Hot Start for Jackal Attack

The 2023 Jackal Attack is off to a 4 – 0 start, leading the Basket Catch League, matched only by the Shot Call League’s 4 – 0 Orlando Splitters. Bo Bichette leads a collection of seven players that have eclipsed the 100-point threshold already this season for Jackal – including Nolan Gorman (108.5 pts) and Sonny Gray (127 pts), two pleasant surprises to this point. Notorious for never fielding a Catcher, Jackal Attack’s GM was thought to have been kidnapped when Jackal claimed Francisco Alvarez off the Waiver Wire. Don’t worry though, Alvarez is safely stashed away in a Minor League Roster spot while the Major League catcher position remains vacated. An interesting strategy that Jackal has always stood by, not fielding a catcher allows them to roster fourteen pitchers plus Shohei Ohtani. Stacked up against the rest of the HumBabe Dynasty, the unbeaten Shot Call League leader has posted the 4th most Pitching Points, and just the 10th most Hitting Points through four weeks – nonetheless, seems to be a winning recipe.

Adolis Leading the Stars

Choose your Outfield: Nashville’s Steven Kwan, Brandon Marsh, Adolis Garcia, or Pablo’s Julio Rodriguez, Yordan Alvarez, Aaron Judge trio. No brainer, right? Well guess which trio has outscored the other by 37.5 points through four weeks? Nashville’s. Adolis Garcia led all players from April 17th to April 30th (Weeks 3 & 4) with 96.5 points, bringing his season total to the League’s 3rd best total, 165.5 points. Leading all MLB Hitters with 30 RBIs currently, Adolis has 8 home runs and is slugging .533 on the year. All that, plus a strikeout rate that has dropped from 30% in 2022 to 25% in 2023 – things are looking good for the Nashville outfield. A tough 2 – 2 start for the Stars should improve quickly if they can get some supplemental help for their dynamic Outfield trio.

Quadzilla

Spencer Strider raised some controversy across the HumBabe Dynasty in 2022. Packaged with three additional pieces, the Orlando Splitters attempted to add Manny Machado to their roster via trade, before getting a League Veto stamped on the effort. Well, now Spencer Strider is arguably the best Pitcher in baseball and still on an Orlando Pitching Staff that also owns Gerrit Cole, Corbin Burnes, Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, and Brandon Woodruff. Strider leads all Pitchers in the HumBabe Dynasty to date with 154.5 points over 6 starts, 35 Innings Pitched, 3 Quality Starts, 4 Wins, and 57 Strikeouts. Averaging 9.5 Strikeouts and 25.75 FPts per start, Strider is just 24 years old and now, essentially untradeable. Manny Machado, in the meantime, has 67.5 points less than Strider and is averaging just 3.11 per game… does the Orlando GM deserve a big “I told you so” to those that cast one of those Veto votes, or should he be thanking them at this point?

Month One Pick-Em Payout

Pick-Em Votes collected in the Month of April saw Brooklyn beat LeBronto, Golden City beat Say Hey, Orlando top Pablo, and Hard Ball defeat the Squeeze. Over those four Match-Ups, two teams found themselves in contention for the Pay-Out, each with 3 correct picks, bringing us to a Total Points For tiebreaker. Jackal Attack stood at 4 – 0 with 1,963 points, but Brooklyn, while just 3 – 1, took home Month One’s $20 prize with a Point Total of 1,975 (+12). Congrats to the Robins and good luck to those casting votes in Month Two!