2020 Virgo Maidens
In this age of advanced analytics and Sabermetrics, it seems like Virgos would be at a distinct advantage. According to the Astro Poets, Virgos “like systems, logic, and problem-solving,” while conversely “they view feelings as uncontrollable, minefields of desire.” Definitely not the mindset of a veteran scout who uses the “eye test” to evaluate players, and uses concepts like “makeup” instead of looking at statistics. Virgos are born between August 23rd and September 22nd, the end of the Dog Days and the beginning of the playoff push, which is the part of the baseball calendar where it’s imperative to stick to the plan and not let emotions get the better of you.
Perhaps no one embodies the idea of Virgo steadfastness more than Paul Goldschmidt, who had made the starting lineup at first base or designated hitter every year from 2012 to 2019. The fact that he was technically frozen out of the Maidens’ DH spot in 2020 is more a testament to the strangeness of the short season (and the incredible season of Freddie Freeman) than Goldy’s lack of skill. Goldschmidt was outscored by new Royals third baseman Maikel Franco 674 to 650, although they both put up an identical 11.2 points per game average.
As I mentioned last time, Virgo just BARELY beat out Cancer for the honor of the highest scoring team in the Negative League… depending on the evaluation system. I’ll get more into that in my next post about the Crabs, but suffice it to say, my integrity regarding this project won out over my bias towards my home sign, and I used the more analytically sound method, even though it favored VIR over CAN. Here’s the Virgo starting lineup, listed by position rather than batting order.
The first thing to notice is just how many of these Virgo starters play for real-life teams who made it all the way to their respective League Championship Serieses. Freddie Freeman (the presumptive Negative League MVP) and Adam Duvall of the Braves went up against Chris Taylor and Max Muncy for the Dodgers in the NLCS. It’s interesting to note that both Dodgers are playing out of position on this Virgo lineup, at least as far as the playoffs are concerned: Muncy’s primary position is 1B, but luckily he got the requisite 10 games to qualify at 2B so he’s not blocked by Freeman. And while Taylor technically played the majority of his 2020 games at shortstop, he has alternated between second base and left field during the postseason – CT3 racked up those SS appearances while Corey Seager (the Taurus starter) was injured or DH-ing.
Freeman’s blue-themed custom Virgo jersey, courtesy of MLB The Show 20.
Meanwhile on the American League side, in addition to outfielder George Springer, both ALCS shortstops were born under the Virgo sign – although Willy Adames (569 / 10.5) and Carlos Correa (471 / 8.1) missed the necessary point totals to make the starting lineup by quite a bit. (I’ll admit that I’m as biased towards the real-life Oakland Athletics as I am towards the Fantasy Astrology Cancer Crabs, so I wish that I could replace Springer and Correa with Robbie Grossman (604 / 11.8) and Marcus Semien (551 / 10.4), but such is the life of an A’s fan.) It’s also impressive to note that Virgo has done so well despite being historically weak at catcher, basically since Mike Piazza’s retirement: this year I had to go all the way down to the Angels’ fourth-string backstop Jose Briceno, who played all of two games in 2020.
The 2020 League Championship Series Virgo trend continues with two pitchers, Rays ace Tyler Glasnow and Dodgers rookie Dustin May. But the biggest pitching story on the Maidens’ roster is Gerrit Cole, who signed the biggest contract ever for a pitcher in the 2019-20 offseason with the Yankees. It’s not fair to take real-life salaries and budgets into account when building Fantasy Astrology lineups, since players are assigned to their teams whether or not anyone has the money to pay them, but it is an interesting piece of trivia to see which signs have the highest-paid players in any given year. But I’ll save that for another post.
The compressed schedule (and expanded rosters) in 2020 created the need (and the opportunity) to keep players fresh, leading to a larger-than-usual influx of rookies into the MLB ranks this year. This trend was exhibited in Virgo’s pitching staff, not just with the above-mentioned May, but also with Mets lefty starter David Peterson, NL Reliever of the Year Devin Williams (although he was not the closer for the Brewers), and Indians setup-arm James Karinchak. The lone established relief pitcher on the Maidens roster is Jeremy Jeffress, who took over the majority of save opportunities after being acquired by the Cubs prior to 2020.
We all know about the photo finish between Virgo and Cancer for the 2nd and 3rd place finishes in the 2020 Fantasy Astrology Baseball League. So next time I’ll delve more into these particulars with a look at my “home” sign, the Cancer Crabs.