AssDLes and other stuff on my mind

Hey look who it is John!

With the commish out of  town today, I get to write the Friday blog post this week. I'll get to the usual ass hDLes in a bit, but first I want to talk about a couple of things. First of all, I know Louie had a post a couple months ago (approximately) that talked about how this fantasy league and this blog have made him enjoy baseball more again. I feel the same way. Up until this year, I would mostly only watch the Brewers games and the Playoffs. Other than that I probably only watched about 5 full games a year. I always judged how good a player from a different team was based on highlights I had saw or what other people had said about him. I've never followed the statistics other than home runs for hitters and win-loss record for pitcher (one of the most flawed stats there is). However, since the start of this season I have found enjoyment in following other teams and their players. I have watched more baseball already this year than I did in the past couple seasons combined. Now some of that would be contributed to my excitement of watching the Brewers being in a pennant race, but I attribute it mostly to the league and this blog. For this league I have learned so many new statistics and ways of measuring how valuable players are, and it has helped me enjoy games when watching them on TV. Now I can actually watch a game between two teams not in the NL Central and know the entire roster, with a fairly good grasp of how good each player is. This is coming from a guy who not that long ago had to ask how on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and WHIP were calculated, as well as many other things I didn't understand (thanks Zach and Louie). This blog has also kept me interested in not only the stats, but the league itself. When the league was set up as a weekly league I thought it was a great idea to keep everyone interested throughout the season, but I don't think it would be nearly as successful as it is without this blog. Two thumbs up to the commish for taking the idea of my awful homework assignment and coming up with this great idea. I'm always excited to come to the blog every night and read what has been posted, whether it be recapping the games from the previous week or when Louie gets all sentimental about things. I enjoy it all the same. I always loved to play baseball but now with this league and this blog I finally love watching it and following the players as well.

The other thing I want to talk about quick before the asshDLes portion of this post is my playoff predictions. I know I waited a little long for this since there is only about 50 days left in the season but hell I'm going to do it anyways.

American League

WOW! Just WOW!

1 . Oakland Athletics (West): this one is fairly easy, with the all around talent on this team including the moves made at the deadline I believe the A's finish with the best record in the AL and all of baseball for that matter
2. Baltimore Orioles (East): lead by superstar Adam Jones I think they run away with the division
3. Detroit Tigers (Central): though the Royals are not far behind the Tigers I think the acquisition of David Price gives them the extra advantage of winning the division, not to mention they have possibly the best hitter in baseball on there team
4. Los Angeles Angels (Wild Card 1): its really a shame that the Angels are in the same division as the A's, If they were in any other division they would win it but instead they finish second and get the 1st wild card
5. Kansas City Royals (Wild Card 2): the Royals schedule is simply easier than the Yankees and the Mariners going forward, not to mention all the young talent on this team that is finally panning out the way people thought it would

AL Champion: Oakland Athletics
The fact that this team is possibly the most complete team in baseball is my reasoning for picking them to win the AL pennant. They have one of the best hitting teams in the league (although it has dropped a bit with losing Yo Anus!) and they can throw out the best rotation in the AL come playoff time with Samardzija, Lester, Gray, and Kazmir.


National League

I had to put him in here somewhere

1. Los Angeles Dodgers (West): this team is the only argument for best all around team with the A's, they have a star filled lineup with a strong rotation
2. Washington Nationals (East): I believe the Nats are in the process of running away with this division, if Bryce Harper can get it going they will be a scary team come playoff time
3. St. Louis Cardinals (Central): the NL Central race will come right down to the end but I believe the Cards will prevail, it's going to be a crazy last two months with 4 teams still fighting for the NL Central Crown
4. San Francisco Giants (Wild Card 1): With an easier schedule where they face the Padres and D-Bags for exactly half (13 of 26) of their final month of the season the Giants will win the 1st wild card, this could be scary for every one else cause the Giants won the world series in 2010 and 2012 and therefore they could continue the trend this year
5.Milwaukee Brewers (Wild Card 2): I've been saying it since February "The Brewers will get the 2nd wild card spot", most people thought I was nuts or just being a homer for my favorite team but the fact is the Brewers have a powerful lineup and have gotten good pitching from both starters and the bullpen (something that never seemed to happen last year)

NL Champion: Washington Nationals

This will be the scene when they beat the Dodgers

It would be easy to say the Dodgers win the NL because they have the best record, but for whatever reason I don't see that happening. I think the Nats, lead by great pitching performances from Strasburg, Gonzalez, and Fister will find a way to win the series over the Dodgers. To me the Dodgers seem like a team that could lose game one of a series in the playoffs and completely implode. I think the Nationals are the team that causes it.

World Series Champion: Oakland Athelitcs
Finally!! The A's win a world series in the Billy Beane era after years of hard work and being flat out smarter than every other GM. As I stated before the A's rotation will be too strong for the Nats to try and score against. I think this could be an amazing pitchers duel throughout the entire series but I give the edge to the A's 4 games to 2.

Now finally on to the asshDLes. First off, he may not be knew to the list but it wast recently discovered that Matt Cain will be out the rest of the year. His season ends with a 2-7 record with and ERA of 4.18, Yikes! not exactly the kind of stats Zach hoped for when he payed $25 for him in the draft.

1B Paul Goldschmidt- MBHB- Broken hand
This has been talked about a number of times not only in this blog but on any sports channel when they talk about baseball. I'll keep it short and sweet. Goldschmidt breaks hand, Louie gets pissed, Louie trades for Rizzo, Louie is happy again. The injury hurts Louie's team a lot, but with the trade it wont be nearly as bad as it first seemed.

Swing and a lazy fly ball to center...

1B/ OF Allen Craig -MTMTAS - left foot injury
In most cases I would say this isn't really a big deal because Craig has been very suckish this year. Unfortunetly for T (who has lost the right to the last 4 letters in his name because he has lost to me all 3 times this season) Craig is the only first baseman on his roster. He could move Brian McCann there but he doesn't have a back-up catcher either so that would do him no good. I expect that in next Tuesday's pick-ups we see T pick up a 1B to fill in this spot if he can't fill it via trade.