For Frequency Sake Fantasy Baseball MLB Game Day Recap Day 10: Double Digit Wins

MLB Game Day Recap Day 10: Double Digit Wins

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It’s the MLB Game Day Recap Day 10, that means it’s time to talk about blowout, double digit losses. The Blue Jays absolutely slaughtered the Angels 15-1. It was as thorough of a demolishing as a team could complete. Like other events tonight, this game was rain delayed. It didn’t affect Toronto as they not only had a baserunner reach each inning, they also left a baserunner on base in each inning. The MLB likes to think this type of game is great for baseball. High scoring, conveyor belt style offense sounds super appealing. The problem is the actual entertainment value doesn’t match up with the score. Viewers want drama, and blowout games don’t have drama. The reason anyone watches sports is to see competition and blowouts simply aren’t competition. This type of game is very much part of baseball, it’s just not very entertaining

Climbing Up

Speaking of non entertaining, Roberto Perez went 1 for 1 today. That’s it, just one hit. How did he make the climbing up list? Well, that one hit was a 2 run dinger and he scored 4 runs while walking 4 times too. Perez has now quietly hit safely in 4 of 6 games and launched a homer in two of them too. Roberto absolutely will not help you in average, hitting only .250 while he’s climbing up, but will give you double digit homers while walking, scoring and simply playing enough to make him viable at catch. I’m not advocating a full season add for Perez, but when he’s hot he’s worth of a roster spot. There are rarely 12 fantasy worthy starting catchers at any given time, so when one is heating up, get him on your roster.

Letdown

Zach Davies was shellacked for 7 earned over 1.2 innings today. These types of starts happen, but they should not happen against the Pirates. Many fantasy managers spot started Davies, and those that did got their ratios obliterated. Zach did pick up 2 strikeouts, but a 37.80 ERA and 4.80 WHIP are so bad they aren’t even traditional crooked numbers. There will be plenty NL Central based spot starts against the Pirates, and one rough offensive explosion shouldn’t deter anyone from continuing to stream against Pittsburgh. It just stinks Davies set off the wrong kind of bomb in fantasy lineups tonight.

Who’s Hot

The National’s started the season late due to a Covid delayed series, but Juan Soto started right on time. Launching his first two homers of the season, Soto is now 6 for 16 with those 2 dingers, 4 RBIs, 6 runs scored and 1 stolen base across 4 games. Just like our review of Mike Trout yesterday, it’s important to remember that the elite players are elite. Soto is behind in the counting stats due to the delayed series start, but he won’t be for long. He’s hot, and like Trout will likely never go cold.

Who’s Not

Jose Quintana was the starter in our title game, and things naturally went poorly. Just like Zach Davies he gave up 7 runs over 1.2 innings while absolutely destroying ever ratio in sight. During his prime, Quintana was a very good pitcher. During his decline, Quintana was a mediocre at best pitcher. Today? Quintana is a very bad pitcher. Every player ages at different rates, and Quintana will be aging him out of baseball shortly. The Angels are good enough to win a quietly weak division, and they don’t have time to wait for Jose to turn it around. If the Angels don’t have time, every fantasy roster certainly doesn’t either. Cut bait with Jose if you somehow own him, and don’t touch or stream him ever again. All good things come to an end.

The Emilio Bonifacio Award

Josh Palacios is only on the active roster because Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez were placed on the IL due to Covid related issues, even though neither have contracted the disease. That means both won’t be out long, but since they’re out today in stepped Palacios. A 4 for 4 night with 4 runs scored, 1 RBI and 1 BB certainly was an excellent way to perform in the game where you got your first career hit. Palacios is an outfielder only by trade, but his Bonifacio qualifications come from his expected shuffling between the big league and minor league rosters. This is a career night for Josh, kudos! A super nice story, and if you’re in DFS he might be a guy to watch the next day or two, but long term he’s not on the radar without significant injuries.

The James Shields Award

Jacob deGrom and Aaron Civale were the only pitchers who went 6+ tonight. deGrom had a classic deGrom outing, 8.0 innings, 14 K’s, 5 baserunners, and 1 mistake HR which led to not getting the W. It’s a broken record watching every deGrom start as he performs at his Cy Young caliber level, getting double digit K’s and giving up nearly 0 runs, and then the Mets offense gets no runs and they lose. Civale matched deGrom nearly identically on the execution side, going 7.2 innings, 6 K’s, 3 baserunners, and 1 mistake HR but unlike the Mets, Cleveland’s offense came alive. Every season Cleveland’s pitching factory churns out another new fantasy ace, and all signs preseason and today pointed towards Civale. It’s obvious fantasy managers should invest in deGrom, but it’s not as obvious with Civale. If you can swing a trade to pick up Aaron, do it.

The Brad Lidge Award

Jaime Barria had a chance to clean up Jose Quintana’s mess and subsequently slide into his rotation spot in 5 days. Instead he matched Jose’s ineptitude going his own 2.0 innings allowing another 7 runs across 10 baserunners. The two combined to allow double digit runs scored across less than 4 innings, it was bad. Barria a pitcher I have been enamored with for awhile. He has the stuff to get people out, did just that in 2018 and 2020. He just had a horrendous hiccup in 2019 and it looks like he will continue his string of poor odd year production. Jaime had the possibility to offer sneaky upside to deep league owners but all he’s done is cause headaches. At this point, I have no problem cutting bait and moving no regardless of your league size. Sometimes things don’t work out.

Conclusion

The MLB Game Day Recap is all about baseball. Lopsided games are part of baseball. Double digit demolishing are part of the game. They also are not entertaining. When a team scores every run without a dinger, and they get 15, it’s boring baseball. MLB ownership needs to realize that runs don’t drive viewership, competitive baseball drivers viewership. Fielding baseball teams that, yknow, are supposed to win games is what makes viewers watch baseball. It’s absurd this has to be spelled out, but it’s par the course for MLB ownership. They think a juiced ball fixes the competition problem in baseball, but the only thing that will do that is spending money and actively trying to win. That’s just something not all owners want to do.

Goodnight.

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