MLB announced the All-Stars through its flawed system of letting fans vote for the starters and then the players and coaches to vote the reserves. In head-to-head fantasy leagues we have it easy; we just use points because that is all that matters. So let’s see how the National and American Leagues squads look from a fantasy perspective.
National League Starting Lineup
- Dee Gordon 2B (247)
- Brandon Crawford SS (251)
- Paul Goldschmidt 1B (390)
- Bryce Harper LF (371)
- Todd Frazier 3B (333)
- Giancarlo Stanton RF (321)
- Nolan Arenado DH (312)
- Andrew McCutchen CF (286)
- Buster Posey C (279)
National League Reserves – Derek Norris C (232), Anthony Rizzo 1B (300), Kolton Wong 2B (244), Jhonny Peralta SS (249), Kris Bryant 3B (271), Ryan Braun RF (289), Joc Pederson CF (282)
National League Pitching Staff
- Max Scherzer SP (416)
- Zach Greinke SP (355)
- Gerrit Cole SP (342)
- Clayton Kershaw SP (335)
- Jacob deGrom SP (319)
- Jake Arrieta SP (309)
- Jeurys Familia RP (243)
- Trevor Rosenthal RP (236)
- Mark Melancon RP (235)
- Drew Storen RP (218)
American League Starting Lineup
- Brian Dozier 2B (311)
- Mike Trout CF (329)
- Josh Donaldson 3B (332)
- Manny Machado DH (315)
- Jose Bautista RF (312)
- Miguel Cabrera 1B (311)
- D. Martinez LF (311)
- Stephen Vogt C (262)
- Hanley Ramirez SS (247)
American League Reserves – Russell Martin C (237), Albert Pujols 1B (299), Jason Kipnis 2B (304), Xander Bogaerts SS (216), Alex Rodriquez 3B (276), Nelson Cruz RF (288), Brett Gardner CF (288)
American League Pitching Staff
- Chris Archer SP (385)
- Dallas Keuchel SP (383)
- Chris Sale SP (359)
- Sonny Gray SP (324)
- David Price SP (317)
- Felix Hernandez SP (312)
- Dellin Betances RP (237)
- Glen Perkins RP (234)
- Huston Street RP (220)
- Wade Davis RP (212)
The points were as of Tuesday morning.
Now who had Chris Archer as the American League All-Star starting pitcher facing off versus Max Scherzer? I know I didn’t as I didn’t keep him in my keeper league and wish I would have now. Let me know who I missed or should have made the team!
CCO Fans Trades last week
• Hunt Hoser’s traded Victor Martinez to Old Style for Alfredo Simon
• Clark and Addison traded Matt Moore to Woody’s Way for Yunel Escobar
You have to love trades that are a position player for a starting pitcher. They should benefit both sides as they should be filling holes with surplus.
CCO Trades last week
• Clark n Addison traded Brandon Crawford, Mark Trumbo and Jon Lester to Bullpen Macgyvers for Jean Segura, Jaime Garcia, Noah Syndergaard.
I really didn’t want to trade Jon Lester (for obvious reasons) but the chance to get two SP’s of Garcia and Syndergaard’s ability and overall increase the level of my rotation was too much to pass up, even with the swap of Segura for Crawford. Let’s face it, both Syndergaard and Garcia have performed better than Lester so far, I just need Garcia to stay on the mound. Crawford is the number one shortstop and that was not predicted, so I feel I am selling high on him.
MLB Best of Last Week
Each week we will review the best performances of the week in all of MLB.
This sure isn’t a list you would have expected to see. Only one player made the fantasy All-Star teams in J.D. Martinez and likely made it with this 42 point week. Adam Lind drove in 12 runs while hitting three home runs and Gerardo Parra (future Cub please!!) was auditioning to go to a playoff team.
Two starts and two wins almost across the board led by Clay Buchholz who shot up the ownership ranks with this big week of 61 points. That is a huge week, but he was just points above Jordan Zimmermann’s 58 points and Kyle Hendricks 54 points. As we get into summer it seems like the big starting pitcher weeks start to happen every week.
Chicago Cubs Batters
Not sure how you win five games in a week with a team .194 batting average but I bet we will figure it out in the next section. Kris Bryant did most of his damage in one game to lead the team with 29 points. But just don’t look past him as it is not good when the second best point week is from a player who had three hits all week all singles.
Chicago Cubs Pitchers
Here is where we see why we went 5-1 last week. A team 0.80 ERA for the week and a perfect 0.00 from the bullpen is all I need to say except just admire this great week that didn’t need Edwin Jackson to take the mound. Not many bad options to have used last week in your fantasy lineup.
CCO Fantasy Leagues
Just a reminder that the All-Star week gets rolled into the following week and is a 10 day week!!! You are allowed to have 10 starts in the long week!
CCO League
Over the course of the season the best teams should come out on top. I sure hope so because as I am riding a three game losing streak, I see myself in 13th place, while being ninth in points. That makes me feel like I am still in the playoff hunt.
“So you are saying I have a chance?”
If you don’t have eight wins you are on the outside looking in right now. But only two wins separates the number one seed and the number eight seed. Six teams are within two games so it is still pretty wide open to make the playoffs. The divisions are starting to separate as the Sheffield division has two, 10 win teams while Waveland sees eight wins sitting on top.
CCO Fans League
Seven wins is a playoff team in this league, but there is a four way tie for the last two spots. Five more teams sit one game back at six wins but one team has six wins and two ties.