marlins 107 year old manager Jack McKeon had seen enough. He pulled Vazquez for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 7th. Brett wins on the tie breaker. Eric Hosmer's 12 to Ryan Howard and B.J. Upton's 9.
In Philadelphia, Cliff Lee threw a shutout. 37 points, One better than Fister. Joel now trailed John by only three points with Jose Reyes still playing. The Mets were down to their last ups in the 9th. Reyes would bat 7th so Joel needed a rally if Reyes was to get another AB.
First batter, David Wright, flied out to left.
Then, more hope. Angel Pagan tripled.
Jason Bay followed with a home run. Then Nick Evans doubled. Could it be?
Mets catcher Josh Thole grounded out for the second out of the inning. It would be up to pinch hitter Willie Harris to keep the inning alive. Jose Reyes was on-deck.
* * *
I'm sure Willie Harris has flown out to left field many times in his career. Last night was like most others. Unbeknownst to him, in a far corner of the world called New Berlin, Wisconsin, a fantasy baseball owner saw his season end with that fly out and I'm sure felt far more horrible than Willie Harris did when he put his bat back in the rack.
* * *
What an outstanding playoffs. Congratulations to all four teams involved. There were two losers only because there had to be. It's a shame.
John against Brett in the World Series. Game 1 tonight.
Brett and Jacob headed into Monday in a virtual dead heat. Brett led by only one point and both had starting pitchers going. Madison Bumgarner was up first for Brett and he threw a game for the ages. Thirteen strikeouts in 8+ innings - 33 points. The bar had been set. High.
While that was happening, Joel's "Plan B" pitcher Doug Fister of Detroit was throwing a gem of his own - a 13 strikeout, 36 point performance. Joel needed to make up a 47 point deficit going into Monday and there was rain in the forecast in Philly which could wipe out his "Plan A" pitcher Cliff Lee. There was hope. Still hope.
As the evening games got underway, Yunel Escobar was not in the starting for Jacob. He had jammed his wrist on Saturday as it apparent that he wasn't going to play. One hitter down, but one still to go for Jabob - the Rays B.J. Upton. Upton started the night 0 for 2.
In Philadelphia, the rain held off. Cliff Lee took the mound and Fister's 36 points were off the board. Joel Hanrahan, in the mean time, notched a workmanlike save and added 6 points to Joel's total. He was now only down by 41. Yipee. Cliff Lee and Jose Reyes would have to cover that.
Jacob's pitcher was Javier Vazquez. He chose Vazquez to start over Jeremy Hellickson because of a hot stretch in his last 4 starts. Hellickson had scored 29 on Sunday which at this point, would have left Jacob just short of Brett's total.
Vazquez started his game with three shutout innings. Cliff Lee started his game with three shutout innings. Vazquez gave up a run. Cliff Lee kept putting up zeros. Jose Reyes meanwhile was 0 for 2.
Then, in a far corner of the world called Tropicana Field, B.J. Upton hit a solo home run in a meaningless 4-1 game. Eight more points for Jacob. Game on.
Cliff Lee kept going. Clicking off inning after inning of shutout ball. The 47 point deficit had become 32, then 26, then 18... Could both Joel and Jacob pull off enormous comebacks on the same night?
Javier Vazquez retired the side on one hit in the 7th inning. His pitch count was 97 and the Marlins were winning easily. Assuming a win for Vazquez, Brett and Jacob were now tied at 71. Jacob needed only one more point for the win. But the Marlins 107 year old manager Jack McKeon had seen enough. He pulled Vazquez for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 7th. Brett wins on the tie breaker. Eric Hosmer's 12 to Ryan Howard and B.J. Upton's 9.
In Philadelphia, Cliff Lee threw a shutout. 37 points, One better than Fister. Joel now trailed John by only three points with Jose Reyes still playing. The Mets were down to their last ups in the 9th. Reyes would bat 7th so Joel needed a rally if Reyes was to get another AB.
First batter, David Wright, flied out to left.
Then, more hope. Angel Pagan tripled.
Jason Bay followed with a home run. Then Nick Evans doubled. Could it be?
Mets catcher Josh Thole grounded out for the second out of the inning. It would be up to pinch hitter Willie Harris to keep the inning alive. Jose Reyes was on-deck.
* * *
I'm sure Willie Harris has flown out to left field many times in his career. Last night was like most others. Unbeknownst to him, in a far corner of the world called New Berlin, Wisconsin, a fantasy baseball owner saw his season end with that fly out and I'm sure felt far more horrible than Willie Harris did when he put his bat back in the rack.
* * *
What an outstanding playoffs. Congratulations to all four teams involved. There were two losers only because there had to be. It's a shame.
John against Brett in the World Series. Game 1 tonight.
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