1993 Astrology Awards Recap
View the 1993 FABL Lineups Here!
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, bringing MLB’s total teams to 28. 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. This latter development doesn’t mean much for the Fantasy Astrology landscape, but as you can imagine, adding two more teams considerably increases the talent pool from which astrology teams can draw.
Another fun fact about the ’93 season is that the Most Valuable Players came from the two highest-scoring teams in the league. In his first year with the real-life Giants, Leo Barry Bonds (3,256 / 20.5) led the NL in home runs for the first time, with a total of 46. Interestingly enough, despite holding the all-time career home run record, the only other time he led his league in the category was in 2001 when he set the single-season record with 73. By contrast, the Negative Polarity MVP, Scorpio Ken Griffey Jr. (2,825 / 18.1), would win four home run crowns in his career, the first of which came in 1994.
The Positive Polarity Cy Young Award winner should come as no surprise: Aries ace Greg Maddux (2,946 / 81.8) would win the next three consecutive such awards, plus six of eight starting in ’93. His 1994 Topps card contains a spoiler for the next (reverse-chronological) year in this series: Maddux won the real-life NL CYA in 1992, his final year with the Cubs, so it’s not a stretch to imagine him extending this amazing streak. His Negative Polarity counterpart is Virgo Randy Johnson (2,894 / 82.7), who I named co-NP CYA in 1994 (along with David Cone), before winning the award outright again in ’95. Johnson reached the 300-strikeout plateau for the first time in ’93, the first of six such seasons he would have in the big leagues.
I’d like to dedicate this next graph to the runners-up of the four major awards, since a hitter and a pitcher from each Polarity isn’t enough to get a full picture of the top players in the sport. The number two and three PP players were separated by just two (2) fantasy points in 1993: Gemini first baseman Frank Thomas (2,772 / 18.1), the real-life AL MVP, and Aquarius center fielder Lenny Dykstra (2,770 / 17.2), who finished second in the real-life NL version of the award… to Positive Polarity winner Barry Bonds. Behind Griffey in the NP sits Virgo left fielder Albert Belle (2,640 / 16.5), the winner or co-winner of the NP MVP for the next two years. In pitching, Jose Rijo (2,716 / 75.4) of Taurus finished behind The Big Unit in NP CYA voting, leading the real-life NL in games started and strikeouts. For the PP, Sagittarius ace Kevin Appier (2,558 / 75.2) was second only to Greg Maddux, as he paced the real-life AL in ERA.
Virgos dominated the rookie scene in 1993, with the real-life NL RoY Mike Piazza (2,189 / 14.7) setting the pace ahead of AL RoY winner Tim Salmon (2,082 / 14.7). These two had decidedly better rookie seasons and overall careers than the two best Positive Polarity first-years: Al Martin (1,674 / 11.7) won the award for Sagittarius by a thin margin over Leo Chuck Carr (1,629 / 11.5), who led the National League in stolen bases for the inaugural Marlins. Speaking of Leo, the Lions had the top two relief pitchers in baseball in 1993, with Expos closer John Wetteland (2,574 / 36.8) and Giants stopper Rod Beck (2,423 / 31.9). The Reliable Reliever chase was just as close in the Negative Polarity, with Capricorn Jeff Montgomery (2,333 / 33.8) beating out Virgo southpaw Randy Myers (2,263 / 31.0).
By my next post, the Fantasy Astrology Baseball League playoffs will have started, so I’ll be diving into the first round matchups… which may or may not be set up according to the Negative and Positive Polarities, despite how much I’ve tried to arrange things on the ESPN fantasy baseball client.