For Harry Potter fans, the Lightning Struck Tower chapter is the end of an era. For us, it's the final day of the 2018 Fantasy Baseball Season. A moment of silence for an incredible season of ups and downs, heroes and goats, legends in the making and fading into the distance....And let us now embark on our final day on the shoulders of the god of lightning himself: Noah Syndergaard. Thor is striking today against the lowly Miami Marlins, and thanks to his incredible teammate the deGrominator , the Norse Noah will be motivated to put his own indelible stamp on the MLB season. Not only do the Marlins hit him to a weak .686 OPS, but it's a day game, and during the warm glow of daytime Syndergaard shines even brighter: 4-1 with a 2.61 ERA. Other big names are playing for teams that are locked into playoff position so will be on low pitch counts, like Charlie Morton and Carlos Carrasco, or rookies pushing themselves beyond what they've ever done, like Walker Buehler. It's Noah Syndergaard with a lightening struck bullet as the number one pick today. Now let’s look at a few more early-, middle- and late-round picks for your Draft…drafts!
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Monthly Archives: September 2018
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The End Of The Season Goodbye Spectacular
September 30, 2018 | Uncategorized | 56 Commentsby: Geoff
I’ve been thinking about this post for awhile. It’s sat around in my head, trying to think of a dynamic opening. I guess it never came. Today will be my last post as prospector at Razzball. I won't be leaving altogether however, I’m sticking around for the Razzball Podcast with Grey and rest assured the Prospect Podcast with Lance isn’t going anywhere. My efforts for 2019 and beyond as far as writing go, will be on my new site Prospectslive.com. This adventure over the last five seasons has been a blast. This was my first and only writing gig, and for that opportunity I’m forever grateful to all those involved. So while I’m leaving in one form I’m not gone altogether. Before I step aside there’s a few characters in this play I’d like to thank.
FantasyDraft: Heading To Paxto(w)n Via Narrative City
September 29, 2018 | DFS, FantasyDraft |by: MattTruss
Let’s be honest, the final week of the regular season can be a total crap shoot. This is the reason you don’t have H2H finals the final week of the year. Oh, you do? Well, you should give your commish a firm kick in the arse and tell them to get their head out of there ‘cuz that’s crummy with crackers. It’s for this same reason that cash games in DFS the final week of the season are a no-no. GPPs though, go for it. I’m basing my calls this week on pure narrative. The narrative for James Paxton ($19,600) is finishing the season on a high note and not finishing on the DL for once. The Rangers have been coasting the final month of the season, ranking 22nd in team OPS the final month. I’ve been picking on them plenty with pitchers of much less talent than Paxton. Paxton is my top choice over Kluber, who will likely only see a few innings and Nola, who is facing the Braves who still have something to play for. If you like a different narrative though, by all means, I’ll meet up with you in Narrative City.
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Prospect Podcast: 2018 First Year Player Draft Update
September 29, 2018 | Prospect Podcast, Razzball Podcast |by: Geoff
And so the offseason truly begins this week on the Razzball Prospect Podcast, as Lance Brozdowski and yours truly, revisit the July edition of my First Year Player draft rankings. We talk Gorman, Bohm, India, and others at the top. Get a hot take on Xavier Edwards value, and talk some of the other risers in this year's draft class, as we begin to prepare for our offseason drafts. We open the show with some brief discussion of the Padres vs Rangers On Deck Game, discussing some of the top performers from both squads. As always make sure you stop by Rotowear.com, and support our sponsor by picking up some of the freshest T-shirts out there.
Did you bring home the bullpen bacon in 2018? Hopefully I helped guide you in your saves chase this season. It's never too early to make some plans for 2019. Here's how I rank the probable closer situations going into the offseason.
Well, here we are. The last weekend of the regular season, which means withdrawal kicks in approximately 5 days from now. <flash to me curled up in a ball rocking back and forth muttering things like wOBA and reverse splits> I want to thank everyone who took the time to read my work. This is actually my first foray into writing and it's been a blast! FanDuel has us set up for a 13 game slate, and by now, you've heard it 600 times; play guys who still have a reason to play. For me, that encompasses 2 categories; playoff teams fighting and youngsters playing their hearts out, trying to make an impression for next year. Tyler Glasnow ($6,900) checks the latter box for me. Glasnow was a top prospect in the Pirates farm system, but always seemed to struggle with his control. In 56 IP with the Pirates this year, Glasnow sported a 14.0% BB% (league average is around 8%); however, since his trade to the Rays, he's lowered that to 8.0% over 50 IP, all while keeping his K% at a healthy 27.5%. Let's explore the rest of this slate and see if we can discover some more value.
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David’s Starting To Blow Up Dahl
September 28, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 177 Commentsby: Grey
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You know how they say think about baseball to make sex last longer? Okay, so I was thinking, to make the baseball season last longer do we think about baseball? Maybe we think about sex. This is a riddle for the Sphinx! "Hello, Sphinx, I have a question. Yes, I have $20. Why do you ask? Because you're a sex worker wearing gold paint and not an ancient Egyptian statue? Ah, that's my bad." You ever read that book, The Mouse That Roared? I think it was assigned for me to read back in school, and I watched the movie instead. Solid flick! So, if a mouse roared, he'd be a hoarse mouse while still roaring. That's how I'm screaming David Dahl's name right now. Like a roaring hoarse mouse. An RHM, as they say. Who's they? Hoarse mouses, of course. The bitter enemy of the church mouse. Are you following? Cause I'm leading you down some place of interest. I am a hoarse mouse roaring David Dahl because I love him. Yesterday, he went 2-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 14th homer, and 4th straight game with a homer. He might be my favorite player for 2019. You take your Adalbertos, but David Dahl has 35/15/.290 ability in Coors and, with how he's playing these final weeks, he might actually have the lead for the three hole in the Rockies' lineup going into 2019. This is the best spot in the major leagues to hit. As a roaring hoarse mouse on a horse might say, giddy up! Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Rolling In The Deep: Hot 2018 Finishes
September 27, 2018 | Uncategorized | 8 Commentsby: Laura Holt
Well, it looks like we’re out of catchy titles and silly ledes involving bad puns, which can mean only one thing: baseball season is coming to a close. It’s devastatingly sad for some, a huge relief for others, and completely irrelevant to those of you who accidentally ended up here looking for help with your fantasy football team.
This is it! The last baseball article (for me) of the year, which means the end of the baseball regular season is near. I want to thank you, loyal readers for taking time out of your day to read this article every week and hopefully helping you win some contests. There are going to be a lot of players who wind up sitting and there’s going to be a lot of value opening up throughout the day so you must pay attention to all the released lineups. Additionally, many teams, both those with nothing to play for, and those who playoff-bound but are entirely set in terms of playoff positioning, will look to pull their players (both pitchers and position players) at the earliest opportunity. In short, there will be a lot of randomness and it won’t be easy to predict. To be quite honest, you shouldn’t be playing cash games on this slate with all the randomness. But, as I’ve stressed throughout the year, I’m a professional at cash game picks columns. If some of those ridiculous three or four game slates earlier in the year on Thursdays didn’t stop me, then the randomness of one of the final days of the season can’t stop me either. One general piece of advice I can give is to focus on the teams that still have something to play for – and while there are still a bunch of teams that have something to play for, most of them are either not playing today or playing in the early slate. There is exactly one team on the main slate that has something to play for - the Chicago Cubs. And while Trevor Williams is not the juiciest of matchups, the fact that the Cubs have something to play and no other team has anything to play for means I would target them first and foremost in cash games. Period. Then fill out with the values that will open up because teams are playing some of their rookies and call-ups at this point. Or just don’t play cash. On to the picks...
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Rafael De(li)vers Like A Western Union Messenger
September 27, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 121 Commentsby: Grey
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I have an unpopular opinion, that I know will never fly. Pants with magnet buttons. Okay, I have another one: knock people over the head and when they wake, tell them they're on Mars and film it. Like Survivor but more panicked. My final unpopular opinion, allow teams to forfeit. I know in today's charged political climate it's not cool to say anything bad about herbathrowdites, but hitters pitching is stupid. It's okay for a quick laugh, but a team has obviously forfeited if they're pitching Jace Peterson. Just let them throw a white flag, and call the game. Of course, this would be wildly unpopular with fans who paid a lot of money to see nine innings, but are people sticking around in a 19-3 game. I don't know, maybe they are. So, yesterday, Xander Bogaerts (2-for-4, 2 runs, 4 RBIs) collected his 100th RBI and 22nd homer. Just Dong Martinez (3-for-6, 3 runs, 3 RBIs) hit his 42nd, a number I thought was retired. Mookie Betts joined the 30/30 club (more on him after the jump). Blake Swihart went 3-for-8, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and a slam (3) and legs (6), inching closer to Buster Posey's year-long homer total. Rafael Devers (5-for-8, 3 runs, 6 RBIs) stole the show, hitting his 20th and 21st homer. I've collected 1,000 praying mantises and joined them in a prayer circle that feels insectually correct, hoping Devers doesn't push up his 2019 fantasy value in this final week. I talked a bit about this on the last podcast, but Devers is only 21 years old, and could easily be a middle of the order bat for the Red Sox next year. That's very good, assuming every team they're facing doesn't forfeit. Or assuming every team does. I don't know, let's figure this out together! Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Points Leagues: Hader Hader Hader Alligator
September 26, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Points Leagues | 7 Commentsby: malamoney
Here we go yo. Here we go yo. So what so what so what's the scenario. I'll tell you what the scenario is. I'm not sure if I'm "throw my laptop against the wall" angry or just "fuck it I'll drink another TreeHouse IPA and maybe punch the wall later" angry. Either way, I'm not happy. I just lost in the two-week finals of my eighteen year head-to-head points league by nine points. Nine points! How did I lose? Let me count the ways. But before I do, a little background information. In eighteen years I have four championships, including last year. No one else has four, or a back-to-back championships. I have two second place finishes (now three), and three third place finishes. I get it, as far as you know I could be playing in a league with eleven guys that rode the short bus to school. Heck, they still might. Not that there is anything wrong with anyone that rides the short bus, but the point is that I'm telling you all how well I've done in this league and you have no idea how strong the competition is, or is not. Here's what I will say, eight of the owners are owners I from whom I'd seek advice if they weren't in my league. I'm not a fan of several of the league's rules, but they are enforced upon us all and that keeps us on a level playing field.
As Action Bronson once said, I'll be "drinking Heaney like I'm Kenny Lofton" tonight on Draft. Andrew Heaney got rocked in his last time out, but it was against a tough lineup in the Astros. His task will be much easier against the Rangers, who have an awful .293 wOBA away from their hitter-friendly park at home. Heaney's 3.79 SIERA and 3.66 Deserved Run Average suggest that he's been better than his ERA. Draft him with confidence.
New to Draft? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well, be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before you do. It’s how we know you care!
