In a week when a major heatwave hit the UK and fantasy baseball managers could take a little breather during the MLB All-Star Break, it is a good point for a mid-season round-up from Fantasy Baseball UK.
All the divisional and overall standings from the various leagues can be viewed in the Standings section of the website. This now includes the newest league, FBUK Classic (the salary cap game run through Fantrax). Also, the Standings pages have been updated with a column showing the number of innings pitched (IP) used by each team, which is useful context alongside the points tally, especially as we go through the second part of the season.
On that note, the customary reminder there are season position limits on your roster: each line-up position (batters) has a maximum of 162 games (GP) for which it is eligible to score points over the course of the season; your team’s pitching staff is limited to a total of 1400 innings pitched (IP) across all starters and relievers over the season. If a position reaches its limit before the season ends, it will no longer score points for your team going forward.
In Yahoo at the bottom of the roster page it indicates how much of each limit has been used so far; in Fantrax that is indicated on the ‘Min/Max’ tab of your Team Roster area. Those limits will come more into focus when reviewing the standings as we get closer to the end of the season on 5 October.
FBUK All-Star Team of the First Half
Based on fantasy points accumulated between 7 April and when the All-Star Break began on 18 July, here are the top performers at each position during the first part of the season:
| Ps. | Player | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | Will Smith | LAD | 350 |
| 1B | Paul Goldschmidt | STL | 542 |
| 2B | Marcus Semien | TEX | 419 |
| 3B | José Ramírez | CLE | 595 |
| SS | Treat Turner | LAD | 523 |
| OF | Aaron Judge | NYY | 576 |
| OF | Yordan Alvarez | HOU | 481 |
| OF | Kyle Tucker | HOU | 474 |
| UT | Freddie Freeman | LAD | 503 |
| SP | Sandy Alcantara | MIA | 504 |
| RP | Edwin Diaz | NYM | 276 |
Given that he featured in the first two monthly FBUK All-Star Teams of this season, it is unsurprising that the Cleveland Guardians’ José Ramírez is the highest-scoring player overall. His first-half tally includes 30 doubles, 19 home runs and 75 RBI (second only to Pete Alonso) plus 13 stolen bases. Ramírez has struck out only 37 times in 330 at-bats.
Paul Goldschmidt of the St Louis Cardinals is putting up typically strong numbers. The veteran first baseman has a .330 batting average, 20 home runs, 70 RBI and an impressive OPS (On-base plus slugging) of 1.004.
With the Los Angeles Dodgers 10 games ahead in the NL West and holding the best record in the National League (60-30), there are three members of the club in the FBUK All-Star Team. Among them, Freddie Freeman has the most hits among all batters – 114 hits for a .321 BA, including 31 doubles (ranked second overall).
In the outfield, New York Yankees’ slugger Aaron Judge leads MLB with 33 home runs and has chalked up 70 RBI. Yordan Alvarez (Houston Astros) has demonstrated a strong combo of power and contact: a .306 BA and .405 OBP along with 26 homers, for a 1.058 OPS.
Sandy Alcantara (Miami Marlins) is the top-scoring starter by some distance with 504 points. Alcantara has a 1.76 ERA and 123 strikeouts over 19 starts (9-4 record) and has pitched the most innings in the Majors (138) including two complete games that earned bonus fantasy points.
In the closer spot, Edwin Diaz has recorded 20 saves in 38 appearances, a 1.69 ERA and averaged two strikeouts per inning pitched.
Notes: Monthly points and position eligibility is based on Fantrax, where the salary cap league is run. Although the Fantrax and Yahoo leagues use the same scoring system, position eligibility might vary slightly for some MLB players. The Utility spot is the highest-scoring hitter who didn’t top a position category. Here, the Relief Pitcher spot is reserved for true relievers/closers rather than starting pitchers who happen to also be eligible at the RP spot.
Manager of the Month: June
Gregor McIntosh scored the most fantasy points in the FBUK League in the month of June as Brechin Red Sox opened up a lead of over 350 points in the North East division and rose into the top five in the combined standings at the time of writing. In doing so, the Sox have used the most innings pitched (IP) among all teams in FBUK League — 1146 IP out of a 1400 limit. Along with a couple of other teams that have gone over 1000 IP already, this might leave the Sox struggling to score enough points via pitching to maintain that high position in the standings. Nevertheless, Gregor enjoys the title of June Manager of the Month!
| Ps. | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brechin Red Sox (Gregor McIntosh) | 2361 |
| 2 | Essex Giants (Mark Finbow) | 2157 |
| 3 | Airdrie Pinstripes (Steven Dunne) | 2151 |
| 4 | Hakuna Moncada (Ed Jefferies) | 2147 |
| 5 | Charlie’s Angels (Ed Hall) | 2143 |
Fantasy League Standings (top): 18 July
In all three formats, fantasy teams are grouped into roughly regional divisions but they are also combined to give overall standings. Here is a snapshot of the overall Top 10 in each league by the time of the All-Star Break.
Since the last round-up in mid-June, another team has entered the fray at the top of FBUK League: John Steele’s beat gould&lengl is now challenging Brian Matthews’ hedley verityesque (both are Central division rivals) and Daniel Perrin’s Pain in Yoenis. Wake Field Padres and Brechin Red Sox complete the top five but both of those teams have used substantially more of their IP limits than the rest of the top ten.
In FBUK LTD, the limited trade game, Perrin’s other team YabbaDabBaddoo and Richie Hayward’s Candles Bat Breakers continue to hold the top pair of positions. Both are in the South division. Meanwhile, John Borthwick’s No Trade Clause – back-to-back champion in 2016-17 – leads the North division and sits third overall.
In FBUK Classic (the salary cap game) the early leaders, Wayne Mason’s Bleacher Creatures, have been hunted down by Neil Harrison’s Schmuccos and René Becker’s Secret Agents. The three teams are currently trading places on a daily basis. It is worth noting that Schmuccos have used 952 IP, over 100 more than the other teams and that is likely to have an impact in the second half as teams’ IP limits loom. Just as in the standard FBUK League, the ‘Classic’ version of John Steele’s Beat Gould and Lengl has risen into the top five.
Most of regional divisions in the standard FBUK League have relatively close races at the moment where the top two teams are separated by around 100 points or lower.
FBUK League
| Ps. | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | hedley verityesque | 7040 |
| 2 | beat gould&lengl | 7015 |
| 3 | Pain in Yoenis | 7009 |
| 4 | Wake Field Padres | 6931 |
| 5 | Brechin Red Sox | 6828 |
| 6 | Airdrie Pinstripes | 6790 |
| 7 | Clash City Royals | 6785 |
| 8 | Hakuna Moncada | 6750 |
| 9 | Essex Giants | 6698 |
| 10 | Safe at Home 2022 | 6671 |
FBUK LTD
| Ps. | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | YabbaDabBaddoo | 5673 |
| 2 | Candles Bat Breakers | 5584 |
| 3 | No Trade Clause | 5382 |
| 4 | John’s Jokers | 5222 |
| 5 | Hits and Giggles | 5221 |
| 6 | Atlantic Crossing | 5163 |
| 7 | A Frican Elephant | 5136 |
| 8 | Welly BJ’s | 5116 |
| 9 | Masters of Merriment | 5061 |
| 10 | Henry’s Bears | 5044 |
FBUK Classic
| Ps. | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Schmuccos | 6835 |
| 2 | Secret Agents | 6793 |
| 3 | Bleacher Creatures | 6711 |
| 4 | Beat Gould and Lengl | 6548 |
| 5 | MK Bombs | 6506 |
| 6 | RBI or Rump? | 6486 |
| 7 | Highway 191 | 6428 |
| 8 | Year of the Cub | 6423 |
| 9 | Dunedin Dingers | 6404 |
| 10 | Hold Me Close Ohtani Dancer | 6302 |
Touch base with FBUK
The forums on the FBUK website are where you can contribute to the conversation on how the game is run or ask technical questions.
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Thanks for playing, and good luck for the season!
Fantasy Baseball UK
