1985 Fantasy Astrology Recap
View the 1985 FABL Lineups Here!
Changes made for the 1985 postseason could directly affect the format of a hypothetical offseason Astrology tournament. For the first time, each League Championship round featured a best-of-seven series, instead of a best-of-five. This way the semifinals mirrored the World Series in potential length, which leads to not only more excitement, but also more gate revenue. Perhaps this was when MLB had their first inkling that playoff tickets (and TV broadcasts) are where the real money is, although it would take the league eight more years to add another division and expand the playoffs to three rounds. This is a key point in the present day, as the structure of the postseason is a main sticking point between the league and the players union that will need to get resolved before the lockout can end.
For the second consecutive season (reverse-chronologically speaking), Scorpio scored the most points in the league, only this time they had the star power to match. No pitcher since 1985 has had a better fantasy season than Cy Young Award winner Dwight Gooden (3,809 / 108.8). In fact, since then only Shohei Ohtani has had a season with more points, and that’s only if you combine his pitching and hitting stats from 2021. Dodger lefty Fernando Valenzuela (2,769 / 79.1) gives Doc a deadly 1-2 punch partner, and his real-life teammate Bob Welch scored more than 80 points-per-game, in an abbreviated season. And to pitch Game 4, we have Hall of Famer Tom Seaver, who just happened to win the 300th game of his career that year. Add to that rotation the Negative Polarity’s best closer Willie Hernandez (2,048 / 27.7), and this is a pitching staff without equal.
Scorpio’s excellence wasn’t just on the mound, with real-life National League MVP (and Silver Slugger and Gold Glover) Willie McGee (2,620 / 17.2) patrolling center field. McGee was just fifth in NP fantasy points, finishing behind Capricorn center fielder Rickey Henderson (3,107 / 21.7), real-life AL MVP Don Mattingly (2,806 / 17.6), his Taurus teammate George Brett (2,689 / 17.3), and Ryne Sandberg (2,651 / 17.3), who led Virgo to another Earth Division title. The Rhino had support in the lineup from Tim Raines (2,592 / 17.3), Cal Ripken Jr. (2,312 / 14.4), and Vince Coleman (2,344 / 15.5), who stole 110 bases in his Rookie of the Year season. The Playas also had a pretty good 1-2 punch on the mound, although Orel Hershiser (2,816 / 78.2) and Ron Guidry (2,519 / 74.1) were actually second and fourth in NP pitching points.
In my official 1984 Libra lineup, I shifted Dave Winfield (2,341 / 15.1) to center field to make room for George Bell (2,144 / 13.7) and Brian Downing (1,760 / 11.7) in the corner spots. But even if we play by the rules, shift Winfield to right field, and have Kevin McReynolds (1,381 / 9.1) play the captain of the outfield, the Scales still come out on top of Gemini, by the slimmest of margins. This despite the Twins boasting the Positive Polarity MVP Dave Parker (2,439 / 15.2) in right field, runner-up Kirk Gibson (2,412 / 15.7) actually qualifying in center field, and fifth-place finisher Wade Boggs (2,314 / 14.4) at third. Even the loser of the Air Division made some noise in ’85: not only did Aquarius have both the PP CYA winner John Tudor (3,262 / 90.6) and RoY Joe Hesketh (1,614 / 64.6), but also both runners-up of the Reliable Reliever Award, Dan Quisenberry (2,182 / 26.0) and Donnie Moore (2,031 / 31.2).
The winner of the PP RR is a Leo: White Sox closer Bob James (2,184 / 31.7). While James was kind of a one-hit wonder, he was a key part of a pitching staff led by co-aces Bryn Smith (2,291 / 71.6) and Ron Darling (2,171 / 60.3) - but the Leo starting lineup sets off one of the most controversial divisional battles in the history of this project. According to my official lineups, which include PLENTY of positional eligibility shenanigans on both sides, Leo wins the Fire Division over Sagittarius by a score of 28,573 to 28,567 – a difference of just six (6!) fantasy points. That equates to one extra base hit or less than a single inning pitched on either side. However, if you force each sign to play by positional rules, not only does SAG come out on top, but LEO drops to the lowest point total IN THE LEAGUE. (Leo placed sixth overall according to my totals, with Sagittarius staying at seventh either way.)
How could Leo have such a large discrepancy? It starts with Paul Molitor (1,732 / 12.4) agreeing to shift back to his original second base – a position he hadn’t played since 1980… but would LATER play semi-regularly from 1987 to 1990. His versatility isn’t in doubt. Next, we would ask either Tom Brunansky (1,807 / 11.5) or Jose Cruz (1,709 / 12.1) (father of the Aries outfielder with the same name) to shift to center field, where they hadn’t played since 1983 and 1977, respectfully. Certainly not out of the question. Recent Hall of Fame inductee Ted Simmons (1,500 / 10.5) had just 15 games behind the plate in 1985, but could absolutely catch in a hypothetical offseason tournament. And Tom Brookens (1,163 / 7.5) has holdover eligibility at shortstop from 1984, so no harm no foul there. Replace these exceptions with qualified players, and the Lions lose a whopping 2,975 points.
On the other hand, Sagittarius was far from positional compliance themselves. I had pure designated hitters in both corner outfield spots: Gorman Thomas (1,671 / 12.4), who had holdover eligibility, and Dave Kingman (1,661 / 10.5), who hadn’t played in the grass regularly since ’81. Not that Andy Van Slyke (1,593 / 10.9) and George Foster (1,423 / 11.0) are bad alternates, but when a division can be won or lost on a SIX POINT margin, you have to squeeze out every point you can. That’s also important in cheating Howard Johnson (954 / 7.6) at shortstop over Pirates rookie Sam Khalifa (657 / 6.9). Either way, the Archers’ 1B/2B tandem of Bill Buckner (2,242 / 13.8) and Juan Samuel (2,225 / 13.8), plus a lights-out bullpen led by Lee Smith (2,016 / 31.0) and Dave Righetti (1,971 / 26.6), would have put up a heck of a fight against Leo in a one-game playoff.
Next time, we begin in-depth-looks at the bottom two teams of 2021, starting with (ironically enough) the weekly league champions, the Taurus Bulls.