We’re learning plenty about MLB in the early going. The Minnesota Twins’ offense is bad. The Atlanta Braves are very bad. The Roto Riteup occasionally has authors working at 3 a.m. And most notably, Yoenis Cespedes is a huge Shinsuke Nakamura fan.
Not that anyone should need evidence that the pitcher win is a bad stat at this point, but give this a spin: Noah Syndergaard struck out 12 batters Tuesday. He induced 26 swinging strikes on 99 pitches. He induced 10 on just 15 sliders. One of them looked like this:
Syndergaard’s slider is downright funny https://t.co/gPMK7ceUQk pic.twitter.com/WX1ZLHBl55
— Dan Toman (@dantoman) April 13, 2016
(OK, that’s against a pitcher, but you get it.) And still, Syndergaard drew a no-decision, because his team can’t score. Those 12 strikeouts and lone earned run over seven will just have to keep you warm, as will the knowledge that you probably got a top-10 arm at No. 15 on draft day.
We’re not going to do this again, are we, Justin Verlander? Et tu, David Price? We were hoping for more, Taylor Jungmann. And Yo…OK, we expect this from you, Yovani Gallardo. It wasn’t a sunny day for the pillars of your pitching staff.
Monday’s Roto Riteup believes it’s the little extra that makes things extraordinary. That, and a hint of paprika.
On the agenda:
1. Shin-Soo Choo and Nomar Mazara
2. Various News and Notes
3. Streaming Pitcher Options
It is the first full weekend of baseball! Watch out for rain delays and managers pulling pitchers during a no-hitter. Read the rest of this entry »
It was a weird day for baseball. The Diamondbacks mascot lost all self-control, there was closure in the Hunter Pence scooter case, the San Diego Padres signed James Loney to a minor-league deal help their punchless offense, the White Sox are signing Chance the Rapper to help their ailing brand, and John Oliver’s weird costume prank continued to invade Yankee Stadium
It’s taken the whole league less than a week to lose their collective heads. Don’t lose yours.
The San Diego Padres are never, ever going to score. Kenta Maeda has out-produced them on offense this season. Go to sleep, Padres.
We’re not here to talk about the slide rule. I don’t want to talk about Jose Bautista pulling a WWE No Mercy and reaching under the ropes to distract Logan Forsythe. There’s no place for intentionally hitting batters for lighting you up in the Roto Riteup. With apologies to Baron Corbin, this is a Banter-free zone.
And so thankfully, we move on to only the fantasy relevant from Tuesday.
Three games a day prior and two postponements couldn’t stand to slow the more holistic Opening Day on Monday. For all but four teams, baseball is officially back, and 2016 is officially here.
Life is as beautiful as Kevin Kiermaier once again.
