1987 Astrology League Recap
View the 1987 FABL Lineups Here!
If you’ve read my recap of the 1988 Fantasy Astrology Baseball season, you know that my willingness to put players out of position in my official lineups directly impacted the result of one of the divisional races. But that was nothing compared to how things turned out one year earlier, in 1987. Scorpio had the undisputed top-scoring roster of 1987, despite not having any of the four major award winners - their top scorers were 1B/RF Dwight Evans (2,554 / 16.6) and starting pitcher Bob Welch (2,328 / 66.5). But you could make an argument for the number two playoff seed being either Taurus or Virgo, depending on how many positional eligibility rules you want to bend.
Let’s start with Taurus, who had not one, but two winners of those major awards. Their lineup was anchored by the Negative Polarity MVP Tony Gwynn (2,710 / 17.3), who won the first of what would be three consecutive batting titles in ’87. But believe it or not, their rotation was even more impressive, sporting the top three NP pitchers: Jimmy Key (2,608 / 72.4), Mike Scott (2,419 / 67.2), and Jack Morris (2,389 / 70.3). Add to that mix Don Mattingly (2,352 / 16.7), who homered in a record eight consecutive games, and it’s clear that the Bulls are not lacking for star power.
The problems start when you look at center field and catcher. Ken Gerhart (863 / 9.4) and Rick Cerone (554 / 4.9) are the top players who actually qualified for those positions in 1987 – not exactly fantasy caliber starters. However, Mitch Webster (2,072 / 13.3) had holdover eligibility with 118 center field appearances in ’86, and he would go on to log over 100 games there in ’88 as well. So that’s not really a stretch at all. On the other hand, third baseman Keith Moreland (1,718 / 11.2) had just 13 games behind the plate in ’86, and he hadn’t played catcher regularly since 1982. Plus, moving Moreland opens up third base for Hall of Famer George Brett (1,716 / 14.9), who had holdover eligibility at his primary career position.
If Moreland wasn’t willing to sacrifice his knees for the sake of representing his sign, then Virgo emerges as the leader in the Earth Division. Incredibly, their ’87 starting nine batters consisted of seven 2,000 point scorers, led by speedy outfielders Tim Raines (2,688 / 19.3) and Vince Coleman (2,556 / 16.9). On the mound, Orel Hershiser (2,305 / 62.3) was the top pitcher, although he wouldn’t truly blossom until his Cy Young Award winning season the following year. John Franco (1,793 / 26.4) clocked in as the Negative Polarity’s top relief pitcher, and Ellis Burks (1,854 / 13.9) was the runner-up in NP Rookie of the Year voting.
There was no uncertainty about the two playoff teams in the Positive Polarity, regardless of positional eligibility. Leo led the Fire Division behind a Cy Young Award winning season from Roger Clemens (2,873 / 79.8), both in FABL and in real-life. Cuspy infielder/DH Paul Molitor (2,499 / 21.2) led Leo batters, in a season where he logged a 39-game hitting streak, second only to Joe DiMaggio’s famous 56-game streak in 1941. Meanwhile, Libra won the Air Division thanks to Positive Polarity MVP runner-up George Bell (2,735 / 17.5) and Rookie of the Year Mark McGwire (2,486 / 16.5).
Libra also had two of the top six scoring relief pitchers in the Positive Polarity: Todd Worrell (1,956 / 26.1) and Dennis Eckersley (1,644 / 30.4). But the other four of the six were all Sagittarians, including real-life Cy Young Award winner Steve Bedrosian (2,047 / 31.5). Behind the Phillies closer in the depth chart were Tom Henke (2,029 / 28.2), Lee Smith (1,723 / 27.8), and Dave Righetti (1,671 / 27.9), even though only three of them counted towards the point tally in my official lineups. There are only two other award winners I haven’t covered. Positive Polarity MVP was Gemini center fielder Eric Davis (2,758 / 21.4), the top-scoring batter in all of 1987. And Negative Polarity Rookie of the Year was Devon White (2,141 / 13.5), one of four Capricorn outfielders in the starting lineup to qualify in center field (one was used as the DH).
Next time, I’ll return to my in-depth looks into the 2021 Fantasy Astrology Baseball League with my home-sign, the Cancer Crabs!