Week 1, 2019 Newsletter

THE PIONEER PRESS 2019

EDITION 1: THE OFFSEASON/WEEK 1 EDITION

Written by: Ryan Florentine

Football season has ended, winter has started to roll out and the clear blue skies and green grass are beginning to overtake the landscapes… baseball season is back, y’all! Welcome to another year of the Pioneer Fantasy Baseball league and a second year of the Pioneer Press. Unlike MLB free agency, the Pioneer League’s offseason was featured, well, entertainment. The league participated in making their team names: A city beginning with the first letter of each manager’s first name (that isn’t hosting a MLB affiliated team), the first thing to their right and the first animal that came to mind starting with the first letter of their last name. For example, Manager Logan Camillo’s team name was the, “Long Beach Coffee Cats”. These names were subsequently made into logo’s by Commissioner Jason Moragas.

A league-wide Hall-Of-Fame vote was taken as well with the following receiving enough votes to finish above 70% on our mock ballot: Fuck it, I scrolled through the GroupMe twice and couldn’t find it, I’m done looking for it. Just know Mariano Rivera also made our mock ballot.

In other news, a league website, which had been in the making since the end of last season was diligently worked on and completed by Ryan Florentine and Jason Moragas this off-season. The full-service website can be accessed here:

http://sites.google.com/student.fairfield.edu/pioneer-league/

This league got off to a rousing start as 10 trades were made prior to the season even beginning/during week 1.

Finally, Brendan Davis and Ryan Florentine entered into a bet. Should Yankees catcher, Gary Sanchez, not post the highest WAR among MLB catchers this upcoming season, Brendan owes Ryan a ticket to see the Yankees play the Indians. Should Gary Sanchez post the highest WAR among MLB catchers this season, Ryan must post a Facebook status claiming Gary Sanchez is the best catcher in the MLB. Consequently, Ryan traded Brendan, Gary Sanchez prior to the season beginning.

Week 1:

1948 Revisited (Ryan) 414.75 vs. Dynamic Duo (Anthony) 411.25

Despite trailing for the majority of the week, Ryan used a plethora or starters on both Saturday and Sunday to squeak out a narrow week 1 victory. For Ryan, Tyler Glasnow (40pts) led the charge on the pitching front, while AJ Pollock (29.50pts) and Josh Bell (28.25pts) picked up the slack left by Francisco Lindor’s absence. It wasn’t all bad news for Tony as Yoan Moncada (38pts) is looking like the real deal. Maybe most importantly, he only struck out 7 times versus 12 hits and 3 walks.

Joilet Pen Manatees (Jason) 460.75 vs. JC Cactus Impalas (John) 321.50

Despite Brian Dozier (-6pts) doing his best to sabotage Jason’s week 1 hopes, Maikel Franco (42.50pts) looked like the prospect he was 3 years ago. Joe Musgrove (39pts) spun 9 innings of no-run baseball to lead the pitching side of the ball along with 4 others breaking the 30pt barrier. Johnny will look to put this opening effort behind him. The bats will have to wake up next week. Outside of Bryce Harper (35.75pts) there was minimal positives to come from week 1.

Wichita SodaMammoths (Cody) 494.00 vs. Ander’s Team (Ders) 524.50

Cody Bellinger (81.75pts) had a nice first quarter of the season in just the first week of the season, blasting 7 home runs and scoring 17 runs. Christian Yelich (63.50) was also MVP-esque despite paltry numbers in comparison to Bellinger. The two of them were unfortunately not able to overcome the opening week juggernaut that was Der’s squad. Jacob deGrom (63pts), Josh Hader (59pts), Mike Clevinger (57pts) and Trevor Bauer (54pts) were a force to be reckoned with, or rather a force too strong to be reckoned with. The rest of the squad was solid, if not spectacular in certain areas.

CV Paper Seagulls (Casey) 495.50 vs. I GOT WOOD (Andranovich) 459.00

For Casey it was the Max Scherzer (45pts) show along with a strong secondary cast led by Domingo German (39pts) and 8 batters over 20pts. Mike put forth an admirable effort led, unsurprisingly, by his batters. Paul Goldschmidt (32.25pts) and JD Martinez (36.25pts) were the catalysts to a strong overall effort.

LongBeachInsulinCats (Logan) 445.50 vs. Rhys’ Pieces (Ecc) 444.25

Ecc’s team must’ve forgot the season started two Thursday’s ago as he got off to an abysmal start. However, once they woke up, this ended up being the closest matchup of the week. Groupme has a semi-chub for Whitley Merrifield (35pts) lately as everyone should. Merrifield is proving to be a true stud in The Pioneer League and Logan’s team. Groupme’s least favorite son, Trey Mancini (38pts), had an outstanding week despite not being taken seriously as a quality trade candidate. Team namesake, Rhys Hoskins (46pts) was the biggest reason Ecc made this a close matchup, hitting a slam and knocking in 13RBI’s.

Tempe Weed Piranhas (Trent) 527.25 vs. JudgeJuryExecutioner (Aaron) 530.75

Another extremely close matchup, pitted Trent and Aaron in a dogfight. Trent’s boy, Brad Keller (38pts) coupled with Chris Archer (35pts) to form a formidable 1-2 pitching punch. The two of them were not able to quite overcome Aaron’s Kirby Yates (45pts) leading 7 pitchers over 20 points.

Daddy WarBuxton (Eric) 479.00 vs. NYC Midtown Uniforms (Brendan) 562.50

The final matchup of the week saw two consistent studs of The Pioneer League, matchup. Brendan took the victory in week one. Mike Trout (60.50pts), Matt Shoemaker (60pts) and Shane Greene (59pts) were the only ones this week to get close to Bellinger or Yelich in terms of total points. Jose Berrios (58pts) feasted upon a lowly Indians lineup on opening day en route to 21 K’s over 2 starts. Berrios alone wasn’t able to keep pace with Brendan’s 3 headed monster, however.

Week 1 MVP:

- Cody Bellinger (81.75pts)

Week 1 LVP:

- Jose Urena (-16pts)

Standings:

Champs:

NYC Midtown Uniforms 1-0

CV Paper Seagulls 1-0

Joilet Pen Manatees 1-0

1948 Revisited 1-0

Red Win Zamboni 0-1

I GOT WOOD 0-1

JC Cactus Impalas 0-1

Contenders:

JudgeJuryExecutioner 1-0

Anders’s Team 1-0

LongBeachInSalenCats 1-0

LogansMomHitsOnMe 0-1

Wichita SodaMammoths 0-1

Rhys’ Pieces 0-1

Dynamic Duo 0-1