Bean Ball

Before the games started, I decided to call my team “We Prevent Runs on This Team”, an ode to my pitching-heavy approach. The first matchup was longer than typical ones due to Opening Day in San Francisco and then Opening Day everywhere else coming on Thursday and Friday, creating a half week in limbo. So instead of making that one matchup, it was pooled with the first full week to make one matchup, meaning our pitchers’ start limit increased from the typical 12 to 21, as well as the number of matchup transactions. Also, my league plays both the median and their opponent, meaning you can either go 2-0, 1-1, or 0-2 in a week. My goal is to always try to beat the median, as I can then guarantee that I will at least break even on the week (Yes, much of this is out of my control, but it’s nice to have goals, right?).

Key Happenings

In the first matchup, my two catchers and my young pitcher shined. Drake Baldwin and Ben Rice proved my decision to draft both of them was a good one, and Cam Schlittler picked up right where he left off in the playoffs to start the year. Baldwin contributed 49 points with 4 HRs, Rice added 44 of his own with 3 HRs, and lots of walks, and Schlittler tossed 11.2 innings of shutout baseball, along with 15 strikeouts, which totaled 51 points. These players were all ones that I felt were essential to my team’s success, and seeing them all perform out of the gate helped ease my stress. 

Tarik Skubal and Corbin Carroll, my first and second round picks, were solid as well, with Carroll especially turning it around after a rough first couple of games. Sal Stewart and Kevin McGonigle proved to be amazing late-round picks, putting up 32 and 26 points respectively. McGonigle’s success was important in particular because it allowed me to drop Zach Neto, whose high strikeout profile limited his fantasy profile on a day-to-day basis. 

To get to 21 starts, I picked up a variety of different pitchers. After he started Opening Day for the Cardinals, I dropped Matthew Liberatore. I like his stuff, but it has not produced strikeouts, which limits his fantasy value. Will Warren made two starts for my team, proving to be a solid waiver wire option with 23 points over the two games. He’ll be on my radar if I need a spot start throughout the season. Yusei Kikuchi was another player I picked up, and he was less than stellar, giving me only 3 points. I also picked up two different young Brewers arms that I liked. One went really well, and the other went horribly. Brandon Sproat gave up a grand slam in the first inning en route to scoring -12 points for my team. However, I doubled down the next day by betting on a different Brewers starter, Kyle Harrison. While he was decent in his first start, he showcased a lot of potential. His new changeup graded out really well by Stuff+, and his fastball played really well. I decided to hold him for another start, and he did well again, so for now, he will remain on my team. 

I also shuffled through a few different relievers, with Jeremiah Estrada, Luke Weaver, Fernando Cruz, and others pitching for my team. I landed on retaining three relievers to pair with Ryan Helsley. Paul Sewald and Ryan Walker are both the closers on their respective teams, and even though I do not anticipate a ton of saves due to the quality of their teams, they still get more save opportunities than others. Gregory Soto is another one whom I am holding for now due to his high leverage role and success in it, as well as my anticipation that Dennis Santana may take a step back, opening the door for a potential committee in the 9th inning in Pittsburgh. 

Final Score and Thoughts

I ended up winning the week 542-392. I also had the third-highest score, meaning I went 2-0, which proved very helpful. I was fairly happy with the way that my team performed, and I anticipate that some players, such as Logan Gilbert and George Springer, will get better as the year progresses. I do think that a question of who I should play at third base, and whether I should keep both Austin Riley and Kazuma Okamoto, has arisen. It is a situation that I will be monitoring closely over the next few weeks. Similarly, Michael Harris may be a player that I end up giving up on sooner than I want to. Jacob deGrom was also scratched from his first start due to neck stiffness, but still pitched a few days later, so I am hoping that he will be fine as the season progresses. Overall, I feel good about how my team is doing and the path forward. Our next matchup is against Who’s Your Dadley, a team run by my friend Joe, who also went 2-0 next week (but scored the fourth-highest points). I will be getting two starts from many pitchers, meaning I won’t have to pick any up, which is helpful. I can’t wait to see how it goes. Until next time.