What’s up everyone!
If you’re unfamiliar with this series, each week we 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. I’ll also be focusing on catchers you can stream each week since we all know that catcher can be an especially tricky position in fantasy.
So let’s take a look at the hitters to start and avoid in Week 23 (9/2-9/8) 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
Boston Red Sox hitters – The Red Sox have six games this week, featuring three games in Queens against the Mets and three games at home against the disastrous White Sox.
Against the Mets, the Red Sox will face Luis Severino, David Peterson, and Tylor MeGill. Peterson has a notably low ERA this year, but peripheral stats show that there is likely to be regression and that he isn’t to be feared like other 2.8 ERA pitchers are. Severino and MeGill do have the potential to turn in a great outing, however, both are volatile enough results-wise that they’re worth streaming against.
Against the White Sox, Boston hitters will face Davis Martin, Garrett Crochet, and Chris Flexen. Crochet is the main pitcher you’d have to worry about here, but he is likely on an innings limit. Martin hasn’t been bad either, but the ceiling isn’t very high, especially at a park like Fenway which is very difficult to pitch in.
If Wilyer Abreu is available, he absolutely should be a player you look into this week. He doesn’t hit often against lefties, which normally wouldn’t be the play in a week with Peterson and Crochet. However, as Crochet is on an innings limit, Abreu very well could get pinch-hitting opportunities early in the game.
Atlanta hitters – Atlanta had a tough seven-game stretch in terms of pitching matchups last week, but their offense ended up performing pretty well against some very formidable pitchers.
Now, they ride their hot hitting into a six-game weak of much easier matchups. They face a Rockies pitching staff which, while not at Coors, hasn’t proven they should be taken seriously on the road either. They then face the Blue Jays at home, whose pitching staff as a whole is bottom five in FIP this year. The games against José Berríos and Yariel Rodríguez should be relatively easy matchups, as both pitchers have struggled with consistency and tougher lineups all year. Kevin Gausman is definitely the biggest roadblock for Atlanta this week; however, he isn’t the pitcher he’s been the last few years.
Atlanta has, in a way, kind of been run like a fantasy team this year, as they have constantly been looking for available players to fill out their lineup decimated by injuries. Whit Merrifield is an example of this, as he has been entrusted the leadoff spot once held by Ronald Acuña Jr. Merrifield doesn’t have the highest ceiling, but his decent plate discipline and track record means his floor isn’t too low to consider him. His speed also brings that stolen base potential, something worth capitalizing on with him leading off against some rather mediocre pitchers.
Milwaukee Brewers hitters – The Brewers have been a great offense for most of the season, and now they get a sliding Cardinals and an always bad Rockies pitching staff.
The most difficult pitcher the Brewers will see is Sonny Gray, whose numbers in August weren’t very pretty. Erick Fedde is an alright pitcher, but his loss in velocity as the season has gone on has made many concerned for him. As for the Rockies, their trio of Ryan Feltner, Cal Quantrill, and Kyle Freeland is not scaring any fantasy managers away.
The Brewers are a team that play the matchup more than others and will often go to their bench more when needed. Players such as Joey Ortiz and Blake Perkins haven’t had the best stretches to the end summer, which has led to them being pretty common drops recently. A week of matchups against non-threatening teams could give them the jolt in performance they need to help your team win.
CATCHER TO STREAM: The Brewers have split the catching duties a little more lately, with Gary Sánchez tasked with manning the dish while William Contreras fills in the DH role. Sanchez has had a pretty good offensive season, hitting well enough to also get the occasional rep at DH.
AVOID
Oakland Athletics hitters – The Athletics have been a rather fun team for the first time in a while recently. Their offense has looked really good in the back half of the summer, as they are third in wRC+ since the start of July. However, their seven-game week looks to be a gauntlet, as they are facing elite pitchers left and right.
The A’s open their week with a four-game homestand against the Mariners. In this series, the A’s will face four pitchers with the potential to be elite, these being Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo, George Kirby, and Bryan Woo. All four of these guys will get Cy Young votes in their career, and all four have looked really sharp. There is no reason to stream players who are facing these guys, as they are as legit at getting batters out as it gets.
After this four-game romp against Seattle, the A’s face perhaps their toughest test: Tarik Skubal. It’s pretty self-explanatory why you shouldn’t stream against the Cy Young frontrunner, even with players who are on hot streaks. The A’s get to face off against Ty Madden and Brant Hurter afterward; while both are inexperienced and have low floors, they have looked pretty good thus far in their short time in the Majors.
Colorado Rockies hitters – The Rockies are coming off of a seven-game week at home that saw us recommending their players as streaming options. This week is the exact opposite.
The Rockies are on the road, where they notoriously have underperformed. This week in particular is a rough one, as they are matched against a great group of Atlanta pitchers and a formidable trio of Brewers.
The Rockies’ first game of the week sees them facing off against Chris Sale, who has arguably been the best pitcher in the game period. They then face Charlie Morton, who while unpredictable, tends to hold his own against shaky offenses. The series closes out with Reynaldo López, who has performed well beyond everybody’s expectations this year. This is not a series you want to touch in terms of streaming, at least from the Colorado side of things.
The series against the Brewers isn’t quite as difficult, but the Rockies still see Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers, who have shown their potential to carve through lineups, especially mediocre ones.
Chicago Cubs hitters – The Cubs are coming off a really impressive stretch where they saw the Pirates’ pitchers well. Now they are going to be facing the two-headed monster of Paul Skenes and Jared Jones again, and it feels unlikely that the Cubs will be able to dominate against them again.
Jones and Skenes are two of the best young arms in the game, with electric fastballs that can blow by even the best hitters. Yes, the Cubs teed off against Jones and held their own against Skenes last week, but it’s difficult to willingly stream players who will be matched up against such talented swing-and-miss pitchers. Domingo Germán is a pitcher you can stream against, but does that one start justify the available Cubs hitters being the play?
After the series against the Pirates, the Cubs will face a formidable trio of Yankees pitchers Nestor Cortes, Luis Gil, and Gerrit Cole. All three of these guys have shown that they can carve up offenses, especially Cole and Gil who can put up high strikeout games.