I get this question a lot as I meet more and more people who are interested in baseball. I explain the context about how I was introduced to the sport (at least from a fan's perspective) by my family in the East Bay, and thus I adopted their affiliations. But this answer misses the bigger picture perspective of that question, which is that we're ALL fans of specific teams in order to reduce the wide world of sports down to a manageable size. Most baseball fans don't have the time or energy to keep track of all 30 MLB teams, so they pick one franchise to follow closely and use as a lens through which to view the vast landscape of the sport.
This is probably a similar motivation for a lot of people who play fantasy sports, or at least those who play for something other than the thrill of the competition. Fans who don't have a particular team to root for - or fans whose team is perennially out of contention - can follow the players on their fantasy teams to keep from getting overwhelmed. But for those who don't want to go through the trouble of maintaining a fantasy team throughout the season, yet still want a team to root for, there's always the Fantasy Astrology League.
Since my fantasy team was eliminated from the playoffs last week, I've suddenly got a new found interest in the league featuring one team for each of the 12 signs of the zodiac. I must admit that I've paid little attention to this project for the past four months, which means the teams whose projected starters remained injury- and slump-free had a distinct advantage. But despite my inactivity, we're seeing mostly familiar faces in the final four: three-time champion Libra is joined by fellow playoff regulars Aries and Virgo. The one unexpected participant is Pisces, a team that had never before posted a winning record. Let's take a look at the pieces that contributed to each team's success.
Aries and Virgo finished the regular season with identical 16-5 records, but the Rams earned the right to face the upstart Fish due to ESPN's comprehensive "Points For/Points Against" tiebreaker system. It's easy to see how Aries reached their supremacy though, with two former MVP's (Miguel Cabrera and Buster Posey) and two former Cy Young winners (Felix Hernandez and Corey Kluber). The presence of rookies such as Kyle Schwarber and Jung Ho Kang insures that this team will have star power for years to come, but they've also got solid veterans as fall back options: Jay Bruce and Michael Cuddyer in the outfield, and Starlin Castro and Jed Lowrie at shortstop. Their pitching picture gets a little murky when you consider Matt Harvey's well publicized innings limit, Corey Kluber's lingering hamstring problem, and Mark Buehrle's general "banged up"-ness. But luckily Carlos Carrasco just came off the DL and they've got Jake Odorizzi and Hisashi Iwakuma ready to step in if needed.
Pisces owes its success to top of the line pitching and not much else: Clayton Kershaw and Jake Arrieta are the only teammates averaging 90+ points per game. (The above stats were taken just before the playoffs started last week, but those two have actually improved their PPG totals since then, if you can believe it). Justin Verlander's resurgence - he's averaging over 90 PPG over the last month - and the continued dominance of their bullpen makes this a staff that few can rival. On the offensive side, it's been Chris Davis, Curtis Granderson, and a whole lot of league average hitters. A healthy Devon Travis and Denard Span would make this a much more formidable lineup, but unfortunately injuries are very real, and affecting this team in a big way. However, with the first round of the playoffs nearly half over, this matchup is closer than I ever thought it would be.
What Pisces is to a pitching staff, Libra is to an offensive lineup. This team's outfield is so stacked that they're forced to leave Carlos Gonzalez, Mookie Betts, Starling Marte, and Matt Kemp on the bench. But before you berate me for blatant mis-roster-management, consider that their starting OF+DH combo currently stacks up with Bryce Harper, Yoenis Cespedes, Jose Bautista, and Andrew McCutchen. Add in Troy Tulowitzki to the top of the order and you've got yourself a nigh-unstoppable offensive force. And the pitching staff is not only strong at the top (Zack Greinke is making a strong bid for his second Cy Young award), but deep enough to withstand season-destroying injuries to the likes of Alex Cobb and Matt Cain. And that's not even counting Josh Tomlin, who would absolutely be on the roster if I had been paying more attention...
But that oversight might not even matter, since Virgo, while they look like a strong team on paper, just hasn't been cutting it in this particular matchup. Even with Paul Goldschmidt and Joey Votto raking at the dish, and David Price and Gerrit Cole mowing them down on the mound, they currently trail Libra by more than 600 points. There is still a lot of baseball to be played and you can never rule out a dramatic comeback, but let's just say there's a reason Libra has won the astrology title all three years that this league has existed.
So if both your real life AND fantasy teams are out of the running, but you still want to experience the roller coaster ride of playoff baseball, consider throwing your lot in with one of the astrology-aligned teams. And here's the beauty part: Even if your astrological sign didn't make the final four, you can check out the league website, click on your sign's team, and then support the real life playoff team that features your sign's star players! If you still can't find any players to support from your sign, maybe I can suggest watching football...
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