Vendetta Fantasy Baseball Week 1 recap: What went right for Team Sabin
Two weeks have come and gone and the MLB season is now fully underway, which comes to the conclusion to week one of the Vendetta Fantasy Baseball League. And it was a good one for me and my team as I defeated Garrett’s team, 418-350. It was a high-scoring matchup but my team had just enough firepower to secure the win. So what went right for me over the course of these two weeks? Let’s find out.
My Outfield:
I highlighted it as my strong suit in the strengths and weakness article I did for each team in the league. My outfield has the potential to be the best in baseball, and boy did they not disappoint this week. My top two performers were Mike Trout at 42 fantasy points, and Ronald Acuna Jr right behind him with 40. And T-3 on that list was Luis Robert at 36 fantasy points.
I know this outfield has some injury history, but while they are on the field it’s clear that they are going to give me a lot of points. Again it’s just a matter of these three stay on the field but if that can happen then I should find myself in a good spot.
I’m having to rely on my outfield a lot in terms of bringing in my points, which paid huge dividends for me this week. But while my outfield was certainly the star of the show. It wasn’t the only reason I won. my matchup.
Pitching Strategy:
One of the biggest weaknesses of my team was the clear lack of pitching. Especially in terms of high-level aces. Shane McClanahan topped my rotation, but the drop of to Luis Garcia, and Kodai Senga was a clear one. Knowing this I tried to create as much pitching volume for myself as possible.
By that, I mean that I tried to make sure that every day I at least had one starting pitcher in my lineup who was scheduled to throw that day. Tyler Anderson was probably my worst starting pitcher, so after his first start, I dropped him for Nick Pivetta who got me 11 fantasy points. Then, I dropped Pivetta for Tylor Megill which paid huge dividends as he got me 18 fantasy points. I dropped Megill for Justin Steele who got me 22 who was then dropped for Taijuan Walker who was replaced by Michael Grove and finally Mike Clevinger came in a got a start for me.
I figured that without the top-end talent in my rotation, I needed to make up for it by increasing the volume of innings pitched. It didn’t always pay off, with Clevenger getting me a point and Grove only getting me 6. But when it did work out, it provided me with a huge boost for that day and took some of the pressure off my lineup.
Big weeks from Senga surprisingly saw him as my number-one scoring pitcher at 36 points. McClanahan was right behind him at 34 fantasy points. And believe it or not, my third highest-scoring starting pitcher was the man himself Justin Steele who racked up 22 points in his one start.
Relief Pitching
My starters definitely held their own. But as it goes, even in baseball, the unsung hero in most wins is great bullpen play, and my team got just that during this matchup — in large part due to the efforts of Jordan Romano, who went absolutely crazy during the opening weeks tallying four saves. He finished with 33 points, the third-highest scoring pitcher on my team and No. 6 overall.
Paul Sewald also recovered after a sluggish start to the season, earning a couple of saves and holds to give him 20 points. The two of them paired with my starting rotation were more than enough to give me the edge.
The Slackers
But just because my team won does not mean there weren’t those who didn’t carry their load. Those who played below expectations will be called out right now. Carlos Correa has had a horrid start to the season and got me only five points over the course of two weeks. Ozzie Albies and Willy Adames were also disappointed, as the pair each dropped 13 points. Willson Contreras contributed an amazing five points to the team.
There were letdowns within the pitching department as well. Luis Garcia, who I hyped as a sleeper for this season, really crapped the bed for me earning one point over the course of two starts. And while not a lot was expected from Mike Clevinger, I was still hoping for better than a one-point effort.
Closing Thoughts
Overall, it was a great effort from both sides of my team. My big three in the outfield did their job and a solid effort from the rest of my position players led to a good week offensively. Pitching was also a plus with guys like Senga and Steele having great weeks. The bullpen also put forth a solid effort and rounded out a great performance from all phases of my team.
I now sit at 1-0 on the season and will play Andrew McGuinness in this next matchup, who was ranked as the No. 1 team by Milo Coulter in his preseason power rankings of everyone’s team. I certainly have my work cut out for me and hope to carry my success into these next couple of weeks.
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