2020 Leo Lions
I was aware of the famous Leo competitive spirit even before reading the work of the Astro Poets. To this, Dimitrov and Laskey add that “Leos are natural leaders. They’re also effective motivators and their power is rooted in magnetism.” Many of the baseball players born between July 23rd and August 22nd have displayed this leadership quality… but for a surprising amount of them, their power was not rooted just in magnetism, but also in performance-enhancing drugs. It sheds great light on the steroid era to note that Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Roger Clemens are all Leos.
While no one on the current Lions roster approaches the severity of the above-mentioned trio, it would be naïve to think that the PED problem in baseball has been wiped out by improved testing. But assuming that we’re dealing with only clean players, here’s the starting lineup for the 2020 Leo Lions of the Fantasy Astrology Baseball League.
Any conversation about the Leo baseball squad has to start with Mike Trout, whether you want to go with “consensus best player in the game” or “three-time MVP Award winner.” But there’s another young up-and-coming center fielder who could… if not challenge Trout, then at least make a tremendous complement to him in the outfield, and that’s Luis Robert. However, the hard-hitting rookie was only the third-highest scoring center fielder on the Lions roster in 2020, as Randal Grichuk – who was famously drafted ahead of Trout in the 2009 draft – broke out for Toronto (or Buffalo) in 2020.
Trout in his custom MLB The Show 20 Leo uniform.
Royals Speedster Adalberto Mondesi and Brewers bat-first keystoner Keston Hiura make up Leo’s double play combo. But there is a discrepancy as we move to the right side of the infield, where Willmer Flores qualified at only first and second base this year, while primarily serving as the Giants newly-added DH. This is another instance of capability vs. eligibility, since Flores has spent time at third base in six of his eight seasons (including a handful of games there in 2020), but the presence of Libra mainstay Evan Longoria at San Francisco’s hot corner made Wilmer unnecessary there.
The Chicago Cubs’ affinity for Leo players will carry us from the offense into the pitching staff. Anthony Rizzo has manned first base for the Lions for the last seven years, while utility player Ian Happ has only made one appearance in their starting lineup: at second base in 2017. (It’s also worth noting that Cubs right fielder Jason Heyward has four appearances as a Leo starter dating back to 2010.) But it’s ace pitcher Yu Darvish who made the biggest stir among Leo Cubs in 2020, with a dazzling season that nevertheless finished second to Capricorn Trevor Bauer in the NL Cy Young Award race.
While Darvish took the cake last year, it has been Max Scherzer at the top of the Leo rotation for much of the last 10 years. His 2020 numbers weren’t fantastic, and in this respect he joins another trio of ace-caliber Leo pitchers who didn’t put up good enough numbers to be included here: Walker Buehler and Julio Urias, both recent playoff heroes for the Dodgers, and Mike Soroka, a potential co-ace of the Braves. Add in up and coming future stars such as Sixo Sanchez and Brady Singer, and this is shaping up to be a formidable rotation for years to come.
The Leo bullpen has a couple of bona fide closers in Brandon Kintzler, the ground-ball specialist who reclaimed his ninth inning role for the surprising contender Marlins, and Archie Bradley, who split the season between the Diamdonbacks (as closer) and the Reds (as setup man for Raisel Iglesias). Jesse Hahn didn’t technically pitch enough innings to qualify for my database – I set the cutoff at 20 and Hahn only managed 17.1 – but since he got a handful of save opportunities for Kansas City, I thought it would be better to include him than lefty specialist Jake McGee.
Next time, we’ll stick with the Positive League, but jump to the Air Division, as we profile the Gemini Twins (not to be confused with the real-life Minnesota variety).