Things are down to the wire as both the MLB regular season and fantasy baseball season are nearing their end. Most of your leaguemates have likely tuned out and aren’t staying on top of things the way they were back in April. With fewer eyes on the waiver wire, you can turn late-season roster and lineup changes into even bigger fantasy gains before the season wraps up next weekend.
Here’s a team-by-team look at how things have shifted in the last week, and analysis for how you can utilize the information to make a final push towards your fantasy baseball title.
Jordan Lawlar’s opportunities are slowly ticking up. He’s started seven of the last nine games and has hit .238 with four home runs and one steal since returning from the IL in mid-August.
The Dbacks recalled Pavin Smith from Triple-A, and he’s started three of the team’s four games since rejoining the big-league club. He’s hit eighth in all three starts, and all three have been against right-handed starters. Consider him a streaming option in NL-only leagues.
After initial reporting made it seem like Shea Langeliers‘ knee injury was season-ending, he made a surprise return to the Athletics‘ lineup on Saturday. He’s not cleared to actually catch, so he’ll exclusively serve as a DH the rest of the way which means Jonah Heim will maintain his fantasy value in super deep leagues.
Ozzie Albies‘ poor second half (63 wRC+) has him tumbling down the lineup against right-handed starters. He’s hit sixth, seventh, or eighth against seven straight righties.
Sean Murphy is catching enough to draw some attention in two-catcher NL-only leagues. He’s started 14 of the Braves’ last 21 games, and while he’s only hitting .200/.261/.353, his track record is enough to keep him on the fantasy radar.
Dylan Beavers has gotten a serious bump up the lineup. He’s been hitting leadoff for five of the Orioles’ last six games, a huge shift from his typical place near the bottom of the order. The better spot and more plate appearances give his fantasy value a big boost.
Leody Taveras has fallen out of lineups against righties. He’s only started twice against the last seven righties that the Orioles have lined up against. Instead, Heston Kjerstad has received most of that playing time, starting against four of the last five righties.
Lower back discomfort sent Blaze Alexander to the IL. The O’s called up Jeremiah Jackson to take his roster spot, but he’s only starting against lefties.
Willson Contreras returned quickly from the hamstring strain that sent him to the IL. The Red Sox activated their first baseman on Sunday, and he’s played the field and hit fourth in all games since returning.
Center fielder Eli White landed on the IL last week. In his and Ceddanne Rafaela’s absence, Jarren Duran has been starting in center while Roman Anthony mans left.
Manager Craig Counsell said the team plans to activate Dansby Swanson from the IL before Friday’s game. With Swanson back, Pedro Ramírez will lose most of his playing time, as he’ll have to compete for DH duties with Michael Conforto.
Kyle Teel has moved up the lineup against righties. He’s hit second in three straight, after batting ninth in his first four games back from the IL.
A lackluster second half (71 wRC+) has Colson Montgomery moving down the lineup. He’s hit seventh and eighth in three straight contests. His brother-in-name-only Braden Montgomery has also moved down the order while struggling post-All-Star break (81 wRC+). He’s hit ninth in his last two starts.
Carlos Jorge has moved into the large side of the Reds’ center field platoon. He’s started five straight games against righties, and even hit leadoff in two of the most recent three contests. Jorge only has two hits in his first 20 plate appearances, but he’s still worth a look if you need stolen-base help. He slashed .308/.376/.427 with eight homers and 33 steals across 88 minor league games this year.
Jorge’s newfound presence at the top of the lineup has pushed Héctor Rodríguez down to the middle of the order against righties.
Juan Brito has been getting some good run recently, starting four straight and five of six, although it’s likely only because Matt McLain was banged up and missed three straight games.
Manager Stephen Vogt has been favoring starting Travis Bazzana versus lefties over Angel Genao recently. Bazzana has started against three straight lefties after sitting against the previous three. Genao has started just three of the Guardians’ last seven games.
Gleyber Torres‘ grip on a full-time workload has slipped. He’s surprisingly only started three of the Tigers’ last six games. Hao-Yu Lee has taken over the starts at the keystone that Torres has missed. With the Tigers virtually eliminated from the postseason, this is likely a future-minded decision to give a veteran a few days off to see what they have in a young, controllable asset.
Maikel Garcia returned from the IL on Tuesday. It’s been an injury-riddled mess of a season for the 2025 breakout star, so he may be sitting on your league’s waiver wire. If he’s available and you need help at third base or corner infield, there are few players with his upside who would be widely available.
With Garcia back in the starting nine, Nick Loftin will move back to a bench utility infield role, eliminating the minimal fantasy intrigue he carried as the fill-in at third base.
After starting just one of seven games last week, Denzer Guzman has now started seven straight contests. He has just a .218/.261/.342 slash line through 260 plate appearances, so outside of the deepest of fantasy formats, you can avoid the Angels’ young third baseman.
Kyren Paris’s role has solidified as a corner outfield lefty masher. Since being called up on September 1, Paris has started against all four lefties the Angels have faced, but only one of nine righties.
The Dodgers finally elected to put Shohei Ohtani on the IL late last week, and they called up top prospect Josue De Paula to take both his roster spot and playing time. If you’re unfamiliar with De Paula, he was doing his best Ohtani impression at Double-A this year, slashing .303/.401/.547 with 27 homers and 31 steals. Although De Paula skipped Triple-A entirely, he’s shown flashes of his big-time tools in his first five career games, slashing .143/.368/.429 and has already homered and stolen a base. Manager Dave Roberts has already bumped him up the lineup, too. He hit in the bottom third of the order for his first four games before being promoted to leadoff on Tuesday. It’s unclear whether that lineup promotion will stick or was a one-time thing.
If De Paula stays in the leadoff role, Tommy Edman will see a sizeable lineup demotion. He moved from leadoff to seventh on Tuesday night.
Xavier Edwards was activated from the IL on Sunday and is back to man second base in Miami. His return to the lineup will cut into Graham Pauley’s and Jared Serna’s opportunities, but Javier Sanoja should continue to play most days at third base.
Owen Caissie landed on the IL with a lumbar stress reaction. In the three games that he’s missed, Griffin Conine and Esteury Ruiz have taken over right field reps. Conine should see most of the time there, opening more DH opportunities for Agustín Ramírez, meaning he could be a useful catcher add in NL-only leagues.
The Twins called up another one of their notable prospects, Emmanuel Rodriguez, and he made his MLB debut playing center field on Saturday. Rodriguez has started all five games since joining the MLB team, and is a fun pickup in the fantasy season’s closing days.
With Rodriguez playing every day in the outfield, fellow rookie Walker Jenkins‘ playing time has tumbled. He’s only started two of the previous five games. Jenkins has struggled mightily in his short stint with the big league club, slashing .089/.212/.200 with a 30.2% strikeout rate in 53 plate appearances. The Twins would probably be well suited to give him as much opportunity as he can handle the rest of the way, but you don’t need to hold onto him in fantasy.
Austin Martin returned from the IL on Friday and has started four of six games since, against all three lefties and one of three against righties. He’s generally hitting in the bottom third of the lineup.
With the youngsters taking over the Minnesota outfield, Trevor Larnach is a pretty easy drop in nearly all fantasy leagues. He’s only started one of the last six games. Larnach doesn’t even look like a lock to hold a spot in the starting lineup against righties for the rest of the season.
A hamstring strain sent rookie Kaelen Culpepper to the IL on Wednesday. The Twins called up 25-year-old Ben Ross to take Culpepper’s spot on the roster and start at shortstop. Ross hasn’t made much noise in prospect circles, but was performing well in Triple-A, slashing .248/.354/.452 with 15 homers and 12 steals in 105 games.
Despite not having a set position, Brett Baty has been an every day player recently. He’s been hitting really well in the second half (122 wRC+, 6 HR), and is worth a look as long as the Mets aren’t facing a string of lefties. His multi-positional eligibility is an added bonus.
With Jazz Chisholm Jr. sidelined, Anthony Volpe has taken over as the second-base starter. He’s started six of seven games at the keystone since being recalled. He’s hit really well in that small sample (.333/.400/.556) and was crushing it during his most recent stint in Triple-A, too (159 wRC+).
The Pirates activated Ryan O’Hearn from the IL on Friday. His return lined up almost perfectly with an injury that sent Esmerlyn Valdez to the IL, so O’Hearn will naturally take over most of the at-bats that Valdez vacated. O’Hearn will be the primary DH while Jake Mangum sees most of the reps in right field.
As soon as it looked like Jacob Gonzalez was the team’s primary third baseman, he’s only started one of the last five games. Nick Gonzales and Jared Triolo are also seeing some time at the hot corner. Nick Gonzales is the only one of these three getting consistent enough looks to warrant a fantasy roster spot.
The injuries won’t stop piling up in San Francisco. Rafael Devers had his season end with abdominal surgery to address an issue he’s been playing through for the last few years. Without Devers in the lineup, Bryce Eldridge will be starting at first base every day.
Scott Bandura was called up to take Devers’ roster spot, and he’s started three of four games since joining the roster. He’s hit fifth through eighth in the batting order and has played right field or DH. Bandura stole 34 bases in 131 minor league games and could be a sneaky stolen-base pickup in fantasy leagues.
Osleivis Basabe’s playing time continues to fluctuate wildly. After losing time and then regaining it, he’s lost it again. He’s started just two of the last seven games. I’d avoid him the rest of the fantasy season since you just can’t bank on him actually seeing the lineup consistently. Shay Whitcomb and Brett Harris are currently getting the bulk of the work at second and third base, respectively.
J.P. Crawford is back in the leadoff role. He’s hit at the top of the lineup in seven straight games, against both right- and left-handed pitchers. Randy Arozarena has moved down to the two-hole.
The Cardinals activated rookie phenom JJ Wetherholt from the IL on Wednesday. With both Wetherholt and Masyn Winn back in the starting nine, Thomas Saggese likely won’t start many games the rest of the way.
Josh Jung was activated from the IL on Saturday and returned to start at third base and hit third. Cody Freeman was manning third base in Jung’s place and will retreat to a reserve role.
As of the time of writing, Joc Pederson was diagnosed with a small fracture in his hand after being hit by a pitch over the weekend. It sounds like he’ll be able to play through it, but if he can’t and winds up on the IL, the top spot in the Rangers’ batting order versus righties will be up for grabs. Pederson hasn’t missed much time this year, but the last start he missed, Wyatt Langford assumed leadoff duty.
Josh Smith has been seeing the lineup rather consistently lately. He’s started five of the last six games, moving between second base and left field. He’s hitting .222 with six home runs and four steals in 215 plate appearances.
