As we creep up on the All-Star Break, one team has separated themselves from the rest of the Razzball Commenter Leagues pack.  It’s a bit unprecedented for a team in a league with a very high League Competitive Index to win in the Master Standings. Typically a league with a high LCI is filled with active managers that makes the league race very tight, which limits how far out in front a team can get.  Teams have done it before, Cram It comes to mind in 2015 when the FCL had an LCI of 112. Other than that, the highest LCI of a #1 team was Josh Hamiltons Fake Stache in 2013 when League: Cracking the WHIP had an LCI of 105. Every other #1 team has been in a league with an LCI of 100-102.  That brings us to the STL Squat Cobblers who currently sit with 108 league points in ECFBL with it’s 106 LCI. That’s enough to create a 5.4 RCL Point cushion over the second place team. If the Cobblers keep this up they’ll be looking at reaching rare waters indeed. Granted, it’s only a little over halfway through the season, a lot can happen, but it’s still fun to extrapolate.  Let’s look at the rest of the Master Standings and the week that was, week 14 in the RCLs:

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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Sun 8/3
ARI | ATH | BAL | BOS | CHC | CHW | CLE | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIA | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SEA | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | WSH | ATL | CIN | OAK

Now that America has celebrated its birthday, the temps will only get hotter. Along with the weather, we’re going to start to see the usual second-half hot streaks emerge. The poster boy for that the last few seasons has been Brian Dozier. Take advantage on Draft.com of those poor season-long numbers to pluck some mid-year turnaround values.

New to Draft.com? 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!

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[brid autoplay=”true” video=”270190″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball Mailbag Week 15″]

With Aaron Nola, I should likely talk about Zydeco, but he reminds me of Paul Simon’s quote about Graceland.  Vampire Weekend was criticized for copying his signature style, which is absurd since he copied it from African artists, and Simon copped to that.  He said, “In a way, we were on the same pursuit, but I don’t think you’re lifting from me, and anyway, you’re welcome to it, because everybody’s lifting all the time. That’s the way music grows and is shaped.”  Without every great pitcher to come before, would there be Aaron Nola?  I know what I know, and I lost Nola this year.  Like I lost Carlos Carrasco and Corey Kluber previous years.  I long for them when the diamond’s on the sole of their shoes.  Every year, I have guys I’m targeting as my ace whose preseason prices aren’t out of control yet.  Well, Nola went from fringe Grey-ownership this year as possibly my ace to not going to be able to own him until he falters one year down the road.  That sucks, and not sucks as in good, but sucks as in bad.  Yesterday, Nola went 7 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, 1 walk, 10 Ks, to lower his ERA to Marla Gibbs’ address 2.27.  When he’s on other people’s teams next year and I say I would never draft him because his price is too high, remember, I see losing love is like a window in your heart.   Everybody sees you’re blown apart, everybody feels the wind blow.  In Nola, in Nola.  Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

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I am bringing back an oldie-but-goodie for this week. Pitcher Thoughts was initially a Razzball column idea that I periodically spun-off into a subset of my podcast (I do another one with Ralph too!). My intention was to give readers more information about a pitcher’s performance (or lack thereof) past the simple baselining of FIP versus ERA and the standard jargon. I’m a sucker for pitch mix and predicting what might change and why. This also allowed me to gain an understanding of a specific pitcher far deeper than I would otherwise considered. A mutually beneficial column is always good. It’s a no-brainer that another iteration was necessary. Our pair for today is Mariners southpaw, Marco Gonzales, and Brewers righty, Chase Anderson.

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The only way to compare things is to look in the past and see how we match up to the year previous.  For pace reasons, for setting your mind at ease, and to basically not bore you to death, I am only going back one year because I have gone over the decline of the ever loved “stolen base” as a cumulative stat.  So in 2017 through the first 81 games of the season,  (roughly… because every team plays different amounts of games) there were a combine 1,405 steals by all MLB teams. In 2018, we currently sit at 1,310.  Now remember games for AL teams are off a bit, but still, we are sitting at 95 stolen bases fewer than the year previous.  That is an eye catching number, even when you break it into a smaller number like percentages it still sucks for the SAGNOF love.  Just to delve into it further, there were three players with 30-plus steals and three above 20 steals at the All Star break last year.  (With the leader, Billy Hamilton garnering 38.)  This year, there are only six players above 20, and none above current theft leader Michael Taylor with 23.  The downward trend, the going away from using the steal as an asset in fantasy is a dying trend that we are lucky to be apart of from a draft usability standpoint.  I am more of a “see what I know baseball guy” rather than a number cruncher, but nobody uses the steal effectively to set the pace of a game anymore.  Now for fantasy it sucks that we are mimicking real life, as a grab the best players to accumulate stats to fill our rosters mentality is the M.O., but I would be interested to see how your league standings are reflecting this downward trend in steals and how much the league leader in the category has, and if you think it is worth chasing as a catch up stat for the second half of the year.  So give me some feedback, and here’s some charts of catchers to steal on and pitchers to exploit.  Cheers!

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B_Don is joined by special guest host, The Itch (@PartyLikeMayans), host of the Fantasy Futures Baseball Podcast, take a look at the Domingo German vs Sean Newcomb match up and Jose Peraza. Keeping true to his name, The Itch has to scratch at a number of different topics and we chase them down the rabbit hole while Donkey Teeth is off connecting with his inner spirit animal, or something like that.

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You don’t need me to tell you to start aces, so today I’ve chosen to highlight some pitchers who are not in that group but will provide great value. Depending on the size of your draft on Draft.com, you can take advantage of this by jumping on hitters. We are fortunate enough to have a few ace-level guys going on this fine Monday and it’s never a bad idea to lock one up in the first round. But with solid pitching options behind them, you have a great opportunity to grab a bat or two and give yourself a top-notch offense.

New to Draft? 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!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

[brid autoplay=”true” video=”269736″ player=”10951″ title=”Fantasy Baseball Buy Sell Hold Week 15″]

Many of you might not realize this, but I try to stay consistent in advice.  When you write 3,000 words/day, sometimes things get blurred.  I like so-and-so and don’t like that so-and-so, then the first so-and-so gets cold and I no longer like that so-and-so or the 2nd so-and-so gets hot and I like him, so I no longer like so-and-so, but do like that so-and-so.  Or sometimes I’m just so-so on a particular so-and-so, but that so-so is fluid and a so-and-so can become a little more than just so-so or a little less than just so-so.  BTW, those who just Googled for “so-so fantasy advice,” welcome!  You’re at the right place.  So, my so-so feelings on Nathan Eovaldi have moved up, and he is rattling off irrefutable evidence that he should be owned.  Yesterday, Eovaldi took a perfect game into the 7th, ending up with 7 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, zero walks, 9 Ks, ERA at 3.35, and, outside of one start in Yankee Stadium, he hasn’t allowed more than four earned runs in any start.  He’s thrown three starts with one hit or less!  Johnny Lasagna may have been exposed as a noodle arm, but the Italians still have Rachel Ray’s E-O-V-A.  Eovaldi is now at 8.2 K/9, 1.1 BB/9, 3.36 xFIP; those numbers suggest he should be owned in every league, and I’m in agreement.  The origin story film, Velo, may have received mixed reviews, but is a guaranteed crowd pleaser, and I loved Jordan Hicks’ cameo.  Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:

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Last week there was an unfortunate hiatus from the Top 100 Hitters column as I was deep in the woods of Central New Jersey for my annual camping trip. Does Central Jersey exist? I was there — so I guess so.

I took a lot of time going player by player on these rankings so there are a lot of shake-ups in the rankings. I took a real close look at everyone’s numbers and tried my best to compare players 1 to 1 to see who I preferred. It can get rough comparing two players side by side. Do you prefer Player A with 60 runs, 5 HRs, 30 RBI, 20 SBs and a .285 average? Or Player B with 45 runs, 20 HRs, 50 RBI, 0 SB and a .245 AVG? In the end, unfortunately for this column — beauty is in the eye of the beholder — and I don’t mean the amazing MS-DOS dungeon crawler from 1991. Beauty is also in your roster construction — Player A might be really useful to you if you’ve got a bunch of slow-footed boobies out there.

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For the first time in a long time, we’ve got more impact starters returning than vacating the list. Huzzah! I look for any reason to party, and that’s reason enough for me, baby. Break out the purple drank! Carlos Carrasco spent a little more time on the DL than we expected, but he’s back comfortably inside the top 20. Johnny Cueto and Garrett Richards both return to the top 35. Jeff Samardjiza is even back, unfortunately for his owners. Let’s hope his fingers work on his splitter more than they work on his flowing locks of hair. The list looks a bit weird this week because of the returners. Some of the guys that I tried to jump up the list really didn’t get too far, like if Mario was a real-life plumber trying to leap over a cactus. There aren’t a lot of newcomers of note, so let’s focus this week on risers, fallers, and the real losers who fell off the list.

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It is a glorious day. Kyle Tucker (FAAB Bid: 30-40%) is here. The Houston Astros finally promoted their 21-year-old stud who is making AAA look like slight work. Tucker slashed .306/.371/.520 at a level for which he was still young. The best part about the profile is the gaudy fantasy numbers. This outfielder boasted 14 HR to go along with 14 SB, and this combination shines throughout his minor league statistics. Fantasy upside is through the roof with this free agent rookie. If available in your league, Tucker becomes a player requiring a significant percentage of your remaining FAAB. His ranking falls within the Top 10 on every notable prospect list, and there is no doubting the talent. Tucker can produce power and speed for the rest of the season at a higher rate than anyone on the wire, and also a lot of players currently on rosters.

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His season has ridden under the radar, like rain in the desert of Arizona, but today Zack Greinke has an indisputable three-headed monster of a start lined up. He is at home where he is 4-1 with a 2.44 ERA and .994 WHIP. He is facing the lowly San Diego Padres, who hit him to a Mendoza-like .177 batting average with a .489 OPS.  And last but not least, over his past three starts, he has pitched like the former Cy Young award winner he is: 3-0, 0.92 ERA, .864 WHIP. It all adds up to a sure thing with your top pick today.  Now let’s look at a few more early-, middle- and late-round picks for your Draft…drafts!

New to Draft? 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 you do. It’s how we know you care!

Please, blog, may I have some more?