Arrogant Bastards vs. Shartlesville Browns

For the 2nd series of the season the AB’s went limping into downtown Harrisburg, AKA Shartlesville, for their next set against the Browns.  The Browns were kicking off their inaugural OOTL season.

Game 1
The tone for this series was set early as Kershaw squared off against Hamels and neither starter was willing to give an inch.  The Browns would threaten in the 4th and 5th, but Hamels hunkered down to get out of back-to-back multiple-hit innings while the game remained scoreless until the bottom of the 8th.  Russell Martin hit a PH double to knock in Gerardo Parra to make the score 1-0.  Hamels pitched a clean 9th for a CG 5 hit shutout while fanning 11 w/ only 1 walk.  Kershaw fanned 10 but took the tough luck loss.  The two teams combined for 8 hits.
Game 2
Gallardo squared off against Scherzer in this game.  Trout led off the bottom of the 1st w/ a solo HR (trending….) for a 1-0 AB’s lead.  Scherzer had a one-hitter through 8 innings as the score remained 1-0.  The AB’s plated an insurance run in the bottom of the 8th on a SAC fly by Longoria which plated Andrus.  Scherzer gave up a leadoff single in the top of the 9th to Odubel Herrera and a call to the pen was made for Wade Davis.  Davis struck out the first two Browns he faced, but w/ two outs Billy Burns jacked a 2-run HR to tie the game at 2-2.  In the bottom of the 10th Mike Trout ended what he started w/ a walk off solo HR (still trending…) and a 3-2 AB’s win.  Thornton got the win while Hunter Strickland took the loss.  The two teams combined for 10 hits.
Game 3
Miller and Big Game James Shields matched up for game 3 as the scene shifted to Shartlesville.  Giancarlo Stanton would open the scoring in the top of the 1st, knocking in Piscotty w/ an RBI single.  But the Browns said, ‘we go early this game’ and immediately bounced back w/ a 2 spot in the bottom half of the 1st.  Singles by Phillips and Burns were followed up w/ a 2 run double by Bruce Hairpin….um, wait….Bryce Harper.  In the 2nd Shelby Miller lost control and walked Harper with the bases loaded to force in Salvy Perez for a 3-1 lead for the Browns.  The game remained 3-1 until the 8th when Stephen Piscotty doubled home Elvis Andrus to cut the Browns lead to one.  The Browns turned to their closer Brad Ziegler in the 9th but after a K to Stanton he walked Big Papi.  Pillar pinch ran and stole 2nd as Parra struck out.  W/ 2 outs Joe Panik delivered a double to plate Pillar and tie the game at 3-3.  In the top of the 11th Kevin Pillar dropped a perfect bunt single to lead off the inning.  He then stole 2nd, was bunted to 3rd by Parra, and then scored on a SAC fly by Panik for a 4-3 AB’s lead.  Mark ‘the Shark’ Melancon came on for the save in the bottom of the 11th as AB fans wondered if there was a closer controversy brewing.  Brach pitched 3 innings for the win while Gilmartin took the loss.
Game 4
Salazar and Wacha would deal for 6 shutout innings a piece as both teams continued to pound the baseball.  But Stanton led off the 7th with a solo HR (trend setting…); then the AB’s went BB, fly out, BB, single, single, and single to push their lead to 4-0.  Salazar pitched a clean 7th to get a bump up in grade just in time to give up a single in the 8th to Burns followed by a 2 run jack by Harper to trim the lead to 4-2.  Davis once again came on in the 9th and surrendered a leadoff double to Herrera followed by a one out single to Phillips putting runners on 1st and 3rd.  Burns then hit a SAC fly to plate Herrera to set the stage for Harper once again.  But this time Davis struck him out to end the game and complete the sweep.  Salazar got the win, Davis the save and Wacha took the loss.

Additional Game notes….
The AB’s went 6 for 24 w/ RISP for a .250 clip while the Browns went 2 for 17 for a .118 clip.
The AB’s hit 3 more solo HR’s as all 7 of their HR’s have now come w/ no one on base.
AB’s are now 5-3 on the young season w/ a .168 team batting average.

The AB’s will host the Eliminators next Wednesday then will be taking the following week off (at least that is the plan).

Arrogant Bastards vs. Lemonheads

Game 1
Greinke and Hamels both go the distance in a 4-2 Heads win.  The AB’s jump out to a 1-0 lead in the 2nd on a gift RP fielding 1 single by Agone plating the fleet footed Big Papi.  In the first shutdown inning of the year Hamels proceeds to give the run back on a double by Belt followed by a single by Bradley (who then gets picked off and tossed from the game for arguing that Hamels balked – replays show that Hamels did balk but under MLB replay rules this is not reviewable).   The Heads erupt in the 3rd on back to back HR’s from Shaw and Martinez plating 3 runs and pushing the lead to 4-1.  Ginger Jesus adds a solo shot (trend begins….) for the AB’s in the 4th – it would be the AB’s last hit of the game as both pitchers settled in the rest of the way.  Hamels K’s 8 and Greinke fans 10.  AB’s go 1 for 6 w/ runners in scoring position (the trend setting has only just begun….).
Game 2
Young battles Scherzer in game 2 but this game would belong to Max as the AB’s get their first shutout and win of 2016 (may be one of the few) 2-0.  Trout hits a solo shot (trending…) in the 1st and Agone hits a solo shot (trending…) in the 4th.  Scherzer scatters 3 hits in 8.1 while fanning 10 Heads.  Davis comes on for the final 2 outs as a 1 out double by Blackmon in the 9th got the AB’s manager worried w/ Max’s -14 HR number.  Blackmon was then picked off 2nd by AB’s catcher Russell Martin and Davis got the final out by fanning Peralta.  AB’s go 1 for 9 w/ RISP (trending continues….)
Game 3
Two 13’s square off in game 3 as Odorizzi outduels Miller for a 4-3 Heads comeback win.  Parra leads the game off in the bottom of the 1st w/ a solo (trending…) HR, then plates a 2nd run in the 2nd on an RBI single for a 2-0 AB’s lead.  Fielder cuts it to 2-1 w/ an RBI single in the 4th but the AB’s get the run right back in the bottom half w/ an RBI double from Pillar plating Parra.  3-1 after 4….with 2 outs in the top of the 5th (queue the shutdown inning music) the Heads go Double, Triple, single from Blackmon, Peralta, and Fielder to tie the game at 3.  In the 6th Walker plates Belt on a Sac Fly for the go ahead 4th run as the AB’s don’t manage a hit after the 4th inning (trend setting…).  Lopez comes on to save it for Odorizzi.  AB’s go 1 for 8 w/ RISP (trending continues….)
Game 4
In 14 innings (Russell Martin catches all 14!!!) the Heads get a 2-1 victory to win the series 3-1.  Buchholz and Salazar pitch well to ND’s as both pens get taxed for the first time this season.  The Heads plate a run in the 4th on a 2 out single by Hechevarria plating Belt.  The AB’s tie it on an RBI single by Turner in the 7th plating Trout.  The game would remain 1-1 until a TWO OUT single by Fielder plates Gomes in the top of the 14th.  Lopez comes on for his 2nd save in as many games as Will Smith (who only decided to show up for the Heads because a Blackmon was hitting leadoff) gets a win, the loss went to Cedeno.  AB’s go 1 for 3 with RISP (trend of one hit a game continues but a .333 average w/ RISP gets us real excited for future run scoring opportunities).

Series notes….
AB’s go 4 for 26 w/ RISP.  All 4 HR’s were solo HR’s.
In contrast the Heads went 9 for 18 w/ RISP in the series.
Heads score 10 runs in the series…7 of the 10 runs were scored w/ 2 outs.    3 of the AB’s 8 runs came w/ 2 outs.

AB’s travel to Shartzville tomorrow night to play the Browns.

Opening Day

Tonight the 2016 OOTL season will kick off as the Bastards travel to Lewisberry to take on the Lemonheads.  2016 OOTL POY hopeful Zack Greinke gets the ball in the opener. He will be opposed by Cole Hamels.

Other pitching match ups are
Scherzer v Young (a former Bastard)
Miller v Odorozzi
Salazar v Buchholz

On Thursday the Bastards will continue their road trip to as they venture to Shartzville for the first time. Same rotation for the Bastards as the Browns counter w/ Kershaw, Gallardo, Shields and Wacha.
I’m gonna make an effort to do series write ups this year…those efforts probably won’t last past this email but goal setting is always a good idea.
BTW Darwin Barney leads the Grapefruit League in RBI’s as he just drove in his 5th run of the day!
Good luck to everyone this season!!!
Steve

Schedule/Results – 2015

We list schedules alphabetically, but managers can plan to play to convenience and availability.

Arrogant Bastards Roster
Steve Gaiski
Schedule and Results
Asian Tsunamis Roster
Craig Dolan
Schedule and Results
Birds of Pray Roster [frozen
for 2016 to honor Bob Silks]
Devil Dogs Roster
Barry Shapiro
Schedule and Results
Eliminators Roster
Brandon Matlock
Schedule and Results
Lemonheads Roster
Bob Boyd
Schedule and Results
Lymebees Roster
John Ingiosi
Schedule and Results
Shartlesville Browns Roster
Tony Champa
Schedule and Results
Shooting Stars II Roster
Kevin Baker
Schedule and Results
Speakers Roster
Brian Williams
Schedule and Results
The Plague Roster
Ed Hixson
Schedule and Results
Unhinged Wahoos Roster
Mike Mann
Schedule and Results
OOTL Hall of Fame

Bob Silks – Birds of Pray
Carl Williard – Mountaineers

2015 Playoffs
2014 Playoffs

OOTL Schedule and Results

2015 OOTL Playoffs
Round One
#5 Shooting Stars II (3) vs. #4 Arrogant Bastards (2)
Round Two
#5 Shooting Stars II (1) vs. #1 Lymebees (4) #3 The Plague (1) vs. #2 Eliminators (4)
Championship Series
#2 Eliminators (2) vs. #1 Lymebees (4)
First Period
(4 games)
Second Period
(3 games)
Third Period
(3 games)
(March –
May)
(June –
August)
(September –
November)
Arrogant Bastards [Top of page]
at Asian Tsunamis 1-3 Asian Tsunamis 1-2 at Asian Tsunamis 1-2
at Birds of Pray 1-3 Birds of Pray 2-1 at Birds of Pray 1-2
Devil Dogs 4-0 at Devil Dogs 2-1 Devil Dogs 1-2
Eliminators 3-1 at Eliminators 0-3 Eliminators 2-1
Lemonheads 3-1 at Lemonheads 1-2 Lemonheads 3-0
at Lymebees 2-2 Lymebees 0-3 at Lymebees 1-2
at Shooting Stars II 3-1 Shooting Stars II 2-1 at Shooting Stars II 2-1
at Speakers 1-3 Speakers 2-1 at Speakers 2-1
The Plague 2-2 at The Plague 1-2 The Plague 3-0
Unhinged Wahoos 3-1 at Unhinged Wahoos 1-2 Unhinged Wahoos 1-2
Asian Tsunamis [Top of page]
Arrogant Bastards 3-1 at Arrogant Bastards 2-1 Arrogant Bastards 2-1
Birds of Pray 1-3 at Birds of Pray 2-1 Birds of Pray 0-3
at Devil Dogs 4-0 Devil Dogs 1-2 at Devil Dogs 1-2
at Eliminators 2-2 Eliminators 1-2 at Eliminators 1-2
at Lemonheads 2-2 Lemonheads 3-0 at Lemonheads 2-1
Lymebees 1-3 at Lymebees 0-3 Lymebees 0-3
Shooting Stars II 1-3 at Shooting Stars II 3-0 Shooting Stars II 1-2
Speakers 2-2 at Speakers 2-1 Speakers 1-2
at The Plague 2-2 The Plague 1-2 at The Plague 2-1
at Unhinged Wahoos 2-2 Unhinged Wahoos 2-1 at Unhinged Wahoos 1-2
Birds of Pray [Top of page]
Arrogant Bastards 3-1 at Arrogant Bastards 1-2 Arrogant Bastards 2-1
at Asian Tsunamis 3-1 Asian Tsunamis 1-2 at Asian Tsunamis 3-0
Devil Dogs 4-0 at Devil Dogs 1-2 Devil Dogs
at Eliminators 1-3 Eliminators 1-2 at Eliminators 0-3
Lemonheads 3-1 at Lemonheads 1-2 Lemonheads 2-1
Lymebees 0-4 at Lymebees 3-0 Lymebees 0-3
at Shooting Stars II 2-2 Shooting Stars II 1-2 at Shooting Stars II 0-3
at Speakers 3-1 Speakers 0-3 at Speakers 2-1
The Plague 2-2 at The Plague 1-2 The Plague 1-2
at Unhinged Wahoos 2-2 Unhinged Wahoos 3-0 at Unhinged Wahoos 1-2
Devil Dogs [Top of page]
at Arrogant Bastards 0-4 Arrogant Bastards 1-2 at Arrogant Bastards 2-1
Asian Tsunamis 0-4 at Asian Tsunamis 2-1 Asian Tsunamis 2-1
at Birds of Pray 0-4 Birds of Pray 2-1 at Birds of Pray
Eliminators 1-3 at Eliminators 1-2 Eliminators 1-2
Lemonheads 0-4 at Lemonheads 1-2 Lemonheads 1-2
at Lymebees 1-3 Lymebees 2-1 at Lymebees 1-2
Shooting Stars II 1-3 at Shooting Stars II 2-1 Shooting Stars II 2-1
at Speakers 1-3 Speakers 1-2 at Speakers 3-0
at The Plague 1-3 The Plague 0-3 at The Plague 0-3
Unhinged Wahoos 2-2 at Unhinged Wahoos 2-1 Unhinged Wahoos 2-1
Eliminators [Top of page]
at Arrogant Bastards 1-3 Arrogant Bastards 3-0 at Arrogant Bastards 1-2
Asian Tsunamis 2-2 at Asian Tsunamis 2-1 Asian Tsunamis 2-1
Birds of Pray 3-1 at Birds of Pray 2-1 Birds of Pray 3-0
at Devil Dogs 3-1 Devil Dogs 2-1 at Devil Dogs 2-1
at Lemonheads 2-2 Lemonheads 3-0 at Lemonheads 3-0
at Lymebees 2-2 Lymebees 0-3 at Lymebees 1-2
Shooting Stars II 3-1 at Shooting Stars II 1-2 Shooting Stars II 1-2
Speakers 3-1 at Speakers 3-0 Speakers 2-1
at The Plague 1-3 The Plague 3-0 at The Plague 2-1
Unhinged Wahoos 2-2 at Unhinged Wahoos 2-1 Unhinged Wahoos 1-2
Lemonheads [Top of page]
at Arrogant Bastards 1-3 Arrogant Bastards 2-1 at Arrogant Bastards 0-3
Asian Tsunamis 2-2 at Asian Tsunamis 0-3 Asian Tsunamis 1-2
at Birds of Pray 1-3 Birds of Pray 2-1 at Birds of Pray 1-2
at Devil Dogs 4-0 Devil Dogs 2-1 at Devil Dogs 2-1
Eliminators 2-2 at Eliminators 0-3 Eliminators 0-3
at Lymebees 1-3 Lymebees 0-3 at Lymebees 1-2
Shooting Stars II 2-2 at Shooting Stars II 2-1 Shooting Stars II 2-1
Speakers 1-3 at Speakers 2-1 Speakers 1-2
at The Plague 2-2 The Plague 3-0 at The Plague 2-1
Unhinged Wahoos 0-4 at Unhinged Wahoos 1-2 Unhinged Wahoos 2-1
Lymebees [Top of page]
Arrogant Bastards 2-2 at Arrogant Bastards 3-0 Arrogant Bastards 2-1
at Asian Tsunamis 3-1 Asian Tsunamis 3-0 at Asian Tsunamis 3-0
at Birds of Pray 4-0 Birds of Pray 0-3 at Birds of Pray 3-0
Devil Dogs 3-1 at Devil Dogs 1-2 Devil Dogs 2-1
Eliminators 2-2 at Eliminators 3-0 Eliminators 2-1
Lemonheads 3-1 at Lemonheads 3-0 Lemonheads 2-1
at Shooting Stars II 1-3 Shooting Stars II 1-2 at Shooting Stars II 3-0
at Speakers 3-1 Speakers 1-2 at Speakers 2-1
The Plague 2-2 at The Plague 2-1 The Plague 1-2
at Unhinged Wahoos 1-3 Unhinged Wahoos 2-1 at Unhinged Wahoos 2-1
Shooting Stars II [Top of page]
Arrogant Bastards 1-3 at Arrogant Bastards 1-2 Arrogant Bastards 1-2
at Asian Tsunamis 3-1 Asian Tsunamis 0-3 at Asian Tsunamis 2-1
Birds of Pray 2-2 at Birds of Pray 2-1 Birds of Pray 3-0
at Devil Dogs 3-1 Devil Dogs 1-2 at Devil Dogs 1-2
at Eliminators 1-3 Eliminators 2-1 at Eliminators 2-1
at Lemonheads 2-2 Lemonheads 1-2 at Lemonheads 1-2
Lymebees 3-1 at Lymebees 2-1 Lymebees 0-3
Speakers 3-1 at Speakers 2-1 Speakers 2-1
The Plague 2-2 at The Plague 2-1 The Plague 1-2
at Unhinged Wahoos 1-3 Unhinged Wahoos 2-1 at Unhinged Wahoos 2-1
Speakers [Top of page]
Arrogant Bastards 3-1 at Arrogant Bastards 1-2 Arrogant Bastards 1-2
at Asian Tsunamis 2-2 Asian Tsunamis 1-2 at Asian Tsunamis 2-1
Birds of Pray 1-3 at Birds of Pray 3-0 Birds of Pray 1-2
Devil Dogs 3-1 at Devil Dogs 2-1 Devil Dogs 0-3
at Eliminators 1-3 Eliminators 0-3 at Eliminators 1-2
at Lemonheads 3-1 Lemonheads 1-2 at Lemonheads 2-1
Lymebees 1-3 at Lymebees 2-1 Lymebees 1-2
at Shooting Stars II 1-3 Shooting Stars II 1-2 at Shooting Stars II 1-2
The Plague 1-3 at The Plague 1-2 The Plague 1-2
at Unhinged Wahoos 1-3 Unhinged Wahoos 1-2 at Unhinged Wahoos 2-1
The Plague [Top of page]
at Arrogant Bastards 2-2 Arrogant Bastards 2-1 at Arrogant Bastards 0-3
Asian Tsunamis 2-2 at Asian Tsunamis 2-1 Asian Tsunamis 1-2
at Birds of Pray 2-2 Birds of Pray 2-1 at Birds of Pray 2-1
Devil Dogs 3-1 at Devil Dogs 3-0 Devil Dogs 3-0
Eliminators 3-1 at Eliminators 0-3 Eliminators 1-2
Lemonheads 2-2 at Lemonheads 0-3 Lemonheads 1-2
at Lymebees 2-2 Lymebees 1-2 at Lymebees 2-1
at Shooting Stars II 2-2 Shooting Stars II 1-2 at Shooting Stars II 2-1
at Speakers 3-1 Speakers 2-1 at Speakers 2-1
Unhinged Wahoos 3-1 at Unhinged Wahoos 3-0 Unhinged Wahoos 2-1
Unhinged Wahoos [Top of page]
at Arrogant Bastards 1-3 Arrogant Bastards 2-1 at Arrogant Bastards 2-1
Asian Tsunamis 2-2 at Asian Tsunamis 1-2 Asian Tsunamis 2-1
Birds of Pray 2-2 at Birds of Pray 0-3 Birds of Pray 2-1
at Devil Dogs 2-2 Devil Dogs 1-2 at Devil Dogs 1-2
at Eliminators 2-2 Eliminators 1-2 at Eliminators 2-1
at Lemonheads 4-0 Lemonheads 2-1 at Lemonheads 1-2
Lymebees 3-1 at Lymebees 1-2 Lymebees 1-2
Shooting Stars II 3-1 at Shooting Stars II 1-2 Shooting Stars II 1-2
Speakers 3-1 at Speakers 2-1 Speakers 1-2
at The Plague 1-3 The Plague 0-3 The Plague 1-2

[Top of page]

2014 OOTL Playoffs
Round One
#5 Lemonheads (2) at #4 Arrogant Bastards (3)
Round Two
#4 Arrogant Bastards (4) at #1 Lymebees (3) #3 Speakers (0) at #2 Devil Dogs (4)
Championship Series
#4 Arrogant Bastards (4) at #2 Devil Dogs (3)

[Top of page]

Starting Pitching

Gentlemen, take out your staffs! In this edition we are attacking Starting Pitching. We use objective quantitative methods whenever possible with very minimal aspects of the analysis based on subjective theory. In the end, we will rank what we believe to be best starting pitching staffs for this year’s OOTL season. Again, this is an important clarification as we are not evaluating starting pitching by upside or by MLB standards. Our evaluation is limited to expected performance in this year’s OOTL season. It is very difficult to evaluate starting pitching because there are so many external factors affecting wins and losses in the OOTL. Therefore our evaluation of the staffs is purely in a vacuum. It is not an indicator of success per se. We will be creating indexes which will determine the best staffs in a vacuum, but actual results could differ based on any combination of the following:

External Factors:
• Some Owners position their best pitchers against their opponent’s best pitchers.
• Other owners like to match up their best vs. worst and worst vs. best pitchers
.• Still others use a rotation and stick to it regardless of opponent.
• Finally others strategically attempt to match starter attributes such as l/r grade, control, power and K numbers vs. their most favorable opponent matchups.
• Some owners are better game managers than others.
• Bullpen, fielding and hitting quality of a team and its opponent will also affect success of your staff.
• Fatigue, indifference, anger and loss of focus will also affect results.
• Future trades.
• And let’s not forget dice rolls.

Let’s start with some firm data. Our 10 Starting Pitching inventories range from 7 to 12 pitchers. We will elaborate on these different roster strategies in a future edition when we evaluate the final 6 roster spots of each team. Every team has at least one LSP on their roster but some staffs have a higher pct. All pitchers who we expect to see at least one start this year are listed under regular starters except for pitchers we refer to as cheater starters. We will discuss this group more in a future edition when we evaluate cheater cards but for now we include pitchers in this group which have limited starts but are top or above average quality. Finally we also assigned the pitchers who will not be starting this season due to either the veteran or young prospects category. Our service would love to see an evolution of roster size to add two (not eligible to play positions called Veteran prospects) but again we will discuss this in future editions.

We began our analysis by ranking best to worse the 70 starters we believe will pitch this year based on each team needing 90 starts. This was a subjective review based on 5 factors: L/R, Grade, Power rating, Control Rating and strikeout letters. We then broke this ranking into 4 groups graded A-D. As a note there are a couple of pitchers at the grade cutoffs who blur a grade. That is they could easily fit into two different grades based on their metrics. Therefore in a couple cases we assigned some of their starts to multiple grades. The chart below shows this breakdown by how many starts will be made by team by grade this year. The A-D breakdown is 196-351-172-181 for 900 starts (10 teams* 90 games).

Here is where a simple analysis could be done and we could have called it a day. If you use a weighted method (example 4 for A, 3 for B, etc.) similar to a GPA calculation we could develop a valid ranking.

However, there are some limitations. Because of the number of pitchers we assigned to each group and the potential winning pct. of each grade, 4-3-2-1 weighing is not the most accurate way to predict each grades value. Therefore we had to develop an index method. If we combine our total starts by grade number with historic stats on wins/losses we develop a base winning pct. This is only a directional and could change annually but the point is that the base pct.’s lead to a 45-45 record with the base # of starters per grade. Therefore in the end the pct’s used do not matter that much as long as they are curved correctly.

We were also able to back into a base average staff based on 10 teams and the total starts by grade which we had previously identified. We then extrapolated those numbers to develop a base wins per grade of pitcher. As an example, our base team which would be expected to go 45-45 in a league with 196 A starts, 351 B starts, 172 C starts and 181 D starts would have 20 A starts, 35 B starts, 17 C starts and 18 D starts on its roster.

Now we have all we need to best rank the rotations. We use each team’s projected number of starts by grade and index those vs. our developed base 45-45 team’s number of starters by grade. As an example below, The Stars have a positive 16 index under A as they have 36 A starts and our base team has 20 A starts. The Stars also have a -18 index under D because they have no D starts and the base team has 18.

We then applied the projected winning pct. of each grade’s starters to the index to develop the final rotation ranking. A 45-45 record team is the zero base. Therefore our ranking shows that in a vacuum, not considering all the external factors listed in the beginning, there are 4 teams which have staffs better than average.

The Best Rotations:

The Stars, Speakers and Lyme Bees clearly have the best rotations. There are some subtle differences which explain why they are ranked Stars, Speakers and Lyme Bees.

1) Shooting Stars: The Stars have 1 more A start than the Bees and 2 more than the Speakers. While the Speakers and Lyme Bees have more B starts the Stars have more C starts and no D starts. Therefore the additional A start and lack of any D starts carried them to the best rotation.

2) Speakers: The Speakers are the second best rotation and are right there with the Stars with one exception. The Speakers barring trade will have to get 4 starts from R11/16/14 Joe Ross. We rank Ross a D pitcher and those 4 starts cost the Speakers a shot at the top ranking.

3) Lyme Bees: The Bees are also right there but also got by 12 Grade 4 starts by Kyle Hendriks.

Next Best Rotations:

4) Lemonheads: A step below the mighty 3 but comfortably better then the other 6 are the Lemonheads, The Lemonheads are solid in that they have no D starts but not ranked as high because they only have half as many A starts as the top three.

Middle of the Road Rotations:

5) AB’s: Limited A starts and significant D starts but still an average aggregate rotation.
6) Wahoos: A strong number of A&B combined starts but no C and 29 D put them just under the AB’s.
7) Plague: Again a strong number of A&B starts and a few less A starts than the Wahoos, but no C starts and a few more D starts put them just under the Wahoos.

The Rest:

8) Browns: The best of this group but too many C’s and D’s left them just short of the above group.
9) Tsunamis: No A starts but a solid number of B starts gives them the nod over the Eliminators.
10) Eliminators: No A starts and 38 D starts position these guys in the dreaded 10 spot.

But what about playoff rotations? Since only your 4 best are used in the playoffs in limited games and most matchups will be A’s and B’s we cannot use the above analysis. Therefore we will use the following chart and a subjective look:

Best Playoff Rotations:

1-3) Stars, Bees, Speakers: Lyme Bees Arrieta gets nod over Keuchel and Price. Degrom, Gray and Harvey are close but Degrom gets the nod. Lackey also gets close nod over Syndergaard and Archer. Finally the Stars pull out the win as Cheater starter combo Wilson/McAllister eek out the win over McCullers/Bumgarner and Severino.

4) Plague: a solid 4th place driven by Garcia, Matz and Estrada.

5-6): Lemonheads/Wahoos: Greinke is best and wins the tiebreaker.

7-8):Browns/AB’s: Kershaw wins the tiebreaker.

9-10) Tsunamis/E’s: The Tsunamis solid BB rating could make a difference and make them competitive if they can make the dance. The Eliminators rare 6 man lefty playoff rotation could also cause nightmares for some teams. Even at 9 and 10 these two teams staff anomalies could win in the playoffs if they can make it there.

NEXT WEEK: We will look at Cheater Card strategies in 2016.

Craig Dolan for the ASIAN SPORTS NETWORK (ASSN)

Starting Lineup