Fantasy Baseball Today - 2025 Awards! Most Valuable, Most Improved & Many More! (9/30 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 30, 2025

The 2025 regular season is over! How did we do (4:20)? ... The MLB playoffs are set (8:53)! ... News (11:19): Rocco Baldelli and Bob Melvin were both fired! ... Time of our 2025 awards, starting with the most valuable players (17:00)! ... Who won the Bobby Big Bat (20:43)? ... What about the Freddie Fleet Foot award (23:15)? ... Who were the most improved (25:10)? ... The biggest breakthrough can only go to one man (29:37). ... Who was the Dog of the Season (34:00)? ... George Springer and Jacob deGrom were the best comeback players (39:11)! ... Pete Crow-Armstrong, MacKenzie Gore and James Wood all faked us out (45:28). ... Who were the biggest over and underachievers (49:11)? ... We wrap up with the rest of the Golden Breadstick awards (51:30)!  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow FBT on TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CBSScottWhite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Roto_Frank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The regular season is over, but the real fun is just beginning. Welcome in to our 2025 Fantasy Baseball Today award show, The Golden Breadsticks. I am your host, Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White. Incredible. And today. That was incredible work, the intro. And look, you're all dressed up. This is fantastic.

This is, I logged in, and I saw you in that get-up, which looks like if you've ever seen my cousin Vinnie. It's like when Vinny Gambini finally gets a suit he can wear to the courtroom to meet the judge's satisfaction. And it's this ridiculous suit that he got at some like secondhand store because it was the only thing open. That's what it looks like Frank is wearing today. The youths. The youths, Scott. We're going to be talking about the youths. No, we're talking about a bunch of different awards that we're handing out. We've done this, I think, every year that I've been here a kind of post-mortem for the season and we hand out awards. Scott does a great job. He comes up with like 40 different awards. So we're going to try and get through as many of those as we

possibly can today. The MLB playoff field is set. There were managers fired. We've got some movement happening already and much more. But for those wondering what my hair looks like without a hat and with no product in it, now is your chance. So hop on over to YouTube.com slash fantasy baseball today. Yeah, I've got the whole get up going, Scott didn't get the memo. What's up? I didn't. I wore a plain black shirt. That was my way of, like, snazzing it out.

Oh, all right, all right. But, yeah, I didn't go nearly as far. You should have warned me, Frank. I feel underdressed. I'm also really, really hot in this outfit right now. So if I pass out mid-podcast, you know why. We'll do more of a season recap later in the week, looking at league leaders and stats and statistical trends.

and, you know, all different kind of lessons learned. And, you know, we'll dive in a little bit more later on when Chris is back on the podcast later in the week. But Scott, just how was your season, man? How did everything turn out for you? Okay. It was okay. It wasn't amazing. But it was okay.

In the end, I only won one league, the podcast for the People League. Same. I only won one league as well. But you didn't win that league. No, that would be weird if we both wanted it. That would be weird. Yes. But that is the third time in five years that I've won that league that I'd like to say,

Heath Cummings set up years ago just to troll me, the rules or so, go against my sensibilities. So that was nice that I was able to pull out that win. But that was the only one. I did have my highest finish in Tout Wars since I won the league back in 2020. So my first three years in Tout Wars, I finished third, second, and first. and then I hadn't finished in the top half since. Which means you lose fab dollars at the start of the year

for finishing at the bottom half of league. You don't have a full allotment to work with. So that was frustrating getting out of that hole. But I finished fourth this year. So that fourth out of 15, I understand that's not a win, but it felt like a small victory given the way things had gone in that league for me recently. Yeah, only one league as well.

The competition is tough, man. is fantasy baseball is tough. And I won my home league. It's a 12 team head to head points. Keeper league. You keep four players year over year. So I think I've won back to back. I don't know.

I've won it a bunch of times. But I want to win some other leagues too. I finished second in Tout Wars. It was pretty close the past couple of weeks. And then this final week, Brett Sayer actually pulled ahead and won by 10 standing points. But I finished second in that league and really, really wanted to take that one down. But it is a very tough league. 15-team roto auction with OBP instead of batting average.

So we'll try again next year. I think I finished 7th in NLabor. That team fell apart. It was a bad year to be highly invested in Austin Riley, Scott. I didn't realize how much Austin Riley I had, but there was a lot across the board. And so, yeah, that did not work out very well for me. So you know what?

We're back to the drawing board. We'll figure it out and then hopefully come back stronger in 2026. I do want to give a couple shoutouts here to other. podcast league, listener league participants here. You actually went up against Matt Dixon in the finals of the Four of the People League, so wanted to give him a shout out for making it that far and giving you

a little challenge there. And also shout out to Joshua Butler, who won our 12 team Head to Head Points League back to back years that a listener has won in our head to head points listener league. So we gotta get back on a roll next year, Scott. Me, you, Chris.

I think we've got to show these listeners. I think it was not to take anything away from the champion, totally deserved, but I think this was another year where I had like the most or the second most points and missed the playoffs entirely, which is always frustrating. Let me see if I can find that. I feel like I've brought this up in previous years. We should change the rule next year. We do this in a couple of my home leagues where the top six teams make the playoffs. The top five playoff teams are record. And then the six team is just the highest point score after that. So it does kind of eliminate some of the bad luck involved.

Well, you're the commissioner, Frank. So should I do it? You could do it. You know what? I didn't finish that high in points. Ah, Scott's a liar. Yeah. Yeah, I must have been thinking of a different league. And I did actually make the playoffs as the sixth seed, but I, yeah.

No, I didn't get cheated out of anything in the podcast listeners league. A couple other close finishes. We did an auction draft. a live auction draft before the season, one that we always play out, the Memorial Magazine League. I actually finished second in that one. I lost by two points to Greg Lathrop.

Lathrop? Lathrop? I think it's Latherp. And yeah, he's performed very well in that league. So shout out to him for winning that. Four times in seven years, he's won. The beat FBT League on the NFBC didn't go so well. So maybe I'll just leave it there. We finished 10th out of 12. We had a ton of injuries, and yeah, it just didn't go very well.

But you know what? It was our first year as a triumvirate managing a team. I think we'll get better, Scott. I'm down to do this again if you are, but I know it was a very entertaining podcast and video of nothing else for people watching, so maybe we'll try again next year. Let's kick things off here with the postseason. It's yet to start.

Games are starting here on Tuesday, so if you listen to this, whenever you listen to this, they might already be started. Some games might be over, depending on when you listen. But the playoff field is set. The Guardians will host the Tigers. The winner faces the Mariners in that series. The Yankees will host the Red Sox. The winner will get the Blue Jays there.

So all ALE East on that side. I will actually be at game one on Tuesday night, and I am terrified. Max Fried up against Garicrochet. That is very scary. In the National League, we have the Cubs hosting the Padres. The winner will face the Brewers. The Dodgers host the Reds.

The winner will face the Phillies. The Metscott, who had the second high. payroll on baseball, completed their collapse and failed to make the playoffs, which is insane. It feels very on brand, though, right? I wasn't going to say it. As the Yankee fan, I can't say it. I mean, I don't think Mets fans like me so much either, but it does feel very on brand. They've had a few noteworthy collapses the past couple decades.

Also, the Astros missed the playoffs for the first time. So both of my boys are baseball obsessed, but especially my younger one. He just turned eight. And I told him this is the first time in his life that Astros have missed the playoffs. Wow. Yeah. That is crazy. Yeah.

It is weird. A postseason without the Houston Astros just doesn't feel right. But yeah, it's a good point there as well. Scott, your preseason prediction was the Phillies over the Red Sox in the World Series. Are you sticking with it? It's still possible, but I am going to say, I'm actually going to say Mariners over Phillies. Interesting. All right.

So my preseason prediction was Dodgers over Rangers. Whoops. I will say now, I also had the Phillies and Mariners making it. I will say Phillies over the Mariners in the World Series. Okay. So we have the same World Series. But I'm rooting for the Mariners. I'll be honest.

So a little bit of a little bit of rooting interest at. play there. I think either last year or two years ago, I had the Mariners in the World Series, maybe winning the World Series. I think both of us did. And they didn't make the playoffs or something. So, yeah. Yeah. Well, that was my prediction with the Rangers this year. I felt that'd be much better. So that didn't work out so well. Let's quickly run through some news and notes before we get into these awards. Some managers who are out. The twins fired Rocco Ball Deli, the Giants fired Bob Melvin. The Rangers and Bruce Bochy mutually agreed that he will not return next season. I believe they offered him some kind of supervisor role, but it sounds like he won't be taking that.

And with the Giants opening, I don't know, maybe he heads back to San Francisco, or maybe he just hangs it up. You know, Bruce Bochy has had an amazing career. And honestly, whenever I see him walk out to the mound, it looks like it hurts him so much. So if he wanted to hang it up, I think everyone would be totally fine with that. But we'll see. If Sam Fran comes calling to rekindle things with Bruce Bochy, managers who will be back, Tori Lavulo, back with the debacks, learned, Carlos Mendoza will be back with the Mets. The Pirates extended the contract of interim manager Don Kelly. So now he will become the full-time manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Peter Lanzo will opt out of his contract with the Mets. No surprise, he had an amazing season. And my guess is the market will be much more robust for Pete Alonzo this time around. Corbyn Burns is targeting the All-Star break next season for his return from Tommy John surgery. Orioles GM Mike Elias reiterated that Adley, Rutchman is, quote, the guy. He is our front line catcher.

Doesn't mean that Samuel Bessio isn't going to play. I think he'll be the backup catcher slash DH slash first baseman. So I think both of them will play a lot. Grayson Rodriguez should be ready for spring training. Jake Berger will have surgery later this week to repair a torn tendon sheath in his left wrist. So perhaps explains down year there for Jake Berger. Lucas Gilito will miss the wild card series with an elbow injury. And Scott, this last one.

This could be fun. Guardians prospect, Chase De Lauder, has been added to the taxi squad and is a potential option for the team's wildcard roster. Has yet to debut in the regular season, but might get a chance here in the playoffs now, which is pretty cool. Yeah, that is cool.

I wish we had seen him during the regular season. Obviously, he battled injuries, as he so often does. But there was a stretch there when he was healthy. He never did get healthy in time to return at AAA. he last played July 11th. So, you know, it would be a bold move, but it would be nice to see De Lauder in a major league uniform and feel like his career is not passing him by because of injuries.

All right, big thank you to everyone sending in. Thanks on social media for, you know, helping you win the championship this year, or just admiration for this podcast. We really do appreciate it. If we helped you win your league or you just enjoy this podcast, please feel free to leave us a five-star rating and review on both Apple and Spotify. It helps a lot.

Also, a programming update will be live on Monday and Wednesday nights around 10.30, 11 p.m. Eastern Time from October through December, then we'll start to ramp up to three podcasts per week after that. The audio podcast will be in your feed Tuesday and Thursday mornings. As for FBT Express, those episodes will start showing up exclusively in the main FBT podcast feed. Those episodes will come out Wednesday and Friday. morning. So don't be alarmed if you're subscribed to the FBT Express feed. You won't see anything there. Everything will now just be in the FBT podcast feed. So full length podcast comes out on Tuesday,

Express on Wednesday, full length podcast on Thursday, Express on Friday. So four days of content here throughout the offseason. Let's take a quick break when we return. It's time for the 2025 Golden Breadsticks. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in fantasy at baseball today. has come, Scott. Everyone has been clamoring and looking forward to the 2025 golden breadsticks. I went back to last year's podcast, this exact one, to listen, what did we call the name of this award? And we came to the conclusion that they are the golden breadsticks. So here we are. Let's jump in. And kicking things off with the most valuable hitter, Scott. Who is that? Most, most valuable hitter. Emphasis on value. Obviously, we can determine that and

Fantasy even easier than in real life. Best bang for the buck hitter. It's got to be Cal Raleigh. Got to be Cal Raleigh. There's an argument for it still being Aaron Judge, even though he was first round, you know, first round pick. That's how impactful he was in fantasy.

But Judge was somebody that you were drafting in the middle rounds at best and obviously went on to have a season beyond anybody's wise. wildest imagination, the best offensive season for a catcher, you could argue, certainly the most home runs, inarguably. And yeah, I'm calling him the most valuable hitter for 2025, Cal Raleigh. Yeah, finishes with 60 homers, 125 RBI, 14 steals, a 359 on base percentage there for Cal Raleigh. His preseason ADP was 85.6, and he finished as the second best player in fantasy this season. providing $43.6 worth of value in a 12-team Roto League, which is just incredible stuff.

What about the most valuable pitchers, Scott? I see a couple of options here, but who actually wins the award? Do we have the drum roll sound effect, or are we not doing that? If you talk about your thought process for some of these names, then I could probably find it. I just need a couple seconds.

Okay, so my most valuable pitcher, again, we're thinking in terms of relative to what you paid for him. But he has to be really, really good. And the winner is Christopher. Christopher Sanchez. We'll get the timing down as we go. That's fine. That's good. Christopher Sanchez's most valuable pitcher, not only did he take on his biggest workload yet, but he,

combined the higher velocity that he flashed last year, early last year, but remember it compromised his control, so he had to kind of shy away from it. Well, he brought back that higher velocity and maintained the elite control, became a big strikeout pitcher on top of getting all the ground balls and turned himself into a legitimate Cy Young candidate, probably going to finish second in the NL, might even get some first place votes, actually led the majors in big,

Baseball reference war, or I guess the NL, probably not the majors. 8.0, very high score for anybody, especially a pitcher. Christopher Sanchez, most valuable pitcher in fantasy. And he was actually tied for the league lead in quality starts as well. He had 22 of those, which tied with Garrett Crochet and Logan Webb. And I just love the length that he provides as well. He went two, four, six, eight. He went six plus innings in 24 of 32 starts this year.

And seven plus in a lot of those. I don't want to count on the air because it's not really the best listening experience. But Christopher Sanchez provided great length this year. Wound up with 202 innings this year. I think there was only three pitchers who got to that mark. It was him, Logan Webb, and Garrett Crochet. So yes, definitely one of, if not the most valuable pitcher, the preseason ADP for Sanchez.

144.1, he finished as the SP6 on the season. All right, Scott, let's go over to the Bobby Big Bad Award. What is this? Emphasis is on power. So, like, when I first started doing the awards, the very first year I had these, there were six of them, and now it's expanded to, like, 40. But this is one that's been there from the very beginning. It's just my way of honoring a power hitter who isn't quite the most valuable hitter.

And the winner of the Bobby Big Bad Award for 2025 is Kyle Schwerber. Yeah. Kyle Schwerber, when can you remember a time a guy had 56 home runs in his season? And it was, it got so little fanfare. It was been completely overshadowed by the 60 Cal Raleigh hit by the year Aaron Judge hit. I don't think Kyle Schwerber is even seriously in the NL MVP conversation. But he had a monster year. He was always a great power hitter.

But just obviously took it to another level this year with the 56, also 132 RBI. It's going to get him drafted higher next year than he's ever been drafted in fantasy. I personally have him as a second rounder for Roto, first rounder for head-to-head points leagues. Yeah. So you mentioned the home runs. The counting stats are just such a lock for Kyle Swarbrough. 100 plus run scored in four straight seasons, 94 plus RBI in four straight seasons. The batting average has been 240 or better.

Two years in a row here for Kyle Schwerber. He finished as the fifth best hitter overall in Head Ted Points Leagues. You mentioned he does get a bit of a boost in that format. Obviously any leagues with OEP. He's also a pending free agent at 32 years old. He'll be 33 in March. So pretty interested to see what the contract looks like. I think it kind of just starts at five for 150,

and we see kind of where it goes from there. It'll be interesting because, you know, he's basically a nothing defender, and he's on the wrong side of 30. But you can't argue, right? I mean, in terms of just consistent power and the ability to drive runs in, he's one of the best in the game.

And to answer my own rhetorical question, I'll make a non-retorical here. The last time the player hit 56 home runs that got so little fanfare was probably Luis Gonzalez is hitting 57 in 2001, which was the year Barry Bonds hit 73. Yeah. So that would be my guess. All right, let's move over to the Freddie Fleetfoot Award.

I do enjoy the alliteration. What is the Freddie Fleetfoot Award? Same thing as Bobby Big Bapa for speed instead of power. And the winner is Chandler Simpson. He did not lead the majors, but he was close. He had 44 stolen bases. and key point, in just 109 games. So he did lead the majors in most stolen bases per game.

And unlike the guy who actually led the majors and steals, Jose Caballero, Chandler Simpson was good for batting average to hit 295. That skill carried over from the minor leagues, a guy who knows who he is. He doesn't try to, he doesn't try to tailor his swing for power in the slightest, and I think that helps them maintain a high batting average. Chandler Simpson, just an unusual fit in the modern game. Certainly a good bet for stolen bases going forward. Yeah, 44 steals in 109 games. That is a 65 steel pace over a full season,

but doesn't provide much else. The batting average should be good. He had 53 runs scored in 109 games, so not even that is a great pace. 26 RBI, zero home runs. So you know he gives you nothing in that department. He's just a very unique player per fantasy. I'm interested to see where the ADP comes in, and he just, he has to be put in a very, very specific build. Maybe it's with a Kyle Swarber or a Eugenio Suarez earlier on or a Cal Raleigh, someone like that.

You know, it's just that batting average and speed to balance out big, big power that you get early on. But he will be a, I think a pretty interesting player to talk about. especially once we see some ADP there on Chandler Simpson. All right, this next one is a pretty fun category as well. The Most Improved Hitter, and there are tons of options you could choose from, Scott. How did you choose?

Well, there are a ton of options to choose from, but there's one obvious one who has to take this award, and that is none other than Geraldo Pardomo. Most Improved Hider, Geraldo Pardomo. he had three home runs last year. He had never hit more than six in his three full seasons prior to this year. That jumped to 20, more than tripled his previous high. Also had 27 stolen bases, which isn't something we were seeing him do a lot of. Basically improved across the board, did Geraldo Perdomo.

And the expected stats, more or less line up with the actual stats. All that improved production made Perdomo, the number one shortstop. points leagues, number three in Roto. And we're talking about a position loaded with superstars shortstop. So that makes those finishes for Pardomo even more impressive. And I

don't think anybody even cared to have him in fantasy outside of Vineho L only leagues prior to this year because it seemed like he was just there as like a defensive specialist for the dimebacks. They gave him the big extension. It seemed kind of weird

they were blocking Jordan Lawler, but obviously Perdomo got the last laugh and had a huge season. It would be very difficult to rank him for next year. Yeah, you mentioned where he finished among short stops. He was the 12th overall hitter in Roto this season and the seventh best hitter in Head-to-Poense Leagues. He was better than Lindorra and Bobby Wait, which you pointed out. It's just his ability to make contact, avoid strikeouts,

play so well in a points league. But even, you know, the increased power, 27 steals, just the counting stats, everything, everything just came out of nowhere there for Pardomo. Honestly, if we're just talking about pure value, I think he's in that conversation for most valuable player in fantasy baseball this season because he was either drafted extremely late. His preseason ADP was 420 on the NFBC or picked up as a free agent and he was the league winner this season. Just, you know, the guy you picked up in April and boom, he broke out and carried you the entire year.

So awesome, awesome season there for Geraldo Proto. What about on the pitching side, Scott? The most improved pitcher this year. Most improved pitcher is Nick Pavetta had never had an ERA below four prior to this year. Goes to San Diego. It's the first time he's really gotten to pitch at a pitcher's park, a favorable environment for a fly ball pitcher in particular. and does great.

Not only doesn't he have an ERA below 4, ERA below 3 at 287, and it made him the eighth best pitcher in points leagues and probably not so different in Roto. He was a stud. He was an absolute stud. After being kind of a punchline in fantasy

prior to that, a perennial tease, Nick Povetta finally came through. Nick Povetta, an interesting one for next season. His preseason ADP was 173.7. The underlying peripherals don't completely buy what he did this season. Off the top of your head, Scott.

Where do you think, not where you will rank him, where do you think Povetta will be drafted among starting pitchers next season? A, top 24? Top 20? Yeah, I was about to say 25, so 24 is close enough.

Will you do it? Will you be the person that drafts Povetta as your SP2. Like, I'm not going to seek him out. So I probably won't have that many shares of him. Probably the time to buy him was this past year, and I did have him in a few leagues. I had him as a sleeper candidate for this year or breakout.

I forget exactly how I labeled it. I might happen into him in some leagues just because he's the pitcher in that tier who lasts the longest, but it's not like I'm going to be actively seeking Pivotta out or will particularly like him at that value. All right, let's go over to the biggest breakthrough. And Scott, I'm just going to play the sound drop. You knew he had to be on this list somewhere.

Yeah, biggest breakthrough is Junior Cominero. Obviously, was widely hoped to be a breakout. But it went beyond anybody's expectations. In the song there, I say, over the fence that makes 35, referring to his home run total thinking that, you know, that might be, that might be a little aggressive. if he ended up hitting 45, exactly, Frank. 45.

So I could change the lyric and still keep the rhyme. Maybe I should. 45, you know, in a year where four guys hit 50 plus, right? Four guys, yeah, four guys hit 50 plus, and then Eohenio Suarez had 49, and then Cominero was right after them. So among the most prolific home run hitters in the majors at 22 years old, big breakout.

Yeah, and we've mentioned this. a few times for ranking him next season. I think he's going to be a late first, early second round pick, maybe mid-second round, but somewhere in that second round range for Caminero. What does this scare me slightly is that going back to Tropicana Field,

this past season, his home road splits, he was awesome in George Steinbrenner Field, hit 313 with a 954 OPS on the road, 218 with a 743 OPS, and we just don't have much of a sample, much of a track record. I believe he's only played 18 or 19 games in Tropicana Field. And some hitters have complained about seeing the ball there,

and it's a little bit tougher to hit overall. So it just adds an element of concern that I just wish wasn't there for Camerro. Sure. For what it's worth, 23 homers on the road 22 at home. So it's not like his... The power was fine, but the batting average. ...Fourner output was a product of George M. Steimbner Field. But yeah, you'd like...

you'd like not to introduce such a big variable to the equation. All right, Scott, what about the biggest breakthrough mid-season edition? Go ahead and hit the drum roll. Gavin Williams. I thought you lost your train of thought. I did lose my place here on my notes. Gavin Williams' biggest breakthrough mid-season edition. He went from having in the first half a 370-ERA, 143 whip, 8.8K per 9.

12-team leagues was kind of on the fringes of being dropped with numbers like that. Second half, though, Gavin Williams, 218, ARA, 105-Wip, 10K per 9. Like Junior Calaminaro, he had the big prospect pedigree, so it wasn't an unexpected breakout, but it was a big one that happened mid-season. That 10K per-9 number for the second half is especially important, because at the start of that breakthrough, remember, it seemed kind of fake. he wasn't getting strikeouts at a particularly high rate, but he really turned it on over his last five starts,

had a 174 ERA through 66% of his pitches for strikes, and had a 14% swinging strike rate. Both of those marks are excellent. So I really do think Gavin Williams figured it out and should be approached with a reasonably high degree of enthusiasm next year. You stole the words from me, Scott. I was going to point out the last five starts really kind of, kind of cemented this mid-season breakthrough for Gavin Williams.

He had eight plus strikeouts in three of those five starts, 11K per nine. The underlying numbers didn't fully support a 174 ERA, but 343-5-3-3-24 X-FIP, if we get a load of mid-3sERA from Gavin Williams with 10 or 11K per 9, I mean, he absolutely could be a breakout candidate for next season if he could do anything close to this, you know, for the majority of the season. And a lot of that is throwing strikes, and hopefully that carries over. He's also starting game one of their wildcard series, which is crazy, right? Just thinking about where that first half was to where he is now starting game one.

It really was a big turnaround there for Gavin Williams. All right, Scott, I'm going to steal the roles here from you for a second because we've got to get into the Dog of the Season Award. I put out a poll earlier on Monday asking who was the dog of the season? somebody who underperform relative to ADP, no injured players, just good old fashion, letdowns. The options were O'Neill Cruz, Dylan Sees, and Devin Williams. The dog of the season goes to. Devin Williams, pre-season ADP of 51.6.

He was the second reliever drafted behind only Emmanuel Clause. His only season in pinch tripes, I am saying only definitively because he will not be back with the Yankees. Did not go well. He managed 18 saves but lost his closer roll multiple times. Finished with a 479 ERA, a 113 whip. Underlying numbers all still look pretty good here. Maybe he was unlucky, but I watched a lot of those games.

He just looked like a deer in headlights. He could not command in any big spot. It always felt like he was going to meltdown. And most of the time he did. He's an interesting player for this offseason. he's a free agent. Scott, do you think any other team gives Devin Williams another shot to close entering 2026? I think there's a very good chance of that. Couldn't predict which one. Probably not the Yankees, as you say. I think they have their closer lined up for next year and David Bednar. Maybe we'll talk about him later.

But yeah, I think like if you gave me every number but ERA for Devin Williams, I would say, oh, yeah. then looks like he had a typical Devin Williams season. So it's a hard one to figure out. Maybe he just wilted under the big lights of New York. I don't know. That's usually overplayed that explanation. But I don't have a better explanation. It does happen.

Like Sunny Gray couldn't pitch in New York. It just happens sometimes. I don't know how else to explain it. But I think people smarter than me will look at those same numbers and come to the same conclusion that they're, still a closer caliber lever here. And unless it's just a contender who already has a loaded bullpen and they're like, we'll bring him in as a setup guy.

But if it's someone who doesn't have a closer, I think he becomes the closer. Yeah, his strikeout rate did come down this season and he allowed more hard contact. His average exit velocity went from 84.2 miles per hour in 2024 all the way up to 89.5. It still wasn't a terrible mark, but it was for him. He typically gives up a lot of weak contact. and that wasn't the case this season. Also, his left-on-base percentage, Devin Williams, 55%. For his career, it's 76%.

So he did struggle to pitch with runners on base, and that goes back to what I was saying. It's just any time there was a big spot, it felt like Devin Williams just faltered and kind of withered there in those spots. So we'll see. He was a big letdown this past season, but he's been proven before.

was great before he was with the Yankees. And I agree. I think some team will probably give him another shot to close this offseason. Let's take our final break when we return more golden breadsticks right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. This is our 2025 award show, the golden breadsticks. And if I am doing the math correctly, we are up to, oh, geez, we are up to eight. Out of 40.

So, all right. Let's get back into it. A little faster. The best comeback hitter edition goes to. I lost my place again. George Springer. George Springer. I kind of hesitate to call this a comeback because only once had he ever had a year as good as this.

And it was 2019 when basically everybody had a career year, everybody who was playing back then because the ball is carrying so well. Never had he hit 300. before 2025. Only twice had he hit 30 plus homers prior to 2025. And listen to this for George Springer. After the All-Star break this year, he hit 369 with an 11-21 OPS. I don't know what got into all those Blue Jays hitters after the All-Star break,

because between him and Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero and there were so many who just put up bonkers numbers. George Springer at age 35, after everybody had written him off as a fantasy asset of any kind, really, comes back as one of the best years of his career. Yeah, and he's another name where I think he's in the mix for just most valuable player overall this season. A preseason ADP 242.9 finished as the 11th best player overall in fantasy this season. And he did that in 140 games. So truly crazy stuff in his age 35 season. there from George Springer.

What about the best comeback on the pitcher side? This one seems pretty obvious. Gonna give me the drum roll? Jacob de Grom. There were actually a lot of candidates for this, but he makes the most sense, given his age, given that it had been so long

since we had seen him throw even 100 innings in a season. 100. That's a low mark to reach. He hadn't done it since, 2019, but he avoided the IL all year, got to 172 and two thirds innings. Now, he wasn't as good, but he was still good. He finished 13th among starting pitcher in both prominent scoring formats.

And what I like most about Jacob de Grum is it seemed like he made a conscious choice to bring about this new durability. And it was talked about at the start of the season, bringing his velocity back down 97.5 is what he, Average on his fastball, still a really hard fastball, right? But that was the lowest he had averaged on it since 2019 when he last gave us a nice big workload. So it was a conscious choice. It seemed to work. And even though he is 37, I imagine I'm going to draft him with more enthusiasm next year than I did this year. All right.

Let's go over to the best comeback midseason edition. Michael Harris. This seems like the right call, given how drastically he turned this season around. First half, 210 with a 551 OPS. It was awful. People were ready to bury him. But then in the second half,

looked like Michael Harris again, hit 299 with an 845 OPS. Did kind of struggle again, first half of September, but picked things up toward the end of the season. The whole turnaround seemed to be tied to an adjustment he made in a stance. got back to holding his hands up high, closer to his ear, rather than in front of his chest,

and, you know, seemed to fix things. And he was also one of the biggest underachievers by expected batting average this year. So as much ground as he made up in the second half, Stack has still think he deserved better. It was a letdown season overall for Michael Harris, just based on how bad that first half. was, he still got to 2020 for the first time in his career. Yeah, first ever, 2020, yeah. 86 RBI with a 678 OPS.

He had never exceeded 64 RBI in his season before. Was that a product of, like, was he moved up in the lineup more this season than ever before, Scott? Yeah, I think so. Okay. So I wonder if everyone's healthy starting next season, is he just back into the nine hole? Because then that probably will affect his run production. next season. Probably not.

The ninth hole. Probably sixth or seventh would be my guess, just based on the way it was handled this year. But it might depend what kind of moves they make in the off season. I don't think they're going to do too much to their lineup. But I could be wrong. Next up, we have the Ace Up the Sleeve Award.

And it goes to Chase Burns. So I probably do need to explain this award a little bit. Ace up the sleeve means I view him as an ace, but the rest of the drafting world may not yet. And the reason why I view Chase Burns as an ace already, when he got called up, he was the top pitching prospect in baseball. He made only eight starts. He got double-digit strikeouts in four of those eight starts.

That is more than Terrick Scoobel had, more double-digit strikeout efforts than Terrick Scoobel had in all 2024 when he was regarded as the best pitcher in baseball. baseball. Scoople did have more in 2025, but he didn't have as many as four in 2024. And four double-digit strikeout efforts is also more than Paul Skeens has had in his entire Major League career. Wow. Chase Burns did it in four starts. He is a bat misser of the highest order. And I don't think there will be any doubt what his role is going to be to begin next year. And I think it'll be awesome. Yeah, his 457 ERA 132 whip

definitely misleading. You look at the underlying numbers here. It was a 265 FIP, 354, expected ERA, 13.9K per 9, a 16% swinging strike rate. There should be a lot of enthusiasm for Chase Burns entering it next season. What about the biggest fake out hitter edition for this year? It goes to Pete Crow Armstrong. Who else could it go to? First four months, 272 batting average.

868 OPS. He was the most popular player in the world. They're already carving his name onto the MVP plaque. But then final two months hit 188 with a 533 OPS. It was as dramatic of a fall

as anyone could have imagined. And I hate that I didn't maintain my skepticism all year. I maintained it for about the first two and a half of those four months that he was performing at an MVP level.

level should have stuck with it because the bad plate discipline came home to roost. Scott, why do you hate the Cubs? I don't know. We're still studying that one. Let's go over to the biggest fakeout pitcher edition. McKenzie Gore. First half, 302 ERA 120 whip 11.3K per 9 looked like an emergent ace. second half

675 RA 170 whip 8.6K per 9 very bad and this is kind of a trend for McKenzie Gore too I had people in the first half of the season tweeting and asking

why don't you rank McKenzie Gore as a top 12 starting pitcher I said look he certainly has pitched like that so far but we have a track record of him kind of falling off as the season goes along let's see how this plays out and if he maintains it all the way through, then we'll rank him closer to that for next year.

And lo and behold, McKenzie Gore did come crashing back down to earth. I don't know if there's another level that he can get to on the nationals. There were some trade rumors around the deadline for McKenzie Gore. I think another team might be able to unlock a little bit more from McKenzie Gore. But if he remains with Washington, I think he's probably just this volatile pitcher that has a ton of strikeout upside, which isn't terrible. It's just, you know, you've got to know when to bail on McKenzie Gore, basically.

What about the most overshadowed fake out? James Wood. This is kind of a goofy award because it was such a big fakeout that I wanted to highlight it, but it kind of beat out Peacrow Armstrong, obviously. First half for James Wood, 278 with a 915 OPS. Second half, 223 with a 690 OPS. And perhaps just as notably, the strikeout rate went from 28% in the first. first half, which isn't great, but you can overcome it if you're good enough.

39% in the second half. It increased by 50, well, not quite 50%, but it increased a lot, 28% to 39%. And that has me pretty worried about James Wood to begin next year. It's probably still a third round pick, as P. Crow Armstrong, I suspect is. But that's, that's a scary strike out rate for sure. Who will you take higher next season? James Wood or PCA? I think Wood. Probably PCA for the steals.

Yeah. I think so too, but... I think Wood has more upside. Like, I think he has a better future. I kind of trust Wood more as a hitter. Yeah, that's the way I was leaning. But it comes down to, I guess, you know, what you want on your team. I think you'll probably get a better batting average and power from James Wood. but obviously much more speed from PCA.

The biggest overachiever award goes to... Tyler Malley had a 218-ERA, despite a 435 XERA, a 443X-FIP. The K-rate was bad, the walk rate wasn't great. 218 ERA anyway. And, you know, he missed three months with shoulder fatigue, so you might think that would slow his momentum. Came back, gave up just one run a nine to two-thirds innings,

actually lower to ZR. So I don't believe in it, but he finishes the year with the 218 ERA. All right. Next up, we have the biggest underachiever, and that goes to Adley Rushman is my choice for this. He hit 220 with a 366 slug. 22366 slug. The expected stats, 251 with a 421 slug. So, no, that's underachieving by a lot.

251, 421, we still hope for better than that from Rushman. So I'm not saying there weren't legitimate things that went wrong for him, but he didn't deserve it to go as wrong as it did. And, you know, you look at some of the other numbers, the plate discipline, the quality of contact. It just doesn't seem like it's changed that much. It's a really tough one to figure out. I kind of wanted to give him his own.

unique category, but he ended up slotting here at biggest underachiever. And you had some other great names on this list as well. I think Cole Reagan's is a great one. People might look at the surface level numbers. I think the ERA was, you know, well over four, but the underlying stuff was much better to the strikeouts were great. He does come with an injury risk, obviously. Ben Rice had a huge breakout season, and his expected stats were even better. So he's an interesting one. We'll get to Ben Rice. Juan Soto, nearly a 40-40 season, but the batting average underachieved and his expected numbers say that he deserved much, much better. I think we got to fly through these now, Frank.

Yes, that's exactly where I was going. We basically need to average 30 seconds per award here. And I think we got to cut out the drum roll and just keep it moving. Scott. Next up, we have the biggest weirdo. Biggest weirdo, guy whose numbers don't make sense. Andrew Abbott. did he win it last year too?

I don't believe so, but I don't have that pulled up anymore. But yeah, it's been a few years going now. And he keeps getting a little bit better. The walks get a little bit better. The quality of contact gets a little bit better. But he's still a fly ball pitcher who doesn't miss bats

in an environment, pitching in an environment that would seem to destroy fly ball pitchers. And he just continually puts up a good ERA. I'm not going to have him. He can't be a weirdo forever. You know, Isok Paredes was a weirdo one year, and we just kind of had to acknowledge that is who he is. But Andrew Abbott's the winner for this year.

The biggest weirdo last season, Tyler Fitzgerald. How about that? The one who fantasy footballers won't see coming. Emmett Sheehan. So they'll see him maybe pitching as a reliever in the postseason, but if anything, that underscores how their memory of him during the regular season as a starter. It was not even getting quite to five innings.

It wasn't as dominant as we wanted him to be either. Had some potential but really hadn't taken off. He took off over his final six true starts. So I'm eliminating that one inning start, the final day of the final week of the season where they were just converting him to a bullpen roll. Of his final six starts, four of them six innings or more, three of them seven innings.

And in them, Emmett Sheena, 180, ADRA, a 0.73 whip, 12.2K for nine, and a 19% swinging strike rate, which is basically the record for a starting pitcher who throws, has a full healthy season. Spencer Strider in 2023, 19%. That's what Mitch Ian did over those final six starts. So I think those who didn't tune out in August and September are going to be on them as a big breakout candidate, those who did, maybe not so much.

I love the analysis, Scott. But we have to cut this down by like a third per player, how much you're talking about. The one who nobody saw coming goes to. Jacob Marcy was hardly a prospect when he got called up, had some interesting numbers, but ended up being in head-to-head points per game, 7, 8, 9, 10, I think it was 11th in head-to-head points per game between Cody Bellinger and Jackson Churio. It did fall off some in September,

but the full stat line still looks great. Very impactful. The biggest power-up, he got the mushroom from Super Mario Brothers, and boom, three sizes bigger. Well, Bryce Terang, not three sizes bigger, but three ticks of exit velocity bigger. Actually, average exit velocity was closer to four.

Max was up about three. It put him in a range where you, like, would expect to see. some home runs. And especially in August, he delivered those home runs, had, I believe, 10 for the month, ended up with 18 total. So he does need to work on optimizing his launch angle, a spray angle like he did in August, like we saw from, from, I'm forgetting his name now, Bryce Durang in August.

But the point is he actually got stronger. He actually hit the ball harder all season long. And so there's hope for him to retain this power production we saw. The next step, blend 2024 and 2025 together. Let's get a 2040 season from Bryce Staring. That would be awesome. Next up, the What's Dead May Never Die Award. I believe this is a new one.

It is, and it goes to Brandon Woodruff, who I don't know about you, Frank, but I had written off for dead, at least as far as fantasy impact goes, was coming back from a very difficult shoulder injury and had lost close to three miles per hour on his fastball. It's a very fastball dependent pitcher, and it just didn't seem like he'd be able to amount to anything anymore.

Comes back, has a 320 ERA, 0.91 whip, 11.6K per 9 and 12 starts. Seems like introducing a cutter to his arsenal made up for the loss of velocity, but in any case, Brandon Woodruff still seems like a highly impactful pitcher. The Just Scratching the Surface Award goes to Ben Rice. We've talked about this a lot. You mentioned he could have been one of the biggest underachievers of the year. He had 255 with a $4.99 slug and finished the year strong.

A couple home runs on the last day of the season, right? Yep. So $255, $499 slug, expected batting average $299. expected slug 581. That is 96th and 97th percentile respectively. It's got exactly the sort of pole air rate you hope to see and exactly the right venue for it. So I think indeed Ben Rice just scratching the surface of his potential.

And I'm not exactly sure where he's going to play next season. He will have a job, obviously, with the Yankees. But man, if they just throw him at first base with catcher eligibility, he just plays every day. I mean, we could just get a massive, massive fantasy season. next year from Ben Rice. The Vinnie Vindication Award goes to. Trevor Rogers, and if anything, this is vindication for Mike Elias, the Orioles GM,

who you remember gave up Connor Norby and Kyle Stowers to get Trevor Rogers last year and a head scratcher of a trade at the time looked even worse when Trevor Rogers collapsed. I mean, he'd been collapsing for a couple years, but he was especially bad for the Orioles. comes back this year puts together a season a 181 ERA across 18 starts a season

even better than the 2021 season that had him finishing second and in a rookie the year voting and really put him on the map as an ace and fantasy Vinnie Vindication kind of want to give it to Vinny Pasquantino

just because that would be fun but now Trevor Rogers don't worry Vinnie P is coming up right now Baby. Mr. April is just a warm-up. Yep. Yep.

So I found an award for Vinny in anyway, not Vinny Vindication, even though he was vindicated. So it didn't look that way to start out. In April, he hit 177 with a 569 OPS. Here we go again. This guy is a perennial bust.

Rest of the way, Vinnie Pasquantino hit 283, 38 homers, an 848 OPS. Wow. Of course, finished with 32 homes. runs overall and those who have believed in him are vindicated. Oops, I did it again.

Award. Go Sue. It goes to Jerksson Profar, who did it again. All the people, all the people who disbelieved, he was ninth among outfielders in head-to-head points per game this year. The batting average finished a little bit. low because I think he went hitless in his last four games. So I kind of just kind of just ebbed and flowed wrong for the purposes of his batting average.

But the underlying, particularly how hard he hit the ball was the second highest exit velocity, 89 miles per hour. Earlier in his career, it was more like 86, 87, walked a lot, was on a good home run pace. And I think proved that he deserves to be drafted as a starter everywhere again next year. All right, I believe these next three are all new awards. We have the Fizzle Reel Reel, Rebuilder's Delight, and Best Accessorizing. Yeah, so Fizzle Reel Award, there's usually a Sizzle Reel Award, but I didn't really think there was a great candidate.

Fizzle Real Award goes to Roki Sasaki, who my goodness, I can't. It's rare that you see somebody as big of a, become as big of a disappointment in fantasy. Not only was he, did he have the hype coming over from Japan where he was decorated player, but he was also the top prospect by most rank lists and just was utterly useless, spent a lot of the year hurt. But stayed in the minors even after he was healthy again because he just was providing nothing. Hopefully maybe he's rediscovered something moving into the bullpen, picking up some velocity there, but who knows what Roki Sasaki's future holds. Rebuilder's Delight.

I've done this one before. Basically, it's a player who emerges as a fantasy stud who probably wouldn't have gotten that chance if he wasn't on a rebuilding team. The winner is Hunter Goodman. Rebuilder's Delight, felt like I wanted to honor him somehow. He entered the year as kind of a bat-first backup at catcher.

Didn't play defense very well. It seemed like he struck out too much to amount to anything as a hitter. Obviously went on to be a total stud at the top. position and a very steady performer across the year. So Hunter Goodman deserves that recognition. Best accessoryizing. This is a new one. And it, of course, goes to, not you, Frank.

I punched my mic. I was trying to fix my, you know, accessory, my bowtie here. And I punched my microphone. It goes to Max Muncie. Oh, yeah. Started wearing the glasses was batting 180 with a 531 OPS. Before then, afterward, 268 with a 969 OPS. proved that he's still a fantasy asset and isn't done yet.

One of my preseason bold predictions was Roki Sasaki makes more starts in the minors than the majors. And I was oh so close, Scott. Five starts in the minors, eight starts in the majors. But the point came across was, it was going to be a rough season for Roki Sasaki. The Mr. Funny Math Award, which last year I see in my notes,

I wanted to change the name to the Scott White Award, goes to. Jesus Lazzardo, and I think I can get people on board with this one. Overall, 392ERA, 122 whip. Not bad. But if you subtract the two starts where he was clearly tipping his pitches, last one in May, first one in June, just two starts. That 392 ERA goes to 303.

That 122 whip goes to 111. And factor in the 10.6K per 9, you're talking about an ace, basically. All right. Next up, we have the biggest double take. Let's just pair these together. One pitcher and one hitter. The pitcher is Nathan Avaldi, who finishes the year. Obviously, wasn't healthy throughout missed all of September, I believe, but a 173 ERA, which I feel like just hadn't been talked about enough. It's the only four pitchers in this century have had a season with low. less than a 173 ERA, minimum 130 innings. Only four pitchers have had less than the 173 mark. Nathan Evaldi put up.

And it's especially no-worthy because he was a 35-year-old who hadn't had even less than a 370 ERA since 2013. And no, that's not true. He had 363. But his ERA had consistently bid high threes or higher apart from 2013. which was a long time ago. 173 this year for Nathan Avaldi. That's the biggest double take for pitchers.

And for hitters, it's Byron Buxton, who stayed relatively healthy. That was always part of the issue for him. But I don't know that he's had many years where he averaged 3.74 points per game. That was six the best among outfielders. And that made me do a double take. Let's do like 10 seconds on each of these last couple.

Scott and just kind of wrap things up here. My Mr. 2024 didn't really count award. Goes to. Boba Chet got back to hitting over 300 with an OPS over 800. 2024 looks like a total aberration. Yeah, definitely seems like that was just

an injury outlier there for Boba Chet. Mr. Look who finally decided to show up. That one goes to Jackson Merrill who really didn't. Nothing for the first five months, hit a total of nine home runs, and then hit seven in September. Had a huge month to close out the year. And I think earned some long looks and drafts,

early in drafts next season because of it. Mr. Two-Face goes to. Mr. Two-Faced has to go to Shane Boz because, man, there were times this year where he looked like he was breaking out. start of the year, 10 strikeouts and six shutout innings. A couple starts later, 11 strikeouts in six, two hit innings. And then faded for a while. And then mid-season, he had eight shutout innings with nine strikeouts,

followed by 11 strikeouts and seven innings, was going on a run again, just back and forth like that. Obviously, the bad stretches lasted longer than the good ones, but the good ones were really good and reminds you that, should have reminded you at least, that they're still upside there for Shane Boss. The fastest slow guy award can only go to one name. It goes to Josh Naylor, who amazingly.

I guess Juan Soto would be in that category too. Yeah. Like, it's funny that there are a few candidates for the award this year, but those are the two biggest. So Juan Soto got to 38. Man, I wanted him to get 40, 40 so bad. He got to 38 despite 13th percentile sprint speed. But Josh Nailer beats him out 30. despite second percentile sprint speed.

The clutchest eligibility award goes to you, and I don't even know what this means. It means that their eligibility situation wasn't looking so great, but they fixed it at the very end of the year. It's a tie between Carter Jensen and Peyton Toley. Carter Jensen, equal number of appearances at Catcher and DH, which means he defaults to what he had the previous year,

catcher. So Carter Jensen, I need to have to have. add him to my catcher rankings because he will be eligible there to begin 2025 CBS leagues. And Peyton Toley made one more appearance as a reliever than as a starter. So he will be RP eligible to begin next year. And hopefully he went a spot in the Red Sox rotation and you can use him as FARP. Hitless in Seattle award goes to a Johanio Suarez. He hit 11 in his new home in Seattle.

And that goes a long way to explaining why he hit 189 with the Mariners overall after hitting 248 with the Diamondbacks. Obviously, we know from previous years that Seattle's a tough place for him to hit. So we are thankful that Aeohannio Suarez is a free agent this offseason. Was it something? By the way, by the way, I had A.ohenio Suarez as a candidate for another award, the day late dollar short award, because he had finished at 49 home runs. Yeah. If you had just gotten that 50th, it would have been the first time ever we had 550 homer guys in the same season. Yeah, and it tied his career high, too, if he got one more.

That would have been a new career high for A. E. E. E. E. E. Hennio Swares. The Was it something I said award goes to? Sal Stewart. Yeah. What you doing? What you doing, Terry Francona? I mean, I know you navigated the Reds to the playoffs and everything. So maybe you know what you're doing.

But, man, Sal Stewart. looked like he was breaking out and then you stopped playing him. South Stewart started just two of the Red's final nine games. Yeah.

Which makes it really hard to say how we're going to value him for 2025. If he'll have a role, for sure. We don't know. We don't know. He didn't to close out the year when the Reds seemingly needed him most. But they made it to the playoffs anyway.

In a tiny sample, 18 games, Sal Stewart had a 95.4 average exit velocity, 296XBA, 651X slug. He hit the crap out of the ball. So please, let's get him a spot on the Reds' 2026 roster. And last but not least, Mr. Thanks for the Memories. Goes to.

Paul Goldschmidt, fantasy, royalty, almost certainly a Hall of Famer. Oh, yeah. But I think we've, this is, this is the last we're going to care about him in fantasy. Remember, things started out pretty well for him. Through April, he was batting 356 with an 878 OPS. But he struggled after that, playing time dwindled.

He is now 38 and hitting the open market again. And I can't imagine he's going to sign as a starter anywhere. He's on the record saying he doesn't plan to retire, but I'm just not sure there's a big role for him out there anywhere at that age. Yeah, it just feels like a short side platoon bat at this point. This year, he crushed lefties, 9-81 OPS, but against Wrighty, 619 OPS and his strikeout rate doubled. So, look, it makes sense.

He's had a tremendous career, but he's now 38 years old, and he can still crush lefties, and maybe that earns him a role on some team as a bench player, part-time player. But yeah, as a starter, I think it's probably over for Goldie, Paul Goldschmidt. If anybody would like to read about these players and see all the awards, you can check this article out on the site, cbsports.com slash fantasy slash baseball, but that will do it for the 2025 golden red sticks. We're going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a

five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again on Wednesday night slash Thursday morning. Bye bye. Mount Podcasts.