REL baseball logo newThe Trade Deadline hath come and gone!  And thankfully, while there was a huge amount of trades, we got through the deadline with minimal confusion and dissent.  It’s a lot to buy into that you lose & gain players in AL -> NL trades.  But alas, I think we’ve shown the league can work.

Speaking of working it, how about the Indians on the trading block?!  They’ve made 4 trades I think it is in the past week, as they gear up for the stretch run.  I think for next year I’ll have a trades section as well for these updates, but I’m lazy for now!  The Tribe are still chasing the Blue Jays and the Orange Birds in the AL, while the NL is still a snoozefest as the Nats walk all over everyone.  Here’s how week 18 went down in the 2016 REL League:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Wed 8/6
ARI | ATH | ATL | BAL | BOS | CHC | CHW | CIN | CLE | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIA | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SEA | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | WSH | OAK

There are days once in a while when it seems like a good pitcher is nowhere to be found. Days like this may be more frequent as a fan of the Minnesota Twins than as a frequent DraftKings player, but nonetheless, these days do exist. Today is one of those days for DraftKings players. Quite simply, the few decent pitchers on this slate leave a lot to be desired in their matchup, so the best decision is to avoid the top few, pick a few bottom-feeders, and stock up on good bats. One bottom-feeder that I’m guessing eats all the food in the sea, not just at the bottom, is Bartolo Colon, and in a matchup against the wave-the-white-flag Yankees, he is worth a spot in your lineup. Plus, a headline like Counting on King Bart is bound to double the readership for today, since I’m guessing most of your frequent Google searches involve King Bart. You can either admire his ability to throw two seamers that run back to the outside corner, or you can admire his belly. Totally your call; luckily, his appearances will not lose you points on DraftKings (Maybe they should gain points?).

New to DraftKings? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well reserve your spot in the 25 Team Razzball Exclusive League set to run Monday August 8th to wet your DK whistle. Just remember to sign up through us before you do. Wanna know what the best part is about signing up with us? The free subscription for the rest of the season to ourDFSBot, that’s what! For details on the how to, please visit our Razzball Subscriptions page.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Mike Napoli hit his 27th homer yesterday.  He now has five straight games with a home run.  On the year, he is top 30 for fantasy value on our Player Rater.  Dude is such butter right now brioche buns be jumping up on his back.  (Why am I not writing rap lyrics?)  Uh-oh, Napoli’s so hot, he’s bringing out my rap alter ego, B-Fire.  Napoli is such butter right now brioche buns be jumping up on his back!  Yo, he’s not whack like some homeboy going to a strip club with a quarter stack!  In fact!  Grey’s got more indoors, then you got outdoors, and technically there’s more room outdoors for you to have more but nope, my room’s got floors!  *dance, prance, romance off your pants*  My action lines got asterisks, smooth.  Your action lines got an asterisk with an excuse down below why you can’t move.  *said while bowing sushi chef-style*  Napoli.  Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

As the season begins to wind down, and the grind of the first four months feeds into the stretch run of the final two months. The contenders begin to rise to the top in Razzball’s own dynasty league the Razznasty. We got a serious race going, with the top spot changing hands multiple times over the last few days. RCL Czar Matt Truss sits atop the mountain, for the next few hours at least. BTW Matt you are a Czar, watch out for Commies old friend. Look at that a Russian history lesson mixed with fantasy baseball. I’m gunning for a Smithsonian gig one day. In the meantime I’ll keep providing you with gushing articles about prospects, dynasty strategy, and PROSPECT PODCASTS!!! I hope everyone is ready for our first episode coming tomorrow!!! We’ll be talking the prospect side of the trade deadline, and some of the recent weeks callups. Benintendi anyone? Yes, I have to mention him twice a post.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Y’all miss me? Of course you did. My Tony Robbins’ tapes keep telling me to be positive. For those that care…thank you kind sir in the back. Oh, you’re just smelling your armpit? I was at LegoLand. An amazing place. The patience and dedication required to build those structures are legendary. Kind of like our fantasy teams. We’ve toiled and perspired for months constructing our teams. Now, we are in the end of days. A month left in the regular season for a chance at fantasy immortality. Don’t be this guy.

In this weekly column, I highlight some lower-owned players that performed well over the past week. I will help you navigate the fantasy landscape and steer you clear of those pesky whammies. If you are not familiar with whammies, please go watch old episodes of Press Your Luck.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Hey, you here cuz you thought this was a post saying to pick on Atlanta?  Well you just got punk’d worse than Ashton Kutcher did when got told he was getting introduced to Demi at a party and thought it was Lovato.  Don’t think about the age of her when Kutcher got married, it ruins the joke.  And it’s really gross…let’s move on!  Hey, here’s Jeff Locke and he sucks!  Really, normally I wouldn’t care that a bad pitcher was facing the Braves, but Matt Kemp has been low-key throwing up crazy big numbers of late.  Kemp has been making his normal second half surge and actually started a bit early in June.  Overall, since that June start, has hit near .300 and has hit .315 overall in the second half to go with seven HRs.  Of course, this isn’t just about Matt Kemp but yes, if you wanna get loco with me ese, I think we have some good times ahead if we roll with Atlanta bats.  The Braves have actually *looks both ways cautiously* average on offense in the second half.  Factor in they have a typical second half bat in Kemp and you’re looking at a one time at band camp girl kind of lineup.  Yeah, don’t click that at work if you don’t have headphones on.  Fair warning!  All that said, I think going all in is appropriate.  Gimme some Adonis Garcia, Freddie Freeman, Nick Markakis, the aforementioned Kemp, and Gordon Beckham even if you’re really digging this call.  On a day where Coors is on everyone’s mind, sneaking in a way under the radar play gets even sexier.  So go against the grain and go #Barves.  But you maybe don’t like these ideas so let me give you a few more.  Or maybe you don’t like my outdated dance references.  For those people, go dab…HA!  You’re so 2015!  Now on with the show.  Here’s my Do the Bernie hot taeks for this Wednesday DK slate…

New to DraftKings? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well reserve your spot in the 25 Team Razzball Exclusive League set to run Monday August 8th to wet your DK whistle. Just remember to sign up through us before you do. Wanna know what the best part is about signing up with us? The free subscription for the rest of the season to our DFSBot, that’s what! For details on the how to, please visit our Razzball Subscriptions page.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Stashed Orlando Arcia in a few of my deepest leagues back in March.  What a waste.  Well, 59 games left — guess that’s something.  If he Lindors.  No idea why he hadn’t been called up until now.  Milwaukee’s 3rd base position has been bratwurst casings all year and Jonathan Villar plays shortstop like the guy who hacks the meat to fill those casings.  Were the Brewers afraid Arcia would’ve been too confused by the fact Will Smith was white?  Did they need to first move Jeffress due to language stipulations?  “Wait until we trade Jeffress — he might hurt his tongue saying the R’s in Orlando Arcia’s name.  Remember Higuera hit the DL when he yelled Robin Yount.”  If the Brewers didn’t drag their heels worse than the kielbasa in the sausage race after he bet five-large on the chorizo, I would’ve had Arcia months ago!  *takes deep breath*  Okay, I’m good.  So, what can we expect from Arcia?  A little pop and solid speed — think Jean Segura or Villar over the course of the final two months.  Yes, I’d grab him if I were hurting at shortstop.  Speaking of hurting at shortstop (DO YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE?!), Trevor Story hit the DL with a torn UCL in his thumb, and will be out for the season.  Colorado already has DL forms with SS written in.  Just have to cross out Tulo for Story.  Save that piece of paper for rolling!  Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

After producing disappointing results over the first four months of the 2016 season, it was pretty clear that the Los Angeles Angels would be sellers prior to this year’s trading deadline. The problem was that, outside of Mike Trout, there didn’t appear to be too many desirable players to sell off to contending teams. Jered Weaver and Huston Street have been absolutely terrible. Garrett Richards and C.J. Cron are currently injured. Perhaps Kole Calhoun could be moved for something of value, though it’s unlikely that any serious contenders would view him as a significant upgrade for their teams. Getting another team to take on even a fraction of Albert Pujols’ massive contract would be an effort in futility. Outside of Trout, the Angels have basically been the Bad News Bears of Major League Baseball. However, there has been one bright spot for the Halos recently. This week’s most added fantasy player, 25-year-old starting pitcher Tyler Skaggs (37.4% owned; +28.4% over the past week), looks to be a potential building block for the Angels going forward. Since returning from Tommy John surgery earlier this summer, Skaggs has looked like a different pitcher from the one that he was pre-injury. The velocity on his fourseam fastball has spiked to a career high 93.46 mph, and his curveball looks as good as ever. He’s followed up seven dynamite rehab starts in triple A (12.53 K/9, 1.67 ERA) with two scoreless outings (0 ER and 13 Ks in 12.1 IP) following his big league promotion just over a week ago. The big southpaw has always kept the ball on the ground (46.4% career GB%), and he’s only allowed 2 homers in 51.2 combined innings across all levels this season. If you’re looking for an upside arm down the stretch, take a flier on Skaggs.

Here are a couple of other interesting adds/drops in fantasy baseball over the past week:

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Frequent commenter, The Big Yabu backdoored his way into the top spot in the Master Standings this week after threatening to do so for the past several updates.  This wasn’t a case of Cram It slacking off either, has he put up a very strong week himself.  In fact, when looking for this week’s Team of the Week, Cram It checked in at 18th overall and Backdoor Sliders 1 came in at 29th.  The TOW leaderboard was a who’s who of big names and top RCL performers this week, but more on that in a bit.  The biggest difference I can see in this battle at the top of the Master Standings is the slightly higher LCI in the FCL compared to DFSers Anonymous.  That LCI can really have a big impact down the stretch, but at the same time, the competition in FCL should be stronger and odds are someone will start cutting into the Slider’s lead.  Interestingly, Cram It is also in the FCL and is one of the teams trying to chase down Backdoor Sliders.  He could really help his own cause two-fold if he was able to even take a nibble out of the Slider’s FCL tally.  It will be fun to watch these two duke it out as we head towards the finish line.  Here’s what else went down in the RCLs in the week that was, Week 17.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Pinpointing hitters is much harder than giving a strong recommendation for a pitcher. With pitcher’s you only have 30 choices, 18 of which are usually not realistic options. Hitters on the other hand are part of a much larger pool. On Tuesday night, there is one bat I like more than the others and that same bat is one that I will pay in both cash games and GPPs. The Rockies welcome the Dodgers and Brandon McCarthy to Coors Field on Tuesday night in what will likely be a high scoring affair. My favorite play? You guessed it–Carlos Gonzalez. Cargo has made a career of massacring right-handed pitching in the thin air and Tuesday night will be no exception. He is batting .359 with 15 homers at home and should see several run producing opportunities. Find a way to get him in your lineup–you’ll be glad you did.

New to DraftKings? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well reserve your spot in the 25 Team Razzball Exclusive League set to run next Monday, August 8th, to wet your DK whistle. Just remember to sign up through us before you do. Wanna know what the best part is about signing up with us? The free subscription for the rest of the season to our DFSBot, that’s what! For details on the how to, please visit our Razzball Subscriptions page.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Special Edition Podcast Alert! On today’s show we cover all of the big trades in this week’s trade deadline: Jonathan Lucroy, Matt Moore, Andrew Miller… But let’s be real… We’re all here for B-Real! Grey sits down with the Cypress Hill legend to talk, well, lots of ganja. Grey was super lucid for the interview, that’s for sure! Hey at least Grey didn’t ask him about Madonna… Grey’s becoming a master podcaster by the day! Here’s the latest edition of the Razzball Pod:

Download from iTunes

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When Jonathan Lucroy vetoed the trade to the Indians this past weekend, I thought we were going to find out Lucroy was Joey Lauren Adams in Chasing Amy.  Other teams were going to try and convert him into one of their players, but he was always going to continue to play for the other team.  Then, at some point, he was going to describe oral sex in insane, graphic detail, using balls, bats, and a gear shift, and other teams were just going to give up trying to get him to play for their team.  Then it turned out the Brewers were not going to be “Holden” him forever, you can “Banky” on it.  Jonathan Lucroy and Jeremy Jeffress were Chinese finger-cuffed to each other and sent to the Rangers for Lewis Brinson and Luis Ortiz.  By the way, Luis/Lewis is the Spanish version of tomato-tomahto.  I wonder what the Brewers finally said to Lucroy.  “We love you, but, dude, if you really love this organization, you’ll get the eff out of here.  Go!”  Then cried in the rain all super-weepy like Ben Affleck.  So, Lucroy gets a small boost in value from the lineup, but the stadium change is nearly a push.  As for Jeremy Jeffress, who is Jason Lee in this scenario, will work set up for Sam Dyson, who will keep the job.  Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?