May 30, 2014

Daltry/Lovejoy top their fifth consecutive update to complete their May sweep. Their unique Troy Tulowitzki NL BA pick has been the difference, as followers Jim Kushner, Jason Salavon, and Jud Ehrbar all easily beat Dalt/Love in the HBP tiebreaker.

Tulowitzki may see some competition soon from another entrant’s unique NL BA pick. Yasiel Puig is up 15 points to .348 since May 20^th, while Tulo has dropped 14 over the same span… If the trend continues, Jeff Gatland might gain a valuable point to complement his 30 HBPs.

Next week’s update will probably go out on Saturday instead of Friday. See you then!

-Dan and Jud

May 23, 2014

The May dominance of Daltry/Lovejoy continues, with John Agnello and Jeff Gatland close behind. Our leaders face several challengers, as our @PredictionsPool Twitter timeline shows Stephen Craig leading on May 19^th, and Jason Salavon in first on May 21^st. Jeff’s HBP total exceeds those of Dalt/Love and Agnello combined…

While today’s update average of 0.52 points is easily the lowest in several years, at least things are pretty close. Give the red-hot Miguel Cabrera one point on his batting average and John Agnello leads the pool with three points. If Zack Greinke beats the Mets last night Rob LaColla and Will Rice are suddenly in the mix. Don’t give up hope!

See you next Friday.

-Dan and Jud

May 16, 2014

Daltry/Lovejoy rule the roost for the third straight update, followed by Jason Salavon and Will Rice. It appears that Chris and Michael’s unique Troy Tulowitzki NL BA pick will pay dividends for a while, although the duo’s HBP profile doesn’t compare favorably with Jason’s and several other entrants in our top third.

Miamiphenom José Fernández is scheduled to undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery today, making the Marlin our third pool pitcher to exit for the year. Fernández was tied with Stephen Strasburg for the NL lead in strikeouts when he was shut down.

Thanks to all entrants for paying your dues!

-Dan and Jud

May 9, 2014

Daltry/Lovejoy hold the lead in update #2, with Jim Kushner and Jason Salavon trailing by a pick. Dalt/Love were tops all week until Wednesday’s seven shutout innings by James Shields gave Jason an AL IP point and a slim lead. David Price promptly changed that yesterday with a “near-quality” start (5IP, 9H, 3ER) good enough to take the IP lead and point away from Shields and Salavon.

If your name still appears in redbelow, we still haven’t received your $20 entry fee…

-Dan and Jud

May 2, 2014

Daltry/Lovejoy lead the pack in our first full update of the 2014 MLB season, thanks to Troy Tulowitzki’s slim BA lead over teammate Charlie Blackmon. John Agnello trails by just two HBPs with Jim Kushner in third. Daltry/Lovejoy and Agnello are the only entrants with more than one correct pick…

Why so low? With most teams short of thirty games played, it’s a bit soon for meaningful stat analysis. However, early injuries to Clayton Kershaw (who represents over 40% of our NL pitching picks) and Yu Darvish (18.3% of ALpicks) have clearly hurt our numbers. In fact, no less than ten players picked for at least one category currently reside on the disabled list, with an additional two out for the entire season (Matt Moore and Iván Nova). On the bright side, Kershaw is penciled in for a Monday start against the Nats. And if you’re wondering about Miguel Cabrera, he’s 13-for-31 in his last seven games.

If your name appears in redbelow, you haven’t paid your $20 entry fee to Dan or Jud. Unpaid entrants will still be listed in future updates, but their scores will not appear until their fee is paid.

Updates will usually be sent out on Fridays this year. See you next week!

-Dan and Jud

Welcome to the 2014 MLB Predictions Pool!

Baseball fans-

Thanks for entering the tenth annual MLB Predictions Pool! Although two members left this year, we have two entrants returning from pool hiatus to restore our $420 jackpot.

We've attached a file containing the picks for all of this year's members, as well as a breakdown of picks by frequency. Please let us know of any errors! The grid and picks breakdown are also available at http://mlbpool.blogspot.com/ near the top on the right under “2014 Predictions Pool Info.” You can also use our blog site for news on relevant injuries (four five picks on the DL already!) and other pool-related info.

Dan will be using a new email for the pool this year. Please use his dmccloskey@gmail.com address from now on.

Be sure to send your $20 entry fee to either Dan or Jud by the end of April. All paid entrants will be shown in green on the "2014 Complete Pool Picks" link on the blog site. We’re also accepting payments by PayPal made to judehrbar@gmail.com.

Score updates will be emailed once a week, as well as posted on our website, and we tweet our top five in the standings almost every day at @PredictionsPool. Our first official score update should go out after about five times through the pitching rotations.

Have fun, and good luck!

-Jud and Dan

Pool invite and entry sheet

Greetings pool participants past, present, and future-

It's time to start making our picks for the 2014 MLB Predictions Pool!

This will be the tenth year of our little contest's existence. Karen McCloskey topped the 2013 pool, maintaining our streak of someone new finishing on top each year. Perhaps you'll be next?

(above sheet is VIEW ONLY)

The attached Word version of the entry form does a pretty good job of explaining the rules, but here's a refresher:

• You get credit for picking the league leader in a category only. If a player gets traded to the other league during the season, you're probably out of luck. For example, in 2008, CC Sabathia led the majors in innings pitched, but since he was traded from Cleveland to Milwaukee during the season, he led neither league. You'd get nothing for having picked Sabathia.
• Batting average and ERA leaders are subject to MLB's minimum requirements for qualification (3.1 plate appearances per game a player's team has played for batting average; 1 inning pitched per game a player's team has played for ERA).
• All entries must be e-mailed to Dan at dcmccloskey@yahoo.com or Jud at judehrbar@gmail.com by midnight (EST) of Friday, March 28. This is a firm deadline.
• $20 per person to enter.

We're always open to newcomers joining up. If you have anyone you would like to invite, please request approval from either Dan or Jud. All new entrants are required to submit their $20 entry fee, in addition to their picks, by March 28. Returning entrants may pay by April 30. The two games being played in Australia between the Dodgers and D-backs will take place before our entry deadline, but the stats will count!

We accept PayPal for your $20 entry fee (payable to judehrbar@gmail.com with any fees paid as sender), as well as cash or check mailed to Dan or Jud (addresses found in entry form).

The 2014 MLB Predictions Pool blog is still at http://mlbpool.blogspot.com/, and Twitter is still @PredictionsPool.

Any questions, let us know. Hope you're in for another year.

Good luck,

Dan & Jud