Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Dr. Joeckel and Carlos Hyde
It's that time again: Time to come up with a clever fantasy football team name and put a corresponding picture online so that I can reference it in my fantasy league. So without further ado, I give you: Dr. Joeckel and Carlos Hyde!
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Fantasy Astrology All-Star Game 2016
As you may know, we are in the midst of Baseball's annual All-Star Break, which is a perfect opportunity to analyze the players on this year's All-Star rosters. I know I haven't finished writing blog recaps for all 15 episodes of my Batman: Arkham Knight Let's Play, but I'm taking a break from that because a) it's a momentous occasion in the baseball season, and b) I just can't bear to see this Batman project come to end... So without further ado, here are the starting lineups for each league's All-Star team, complete with fantasy point totals as of the All-Star Break:
As you can see from the points column, the American League All-Stars had a much more potent offense than their National League counterparts: four (4) AL players had higher fantasy point totals than the NL's highest scorer (Kris Bryant, who was surpassed by Jose Altuve, Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, and David Ortiz). However, you can also see that the NL starting pitcher Johnny Cueto is averaging about 10 points per game higher than the best the AL could offer (Chris Sale, who was the highest scoring pitcher on the AL roster - see below for more details). This is all the more impressive from the pitching side when you consider Cueto wouldn't have come close to starting the game, were it not for injury/timing concerns surrounding Clayton Kershaw, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Strasburg, and Madison Bumgarner.
But in addition to tracking fantasy points and positional eligibility (note that this column does not necessarily follow where each player took the field in the All-Star Game itself), this chart also tracks which Fantasy Astrology team each player belongs to - which is nicely color-coded next to each player's preseason rank from MLB.com's fantasy player rater. As you can see, Libra has the lead among All-Star starters with four representatives, with Aries and Scorpio hot on its heels with three each. I'll keep a running tally of this piece of trivia as we continue into each team's reserves:
Starting with the bottom of the list, I'd like to note something to note right off the bat: Dexter Fowler and Yoenis Cespedes were voted to start by the fans, but did not play due to their injury status. (Just the latter part of that statement is true of Cardinals infielder Matt Carpenter.) In Astrology terms, this would have tied Aries and Libra with four reps apiece, as CarGo and Cespedes cancel each other out, but for the running tally, I'll keep track of everyone, including injury replacements. And after all non-starting position players are accounted for, Aries sneaks into the lead with eight (to Libra's seven, and Scorpio's six). One thing to note is the absence of a Pisces All-Star, despite the fact that the fish-related sign's team won the fantasy astrology championship last year, the first title to not go to Libra since the project's inception four years ago.
One more note about the formatting: you might notice how Matt Wieters is the only non-injured player whose name is not in bold typeface, which indicates that he would not be a current starter at his position on his astrology team (Gemini) - that honor goes to fellow All-Star reserve Jonathan Lucroy. Going back to the top, these players are arranged by their positions in the batting order in which they came into the game, so it's not a representation of numbers. If it were, Josh Donaldson would be at the top, as his point total so far has surpassed all other position players in the sport. In fact, the only players to surpass him are the aforementioned teammates Cueto and Bumgarner, and the hands down best pitcher in the game...
Clayton Kershaw, the only NL All-Star pitcher who is actually on the disabled list during the All-Star Break. As you can see, no one comes close to his 116.9 points per game tally, the only player to surpass 100 PPG so far this year, regardless of sample size. The top group of pitchers for each team are listed in the order in which they entered the All-Star Game, while the second group has a color-coded B/T column to show that they either rode the bench last night (blue) or were injured (red). You can see how the NL had a large advantage in terms of ace-caliber starters, while the AL had a larger component of shut-down relievers - very similar to the breakdown of the actual teams of the two All-Star managers Terry Collins (who leads the Mets and their enviable glut of young arms) and Ned Yost (whose Royals had a historically good bullpen run during their championship season last year).
And the final astrology tally: Aries takes the crown with a whopping 12 players represented in the 2016 All-Star festivities. Capricorn had a surprise surge to second place with 10, while Libra was stuck at nine, just one ahead of its cusp-mate Virgo. I don't know what practical purpose this fantasy astrology analysis could serve, unless it blossoms into some sort of betting community, like Draft Kings for the spiritual community. But until then I'll continue to track it because it's just one column of many on my patented 40-man roster spreadsheet project. Anything to put off writing those last few posts about Batman and putting Arkham Knight behind me forever, right?
As you can see from the points column, the American League All-Stars had a much more potent offense than their National League counterparts: four (4) AL players had higher fantasy point totals than the NL's highest scorer (Kris Bryant, who was surpassed by Jose Altuve, Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, and David Ortiz). However, you can also see that the NL starting pitcher Johnny Cueto is averaging about 10 points per game higher than the best the AL could offer (Chris Sale, who was the highest scoring pitcher on the AL roster - see below for more details). This is all the more impressive from the pitching side when you consider Cueto wouldn't have come close to starting the game, were it not for injury/timing concerns surrounding Clayton Kershaw, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Strasburg, and Madison Bumgarner.
But in addition to tracking fantasy points and positional eligibility (note that this column does not necessarily follow where each player took the field in the All-Star Game itself), this chart also tracks which Fantasy Astrology team each player belongs to - which is nicely color-coded next to each player's preseason rank from MLB.com's fantasy player rater. As you can see, Libra has the lead among All-Star starters with four representatives, with Aries and Scorpio hot on its heels with three each. I'll keep a running tally of this piece of trivia as we continue into each team's reserves:
Starting with the bottom of the list, I'd like to note something to note right off the bat: Dexter Fowler and Yoenis Cespedes were voted to start by the fans, but did not play due to their injury status. (Just the latter part of that statement is true of Cardinals infielder Matt Carpenter.) In Astrology terms, this would have tied Aries and Libra with four reps apiece, as CarGo and Cespedes cancel each other out, but for the running tally, I'll keep track of everyone, including injury replacements. And after all non-starting position players are accounted for, Aries sneaks into the lead with eight (to Libra's seven, and Scorpio's six). One thing to note is the absence of a Pisces All-Star, despite the fact that the fish-related sign's team won the fantasy astrology championship last year, the first title to not go to Libra since the project's inception four years ago.
One more note about the formatting: you might notice how Matt Wieters is the only non-injured player whose name is not in bold typeface, which indicates that he would not be a current starter at his position on his astrology team (Gemini) - that honor goes to fellow All-Star reserve Jonathan Lucroy. Going back to the top, these players are arranged by their positions in the batting order in which they came into the game, so it's not a representation of numbers. If it were, Josh Donaldson would be at the top, as his point total so far has surpassed all other position players in the sport. In fact, the only players to surpass him are the aforementioned teammates Cueto and Bumgarner, and the hands down best pitcher in the game...
Clayton Kershaw, the only NL All-Star pitcher who is actually on the disabled list during the All-Star Break. As you can see, no one comes close to his 116.9 points per game tally, the only player to surpass 100 PPG so far this year, regardless of sample size. The top group of pitchers for each team are listed in the order in which they entered the All-Star Game, while the second group has a color-coded B/T column to show that they either rode the bench last night (blue) or were injured (red). You can see how the NL had a large advantage in terms of ace-caliber starters, while the AL had a larger component of shut-down relievers - very similar to the breakdown of the actual teams of the two All-Star managers Terry Collins (who leads the Mets and their enviable glut of young arms) and Ned Yost (whose Royals had a historically good bullpen run during their championship season last year).
And the final astrology tally: Aries takes the crown with a whopping 12 players represented in the 2016 All-Star festivities. Capricorn had a surprise surge to second place with 10, while Libra was stuck at nine, just one ahead of its cusp-mate Virgo. I don't know what practical purpose this fantasy astrology analysis could serve, unless it blossoms into some sort of betting community, like Draft Kings for the spiritual community. But until then I'll continue to track it because it's just one column of many on my patented 40-man roster spreadsheet project. Anything to put off writing those last few posts about Batman and putting Arkham Knight behind me forever, right?
Monday, July 4, 2016
Batman: Arkham Knight, Let’s Play #12 - Red Hood
UPDATE: While the video has been updated, none of the commentary below (from 2016) has! Please consider this a re-post!
It's been more than a month since I posted a blog recap to accompany an episode of my Batman: Arkham Knight Let's Play, but my schedule in recent weeks was such that I just barely had enough time to complete the series on time(ish), the entirety of which can be found here on my blog! But back to this episode: the main calling card of Episode 12 is the sheer amount of spoilers, starting possibly with the very title of the episode itself! But, then again, if you don't get the reference, then it's not technically a spoiler. And if you DO get the reference, you've probably already figured it out a while ago. Either way, here are my behind-the-scenes thoughts on the climax of the rising action of Batman: Arkham Knight.
We start this episode tracking Commissioner Gordon's police radio, which is the first time we've seen him since he stormed off and went in search of Scarecrow seven episodes ago. And while long absences of major characters are never fun, this type of storytelling actually helps the case for a live-action version of this game by making it more feasible to cast A-list actors in these supporting roles. It would probably be easier to convince someone like Bryan Cranston to take time from his busy schedule to play Jim Gordon if he was only in a handful of scenes. Casting implications aside, it's nice to see old Jimbo back in our narrative, even if it means he was somewhat predictably captured by Scarecrow.
The first act basically follows the action of the game (somewhat trimmed down, of course) as we make our way through the Arkham Knight's HQ, a multi-level underground dungeon, which requires us to attach the Batmobile's power winch to a secure point at the top and lowering the car down the side of a gigantic ventilation shaft. The comedic highlight of this episode happens during this sequence, when Joker paints a priceless picture of the Arkham Knight lamenting his defeat in the previous episode by "hanging out in some tacky dive bar, splashing glasses of cheap whiskey all over that masked face of his." Act 1 culminates with Batman crashing a briefing of some of the Arkham Knight's top soldiers, who somehow have some disturbingly accurate information about the inner workings of the Batsuit - harkening back to Episode 2 where the Arkham Knight spouts off the same information during our first in-person meeting. Where could he be getting his intel?
Luckily this course of action leads us directly underneath the room where Commissioner Gordon is being held hostage by a group of soldiers consisting almost exclusively of ninjas and medics. After we clear the room, but before we free the Commissioner from his bonds, we're confronted once again by the Arkham Knight in the flesh, who pulls a classic supervillain mistake and reveals his darkest secret right when he thinks he's won. Follow the link to find out the true identity of Batman: Arkham Knight's main antagonist...
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