A blog analyzing Major League Baseball through the lens of Astrology
Welcome to Astrology Baseball, a project where I arrange MLB players into teams based on their astrological signs, and then pit those teams against each other in mock fantasy seasons.
1995 Astrology Awards Recap
When I think back on my past baseball fandom, the 1994 strike sticks out in my mind. But for whatever reason, I didn’t recall until doing research for this project (if it registered to me to begin with, as an 8-year-old) that the work stoppage extended into the 1995 season.
Back from Vacation Recap
Usually I pay close attention to the Fantasy Astrology Baseball League, but since I have been on vacation for the last two weeks, I will be catching up on the recent proceedings, same as you, the readers. Granted, the middle of the stretch run with two fairly close divisional races wasn’t the BEST time to take a break from weekly lineup tinkering, but sometimes that’s just how the calendar works out.
1996 Astrology Awards Recap
The 1996 season marks somewhat of a milestone: it was the first in a run of 24 consecutive full 162-game MLB seasons (sometimes we even got 163, thanks to one-game tiebreakers). That streak of course ended in 2020 with the COVID-shortened 60 game season. But it began in 1996 due to a players’ strike abbreviating both the 1994 and ’95 campaigns.
Polarity Leaders: Leo vs. Pisces
With just a week to go until the MLB Trade Deadline, usually I’d be analyzing the signs of the players who have changed teams leading up to the big day. However, there’s no trade deadline in Fantasy Astrology Baseball anyway: each player’s sign is set at birth, and that’s the end of the story… much to the chagrin of Fantasy Astrology general managers.
1997 Astrology Awards Recap
The 1997 season was the LAST season with 28 teams in the majors, as Arizona and Tampa Bay got their new franchises starting in 1998. That means there were roughly 90 fewer players to fill out the teams in the Fantasy Astrology Baseball League than in later years, but we still saw some pretty impressive lineups in ’97.
If the Season Ended Today: Leo Season
On Wednesday, the official @MLB Twitter account posted a graphic with how the postseason picture would look if the season ended that day. Since today is the start of Leo season, I thought I’d take that opportunity to perform the same thought experiment with respect to the Fantasy Astrology Baseball League.
1998 Astrology Awards Recap
Lots of people remember the 1998 season for the historic and cinematic chase of the single season home run record, between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa - who were incidentally the top two Fantasy point scorers in the Astrology Baseball League that year. But more impactful league-wide was that ’98 also saw the debuts of MLB’s two newest franchises in Arizona and Tampa Bay.
Cancer (Crabs) Tarot: The Chariot
The fourth entry in my examination of the connections between Astrology and the Tarot is a sign that holds great personal significance for me: Cancer. I suppose I should clarify: Cancer is my birth sign. Although I understand how there might be confusion, especially following the incredibly moving “Stand Up To Cancer” tribute from last week’s All-Star Game.
1999 Astrology Awards Recap
1999 was a seminal year for many reasons: MLB broke the record for most home runs in a season that was set in 1998 (and which would be broken again in 2000). The Cleveland ballclub scored 1,000 runs, the first time that feat had been accomplished in nearly 50 years. But most importantly from a personal standpoint, the stats from 1999 formed the baseline of my second-favorite baseball video game of all time: All-Star Baseball 2001.
FABL All-Stars 2021
Now that the 2021 All-Star festivities are over, I’d like to examine what the All-Star landscape might have looked if they were determined not by the American and National Leagues, but by the Negative and Positive Polarities in the Fantasy Astrology Baseball League.
2021 All-Stars by Sign
Two weeks ago, the official @AllStarGame Twitter account posted a graphic showing which MLB teams had the most All-Star Game starters. The Blue Jays led the way with three, and then four other teams were tied with two apiece. It turns out that the distribution of which astrological signs had the most All-Star Game starters had even more parity: no sign had more than two starters, and more than half the Fantasy Astrology Baseball League reached that threshold (by a margin of one – it was seven teams total).
All-2000’s: Aquarius
I left the Aquarius All-2000’s roster for last, because that’s the place in the standings where the Water Bearers most frequently found themselves in the last two decades. You might look at a player pool that incudes the likes of Vladimir Guerrero (Sr.), Roberto Alomar, and Lance Berkman, and wonder how they performed so poorly overall, but… the fantasy points don’t lie.
All-2000’s: Capricorn
My personal favorite Capricorn player happens to be the top-scoring All-2000’s Capricorn player: Hall of Fame outfielder Rickey Henderson. It’s not just because the career leader in runs scored and stolen bases (and times caught stealing) played the majority of his career for my favorite team – the Oakland Athletics – but because one of my earliest baseball video game memories involves his digital avatar in Triple Play ’96 for the Sega Genesis.
All-2000’s: Taurus
Taurus has had more of a roller coaster ride over the last 20 years than any other sign, spending time at the very top and also the very bottom of the Fantasy Astrology Baseball League standings. While their current pitching depth still leaves something to be desired, the Bulls currently sit at the top of the Earth Division (although with slightly lower playoff odds than second place Virgo), and they could be on their way back to relevance soon.
All-2000’s: Sagittarius
I must admit that the winter signs have always proved the most enigmatic to me in terms of Astrology Baseball. Sagittarius (encompassing parts of November and December) always seems to have a stable of superstars at their disposal, but except for one random year (2008), the Archers haven’t been especially relevant in the FABL standings.
FABL Roster Moves, July
We’re still a couple days before the start of July, but I decided to get a head start on adding new players to the Fantasy Astrology teams this month. This way, teams can have access to reinforcements for this week’s matchup. Although with playoff odds becoming more and more solidified (at least according to the ESPN fantasy client that I use), this exercise will become less and less important for the bottom-dwelling teams.
All-2000’s: Pisces
If you believe the playoff odds provided by the ESPN fantasy baseball client (which I use to run the official Fantasy Astrology Baseball League), Pisces has a 99% chance to make the postseason this year. I know what you’re thinking: there’s still more than half of the season left to play, how can they be so certain? But enough about 2021 – let’s shift our focus back to the Pisces All-2000’s roster.
All-2000’s: Gemini
I’ve noted often that the strength of Gemini is their starting pitching depth, but looking at the sign’s All-2000’s roster, it’s clear that this was a fairly recent development: for most of the previous decade, the “Twins” were known for their top tier power hitters. This group includes two Hall of Fame first basemen, but also a very strong crop of left fielders, including a personal hero of mine: Manny Ramirez.
All-Star Ballot 2021
While watching a game last week (on June 15th in fact), I saw my first indication about the upcoming All-Star Game: a graphic showing the current leaders in All-Star voting. I remember thinking this was fairly late in the season to start hearing about the All-Star Game - usually MLB tries to get you to start voting after the first month or so, which I always thought was early. But then again, I might have just not been paying attention to the right sources.
All-2000’s: Virgo
If you look at the top 50 players in Major League history (according to baseball-reference Wins Above Replacement), you’ll find that the relative majority of them are Virgos. They only have nine total players, but they’ve amassed 931.2 bWAR between them, compared to the second place Aries, with seven players and 782.9 bWAR. However, in the last 20 years, we haven’t seen a Virgo team lead the league in fantasy points.