Prospectus Hit List for September 19
Hit List for September 17
Hit List for September 22
Teams are ordered based on Adjusted Hit List Factor, a computer generated number, and the author isn't responsible for the order of the teams.
| Rk | Tm |  W | L | W1 | W2 | W3 | HLF | AHLF | Win Div% | Win WC% | Playoff% | 1-Day | 7-Day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | 95 | 58 | 93.0 | 95.2 | 94.2 | .617 | .635 | 100.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Jered Weaver pushed back his start last night but he’s okay, he just felt like inflicting Wade LeBlanc on Angels fans, “because I could.” He then laughed loudly, swung his cape around his shoulders and jumped back into the shower stall whence he came. | |||||||||||||
| 2 |  | 92 | 60 | 88.8 | 86.4 | 86.3 | .581 | .601 | 100.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| To celebrate their AL East title, Peter Angelos gave Albert Belle a six-year deal. When questioned about the move, Angelos said, “It was like going home again.” | |||||||||||||
| 3 |  | 88 | 64 | 90.4 | 90.6 | 89.5 | .590 | .570 | 100.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Now that they’re NL East champs, the Nationals don’t need to win anymore, but they can’t seem to turn it off. “What do you think, dear?” “What is Eurasia!” Trebek: “What is Eurasia!” “I can’t be stopped!” | |||||||||||||
| 4 |  | 87 | 66 | 84.9 | 90.1 | 88.3 | .572 | .553 | 85.6% | 14.4% | 100.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Now, two weeks away from the end of the season, we can put this era of no offense into context by pointing out that Dee Gordon is a plus hitter. | |||||||||||||
| 5 |  | 85 | 68 | 77.9 | 80.4 | 80.1 | .528 | .509 | 91.1% | 8.8% | 100.0% | 0.7% | 4.7% |
| They’ve already won more games than the 2006 team so champagne showers and parades all around! | |||||||||||||
| 6 |  | 84 | 68 | 83.3 | 85.1 | 84.2 | .554 | .534 | 14.4% | 85.2% | 99.6% | 0.1% | 0.7% |
| It’s not that Hunter Pence is hitting .290 with power, it’s that he’s doing it while wearing the actual equivalent of the googily eyes for each at-bat. | |||||||||||||
| 7 |  | 84 | 68 | 81.4 | 82.8 | 81.9 | .543 | .563 | 74.7% | 21.0% | 95.7% | -1.5% | 15.4% |
| Being chased this closely by the Royals is like taking your graduate level course and realizing that your dog Muffin is seated two rows behind you. | |||||||||||||
| 8 |  | 83 | 68 | 78.1 | 72.6 | 72.7 | .507 | .527 | 24.9% | 48.8% | 73.7% | -4.2% | 5.0% |
| With 10 games left, if you haven’t trusted the process yet, you never will, so feel free to scream and shake as needed. | |||||||||||||
| 9 |  | 83 | 69 | 92.6 | 91.6 | 91.5 | .590 | .609 | 0.0% | 88.2% | 88.2% | -6.4% | -4.5% |
| The A’s season is a mean Hallmark card. It’s, “happy happy happy happy happy hey what the heck, man?” | |||||||||||||
| 10 |  | 82 | 70 | 81.2 | 84.2 | 84.5 | .546 | .526 | 8.8% | 81.5% | 90.3% | 6.7% | 28.5% |
| The Pirates clinched a winning season with a series sweep against Boston, or if you want to be historically accurate, unceremoniously thieved it from the mouths of their innocent and hungry peasant opponents. | |||||||||||||
| 11 |  | 82 | 70 | 88.3 | 83.8 | 83.7 | .556 | .575 | 0.0% | 33.7% | 33.7% | 10.8% | -1.7% |
| Robinson Cano is already 33rd in Mariners history in career WAR. | |||||||||||||
| 12 |  | 79 | 74 | 76.3 | 76.6 | 76.1 | .503 | .483 | 0.0% | 9.2% | 9.2% | -7.3% | -11.7% |
| Grandparents will tell their kids, “I remember when the Brewers were in first place.” And their kids will scratch their thoraxes, give their antennae a quick cleaning and say, “Worker ants must work.” | |||||||||||||
| 13 |  | 79 | 73 | 77.0 | 77.3 | 76.0 | .509 | .529 | 0.4% | 8.1% | 8.5% | 1.4% | -7.3% |
| In the end, Corey Kluber’s Cy Young victory only cost the organization arbitration money. Also, it’s a cold winter wind and there is no good coffee. | |||||||||||||
| 14 |  | 78 | 74 | 72.2 | 71.0 | 71.8 | .482 | .502 | 0.0% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.1% | -2.4% |
| The Yankees are five games out of the Wild Card with 10 games to go, yet they insist on giving the least productive player in baseball the second-most plate appearances on their team. Yeah, he homered last night, but no, I don’t think it’s going to happen again either. | |||||||||||||
| 15 |  | 77 | 75 | 78.0 | 77.9 | 77.5 | .511 | .531 | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | -0.2% | -4.6% |
| When asked, GM Alex Anthopoulos said, in essence, he’d support his manager until he didn’t, which sounds like a dictator answering questions on his political prisoners. | |||||||||||||
| 16 |  | 76 | 76 | 75.5 | 74.7 | 74.6 | .495 | .475 | 0.0% | 0.9% | 0.9% | -0.2% | -22.0% |
| The Braves are moving to a new stadium after just a few seasons? Hey, Atlanta, just be glad they’re staying local. | |||||||||||||
| 17 |  | 74 | 78 | 72.9 | 73.3 | 72.4 | .481 | .461 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | -0.0% | -0.2% |
| It would be sad but somehow appropriate if, in his last at-bat as a Marlin, Giancarlo Stanton got hit in the face. | |||||||||||||
| 18 |  | 74 | 79 | 77.6 | 83.8 | 83.9 | .522 | .542 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| James Loney is baseball’s leader with the most at-bats (570) without a triple. | |||||||||||||
| 19 |  | 73 | 80 | 75.8 | 70.1 | 70.0 | .472 | .452 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | -0.0% |
| If MLB did investigate the Wilpons I’m sure they wouldn’t find anything beyond a plastic skeleton in the closet strategically positioned to help you avoid the real actual human skeleton right behind it. | |||||||||||||
| 20 |  | 71 | 82 | 74.0 | 69.7 | 70.6 | .466 | .446 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | -0.0% |
| If only Joey Votto were healthy, then this team would be a slightly better sniff of mediocrity they were destined to be. | |||||||||||||
| 21 |  | 71 | 81 | 69.8 | 65.6 | 66.3 | .449 | .429 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Trivia question: Without looking, when was the last time the Padres played? You probably said something like May, right? | |||||||||||||
| 22 |  | 70 | 83 | 69.6 | 67.4 | 68.6 | .450 | .431 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| The Phillies are reportedly in on Cuban outfielder Yasmani Tomas which would make sense, which is why I assume the report is bogus. | |||||||||||||
| 23 |  | 69 | 83 | 66.3 | 66.9 | 66.6 | .442 | .462 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Jose Abreu isn’t planning on slowing down even during the offseason. “Jose, here is your breakfa [crash] HEY! Put that bat down!” | |||||||||||||
| 24 |  | 68 | 85 | 67.4 | 73.1 | 73.6 | .461 | .441 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| The fact that the Cubs are hitting a rookie cleanup is so Cubs. The fact that that rookie has an OPS over 1.100 makes me expect the immanent coming of the apocalypse. | |||||||||||||
| 25 |  | 67 | 86 | 66.3 | 68.1 | 70.3 | .444 | .464 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Controversy? Check. Last place finish? Check. Questionable player personnel moves? Check. Another successful season for the Astros? Check! | |||||||||||||
| 26 |  | 66 | 87 | 66.1 | 67.7 | 68.8 | .439 | .459 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| The Red Sox cleanup hitter came into last night with a .614 OPS on the season. Ah last place, what can’t you do? | |||||||||||||
| 27 |  | 65 | 87 | 69.4 | 68.4 | 68.5 | .446 | .466 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| The Twins have officially given up on this season and, like an old person diagnosed with a degenerative disease, have started giving their stuff away. | |||||||||||||
| 28 |  | 62 | 91 | 69.2 | 71.4 | 67.4 | .441 | .422 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Losing to the Rockies feels like letting your 5-year-old beat you at checkers. “Oh no! Quadruple jump? I should’ve seen that coming!” | |||||||||||||
| 29 |  | 62 | 91 | 64.8 | 63.9 | 63.8 | .416 | .396 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| The Diamondbacks should get all their GM candidates together, play some overly dramatic music, hand the winner a rose, and then drop the runners-up through a trap door into a tank of sharks. | |||||||||||||
| 30 |  | 60 | 92 | 61.0 | 58.4 | 61.0 | .395 | .415 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| We now know which is stronger, the irresistible force (the A’s collapsing) or the immovable object (the Rangers awfulness). Had to go with force on that one. | |||||||||||||
It's Friday, Friday, gotta Scott Downs on Friday.