2021 Top 100 - Positive Polarity
In honor of the Astrological shift from Aquarius to Pisces, MLB Network completed their initial top 100 list for the 2021 season. OK, I know that’s not the reason why they finished that feature on this particular date: it’s because of pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training. But it can’t be a coincidence that such a monumental event for the new season would fall on a significant astrological date, right? RIGHT!?!?
SPOILER ALERT: Mike Trout is ranked #1 AGAIN…
Either way, I’m calling an audible and interrupting my reverse-chronological trip through Fantasy Astrology Baseball League history to bring you some analysis of MLBN’s Top 100 through the astrological lens. Today I’ll be focusing on the Positive Polarity, given that Aquarius shocked the Astrology Baseball world and finished in first place for the first time in… maybe ever. Definitely since I’ve been doing this project. And while I know last season was only 60 games, a win is a win. So let’s look at the top players that the Water Carriers will bring back to try and defend their title:
The initial evaluation is… not inspiring. That’s not to say that the players themselves aren’t impressive: Jose Abreu won the AL MVP, Luke Voit was right there with him in terms of fantasy points, Liam Hendriks is at the top of the relief pitcher totem pole right now, and Whit Merrifield is a talented and versatile hitter. It’s just that Aquarius’s four players in the top 100 is the smallest number of all 12 signs. So it seems likely that they might return to their familiar bottom-feeder status in 2021.
Well, look who’s back on top. After ceding the number 1 (and number 2) spot to Sagittarians Christian Yelich and Ronald Acuna Jr., Mike Trout has reclaimed his crown as the consensus best player in baseball. Well, I don’t know about consensus – this is just one outlet after all. But between Trout, budding star Luis Robert, and a trifecta of power righty pitchers in the top 40, Leo looks like it’s poised to make a strong bid to repeat as Fire Division champs.
No sign has the pitching depth of Gemini, which boasts two of the three top-ranked pitchers. This includes last year’s AL Cy Young Award winner (Shane Bieber, his recent positive COVID-19 test notwithstanding) and the only pitcher ranked in the top five (Jacob deGrom). On the offensive side, Anthony Rendon is a franchise cornerstone type, but they don’t have much firepower to back him up.
We’ve seen how Aries was the dominant sign for most of the 2010’s, and based on how many players they have in the top 100 heading into 2021, they’re in a good position to continue that run. Nolan Arenado and Alex Bregman are their top-ranked players, despite them both having subpar 2020 seasons. Also, each player will head into the next season with significant question marks: Arenado on how he’ll hit outside Coors Field (following his trade to the Cardinals) and Bregman on whether he’ll regain shortstop eligibility (assuming a healthy Carlos Correa).
Mookie Betts is ranked second only to Mike Trout, which is a pretty good starting point. Add in two more batters in the top 25 (fellow outfielder Bryce Harper and shortstop Xander Bogaerts), and Libra has a pretty strong offensive base. Their pitching leaves something to be desired, and I feel like the rankings of Ketel Marte and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. are a bit high, but it still shouldn’t be a stretch for them to overtake Aquarius at least.
Sagittarius is so packed with top 100 talent that they even have an outfielder to spare! Yelich and Acuna fell a bit from their preseason rankings last year, but they still make the Archers the only sign to have two batters within the top 10. Along with the outfield, third base and shortstop are areas of depth, as they’re two deep in each position. (Gleyber Torres won’t be able to man second base in a fantasy setting, but he’s definitely capable of playing there.) It sounds impressive when you see that SAG has three starting pitchers in the top 100, but it gets less so when you realize none of them are ranked better than 80.
Tune in next time for the Negative Polarity teams!