What If Major League Baseball Was Entirely Alphabetical? (Part 2: Opening Day to the All-Star Break)
What wold happen if you completely reorganized Major League Baseball so that each team was comprised only of players whose first names started with the same letter? What letter would produce the best team?
To be clear, the ridiculousness of this hypothetical is not lost on us. Who cares? AJ Pollock and Anthony Rizzo and Aaron Altherr and Andrew Romine aren’t teammates, may never be teammates. and even if they did one day become teammates… what does it matter? But sometimes, the entire concept of “mattering” doesn’t, in fact, matter. This is one of those times.
On Monday – thanks, again, to the magic of OOTP 19, the newest in a long line of fantastic MLB simulation games from Out of the Park Developments – we set out to answer this very question, launching a sim of the 2018 MLB season with each team made up only of players whose names begin with the same letter.
In that first post, we gave readers a screenshot-laden look at how things shook out – and offered lukewarm takes about each letter-team’s chances. To recap: It looked at the onset like teams C, J, M, and Y were the class of the league, with N, T, S, maybe D comprising a dare-to-dream / stretch-for-the-Wild Card layer.
So let’s see how things shook out…
Opening Day Notes
- The guys were a bit shaken up on Opening Day – understandably, as the very fabric of their world had just been torn to shreds; they had all sorts of new teammates, many of whom shared the same exact name.
- Team Z, for example, had to use only last names since they’re all named some variation of “Zack”.
- However… Zack Greinke asked to be named “Zoogeographical” since it’s the longest word in the English language that starts with Z and he likes to antagonize his teammates.
- The Commissioner’s Office investigation into what happened to Team W has yet to bring any revelations, but this author is getting nervous.
- The league’s staff graphic designers are hard at work on new team logos, having been able to salvage only 10 from the ashes of the former MLB.
May 1st
Here are the standings after a little more than 1 month of play:
As we can see, C, D, and Y are the best teams in baseball so far. D has the best bullpen, led by Dellin Betances and David Robertson mostly. C is well rounded, with the 3rd most runs thanks to hot starts from Charlie Blackmon and Corey Seager, and they’ve got the 2nd best starting pitching in the league, though it probably would be the best if not for Chris Archer‘s 7.00 ERA.
Y is a nice surprise, leading baseball in offense. They definitely have the best catching group in the game with Yadier Molina, Yan Gomes, and Yasmani Grandal (who appears to be getting most of the starts).
Other things to note include that R is leading baseball in homers, thanks in large part to a league-leading 12 from Randal Grichuk. XQU is predictably terrible, and O is baaaad. After Ozzie Albies and Odubel Herrera, there just isn’t much there.
At the All-Star Break
Here are the standings at the All-Star Break:
I’m feeling pretty good about my C prediction. They’re 51-21, the second best team in baseball. T has come on very, very strong since May and they own baseball’s best record at the break (54-21). T is 3rd in runs scored thanks to Travis d’Arnaud somehow hitting .330 and Tommy Pham and Trea Turner having fantastic seasons as well. T is also 3rd in baseball in runs allowed. Their rotation isn’t spectacular but it’s really solid. Tanner Roark leads the staff with a 3.25 ERA, but no one has an ERA higher than Trevor Bauer‘s 4.00 (there’s something to dive into here, as Sean has been toying with a related hypothetical that just might become our next OOTP rabbit hole experience).
Y closed out the first half with 10 straight wins and has the best pitching in the NL. Somehow Yoan Lopez has a 2.54 ERA and Yu Darvish is sub-3.00 as well.
Midseason Notes
Scooter Gennett leads baseball with a .363 average and Paul Goldschmidt leads the league with 24 homers, 77 RBI, and a .470 OBP. Goldschmidt is also the league leader in slugging, OPS, and WAR at 4.9. Trea Turner has 40 steals.
On the pitching side of things, Lance McCullers is your ERA leader a 2.33 and Stephen Strasburg has a 4.0 WAR. Noah Syndergaard has thrown the most innings and Robbie Ray has the most K’s. Ulises Perez is 0-15 and leads the league in losses, one ahead of his teammate Xavier Javier (who’s name is in the running for most…. something.).
Jason Heyward has been bumped out of Team J’s starting lineup in favor of Jake Lamb at DH (JD Martinez slides out to right field). Heyward is hitting .267 with just 1 homer.
It’s already clear that league organization has played a big role in teams’ success. R, for instance, has been totally screwed by playing in the same division as T, P, and S, and is in last place despite a .600 winning percentage. On the other hand, J is 10 games up on their division with just a .580 winning percentage. NL teams appear to have bloated win totals because they can beat up on XQU and V so often. It’s definitely a flaw in the sim.
As we head to the second half, I expect C to pull away in the AL East on the strength of their pitching, J to get hot and finish strong, and T to fade hard. I’m very excited for the playoffs and to finally crown the Greatest Letter. Check out Part 3 tomorrow for the thrilling finale.
-Max Frankel
