Hey friends! Are you in your imaginary baseball management championship bracket right now? Or at least the consolation bracket? I know we’re winding down and the vast majority of players are just awaiting some solid playoff baseball DFS. But for those of you still in the season-long baseball basket, let’s see if we can’t get you a couple starters that will save your season — or starters you might want to stay away from.
Blake Snell: Snell figured himself out — albeit a bit late for many of us — but just as he was heating up for the fantasy playoffs, he strained his groin from too much hip thrusting. Or pitching. The reports are kind of fuzzy due to HIPPO regulations. Snell should be due back for 1 or 2 more starts and the Padres are in the Wild Card hunt, so they’ll want him to pitch as much as possible.
Antonio Senzatela: 7 straight quality starts despite pitching against ATL, PHI, and LAD. Sure, start a Rockies’ low-K guy. Whatever. Hot hand. Bud Black would start him. Why don’t you? Available in almost all leagues.
Drew Rasmussen: Has fended off BOS, TOR, and PHI to post 23 IP of 1.17 ERA in the last month. Available in almost all leagues.
Yu Darvish: He’s gassed at the worst possible time. Spin rate is normal, but velocity is down across the board. Start at your own risk. Of course, he showed Friday night me how full of crap I was to write this blurb by going out there on Saturday and K’ing 9 over 7. But, the IL trips and the dwindling velocity don’t lie.
Graphic courtesy Alex Chamberlain’s Pitch Board
Joe Ryan: Has a bump on his wrist but he’s available in most leagues and has a cake rest of season schedule. Risky but you’ve gotta be more like Austin Powers if you’re gonna win your league. I mean the part about danger, not shagging everybody in sight.
Yusei Kikuchi: Just as tuckered out as Darvish. No, it’s not a Japanese thing. It’s a “We’re living in a pandemic and the pitchers aren’t stretched out enough” thing. On track to finish out the year against the Athletics twice, and I’d sit Kikuchi twice in those matchups.
Trevor Rogers: Let’s just call this article, “The Top 100 Pitchers Who You Shouldn’t Start in the Fantasy Playoffs Because Their Arms are Falling Off.” Rogers is also tired, and we’ve known this for a while thanks to the people called “journalists” who report facts occasionally. Rogers is a wonderful stash for next year, but he hasn’t pitched past the fifth inning since June and his velocity is way down, so go ahead and drop him in redraft unless you really, really want a 4 IP outing from your starter in the championship round.
Jesus Luzardo: Not your fantasy savior, especially with his nearly 5 BB/9 and 1.7 HR/9 over his past few starts. Let him be reborn next year.
Nestor Cortes Jr.: Still available in about 50% of leagues. For a guy that had been stuck in the minors since 2013, and had ERAs/FIPs around 5 in his most recent years, he’s made quite the name for his mustache. Cortes has been a top 30 pitcher in the MLB over the past month and put up a top 10ish overall start in the 2021 season last week. Sometimes, people need stress to thrive, and Cortes is apparently the kind of player that just needed to go straight to the final level boss fight in order to thrive. Let Cortes fashion your team a fine mustache, and maybe a championship.
Adam Wainwright: At 1,999 career strikeouts. You know he’s going to destroy the Brewers in his next start to get that 2,000th K.
Edward Cabrera: Has a bonked toe and K’d 7 Pirates on Saturday. We know he’ll be hot, the question is if he’ll be hot against the Rays and the Mets to finish your fantasy season.
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My rankings will be done for the year. Right now, you want to focus as much on upside as possible, almost as if you’re playing DFS. Do you have a pitcher who has a 9+ K/9? Start them. We can’t predict wins right now (managers and their whims), so aim to get as many high K/9 pitchers into your lineup as possible and let them ride. Don’t start any non-aces against TOR, BOS, TB, HOU, or LAD. Don’t start any pitchers in Coors unless you are brave. The Padres and Mets are in a mess right now, so start against them. Abuse the AL Central batters because all those teams not from Chicago are tanking. Focus on streaming NL starters where possible. Remember — you can’t predict everything. At this point in the season, you’re relying more on intuition and gut than data. Good luck! Let me know what questions you have down in the comments!
