2017 Fantasy Baseball Weekly Planner: Week 6

How many more frontline hurlers can go down to injury? Let’s hope we can get through a week without a name akin to Bumgarner, Syndergaard, Kluber, Hamels or even Paxton hitting the DL. With those starters absent from the pitching mix, space has opened up for some others to step into the picture this week. It’s time to take a look at what’s in store around the bigs over the next seven days.  

• Two teams have a short, five-game slate this week. The Braves will hit the road for two games in Houston followed by three in Miami. The Phillies will play host to the Mariners on Tuesday and Wednesday before a weekend trip to the nation’s capital.
• As most are fully aware, Colorado’s Coors Field is one of, if not, the best hitting environment in the game. The Rockies will take their home field seven times this week, hosting the Cubs for three games and the Dodgers for four. Headed into play Sunday, Manager Bud Black’s first-place club had posted an .810 OPS while plating 5.7 runs per game at home. Conversely, the Rockies’ pitching staff struggled to a 5.53 ERA across its first 15 games of the season.
• Just one other team will be on their home turf every day this week, but unlike the Rockies, the Blue Jays’ offense has been quite anemic at the Rogers Centre so far this year. In 2016, the Wild-Card Jays slugged .444 while averaging nearly five runs per game in Toronto. So far in 2017, it has been a completely different story, as they are slugging .349 and pushing across just three runs per game at home. 

• There is quite a bit of interleague action on tap, particularly in the early portion of the week. Half of the league’s 30 teams will face opposition from the other league at some point this week. One of them - the Padres - will see interleague action every single day, as they will see the Rangers from Monday-Thursday then the White Sox over the weekend. Hector Sanchez seems a likely candidate to see some extra at-bats for the Friars, so for those in deeper NL-Only formats, he could be a decent, temporary addition.

• First off, at the time of writing, Carlos Carrasco is not confirmed for a two-start week. Corey Kluber’s (back) outlook is still unclear, but an update is expected Monday. It seems unlikely that Kluber will return to the Indians’ rotation this week, and that would almost certainly result in a second outing for Carrasco over the weekend. The 30-year-old righty has been outstanding on the bump to this point, fashioning a 2.18 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, 8.5 K/9 and 4.9 K/BB across 41.1 innings.
• Kendall Graveman is another question mark for a potential two-start docket per the status of teammate Sean Manaea (shoulder). With news coming Saturday that Manaea would begin a rehab assignment Tuesday night, next Sunday’s starter for the A’s in Texas remains up in the air. It seems to be a reasonable assumption that Graveman will get the call in that matchup, making him a fair fantasy No. 4 for the week in standard mixed leagues.
• Trevor Cahill’s name definitely jumps off the list, especially with just one start. The word is not completely out (30% Yahoo, 24% ESPN) on his surprising re-emergence as a solid starter, but it appears promising right now. It certainly looks as if Cahill has flat out reinvented himself, sporting a sensational 11.1 K/9 on the campaign compared to a 6.5 mark for his career. Some obvious regression is due here, but with a FIP of 2.64, 57.3-percent ground-ball rate and increased use of a curveball that is baffling opposing hitters, there are plenty of reasons to have faith in Cahill going forward. 

• Lance McCullers turned in a nice performance against the Angels in L.A. on Saturday, but he struggled in his other two road starts this season, surrendering a combined 10 earned runs across 9.1 innings. A visit to Yankee Stadium, where the Yankees have averaged a ridiculous 6.8 runs per game, seems dubious at best for McCullers.
• Monitor Chris Tillman’s (shoulder) debut Sunday afternoon. If that goes reasonably well, the 16-game winner from 2016 could be a viable streaming option at Kansas City on Friday.

Nate Miller is a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and has been an analyst in the industry since 2013. You can follow him on Twitter @Miller_RotoDad, where he is always up for fielding any Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Football or DFS questions.