1984 Fantasy Astrology Recap
View the 1984 FABL Lineups Here!
The strongest connotations around 1984 are probably images of a dystopian future, conjured up by George Orwell’s novel named after the year. While the Reagan administration did its best to create a real-world version of Big Brother, nearly doubling the prison population of the United States during his time in office, the most surreal event of that year might have taken place in the Astrology Baseball space. Something happened in 1984 that hasn’t happened since: Aquarius scored the most fantasy points in the Air Division over a full MLB season. (Remember, the Water Bearers actually won the league in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, but small sample size warnings apply.)
But before looking at the upsets, let’s start at the top with Virgo - a familiar sight, considering the sign would go on to make the top four in every season until 1992. ’84 saw center fielder Tim Raines (2,652 / 16.6) score the most fantasy points among batters, easily winning the Negative Polarity MVP award. Raines had lineup support from the real-life National League MVP winner Ryne Sandberg (2,549 / 16.3), who was #3 in Negative Polarity offensive points,. The Playaz rotation featured the #3 and #4 top scoring pitchers in the NP, Mike Boddicker (2,434 / 71.6) of the Orioles and Doyle Alexander (2,367 / 65.8) from Toronto. Virgo also sported the #2 and #3 rookies in their polarity, first baseman Alvin Davis (2,227 / 14.7) and pitcher Orel Hershiser (1,955 / 43.4), who had more relief appearances than starts.
The triumph of Aquarius was not the only anomalous finish in 1984, as the traditionally pitching weak Cancer Crabs won the Water Division behind a rotation made up of five 2,000+ point scorers. Innings leader Dave Stieb (2,604 / 74.4) could make a case for a share of the Negative Polarity Cy Young Award. Mario Soto (2,280 / 69.1) and Bud Black (2,265 / 64.7) finished directly behind Boddicker and Alexander in the NP pitching leaderboard, and behind them we have the real-life NL CYA winner Rick Sutcliffe (2,234 / 63.8) in a season he split between the Indians and the Cubs. Mike Witt (2,068 / 60.8) rounds out the staff, but he was outscored by closer Bill Caudill (2,127 / 31.3), who was joined in the bullpen by the legendary Rich “Goose” Gossage (1,862 / 30.0).
Moving to the Positive Polarity, we have the surprising Aquarius Water Bearers, who were able to beat out very weak Libra and Gemini squads, despite the efforts of Dave Winfield (2,244 / 15.9) and Kirk Gibson (2,235 / 15.0), respectively. Their best fantasy player was top PP relief pitcher Dan Quisenberry (2,473 / 34.3), who would have my vote for Major Leaguer most likely to portray the lead in a live-action Super Mario Bros. adaptation. (Maybe pencil in Dave Kingman as Luigi?) In the rotation, Mike Smithson (1,937 / 53.8) was technically the highest-scoring pitcher, but there’s no way he beats out Nolan Ryan (1,861 / 62.0) for Game 1 duties. The pitching staff was strong enough to carry a subpar offense, led by an out-of-nowhere season by Alan Wiggins (2,001 / 12.7), and expectedly solid production from Mookie Wilson (1,888 / 12.3) and Fred Lynn (1,807 / 12.7).
Sagittarius won the Fire Division with a player who should realistically win two of the four major Positive Polarity awards. Phillies second baseman Juan Samuel (2,471 / 15.4) scored the most offensive points in his league… as a rookie! I see no reason why he shouldn’t hold both MVP and Rookie of the Year honors, but in the interest of context, his runners up in each respective category are outfielder Jose Cruz (2,258 / 14.1) and pitcher Mark Langston (1,967 / 56.2), who happen to both be Leos. Going back to the Archers, their pitching leader Joaquin Andujar (2,341 / 65.0) was sandwiched between two Aries starters: PP CYA winner Bert Blyleven (2,480 / 75.2) and lefty Frank Viola (2,262 / 64.6). Their always-stellar bullpen features the dynamic duo of Dave Righetti (1,875 / 29.3) and Lee Smith (1,853 / 26.9), #2 and #3 in the league for relievers.
Juan Samuel’s situation was echoed in the Negative Polarity, with Scorpio starting pitcher Dwight Gooden (2,673 / 86.2) in line for both the Negative Polarity CYA and RoY awards. In fact, both Samuel and Gooden each set notable rookie records, of stolen bases and strikeouts, respectively. We’ve already seen Gooden’s runners-up in the other two division leaders (Dave Stieb for Cancer, Alvin Davis for Virgo), but Scorpio also had the NP’s top relief pitcher: Tigers closer Willie Hernandez (2,666 / 33.3), winner of both the real-life Cy Young and MVP awards in ’84. Other notable Negative Polarity performers include Capricorn closer Bruce Sutter (2,596 / 36.6), Scorpio right fielder Dwight Evans (2,554 / 15.8), and a pair of Pisces sluggers: Dale Murphy (2,457 / 15.2) and Eddie Murray (2,446 / 15.1).
Next time I’ll most likely take a look at the players who changed teams in the abbreviated pre-lockout offseason.