MLB Mystery Player Game

Newsflash – sports change over time. The teams that were good 10 years ago are no longer good. The stars of yesterday are now washed up veterans. A new wave of young talent has taken over.

Failing to keep up with these changes will lead you to make poor wagering decisions. In other words, you’ll lose money.

Maybe you live on the West Coast and don’t follow the Tigers closely. Miguel Cabrera. You’ve heard that name – he’s a star, right?

Not anymore. Have you seen his numbers lately? Here they are since the beginning of 2018.

AVG	HR	RBI	R
.282	8	59	40

Cabrera has the big name, but his production has declined sharply since his glory days. There are similar traps like these all over sports – players and teams whose names are associated with success that are no longer successful.

I want to play a game.

Think of this as an MLB reality check. If you stay up-to-date on things, you’ll do fine. This will serve as a wake-up call to those who haven’t looked at baseball stats in a while.

Player A, Player B, or Player C

The game is simple. I will show the stats of 3 “mystery” players. Decide in your head which you would rather add to your fantasy team or make a prop bet on. Then I will reveal who the 3 players are, but not which is which. You must decide which is A, B, and C.

This first one will show the 2019 stats of 3 mystery starting pitchers. One is clearly having the worst season of the 3.

	Player A	Player B	Player C
Record	5-9	10-3	9-1
K/9	13.25	11.21	10.08
ERA	4.00	3.44	3.23
WHIP	1.08	0.99	0.98

We can probably all agree that Player A is having the worst season of the 3, while B and C are both having excellent seasons.

I will now tell you the 3 pitchers that appeared above, but I will not tell you which is which. In no particular order, they are Walker Buehler, Shane Bieber, and Chris Sale. Without looking up the stats, which do you think is which?

I’ll avoid a spoiler by posting the answer at the end of the article. I suggest waiting until you’ve played all 3 of my little games before checking the answers to avoid accidentally seeing another answer.

Player D, Player E, or Player F

3 hitters this time. Once again, these are their 2019 stats.

	Player D	Player E	Player F
AVG	.321	.244	.256
HR	22	15	17
RBI	62	59	70
R	67	37	57
SB	5	0	5

Player D looks pretty good, huh? Well, here are the 3 hitters in no particular order. Try to figure out which is which. Ketel Marte, Albert Pujols, Bryce Harper.

Once again, the answers are at the end, but I recommend not skipping down right now to avoid spoiling another answer.

Player G, Player H, or Player I

One last time. Here are 3 more mystery hitters and their 2019 stats. A chance to redeem yourself.

	Player G	Player H	Player I
AVG	.274	.271	.288
HR	15	16	27
RBI	48	45	86
R	45	47	72
SB	7	11	0

Sure, he doesn’t steal bases, but I like the awesome production of Player I. Maybe your fantasy team needs steals and you would rather have G or H. These 3 are actually all outfielders.

In no particular order, they are Ryan Braun, Josh Bell, and Tommy Pham. Which is which? The answers are directly below.

WARNING! SPOILER ALERT – ANSWERS

Here are the answers to the games above:

• Player A – Chris Sale
• Player B – Shane Bieber
• Player C – Walker Buehler

Yep, Chris Sale has the big name but is underperforming this season. I’m sure many bettors out there are still blindly backing Sale without realizing he is not the same pitcher he was last season.

• Player D – Ketel Marte
• Player E – Albert Pujols
• Player F – Bryce Harper

Did you know Ketel Marte was having a good season? Did you know that Albert Pujols hasn’t been good in a few years? Did you know Bryce Harper has underperformed for 2 straight seasons?

If not, you need to catch up.

• Player G – Ryan Braun
• Player H – Tommy Pham
• Player I – Josh Bell

That Josh Bell guy … he’s leading the Majors in RBIs. Braun is a former MVP, so he’s got the name recognition, but is not even the best outfielder on his team anymore.

How did you do? If you nailed all 9 mystery players – congratulations! If you at least knew who the best player was each time – very good!

Let this be a lesson: making bets based off name recognition and reputation will get you in a world of trouble. You need to stay current on the stats.

See you on top!