Offense had taken a hiatus from Major League Baseball, but it’s officially returned in August. This season has registered 4.20 runs/game – up from 4.07 in 2014, which was the lowest since 1981.
However, the 4.6 runs averaged during the month of August have been a throwback to a decade prior, when the 2005 season saw 4.59 runs/game and Andruw Jones swatting 51 dingers.
Here’s a look at the breakdown of every month in the Fantasy Labs database:
That’s 0.73 PPG better than last August and 0.44 PPG better than the next-highest month. What could be the reason though? Maybe it’s that 66% of games have been played in 50+ weather rating conditions, compared to just 46% over the past two seasons. Still seems extreme.
What we do know is that 24 hitters exceeded the 20+ point plateau yesterday, which raised the August total to 391.
The 67-point performance by Yoenis Cespedes last weekend in Colorado was the single-highest point total of the 2015 season. That’s seven points better than Max Scherzer’s complete-game, one-hit, 16 K performance against Milwaukee back in June.
Could the advantage be switching back to the hitters? With the average pitcher costing $7,500 and only two spots available, choosing the right hitters ($3,700 avg salary/eight spots) could become the most valuable edge to gain.
While we wait to see if the trend continues, here are some trends that have benefitted hitters throughout the month of August:
Those are some incredibly favorable results with enough sample size to earn them an A-grade in Fantasy Lab Trends. Meanwhile here are the salary trends for pitchers and hitters over the past month:
PITCHERS:
HITTERS:
This gives us a sense of which levels to exploit based on their recent performance. The league has teed off on lower-end pitching, which plays into the hitting trends that were mentioned above.
According to Fantasy Labs Trends, weaker opponents have not offered any relief to pitchers as of late. The best bet for pitchers is to target some of the pitcher-friendly parks and keep your fingers crossed. Perhaps more importantly -ride those hot-hitting trends!
