What’s up, everyone!
If you’re unfamiliar with this article series, each week I take a look at some hitting matchups you should take advantage of and some hitting matchups you should avoid, based on who the hitters will likely be facing on the mound.
If you’d like to learn more about when it becomes less risky to stream hitters (and pitchers), and when certain team stats start to stabilize during the year, check out this article.
Anyways, here’s who you should start and avoid in Week 20 (9/5-9/11) of the fantasy baseball season.
Notes: All pitching matchups mentioned here are based on projections as of this post’s publication. It is entirely possible that the actual matchups could change for any number of reasons. Keep in mind, this article is geared toward middle-of-the-road players, meaning you should be starting top-of-the-line bats regardless of the matchup. Always start your studs.
START
Colorado Rockies hitters – It’s that type of week again, a week where the Rockies get to play at home in Coors Field all week. They’ll have three games against the Brewers and three games against the Diamondbacks, the latter of whom owns the ninth-worst team FIP in baseball, so make sure you’ve got your Rockies in your lineups this week. And if you’re looking for a deep league pickup for this week, Sean Bouchard has been getting some playing time with Kris Bryant and Yonathan Daza hurt, and over the past week since he started getting some time, he’s slashing .273/.429/.545. Again, very deep league pickup if you want to try and milk that for a week.
Milwaukee Brewers hitters – The Brewers get eight games this week thanks to a doubleheader against the Giants on Thursday, and while the Giants are a tough team to hit against, the rest of the week looks great for your Brewers hitters. They start off with three games in Coors Field against the Rockies, who own the fourth-worst team FIP in baseball, and after their doubleheader, they have three games against the Reds, who own the second-worst team FIP in baseball. Over the past two weeks, Kolten Wong is slashing .333/.442/.667 and is worth a start this week. Keston Hiura has also been hitting well, slashing .282/.333/.615 over the past two weeks and warrants a look.
St. Louis Cardinals hitters – The Cardinals get a seven-game week this week against two pretty bad pitching staffs, starting off with a four-game series against the Nationals, who own the worst team FIP in baseball, and closing with three games against the Pirates, who own the seventh-worst team FIP in baseball. Albert Pujols has slowed down a little bit but is still sporting a very useful .258/.333/.516 slash line over the past two weeks and warrants a look this week if he’s out there. Corey Dickerson has also been hitting well, slashing .488/.488/.683 over the past two weeks. He only starts against righties but luckily, the Cardinals will only face righties this whole week, so he should be out there.
Cleveland Guardians hitters – The Guardians have six games this week, starting off with three against the Royals, who own the third-worst team FIP in baseball, and closing with three games against the Twins, who own the 12th-worst team FIP in baseball. Much of the Guardians’ lineup has been struggling offensively lately, aside from José Ramírez who owns a .297/.357/.595 slash line over the past two weeks, but I think this could be a good week for your Cleveland hitters to break out of their slump.
Thairo Estrada – The Giants are slated to face four lefties this week, which should be good for Thairo Estrada, who’s been slashing .291/.341/.521 against lefties so far this year. He’s worth a look this week.
AVOID
Minnesota Twins hitters – The Twins have a seven-game week this week. Unfortunately, four of those games will come against the Yankees, who own the sixth-best team FIP in baseball, and the other three will come against the Guardians, who own the 10th-best team FIP in baseball, so I’d avoid my Twins this week.
Oakland Athletics hitters – The A’s have six games this week, starting off with two against Atlanta where they’ll face both Kyle Wright and Spencer Strider, who have both been very solid this year. Then, they’ll end the week with four games against the White Sox where they’ll see Dylan Cease, Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn, and Johnny Cueto. So all in all, a pretty tough slate of games this week for your A’s hitters.
Texas Rangers hitters – The Rangers have six games this week, starting with three against the Astros who own the best team FIP in all of baseball, and closing with three against the Blue Jays, a series in which they’ll face Kevin Gausman. I don’t mind starting your Rangers hitters in the other two Blue Jays games as they’ll see Ross Stripling and José Berríos, but in a weekly league, two games in a whole week isn’t worth the start for your Blue Jays hitters.
Joc Pederson – As I mentioned earlier, the Giants are slated to face four lefties this week, and if you’ve been playing fantasy for a while, you know that means Joc Pederson is in for a rough week. On his career, he’s a .210/.286/.334 hitter against lefties and the Giants generally platoon him anyways, so he’s likely to be riding the bench for much of this week, and he should be doing the same on your fantasy team.
Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire | Featured image by Ethan Kaplan (@DJFreddie10 on Twitter and @EthanMKaplanImages on Instagram)