September 16, 2017

The pool this year could very well be decided by the outcomes of the wins leaders in both leagues. Among our top three, Danton Boller needs both Corey Kluber and Clayton Kershaw to hold onto their shares of their respective league leads. Brian Wells would benefit from Kershaw dropping from the top spot and Kluber remaining, while Watzke would like to see both Kluber and Kershaw unseated.

Avisail Garcia has gone 10-for-14 in the past three games, increasing his batting average from .322 to .334 in the process. He now trails Jose Altuve (.347) for the AL lead by a slightly greater margin than his increase over those three days. Boller and Mike Levine would benefit the most if Altuve loses the batting title.

The moral of this story...neither league's batting crown is a sure thing. In the NL, Charlie Blackmon's (.332) lead over Bryce Harper (.326) and Justin Turner (.325) is even less, with Daniel Murphy (.319) and Joey Votto (.318) still within long-shot range. If either of those latter two goes on a late-season tear, it could really shake things up.

Cameron Maybin has tied Altuve for the AL lead in steals. This, obviously, will be a major development if Maybin can take over the lead outright. As we said last week, Boller and Levine will be hurt the most if Altuve can't hold on.

With just over two weeks to go in the season, I don't think there is a clear favorite to win the pool at this point.