2020 Sagittarius Archers
I got the biggest laugh of my Astrology Baseball “career” thanks to Sagittarius. I was at a Dodgers game with a friend of mine, who is actually a professional sports statistics researcher. In an effort to impress him, I had printed out my databases for the two teams in question, which included fantasy points for the previous year (2017), MLB.com’s preseason fantasy rankings, and of course astrological signs. The Dodgers brought in little-known relief pitcher JT Chargois, and my friend asked what info I had on him. Since he didn’t pitch in the majors in 2017 and was far from being ranked amongst the top projected fantasy performers, my answer was, “All I know about this guy is that he’s a Sagittarius.” It was good for a laugh, and a brief discussion about birthdates and baseball, but as you can see, the trend of analyzing baseball players based on their sun signs hasn’t taken off just yet.
I keep referring to the Astro Poets, and it’s especially relevant here because one of them (Alex Dimitrov) happens to be born between November 22nd and December 21st. He writes about his native sign: “‘rebellious’ is a word often used to describe Sagittarians. Another is ‘rude.’ They don’t mince words and they’re straight shooters. If you ask them, they’re just ‘being honest’ and ‘telling it like it is.’” “Rebellious” is a fairly mild way to describe Sagittarius playoff hero Justin Turner’s conduct after the 2020 World Series, where he returned to the field for a photo op after his positive test for COVID-19 was revealed during the game. “Rude” doesn’t quite cover it either: “irresponsible” is more to the point. I know that his teammates encouraged him to return, and he wasn’t officially disciplined by the league, but in my opinion Turner missed the perfect chance to do the right thing, put out an emotional statement, and come out of this looking like a folk hero. But I guess that’s not the Sagittarius way…
Heading into the 2020 season (or rather, what would have been the start of the 2020 season before COVID ruined all our plans), Sagittarius had the distinction of featuring the top two ranked players in fantasy baseball: Christian Yelich and Ronald Acuna Jr. Of course, looking at the list above, you’ll see that the former of these – the 2019 NL MVP runner-up, no less – failed to even make the Archers starting lineup. I toyed briefly with moving outfielder Wil Myers to third base, a position he played regularly as recently as 2018, which would boot Jeimer Candelario to the bench and allow Yelich to start. But I figured that these positional shenanigans weren’t worth it for a difference of 22 fantasy points. Especially when SAG was behind their next closest competitor by nearly 300 points, a margin that is actually more significant than it appears considering the short season. And who knows, maybe Myers settling in at a corner outfield spot gave him the peace of mind to put up the great numbers he did.
Keeping Myers at his actual position also allows us to celebrate the breakout of Tigers corner infielder Candelario, who outscored such famous Archer third baseman as the aforementioned Justin Turner, the versatile Matt Carpenter, and the oft-injured Josh Donaldson, even though he did it while spending the majority of his season stepping in at first base for the fading Aries star Miguel Cabrera. First base on Sagittarius is obviously occupied by defending Rookie of the Year Pete Alonso, even if he took a step back from his powerhouse 2019 season. And even without Yelich or the still-unsigned Yasiel Puig, this sign’s outfield depth is strong enough to have a 700-point scorer left over for the DH spot.
The return of starter Kyle Hendricks to his 2016-era dominance is a big reason why the Cubs had as much success as they did in 2020. Obviously Leo Yu Darvish was the pitching staff’s main attraction, but having two aces, along with complimentary pieces such as no-hitter author Alec Mills is crucial. Rays lefty Blake Snell didn’t have a super impressive regular season, but he sure turned it on during the playoffs, reminding us why he won the AL Cy Young Award in 2018. Snell’s recent trade to the Padres will soon make him real-life teammates with Mike Clevinger, who was actually the first Sagittarius player (chronologically speaking) to buck the COVID protocols. Remember, he left Cleveland’s team hotel to go partying with his then-teammates, before his own Trade to San Diego. Maybe there is actually some connection between the stars and individual behavior…
Of the three Sagittarius relievers listed, two have experience as bona fide closers, and they are both tied closely to the real-life (i.e. not Gemini) Twins organization. Ryan Pressly made the All-Star team in 2019, one year after the Astros picked him up on the cheap from Minnesota and installed him as their ninth-inning specialist in 2020. Taylor Rogers stepped into the closer role for the MIN Twins last year, and he saw his ERA balloon by nearly 1.5 runs from ’19 to ’20 (2.61 to 4.05), despite an identical FIP in both years (2.85). Meanwhile, Mike Mayers impressed as a setup option for the Angels in 2020, although other names such as Padres part-time closer Drew Pomeranz and recently-minted playoff hero Pete Fairbanks could represent more impressive overall talents.
Next, we look at the lowest-scoring team in the 2020 Fantasy Astrology Baseball League, the Taurus Bulls.