2017 Astros Sign Stealing Implications
The 2017 Fantasy Astrology Baseball League playoffs are notable because the top four overall scoring teams would make the final four in a projected playoff bracket. While that may sound like a truism, remember that the divisional structure of the league makes it so that sometimes lower-scoring divisional leaders make it into the tournament over better overall signs. As shown in the bracket below, the semifinals would be Aries (1) vs. Libra (3) in the Positive Polarity, with Virgo (2) taking on Scorpio (4) in the Negative Polarity.
It’s unknown who from those four would advance into a hypothetical FABL 2017 World Series: I haven’t yet explored strat-o-matic possibilities to simulate the outcome of such a tournament. But we do know that the real-life World Series matchup from that year featured the Houston Astros defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers to capture the franchise’s first championship. Of course, it was later revealed that the Astros spent much of 2017 employing illegal strategies to steal their opponents’ signs with the help of video feed and an elaborate system of banging on trash cans in the dugout – in other words, cheating.
It’s impossible to know how the 2017 World Series would have played out if both teams were on a level playing field. Because there’s no question that every hitter on the Astros benefitted from knowing what pitch was about to be thrown, regardless of how “uncomfortable” they felt with the whole scheme. And knowing this, we can look back at which astrological signs benefitted most from the Astros’ cheating efforts in 2017, and deduce whether the infamous sign stealing scandal had an effect on the fantasy astrological landscape.
The short answer is, undoubtedly yes. Aries, the top-ranked sign, enjoyed the services of Alex Bregman (1,930 points / 12.5 points-per-game), a third baseman by trade who took the shortstop role on the Rams in deference to Positive League MVP Nolan Arenado. The reason that Bregman qualified at short was because he spent a significant amount of time filling in for Carlos Correa (1,783 / 16.4), who played for the number two seed Virgo. Correa’s injuries kept him from accruing enough points to slot in as the Maidens’ starter – that honor went to Elvis Andrus (2,216 / 14.0) who stayed healthy for the whole season. But another Astro who did make the Virgo starting nine was leadoff hitter George Springer (2,118 / 15.1), meaning the top two FABL teams had a significant cheaterly presence.
It’s a different type of cheating to install Freddie Freeman as the Virgo third baseman after just 11 games there in 2017.
But the most significant cheater on the 2017 Astros, the one who came away with the 2017 MVP award, was Jose Altuve (2,574 / 16.8), the team’s overall points leader. Of course, Altuve played for Taurus, who were stuck in the bottom half of the league, so his particular transgressions didn’t affect the FABL standings. And his Bulls teammate Carlos Beltran (1,088 / 8.4) didn’t make the lineup, but he was one of the masterminds of the whole scheme. Another middle-of-the-pack team who had multiple Astros in the starting lineup was Pisces: Marwin Gonzalez (1,786 / 13.3) and Josh Reddick (1,735 / 12.9) occupied the second base and left field spots, respectively. Veteran catcher Brian McCann (1,106 / 11.4) joins them on the Fish roster, but he didn’t earn a starting role. However, McCann’s co-catcher Evan Gattis (943 / 11.2) was the top backstop for Leo. And rounding things out, Cuban import Yuli Gurriel (1,658 / 11.9) served as the starting first baseman for Gemini.
I was VERY liberal with positional eligibility for the 2017 Bulls - they have second baseman at FOUR spots on the diamond!
I know on some level it’s wrong to single out the 2017 Astros as far as the implications of cheating in baseball. I’m sure there are a litany of extra-legal methods teams and players use to get an unfair advantage. After all, there are hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, and nothing in the history of humanity has inspired people to break the rules more than money. Just recently, allegations of rampant performance enhancing substances have come to light. But this is for sure the most egregious example in recent memory, so it deserves a spotlight here.
Next time, we’ll look at a momentous year, both in baseball history and American history: 2016.