The Lake Merced Goutfish put the exclamation point on a dominant 2021 Regular Season Sunday with the club finishing the first 22 Periods with the league's top pitching staff and offense, becoming the second franchise to accomplish the feat in league history. The end result was 551.0 point margin over the second place Asti Grape Stompers, the 2nd largest margin in RDBL History and a potential sign of more things to come in the Playoffs and in future years with the young talent still under contract.
GM Ryan Atkinson, likely headed for his second RDBL Executive of the Year Award, put on a clinic in roster construction with a significant boost from a fruitful Farm System. The Goutfish activated star shortstop Fernando Tatis, Jr. and off-season additional Dominic Smith while holding off on slugger Yordan Alvarez who was ranked as the top prospect in the RDBL in both 2020 and 2021. The duo of Tatis, Jr. and Smith joined a roster already loaded with young and affordable talent, led by Ronald Acuña, Jose Berrios, Matt Olson and Will Smith.
The Goutfish were considered a favorite entering Draft Day, with many speculating the club would be the best bet to land either Gerrit Cole or Shane Bieber in Auction, the two top arms available due to their sizable cap space. Atkinson zigged when he was expected to zag, instead investing much of their cap space into an already strong offense. The club traded for third baseman Manny Machado just before Draft Day while then spreading $85 across Tim Anderson, Charlie Blackmon and Ian Happ.
The absence of a big Free Agent arm did little to hurt the Goutfish pitching staff who went on to a historic campaign. Retained starter Lance Lynn backed up his dominant 2019 and 2020 campaigns with another ace-level season of production for just $5. Auction grab Lance McCullers provided to be a stable force in the middle of the Goutfish rotation while Reserve Draft pick Anthony DeSclafani proved to be one of the day's top values.
The Goutfish weren't without their ups and downs throughout the year which forced Atkinson to pivot. The club was dealt a brutal blow with Acuña going down to a season ending knee injury while Tatis, DeSclafani, Tejay Antone, Zach Plesac and Gary Sanchez were just some of the names who also missed time.
Atkinson hit the trade market, swinging deals for Cedric Mullins, Mark Melancon, Luis Arraez, Josh Bell, Aaron Nola, JD Davis and Brandon Crawford. But no deal hit more for the Goutfish than right-hander Freddy Peralta who took his performance to another level after the move and is set to finish as one of the Top 15 starters in baseball while remaining under team control for 2022.
The Goutfish Front Office will look to avoid the pitfalls of the 2019 Asti Grape Stompers club who displayed similar dominance in the Regular Season before flopping in the Playoffs. The Goutfish have failed to break the 300 point mark in a period in each of the last four weeks and will look to turn things up a notch when the 2021 Playoffs kick off on Monday.
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