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I tried to open my eyes, but the sun was beaming death rays directly into my pupils. It was hot and sticky, like September in NYC hot and sticky. Yuck. My head was groggy and my body was aching. With my eyes no longer melting, I was able to survey the land. Trees. Lots of trees. Mud, bushes. What the hell had happened to me? Just as the synapses in my brain were starting to fire, I began to hear something in the distance. Boom da da. Boom da da. Boom da da. I reluctantly rose from the ashes and set forth towards the drum beat. I was thirsty as hell. Hopefully, there was water. Lots of water there, as nothing would be more satisfying and refreshing. After trekking for what seemed like days, which was in actuality more like 10 minutes, the Boom da da, Boom da da, Boom da da turned into BOOM DA DA, BOOM DA DA, BOOM DA DA. I had arrived. My thoughts of water all but dissipated, as the discovery of Niko Goodrum, a 15/15 player during a normal season at pick 239 in NFBC drafts, quenched the thirst for all facets of my life. Goodrum is 28 years old, 6' 3", 218 pounds, and bats from both sides of the plate. He was selected by the Minnesota Twins back in 2010 with the 71st overall pick. In eight minor league seasons in the Twins organization, Goodrum produced a .250/.333/.379 slash with 42 homers and 122 stolen bases in 2796 plate appearances. The walk rate was routinely above 10% while the strikeout rate was in a palatable range of 25%. In 2017, Goodrum elected free agency and signed a minor league contract with the Detroit Tigers. He made the opening day roster and became the super-utility player for the major league club, playing all four infield positions along with the corner outfiield spots. His two seasons with the Tigers had been remarkably consistent.

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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Sat 5/24
ARI | ATH | ATL | BAL | BOS | CHC | CHW | CIN | CLE | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIA | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SEA | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | WSH | OAK
Awwwwwww yeah!! Baseball is on like Donkey Kong! Real talk, I was really pessimistic once we got through May with no plan in place. But here we are, with baseball on the horizon. It's a summer miracle. Back in the day, before all this nonsense started up, I was focused on winning your head-to-head categories leagues. I promise we'll get back there, but first I want to discuss logical options of how to alter your head-to-head categories leagues to adjust to the shortened season. With the altered schedule, it looks like we're going to have 10 weeks of regular season baseball. In most of my head-to-head leagues, the playoffs last between 4-6 weeks, which means we'd have 4-6 weeks for the regular season. That's not enough weeks to face all of your opponents and certainly not enough time to establish fair records for playoff seeding. So, just like when I tried to fit into my 10-year old suit, alterations need to be made - major alterations. Let's take a look at a couple of options to keep your head-to-head categories leagues both fun and competitive.
We finally have a start date for the MLB and that means we also have a start date for our Razzball Commenter Leagues.  FINALLY!  MLB sure doesn’t do anything fast.  I’m starting my mini-season RCL prep with cautious optimism.  I really don’t know how this is going to work if players start dropping out with positive tests.  The way things are going in Florida right now, will baseball even be in an option in three weeks?  In a nine week season, does a DL stint just make a player droppable?  Rosterbation will be at an all time high, that is for sure.  So many questions, so few answers, but we’re along for the ride.  We’ll play this thing out one way or another and have fun trying to make sense of it all.  To say this season will be a strange one is an understatement.  We’ve got 60 games to take home RCL glory and that also comes with a couple of rule changes.  We’ll be pro-rating the MIN/MAX on IP to 370 and 525 and we’ll also be adjusting the maximum add/drops to 185.  Even with increased rosterbation, that should be plenty for everyone...he says before half his team is quarantined and the Marlins have called the season quits in week five.  On a brighter note, we’ve also opened up some leagues drafting in July, so you can draft knowing more about the season than anyone who has drafted thus far!  Click below for the info on those leagues as well as some early season trades that have gone down so far (almost entirely in one league).
On our Steamer Fantasy Baseball Rankings, which have been updated to a 60-game season, we have 1,310 players ranked. 645 of them gained value. Some, for unstints, gained $0.1 of value like Juan Soto. Another hundred had zero value change like Christian Yelich. Another 600+ lost value. I'll go over those guys in another post. This post will feature the top 20 players who gained the most value from doing nothing but bingeing Netflix for the last three months. Who knew watching Joe Exotic would add more value than any Driveline drills? Apparently, all baseball players need to know is, "Who is dumpster diving at your nearest Costco?" Anyway, here's the top 20 biggest positive value changes for fantasy baseball pre vs. post-shutdown:
True story: DonkeyTeeth calls me up on the ol' Twitter machine this morning.  Me, I'm just awake from dreaming of 5-year-old Blair riding out in my dad's Buick Skylark into the Minneapolis night to celebrate the Twin's 1987 World Series win.  Suddenly Donkey's typing: "Top 100 Switchers." And I'm like, "Donkey, it's 7AM, I'm not ready for that!" He types into the Twitter machine, "TOP 100 PITCHERS!" So I say, that's fine, here: 1) Beer, 2) Sangria, 3) Margarita... . Donk does it. You know. He starts typing, but doesn't finish. The little dots on the bottom of my Twitter machine beep out in morse code--or whatever code Jack wants to call it--that causes mental insanity among so many people. I'm transfixed. The next use of a nuclear code, you know it's going to be preceded by those little waiting dots. President Swift will have to verify the code with Vice President Lovitz but only after they clear their notifications. Finally, Donkey's message comes across. "2-for-1 pitchers at BWW if you get there before 9AM. See ya." That's the level of training they give here at Razzball. I tell ya, I get no respect at all. 
Anyone who plans on engaging in a little fantasy baseball fun over the (hopefully) upcoming 60-game season has certainly been thinking about the overwhelming number of meaningful changes that have occurred over the last several months.  There are so many alterations and unusual circumstances, and so much incomplete information, that it’s been hard for me to begin even preparing for how to attack things in 2020.  How this all translates specifically to AL-only, NL-only, and other deep leagues is yet another wrinkle that it may be tricky to successfully iron out before it’s too late. I have a few teams that have sat “frozen” since as early as November that will re-open for FAAB and waiver wire moves soon, plus at least three more deep-league drafts to do over the next few weeks.  As I begin formulating some strategies for addressing these teams, I’m going to start by checking in on some deeper-league injury situations.  Since I’m writing this several days before players are expected to show up at their new camps, there will likely be a flurry of news and updates soon, but for now let’s take a look at some of the health news that’s come in over the last week or so.  We’ll keep it deep league by checking in on some players outside the top 300 in NFBC ADP this year, listed in order of earliest drafted to latest drafted. These are guys that we might have forgotten about and who might get ignored in standard leagues regardless of whether or not they’re ready to take the field, but who, if healthy, might help those of us who are going to need to get a little more creative with our roster construction.
If you've been away during the MLB delay, then boy do we have a treat for you! During his quarantine days Grey has been sewing SAGNOF masks and spreading anti-hummingbird propaganda. But that's not all, Grey and I also created the exclusive Razzball Patreon Club. For the incredibly low price of $0.16 per day (or $5 per month) you too can join the Razz Patreon Nation, laugh along with our weekly podcasts, receive Grey's in season buy/sell columns early, win great prizes, and much more! For the third week running we're joined by comedian Billy Hurley to breakdown this week's wacky news stories, including the Ukrainian man who was beaten with a sausage. Here's a teaser clip from the first Billy Hurley episode to reel you in:
Nick Pollack (@pitcherlist) joins the show to discuss how Pitcher List got created. We also discuss the process on what made Pitch Con such a successful event. Nick gives us some of his favorite pitchers as well as a Jose Berrios breakdown. We all give our earliest fantasy baseball memories and why Brent and Jordan started the podcast. Nick gives us his thoughts on why the Twins can’t beat the Yankees in the playoffs.
Yesterday most teams announced their 60-man rosters for Summer Camp. You know Summer Camp, it's when MLB players compete against each other in kayak and potato sack races, learn to respect other kids, even ones with nerdy glasses, and are managed by Bill Murray. Oh, and, yeah, all teams were supposed to release their 60-man rosters, but when you make a rule that in extra innings a runner will start on 2nd base, then rules are officially stupid and should not be followed. Rob Manfred speaking into a phone, "Brewers, we need your 60-man roster."  Brewers, "It's in your ass, Rob." Rob, "I'm looking in a mirror and I do not see it." One other thing about the 60-man rosters that were released:  they were all a few short of 60. 60-man rosters are a lot like Opening Day, a wait-and-see affair. Guys can be added still in the coming days. So, maybe there's hope still for Ryan Mountcastle and Adley Rutschman, since they were omitted from the Orioles' released 44-man roster. It would be surprising if they weren't included in the coming days, if this weren't the Orioles. Some teams included their 2020 draft picks. The Orioles have yet to include their 1st pick from 2015 (Mountcastle) and their 1st pick from last year. i.e., Grey's about to lose his crap and only talk in 3rd person. Anyway, here's what else I saw 2020 fantasy baseball:
The further we travel into the Ronaverse, the less we understand.  “Houston, we have gone beyond the final frontier.” Teaser: at the end of this article, I want to share a secret about this season. Anyway, some rules orbiting the baseball conversation seem concrete:  1) Universal DH for 2020, woohoo!! 2) Runner on 2nd base in extra innings. 3) 30-man active roster dropping to 28 then 26 after a month. 4) MLB owners are crooks.  5) 60-man player pool . . . I’ve been reading a lot of confusing things lately, but this one stood out in a crowded field: Sunday is the deadline for teams to submit their 60-man rosters, but it’s not a deadline.
Visualize a game of Pong on the original Atari. For you millenials, here you go. Now imagine that your head is the ball. Pong. Ouch! Pong. Ouch! Thanks MLB and the MLBPA, because that's how it has felt following the negotiations to start the season. But, but, but....Can I get an amen? Amen! Thanks to the old lady in the back. Baseball is back! At least on paper. Hopefully the Rona and his/her compatriots let us measly humans have some homeruns and strikeouts back into our lives. With that said, when Scott White at CBS Fantasy sent out the bat signal for a 12-team mock draft, I equipped my scouts with enough provisions so that they may get a detailed lay of the landscape. Before I unveil the map, I want to thank Scott for allowing me to participate. Now, for your viewing pleasure... Here's a LINK for the roster grid.
Actress Ellen Adair (@Ellen_Adair), who was featured in TV series such as Homeland, Billions, and The Sinner, joins the show to breakdown the Philadelphia Phillies roster. She gives us her thoughts on the 60 game season and if it will get played in full. She gives us great breakdowns of Rhys Hoskins and Aaron Nola and why they may have struggled in 2019. We also discuss the depth of the bullpen and if Hector Neris can hold down the closer roll for a whole season. She is the host of “Take me in to the Ballgame” which breakdowns baseball movies on a 20-80 scale and she gives us some of her favorite movies. We discuss her acting career, her favorite ballparks, and much more!