The Oakland A’s went absolutely bonkers on Dylan Cease – 4.1 IP, 8 ER, ERA at 4.87 in a battle of two teams who have thrown in the white towel. The A’s need to be careful about getting hot and losing the number one pick, but they have kinda been on fire. It was Nick Allen – 4 for 5, 2 Runs, 5 RBI, HR who did the bulk of the damage in this one, so congrats if you happened to batty call he of the .541 OPS, but most likely these stats were chilling on the waiver wire. Dylan Cease meanwhile has had quite the fall from last year’s ace status. I can’t say I would have much motivation to play for the White Sox right now, but it’s been a tough year for Cease regardless. Keelin might be out this week, but we’re still thinking of her in these trying times, and fan really speaks for all White Sox fans:
https://twitter.com/Keelin_12ft/status/1695245810017956265?s=20
That’s about how amused I was having started Cease in many DFS lineups last night. Cease is walking too many and giving up too much hard contact. If it’s any consolation, his FIP is almost a full point lower than his ERA. Seems like a guy who could bounce back and might be worth a shot at a discount next year. The mustache alone has me intrigued, but for the remainder of this season, I’d leave him be. Here’s what else I saw last night in fantasy baseball:
Sonny Gray – 7 IP, 1 ER, 4 Ks, ERA at 3.06 as he cruised the Ivictory Coast thanks to the Twins scoring 4 in the first and 6 in the seventh. Dane Dunning and the Texas bullpen was far from stunning in this one as all the Twins batters got in on the action. Gray just goes out and does his thing.
Ryan Pressly – 0.2 IP, 4 ER as he took the loss giving up the first career homer for Parker Meadows. These are the first earned runs Pressly has given up in August, so nothing but a hiccup here, but what a waste of a good Framber Valdez start.
Carter Kieboom – 1-for-3 and his second homer in his first three games of the season. Is it just me or are we all rooting for a guy with the name KIEBOOM to just mollywop? Worth an add to see if there’s a hot streak here to finish the season.
Gerrit Cole – 7.1 IP, 1 ER, 11 Ks, ERA at 2.95 as he said “no Eflin way” to the Rays. Eflin matched him with 2 ER in 6 IP and 11 Ks of his own (Coolwhip is still victory-lapping this preseason call, rightfully so) but in the end, Cole won this duel.
DJ LeMahieu – 3-for-4, 3 Runs, 2 HRs (10,11) was a one-man band in this one.
Ezequiel Tovar – 1-for-4, and his 15th homer to go along with 7 steals. I love that the Rockies have just let him play all year. If Nolan Jones can get the same treatment next year, I’ll be a happy drafter.
Ryan Mountcastle – 2-for-4, HR (18), TheEducator just made him the subject of potential late-season heroics as his past 30 days have been lights out. He’s keeping that heater alive.
Felix Bautista – Was the real story in this game as he left after 2 batters and 12 pitches with arm discomfort. Oh no. We shall form a prayer hexagon (because hexagons are the best agons) and hope he’s OK.
Mitch Keller – 8 IP, 4 Hits, 6 Ks, 0 ER, After giving up 27 ER over a 5-game span it appeared Keller may have turned into a pumpkin, but he’s only given up 3 over the last 3 games, striking out 25 in that span and it appears he’s back to a magical coach on the way to the ball to meet Prince Charming…or something like that.
Kyle Schwarber – 2-for-4, HR (35), batting .187 and hitting leadoff. Are the Phillies really keeping him there all year?
Cristopher Sanchez – 6 IP, 6 Ks, 2 ER, ERA at 3.33, There has been talk of him moving to the bullpen but with Ranger Suarez going down it seems he’ll be sticking in the rotation, and for good reason. Sanchez has been a great late-season waiver wire find for many of my teams.
Tanner Bibee – 6 IP, 5 Ks, 2 ER, ERA at 3.01, I was nervous about this start and benched Bibee everywhere, you’re welcome.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – 2-for-4, HR, his 19th. Nineteen homers…Triston Casas has more homers and he was dead for half the season. I was so excited about drafting Vladdy this preseason. I’ll probably be right back on him next year too, I just can’t quit that potential, but boy is this depressing.
Lance Lynn – 6 IP, 10 Hits, 3 ER, 1 K, and somehow walked out of Fenway Park with a win. Wins are so dumb.
Trevor Story – 2-for-4, HR, his first of the year, only 18 behind Vlad.
Freddie Freeman – 4-for-5, 3 Runs and if he played for the Red Sox I have little doubt he’d hit .400.
Kodai Senga – 6.2 IP, 10 Ks, 2 ER was outdueled by Patrick Sandoval – 6 IP, 7 Ks, 1 ER but remains the lone bright spot for the Mets.
Shohei Ohtani – 1-for-2, 3 BBs, as he continues to DH. We’re all just rooting for Ohtani to hit 20 HRs to end the season, right? I’m still reeling from the UCL news and at least hope he bops a few dingers this weekend.
Brandon Woodruff – 6 IP, 1 ER, 11 Ks, there’s the ace I drafted on several teams back in March!
Gary Sanchez – 1-for-4, HR, his 17th…just two behind Vlad.
Ha-Seong Kim – 0-for-5, SB, his 29th. Gotta love when a guy goes 0-fer and still puts up stats. The upcoming 20/30 season from Kim has to be one of the biggest surprises of the season so far.
Nick Martini – 2-for-3, 3 Runs, 4 RBIs, 2 HRs, number one and two on the year. I’ll take a double, dirty, with two olives.
Hunter Greene – 3.2 IP, 5 ER, 4 Ks, sad to say it, but I think he might be droppable. With roughly 5 weeks remaining, that’s 6ish starts and you can’t start him in SF next week until we see some glimmer of hope.
Bryce Miller – 4 IP, 6 Ks, 3 ER, ERA at 3.90. This AL West race is going to be fun to watch. With Miller and Woo both facing career highs in IP (Miller threw 133 in 2022 and sits at 121 this season) it will be interesting how the Mariners handle things. They certainly have the bullpen to make 4 or 5 IP games work for a spell. They really miss Robbie Ray and Marco Gonzales right now.
Julio Rodriguez – 2-for-4, 1 Run, 1 SB (35). Remember when we weren’t sure if Julio would run this year? Me either.
Michael Conforto – To the IL with a strained hammy of the grade 2 variety, that probably makes him droppable in mixed leagues if you need the IL room.
Michael Harris II – 3-for-4, 3 Runs, with a slam (12) and double legs (19). I feel like I should have known better drafting Harris in the 2nd/3rd round this year but I had the FOMO in a couple RCL drafts and took him…and then dropped him when he was hitting under .200 with 2 dingers…only to watch him go bonkers. At least I’ve gotten similar stats from Luke Raley, but next year, I’m not touching Money Mike until after the fifth round. When he’s hot, there are few more fun to watch, when he’s not, it’s ugly.
Jordan Wicks – Set to get called up to the Cubs and start Sunday vs the Pirates. Could be worth a speculative add in case there’s something here. It’s a pretty nice match-up for the first major league start of your career.
