Gemini - 2009 Ten Year Retrospective

After analyzing the 2019-20 versions of Aries and Taurus, I went back 20 years to see how those signs measured up as represented by All-Star Baseball 2001 for the Nintendo 64 (Aries here and Taurus here). I will likely follow suit with Gemini, but first I'm making a stop at the halfway point and doing a ten-year retrospective for the Gemini Twins of 2009. I'm not quarantining with my PS2, so I won't be able to accompany this post with screenshots from MLB 10: The Show. Instead you'll have to be content with starting lineups and rotations represented by my patented baseball database in spreadsheet form.

Starting with the top fantasy point-scorer on the team, 2009 was the year that Ben Zobrist burst onto the scene as an All-Star super utility player, seeing time at every position on the diamond except for pitcher and catcher. Ironically enough, he's best utilized at his primary position of second base in this lineup, since new Philly Raul Ibanez and Houston Astro Carlos Lee have the corner outfield spots locked up (not to mention starting DH Jason Kubel, who spent plenty of time on the grass as well). Speaking of Carlos Lee, when I put together my preliminary Astrology All-Decade teams, I cheated somewhat by putting the Panamanian outfielder at first base for most of the latter half of the 2000's (the decade, not the millennium), even though he didn't start playing first base regularly until 2010. The emergence of Cuban slugger Kendrys Morales for the Angels makes '09 one of the rare years in that time frame where Gemini had a decent hitter actually qualify at first base.

Speaking of putting players at positions for which they didn't technically qualify, that was the case with Jhonny Peralta at third base for most of his Gemini career, given that he was a shortstop first and foremost. Peralta normally ceded his primary position to Jose Reyes - 10 out of 12 times 2006 thru 2017 - although various leg injuries kept the longtime Mets shortstop from action in '09, opening the door back up to his predecessor Miguel Tejada (the Gemini shortstop from 2000 thru '05). In case you're not familiar with the color-coding of my lists, the green in the position column next to Matt Wieters indicates that 2009 was the uber-prospect's rookie year, although it's clear to say he didn't measure up to the expectations. Meanwhile the cyan shading on Scott Hairston's name columns means that he changed teams during the season (traded from the Padres to the A's), although Hairston is only manning center field due to Josh Hamilton's missing a large portion of 2009 with rib and abdominal injuries.

How's this for a parallel: current Gemini ace Jacob deGrom won the NL Cy Young Award in 2018 and 2019, while GEM09 ace Tim Lincecum won the same award in 2008 and 2009. Creepy, right? Unlike the Twins teams teams of the recent years, however, The Freak didn't have a star-studded supporting cast of starters backing him up in 2009. Jake Peavy actually had the next best per-game performance, but that came in an injury-shortened season that he split between the Padres and the White Sox. As for the rest of the rotation, Andy Pettitte was well past his prime during his return engagement with the Yankees, Carlos Zambrano was perhaps better known for his prowess with the bat, winning his third Silver Slugger trophy in 09, and Joe Saunders was little more than an innings eater for the Angels.

The 2009 Gemini bullpen was actually quite impressive, even in the last year before longtime closer Craig Kimbrel's MLB debut. Jonathan Broxton was in full swing closing games for the Dodgers, having taken over from Japanese import Aquarian Takashi Saito the year prior. Rookie of the Year closer Andrew Bailey was one of the few bright spots on a third place Athletics team, although his career never took off as hoped. Cubs ninth inning specialist Kevin Gregg wins the battle for the third spot, but there are two more bona fide save-getters behind him on the depth chart: Mike Gonzalez of the Braves and Kerry Wood who settled in as the Indians closer after redefining himself as a reliever with the Cubs in 2008.

Gemini - 2019 Fantasy Astrology Baseball Recap

Well, the karmic wheel has turned to Gemini, and there is still no concrete hope of Major League Baseball resuming any time soon. Due to this coronavirus-related delay, rather than look at the Gemini Twins Fantasy Astrology roster through the lens of projected 2020 rankings. So instead, I'm doing a retrospective look back at the top performing Gemini's of 2019, much like I did with Taurus earlier this month.

The three core offensive players in this lineup are all eligible at third base, but only two of which are represented in my patented collage made from the pre-2019 and 2020 issues of Lindy's magazine. Anthony Rendon, fresh off a World Series championship with the Nationals (his only team up until now) signed a giant free agent contract to star opposite Mike Trout in Anaheim. Yoan Moncada recently started delivering on his former top prospect status, the same year that the White Sox moved him from the keystone to the hot corner - he'll serve as the Gemini DH with the presence of Rendon. And fellow Cuban Yuli Gurriel has primarily been a first baseman here in the states, but he spent some time at third for the Astros while Alex Bregman was covering short for the injured Carlos Correa.

Working around the fringes of the roster, I've played a bit fast and loose with some positional qualifications in order to compile the highest-scoring group of players. The above pencilled-in lineup features an outfield of David Fletcher and Corey Dickerson in the corners flanking Avisail Garcia, who played some center field with the Rays last year, but not enough to qualify. This configuration would leave shortstop entrusted to Eric Sogard, a primary second baseman with Toronto and Tampa Bay in 2019, but who has seen action all around the infield in his career. If you want to be a stickler for center field eligibility, Harrison Bader would replace Sogard in the lineup, with Garcia moving back to his customary right field, and Fletcher shifting to shortstop. If you consider this layout from a simulation standpoint (as opposed to focusing strictly on fantasy points), Bader's stellar defense might offset the offensive gap between him and Sogard, especially if the latter's newfound home run stroke turns out to be mostly smoke and mirrors.

But Gemini's strength in recent years has been the pitching rotation, and this year is no different. Jacob deGrom is coming off two straight Cy Young awards, and 2019 All-Star Game MVP Shane Bieber almost equalled him in fantasy points in his breakout season. Aaron Nola fell off from his otherworldly 2018 performance, but he still scored essentially the same amount of points as emergent (Minnesota) Twins ace Jose Berrios. Those four are all represented in my collage, leaving only Zack Wheeler pictureless - although he's certainly not penniless, having signed a big free agent deal with the Phillies in the offseason.

Speaking of the Phillies, their closer Hector Neris leads a weak bullpen, points-wise, although it's certainly not lacking for upside and name recognition. Matt Barnes came this close to being Boston's new closer, before the 2019 breakout of Leo Brandon Workman. Speaking of Red Sox closers, Craig Kimbrel was this sign's top reliever for 8 of the past 9 years, but an extended stay on the free agent market last offseason didn't do him any favors before he signed with the Cubs. And 2016 postseason hero Andrew Miller never quite recovered from his overusage that year, but the talent and the track record are certainly there.

As far as pitching depth goes, Gemini also boasts sign-stealing whistleblower Mike Fiers, Padres youngster Joey Lucchesi, deGrom's current and Wheeler's former Mets teammate Steven Matz, Angels promising lefty Andrew Heaney, and Indians graduating rookie Aaron Civale. This impressive pitching staff looks like it won't get too much support from a top-heavy but weak lineup, although remember that Gemini was a tiebreaker away from winning the fairly shallow Air Division last year, and anything can happen in the playoffs. In a simulation environment, however - where the teams are divided by quality instead of element - there's no chance that the Twins will overtake the absolutely stacked Sagittarius Archers in the Positive Mutable Division. Who knows, maybe baseball will still be happening by the time Sagittarius rolls around if a delayed start pushes the season into the winter...

Astrology Baseball 2019 Playoff Recap

When I went back through my 2019 Baseball Database to calculate the top-scoring roster of the Taurus Bulls, I also did the same for the other eleven signs, because... we're in quarantine and why not? I then totaled up the fantasy points for each team's lineup for the sake of comparison. (For our purposes, a lineup includes 17 players total: five starting pitchers, three relievers, eight position players, and a designated hitter.) As it happens, Taurus scored the lowest aggregate point total of any sign; although to be fair, 2019 had the smallest range between the top- and bottom-scoring teams in the last two decades. Check out the chart below to see the full fantasy astrology landscape from 2019.

As you can see, along with each sign's 2019 point totals, I've included their polarity, element, and quality, which are different ways to divide the signs up into divisions, depending on your simulation method. For a traditional head-to-head fantasy league, I find it easiest to just make four divisions based on the elements. But when you're running a simulation using a video game, and have to connect each sign to a real-life team, the best option is to use the three qualities, to link up with the East/Central/West divisional alignment. The Positive/Negative polarity divide works with either format, separating all the signs into two six-team "leagues."

As far as what actually happened last year, Virgo ended up winning the fantasy championship over Leo. I also ran a simulation using MLB The Show 19, where Aries ended up victorious over Taurus, so as you can see, overall point totals are not a good predictor of who will eventually come out on top over the course of a season. Winning a league championship requires a great deal of good timing: avoiding injuries, receiving favorable matchups, and having the right players get hot at the right times. Simply adding up all the points scored by all the players on a particular team doesn't tell nearly the whole story. But it is a good starting point for looking back on past fantasy astrology seasons.

In a fantasy league setting, where the top team in each division makes the final tournament, we would be looking at a bracket like the one above. That is, in fact, exactly how things turned out in the actual league, despite the fact that it was set up for weekly head-to-head matchups. Actually, it's not EXACTLY how it turned out: ESPN's fantasy baseball client swapped the matchups, since they generate the bracket based on win-loss record rather than leagues. Speaking of win-loss records, I also included each sign's to show you how things stacked up. So, just like using the point-total-only method, some of the top teams are left out of the final shuffle: Sagittarius and Gemini both also finished 13-8, but SAG finished two games behind LEO, while GEM was awarded a mystery tie-breaker against LIB... and BOTH finished above Cancer, which was just two games ahead of their closest divisional rival Pisces (9-12).

The Leo Lions, the top overall scoring sign of 2019, achieved their greatness because of, who I like to call the Three M's: Mike Trout, Max Scherzer, and J.D. Martinez. You could add more, like sturdy veteran starter Madison Bumgarner, graduating rookie Mike Soroka, and barely-missed qualifying middle infielder Adalberto Mondesi. But the latter three lags the top three in both point-scoring potential (6,980 points to 5,180) and star power (3 MVP's, 3 CYA's, 9 Silver Sluggers and 18 All-Star appearances for the top three, versus just 2 Silver Sluggers (both MadBum's) and 5 ASG's).

I know assuming that overall point totals correlates to win-loss record is patently false... but let's do it anyway, for the sake of predicting what a projected playoff bracket would look like in a simulation based on the current MLB postseason structure. With the current one-game Wild Card play-in situation, only one team from each league gets left out of the festivities: sorry Aquarius and Tarurus, maybe next year.

In this configuration, both the Leo Lions (see above) and the Cancer Crabs would get first round byes. Believe it or not, there is a tragic connection between these two teams: one of Mike Trout's best friends was the late Tyler Skaggs, who died unexpectedly last year. (Trout is actually seen wearing Skaggs's jersey #45 in one of his full size feature pics in Lindy's 2020 preview magazine.) The incredible thing is that before his Skaggs passed away, he accrued enough fantasy points to make one final appearance in the CAN rotation. He is a tremendous talent, who will continue to be missed across the game.

Looking at the numbers, Cancer only beat Pisces by a handful of points. Diving deeper, I can tell you that wouldn't have happened if I didn't play fast and loose with positional eligibility rules in the above lineup. As constructed, the Crabs infield from first to third would be DJ LeMahieu, Trea Turner (because he's played there before, even though he didn't qualify - and also any shortstop COULD technically play second base), Jorge Polanco, and Eugenio Suarez. If you're a stickler for second base eligibility, Turner and Lemahieu would both shift to their right, Cody Bellinger would come IN from the outfield, and Ramon Laureano would take his place in center field. This would result in a net loss of about 480 points, and rocket Pisces into the points lead of the Negative League.

Obviously the name that jumps out is defending (and two-time) Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander, just because of his rare milestone of eclipsing 3,000 fantasy points in a season. The fact that he's followed by three-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw makes this an even more devastating rotation. (Also, think back to 2018 when Luis Severino was healthy, and you begin to see the true potential here.) I've talked enough about how I mistakenly classified Brad Hand as an Aries for years... so instead, I'll mention the line of four 2,000-point scoring outfielders in a row in the middle of their lineup. While it doesn't approach the tragedy of Skaggs, it's worth mentioning that Trey Mancini is currently recovering from surgery to remove a malignant growth, so I'd like to extend my best wishes to him and his family.


So that's what the Fantasy Astrology Playoffs in 2019 would have looked like, if they were determined by fantasy point totals alone. I don't have my copy of MLB The Show 19 anymore. (I sadly traded it to GameStop for credit towards the new one... which I couldn't even collect because of the coronavirus...) But if anyone can recommend some good simulation software, I would be interested in plugging these numbers in and seeing what happens!

Taurus - 2019 Fantasy Astrology Baseball Recap

Last week, in honor of it being Taurus season, I posted a video about the how the Taurus Bulls Fantasy Astrology Baseball squad might look, as simulated by MLB The Show 20. I was going to follow up that video game-centric analysis with one focused on head-to-head fantasy baseball. But then it got depressing, looking forward to an MLB season that very well might not happen - and the depressing part is that it probably SHOULD not happen, given our country's response to the coronavirus. So instead, I opted to take a more retrospective look, focusing on the 2019 Taurus Bulls, as viewed through maximizing the fantasy points the players scored last year (as opposed to projecting the top points totals that the players will score in the coming year). Enjoy more of my patented color-coded Excel spreadsheets, and images from Lindy's magazine baseball previews.

In the video, I praised speedster Jonathan Villar's versatility, but the ironic thing is that he is best served in this team's DH slot. Looking down the positions he qualifies for, Jose Altuve is a fixture at second base (unless the aftermath of the sign-stealing-scandal is that he's simply not that good without cheating, but that seems unlikely), and Corey Seager had a decent, if injury-shortened, season at shortstop. It doesn't even make sense putting him in center field, like the Marlins were planning to do when they acquired him pre-pandemic, since Victor Robles plays spectacular defense, while doing just enough with the bat to land among the Taurus top nine 2019 point scorers. Narrowing our focus to the top five, Robles will be flanked in the outfield by Austin Meadows and Michael Brantley, the same as in the game simulation - ditto with Matt Chapman at third, whose top-flight glove is just a bonus where fantasy points are concerned.

Across the diamond, things get a little interesting. Going strictly by points, Joc Pederson should get the nod at first base, thanks to his newly (and barely) gained eligibility there. However, two spots under him, we get Miguel Sano, who scored fewer overall points (1,585), but had a huge advantage in points-per-game (15.0), showing that he mashed the ball during the brief stretches when he was healthy last year. He also hadn't yet officially transitioned over to first base, but I tend to lean more towards ability than eligibility when determining these retroactive rosters. Speaking of players who are good when healthy, the top-RATED Taurus on MLB The Show doesn't even factor into this roster because of injuries, but Aaron Judge racked up 14.3 PPG when he was on the field in '19. Also worth mentioning, the highest points per game amongst Taurus batters belongs to slugging outfielder Aristides Aquino (15.8), while '19 rookie utility player Tommy Edman actually surpassed Seager with 12.9 PPG.

Four of the top five starters projected by The Show also appear on this roster, although not in the order presented here: Lynn and Stroman are the one-two, but John Means is rated below Trevor Richards, despite a roughly 15-point differential in points per game. Ironically, Homer Bailey, who himself averaged more than 40 PPG, is rated below Zack Godley, who barely cracked 11. Other 40-pluses in the Taurus player pool include graduating rookie Jordan Yamamoto of the Marlins (42.0), and still-rookies Tony Gonsolin (45.0) and Jose Urquidy (41.6). The bullpen does include three players who served as closers for at least part of the 2019 season, but the top-scoring alignment only includes two of them: Emilio Pagan and Mychal Givens, with Sam Dyson earning the nod over Shawn Kelley, who put up a line of 699 / 13.7 as the part-time ninth-inning option for the Rangers, in his last season before threatening to retire.

Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 5 Review

WARNING: MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD!!!1 

"I don't think she decided ahead of time that she was going to do what she did. And then she sees the Red Keep, which is, to her, the home that her family built when they first came over to this country 300 years ago. It's in that moment, on the walls of King's Landing, where she's looking at that symbol of everything that was taken away from her, when she makes the decision to-- to make this personal." 

- Game of Thrones co-creator D.B. Weiss

I don't usually watch the "Inside the Episode" features, even of shows that I follow closely. But I thought I'd check it out for Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 5 to see what the show's creators had to say about Daenerys Targaryen's out-of-the-blue-yet-somehow-strangely-predictable departure from seven seasons' worth of character development. And that was the best that Weiss could offer: she decides "to-- to make this personal." But the decision to burn all the innocent people in King's Landing alive had nothing to do with any "personal" grudge of Dany's - it essentially amounts to her becoming a fantasy war criminal.

Khaleesi has been through hell over the show's history: she's been bullied, beaten, raped, lied to, stolen from, sold into slavery, had attempts made on her life, and subjected to all sorts of torture, both mundane and magical. Throughout it all, she has seemingly not lost sight of her goal: to retake the throne that had been in her family's possession for generations, and establish herself as a benevolent monarch who has the people's best interest at heart. And I just don't buy that anything that happened to her up to this point in the current season would cause her to become so violently unhinged.

Granted, the Dragon Queen has been through some rough times in the previous two episodes: she's witnessed the deaths of two of her most trusted friends and advisors - Jorah Mormont (a.k.a. Ser Friend Zone, a.k.a. Jorah the Explorer*) and Missandei of Naath (who was probably the only one in Dany's retinue who knew all of her various honorifics). Not to mention, one of her two remaining dragons just got crossbowed out of the sky (in what had to have been the most boneheaded strategical maneuver of the whole show. I mean, had no one on her team ever heard of "reconnaissance?" Maybe just do one high altitude flyover on a dragon before sending the whole fleet into an enclosed bay. Or have Bran warg into a seagull and check the situation a couple days in advance, rather than just using his powers to spy on the Night King while he was brushing his teeth before the Battle of Winterfell). Oh, and she did just learn that her erstwhile lover is secretly her nephew, who has a stronger claim to the throne than she does, based on the antiquated medieval rules of succession.

* All credit to YouTuber Ozzy Man Reviews for the mint nicknames.

So yes, that is a lot to have gone through in a short span of time. But is it any worse than what she's suffered in Seasons 1 thru 7, none of which caused her to lose her cool and sacrifice all the goodwill that she's fought to achieve? GoT co-creator David Benioff starts off the post-episode dive into Daenerys's motivations by pointing out that, for the first time, she is operating without some of the close friends and advisors who have helped her make these tough decisions in the past. So, what, has Jorah been Dany's moral compass the whole time? The same guy who was originally hired to kill her, and basically changed his mind because she was pretty? Tyrion is at least twice as smart, and three times as persuasive, and he's been counseling her against mass slaughter from the start. And despite their newly-complicated family situation, Jon Snow seems pretty even-tempered as far as civilian-burning is concerned. It's not as though she's suddenly devoid of reasonable people to listen to.

But I keep going back to Weiss's phrase: "make this personal." What personal grudge did Khaleesi have against the random people that she decided to exterminate? As far as I can tell, there was exactly one (1) person in King's Landing who wronged Daenerys in the past, and she happened to be standing right next to a window in the most exposed tower in the city (at least from a flying dragon's perspective). If Dany was really taking things personally, she would have flown up to the Red Keep, blasted Cersei in the face with some dragonflames, and gone about the business of, you know, establishing herself as that benevolent monarch, which has been her goal for 71 of the 72 episodes of Game of Thrones so far. She did not "make things personal," she revealed herself as secretly insane.

Which brings us to the question of her lineage. Before he was deposed, Dany's father was known as "The Mad King," with a penchant for burning his enemies alive while he watched and cackled maniacally. Then you have lines like, "every time a Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin and the world holds its breath." So I get it, she was genetically predisposed to mass murder, so when you think about it, they've actually been setting this up from the very beginning of the show. Because the nature-vs.-nurture debate has been solved, and nothing that happens in a person's life can temper or counteract the crazy they're born with. Benioff and Weiss might as well have explained it by saying, "What we didn't explicitly tell the viewers, is that Dany was on her period during the invasion of King's Landing, which caused her actions to become erratic and unpredictable." Frankly, that's the kind of explanation I would expect from showrunners who see serial rape as the equivalent of character development, and who write lines like, "Men decide where power resides, whether or not they know it." (Emphasis mine.)

So as we prepare for next week's series finale, I'll close with a sentiment I recently saw on twitter dot com:

We'll all sunk cost our way through this last episode together

— Kimber Streams (@kimberstreams) May 13, 2019

Oh, also this one is really good too:

please this is so funny now pic.twitter.com/e7L1RWLUf0

— ju (@wildtargaryen) May 7, 2019

Thoughts about Game of Thrones Season 7 Episode 2

After a week spent setting the scenes and reminding the viewers where everyone stands for the new season, we're back to the typical GoT format of laying out some well-thought-out and promising plans for all our favorite characters, only to make us watch them explode spectacularly in a giant fireball. But there were also four other storylines this week that weren't quite so catastrophic, so let's unpack everything that went down (organized by storyline this time, not chronologically).

The latest massive disappointment involves this week's A Story, which picks up right where last week's episode left off, with the supergroup of Daenerys, Tyrion, the younger generation of Greyjoys, the Sand Snakes, and the one surviving Tyrell who matters. (For ease of color-coding, I'm going to group all these characters under Dany's red banner, unless they break off into their own specific missions.) After a header where Daenerys basically demands "honest loyalty" from Varys, Melisandre shows up looking for new bandmates. Everyone's favorite Red Priestess writes a glowing letter of recommendation for the current King in the North Jon Snow, and recommends that they let him into the group, despite the fact that he had her exiled from the North on account of her stance on human sacrifice.

In the next scene in this storyline (Scene 6 overall), once the entire band has shown up to practice, Tyrion breaks out the setlist for their next show: Theon and Yara will use their ships to bring Ellaria's army from Dorne to Westeros, which will help Olenna besiege King's Landing, while the Unsullied mount an attack on the Lannister home base of Casterly Rock. It all seems to make a lot of strategic sense, and there's even some sparks that fly between the women from Sunspear and Pyke... until Scene 11, when crazy uncle Euron bursts in and takes the first step in fulfilling the promise he made to Cersei in the last episode. The mad pirate makes quick work of Yara's fleet, killing two of the sand snakes, capturing the other two, along with his niece Yara, and reducing Theon to the blubbering whimpering shell of a man, who abandons ship and blows yet another chance to take action and save one of the important women in his life.

So not but five scenes after we hear about it, Tyrion's plan for a two-pronged assault falls apart, as it's hard to besiege a port city with just half the ground troops you were expecting to have and no naval superiority. Come to think of it, why did nobody mention Euron's Iron Fleet in any of their previous strategy meetings? Did they just not entertain the possibility of him teaming up with Cersei? If all the heroes can band together, why not the villains as well? Although if Euron continues on with his ships to Dragonstone, Daenerys might have to pivot to a defensive stance before mounting any kind of offensive in any direction. Unless the Unsullied already marched off towards Casterly Rock - it's hard to tell because some of the timing was a little confusing in this episode. For example, the raven that Dany sends to Jon in Scene 1 arrives in Winterfell in the very next scene, whereas the one Sam sent in Scene 8 of the previous episode doesn't arrive until Scene 9 of Episode 2. Maybe the Oldtown email servers are not as fast as the ones they have at Dragonstone...

Speaking of Winterfell, Jon and Sansa's stories look likely to split after the new King in the North agrees to take Davos to meet with Daenerys in order to try and get his hands on some of her sweet, sweet dragonglass, a.k.a. obsidian, i.e. the anti-White Walker element. But I wouldn't be surprised if the vibe between Jon and Dany gets a little steamy, just based on how many people are trying to set them up, and based on the fact that no one knows that Jon is actually Daenerys's nephew. Remember that only Bran knows the truth of Jon's real parentage - Rhaegar Targaryen (Daenerys's brother) and Lyanna Stark (Ned's sister) - although even if something does happen, I feel like we've heard that "the Targaryens have wed brother and sister for a hundred years" enough times that maybe no one will care... which will not make it any less weird. Speaking of Bran, why no one at Castle Black thought to send a raven telling Jon that his brother arrived at The Wall is completely beyond me. The Night's Watch must really need a better broadband connection...

Sticking with the theme of the Stark children, we pick Arya's storyline back up without any indication whether or not she killed Ed Sheeran and his band of wholesome Lannister soldiers on her way to kill Cersei at King's Landing. The youngest Stark girl reunites with her old traveling companion Hot Pie, who recaps Season 6, Episode 9: Battle of the Bastards, causing her to change course and head back up north to meet Jon at Winterfell. While he'll probably be on his way to Dragonstone at that time, I imagine Arya would still be happy to see her sister, provided Littlefinger hasn't made some creepy power play regarding Sansa. Who knows, maybe Arya will arrive just in time to save her from said power play? Whatever she does, she'll have to do it without her wolf Nymeria, who has become Queen of the Wolves since her last appearance in Season 1, Episode 2: The Kingsroad, and has no time for her former owner.

Arya's change of plans can only be good news for Cersei and Jaime, (both colored magenta, until their interests stop being aligned). In their first scene, Jaime makes a play to lure Randyll Tarly away from Team Tyrell (more on the Tarly clan later). Then Qyburn, the new Hand of the Queen, tells Cersei it's no worries about Daenerys's mythical flying beasts, since he's developed the ultimate in anti-dragon weaponry: a big fuck-off crossbow. Dun-Dun-DUNNNNN!!!! Seriously? We've seen you use your mad science to reanimate a corpse, and the best you can come up with is a CROSSBOW? But based on the "this just might be stupid enough to work" principle, I'm almost certain that thing is gonna be responsible for taking out at least one dragon. Probably Drogon.

This week's E story features the continuation of Sam's rebellious behavior in maester school. Last week he stole some books from the secret members-only section of the library, and this week he's performing experimental invasive surgery without permission... or anesthetic. At least carving off Jorah's infected greyscale skin wasn't nearly as gross as emptying about a million chamber pots full of maester shit. Based on how this story was presented ("You have ONE DAY before we exile you!" "That surgery is FORBIDDEN!"), I'm pretty confident that Sam will be successful and Jorah will have the same results as Shireen Baratheon (before she got burned alive). Otherwise that would've been an awful lot of setup just to eke out some more screen time for a couple of minor characters.

Missing from this episode were Bran Stark and Sandor Clegane. The latter I can understand, as I still consider "The Hound" a rookie in terms of carrying his own storyline (he's only really had five scenes as the protagonist), so you don't necessarily want to feature him in every episode. But as I've already mentioned, the fact that Bran and his head full of magical flashback-knowledge has now been at Castle Black for almost two full episodes and no one else knows about it is kind of mind-boggling. The only explanation I can see is that these stories are presented non-linearly, and maybe Bran and Meera's arrival at The Wall actually happens much later in the show-timeline than it does in the episode-timeline. I just wish we didn't have to wait a whole week in real time to see how much time will have passed when the show picks up again.

Thoughts About Game of Thrones Season 7 Episode 1

For a long time, I resisted Game of Thrones, for much the same reason that I resisted Harry Potter: people kept telling me it was "better than Lord of the Rings." Now, I'm a die-hard Frodo Fanatic, so a comment like this was usually enough for me to turn my nose up in indignation and refuse to acknowledge the matter further. My wife even bought me the first book in the series (not because she's a reader, but because she thought I might like it, bless her heart), and I started to read it, but quit part way through. Lord of the Rings isn't filled with nonstop action or salacious political intrigue, but when I read those books, I feel like I'm reading the basis of something that could become an Oscar-winning blockbuster film series. By contrast, when I read Game of Thrones, I feel like I'm reading something that could be the basis of a cheesy TV program. But then, something utterly expected happened: they made Game of Thrones into a cheesy TV program... and it turned out to be damn compelling.

I'm not saying Game of Thrones is perfect show, nor am I saying that there weren't some moments that were so disturbing and distasteful that I considered not continuing to watch. But when taken as a whole, over more than six seasons (just barely, as of last night), I'd say there were more fun moments than cringe-worthy ones. And over those 6+ seasons, I started to get a little obsessed with the show, as is my nature - I read all the books between seasons 4 and 5, and then prior to this season, I re-watched (most of) the show and tracked all the storylines in a color-coded document, for my own amusement and edification. If only there were a career path where I could put some of these skills to use. Oh, right, there is: TV producer. Anybody want to see my Emmy (certificate)?

Anyway, let's look back at the Season 7 premiere and see how each scene falls into place when considering the larger arc for each story:

WARNING: SPOILERS AND ADULT CONTENT AHEAD!!!

Scene 0. (Cold Open) Arya finishes off the Freys

My color-coding system technically tracks characters, not storylines per se, although Arya Stark has had her own storyline since Season 1, when her father Ned allowed her to pursue her own interests (i.e. water dancing) rather than forcing her to conform to established gender roles. Side note: Ned had his own storyline in Season 1 (for which I used Dark Green), which was then continued by his eldest son Robb in the next two seasons (since his main reason for becoming King in the North was to avenge his father), all the way up through the Red Wedding - which was prominently featured in this week's Prev On segment. In this direct reversal of the Red Wedding to start this season, Arya makes use of the class levels of Assassin she gained while working for the Faceless Men to impersonate the (literally) late Lord Walder Frey and lure all his kinsmen to their poison-induced doom. Then, after she unmasks, Mission: Impossible style, Arya delivers an updated version of House Stark's words: "Winter came for House Frey," or as it will surely be parodied in the Game of Bones porn parody: "Winter came... ALL OVER House Frey!"


Scene 1. Bran and Meera arrive at Castle Black

This scene exists pretty much just to showcase the special effects on the army of the dead (now with giants!) and to reassure viewers that Brandon Stark will in fact appear in this season (he sat out all of Season 5 while he was gaining class levels in Druid with the Three-Eyed Raven). Oh, also to remind us that "Dolorous" Edd Tollett is now in charge of the Night's Watch. Side note: did anyone else think they were gonna do a gag where Edd bumped his head on the gate as he turned to go back into the tunnel under the Wall?


Scene 2: Sansa disagrees with (but respects) Jon's style of leadership

If only there were a song about being reunited and it feeling so good, it could be the theme song for the combination of Jon Snow and Sansa Stark's storyline into one. I counted this one as a Jon scene because the main content revolved around Jon making decisions in his capacity as King in the North; or at least "all the LIVING North." Most of the subtext occurred during the second part of the scene, a sidebar between Jon and Sansa, which also provides some good "Uncle/Father" fodder for the Arrested Westeros Twitter account.


Scene 3: Cersei refuses Euron's marriage proposal

This scene is also split into two parts. In the first part, Cersei Lannister-Baratheon (is she still technically Baratheon after Robert died?) recaps all her enemies and Jaime Lannister posits that they desperately need some allies. (Jaime gets his own color for all those episodes he was off with Brienne and then later Bronn... all the B characters.) Then in part two, Cersei rejects one of those potential allies, Euron Greyjoy (uncle of Theon), who offers a marriage proposal, "a thousand ships, and two good hands." He's off to find a suitable present for the Queen, which will probably involve bad news for the Starks in one way or another.


Scene 4: Sam gains access to Oldtown's restricted area

In the first episode where Oldtown is featured on the Main Title Map, everyone's favorite future maester Samwell Tarly stars in his very own training montage! After emptying more buckets of shit than should be allowed to be shown on cable television, Sam sweet talks his maester-mentor into letting him into the adult section of the Oldtown library so he can do his part to fight the incoming zombie apocalypse... with KNOWLEDGE! Side note: I enjoyed seeing Jim Broadbent make his first GoT appearance if only because it gives me the excuse to make the case that he should play Tom Bombadil in the long-awaited spinoff of the Lord of the Rings films...


Scene 5. Brienne distrusts Littlefinger

Even though Brienne of Tarth has her own storyline in my color-coding system (she took over Catelyn Stark's storyline since Brienne is oath-bound to carry on Cat's main mission in life: to protect the Stark children), I gave this scene to Sansa because she's the one making the decision to let Littlefinger stay in Winterfell. Sansa rightly points out that "Littlefinger saved us," but she neglects to mention that the saving came after he sold her out to the Boltons and all but promised to deliver her head on a spike to Cersei Lannister. (That was in Episode 506, Scene 5, although it wasn't featured in the Prev On.)


Scene 6. Arya camps with some Lannister soldiers

We've already seen Arya at her most badass, so this scene really only exists as a vehicle for an Ed Sheeran cameo (who I wouldn't have recognized had my wife not been sitting next to me, mostly ignoring the show as I watched). I did, however, recognize the song he was singing, as it was one of my favorite lines of verse in the book series.


Scene 7. The Hound sees a vision in the flames

Sandor Clegane is the protagonist of the newest storyline in the series, as he only started getting his own scenes to carry 7 episodes into Season 6. He was an important character prior to that, but his scenes were always subsumed by more important characters: specifically Sansa when she was at King's Landing, and then Arya when he took her captive and tried to sell her for ransom. But now it looks like the Hound is not only getting over his fear of fire, but he's also joining the fight against evil in earnest.


Scene 8. Sam learns there is dragonglass on Dragonstone

OK, that's what HAPPENS in the scene - it's a callback to Scene 2 when Jon starts his meeting by telling everyone to keep their eyes open for any dragonglass (i.e. obsidian) they can find because of its use against White Walkers. But the main revelation in this scene (as predicted by Ozzy Man in his review of the Season 7 trailer) is that Jorah Mormont (who never really had his own storyline) has not yet found a cure for his greyscale and is slowly but surely turning into a stone man. Tough break for Jorah the Explorer...


Scene 9. Daenerys arrives at Dragonstone

This scene consists of only one line of dialogue (not counting the SEAGULLS SCREECHING and DRAGONS SCREECHING descriptives that appear in the closed captions), but it's tremendously significant in the Game of Thrones timeline, as it represents the end of Daenerys Targaryen's journey from across the Narrow Sea to her ancestral home on Dragonstone... the very same dragonglass-rich Dragonstone that is the title of this week's episode! Also of note, her entourage includes prime mover/shaker Tyrion Lannister, and they arrived using ships provided by Theon and Yara Greyjoy. And Khaleesi also unveils another gem in her collection of Going Out Tops, the original backronym for GoT.

Magic Booster Battle Packs Through the Years

Last night I played some Friday Night Magic - not the kind where you go to a game store and draft with a bunch of strangers, but rather just three old friends gathering around the coffee table for some casual formats. In honor of the impending return of Nicol Bolas to the Standard environment in Hour of Devastation next month (and because we're all sick of each other's Commander decks - our own included), I decided to break out some vintage Two Player Booster Battle Packs from way back in Magic 2013. Not only was this the last tournament legal set to feature a Nicol Bolas planeswalker card, but it was also accompanied by a markedly superior Booster Battle Pack experience than its more recent counterparts - at least in my opinion.

The idea behind a Booster Battle Pack is simple: each player receives a pre-constructed deck and a 15-card booster pack, from which they can pick a up to five (5) cards to add to their deck. In the days of Magic 2013, the base decks were two colors and consisted of 20 cards each, all from the M13 Core Set. This basic format continued through Return to Ravnica, Gatecrash, and Magic 2014 (with decks from the former two sets being Guild-specific) before the product was replaced with the Duel Decks-esque Clash Packs for Magic 2015. I was a little disappointed with this change, not least because these customizable mini-decks were the only way I could get my wife somewhat interested in playing Magic with me.

Then, a little over three years after the last Booster Battle Packs were released, I was surprised to find that they had returned for Shadows over Innistrad last year! I picked up a couple of these for nostalgia's sake, and was equally surprised to see some pretty big changes. First of all, the two-color 20-card decks were replaced by mono-color 30-card decks, which means that you get a larger base selection in exchange of roughly half the available options of cards to add to the deck from the booster pack... which kind of cheapens the appeal of a BOOSTER battle pack, don't you think?

The other biggest change from previous BBP's was that the cards in the deck were not just from the set featured on the box. In addition to some cards from Shadows over Innistrad, the deck also included cards from both sets in the previous block (Battle for Zendikar and Oath of the Gatewatch), but also some new reprints from the "Welcome Deck 2016" mini-set. These consist of one rare, one uncommon, and one common per color (with an extra common for Black), which immediately put the thought in my head that I had to collect them all, which I'm sure was the Wizards of the Coast product designers' intentions.

I never achieved that goal: I never got a red deck, despite purchasing no fewer than five of the new BBP's before they changed over to the Kaladesh branding. I even picked up a couple of the Kaladesh packs, only to find that the decks inside disappointingly stayed the same - only the booster pack was updated. What's more, I didn't even get any cool accessories for my troubles: in the old format, each player's materials came packed in a classy cardboard mini-deck box. These included both the pre-constructed deck and a booster pack, leaving no doubt as to which booster pack belonged to which player. Conversely, the new battle packs just throw the decks and two boosters in with some flimsy packaging, leaving you with no way to store your new cards after you're done playing with them. It might not seem like much, but going the extra mile in terms of presentation can have a big impact on how much players enjoy the overall experience.

As for the actual games we played last night, since there were three of us, we had to open up two battle packs and leave one of the decks on the sidelines. Fortunately, the unplayed deck happened to be a repeat of one of the decks we had in the three-for-all game: a red/black deck with some lesser dragons and enhanced with a Mark of Mutiny from the booster pack, which made Bloodthrone Vampire that much better. My other opponent had the same blue/white deck that my wife had all those years ago (fliers with a milling subtheme), although she was lucky enough to pull an Odric, Master Tactician, whereas my opponent last night had to make due with a Odric's lowly Crusader. The W/U deck won the first game, thanks to a well-timed counterspell, while I took the second game with a green/black deck that had a somewhat conflicting strategy of green critical mass of creatures and black exalted.

Even though nobody pulled a Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker (or any planeswalker for that matter), it was still a quick and unique gaming experience that I would wholeheartedly recommend over the likes of the booster battle packs that are out now. But who knows: considering that Wizards is going back to printing Core Sets just two years after removing them from the lineup, maybe they'll go back to the superior battle pack format as well.

WBC06 Retrospective

This year, baseball fans enjoyed the fourth ever World Baseball Classic tournament. And while four isn’t typically an ideal number for a retrospective (which usually come in multiples of five), I happen to have the time and the resources to do some historical thinking right now. Plus, given the four-year gap between tournaments (adopted between the second and third iterations), it’s unlikely that any major players in the inaugural 2006 tournament will still be active for the next WBC. So before anyone else retires, here’s a look at the rosters from that 2006 tournament, with a focus on players who are still playing in the major leagues (2006 stats in parenthesis).

Starting with the first ever WBC Champions, Team Japan had only two players on their roster who had any major league experience going into the 2006 tournament, given that Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league has a very strong pool of players to draw from. These were right fielder and leadoff hitter Ichiro Suzuki (2,249 fantasy points, 13.9 points-per-game, playing for Seattle), who picked up his fifth consecutive All-Star appearance and Gold Glove award in 2005, and relief pitcher Akinori Otsuka (395 / 6.0 / SDP), who had plenty of closing experience in Japan (137 saves in 7 seasons), but whose only experience as an MLB closer came in the year directly following this tournament. Ichiro is one of three players who are currently active in the majors, joining Nori Aoki (1,732 / 12.0 / NPB’s Yakult), who is now starting for the Astros (just like he started the last two games of WBC06, replacing Kosuke Fukudome in CF for the semi- and final), and Koji Uehara (1,715 / 63.5 / Yomiuri), who was Japan’s #1 starter in WBC06, despite the fact that his work in the majors has mostly been as a standout reliever (save for his 12-start debut season in 2009 for the Orioles).

Honorable mention for active MLB players goes to Munenori Kawasaki (1,030 / 10.1 / Daiei, now Softbank), as the starting shortstop for JPN in 2006 just signed a deal to return to the NPB after being released by the 2016 MLB Champion Chicago Cubs. And then another type of honorable mention goes to the seven other Japanese players who would reach the majors at a later date. These include WBC06 (and 09) MVP Daisuke Matsuzaka (2,473 / 88.3 / Seibu), who would have a nice career (including a World Series win in his rookie year of 2007) pitching for the Red Sox and Mets. Also Kosuke Fukudome (2,455 / 17.3 / Chunichi), who bat third and played CF for most of the WBC06, had a much-heralded arrival to the MLB via the Cubs, but only lasted parts of five seasons in the majors. For reference, the other future major leaguers on JPN’s 2006 roster were 2B Tsuyoshi Nishioka, 3B Akinori Iwamura, SP Tsuyoshi Wada, and RP’s Kyuji Fujikawa and Yasuhiko Yabuta.

WBC06 runners up Team Cuba has just one active player in the majors, and he took somewhat of a roundabout route to the big leagues. Yulieski Gurriel (1,044 / 11.7 / Sancti Spiritus of Cuba's Serie Nacional) played 2B and 3B for CUB in 2006, 09, and 13, before finally breaking into the majors with the Astros as a first baseman. Of course, the versatile Gurriel could play any number of positions today, even at the age of 33, but Houston has some pretty impressive talent at the corner infield/outfield spots these days. Only two other players for Cuba in 2006 made it to the majors: longtime White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez (1,273 / 14.3 / Pinar del Rio), who was actually primarily a center fielder back in his days with the CNS, and pitcher Yunesky Maya (755 / 36.0 / Pinar del Rio), who appeared in the WBC06 three times in relief, although he was used as a starter in his native country. In fact, all 13 pitchers who appeared in the tournament for Cuba in 2006 started back in Cuba, and I find it interesting that Cuba's manager Higinio Vélez chose not to go with a mix of established starters, closers, and middle relievers.

Semifinalist South Korea's only active major leaguer is Cardinals closer Seung-hwan Oh (2,135 / 35.0 / KBO's Samsung in '06), who, like Gurriel, only made it to the bigs in 2016 at the age of 33. However, the 2006 version of KOR's roster had seven players with MLB experience, including first baseman Hee-seop Choi (894 / 6.7 / LAD), ace pitcher Jae-weong Seo (982 / 70.1 / NYM), swingman Chan-ho Park (619 / 20.6 / TEX-SDP), and right handed reliever Byung-hyun Kim (600 / 15.0 / COL).

With the other semifinalist, the Dominican Republic, we get the largest collection of current MLB talent from the whole '06 tournament. 2005 NL MVP Albert Pujols (2,986 / 18.5 / STL) isn't going to approach 3,000 points in a season again, and with a history of foot injuries he can barely play the field anymore, but he's still a solid contributor for the Angels. Adrian Beltre (1,587 / 10.2 / SEA, remember when he played for the Mariners?) is currently on the DL, but when he comes back he'll give the Rangers quality offense and defense, even at age 38. Jose Reyes (2,122 / 13.2 / NYM) is back with the Mets after a whirlwind tour around the majors and the legal system, but this time he's more of a utility infielder than a starting shortstop. Bartolo Colon (2,171 / 65.8 / LAA) won the AL Cy Young Award in 2005 leading up to the tournament, and while that hardware was arguably undeserved, he's still chugging away for the Braves well into his 40's. Fernando Rodney (651 / 16.7 / DET) has pitched in three of the four WBC's for DOM (he sat out in 2009), and he's still viewed as a closer by members of the Diamondbacks front office. During the season leading up to the 2006 WBC, then-23-year-old Francisco Liriano spent most of the year pitching in the minor leagues - 2,012 points, 74.5 PPG, split between Minnesota's AAA and aa affiliates. Now of course, he's a seasoned veteran pitching for Toronto.

Honorable mention goes to DH David Ortiz (2,899 / 18.2 / BOS), who retired just in time to keep him from playing in his third WBC this year. However, this Dominican Republic team has something we haven't seen in the previous three teams we've looked at: players who went on to play for the World Series winners in the same year as they participated in the WBC. This year, the honors go to Albert Pujols and right fielder Juan Encarnacion, teammates on the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals. That year, STL defeated the Detroit Tigers, for which fellow Dominicans Placido Polanco and Fernando Rodney played. As I look at the rosters from rest of the World Baseball Classics (World Baseballs Classic?), it'll be interesting to see if there is any correlation between WBC performance and MLB playoff appearances.

The 2017 WBC champion Team USA had just three currently active major leaguers on its roster back in 2006, although that number could be expanded to six if you squint really hard. Chase Utley (2,293 / 15.6 / PHI) and Matt Holliday (1,789 / 14.3 / COL) were both primarily bench players during WBC06, and in 2017 they each have roles where they're prized more for their veteran leadership than their offensive production. Huston Street (1,671 / 24.9 / OAK) won the Rookie of the Year honors and made it to the ALCS with the Athletics in 2005, although his time as the Angels closer is likely finished, even when he gets off the DL. Joe Nathan (2,222 / 32.2 / MIN) was the star closer on this 2006 team, but he had to settle for a minor league deal with Washington this year. Another 2005 rookie Jeff Francoeur (942 / 13.5 / ATL) and WBC06 ace Jake Peavy (2,268 / 75.6 / SDP) remain unsigned almost three weeks into the 2017 season, but will both presumably be available down the line. Honorable mentions go to 2005 AL MVP Alex Rodriguez (3,001 / 18.5 / NYY) and his former Yankees teammate Mark Teixeira (2,791 / 17.2 / TEX), who both called it a career following the 2016 season.

Let's fly through the active major leaguers on the rest of these teams rather quickly, shall we? Puerto Rico has then-center fielder Carlos Beltran (1,770 / 11.7 / NYM) and then-backup catcher Yadier Molina (847 / 7.4 / STL), who also earned a World Series ring in 2006. Also, if you're confused to hear the role "backup catcher" associated with Yadi, know that that's only because the depth chart was headed up by Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez. Interestingly enough, Pudge played for the team that lost to Molina's Cardinals in the 2006 World Series, making this the first time that opposing catchers on World Series teams played for the same WBC squad. Venezuela has current Tigers teammates Miguel Cabrera (2,466 / 15.6 / FLA), Victor Martinez (1,767 / 12.0 / CLE), AND Francisco Rodriguez (2,033 / 30.8 / LAA). K-Rod is still closing games, but Miggy and V-Mart are now limited to 1B and DH after playing 3B/LF and C, respectively, in 2006. Continuing Detroit's connection to Venezuelan talent, WBC06 members Carlos Guillen and Magglio Ordonez each played for the World Series runners up that year.

In 2006, Team Mexico trotted out 23-year-old first base prospect Adrian Gonzalez (1,385 / 16.5 / TEX AAA), who had just recently made his MLB debut and who is now a veteran starter in Los Angeles. Oliver Perez (441 / 22.1 / PIT) has recently carved out a niche for himself as a lefty reliever in Washington after starting in the WBC06, while Jorge De La Rosa (166 / 4.4 / MIL) is trying to bring his career full circle by returning to the bullpen for Arizona after spending the majority of his career as a starter in Colorado. Team Canada's starting first baseman Justin Morneau (1,411 / 10.0 / MIN) was rather uninspiring leading up to the 2006 tournament, but he would go on to win the AL MVP award the next season. CAN's #2 starter Adam Loewen (1,018 / 36.4 / BAL A+) spent Spring Training 2017 in the Rangers' big league camp as a pitcher after a brief turn trying to make it as an outfielder.

The rosters of the last four teams contained one active major leaguer apeice. Italy had then-ace pitcher Jason Grilli (1,195 / 42.7 / DET AAA) who has now settled into a relief role for Toronto. Panama (remember when Panama had a WBC team?) featured catcher Carlos Ruiz (1,059 / 10.6 / PHI AAA), who had yet to make his major league debut at the time of the tournament. Australia used Peter Moylan (did not play in 2005) out of the bullpen, who started 2017 as a member of Kansas City's big league bullpen after once again pitched in the WBC this year. And Jair Jurrjens of the Netherlands (1,354 / 52.1 / DET A) parlayed his performance in the 2017 WBC into a minor league deal from the Dodgers.

32 players; that's a fair amount of current major league talent that appeared in the very first ever WBC tournament back in 2006! It'll be interesting to see how many (if any) of these players are still active during the next WBC in 2021.

Batman Arkham Knight Let's Play Archive

This post will serve as a hub for all content related to my Batman: Arkham Knight Let's Play, including links to both the videos and recaps/commentary.

UPDATE: All video links have been updated with new and improved HD versions! Enjoy!

Episode 1: Scarecrow

Episode 1 of the Batman: Arkham Knight story mode, edited into 15 half-hour episodes! This one features some backstory, Scarecrow's inciting incident, and introduces Batman's signature piece of equipment!

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv5DsGICbQU&list=PLFZxztgBabeZcjrSwhp1PjCbBMAGYsKIt&index=2&t=0s

Blog Recap: http://thoughtsaboutbaseball.blogspot.com/2016/03/batman-arkham-knight-lets-play-1.html

Episode 2: The Arkham Knight

In Episode 2 (of 15) of the Batman: Arkham Knight story mode, we meet one of Batman's most trusted allies, earn an upgrade for the Batmobile, and come face to face with the game's title character!

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCS7Bx0yVaA&list=PLFZxztgBabeZcjrSwhp1PjCbBMAGYsKIt&index=3&t=0s

Blog Recap: http://thoughtsaboutbaseball.blogspot.com/2016/04/batman-arkham-knight-lets-play-2-arkham.html

Episode 3: The Joker

In Episode 3 (of 15) of the Batman: Arkham Knight story mode, we finish rescuing the ACE Chemicals workers, confront Scarecrow for the first time, and deal with a demon from Batman's past!

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZBUMH3GgzM&list=PLFZxztgBabeZcjrSwhp1PjCbBMAGYsKIt&index=4&t=0s

Blog Recap: http://thoughtsaboutbaseball.blogspot.com/2016/04/batman-arkham-knight-lets-play-3-joker.html

Episode 4: The Riddler

In Episode 4 (of 15) of the Batman: Arkham Knight story mode, Batman tells Gordon the truth about his daughter, we get a firsthand look at Oracle's captivity, and the Riddler's nefarious plot is revealed!

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdWb3P3lD9c&list=PLFZxztgBabeZcjrSwhp1PjCbBMAGYsKIt&index=5&t=0s

Blog Recap: http://thoughtsaboutbaseball.blogspot.com/2016/04/batman-arkham-knight-lets-play-4-riddler.html

Episode 5: The Penguin

In Episode 5 (of 15) of the Batman: Arkham Knight story mode, Batman tracks down the Arkham Knight, reunites with his very first sidekick, and pays a visit to the Penguin's secret hideout!

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeXZ8a6PBz4&list=PLFZxztgBabeZcjrSwhp1PjCbBMAGYsKIt&index=6&t=0s

Blog Recap: http://thoughtsaboutbaseball.blogspot.com/2016/04/batman-arkham-knight-lets-play-5-penguin.html

Episode 6: Simon Stagg

In Episode 6 (of 15) of the Batman: Arkham Knight story mode, Batman infiltrates Simon Stagg's airships, does some fingerprint-related detective work, and comes face to face with Scarecrow once again!

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0HN3NP0xXI&list=PLFZxztgBabeZcjrSwhp1PjCbBMAGYsKIt&index=7&t=0s

Blog Recap: http://thoughtsaboutbaseball.blogspot.com/2016/05/batman-arkham-knight-lets-play-6-simon.html

Episode 7: Harley Quinn

In Episode 7 (of 15) of the Batman: Arkham Knight story mode, Batman witnesses a tragic occurrence, defends the movie studios from Harley Quinn, and discovers new ways to work together with Robin!

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6hgdx5mrl0&list=PLFZxztgBabeZcjrSwhp1PjCbBMAGYsKIt&index=8&t=0s

Blog Recap: http://thoughtsaboutbaseball.blogspot.com/2016/05/batman-arkham-knight-lets-play-7-harley.html

Episode 8: Robin

In Episode 8 (of 15), we work with Robin to subdue the remaining Joker-infected patients, while re-living one of the most traumatic moments in Batman's history!

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXK-ZuoHugc&list=PLFZxztgBabeZcjrSwhp1PjCbBMAGYsKIt&index=9&t=0s

Blog Recap: http://thoughtsaboutbaseball.blogspot.com/2016/05/batman-arkham-knight-lets-play-8-robin.html

Episode 9: Two-Face

In Episode 9 (of 15) of the Batman: Arkham Knight story mode, we enlist Poison Ivy's help to stop Scarecrow's toxin, interrupt Two-Face's bank heist, and see a darker side of Bruce Wayne!

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PuG9N5j24E&list=PLFZxztgBabeZcjrSwhp1PjCbBMAGYsKIt&index=10&t=0s

Blog Recap: http://thoughtsaboutbaseball.blogspot.com/2016/05/batman-arkham-knight-lets-play-9-two.html

Episode 10: Poison Ivy

In Episode 10 (of 15) of the Batman: Arkham Knight story mode, Scarecrow unleashes his fear toxin, Batman finds reinforcements for Poison Ivy, and the Arkham Knight launches yet another drone tank assault!

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzofK-gGwNI&list=PLFZxztgBabeZcjrSwhp1PjCbBMAGYsKIt&index=11&t=0s

Blog Recap: http://thoughtsaboutbaseball.blogspot.com/2016/05/batman-arkham-knight-lets-play-10.html

Episode 11: Nightwing

In Episode 11 (of 15) of the Batman: Arkham Knight story mode, Batman battles the Arkham Knight's tank, Poison Ivy gives power to her plants, and Nightwing gets himself into trouble!

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XG_B5DH4Co&list=PLFZxztgBabeZcjrSwhp1PjCbBMAGYsKIt&index=12&t=0s

Blog Recap: http://thoughtsaboutbaseball.blogspot.com/2016/06/batman-arkham-knight-lets-play-11.html

Episode 12: Red Hood

In Episode 12 (of 15) of the Batman: Arkham Knight story mode, Batman picks up Commissioner Gordon's trail, battles the Arkham Knight's largest vehicle yet, and learns the identity of his newest enemy!

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxAUVpVT2bY&list=PLFZxztgBabeZcjrSwhp1PjCbBMAGYsKIt&index=13&t=0s

Blog Recap: http://thoughtsaboutbaseball.blogspot.com/2016/07/batman-arkham-knight-lets-play-12-red.html

Episode 13: Commissioner Gordon

In Episode 13 (of 15) of the Batman: Arkham Knight story mode, Batman gets a pleasant surprise about a member of his team, defends the GCPD from a drone attack, and revisits the Riddler's challenges!

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0diPefsTVxM&list=PLFZxztgBabeZcjrSwhp1PjCbBMAGYsKIt&index=14&t=0s

Blog Recap: http://thoughtsaboutbaseball.blogspot.com/2016/08/batman-arkham-knight-lets-play-13-jim.html

Episode 14: Catwoman

In Episode 14 (of 15) of the Batman: Arkham Knight story mode, Batman and Catwoman foil the Riddler's plans, Batman staves off another attack on the GCPD, and Scarecrow makes his final play!

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSB7luSDXIA&list=PLFZxztgBabeZcjrSwhp1PjCbBMAGYsKIt&index=15&t=0s

Blog Recap: http://thoughtsaboutbaseball.blogspot.com/2016/08/batman-arkham-knight-lets-play-14.html

Episode 15: Batman

In the 15th and final episode of the Batman: Arkham Knight story mode, Batman turns himself over to Scarecrow, takes a journey through his mind palace, and receives help from an unexpected source!

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0pDR2GulyI&list=PLFZxztgBabeZcjrSwhp1PjCbBMAGYsKIt&index=16&t=0s

Blog Recap: https://thoughtsaboutbaseball.blogspot.com/2019/11/batman-arkham-knight-lets-play-15-bruce.html