Freeland Of The Kyle

Colorado Rockies starting pitcher—wait, what? Seriously? Well, alright then, let’s do this! Colorado Rockies starting pitcher slash heartthrob Kyle Freeland shut down the San Diego Padres for eight dominant innings, allowing just two hits and striking out ten for his fourth win of the year. Coors is a Freeland now! Denverites rejoice! The southpaw, who holds a 5.10 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, and 107/34 K/BB for the year with 14 losses, did not walk a batter in the start and rebounded in a big way from getting ejected Tuesday night after throwing just eight pitches for his involvement in the benches clearing brawl following a Devers home run. Ohhh, I see what happened here. This was a spite start! Revenge and hate is the ultimate motivator, isn’t it? Still, a gem is a gem, and this, internet friends and stalkers, was a Colorado mountain geode! Kyle threw 54 of his 88 pitches for strikes and the ten strikeouts was a career high, a mark he hadn’t hit since 2021. Legacy start for KF who even struck out the side in the fourth inning. The ‘Dres couldn’t touch him! At just 88 pitches through eight innings, you’d think Mr. Manager would have given Freeland a chance at his first career shutout, but this is the Rockies after all, and I guess getting that fortieth win in September is more important. Incredibly, Kyle becomes just the fourth pitcher ever to throw a eight-plus inning ten strikeout game at Coors (a list that includes Pedro Martinez!), and the only one to do it with two or less hits! He gets the Dodgers next week and if you’re thinking of adding him that Denver altitude might be getting to you. Still, for a career 4.55 ERA pitcher, he gets all the flowers for this one, Rocky Mountain columbines! So have a day, Freeland, cause this could be your peak, but for Colorado, the peaks can be pretty high!

Here’s what else I saw in fantasy baseball Friday night:

Hunter Goodman – 3-for-3, HR (28), 2 RBI. Thank you for saving my life season, Hunter. You’re a Goodman.

Nick Pivetta – 6.0 IP, 7 hits, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 5th L, ERA at 2.85. He should expect better run support at Coors, but this was Freeland’s, err…land Friday night. He’s surrendered more than three earned runs in a start just five times all year, and just once since July 1. For a guy who gave up 28 home runs last year, he really couldn’t have found a better landing spot than San Diego.

Ian Happ – 1-for-2, 4 runs, HR (20). What’s the Happs? His fourth bomb in the past week extends his nine game hitting streak and you better believe I’m playing him in head-to-head! If only I didn’t own Gunnar he could face me in H2H and I could finally snap him out of his funk.

Dansby Swanson – 1-for-4, HR (22), 3 RBI. Winner winner Swanson dinner is now #1 Victory Royale. Dansby’s good like that. I would know!

Nico Hoerner – 2-for-4, HR (6), 2 RBI. If you asked me ten days ago, I would have told you the Cubbies looked dead in the water, but if they could get hot at just the right time, or just play the Nats all the time, they could might maybe possible be a wagon, y’all?

Shane Smith – 5.0 IP, 3 hits, 4 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 5th win. He’s turned into a fairly reliable streaming option. 3.15 ERA over the past month, sub-1 WHIP. I wonder what he’d be like on a winning team. He gets the Rays next week and I could see considering the prospect of maybe thinking about mulling over the possibility of contemplating whether or not I should review the option of potentially picking him up. I still don’t know for sure though!

Jack Flaherty – 4.1 IP, 6 hits, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K. Jack’d up! Alternating good and awful starts is no way to get to October. But this logic would mean starting him at Yankee Stadium next week. I’d rather not.

Colson Montgomery – 2-for-4, HR (18), 4 RBI. The Montgomery Alabama Slamma! Dixie Land Delight! Colson’s 18th home run since the all star break, and his 8th homer in the last 12 games, and fourth in his last seven games and second in his last two. That’s back-to-back days! All he does is hit home runs! He’s now tied for the league lead since the All Star break with Kyle Schwarber. Who is a pretty decent power hitter I don’t know if you’ve heard of him. I could list all the players you drafted that don’t have 18 home runs but I don’t want to bum you out. While Colson Coors is brewing up a breakout, the White Sox have won six in a row for the first time all year. Coincidence? Maybe! Or maybe Daddy Colson is a bon-a-fide superstar slash super stud? For 2026, there are some worrisome statistics like his xBA, chase rate, and K% but also, shut up nerd! ColSoMo hits long balls to the moon and bangs hot babes what are you doing right now? This kid’s gonna be a star! Ha-cha-cha!

Andrew Benintendi – 1-for-4, HR (18). Benny Baseball was a BUY with three homers hitting .350 in the past week. Did I mention the White Sox keep winning? If this was May, I might have called them a wagon, but instead I’m calling it simultaneous spontaneous schmotatoing.

Quinn Priester – 7.0 IP, 6 hits, 2 ER, BB, 6 K, 12th win. Call a doctor! No, call a Priester! This man is blessed! This one started shaky but Quinn settled in nicely and retired the final 11 batters he faced. He’s now won a Brewers record 11 consecutive decisions, and Milwaukee have incredibly won 17 straight games when he’s starting! O sweet sassy molassy! Holy Priester is their good luck charm, praise him!

Abner Uribe – 1.0 IP, SV (5). BUY. Trevor Megill is expected to return early next week, but I wouldn’t drop your Abner’s just yet. He’s got more saves in the past week than Tanner Scott’s gotten me all summer. Also, Brewers be winning games, y’all.

David Peterson – 5.1 IP, 7 hits, 4 ER, BB, 4 K, 9th win. DP got the win, but he’s allowed 12 runs and 28 base runners over his last 13.0 IP and gets the Phillies next. That’sa big yikes. Regression fairies are Team Jeremiah all the way, but mostly because it makes people so angry. They will troll your X feed with TSITP memes and destroy your ratios.

Mark Vientos – 2-for-4, HR (16), 2 RBI. Dip your Vientos into the buy pool? His seventh home run in the past 13 games! The oppo-fieldo-shoto! Dude thinks he’s Colson Montgomery! He’s slashing .327/.413/.782 with the 7 homers, 18 RBI and 1.195 OPS in the past two weeks! That looks a lot more like what you drafted right!? Better late than never? *dodges tomato* Vientos leads the NL in home runs and RBI since August 17. My dude is back. Never been so back!

Edwin Diaz  – 1.0 IP, 1 hits, 2 BB, 2 K, SV (26), ERA at 1.83. Came in to the ninth to load the bases with no outs, then proceeded to change his cleats for five minutes, and then somehow got out of the jam and the Mets won. I mean, I’ve never felt more sure about this but it’s gotta be the shoes!

Shohei Ohtani – 3.2 IP, 3 hits, 0 ER, BB, 5 K. It’s almost unreal watching Brohei pitch. Like really? The cheeeeese. He hit 100 mph 11 times and struck out five to bring his K/9 to 12.3. All these things would be incredible as is, but he also has 46 home runs. That part just makes it extra goofy. Have you seen the commercial where the dog is watching the Dodgers jealous of Ohtani’s dog Decoy because he gets unlimited pets from Shohei? Yeah, it’s kind of like that. I bet he gives great pets.

Tanner Scott – 0.2 IP, 1 hit, ER, 2 K. Sigh. I hate so much the things you choose to be. It’s honestly my fault for drafting closers.

Samuel Basallo – 1-for-4, HR (2). Have a day, rook! What a moment! The walk-off bomb for Bombuel Basallo, his first home run at Camden Yards and certainly not his last. Watch it from another angle. It’s that pretty. He just made a memory. He murdered this baseball. We knew it was gone the second he hit it, and not just because Tanner Scott was pitching.

Kevin Gausman  – 8.0 IP, 4 hits, ER, BB, 5 K, 9th win, ERA at 3.63. Gave up the bomb to Giancarlo but that’s about it. The splitter was splitting and this was vintage Gaus at one point retiring 11 in a row (ELEVEN). September Gausman is here and this is the best he’s looked all year. Hot Gaus is right!

Cam Schlittler – 1.2 IP, 5 hits, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 3rd L. Cam’s been pitching well but he ran into the buzz saw that is the Toronto BJays. It took him 66 pitches to get through 1.2 innings, with the Jays fouling 24 balls off Cam. Hopefully this didn’t break him, I’m giving him another go versus Detroit next week.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – 4-for-5, 3 runs, HR (23). Five game hitting streak hitting .458 in that stretch and one of the hits looked like this. His 16th career homer at Yankee stadium, some dudes just like the bright lights I guess. And the Jays most definitely a wagon, y’all.

Giancarlo Stanton – 2-for-4, HR (19), OPS at .987 OPS. Speaking of home runs, Big Sexy Giancarlo hit his 19th in just 60 games! That’s a 50+ home run hitter prorated, folks. And he did it with two tennis elbows! Someone get this guy in the US Open!

Cristopher Sanchez – 7.0 IP, 6 hits, ER, BB, 5 K, 12th win, ERA at 2.60. Since June 1, Cris ranks first in the majors in almost all the pitching categories that matter, ERA, innings, fWAR. Just a reminder, this guy did not make the All Star team.

Bryson Stott – 2-for-3, HR (10). Brandon Marsh, Max Kepler and Harrison Bader also homered. Bader was a BUY, by the way. Buy by lol! Like bye bye baseballs! They call this a Philly home run party. Someone must be excited about beating the Cowboys. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the Phillies are winning the World Series this year.

Logan Gilbert – 6.0 IP, 5 hits, ER, BB, 7 K. Gilbert going Berserker allowing his first run over his past three starts. Should I call you Logan, Weapon X? No, Wolverine!

Chris Sale – 6.2 IP, 4 hits, ER, 9 K, ERA at 2.38. 18 Ks in two starts will play anywhere. Mariners and Phils are no cake walk starts either. He’s one of the best if healthy, but that if is big enough to fill a 64 oz Stanley. Call him Chris-tian McSaleffrey.

Ozzie Albies – 3-for-4, run, RBI, 2 SB (14). Ozzie making me do backflips! He’s one of the hottest hitters in potato land and if you’re not already in last place, Albies hitting .375 over the past two weeks with 5 homers, 12 runs, 14 RBI and 2 steals is making him your Ozymandias, the one true fantasy King!

Gavin Williams – 7.0 IP, 7 hits, ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 10th win. I wish I didn’t drop him when he burned me so hard that one time. I’m working on being less reactionary. Oooh, X team in last place called up their 12th best prospect? Grab him everywhere!

Junior Caminero – 1-for-4, HR (41). There’s literally nothing Junior about him. If anything he’s your daddy. His fifth September home run, and I’d be willing to bet he’ll be on a large percentage of winning fantasy teams at the end of the year. And before you blame his wittle baby home ballpark, did you know he’s batting just .198 on the road? Wait that doesn’t help my argument, but he does have 19 road home runs! It’s not just the ballpark people, or maybe it is I don’t know!

Jose Ramirez – 3-for-5, run, 2 RBI. Trying to stop myself from writing a JoRam is underrated blurb here so I’m just going to tell you Steven Kwan had two hits and two steals. Whew, that was a close one!

Pablo Lopez – 6.0 IP, 6 hits, 2 ER, BB, 4 K, 4th L. I know we don’t like to start starters fresh off the IL and Kevin totally forgot this guy existed but what do you have to lose at this point. You held him this long do you really have the luxury to wait-and-see? Meanwhile, PabLo returning to the decimated Twins rosters like the Fresh Prince meme.

Maikel Garcia – 2-for-4, HR (16). Not enough praise has been give to Garcia and his breakout season. Batting .294 with 16 home runs. 22 steals and that eligibility *swoons* Is he a 20-20 guy next year?

Bobby Witt Jr. – 0-for-3. Left the game with lower back spasms. Not what you want when you’re team is just one game out of the wild card race. Incoming prayer circle for BWJ.

Rafael Devers – 2-for-4, HR (31), 2 RBI. Rafael Delivers! Leads the league in home runs over the past 30 games, including 12 home runs since the start of August rocking a 1.067 OPS. He’s also got four in the past week hitting .346 in that stretch with 8 RBI. Is it just me or has Raffy’s bat gone absolutely bonkers since Roman Anthony went down? Or is everything not about me? Regardless, that’s SF’s fifth win in a row and ninth in their last 10 and here come the Giants!

Willy Adames – 1-for-5, HR (27), 2 RBI. Speaking of Giants, here’s another one from this guy and him and Raffy are proving to be some 1-2 punch. His seventh home run in the past week! The Giants are still four games back of the WC but if they have any chance of catching up maybe just keep hitting homers like this? Seems to be working.

Carson Seymour – 5.0 IP, 2 hits, ER, BB, 2 K, 1st win. Principal Skinner’s mom’s favorite player, Seymour! Not to be confused with Ian Seymour, who also pitched Friday night. If you’re going to add one, thought, I’d add Ian. Sorry, Carson.

Jung Hoo Lee – 4-for-4, 2 runs, RBI. The surging Giants scored 8 runs with 18 hits and April Dan just called me from the past and told me to hold on to him through his three month slump because he’s gonna get hot again in September.

Ivan Herrera – 1-for-4, HR (14). Ivan the Herrera-ble!

Merrill Kelly – 7.0 IP, 5 hits, ER, BB, 7 K, ERA at 3.16. He’s been absolutely nails, and probably the best trade deadline acquisition made this year. Five straight quality starts and his only hiccup with his new team was against the Phils, and I know a guy who thinks the Phils are gonna win the WS. He gets the red-hot Brewers next week but you can’t sit this guy right now. Merrill is feral!

Carlos Correa – 2-for-5, HR (11), 2 RBI. DOINK!

Jose Soriano – 2.1 IP, 6 hits, 8 ER, 5 BB, 4 K. Last week Grey said about Soriano, “If you started him, he would’ve gave up 7 ER in 3 IP. So take some solace in that.” I did not, in fact, start him. Thanks Grey.

Lawrence Butler – 3-for-5, HR (19), 2 RBI., slashing .238/.310/.415 Honestly, he’s doing better than I thought based on where my teams are placed that roster him. Maybe I’m not that bad at this? He got crazy hot the end of last summer and that’s how I got into this whole mess so let’s see him do it again maybe? Also, s/o to LB for rocking the Big Amish tee. I think I need one of these.

Eduardo Rodriguez – 6.0 IP, 4 hits, ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 7th win. That’s back to back quality starts for EdRod but the Giants are up next and they’re hitting everything and you don’t want no part of that, Dewey. Pick him up if you hate yourself.

Geraldo Perdomo – 4-for-5, HR (17), 2 RBI, slashing  .287/.385/.452. Perdomo me while I BURST INTO FLAMES! Shout out Incubus fan(s)! Is Gerardo the most underrated infielder in fantasy? He has 89 RBIs! Dude had six homers last year!

Corbin Carroll – 2-for-5, HR (30), 3 RBI, SB (24). Speaking of trading contact for power, CC may never hit .285 again but if it means more 30+ home seasons I guess I’m okay with that? His 30th home run was his career high and he’s on track to best his season totals for RBI, doubles, runs, OPS and possibly WAR. So would you rather have the 2023, .285 AVG, 25 homer, 50 steal Corbin, or the 2025 .260 AVG, 35+ homer, 25 steal Corbin? There is no wrong answer! But answer correctly, please!

Payton Tolle – 3.0 IP, 5 hits, 5 ER, 4 BB, 2 K. The Roman loss taking it’s Tolle on all of us. Troll Tolle more like it but Payton’s gem last week was against the Pirates after all. Much like the Red Sox my fantasy team has absolutely tanked since losing Roman Anthony 144 hours and 23 minutes ago. We’ve officially lost our muchness. *single tear* Me walking into the bar in my brand new Roman Anthony Fenway Green alternate CityConnect jersey holding up two fingers, “Five beers, please. And keep ’em coming.”

Thanks for reading! Questions? Problems? Complaints to management? Advice, small gifts, or large bribes? Please leave it in the comments below. Join us next Saturday for another Friday recap as fantasy baseball continues next week, all week long!