Braves’ Pitcher iAn-An Conspires Against Yankees

August 27, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 268 Comments

Welp, wasn't expecting to be writing this lede today. I had gone over Ian Anderson already writing, "Expected to be called up. I already own him in one NL-Only league. *drops ass, twerks nasty-like, someone enters to TikTok me and I let them not expecting that to ever come back to haunt me* Would I own Anderson in a mixed league? Well…His command looks a little suspect and that could lead to a huge blow up and I’m not really interested in that in mixed leagues yet. Long-term for keepers? I’d guess he’s owned, or your league is shallow. He was on Itch’s top 150 dynasty pitchers, right behind Kyle Wright, who just did bad stuff to one of my teams, and I could see the same from Anderson." And that's me quoting me! Then, yesterday happened: 6 IP, 1 hit, 1 ER, 2 walks, 6 Ks, holding the Yankees hitless in 5 1/3 IP. Guess I have to dig in deeper. He was working a 96 MPH fastball, and a 87 MPH change, which had hitters off-balance. The arm speed looked to devastate Yankees' hitters trying to pick up the change. It is apparently his best pitch. Appeared to be. He also has a solid curve that drops from above the zone into the bye-bye-thanks-for-playing. Don't think his command is all the way there, but I'm interested now in mixed leagues vs. before yesterday's game. See, I'm not as Thick as a Brick, Ian Anderson. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

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Prospect News: Brubaker in the Kitchen

August 26, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 26 Comments

by: The Itch

I’ve got my fingers crossed, but unless I’m mistaken, every major league team is currently cleared to play baseball games! No small feat in 2020. With so many games to play, and prospects popping up like whack-a-moles, we’ve got a lot to track, especially with double headers and compressed schedules and on and on. Here’s what I’m seeing around the league.

Ambulance Chasers Week 6 – Pinstripe Pain

August 26, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Injury Report |

by: Hammer

It turns out the area around 161st street that Yankee Stadium was built on was home to an ancient Indian burial ground, or is the new home of the Bermuda Triangle, or was cursed by witches in the 1600s, because that's the only explanation for the injury plague the Yankees have dealt with over the last two seasons. Already down Giancarlo Stanton, DJ LeMahieu, Aaron Judge, Tommy Kahnle, and Zack Britton, the Yanks put two other stars on the shelf this week. Gleyber Torres went on the IL with a hamstring injury that looks to keep him out for 2-3 weeks after an MRI revealed no structural damage. We gave you Tyler Wade and Thiaro Estrada last week for DJ's injury fill ins and the same names apply here. James Paxton is also on the IL with forearm discomfort. He's avoided a worst case scenario, as an MRI revealed that there's no tear that would lead to Tommy John surgery. His timetable is still unclear for return. The Yankees have been reluctant to bring up top pitching prospect Clarke Schmidt due to the fact that they'd need to make a move to their 40 man roster to do so, but he's the most fantasy relevant arm on the horizon. Deivi Garcia is the other big time prospect to watch here if this injury keeps Paxton out for a while. There's also been heavy rumors of trade activity for the Yankees to get an arm with Trevor Bauer, Mike Clevinger, and Zach Plesac being the mosts talked about targets.

FanDuel: Value Shopping

August 26, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel |

by: Butters

We’ve got some great value plays today based on Rudy’s Robots (Bot 2) so there’s plenty of opportunity to put together a great lineup with some “discount” pieces. The bot’s top pitcher (Dinelson Lamet, SP: $9,300) for not the top price is always a good thing. He’s been blowing people away with some great K numbers (45 in 33 and a third) and has kept the walks in check (11). Lamet is breaking out and unlike most years, the Padres actually seem to know how to hit. Unfortunately they haven’t given him much run support while he’s on the mound, but that’s only a matter of time. He’s set up to dominate for you today. New to FanDuel? 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 jumping into the fray. It’s how we know you care!

Giolito No-Hitsburgh The Pirates

August 26, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 238 Comments

by: Grey

Lucas Giolito was the first White Sox pitcher to get a no hitter and rack up ten-plus Ks, going 9 IP, 0 ER, 1 walk, 13 Ks, lowering his ERA to 3.09. And you didn't think he was an ace that you should draft as your 1st starter! *screams at the heavens* REDEMPTION! Crap, I think I just hurt my back. Okay, the Pirates' lineup was hilariously bad. They didn't have one hitter with an OBP over .300. No need to bring in a defensive replacement for the White Sox outfield. Go ahead and put your glove away, DeWayne Wise. "Aw shucks." That's DeWayne. I turned the game on for the 9th, and I more just wanted to see a social distancing no-hitter celebration. Something akin to Don Larsen jumping into Yogi's arms, and Yogi sidestepping him to put on a mask and Don skidding on his butt. But that wasn't the case. We had our first good thing of 2020. Dot dot dot. Until Eloy Jimenez looked like he got hurt in the celebration. "You thought you'd get something nice?" That's the year 2020 as it evilly cackles. You suck, 2020! Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Bear or Bull: Are We Being Schmucks For Not Recognizing Randal Grichuk?

August 25, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Bear or Bull | 18 Comments

by: Son

I used to play a lot of hoops with my friends. I also used to smoke a lot of weed. Usually not a good mix, but everytime before the game, I'd yell to my buddies, "The rim looks like the size of the ocean. Just keep feeding me. And feeding me. And feeding me." More often than not, it was but a figment of my imagination. That's what happens when you're high. But, but, but....Every once in a while, the heat checks would get cashed and all everyone would hear was, "Splash, splash, and splash" reverberating off the walls inside the gym. My buddies learned (after one night), that I was straight trash playing high. After the tenth time, they would just let me run around like a headless chicken, but when I got hot, they knew not to mess around, as they would just keep feeding me, and feeding me, and feeding me until whatever it was wore off. The beautiful thing about baseball is that the sample sizes are usually large that regression to career averages can be expected. In a 60-game season, though, anything can happen. A hitter can get hot and stay hot. Randal Grichuk of the Toronto Blue Jays is hot. Can he maintain?

Heads Up! H2H Categories Strategy – Pour Me Another Cheap Mariner

August 25, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Head-to-Head Leagues | 4 Comments

by: Richardo

The Mariners have been something of an s-show. On one hand, they've been an excellent source of cheap speed. On the other hand, Dee Gordon, J.P. Crawford, Shed Long, and Tim Lopes are a combined 9/76 with 3 steals over the last 7 days. Checks notes again. Throws up in mouth. Tosses notes into trash. Praise the fantasy gods for the Mariners newest speed demon Sam Haggerty (.7% ESPN, 1% CBS). The Mariners' rookie batted second on Sunday and has a pair of steals and a homer in 20 plate appearances. He was never a power prospect in the minors but did steal 20+ bases in 2017 (49), 2018, and 2019. His speed kept his batting average decent due to a high BABIP. Haggerty is the proverbial shiny new speed toy in the Seattle lineup. Starting Friday, the Mariners get a four-game set against the Angels. The Angels have allowed the most stolen bases this year, so if you're desperate for steals, grab Haggerty now to get ahead of your opponents.

Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Do You Trust These Dudes?

August 25, 2020 | All Podcasts, Razzball Podcast | 2 Comments

by: Geoff

Welcome back to another week of the Razzball Podcast, this week we play everyone's favorite new game "Do You Trust These Dudes?" First up are Anthony Santander, Brandon Lowe, Trent Grisham, and Teoscar Hernandez! Do we trust these guys? Welp, you're going to have to listen to find out. We then dive into prospect callups from the last week, before talking trades and potential waiver targets in RazzSlam. It's almost like a normal week of fantasy baseball! Anything is possible!!!!

RCL Update: The Week That Was, Week 4, 2020

August 25, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Our Leagues, Razzball Commenter Leagues | 13 Comments

by: MattTruss

By about the time you read this, we’ll be halfway through our interesting fantasy baseball season. We’ll have completed four and a half weeks of Razzball Commenter League action and have four and a half weeks left to go. That means, if you’re planning on maxing out your pitching innings, you should be sitting at about 260 IP right now, or be planning on streaming your buns off the final month of the season. Our IP leader as of right now is Team WahooFan76 of RCL #47 with 342 IP. Bringing up the rear is the Master Batters of RCL #1 with 40 IP (not including one of Park Barkley’s 20 teams that were drafted and abandoned, including one with an illegal roster which has zero IP). That league drafted all the way back on march 1st, so chances are, the Batters have been abandoned as well. In addition to innings, we need quality innings, including a high K/9. Fortunately for you, and especially those that are bad at math, we’re tracking your K/9 for you on the Master Standings page. There, you can see that among teams with at least 40 IP/week we have Team CobraKaiMeansNoMercy with an impressive 12.2 K/9. The worst K/9 offender is Team SeniorBootyFace with 6.3 K/9 in 217 IP. That’s almost impressively bad. There’s still time to correct though, so fear not! Just snag a high K/9 reliever here and there if your current roster allows it. Something I like to do is sort players by K/9. You can do this by hitting “Extra” on the player page when viewing pitchers. Then just sort by K/9 and make sure you’re looking for players with a substantial amount of IP. It’s also going to be important to monitor your innings usage. You can click “MIN/MAX” on your team page to see your innings used and your pace. I like to keep my pace pretty close to right on the money, but your mileage may vary. Just don’t leave innings on the table if you can help it. Let’s take a look at the rest of the week that was, week 4 in the RCLs:

FanDuel: All White Sox Everything

August 25, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, DFS, Fanduel | 1 Comment

by: NichFields

White Sox hitters, White Sox pitcher, White Sox in the fall, white socks in the winter. It doesn’t often happen where both sides of the same team are the best options for your large slate roster, yet in FanDuel’s Main Slate tonight we see just that. Lucas Giolito, P: $10,400, is coming off a dominant 13 strikeout performance, and is facing a Pittsburgh team that is dead last in the majors against right handed pitching this season. We're talking a team wOBA of .257. Bad. On the hitting side, the White Sox roster a right handed heavy lineup and have simply destroyed left handed pitching. They've posted a league leading 1.037 OPS and .427 wOBA in these splits. Very, very good. Brault hasn’t been his usual 5.00 ERA, 1.60 WHIP self, but this looks like a very rough spot for him in any environment, much less at a park that easily yields home runs. This is about as lopsided as a Major League Baseball matchup gets.

Keep reading for more picks for tonight’s slate.

One If Baez Two If Javy

August 25, 2020 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 334 Comments

by: Grey

Starts quietly at first then builds, "Javy....Nagilla....Javy...Nagilla...Javy...Nagilla!" Waving napkins above my head while I'm lifted in my chair above my fantasy team, "Javy....Nagilla....Javy...Nagilla...Javy...Nagilla!" Spots someone who looks like a Rabbi with a long beard, and screams down, "Thank you, Rabbi!" The bearded man replies, "I'm Lance Lynn." So, Javier Baez went 3-for-5, 2 RBIs, 3 RBIs with his 4th and 5th homer, hitting .219. Shoot, hold on, someone is ringing my doorbell. "Oh, hey, Instacart deliveryman, I ordered the smelling salts thinking I might need them for Javier Baez, what's your return policy?" Hopefully, this is the start of Baez hitting like a top 25 hitter, and not like every rookie the Marlins call up. I could use it. Plus, I have this chair now propped on top of my desk for the Javy Nagilla dance. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Top 100 Starting Pitchers: Week 5

August 24, 2020 | 2020 Fantasy Baseball, Top 100 Starting Pitchers | 33 Comments

by: everywhereblair

"I want to be a cardiologist, to be a heart surgeon, but I don't know how that's gonna work with baseball as well. So, I might do something business-related, so I get a little bit of business acumen going into the real world. And then once I'm done with baseball, I can probably go back and continue my study in medicine."

--17-year old Triston McKenzie in 2015

[caption id="attachment_1936632" align="aligncenter" width="520"] Triston McKenzie strikeout

23-year old Triston McKenzie, 2020 Debut[/caption] I mean, Triston McKenzie achieved both of his dreams, right? In his major league debut, McKenzie surgically sliced through the heart of the Tigers lineup, giving up one run over six innings while whiffing 10 batters. And you know what? There's a very good chance that he takes the heart out of Zach Plesac, whose arbitration schedule would be delayed if Cleveland keeps him at the alternate site much longer. Is it too early to call McKenzie the "Cardiac Kid?"