Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies will be up against Chad Bettis , who is making his first start in over a month. The Phillies are getting an automatic boost, since they are at Coors Field, so a prime spot to be targeting their hitters. Bettis is giving up a .363 wOBA to righties, along with 1.42 HR/9 and 1.23 HR/9 to lefties. We should be seeing their implied run total set around five or higher, even though it’s not listed yet. Plenty of upside here due to the park factor, but you certainly are paying a premium price for the hitters. The power seems to be in a better spot for the righties but go for the lefties if they fit in your lineup. Rhys Hoskins .263 ISO. Maikel Franco .235 ISO. Asdrubal Cabrera .222 ISO. Justin Bour .218 ISO. Odubel Herrera .176 ISO.
Houston Astros
The Astros are up against Sam Gaviglio , who simply put, isn’t a good pitcher, so you want to stack against him when you can. He is giving up a .353 wOBA to lefties, a .340 wOBA to righties, 1.59 HR/9 to lefties and 1.60 HR/9 to righties. Yikes. Those are some seriously bad numbers and you load up on the Astros hitters since they have a ceiling game potential sitting in front of them. This is also a slight positive park shift in favor of the Astros since they are in Toronto tonight, which is why they come in with an implied run total set at 4.95. Tyler White .266 ISO. Alex Bregman .247 ISO. Evan Gattis .197 ISO. Marwin González .171 ISO. Jake Marisnick .168. Brian McCann .164 ISO.
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers come in with an implied run total set at 4.73 tonight and are in somewhat of a ‘must win’ spot. They are still in the hunt for the playoffs, so a perfect team to target in the last week of games, as they aren’t taking their foot off the gas. They are up against Matt Koch , who is giving up a .405 wOBA to righties and 2.36 HR/9 this season. This means you really want to be targeting the power hitters on the Dodgers since the home run upside is massive here. He’s been in and out of the bullpen this season but struggles when he is a starter like he is tonight. Max Muncy .323 ISO. Joc Pederson .292 ISO. Yasiel Puig .273 ISO. Manny Machado .242 ISO. Yasmani Grandal .233 ISO.
Player News
Francisco Lindor announced he will captain Team Puerto Rico in the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
Lindor was part of Team Puerto Rico’s squad back in 2023 that lost to Mexico in the Quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic shortly after ousting the Dominican Republic in pool play. It doesn’t have any impact for fantasy managers, but it’s a significant honor for the 31-year-old superstar as he’ll continue to represent Puerto Rico on the international stage as one of the faces of baseball.
Ranger Suárez (back) struck out seven and allowed one run over four innings on Wednesday in a minor league rehab start for Low-A Clearwater.
Suárez threw 54 pitches, and was sitting in the 91-92 mph range with his fastball, in his latest rehab outing. The 29-year-old lefty continues to progress towards his season debut after opening the year on the shelf with lower back stiffness. He’ll likely need at least one additional rehab start before he’s ready to return to Philadelphia.
Cubs RHP prospect Cade Horton struck out six and allowed one run over five innings on Wednesday for Triple-A Iowa.
Horton has quickly reclaimed his previous status as one of the top pitching prospects in baseball through three excellent starts at Triple-A Iowa after missing most of last year with a lat injury. The 23-year-old righty boasts a stellar 1.43 ERA, 1.22 WHIP and 18/10 K/BB ratio across 12 1/3 innings of work. He still has some work to do in terms of developing a reliable third pitch, but his fastball/slider combo is going to make him an effective high-floor rotation option in the big leagues.
Cubs C prospect Moises Ballesteros went 4-for-5 with two homers and three RBI on Wednesday for Triple-A Iowa.
Ballesteros is among a handful of true offense-oriented backstops in the upper minors and figures to arrive in Chicago at some point later this season. The 21-year-old was one of the youngest hitters at the Triple-A level last year where he displayed strong bat-to-ball skills for hitter capable of driving the ball to all field. He’s off to an exceptional start this year, batting .368 (21-for-57) with two homers through 14 games.
Orioles 3B prospect Coby Mayo went 3-for-5 with a three-run homer on Wednesday for Triple-A Norfolk.
Mayo has gone deep three times over his last four games and has recorded at least one hit in eight of his previous nine contests since April 5. The 23-year-old top prospect doesn’t have much, if anything, left to prove at the Triple-A level. However, there’s no indication that the Orioles are ready to give him another look at the highest level right now. He remains a top-10 range prospect for dynasty purposes until further notice.
According to independent reporter Francys Romero, the White Sox are calling up catching prospect Edgar Quero.
Romero, who is extremely plugged in with native Cuban players, adds that Quero will join Chicago for Thursday’s series finale against the Athletics. The 22-year-old backstop has recorded six multi-hit performances and is batting .333 (17-for-51) with one homer in 15 games for Triple-A Charlotte. He figures to get a couple weeks to make an impact with starter Korey Lee (ankle) on the injured list. There’s some appeal here for fantasy managers in extremely deep two-catcher formats.