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Who Owned Baseball August 27, 2017 (Daily #MLB AL/NL Pitcher + Hitter MVP’s) + 2017 #WOB Standings

(Photo: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports)
Byron Buxton collected 13 total bases by homering 3 times, adding a single, stealing a base and driving in 5 runs as Minnesota beat Toronto, 7-2.
Carlos Carrasco threw 7 shutout innings, striking out 8 Royals in Cleveland’s 12-0 romp.
Giancarlo Stanton reached base 4 times, including his 50th homer, driving in 3, to help the red hot Marlins win again, 6-2 over the Padres.
Patrick Corbin struck out 8 Giants over 7 shutout innings earning the 11-0 decision for Arizona.
They all owned baseball on August 27, 2017
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Mookie Betts and Byron Buxton Are on Opposite Ends of the Strikeout Spectrum
Since the 2017 MLB regular season is only a couple weeks old, we still can’t draw concrete conclusions based on player performance just yet. There are definitely certain trends we should be taking note of, though.
After all, don’t tell anyone associated with the Toronto Blue Jays that the first couple weeks can just be shrugged off as no big deal.
Two player trends that have been eye opening for different reasons involve Mookie Betts of the Boston Red Sox and Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins. One barely strikes out, but it seems like that’s all the other one does these days.
Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano Need to Fix The Same Problem For 2017
The Minnesota Twins aren’t your run-of-the-mill 103-loss team. Yes, the starting rotation is a mess and new chief of baseball operations Derek Falvey has a lot of work to do, but he inherited what should be a nice core at the MLB level.
Two players getting the most attention in this regard are Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano. While they boast vastly different skill sets on the diamond, there was one aspect of the game in which they both struggled with equally in 2016: striking out way too much.
This isn’t exactly a new problem for either of them, though.
In a disappointing 46-game stretch in 2015 as a rookie, Buxton struck out 31.9 percent of the time. He then watched his strikeout rate balloon to 35.6 percent in 331 plate appearances this past season in multiple stints with the Twins.
On the other hand, Sano broke out in 2015 by hitting 18 home runs in 335 plate appearances. His 35.5 percent strikeout rate wasn’t great; but that number was easier to swallow with a 15.8 percent walk rate and 150 wRC+. Since his strikeout rate didn’t improve (36 percent) and both his walk rate (10.9 percent) and wRC+ (107) took nosedives in 2016, it’s something worth being concerned about.
In order to be the cornerstones this organization wants them to be, they must cut down on the strikeouts. And they can do that by taking back control of the strike zone.
Who Owned Baseball September 29, 2016 (Daily #MLB AL/NL Pitcher + Hitter MVP’s) + 2016 #WOB Standings

DILIP VISHWANAT/GETTY IMAGES
Yadier Molina homered and hit a controversial walk off 9th inning double to keep the Cardinals in the Wild Card chase by beating the Reds, 4-3.
Byron Buxton doubled, tripled and walked, scoring 2 and driving in 3 as the Royals rallied to top Kansas City, 7-6.
Johnny Cueto settled down after a shaky first and struck out 11 Rockies over 7 innings and put down a bunt that helped spark a key rally in the Giants 7-2 victory.
Ubaldo Jimenez allowed 1 hit over 6 2/3 shutout innings and helped pull the Orioles in a flatfooted Wild Card tie with Toronto with a 4-0 final.
They all owned baseball on September 29, 2016.
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Who Owned Baseball September 4, 2016 (Daily #MLB AL/NL Pitcher + Hitter MVP’s) + 2016 #WOB Standings

Hannah Foslien / Getty Images
Jose Abreu homered twice and drove in 7 to help the White Sox win a wild extra inning 13-11 slugfest against Minnesota.
Kendall Graveman matched the Boston no hitter attempt with scoreless inning after scoreless inning, going into the 7th and finishing with 6 1/3 shutout frames, striking out 7. While he got a no decision, he set up the A’s 1-0 walk off win.
Domingo Santana went 3 for 5 with 2 homers to help the Brewers pound Pittsburgh, 10-0.
Julio Teheran threw 6 shutout innings, striking out 7 and earning the 2-0 decision for Atlanta over the Phillies.
They all owned baseball on September 4, 2016.
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Who Owned Baseball September 1, 2016 (Daily #MLB AL/NL Pitcher + Hitter MVP’s) + 2016 #WOB Standings

(Kathy Kmonicek / AP)
Christian Yelich reached base 4 times, homered, drove in 4 and played sparkling defense as the Marlins kept their faint Wild Card hopes alive by topping the Mets, 6-4.
Byron Buxton launched a 3 run homer that helped propel the Twins to an 8-5 victory over the White Sox.
Jose Urena allowed 1 run over 6 innings to earn the 6-4 decision for Miami over the Mets.
Ervin Santana worked out of jams well enough to keep the White Sox to 2 runs over 5 innings and get the 8-5 Minnesota win.
They All Owned Baseball on September 1, 2016.
To view the Yearly Leaders for Who Owned Baseball Standings, plus see who gained 1/2 WOB’s – Click the READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY ICON OR SCROLL DOWN.
The Time To Buy On Byron Buxton Is Now
BY (Featured BBBA Fantasy Baseball Website – rototargets.com)
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Byron Buxton is back in the majors after really disappointing in his first stint earlier this year. Chances are, after hitting .163/.212/.306 in the majors earlier this year, his owner in your league might be willing to part with him at a reduced cost relative to his status as a top-3 prospect.
Yesterday in a chat at Fangraphs, August Fagerstrom had this to say about Buxton:
: Reports out of Minnesota seem to indicate that Buxton actually looked different in AAA. Sometimes guys are a little more willing to try something different when the games “don’t matter.” Maybe he found something.
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What Is Up With Miguel Sano?
(Featured BBBA Website – offtthebenchbaseball.com)
Follow @blogoffthebench Follow @mlbreports
The Minnesota Twins are 8 -2 3, a 120-loss pace. If it weren’t for the Atlanta Braves, the Twins would be the worst team in Major League Baseball. These are the same Twins who finally came into a season with a reason to smile.
The Twins want to be this year’s 2014 Royals and come from nowhere to win the AL Central. They think they have the offense to do it and with Miguel Sano and others, they might be right. But I’m very suspicious about their pitching staff.
Max went on to discuss Ervin Santana and the huge potential range of possible outcomes for their underwhelming pitching staff. Sure, its was always possible for the Twins pitchers to greatly exceed their admittedly average expectations, but it never seemed all that likely.
Well, to this point, they’ve underperformed. The Twins have the worst collective ERA in the American League. 6 of the 8 pitchers who have made at least 1 start have an ERA of at least 4.70. You don’t get to an 8 – 23 record without “contributions” from the whole roster.
But far more worrisome for the long-term Twins’ plans are their young prospects’ struggles. Jose Berrios, their top pitching prospect, sports a 6.75 ERA after his first two starts. Byron Buxton, once the top prospect in all of baseball, has a .497 OPS. And Miguel Sano, the 23-year old slugger who actually produced in his limited time last year, is 200 points off of his 2015 OPS so far into his sophomore season.
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FanDuel Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) Baseball Selections For MLB Action – Apr 6, 2016
Josh Robbins (Featured Fantasy Writer/60ft6in.com) Follow @Qualcomm98
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Hi, my name is Josh Robbins. I would like to share my Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) strategy with you throughout the MLB season. Fanduel is my preferred game of skill.
APRIL 6, 2016…Late Slate (7:05 PM ET Fanduel Games)
Starting Pitchers
It’s not a deep slate for starting pitchers today.
1. Sonny Gray (10400) vs. Chicago White Sox
2. Collin McHugh (8900) vs. New York Yankees
3. Kenta Maeda (7200) vs. San Diego Padres Read the rest of this entry
MLB Power Rankings: April 2016
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer/Part Owner) Follow @stokes_hunter21
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
Disclaimer: We based these rankings on best strength to win the World Series. Therefore some teams that have an easier division to play in, with the least path of resistance to the postseason overall may be ranked a lot higher than a club who is equally talented, yet may play in a juggernaut of a division.
Yesterday won’t change much for the rankings. Although it kicked off interleague with the Royals beating the Mets 4 – 3, and starts the Junior Circuit looking to win the AL vs NL competition for a 13th straight year.
Pittsburgh also beat the Cardinals. I have them both ending the year win 91 victories, but these squad’s really intrigue me.
There are a multitude of reasons why I have picked the Cubs as the #1 team. I explain them in the writeup.
Each Monday, we will post a new set of power rankings and go over the week that was. Read the rest of this entry
Odds To Win The American League Rookie Of The Year

The American League has some young talent, however about only half of the guys on this list will even break camp with their parent big clubs,and others will be blocked for various reasons -including against each other on their own squads. There is really only one good bet and one bad for entire 15 guy list.
Hunter Stokes (MLB Reports Part _Owner – Chief Writer) Follow @stokes_hunter21
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
1st off the Twins have the top 3 players listed for the category in Buxton, Ho-Park and Berrios.
All Minnesota youngsters could make the squad, although Buxton is posting just a .567 OPS in Spring Training – after only putting up a .576 OPS in his 129 AB for 2015. He will be given the starting job to either make it or not, after the trade of Aaron Hicks. Don’t like the favorite status for most of these categories, this will ring true one more time.
Ho-Park has looked solid at the dish so far with a 3 Slash of .283/.306/.543 – with 3 HRs and 13 RBI in his 46 AB, and at 29 years of age – coming over from the KBO, he has years of experience next to his classmates.
Jose Abreu and Ichiro Suzuki both came over as later in life rookies to the Junior Circuit and took the honors Ho-Park was a beast in Korea – blasting over 50+ HRs in each of the last 2 years there for his club team Nexen.
While you have to temper expectations coming overseas to North America from there, what I love is that the guy improved his numbers in each of the last 5 years. This bodes well for him in Minny.
With a 4 year deal in his back pocket, Park will and should remain on the big roster based on his early success.
I am not sure he will win the Award, and I am not placing any cabbage on him too, but at least he won’t be subjected to service time restrictions like other rookies. Read the rest of this entry
The White Sox Need To Sign 1 Of Fowler Or Desmond To Stay Competitive

The White Sox have had a decent offseason – however every team that was near or beneath them in the standings have also upgrade their rosters going into 2016. With a need for an upgrade for the OF, and the chance to put forth an incredible homer-centric Infield, I would love to see them go after Ian Desmond, and or Dexter Fowler.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer/Part Owner) Follow @stokes_hunter21
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
I like the moves the White Sox have done in the offseason. The only problem is what the Royals and Tigers also have done this winter will make it tough for Chicago to keep up.
The Pale Hose finished a disappointing 76 – 86 in 2015 – and almost 20 games behind Division winner KC for the AL Central.
2014 winter moves of Adam LaRoche, Jeff Samardzija and Melky Cabrera just didn’t work out like they thought.
Despite the poor results off those player acquisitions Rich Hahn acquired Todd Frazier and Brett Lawrie so far in the hot stove this year, and also inked catchers Alex Avila and Dioner Navarro as key moves.
I love this aggression – and even believe that LaRoche and Cabrera will have bounce back seasons for the White Sox this season. Cabrera was pretty decent in the 2nd half, and LaRoche suffered the Adam Dunn NL to AL syndrome.
Having said this already, the Royals are sitting with a talented squad as reigning World Series Champs, and the Tigers added Jordan Zimmermann, Justin Upton, and bushel full of relievers and Cameron Maybin.
There is no doubt in my mind that Detroit will be much better than their cellar dweller 2015 campaign.
The White Sox have a decent pitching staff in its entirety. Maybe not as talented as the Cleveland Indians, but the Tribe doesn’t have the sticks as Chicago either.
KC has the best bullpen in the Division, and will rely heavily on it again with their grinder offense backing it up.
Minnesota has a ton of young offensive superstars in Miguel Sano, Brian Dozier and Byron Buxton, yet also lost team leader Torii Hunter.
Chicago is still spending at a decent clip – having a budget of near $123 MIL so far, but Detroit has crept up to near $200 MIL, and KC has paid for its title, by going near the $140 MIL team salary barrier. Read the rest of this entry
Baseball’s Youth Movement Is In Full Force
It seems like once every few decades, we see an influx of young talent and without a doubt we’re in one of those runs right now.
Think of the young players who have made major impact the last couple of years and try to remember back when the Majors was flush with this level of talent of players under the age of 25.
By the way, it’s not over yet either, as we still have to see extended seasons from Byron Buxton Corey Seager, Joey Gallo, Steven Matz, and the list goes on.
Also, keep an eye on the Shortstop position the next few years, as we will be living in possibly one of the best eras of the Shortstop.
Below is each teams list of players were 24 or younger at the start of the 2016 season.
Pick KC To Win The 2016 World Series At The 18/1 ODD: It’s Worth It Even To Hedge Later

Since the beginning of the 2014 playoffs, the underdogs have won 16 of the last 18 series, and the only favorites to win were the Royals and Blue Jays in the ALDS rounds this year. Series in which the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers had them on the brink of elimination. We take you behind the curtain to reveal some great gambling perspectives from this in this post.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer) Follow @stokes_hunter21
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
I was curious to see what the odds were for the 2016 World Series when they were first posted. As a former professional gambler this is my favorite thing to do. I was happy to see the early mistake made by Vegas. KC at 18/1 odds? Thanks fellas!
Odds courtesy of vegasodds.com
Dodgers 8/1
Mets 10/1
Blue Jays 10/1
Cubs 10/1
Nats 10/1
Cards 12/1
Astros 12/1
Pirates 12/1
Rangers 12/1
Yankees 16/1
Red Sox 18/1
Royals 18/1
Read the rest of this entry
Dodgers Are The 2016 World Series Odd Favorite: There Is No Way They Should Be

Back to Back AL pennants and this years World Series Winners. Yet by the Vegas odds board, they are not even in the top 10? Wrong… They play in the most winnable Division right now based on their talent, and are returning to 2016 with a great amount of their young nucleus. Pick them as the best bet on the board right now from this gambling establishment.
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer) Follow @stokes_hunter21
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
These odds are courtesy of vegasodds.com for the 2016 World Series.
Dodgers 8/1
Worst odd on the board. Losing Greinke will crush rotation. There is a chemistry problem there too.
Mets 10/1
Should be the National League favorite if replace Cespedes and Murphy. Lots of salary room to spend if Wilpon’s can spend.
Blue Jays 10/1
Need to sign a capable #2 Starter like Samardzija and should be the AL favorite.
Cubs 10/1
Like them to sign Price and win the Division in 2016, however in tough with Bucs/Cards. This is a bad odd.
Nats 10/1
This odd is about right. Washington and New York are going to get fat on the Phillies and Braves for a few years. Read the rest of this entry
MLB Farm System Rankings (1 – 30) In 2015
By Jordan Gluck (Featured Writer): Follow @jgluck777
Follow The MLB Reports On Twitter Follow @mlbreports
1. Chicago Cubs- They are still one of the top systems even with Javier Baez graduating from the list. I love the bats headed by what maybe the top prospect in baseball in Kris Bryant and high end talent in Addisson Russell, Jorge Soler, Kyle Schwarber and Dan Vogelbach.
They also have upside in Albert Almora, Eloy Jimenez and Jeimer Candelario. The pitching on the farm remains the main concern with a wiry C.J .Edwards, a mid ceiling Paul Blackburn and Pierce Johnson and a very far away Carson Sands.
The best farm system in the league that will see some graduates very soon.
2. Minnesota Twins- Last season was unfortunate for the twins and all of major league baseball as Byron Buxton got injured in spring training and Miguel Sano got TJ surgery.
I believe both of them will bounce back with ease and could be close to the major league level. Pitchers J.O Berrios, Alex Meyer and Kohl Stweart have frontline potential with Meyer possibly a candidate to make the rotation out of spring training.
They took Dee Gordons brother Nick in the first round last year and he can be a complete player. There is upside all over in Lewis Thorpe, Felix Jorge, and 50th overall pick Travis Harrison. A very solid farm that can hopefully bear some fruit this season.
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