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Here in the final week of the regular season, teams are starting to clinch their playoff spots, so be on the lookout for pitching changes as well as B-squad lineups. Usually when a team punches their ticket to the big dance, the lineup the following day looks like something out of a fourth or fifth Major League sequel. Here’s what today’s slate looks like and remember, there are two early games today.
| vs L | vs R | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Player | Tm | Hand | H/A | Opp | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | HR/9 | BAA | SwStr% | ERA | xFIP | WHIP | GB% | FB% | GB/FB | wOBA | wOBA | $FD | $DK | $Aces |
| Johnny Cueto | SF | R | H | COL | 212.2 | 7.91 | 1.82 | 0.63 | .235 | 10.3% | 2.79 | 3.45 | 1.08 | 53.2% | 27.1% | 1.96 | 0.289 | 0.264 | $9900 | $11200 | $7300 |
| Chris Archer | TB | R | A | CWS | 194.2 | 10.54 | 3.01 | 1.34 | .238 | 13.5% | 4.02 | 3.24 | 1.24 | 48.9% | 30.8% | 1.58 | 0.301 | 0.313 | $9500 | $9100 | $7000 |
| Danny Duffy | KC | L | H | MIN | 173.1 | 9.60 | 2.08 | 1.35 | .238 | 14.3% | 3.43 | 3.50 | 1.13 | 38.3% | 42.0% | 0.91 | 0.204 | 0.324 | $9200 | $10500 | $7200 |
| Jose Quintana | CWS | L | H | TB | 202.0 | 7.75 | 2.09 | 0.94 | .247 | 8.4% | 3.21 | 3.89 | 1.16 | 41.6% | 36.5% | 1.14 | 0.273 | 0.307 | $8800 | $9700 | $6550 |
| Jon Gray | COL | R | A | SF | 162.2 | 10.07 | 2.99 | 1.00 | .238 | 13.1% | 4.54 | 3.62 | 1.24 | 45.3% | 31.3% | 1.45 | 0.300 | 0.313 | $8400 | $10400 | $7100 |
| Robbie Ray | ARI | L | A | WSH | 169.2 | 11.40 | 3.34 | 1.17 | .267 | 12.7% | 4.77 | 3.28 | 1.46 | 48.7% | 27.7% | 1.76 | 0.301 | 0.344 | $8000 | $7600 | $6900 |
| Joe Ross | WSH | R | H | ARI | 101.0 | 7.84 | 2.14 | 0.80 | .271 | 11.8% | 3.48 | 4.05 | 1.31 | 45.5% | 27.4% | 1.66 | 0.363 | 0.268 | $7800 | $7000 | $7150 |
| Marcus Stroman | TOR | R | H | BAL | 197.0 | 7.44 | 2.38 | 0.96 | .262 | 10.3% | 4.34 | 3.50 | 1.28 | 62.0% | 17.9% | 3.47 | 0.322 | 0.308 | $7700 | $8300 | $6850 |
| Dan Straily | CIN | R | A | STL | 185.1 | 7.52 | 3.25 | 1.41 | .219 | 11.0% | 3.74 | 4.69 | 1.18 | 33.8% | 43.8% | 0.77 | 0.295 | 0.320 | $7600 | $9900 | $6600 |
| Julio Urias | LA | L | A | SD | 74.0 | 9.61 | 3.53 | 0.61 | .279 | 11.6% | 3.53 | 3.82 | 1.47 | 47.0% | 27.7% | 1.70 | 0.336 | 0.325 | $7500 | $8700 | $6700 |
| Jeremy Hellickson | PHI | R | A | ATL | 185.2 | 7.27 | 2.18 | 1.16 | .246 | 11.6% | 3.78 | 4.07 | 1.17 | 43.4% | 30.9% | 1.41 | 0.334 | 0.290 | $7200 | $9500 | $6650 |
| CC Sabathia | NYY | L | H | BOS | 172.1 | 7.52 | 3.24 | 1.10 | .253 | 10.5% | 4.02 | 4.17 | 1.34 | 52.3% | 32.1% | 1.63 | 0.310 | 0.319 | $7100 | $6600 | $6000 |
| Daniel Norris | DET | L | H | CLE | 62.2 | 9.05 | 2.87 | 1.29 | .278 | 11.3% | 3.59 | 3.92 | 1.44 | 40.1% | 36.4% | 1.10 | 0.314 | 0.345 | $7000 | $7800 | $6450 |
| Ivan Nova | PIT | R | H | CHI | 156.2 | 6.94 | 1.55 | 1.32 | .276 | 10.2% | 4.90 | 3.77 | 2.49 | 54.8% | 24.6% | 2.23 | 0.368 | 0.314 | $7000 | $6500 | $6700 |
| Ariel Miranda | SEA | L | H | OAK | 52.2 | 18.00 | 3.08 | 1.88 | .364 | 8.4% | 13.50 | 4.73 | 3.13 | 34.2% | 44.5% | 0.77 | 0.390 | 0.303 | $6500 | $6800 | $6350 |
| Kyle Gibson | MIN | R | A | KC | 141.0 | 6.13 | 3.26 | 1.28 | .296 | 10.1% | 5.04 | 4.67 | 1.56 | 50.4% | 26.1% | 1.93 | 0.386 | 0.326 | $6300 | $5300 | $5700 |
| Kendall Graveman | OAK | R | A | SEA | 180.1 | 5.09 | 2.20 | 1.10 | .270 | 8.0% | 4.19 | 4.44 | 1.30 | 54.3% | 25.2% | 2.15 | 0.333 | 0.307 | $6100 | $4800 | $5500 |
| Rob Zastryzny | CHI | L | A | PIT | 12.1 | 9.49 | 2.19 | 0.00 | .217 | 14.6% | 1.46 | 3.15 | 1.05 | 58.8% | 32.4% | 1.82 | 0.160 | 0.353 | $5900 | $4500 | $5500 |
| Christian Friedrich | SD | L | H | LA | 123.2 | 7.06 | 3.57 | 0.95 | .258 | 9.0% | 4.66 | 4.53 | 1.42 | 47.5% | 34.5% | 1.38 | 0.292 | 0.325 | $5700 | $7700 | $5400 |
| Henry Owens | BOS | L | A | NYY | 17.1 | 7.79 | 8.83 | 2.60 | .302 | 8.9% | 7.79 | 6.60 | 2.14 | 33.3% | 50.0% | 0.67 | 0.453 | 0.462 | $5700 | $6000 | $5300 |
| Josh Collmenter | ATL | R | H | PHI | 34.1 | 6.85 | 3.93 | 1.83 | .253 | 8.1% | 4.84 | 4.44 | 2.60 | 50.0% | 31.3% | 1.60 | 0.342 | 0.345 | $5600 | $5700 | $5700 |
| Ryan Merritt | CLE | L | A | DET | 6.0 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | .150 | 6.2% | 1.50 | 3.65 | 0.50 | 61.1% | 16.7% | 3.67 | 0.177 | 0.143 | $5000 | $5000 | $5200 |
| Alex Reyes | STL | R | H | CIN | 40.0 | 10.35 | 4.50 | 0.23 | .184 | 12.8% | 1.58 | 3.78 | 1.18 | 43.8% | 42.7% | 1.02 | 0.302 | 0.219 | $0 | $7400 | $6200 |
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Johnny Cueto, SF – The Giants are fighting to hold onto their wild card spot and catch a break with a home game against a struggling Rockies club. Cueto should have no issues with the Rox today as they’re posting a .256 wOBA with a 29.7-percent strikeout rate over the past week. The Giants desire to make the playoffs certainly gives an edge over a team just playing out the season.
Danny Duffy, KC – While the Twins may be slightly above league average when it comes to facing lefties, they’ve seriously gone into the tank here at the end of the season. They’ve posted a .266 wOBA with just a .341 slugging and 29.6-percent strikeout rate over the past week.
Jose Quintana, CHW – The Rays numbers against southpaws continues to drop as the season wanes and their recent offensive numbers continue to sit at the bottom of the league. We’re talking about a .275 wOBA with a 28.9-percent strikeout rate over the last seven days.
Julio Urias, LAD – I’ll take a shot on Urias here against the Padres, simply because it’s the Padres. It doesn’t matter what their recent totals are as there is zero consistency with this club and their numbers against lefties just haven’t been the same since the trade deadline. The Dodgers may have clinched the division already, but the Padres are just that bad.
CC Sabathia, NYY – Just check the lineup for the Red Sox today as they back-doored into the division title last night and are likely to go with their youngsters for today. It seems highly unlikely that players such as Mookie Betts, David Ortiz or Hanley Ramirez will be playing.
Ariel Miranda, SEA – For a GPP dart, I’ll take a shot on Miranda. His wOBA splits are fairly decent and the A’s are sitting at the bottom of the heap once again with a .279 wOBA and just a .124 ISO mark.
Player News
Kyren Paris hit a two-run homer in Wednesday’s win for the Angels over the Blue Jays.
That’s the first homer for Paris since April 9 when he went deep twice against Tampa Bay and caused everyone to lose all sense of rational thought. The 23-year-old did also single and walk to improve his on-base percentage to .311,, while the homer bumps his slugging mark to .378. There is long-term upside in Paris with flashes that suggest he can be a fantasy option. Fantasy managers should still absolutely looking elsewhere for options up the middle.
Jorge Soler hit a three-run double in the bottom of the ninth to give the Angels a 5-4 win over the Blue Jays on Wednesday.
Trent Grisham went 1-for-1 with a game-tying two-run home run in the eighth inning of a 4-3 win over the Padres on Wednesday.
While the Yankees won this game on a walk-off in the 10th inning, Grisham’s game-tying home run in the eighth was the biggest moment. He came on as a pinch-hitter for Jorbit Vibas against the usually stout Jason Adam and smashed a two-strike changeup into the right field seats. This clutch shot will only continue to push Grisham’s playing time in the right direction after he just started eight of the last 10 games, hit either first or second in each, and already has 10 homers in 31 games played this season.
Jeff Hoffman blew a save and picked up a loss Wednesday against the Angels.
Devin Williams struck out three batters with one walk and hit another in a scoreless 10th inning to earn the win against the Padres on Wednesday.
The Yankees entrusted Williams with the all important 10th inning and the inherited ghost runner on second base after their dramatic comeback. While he loaded the bases and had some tense moments, he left the inning unscathed and opened the door for them to win it right after. It should be noted that Luke Weaver came on for what were the most important outs of this game at the time, after Ian Hamilton walked two to begin the eighth inning and Weaver allowed both of those inherited runners to score. He was called upon as the fireman though and will likely get the next save opportunity. Still, this was a massive step in the right direction for Williams.
Max Fried allowed five hits and one run with no walks and eight strikeouts over seven innings in a no-decision against the Padres on Wednesday.
Fried’s excellent season continued as he set down the Padres easily besides for a mammoth solo home run by Jackson Merrill. It was no matter though, as they rarely threatened otherwise and Fried continued to find his strikeout stuff. This was his fourth outing of the year with at least seven strikeouts, a mark he only hit 10 times last season in 29 starts. Fried with a strikeout rate that’s better than league average – which is where he’s at right now – is a clear top-10 pitcher in fantasy baseball. He’s set for a two-start week coming up against the Mariners and Mets.