Fantasy Baseball: Coca Cola Kids "B Team" Baseball Club Weeks 13-18

Week 13: 

Kids (111-81-24) vs. Trot's Cardinals (104-83-29)  13-4  "Kids Handle Trot's in Week 13"  

(3rd League)

Week 14: 

Kids  vs.  Acuna Matada  

B Team Weeks 7-12

B Team Weeks 1-6

Entering Week 13, the Kids are still in good shape, but they have bounced around the standings from 1st place to as low as 6th place in the league with inconsistent play.  Other teams in the league have discovered if they can continually slot starting pitchers in throughout the week, and pile on the innings, they can beat the Kids.  I don't play that game.  I post the best team I can without dropping and picking up pitchers because they start that day.  

Enough complaining, the Kids offense is keeping them competitive each week and the front office hopes the pitching staff can win categories not dependent on massive amounts of innings like era, wins, holds and quality starts.  The Kids have gotten really steady work from their top 3 starters Schwellenbach, DeGrom, Luzardo with Imanaga coming off the IL supposedly this week.  

At the plate, Raleigh is the team's MVP so far with Tucker, Suzuki and Schwarber close behind.  Those four are solidly supported with numbers from Pena, Betts, Olson, and Kwan.  Front office is really looking forward to some exciting play and speed on the bases from Caballero.  

Team Leaders after 13 Weeks:

Runs: 57 - Kyle Schwarber 

1B: 71 - Jeremy Pena

2B: 19 - Seiya Suzuki

3B: 4 - Kyle Tucker

HR:  31 -  Cal Raleigh

RBI: 66 - Cal Raleigh

SB:  18 - Kyle Tucker

BB:  55 - Kyle Schwarber

OPS: 1.042  Cal Raleigh

IP: 976.2 - Spencer Schwellenbach

W:   - Tie  Jacob DeGrom, Jesus Luzardo and Nick Pivetta

CG: 1 - Spencer Schwellenbach

SV: 14 - Ryan Helsley

K: 104- Jesus Luzardo

HLD:  9 - Carlos Vargas

SP ERA:  2.24  Jacob DeGrom

RP ERA:  1.71  Luke Weaver

SP WHIP: 0.92 Jacob DeGrom

RP WHIP:  0.80 Luke Weaver

QS:  11 - Spencer Schwellenbach

Here is the team roster as of the beginning of Week 13: 

C: Cal Raleigh Mariners

1B: Matt Olson, Braves

2B: Mookie Betts, Dodgers

3B: Jose Caballero, Rays

SS: Jeremy Pena, Astros

OF: Kyle Schwarber, Phllies

OF: Seiya Suzuki, Cubs

OF: Steven Kwan, Guardians

Utility: Kyle Tucker, Cubs

Bench: Willi Castro, Twins

Bench: Spencer Torkelson, Tigers

SP: Spencer Schwellenbach, Braves

SP: Kevin Gausman, Blue Jays

SP: Jacob DeGrom, Rangers

RP: Ryan Helsley, Cardinals

RP: Daniel Palencia, Cubs

P: Carlos Vargas, Mariners

P  Jesus Luzardo, Phillies

P: Nick Pivetta, Padres

Bullpen: Bryan Woo, Mariners

IL:  Tylor Megill, Mets

IL: Shota Imanaga, Cubs

Players Added Weeks 7-12

Josh Jung, 3B Rangers

Daniel Palencia, RP Cubs

Carlos Vargas, RP Mariners

Jo Adel, OF Angels

Jose Caballero, Rays

This post will be updated at the beginning of each week through Week 18.  

 

Fantasy Baseball: Coca Cola Kids "A Team" Baseball Club Weeks 13-18

Week 13: 

Kids (122-90-28) vs. Brutes FBC (106-113-21) 9-8  "Kids Hold off the Brutes Rush"  

(1st Division, 1st League)

Week 14: 

Kids  vs. Fried Chicken Bucket 

 

A Team Weeks 7-12

A Team Weeks 1-6

The Coca Cola Kids "A Team" Baseball Club finds themselves in territory they haven't seen in quite some time, first place at the end of June.  The season has settled in and the blowouts have become more rare unlike the first six weeks.  At the end of twelve weeks, the season MVP is emerging to be Cal Raleigh with Pete Crow-Armstrong a close second.  The Kids manager is happy to see Marte return from the IL picking up where he left off, and the steady play of Josh Naylor.  Front office went to the waiver wire to get a couple reliable outfield bats as Crow-Armstrong and Rodriguez's bats have shown a steady cool down.  They picked up Adolis Garcia from the Rangers and Randy Arozarena from the Mariners.  Both got off to slow 

(starts this season, but have shown an uptick in stats recently.  

The starting pitchers have been steady.  The team is looking forward to having Shota Imanaga back, but relief pitching has been a struggle and revolving door all year.  The Kids are fine to target either saves or holds, but the relief staff is not accruing either.  Expect to see a relief pitching staff turn over in the next six weeks.  

Team Leaders after 12 Weeks:

Runs: 60 - Elly De La Cruz

1B: 59 - Josh Naylor 

2B: 17 - Tie, Josh Naylor and Pete Crow-Armstrong

3B: 3 - Tie, Julio Rodriguez, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Michael Busch

HR:  31 - Cal Raleigh

RBI: 66 - Cal Raleigh

SB:  23 - Pete Crow-Armstrong

BB:  45 - Cal Raleigh

K's: 87 -  Elly De La Cruz

Ave:  .310 - Ketel Marte

IP: 96 - Framber Valdez

W:  8 - Framber Valdez

L: 7  - MacKenzie Gore 

SV: 2 - Reed Garrett

Hits: 84 - MacKenzie Gore

BB: 34 - Freddie Peralta

K: 123 - MacKenzie Gore

HLD:  17 - Jason Adam

SP ERA:  2.76 Freddy Peralta

RP ERA:  0.79 - Randy Rodriguez

QS:  11 - Framber Valdez

Team roster as of the beginning of Week 13: 

C: Cal Raleigh Mariners

1B: Josh Naylor, Diamondbacks

2B: Ketel Marte, Diamondbacks

3B: Isaac Paredes, Astros

SS:  Elly De La Cruz, Reds

OF: Adolis Garcia, Rangers

OF: Pete Crow Armstrong, Cubs

OF: Teoscar Hernandez, Dodgers

Utility: Michael Busch, Cubs

Bench: Matt Shaw, Cubs

Bench: Bryson Stott, Phillies

Bench:  Spencer Torkelson, Tigers

Bench: Julio Rodriguez, Mariners

Bench: Randy Arozarena, Mariners

SP: Shota Imanaga, Cubs

SP: Michael Boyd, Cubs

SP: Framber Valdez, Astros

SP: Freddy Peralta, Brewers

RP: Randy Rodriguez, Giants

RP: Jason Adam, Padres

P: Steven Cruz, Royals

P: MacKenzie Gore, Nationals

Bullpen: Reed Garrett

Players Added Weeks 7-12

Patrick Meadows, OF Tigers

Randy Rodriguez, RP Giants

Reed Garrett, RP Mets

Steven Cruz, RP Royals

Chris Paddack, Twins

Randy Arozarena, Mariners

Adolis Garcia, Rangers

This post will be updated at the beginning of each week through week 13.  

Things I Love About Summer: Part 3

I am not one to sleep deep into the morning like 10:00 or 11:00, but sometimes it sounds really nice.  Often when getting up for work, I just wish I could go back to bed.  That is one of the things I love about summer, sleeping in or at least the idea that I could. 

There is something absolutely wonderful about the idea that, if I wanted to, I could just keep hitting
snooze and not get up on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or even Friday.  I love that about summer.  Or, what's better, not even setting an alarm at all.  

As mentioned above, I don't typically sleep much past 6:00 am on most days (even summer), but recently I slept deep into a morning to where I debated if I should just hold off about 30 minutes and have lunch instead of breakfast.  I must say, when I have a day like that, it isn't as much fun as I think.  Yeah, I feel more rested, but the guilt and thought that I lost half a day normally tortures my mind that it doesn't end up feeling great.  I have to wonder if other people (adults) feel that way.  

I know my children don't!!  They have no problem on summer break or weekends for that matter sleeping in until noon.  Actually, I can't complain, I remember doing that myself.  I was notorious for staying up late in my bedroom as a teenager making Dungeons and Dragons characters and dreaming of their heroics if I actually got to play them in the game.  I know, that sounds weird, but if you play the game, you know that for some people, making the characters is a large part of the fun.  I made so many characters late at night that while I played the game all the time with friends, there was no way most of those characters would ever see a dice roll for them.  But, I would stay up to the wee hours of the night doing that or reading a book (most of the Lord of the Rings trilogy was read either in a canoe or in the overnight hours), and I would easily sleep until noon.  

Noon was actually an important wake-up time during my teen years, because I would start work at 12:45 pm at the town swimming pool as a concession stand worker and later as a lifeguard.  On days I didn't work, it was not an uncommon occurrence that my mom would let my friends in the house to wake me up around 10:00 am to go to lunch or garage sale shopping or whatever else it was kids did in the morning in the summer during the decade of the 1980s.  

Even thought sleeping in isn't something I often do and even thought when I do it is often followed by a certain guilt or FOMO, just the thought that I could if I wanted to is one of things I love about summer.  

Things I Love About Summer: Part 2

Every year, a week or two after school has closed out for the summer, a vacant lot on what we will call the "main drag" of our little town and towns across the Midwest is filled with a traveling amusement park for the annual town festival.  There is something about these town festivals that I love even though I rarely attend them any longer.  

Growing up in Oswego, Illinois just outside of Chicago, we had Oswego Days later to be called Prairie
Fest where the main street of town turned into an outdoor shopping, eating, drinking, festival in the evenings and summer nights.  Music filled the streets of downtown with the municipal band playing in the park and later a rock and roll or country music band on the street near the sponsoring tavern.  Downtown shops put racks of clothes and tables of summer merchandise on the sidewalks, the fire station held some kind of water hose and bucket on a wire contest that I remember but had no idea what was happening other than a lot of water spraying all over.  The water brigade was welcome as it was normally sunny and hot.  I attended those festivals for years and years.  During my high school years, I participated in the annual Oswego Days parade as a Cub Scout and later marching in the band.  I sang solos and duets at Ice Cream socials during the festival, and I attended and rode the rides of the traveling amusement park in a field near the elementary school.  

Today, in the town I call home, we have the Good Neighbor Days renamed from the Cherry Festival after a tornado decimated the town in 2013.  It was a well intended name as it symbolized the unity of the community after the tornado, but people continue to call it the Cherry Fest confusing those who are not in the know.  It is kind of amusing and around our house we call it both names without blinking an eye.  

Even though I don't attend the festival any longer, it is still one of the things I love about summer.  My kids go the festival at night to hang out with friends and ride the rides, but the idea of festival has really changed over the years.  There isn't a parade any longer.  I don't see any bands or music on a schedule to attend.  There are the rides, a 5K run, and a pancake breakfast, but that is about it.  This is no shade on any committee or chamber of commerce, it reflects the society in which we live.  Has it been shaped by social media?  Maybe the COVID pandemic forever changed festivals, or maybe the national political divide has something to do with it.  Nevertheless, I still love the small town festivals despite the notable changes and lack of umph.  They are throwback to community and excitement for something good.  They are a throwback to neighborhoods and the community coming together for fun.  Perhaps they are a thing of the past, but who knows, maybe as the pandemic fades from memory and the political pendulum swings and maybe even the negativity and criticism that social media creates will settle, these little town festivals will continue to do what they are intended to do, bring communities together.  Maybe the bands will return to spread their music.  Maybe the parades with classic cars, fire trucks, and floats will return and people will be happy and excited.  

I think this is what I love about the small town festival.  It is hope for community.  It is hope to showcase the towns in which we live.  It is symbolic of our shared community and love of place.  For these things and more, it is one of the things I love about summer.  

Things I Love About Summer: Part 1

Fifteen years ago, I dropped 4 very short posts about things I love about summer.  You can see the first one here in August of 2010.  See?  I mentioned, they are very short.  

I have been inspired again to revisit and reflect on things I love about summer.  The summer months are quite meaningful to me largely because I work in education and have these months off from the day-to-day of being with students.  I still work, but it is a completely different environment when the students aren't there and my schedule is much more flexible.  But, I recall before I went in to education, the summer months were still notable.  The long days of sunlight and warm to hot weather definitely create a Jimmy Buffet "changes in latitude, changes in attitude" sort of feel.  

Here I plan to share some of my favorite things about summer.  I hope it inspires you to stop and smell the roses of summer wherever you are.  Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments right here on Seeking Positivity in the Galaxy.  

To begin, one thing I love about summer are the gatherings of friends outdoors.  Just the other night here in late May, my family and I went to an annual gathering at a good friend's house to watch fireworks that are held during our town festival.  We gather in the driveway for drinks and snacks where we visit and catch up on things like how the high school softball team qualified for the sectional championships earlier that day, and how we all enjoyed or didn't enjoy the newest summer movie releases.  We join in the annual harassment of how the Cubs or Cardinals are great or terrible or in an intense race for first place early in the season.  It is always a good time to catch up. 

Then as the sun decides to retire around 9:00 pm, we all make it to our seats on the driveway for the annual fireworks show.  It isn't the greatest show on Earth, but it is our show in our small Midwest town.  It is just fine, because it isn't about the greatness of the fireworks themselves, but it is about the friendships and sharing this experience every summer.   For that, it is one of the things that I love about summer!  

Fantasy Baseball: Coca Cola Kids "B Team" Baseball Club Weeks 7-12

The Coca Cola Kids "B Team" ballclub has had a nice start to the season after six weeks with 10 wins above losses (54-44-10).  The ballclub is solid all around, but some holes have appeared.  The kids are having a hard time filling the third base position. Willi Castro is just not doing the heavy lifting management thought he would do.  They picked up Noelvi Marte who is off to a solid start for the Reds with decent numbers across the board, but he is currently sitting on the IL.  Castro is back in while the Kids continue to look for a way to fill the 3B hole.  

The Kids pitching staff is solid up and down the bullpen, but the good weeks are good, and the bad weeks are bad; there isn't much in between.  The starting staff all have ERA's below a 4.00 with the high ERA at 3.97 and the low at 2.72.  Relief pitching has been fair.  Management is looking for one more reliver to add to the team for holds.  One spot that hurts is the Kids lost a top starter to injury as Shota Imanaga went to the IL.  

Team Leaders after 7 Weeks:

Runs: 37 - Mookie Betts

1B: 38 - Jeremy Pena

2B: 12 - Spencer Torkelson

3B: 4 - Tie, Kyle Tucker

HR:  15 - Tie Kyle Schwarber and Cal Raleigh

RBI: 39 - Seiya Suzuki

SB:  12 - Kyle Tucker

BB:  33 - Kyle Tucker

OPS: .952  Kyle Schwarber

IP: 61.1 - Spencer Schwellenbach

W:  5 - Tie  Bryan Woo and Nick Pivetta

CG: 0

SV: 9 - Ryan Helsley

K: 57 - Jesus Luzardo

HLD:  6 - Luke Weaver

ERA:  2.00 - Jesus Luzardo

WHIP: 0.59 - Luke Weaver

QS:  7 - Tie, Spencer Schwellenbach and Bryan Woo

See Weeks 1-6 Here

Week 7: 

Kids vs. Gourmet by Gorman  6-9 (6th in League) "Kids Fall in Standing, Struggling to get Wins"  

Week 8: 

Kids vs. Anyone but the Cubs  13-3 (3rd in League) "Offense Comes to Play Against Anyone" 

Week 9: 

Kids vs. Splendid Splinters  12-2 (1st in League) "Kids Split the Splinters for Dominating Win"

Week: 10: 

Kids (85-58-19) vs. All Choked Up  (78-68-16)  5-12 (4th in League) "Kid's Pitching Choked Didn't Score a Point" 

Week 11: 

Kids (09-69-21) vs. Underdawgs  (39-121-20)  14-4 (2nd in League) "Kid's Show Up and Dominate" 

Week 12: 

Kids (104-73-21) vs. Release the Kimbrel (85-90-22)