2024 Active Rosters: Scorpio
As a researcher, I like to wait until a full season is complete before starting any analysis. But as a fan, I like to wait until the playoffs are over before starting any analysis. So it happens that my interest in baseball goes WAY up right around when everyone else’s interest has flagged. The parades are done. The hot stove hasn’t quite been lit. But that’s a perfect time to focus on Astrology Active Rosters, starting with the league-leading Scorpio Stingers.
The top Scorpio batter in 2024 is Juan Soto, who is also the hottest MLB free agent since… well, since Shohei Ohtani last year. But a) the Japanese phenom’s record-setting deal included heavy deferrals, and b) Ohtani suffered an elbow injury that prevented him from acting as a two-way player in the first year of his new contract. Conversely, Soto excelled in his platform season in New York, and performing well when the stakes are highest does seem like a Scorpio trait.
Soto and charismatic Mets shortsop Francisco Lindor means Scorpio had the top players from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico in 2024, respectively. Braves DH Marcell Ozuna was number 3 in fantasy points from Dominican (behind Capricorn shortstop Elly De La Cruz). Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers finished seventh among Dominicans, giving Scorpio arguably the highest concentration of top Latin American talent of any zign in the Zodiac.
But it’s actually positional eligibility minutiae which will determine whether Scorpio squeaks past Virgo for the league’s top points total. Normally, the fantasy system I use requires 20 games at a given position for a player to qualify. For outfielders, this includes the total number of games among all three positions on the grass. But the thing is, breakout A’s slugger Brent Rooker had only 14 games split between left and right field, with the rest of his time at designated hitter. And Texas rookie Wyatt Langford had only 15 games in center field.
If we’re following the rules to the letter, Langford would have to move to a corner, opening up center field for Rooker’s Oakland teammate JJ Bleday, sacrificing a total of 646 points… which would push Virgo (whose lineup is fully in compliance – more on that next time) into the lead. However, let’s use common sense, shall we? If you’re the Scorpio manager, there’s no WAY you’re not going to have Soto, Ozuna, and Rooker in the lineup every day.
Speaking of Scorpio managers, MLB featured four (4) of them in 2024, a four-way tie for most in the league, with Leo, Libra, and Sagittarius. Of those four, a whopping three led their teams to the playoffs: Cleveland’s Stephen Vogt, New York’s Carlos Mendoza, and Kansas City’s Matt Quatraro. Ironically, San Francisco’s Bob Melvin had the highest career winning percentage heading into 2024.
I already talked about Scorpio pitchers in my last post, and since I think I did a pretty good job, here are those two paragraphs again: Presumptive AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal leads the Scorpio staff. The breakout of Royals offseason signee Seth Lugo makes Scorpio the ONLY sign with a pair of 2,000-point scoring starting pitchers. Framber Valdez came painfully close to giving the Stingers three such starters, and with Sonny Gray and the injury-plagued Grayson Rodriguez, Scorpio does have five pitchers who averaged more than 60 points -per-game.
Scorpio’s weakness was relief pitching, where they didn’t have a single pitcher to break 20 points per game. Interestingly, all three of their top relievers pitched for playoff teams in 2024, but none of their teams made it out of the division series round, with closer Jason Foley completely losing the trust of Tigers manager A.J. Hinch.