I have good news and bad news...
The good news is Jesus Saves! Oh... wait... while that's true - I was looking at my *other* Saturday notes...
The good news is you can save 15% or more on car insurance.... Oh, wait. Sorry - that's the commercial I'm listening to while multi-tasking...
The good news is strictly for Ed and Shane, who are the only two GMs who missed out on the Opening GIG. Why is this good news? Because the leader going into GIG-2019 Round 3 is Franny (Brent), with a grand total of 4 points! Here are the standings after round one. (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bd71zMTCdfQWZAhjGA--hUUHqv8caswfPxTAzjUtLXo/edit#gid=0)
I'd call that kind of a dud of a first round. And I'll take all the blame. It was the negative points from the first question that got most of us. I'm gonna do less negative points from now on.
OK, onto Round TWO!
1) Points Possible: 1
In round one, we highlighted the Scully. Let's highlight the Uecker this time. 4 teams sit at 6-7, with the Cutty's at 5-8. For one point, which team will be atop the Uecker after all games are played through April 28?
Argonauts
Brewers
Cutthroats
Rainiers
Sweets
2) Points Possible: 3
Let's do the "win total for your team" thing again. Some of you guys (or should I say "us") nailed that right on the nose. 26 games will have been played by April 28. But let's tweak the point system: 3 points for nailing your win total on the nose, 2 if you're one win off, 1 if you're 2 wins off, and a fat 0 for being three off or more. And again, please answer with your team name, then the number (example, "Blues, 21")
3) Points Possible: 4
For hitters, we will use MLB's 3.1 PA's per game as our standard for qualified hitters. That number will be 81 come April 28. As Rod mentioned in today's highlights email, Bryce Harper is the current OBP leader (.561). That's WAY higher than his real-life number of .393. Meanwhile, Mike Trout sits at .446, just 14 points *under* his real-life number of .460. And let's not ignore the 5 very good hitters currently between them (Justin Turner, 2nd and .491, Aaron Hicks, Jose Ramirez, Alex Bregman, Brock Holt) as I ask these questions:
- Will anyone SURPASS Harper? (Yes = 1 point. No = 2 points)
- If yes, name a player who will have a higher OBP than Bryce come April 28. (1 point. Doesn't have to be one of the players I mentioned above, and doesn't even have to be the leader - just a player who surpassed Harper. If you answered "no," just type "N/A")
- Regardless of whether or not Harper is caught, what will the high OBP number be come April 28? (2 points if you nail it, 1 point if you're within .010)
4) Points Possible: 4
The Rougarou's 2B Cesar Hernandez has been a player who typically flies a bit under the radar. He doesn't hit for power, but he does nearly everything else very well. During the real-life 2018 season, Cesar stole 19 bases and was caught 6 times. Compared to Whit Merrifield's 45 real-life SBs, Cesar's 19 makes it interesting in that he's atop MSB in the early-going with 5 SBs (tied with the Brewers' Starling Marte). 3 other players have 4 SBs, and a bunch of guys sit with 3 and 2. Armed with all that information, I have several questions for you:
- Will anyone SURPASS Cesar come April 28? (Yes = 1 points. No = 2 points)
- If "Yes," name a player you believe will have MORE SBs than Cesar by April 28. (1 point. If you answered "no," just type "N/A".)
- Regardless of whether or not it's Cesar in the lead or someone else, how many steals will the leader have? (2 points if you nail it, 1 point if you are within 1)
5) Points Possible: 3
Relief pitcher question... It's hard to pick a number to "qualify" relief pitchers, since MLB doesn't have one. Typically, 50 IPs is the "magic number" to gauge qualification for awards in most people's minds, but as far as I can tell there's no official number. So I'm going to set the number at 1 batter faced per team game played. In other words, the number will be 26 come April 28, and 162 at the end of the season. With that, we have 28 qualified RELIEF PITCHERS (no game starts, with innings pitched ranging from 3.1 to 10.1) and ONE starter (the Cutty's Carlos Martinez, 15.1 IPs) with a current ERA of 0.00.
Questions:
- How many pitchers will still have a 0.00 ERA come April 28? (2 points for being dead on, 1 point if you're 1 off)
- Bonus point: Name one of them. (Look up the database and use 13 Batters Faced as your limit, then double-click on ERA so you can see the names. If you said "0" in the first question, you can say "none" here and get the bonus point.)
Good luck! Our total points possible for round 2 is 15.
+++ This thread will lock the moment Rod runs the next set of games (ETA Monday night, 4/15). +++
1) Sweets
2) Devils 18 (normally this might occur in mid-May)
3) Yes, Turner J, 429
4) Yes, Turner T, 12
5) none & none
1) Sweets
2) Sweets,15
3) Yes, Jose Ramirez, .473
4) Yes, trea turner, 11
5) 0, None
1 - Argonauts
2 - Kraken, 19
3 - YES, Justin Turner, .451
4 - YES, Starling Marte, 8
5 - 9, Roberto Osuna
1. Sweets
2. Madmen 11
3. Yes, Trout, 0.477
4. Yes, Leury Garcia, 9
5. 0, none
Robots answers:
1. Argonauts
2. Robots - 8
3. No; NA; .455
4. Yes, Trea Turner, 10
5. no - none
bobh - Robots
Rainiers Answers:
1-Rainiers
2-Rainiers 17
3-No;NA;.480
4-No;NA;12
5-0,none
1. I'm going homer pick . . . Brewers (hey, they are the only team in the division with a positive run differential!)
2. Bums - 11
3. No; N/A; .490
4. Yes; Turner; 10
5. 7; Roberto Osuna
1) Points Possible: 1
Brewers
2) Points Possible: 3
Rum Runners, 14
3) Points Possible: 4
No
N/A
.535
4) Points Possible: 4
Yes
Trea Turner
5) Points Possible: 3
Four (4)
Kyle Crick
1) Argonauts
2) Brewers, 11
3) No, N/A, .490
4)Yes, Trea Turner, 9
5) 6, Wittgren
1) Argonauts
2) Landlubbers,13
3) Yes, Turner, .470
4) Yes, Marte 8
5) 6, Barraclough
1. Argonauts
2. Miners, 14
3. No, N/A, .490
4. Yes, Merrifield, 9
5. 5, Osuna
1) Argonauts
2) Blues, 17
3) No, N/A, .498
4) Yes, Whit Merrifield, 9
5) 7, Brad Hand
1. Argonauts
2. 15 - Argonauts
3. Yes, Trout, .480
4. Yes, Starling Marte, 8
5. 3, Blake Treinen
1. Argos
2. Rougarou, 8
3. No, n/a, .471
4. Yes, Marte, 9
5. 2, Pressley
1. Argonauts
2. Cutthroats - 5
3. No, NA. .500
4. Yes, Marte, 10
5. 5, Treinen
1. Argonauts
2. ACLs, 16
3. No, n/a, .492
4. Yes, Merrifield, 9
5. 0, None
1.Brewers
2.Bums 14
3.No
4.Yes Trea Turner 9
5.none and none
1 Argonaugts
2 Koi 16
3 No n/a
4 Marte 9
5 0,none
1) Sweets
2) Blues - 8
3a) Yes
3b) Trout
3c) sheesh, seems awfully specific here Kyle. Umm - .482?
4a) Yes
4b) Turner
4c) 9 sounds about right
5a) 0
5b) None
GIG is now officially closed
Correct answers:
1) Rainiers
2) check the standings for April 28)
3) No, .478 (Harper)
4) Yes, (there were more than a dozen ahead of Hernandez, who remained at 5), 9
5) 5 (I'll post the names tonight - don't have access to the database at present)