Fantasy Baseball H2H Streamers – Week 6

We were cruising with our streamers going into last week, but that wasn’t my best showing. Trevor Rogers really crapped on our week with that Saturday stinker but the rest of the results were okay. That will happen every once in a while when evaluating streamers because they guys are naturally volatile players. That’s definitely the case with our top pitcher of the week, but let’s get started with the favorable matchups and then dive into those streamers!

Favorable Team Matchups

7 Games

Cleveland Guardians (vs. DET, at CWS)

Kansas City Royals (vs. MIL, at LAA)

Los Angeles Angels (at PIT, vs. KC)

Milwaukee Brewers (at KC, vs. STL)

San Francisco Giants (at COL, vs. CIN)

Seattle Mariners (at MIN, vs. OAK)

Texas Rangers (at OAK, at COL)

6 Games

Colorado Rockies (vs. SF, vs. TEX)

Houston Astros (at NYY, at DET)

Pittsburgh Pirates (vs. LAA) vs. CHC)

Tampa Bay Rays (vs. CWS, vs, NYY)

Pitching Streamers

Triston McKenzie, CLE (vs. DET, at CWS)

McKenzie has been dropped in a ton of leagues because many fantasy managers know he’s pitching with a torn UCL. That means surgery is inevitable but we’re willing to trust him in this amazing two-start week. Let’s start there because these couldn’t be better matchups. The Motor City Kitties rank 21st in K rate, 23rd in OBP, and 24th in wOBA, while the White Sox sit last in runs scored, OBP, OPS, and wOBA. That would put any pitcher in play against them, especially a talented guy like this. Mckenzie has a 2.81 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, and 10.7 K/9 rate across his last three starts. In his last five starts against Chicago over the last three years, McKenzie has a 1.78 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, and 11.8 K/9 rate. He’s also allowed just three runs across 33 innings in his last five starts against Detroit, striking out 37 batters in those outings!

Streamonator Valuation: $21.1

Jameson Taillon, CHC (at PIT)

Taillon has been tremendous at times throughout his career and it feels like he’s found something this season. The righty is 3-0, thanks to his 1.13 ERA and 0.88 WHIP. We don’t expect him to maintain those closer-like numbers but it makes him one of the best streamers until we see a fall-off. People forget that Taillon has been doing this for most of his career, collecting a 3.94 ERA and 1.21 WHIP. That’s really enticing in a revenge game against the Pirates because Pittsburgh has just 35 runs across their last 17 games! It doesn’t take much math to realize that scoring two runs a game is a disaster, especially in one of the most pitcher-friendly parks in baseball.

Streamonator Valuation: $-5.2

Andrew Heaney, TEX (at OAK)

Heaney has been one of our streamers numerous times throughout his career, but we love him in this spot. The southpaw has been sensational over the last two weeks, sporting a 4.00 ERA and 0.78 WHIP across his last three starts. We’ve seen this talented lefty pitch like this for weeks at a time, posting a 3.10 ERA and 1.09 WHIP just two years ago. We expect his recent form to carry over in this outstanding matchup with Oakland. The A’s rank bottom three in runs scored, OBP, OPS and wOBA since the start of last season! In three starts against them last year, Heaney had a 1.72 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, and 10.9 K/9 rate en route to two wins!

Streamonator Valuation: $11.4

Ben Lively, CLE (at CWS)

Lively is barely rostered anywhere, and it’s hard to understand why the fantasy community is sleeping on this guy. Cleveland has been notorious for churning out the best seasons out of their starters, and that’s what we’re getting from Lively. He’s allowed two runs or fewer in all four starts this season, generating a 2.08 ERA and 1.02 WHIP. We would be happy to use those numbers against anyone, but the White Sox have developed into one of the worst offenses of all time. Chicago sits dead last in runs scored, OBP, OPS, and wOBA! We’re not so sure Lively will do this all season but it should be easy to duplicate in a matchup like this.

Streamonator Valuation: $3.4

Hitting Streamers

Richie Palacios, TB (vs. CWS, vs, NYY)

This kid is still below 10 percent rostership on Yahoo and it’s hard to understand why. He’s actually been Tampa’s best hitter this season, tallying a .310 AVG, .430 OBP, .465 SLG, and .895 OPS. That doesn’t even take into consideration his power-speed combo because he’s on pace to have a 20-20 season. That has him batting between leadoff and cleanup for this Rays lineup, which is hard to overlook since he faces five righties this week. Palacios has provided a .446 OBP and .931 OPS with the platoon advantage in his favor this season!

Josh Rojas, SEA (at MIN, vs. OAK)

Rojas is not a guy we expected to be one of our streamers this season, but this week plays out perfectly for the third baseman. The platoon player has been hitting leadoff every day when the Mariners match up with a right-hander, and that’s wonderful this week since Seattle squares up with six righties in this seven-game week. With the platoon advantage in his favor, Rojas has a .354 AVG, .440 OBP, and 1.009 OPS. That’s all you can ask for since he’s available in almost every league, and it’s not like we’re worried about matchups with Minnesota and Oakland.

Luis Rengifo, LAA (at PIT, vs. KC)

This Angels lineup is one of the worst in baseball, but it’s not this guy’s fault. Rengifo has been remarkable for them this season, totaling a .330 AVG, .462 SLG and .840 OPS. That’s not far off of his .783 OPS from last year, and we love that he’s up to nine steals as well. LA has stated that they want to run rampant around the bases under Ron Washington, and we love these matchups with Kansas City and Pittsburgh. Rengifo avoids Jared Jones in the Buccos rotation and gets seven games against this subpar staffs. We also didn’t mention his position eligibility and that’s an underrated asset when talking about streamers.

Josh Smith, TEX (at OAK, at COL)

We just talked about how Rengifo is eligible at multiple positions, and Smith falls in the same boat. This guy has become the Rangers everyday six-hole hitter, and that really couldn’t be a better spot for RBI opportunities. He’s done damage in that role, accumulating a .304 AVG, .407 OBP, and .885 OPS so far this year. That fantastic form is hard to overlook when evaluating these matchups because Texas is the highest-projected offense in seven games against Colorado and Oakland. The Rockies rank last in ERA and WHIP, while the A’s only have a few players on their roster that should be starting on an MLB team.

SAGNOF (Saves/Steals Ain’t Got No Face)

Steals Specialists

Jose Caballero (TB)

Caballero is up to nine steals and should get plenty of chances against five righties this week.

Luis Rengifo (LAA)/Richie Palacios (TB)

We already discussed these two as hitting streamers but they each have multiple steals over the last week as well!

Saves Specialists

Justin Lawrence (COL)

We really didn’t have any new closers this week, but Lawrence is available if you’re feeling ballsy. The Rockies reliever had two saves this week and has apparently taken over as their closer. That’s slightly encouraging us this week because Colorado has six games at home. They should be able to win a couple of those, and some saves could be on the horizon since the Rockies couldn’t blow out a little league team.

Feel free to comment here or reach me on Twitter @Bartilottajoel if you have any questions!