Two weeks ago, I wrote about how we’re kind of over fantasy baseball for the year. Now, with football starting, a month left in the baseball regular season, many fantasy league formats entering their final weeks already, we’re really over it. Nevertheless, there is more to bring to you, readers here at Mr. Magorium’s Stat Chat Emporium.
This is the final push, all the hours preparing for the draft, scouring the waiver wires, negotiating trades, could be done or undone by a few strategic moves. You can either pat yourself on the back for reaching the mountain by top stashing Kyle Bradish two weeks ago, or kicking yourself for dropping Brice Turang two weeks ago. Point is, when we’re down to living a week or two weeks at a time, knowing the right emergency buttons to push could be the difference maker.
How do you know which buttons to push, though? Many people at this stage simply sort by Last 7 Days and hope the next 7 days will be the same. You think, why not be a Reactionary Richard if you don’t have to worry about a cool down in 4 weeks since the year will be over anyways? I urge dear reader to exercise some discipline, go back to the basics when you were preparing for the draft. Projections were useful back in March, and they can still be useful now! I’ve scoured the projections and found some buttons you can push in this final stretch.
Button #1 The All Around Help
Looking for help in multiple categories in a roto league in the final weeks? Trying to replace a Jackson Merrill or Luis Robert in your lineup in a H2H week? Here are some under-rostered players who are projected to be offensive contributors in multiple categories (R/HR/RBI/SB/AVG) and, more importantly, have an everyday playing role:
- Josh Lowe (OF, TBR)
- Luis Garcia (2B, WSH)
- Ryan McMahon (3B, NYY)
- Warming Bernabel (1B/3B, COL)
- Trevor Larnach (OF, MIN)
Button #2 Stolen Base Same-Day Delivery
Down a few SB going into the weekend and need steals like, right now? Here are the under-rostered players with highest projected stolen base totals in the final month (again, with everyday playing role)
- Chandler Simpson (OF, TBR)
- Tyler Freeman (2B/SS/OF, COL)
- Brenton Doyle (OF, COL)
- Andrés Giménez (2B, TOR)
- Isaac Collins (OF, MIL)
Button #3 The Arizona Homer Hack
The final one is less recommending a player but recommending a certain trio of pitching matchups, where it would be a good play to stream whatever available hitters are going to be playing in those games. The three pitchers are Zac Gallen (5th in HR allowed), Brandon Pfaadt (17th in HR allowed), and Eduardo Rodriguez (21st in HR allowed), who all happen to pitch in back-to-back games the way the Diamondbacks’ rotation is setup. So, for example, this weekend’s series where the Diamondbacks visit Dodger Stadium will be a prime time to pick up Andy Pages (who is already swinging a hot bat) seeing these matchups:
