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Top 80 Starters for 2019 Fantasy Baseball

February 4, 2019 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings | 151 Comments

by: Grey

[brid autoplay="true" video="377153" player="10951" title="2019 Razzball Draft Kit Starting Pitchers"] With the top 80 starters for 2019 fantasy baseball, we are so close to the end of the rankings, I can almost taste it! Wait, that’s not rankings I taste, I bit my lip and it’s blood. I wonder if when Dracula bites his lip it’s like when Cougs goes out with her friends and I’m left at home while Emmanuelle is on Cinemax. I’ll go over exactly how to draft starters in a few days, but there are so many ways to skin a cat we should have PETA breathing down our necks. Also, I’m hoping to do the RCL signups next Monday. Stay tuned! Or not, your call. All the 2019 fantasy baseball rankings are there. Here’s Steamer’s 2019 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Hitters and 2019 Fantasy Baseball Projections for Pitchers. All projections listed are mine and I mention where I see tiers starting and stopping. Anyway, here’s the top 80 starters for 2019 fantasy baseball:

Top 40 Starters for 2018 Fantasy Baseball, A Recap

October 26, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Rankings | 34 Comments

by: Grey

So, how’s everyone holding up without baseball every day? I don’t know what to do with myself! Yesterday I wandered into a Starbucks and told the coffeerista about German Marquez for 2019. Then I sobbed into a cheddar scone until someone asked me to leave. We’ve gone over the final 2018 fantasy baseball rankings for hitters and the top 20 starters. This is different than Final Fantasy rankings where you rank Final Fantasy 1 thru Final Fantasy 15. That’s hardcore nerd shizz! This is simply fantasy baseball -- we’re softcore nerds like Emmanuelle is to porn. So, there’s no more of these godforsaken recap posts left. You’re welcome. I, my over-the-internet friend, will be talking next about 2019 rookies. Anyway, here’s the top 40 starters for 2018 fantasy baseball and how they compare to where I originally ranked them:

Rafael De(li)vers Like A Western Union Messenger

September 27, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 121 Comments

by: Grey

[brid autoplay="true" video="299917" player="10951" title="Fantasy Baseball Mailbag Week 26"] I have an unpopular opinion, that I know will never fly. Pants with magnet buttons. Okay, I have another one: knock people over the head and when they wake, tell them they're on Mars and film it. Like Survivor but more panicked. My final unpopular opinion, allow teams to forfeit. I know in today's charged political climate it's not cool to say anything bad about herbathrowdites, but hitters pitching is stupid. It's okay for a quick laugh, but a team has obviously forfeited if they're pitching Jace Peterson. Just let them throw a white flag, and call the game. Of course, this would be wildly unpopular with fans who paid a lot of money to see nine innings, but are people sticking around in a 19-3 game. I don't know, maybe they are. So, yesterday, Xander Bogaerts (2-for-4, 2 runs, 4 RBIs) collected his 100th RBI and 22nd homer. Just Dong Martinez (3-for-6, 3 runs, 3 RBIs) hit his 42nd, a number I thought was retired. Mookie Betts joined the 30/30 club (more on him after the jump). Blake Swihart went 3-for-8, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and a slam (3) and legs (6), inching closer to Buster Posey's year-long homer total. Rafael Devers (5-for-8, 3 runs, 6 RBIs) stole the show, hitting his 20th and 21st homer. I've collected 1,000 praying mantises and joined them in a prayer circle that feels insectually correct, hoping Devers doesn't push up his 2019 fantasy value in this final week. I talked a bit about this on the last podcast, but Devers is only 21 years old, and could easily be a middle of the order bat for the Red Sox next year. That's very good, assuming every team they're facing doesn't forfeit. Or assuming every team does. I don't know, let's figure this out together! Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Top 100 Starting Pitchers, Week 26: The Green Miley

September 23, 2018 | Top 100 Starting Pitchers | 17 Comments

by: Dokken

Cheers to you all out there in Razzland as we dive headfirst into the final week of the regular season! It's been a mega weird year for pitching. Between the whole Opener/Primary Pitcher thing catching fire and fewer starters pitching deep into games, starting pitching is turning into a relatively fluid position. Looking towards 2019, it will be very interesting to see not only where the Primary Pitchers are drafted, but where the other uber-relievers are taken. Josh Hader is the most prominent name of the bunch, but there are plenty of other useful long relievers like Chad Green, Jeremy Jeffress, and Collin McHugh that are terrific for cheap K's and ratio stabilization in deeper leagues. Heck, even in 10-12 team leagues with no move limits they make great fill-in options between streamers. Anyway, we're getting ahead of ourselves. We've got one week left in front of us, and if you're reading this you are probably still in the fight. There's less movement than last week since I weighted our SP's by skill and opponent last week and now basically there's just 1-2 fewer starts left on the table. I'll roll through some of the more notable options for the final week of the season. I also wanted to thank all of you for reading this year. I was truly impressed by the great commenters. Even if you disagreed pretty hard with something I wrote, you presented your case respectfully rather than getting all Twitter angry. I hope I've been able to help your season in some way with my analysis. Good luck in your final week, and I'll catch you next year!

FanDuel: Castillo Reels In A Big Fish

September 21, 2018 | DFS, Fanduel |

by: Richardo

What's up, everybody! As the regular season winds down (shut up! I'm not crying!! You're crying!!), these slates on FanDuel are getting tighter, but the deeper we get into the data, the bigger advantage we have to make it in the $$. FanDuel has us set up for a 14-game slate to start the weekend. Once upon a time, there was a strapping young man who took Luis Castillo ($8,500), up and coming stud, with the 73rd pick of their draft. Throws 95+, they said. Plus change and breaking ball, they said. Can't miss, breakout, they said. Fast forward to 3 months later when Mr. Can't-Miss sports a 5.49 ERA and earned a cut off my team (spoiler alert.....I'm the strapping young man). Well, here we are in September, and guess who's reeling me back in?? Mr. 1.46 ERA-in-September himself, Luis Castillo; and speaking of reeling, he gets a lovely match-up with the Marlins in Miami. Going from Great American Smallpark to the friendly confines of Marlins Park (really?? That's what they named it??) should help Luis Castillo.....as should facing the Marlins’ AAA lineup <insert rimshot here>. Let's take a look at the rest of Friday's slate. New to FanDuel? 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!

Top 100 Starting Pitchers, Week 25: Hold On To Your Butts

September 16, 2018 | Top 100 Starting Pitchers | 23 Comments

by: Dokken

If Samuel L. Jackson were here - and how I wish he was - he would tell us all to hold on to our butts. This coming week is the final week of action for many head to head leagues, although the bulk of roto leagues keep rolling until the final day of the season. With such limited time left, I decided to switch things up a bit. While I updated the overall ranks per usual, I also factored in the remaining schedule. Names matter very little at this point in the season; what we need is production. There's no time to worry about a struggling starter turning things around when he's only got two or three starts left. Run with the guys who have been pitching well, and play the matchups. Start your studs. You know who they are by this point, and there aren't many of them. With this altered ranking system in mind, there are some pretty huge rankings swings this week. Rather than do a deeper dive on a handful of risers and fallers like usual, I'm going to highlight a double handful of starters with interesting matchups and/or interesting second-half production.

Two Startapalooza, Week 25: It’s Glasnow Or Never

September 15, 2018 | Two Start Fantasy Starters | 22 Comments

by: Dokken

Brace for impact folks, this week could get ugly. For many of you, it's your championship week. There are some nice options to be had, but between plain old rotation shuffling and some extreme weather conditions thanks to Hurricane Florence, you'll need to keep a constant eye on your probable pitchers. I'll be as responsive as possible in the comments to aid you in your championship quest as best as I can!

Top 100 Starting Pitchers, Week 24: Forget Mila Kunis, Gimme Jake Junis

September 9, 2018 | Top 100 Starting Pitchers | 18 Comments

by: Dokken

Well it was fun while it lasted, wasn't it Michael Kopech owners? We wait all year for the call up, he gets multiple starts interrupted by rain, gets blown up for seven runs, and now won't pitch a meaningful inning until 2020 after undergoing Tommy John surgery to fix his torn UCL. ISN'T BASEBALL FUN. I AM HAVING A BALL. You know what else is fun? Trying to rank starting pitchers when multiple teams aren't even using starting pitchers anymore. Now it's "openers" and "primary pitchers". What am I supposed to do with this?! Ranking a hundred damn starters is hard enough without this Opener business to deal with! Come on MLB managers, throw me a friggin bone here! Where did my bottle of gin get to...

Ohtani Boy, The Pipes, The Pipes Are Calling Dr. Andrews

September 6, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes | 206 Comments

by: Grey

[brid autoplay="true" video="288417" player="10951" title="Fantasy Baseball Mailbag Week 23"] Everyone is so sad at the Shohei Ohtani news that he needs Tommy John surgery. People being sad at this has me gobsmacked. He had elbow problems when he signed with the Angels, then a Grade 1 sprain of his UCL became a partial tear in June. He threw a whopping 25 IP the previous year. Were people really ostrich'ing their heads into the sand to the point where they didn't see the writing on the wall? Of course, he needs Tommy John surgery. How is this awful news? It was awful news for Angels fans when we first heard of the elbow issues. It's not awful news now. It's actually great news because he has a chance to be healthy again in 2020, instead of becoming Garrett Richards, Tyler Skaggs, Matt Shoemaker and every other pitcher the Angels shoved towards PRP injections rather than getting them healthy. Did people really think pitching a guy was the answer to a torn UCL? Seriously, people thought this? Sad news that people are surprised by the least surprising thing since finding out taco diarrhea burns. This would be like a memo coming out of Nike headquarters that says something like, "This Kaepernick thing is great for business, who cares about the politics?" You mean a company is trying to sell products? Get out of here! You want seriously sad news? Ohtani and the Angels haven't decided he will have Tommy John surgery yet. That's sad! Maybe they'll just let him be a hitter as he was yesterday (4-for-4, 4 runs, 3 RBIs and a double slam (17, 18) and legs (7) and mouth-to-mouth'd a baby chick back to life). A torn UCL hasn't looked that good since LiAngelo Ball tried to get paid twice from selling one ripped jersey in China. Anyway, here's what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Draft: Don’t Rain On Kopech’s Parade

September 5, 2018 | DFS, Draft | 1 Comment

by: TroyKlauder

White Sox starter Michael Kopech will be making his fourth major league start tonight against the Tigers. He's only got 11 innings in three starts this year because of two rain delays, and it looks like there's more rain on the way in Chicago tonight. However, it looks like Kopech may have finally dodged the rain, as there's a window for game time with a 43% chance of thunderstorm. Assuming his start isn't rained out, Kopech has an outstanding matchup against the Tigers, who have the second-lowest wOBA versus righties at .291. He's got a ton of upside that you don't want to miss out on. 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!

Top 100 Starting Pitchers, Week 23: I See Your Buchholz

September 2, 2018 | Top 100 Starting Pitchers | 10 Comments

by: Dokken

Here we go, ladies and gents! It's the home stretch! We're into the last month of the season, and I moved some guys around on the list to reflect that. I don't like to be super aggressive moving guys around for the most part. However, with just a couple weeks left, it's more about "who do I trust now" than "who do I trust long-term". More than ever it's about immediate return and playing the matchups. This is the point where I'm a lot more apt to cut a fringy player for a matchup I like (shameless Streamonator plug here). We're going to look at more risers and fallers this week as opposed to any new blood, since there isn't much of interest. I imagine that will be quite different next week with September call ups flooding our rotations. We did have one last waiver trade of note (I guess) with Gio Gonzalez moving to Milwaukee. It's a pretty lateral move for him, which is to say that his value will remain close to nil in mixed leagues. Perhaps the Brewers will be able to unlock something in him the way the Cubs have with Cole Hamels, but Milwaukee's pitching coaches haven't been known to work wonders, so I'm pessimistic on that potential outcome.

FanDuel: Luis In The Sky With Diamonds

August 31, 2018 | DFS, Fanduel |

by: Richardo

Happy Friday DFSers! We've got the full 15 game slate tonight on FanDuel, so let's take this journey together. Blind resume time! Including his start on 7/1, the following pitcher has gone 53.1 IP with a 5.74 ERA and 1.52 WHIP over 10 starts. Guesses, guesses?? Nick Pivetta?? Drew Hutchison?? Jordan Zimmermann? Try, Zimmermann's opposing SP, Luis Severino ($10,600). Of the 131 pitchers that have thrown >35 IP over that time period, his 5.74 ERA ranks 16th worst. Over those 10 starts, Severino's only gone 6 or more innings twice, most recently on August 8th. One of the few bright spots on this resume is that the Ks have still been there. In fact, he's sported a 29.6% K-rate over his last 4 starts. Soooooooo, what do we do with Severino? I think I'll be fading him in cash, but his strikeout upside always makes him a GPP play. Let's take a look at the rest of today's slate. New to FanDuel? 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!