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:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Mon 8/4
ARI | ATL | BAL | BOS | CHC | CIN | CLE | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIA | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | ATH | CHW | OAK | SEA | WSH

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.

 

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

“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

 

Triston McKenzie strikeout

23-year old Triston McKenzie, 2020 Debut

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?”

Please, blog, may I have some more?

We’re beginning week 6 of the MLB season, friends, and as I type this baseball is still being played, stats are being counted, and fantasy leagues continue to hum along.  If you’re in one of those fantasy leagues and need some hitting reinforcements over the next month, let’s take a look at some names that may be of interest to those of us in the deeper end of the fantasy baseball world — we’ll concentrate on guys that are under 15% owned in CBS leagues this week.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Why does it feel like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has disappeared off the face of the planet? That was mostly a rhetorical question. I realize he isn’t exactly lighting the world on fire the way the hype leading up to his call up last year might have set the stage, but fear not, it’s coming. VGJ has been a superstar at every level and he will be one in the MLB. In case you have forgotten, he’s only 21 years young. Even if it took another year (or two) until he started clicking on all cylinders, he would still be in his very early twenties. But I don’t think it’s going to take that long. Forget this year, it’s a lost cause for many, but 2021 feels like a good bet. In case you haven’t figured out what I’m trying to say, I’ll spell it out for you. This is the best opportunity you are going to have to buy low on Vlad Junior. Vlad’s stock has hit its floor and there’s only one way for it to go.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

You all can blame me for the weekend bullpen chaos. I said last week was a relatively calm one on the saves front and as soon as I typed the words the baseball gods launched a comet of calamity at MLB. I shall do may best not to draw their ire again anytime soon.

  • The Phillies traded for Brandon Workman to come in and close over the struggling Hector Neris. We’ll see how this goes. Workman has better results than peripherals. He may be a time bomb. He’s 1/2 for saves on Philly already. Matt Barnes was named sort of the closer but like only if he’s being cool about it. Maybe Ryan Brasier finds himself in the ninth again at some point.
  • Please, blog, may I have some more?

Grey has begun releasing his weekly buy/sell articles one day early to all of our valued Patreon members so you can get that extra leg up on your competition!

The music never stops on the Razzball Patreon Podcast! In this week’s batch of I Can’t Believe it’s Not Not News stories, Billy-Ivan heads out to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally to report on a Smashmouth concert. The story wouldn’t be complete without Billy-Ivan showing up to serenade us with his own rendition of the Smashmouth hit, All-Star.

You remember Billy-Ivan, right?

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Good Afternoon Sports Fans, and welcome to Toilet Talk with Jared!

We have a smaller slate to work w/ today and I’ll be focusing my analysis.  In my opinion, it’s a pretty weird slate.  You have some Aces going, but not the ideal match up or a super expensive price.  This has me most likely landing on Jesus Luzardo against the Rangers.  Most of the Rangers pop comes from the left side of the plate, so this is a better match up for Luzardo.

Now lets dig in to today’s slate!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

“Thinking about how I could’ve had Jose Abreu three rounds after Pete Alonso,” is what I tell the man in the plane after I say I want to parachute from the plane without a parachute. “You have anything that burns hotter than 500 degrees?” Is what I ask the grill store employee as I put charcoal briquettes down my pants as I watch Jose Abreu hit six homers in one series. “Just seeing if I can chew glass, that’s all,” which is what I say to Cougs as I bite into a water glass while thinking about El Grande Dolor hitting .322 and four home runs in a row from Saturday until Sunday. “No, I’m not cutting onions, I’m ripping my fingernails out,” which is what I say to my reflection when I think about how Jose Abreu has 11 homers and Pete Alonso hasn’t played in four days and was moved down the lineup for Dom Smith. How’s everyone else doing, that’s nice. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

There are times in life when one is right, and times when one is wrong. I realized over the past week that this list has been much more 162 than 60. We have passed a third of the season and one thing has become apparent above all: The changes implemented by MLB and teams have not affected everyone equally. Some have thrived, others have wilted. A big part of this list was the theory that a short season would help the older players. For the most part, this has not happened. So gentle readers, the electronic tones of LCD Soundsystem to you. I can change.

There is so much change in this list from last time we’re more or less starting over. There are no previous rankings or plus or minus this week because 15% of the list changed in one week. Pour one out for the 15 who are gone. We’re looking to the future, and a new Number 1.

Please, blog, may I have some more?