May 29, 2011

As we near the close of the second month of the season, the latest pool story seems to be Red Sox picks. That is, the more Red Sox you picked in the pool, the nearer the top of the standings you are. Not surprisingly, notorious Red Sox homer Aaron Smith sits in first place.

May 28, 2011

May 22, 2011

May 21, 2011

May 15, 2011

A lot has definitely changed in the last week. Most importantly, the average point total per pool participant has increased significantly, from 3.39 to 4.96, as a result of the following changes:

• Adrian Gonzalez taking over the AL RBI lead.
• Jose Bautista re-taking the AL home runs lead
• Miguel Cabrera moving into a tie for the AL runs lead.
• Jacoby Ellsbury and Elvis Andrus tying the legendary Sam Fuld for the AL steals lead (not surprisingly, no one has Fuld for this category).
• Dan Haren sliding past Justin Verlander for the AL innings lead.
• Ryan Braun moving into a tie for the NL home runs lead.
• Tim Lincecum tying Roy Halladay for the NL strikeouts lead (somewhat surprisingly, no one picked Halladay in this category).

I'm sure there are others, but one pivotal category this year looks to be AL strikeouts. Rob LaColla dropped out of first place over the course of this week as a result of Verlander taking over this category, but he only has a one strikeout lead over Jered Weaver (Rob's pick) and Dan Haren. While Rob is the only person to take Weaver, eight folks picked Verlander in this category. Looming in the background, only 7 K's behind the leader, is the pool's most popular pick, Felix Hernandez.

Karen McCloskey added five correct picks to her total since last weekend, to take first place from LaColla by a slim margin. Amy Gill, who briefly captured first place yesterday, sits strongly in third place, just a few HBP behind LaColla.

May 15, 2011

May 14, 2011

May 11, 2011

May 10, 2011

May 8, 2011

Not a lot has changed since last weekend: Jose Bautista lost his AL home run lead to Curtis Granderson and Justin Verlander moved into a tie with Jered Weaver for the AL strikeout lead (prior to today's action). As a result of both developments, Amy Gill moves into a tie in overall points with Rob LaColla, although a four HBP edge maintains LaColla's hold on first place, at least for now.

May 1, 2011

Just one month into the 2011 season, and so far it appears Rob LaColla's faith in a few players out to prove that last year was not a fluke is paying off.

Rob is one of only four pool participants to pick Jose Bautista to repeat as AL home run champ. This is despite the fact that his league-leading total of 54 was 12 homers more than any player in either league. Rob is also the only person to predict Jered Weaver to repeat as AL strikeout leader, and one of only five to pick Josh Johnson to defend his NL ERA crown.

So, while Michael Bourn and Roy Halladay are otherwise dominating the pool's standings in this, our first update of the year, LaColla owes his first place ranking to his less popular picks.

Once again, we want to welcome you to the seventh year of the pool. The real baseball season is off to an interesting start, and so is this year's pool. We're happy to have you on board, and we're sure you're just as excited about the coming year as we are.