FABL 2022 Average Player Ranks
Opening Day is just two days away, which means it’s time to finalize the rosters for the Fantasy Astrology Baseball League! I’ve already posted two preliminary rounds of this exercise: my first look was just the top 20 players (as ranked by MLB.com), while in the second go-round, I pushed it to the top 50. But this time, I just kept going down the list – all 800 ranked players – until I got full lineups, starting rotations, and two relief pitchers per sign! Let’s jump right into the numbers before going into any specifics:
Based on the first column of this chart, showing the average fantasy ranks of all players across the signs, it appears that Sagittarius has the advantage going into the season. The Archers are the only sign whose players have an average rank of less than 100. Of course, they won’t enjoy all of these players to start the season: #11 ranked Ronald Acuna Jr. will be out until May recovering from an injury, pushing Christian Yelich from DH to an OF slot, with Josh Donaldson taking over at DH.
Sagittarius starting lineup, start of 2022
You might be confused to see Virgo, the number one overall scoring sign from last year, sitting at the very bottom of these rankings. That’s because not one single catcher amongst MLB.com’s top 800 players was born with their sun in Virgo. Last year’s top fantasy scorer at the position was Seby Zavala, who projects as the third-string White Sox catcher behind Yasmani Grandal (SCO) and the newly-acquired Reese McGuire (PIC). To make up for this lack of representation, I entered 801 in the VIR catcher slot, which obviously heavily skewed the averages. But here’s what the numbers would look like if the Flowers had a more reasonably-ranked backstop:
300 – 129.6
400 – 135.8
500 – 142.1
600 – 148.3
700 – 154.6
I’m happy to report that the sign with the top-ranked average batter is my “home” sign of Cancer, thanks in large part to the #1 overall ranked Trea Turner. One thing to keep in mind is that I’m using the somewhat quirky positional eligibility rules from my league, where shortstops can play second base and any infielder can slot in at first base. The middle infield clause doesn’t apply to the Crabs, since T. Turner’s legit holdover eligibility at 2B opens up shortstop for Tim Anderson. But the second, more controversial ruling allows 2B/OF Brandon Lowe to play at 1B, where he has just 7 career games. However, even if we replaced B. Lowe with the top-ranked first base eligible Cancer – Ty France at #143 – the Crabs STILL finish in first place with an average batter rank of 59.1, nearly 20 spots ahead of the second-place Scorpio.
Cancer Crab Trea Turner, ranked #1 overall
It was a heavy blow to the Mets rotation when Jacob deGrom went down for at least four weeks with a shoulder problem. However, deGrom’s sign of Gemini looks to be able to weather his absence in stride: even without the consensus best pitcher in the Game, the Twins still have the rotation with the best average rank by a comfortable margin. (Next up is Leo, whose average starter is more than 15 spots lower.) In fact, Gemini’s LOWEST ranked starter – Jose Berrios at #61 – is ranked better than the HIGHEST ranked starter of four other signs (Scorpio, Sagittarius, Aries, and Pisces) and is within two spots of the ace of a fifth sign (Capricorn). However, another injury will really test Gemini’s depth, as the next best starters after Berrios doesn’t show up until the 200’s: real-life Twins rookie Joe Ryan (#209) and injured Rays phenom Shane Baz (#226).
Gemini pitching staff, start of 2022
Recent developments caused Gemini’s bullpen to trend in the opposite direction: with the trade of Craig Kimbrel to the Dodgers, he suddenly jumped to the top of their saves depth chart, rather than being stuck behind All-World Aquarius closer Liam Hendriks in Chicago. But don’t assume that this pitching dominance puts Gemini in position to go anywhere this season: even with a full nine position players receiving ranks from MLB.com, their average batter is still ranked dead last, less than one full spot below 200. However, when looking at the average rank across all players, Gemini is just third from the bottom, ahead of Virgo (whose special case I examined above), and Aries, despite the fact that the Rams have the top two relief pitchers. That’s an appropriate outcome, since saves are a rather antiquated way to judge success.
By the time my next post goes live, the 2022 MLB season will be underway! But rather than attempt to analyze the events of Opening Day, I’m concluding my All-Time Since 1980 with the bottom-dwelling Air Division.