A blog analyzing Major League Baseball through the lens of Astrology
Welcome to Astrology Baseball, a project where I arrange MLB players into teams based on their astrological signs, and then pit those teams against each other in mock fantasy seasons.
All-Time Since 1990: Water Signs
So far I’ve looked at the new 1990’s additions to my All-Time database for signs in the Earth and Fire divisions. This post will feature the Water division signs, which are led by Scorpio. The 165 Scorpions players who started on a FABL team through the 1990’s put up 1,827,177 total fantasy points, which is all the more impressive considering only Sagittarius had fewer total players in that span.
FABL 2021 Season End
Another Fantasy Astrology Baseball League season is now in the books, with the Taurus defeating Libra by a rather decisive 2,161 to 1,738 fantasy point margin. And I find it fitting that two Taurus hitters had key moments to secure their real-life teams’ playoff hopes in Game 162: Alex Verdugo had a game-tying double against the Nationals, while Aaron Judge delivered the walk-off single for the Yankees.
All-Time Since 1990: Fire Division
Continuing my expansion of my All-Time career fantasy points database into the 1990’s, today I’ll look at the teams in the Fire Division. I’m starting this post with Leo, whose players put up the second-most career fantasy points since the 1990’s – 1,861,846 in total, behind only Virgo’s 1,874,298.
FABL 2021 Finals Pitching Preview
I don’t know why I thought I could jam analysis of all nine starting position players, five starting pitchers, and two relievers into one single post, but I guess my eyes were bigger than my word count. Either way, I covered the offenses of the two championship-contending signs on Sunday, so now it’s time for the pitching staffs. (Pitching staves?)
FABL 2021 Finals Batting Preview
I spent multiple posts throughout this season hyping Leo and Pisces as their divisional leaders, only for them to each get unceremoniously eliminated in the first round of the postseason. While we still have the consolation bracket to see who would win in a matchup between the signs with the two best records, the battle for the true FABL championship is taking place between Taurus and Libra.
All-Time Since 1990: Earth Division
As I was completing recaps for the 1990’s over the last two months, I’ve also been updating my All-Time Career Fantasy Points database, which now contains more than 30 years’ worth of data. I’m starting with the three signs in the Earth Division, since Virgo players have put up the most aggregate points during the time period in question.
Virgo Tarot: The Hermit
It’s a very exciting time in the Fantasy Astrology Baseball League season, with the final round of the playoffs starting yesterday. But since the championship matchup lasts for two weeks, I have plenty of time to analyze the rosters of Libra and Taurus, while today is my last chance to talk about Virgo’s connection to the Tarot during Virgo season.
1990 Astrology Awards Recap
Some people might look at the year 1990 and see the culmination of a decade starting in 1981. For us here in the Fantasy Astrology Baseball space, however, we see it as the start of the decade ending in 1999.
FABL 2021 Playoff Preview: Positive
Each round of the Fantasy Astrology Baseball League playoffs lasts for two weeks, so as of this post, we’re just over halfway through the semifinal round. I’ll talk a little about how the Positive Polarity matchup is going in the following paragraphs, but this post will mostly be a sort of retroactive preview of the matchup between Leo and Libra.
1991 Astrology Awards Recap
Februay 20, 1992 marked one of the greatest crossovers between baseball and TV comedy ever: The Simpsons episode “Homer at the Bat.” Given the timing of when the episode aired, Mr. Burns must have used statistics from the 1991 campaign to determine which ringers to hire for the Springfield power plant’s annual softball game.
FABL 2021 Playoff Preview: Negative Polarity
Can you believe how close the race for the 2021 Earth Division ended up being? Taurus and Virgo were tied with the same win-loss record (11-9) heading into the last weekly matchup of the season… in which they were scheduled to play against each other! And after trailing for most of the season, the Bulls pulled off a stunning upset victory by a margin of just over 100 fantasy points!
1992 Astrology Awards Recap
1992 was one of those famous “Years of the Pitcher” we hear about every once in a while. The season saw 298 shutouts, or one in every seven games. 1992 also saw a new team finish atop the Fantasy Astrology Baseball League rankings – and since we’re going reverse-chronologically, that means Capricorn hasn’t won a FABL points title SINCE 1992.
2021 FABL Best of Losers Bracket
It turns out I was mistaken in my last post, when I asserted that the Fantasy Astrology Baseball League playoffs would have started by the time this post went live – we actually have one more week of regular season matchups. So I’d like to use this week to celebrate the “best of the rest” – the top players from teams who will be relegated to the 2021 consolation (or losers) bracket.
1993 Astrology Awards Recap
1993 was a year of a couple of notable firsts and lasts in MLB history. It was the first year of the expansion franchises Colorado Rockies and Florida (now Miami) Marlins. And it was the last year of each league’s two-division structure – in ’94, a central division was added to the East/West structure, and the teams were reorganized accordingly.
Triple Play 96 All-Star Lineups
I’ve played my share of baseball video games over the years. But the very first baseball video game I ever played was a little number for the Sega Genesis called Triple Play 96. As luck would have it, at some point I copied the default lineups from this game into an old-fashioned composition book… because that’s just the kind of childhood I had.
1994 Astrology Awards Recap
The 1994 MLB players strike looms large in the history of professional baseball. It was the last labor-related work stoppage in MLB history – although the contentious expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement after the 2021 season threatens to put an end to this streak.
Leo Tarot: Strength
The Tarot card associated with the fifth sign of the zodiac is #8 in the Major Arcana, known as Strength or Fortitude. This card depicts a woman either closing the mouth of a lion, an act that “represents … the principal of all force.” I don’t know which aspect is more Leo-like: the connotation of force, or the lion shown on the card.
1995 Astrology Awards Recap
When I think back on my past baseball fandom, the 1994 strike sticks out in my mind. But for whatever reason, I didn’t recall until doing research for this project (if it registered to me to begin with, as an 8-year-old) that the work stoppage extended into the 1995 season.
Back from Vacation Recap
Usually I pay close attention to the Fantasy Astrology Baseball League, but since I have been on vacation for the last two weeks, I will be catching up on the recent proceedings, same as you, the readers. Granted, the middle of the stretch run with two fairly close divisional races wasn’t the BEST time to take a break from weekly lineup tinkering, but sometimes that’s just how the calendar works out.
1996 Astrology Awards Recap
The 1996 season marks somewhat of a milestone: it was the first in a run of 24 consecutive full 162-game MLB seasons (sometimes we even got 163, thanks to one-game tiebreakers). That streak of course ended in 2020 with the COVID-shortened 60 game season. But it began in 1996 due to a players’ strike abbreviating both the 1994 and ’95 campaigns.