Murderer’s Row start rebranded season with victory

Baseball season is upon us. After a somewhat regular offseason, teams and players could get the proper preparation for the 2021 season, which just kicked off.

If you have stopped by the site at any point over the last two seasons, you will know that our annual fantasy baseball team usually centers around New York Yankees players. Selecting an entire team for a fantasy sport usually turns into a disaster, so this year we went off script and did not select a single player who plays in the Bronx.

Did the change in roster structure pay any dividends in the first week against our fiercest rival, ItsNotRyanItsRyne? Scroll down to find out!

The opening week matchup was two weeks in length, giving us a chance to plate players in 177 games compared to our opponent’s 161 chances. After the final out, we had collected 96 hits in 386 at-bats, while ItsNotRyanItsRyne knocked around 80 hits on 309 at-bats. These numbers mean the opportunities were there for us to walk away with this matchup.

Although the chances were in our favour, this matchup could have gone either way. Ultimately we were lucky to escape with a 6-4 victory to start the season. (Side note: this matchup ran parallel to a playoff matchup both managers had in fantasy basketball. We won here in baseball, and they succeeded in basketball, knocking out our team in the process.)

When you break down the final category numbers, five of them were decided by three points or less. Three categories came within ten points of each other, while the other two were pretty decisive.

The only two spots that we were confident to lock up were RBIs (56-39) and ERA (2.72-5.00). All other categories were too close to call as the games went into the weekend.

As we pick apart the daily win/loss record, Murderer’s Row secured a lead on the second day and never relinquished it the rest of the way. However, when you look at the category numbers, the only day we managed to get some separation was on Tuesday and Wednesday when the lead was five and four games, respectively.

Both teams didn’t have a lot going on Opening Day, resulting in a 3-3-4 tie to start the matchup off. After playing through the first weekend of the season, we found ourselves up 6-4 on Thursday, a lead we held until the end.

The opening week had all the baseball action you could hope for, with teams playing daily to kick start their campaigns. Since everyone was playing, managing the daily lineup became quite the chore. Unfortunately, some players got into the lineup while others were the odd man out.

We won this week’s matchup 6-4, yet the outcome could have been a little bit different by a single category. Our opponents beat us 51-49 in runs scores, but if you factor in the nine we left on the bench, we could have taken that category 58-51, giving us a 7-3 victory instead. We did crunch out the overall batting average, and we would have still lost the category since our final number would have dropped from 0.249 to 0.241.

When the league first starts, it is tough to analyze team statistics. Even with two weeks in the books, teams haven’t separated themselves yet to gauge all their weaknesses.

The biggest flaw in our lineup is saving games. Armed with projected save leaders Josh Hader (Milwaukee) and James Karinchak (Cleveland), neither player could save a game, giving us a goose egg to start the season.

Sadly, there is no closer available to have better numbers than our two when we browse through the free-agent pool. The lack of options hampers our ability to adjust this early.

For the first time in almost two full seasons, Murderers Row is not the worse team in the league. A massive 6-4 win propelled the boys to the 4th overall spot in the standings.

Last year’s champions Screw the ‘Stros open the year 7-2-1 for third overall, while the team who selected Mookie Betts (Los Angeles) first overall stumbled out of the gate and sit at the bottom of the league with a 1-9 record.

During the opening set of games, management made two roster adjustments. When Ketel Marte (Arizona) went down with an injury, we grabbed Garrett Hampson (Colorado) to fill in.

After making one move to fill in for an injury, we finally pulled the trigger on acquiring Yermin Mercedes (Chicago). This rookie burst onto the scene, going 8-8 to start his major league career. Somehow no one else in the league showed interest, so we couldn’t tempt fate anymore and miss out on such a prospect.

Weekly Move Total: 2/4

Season Move Total: 2/40