1968 Fantasy Astrology Recap
View the 1968 FABL Lineups Here!
We’ve already talked about how the massive expansion in 1969 completely changed the landscape of Major League Baseball. But another statistical change that year had a massive impact on how we evaluate fantasy players: 1969 was the first season where saves were recorded as an official stat by Major League Baseball. So from 1968 and earlier, a relief pitcher who finished the game and preserved a lead of three runs or less got zero recognition. Thankfully, comitted historians have retroactively determined save situations for MLB’s pre-saves years, so I can continue using them in my fantasy point calculations, because otherwise there would be a HUGE discrepancy in bullpen point totals.
But the point is that for someone analyzing baseball in 1968, the only statistics for pitchers that had to do with the outcome of the game were wins and losses. Which must have made it all the more impressive when Denny McLain (4,470 / 109.0) tallied 30 wins on the season, a feat that no player has accomplished since. McLain’s bravura performance in 1968, in which he won both the AL Cy Young and MVP Awards, earned him 4,000 fantasy points, one of just four such such performances by a dedicated pitcher that we’ve seen since that time. McLain was also part of not one, but two championship teams that year: his real life Detroit Tigers won the World Series, and his astrology team, the Aries Rams, won the fantasy point crown.
But as impressive as McLain was in ’68, he didn’t even have the highest points-per-game average in the league. That honor goes to Scorpio ace Bob Gibson (4,219 / 124.1), who also won both the real-life CYA and MVP in the National League, while leading his Cardinals to the World Series. In fact, Gibson and McLain faced each other twice in the Fall Classic, with Gibson coming out on top in both game 1 and game 4… although McLain would defeat Ray Washburn (a Gemini) in Game 6, while Gibson would go on to lose to Mickey Lolich (a Virgo and eventual World Series MVP) in the decisive game 7.
In fantasy terms, Gibson led an otherworldly Scorpio rotation, which also included 3,000-point scorers Dave McNally (3,471 / 99.2) of the Orioles and Tom Seaver (3,075 / 85.4) of the pre-Miracle Mets. The Stingers rotation was so dominant that they finished first in the Water Division, despite not having a single player qualify for either middle infield spot! This situation is a great example of the differences between fantasy strategy and simulation: a fantasy player could win their division by drafting only Scorpio players, even with zero points from second base and shortstop, but it’s hard to imagine Gibson, McNally, and Seaver winning too many games when every weakly hit ground ball between first base and third base would trickle through for a guaranteed base hit.
The number three overall player also led his sign to a divisional title, with Juan Marichal (3,599 / 94.7) serving as the ace of the Libra Scales. Moving down the line, Sagittarius had the number four player Luis Tiant (3,577 / 105.2), although he finished third in points-per-game. In fact, the top 23 (twenty-three!) scoring players in 1968 were pitchers, plus 27 out of the top 28, with only Aquarius right fielder Henry Aaron (2,313 / 14.5) breaking the mold. (Capricorn first baseman Willie McCovey (2,160 / 14.6) was the top scoring batter in the Negative Polarity, two of only seven players in the league to break 2,000 points.) It’s no wonder MLB decided to lower the height of the pitchers’ mound after the season…
1968 was also a banner year for rookie pitchers: two in particular, who not only represent the two astrological polarities, but they also played for the two different New York teams. Capricorn Jerry Koosman (2,819 / 80.5) of the Mets beat out Sagittarian Stan Bahnsen (2,796 / 75.6) of the Yankees, although only Bahnsen came away with a real-life Rookie of the Year award. The NL version went to Cincinnati Reds catcher Johnny Bench (1,538 / 10.0)…. Bahnsen’s sign-mate on the Archers!
In contrast to the 1968 rookies, there was no clean split between the polarities at the top. Aries closer Phil Regan (2,196 / 30.1), who went to the Cubs after just five games with the Dodgers, and Libra relief ace Wilbur Wood (2,167 / 24.6), of the White Sox, both represented the positive polarity. Taurus Clay Carroll (1,713 / 25.2) leads all negative relievers, in a season where he was traded for his sign-mate Milt Pappas (1,504 / 40.6) in a six-player swap between the Braves and the Reds. I’m not going to go back and recalculate each one to see how they would have fared in a world with no saves… I’m just thankful baseball-reference.com still has a column for them before they became an official stat.