Boston had five All-Stars in the 2018 festivities, second-most of any team. These included two fan elected starters (Libra arbitration hearing winner Mookie Betts in the outfield and Leo offseason acquisition J.D. Martinez at DH), and one manager-elected starter (the pitcher Aries ace Chris Sale, whose recent trip to the DL is going to hurt his cosmic team's chances heading into the stretch run). First baseman Mitch Moreland (who is SO far down the Virgo depth chart at 1B, behind such notable names as Goldschmidt, Freeman, Votto, even Desmond, nevertheless) got two hits in this game coming in as a player ballot substitution. However Gemini star closer Craig Kimbrel didn't enter the game in relief.
It's not evident looking at their win-loss record, but injuries have beset this team's roster in every category. The starting rotation would look much more complete with breakout lefty Eduardo Rodriguez (1,145 / 60.3) instead of rookie spot-starter type Hector Velazquez, even if he is having a fine first full MLB season since making the jump from the Mexican League. Third base is currently occupied by another Eduardo, Nunez, while super utility player Brock Holt is at the keystone, but the upside of young Rafael Devers (940 / 10.6) and the track record of veteran Dustin Pedroia (5 / 1.7, but remember I said TRACK RECORD) would definitely be preferable in the playoffs. And even the bullpen saw a potentially promising weapon go down in Carson Smith (124 / 6.9), whose catastrophic circumstances literally add insult to injury. And that's not even mentioning defensive standout catcher Christian Vazquez (Leon has superior offensive numbers on the year), or starters Drew Pomeranz and Steven Wright (they've played so little this year between them to make a dent statistically).
But luckily Red Sox Prez of Baseball Ops David Dombrowski was active in finding solutions for some of these problems, at least in 2/3 of the areas mentioned above. First was to beef up their bench from the right side with Blue Jays technically-utility player Steve Pearce (447 / 12.4) who was actually the top first base (mostly) eligible player to change teams at the deadline this year. Second and actually foremost was resurgent starter Nathan Eovaldi (420 (blaze it) / 46.7) who is just now returning from multiple Tommy John surgeries. He's one of the reasons why Angels and A's fans should have some hope: true, more pitchers are succumbing to elbow ligament surgery, but more pitchers are also coming back from it... just ask Jonny Venters, another recent trade target. And last but not least, they acquired a ready-made hedge in case homegrown star Pedroia can't take the field at the keystone, Ian Kinsler (755 / 9.2) from the Angels. The number three second baseman on the Cancer Decapods fantasy astrology depth chart - behind injured DJ LeMahieu (922 / 13.0) and multi-position threat Yangervis Solarte (980 / 10.7) - was only the third-highest scoring second baseman moved at the deadline - behind Brian Dozier (1,116 / 12.0), the newest Dodger and Asdrubal Cabrera (1,094 / 11.9) who came to the Phillies several days ago.
While Chicago's NL team has the best record in the senior circuit, they however don't have the most wins: the Brewers have two more, but also two more losses. They also only had three 2018 All-Stars to Boston's (and Milwaukee's) five. Both leadoff hitter / pride of Sagittarius Javier Baez and new Taurus starting catcher Willson Contreras were voted in by the fans, while former Red Sox / current Capricorn starting pitcher Jon Lester was unavailable to pitch. Their lineup was also miraculously devoid of injury at the break - the only unavailable regular Albert Almora Jr. (799 / 9.3) was on family leave. (Of course Kris Bryant has since fallen to the DL thanks to shoulder troubles.) On the pitching side, the loss of Yu Darvish (227 / 28.4) is certainly hurting them, but his ineffectiveness was just as bad before the injury troubles started. Plus Mike Montgomery has settled in as a better option even than another offseason acquisition Tyler Chatwood (288 / 16.9) who it turns out still walks tons of batters, even outside the rarefied air of Coors Field. (And it's important to note that since the break, dependable closer Brandon Morrow has also been placed on the shelf with a biceps issue.)
Bryant's injury did not seem to bother Cubs PBO Theo Epstein too much, but the pitching injuries did, prompting him and his Jed Hoyer-led front office to acquire three pitchers in the deadline season. Two of these pitchers came from the same team (the Rangers), but they have very different roles and very different career paths. Alternating spot starter and long relief specialist Jesse Chavez (530 / 17.7) can add quality length to any bullpen. Former lefty ace Cole Hamels (737 / 38.8) is still being paid like a current ace, despite the decline in raw skills and results. However, he's strictly better than ineffectively wild Chatwood and adds comes with a good postseason resumé to boot. The most recent acquisition, from deadline day itself, was to pick up former Twins closer Brandon Kinzler (306 / 7.7) from the Nationals, where his depressed fantasy point total shows that he had been relegated to middle relief duty in Washington.
So that's it for all the teams that would have been playoff-bound If the Season Ended Today (astersisk). If the season ended TODAY today (i.e. the day after the Trade Deadline), the AL playoff picture would be the same, but in the NL the Diamondbacks would have the edge over the Dodgers and Rockies for the NL West lead. Maybe I can afford to post about one more lineup...
(asterisk) TODAY IS THE ALL-STAR BREAK, I'VE WRITTEN THAT SO MANY TIMES NOW.
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