Fantasy Baseball Week 26 Preview

Welcome to the final edition of the Weekly MLB Preview for the 2016 season! I hope that you have enjoyed the content and bring hope the championship!

GAME BREAKDOWN GRID FOR WEEK 25 (9/26 to 10/2)

Analysis: Looking for statistics which will influence your upcoming lineup? Check out these tidbits:

• As we come to the final week of the 2016 regular season, every team in baseball plays a minimum of six games, the vast majority of which are played amongst divisional rivals to hash out the remaining wildcard spots. While it goes without saying that owners should “start their studs” are rely upon the talent that brought them this far into the season, there are a few lineups that really shine against teams within their respective leagues. For example, the Boston Red Sox club collectively bats .288 against AL pitchers, a full 20 points ahead of the next best AL team in the Texas Rangers. I did find it interesting that of the top seven ball clubs that had the highest average against AL pitching, seven actually came from the NL. Smaller sample sizes to be sure, but the numbers speak for themselves.
• The two NL teams that had the highest batting averages against teams within their own league were the Colorado Rockies (.274) and Arizona Diamondbacks (.266). How much of a drop off is there to the last two teams, you might wonder? The Philadelphia Phillies average just .234 against NL pitchers, while the San Diego Padres are holding up the rear at a putrid .231.
• Several teams which are competing for the final playoff spots in each league are limping into the post season, such as the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles, who are only hitting .233 and .228 during the month of September. On the NL side, the San Francisco Giants (.221) and New York Mets (.235) are the teams which have been struggling the most since the calendar flipped.

INTERLEAGUE OUTLOOK

Analysis: The final week of the regular season features just two matchups of interleague games, with the Milwaukee Brewers traveling to the Texas Rangers and the Detroit Tigers facing the Atlanta Braves. Of the players who are impacted by these games, Victor Martinez is sole fantasy relevant option, and he was already sitting due to a swollen knee. It is very likely that the team limits his usage to pinch-hitting duties for the final few games of the season.

STARTING PITCHER RANKINGS

Analysis: I’ll be the first to admit that I thought that Justin Verlander was on his last-legs entering the 2016 season. Although I still considered him to be a viable SP3, I couldn’t fathom him returning to the same dominant form that he exhibited during the stretch which he put together from 2009-2013. Who knows, maybe I was just insanely jealous of him dating Kate Upton. Perhaps it was the diminished velocity of his fastball, down to a career low 92.9 MPH in 2015. Regardless, I didn’t think that he’d be more than a middle-of-the-road option. Boy was I wrong. Since the All-Star break, Verlander has posted a 2.16 ERA, going 7-2 in the process with a 0.87 WHIP. In 96 innings he’s struck out 114 batters, and looked every bit as dominant as nearly a decade ago. He faces the Cleveland Indians and Atlanta Braves to finish out the season, two teams that I feel he’ll put up fantastic numbers against.

I have Masahiro Tanaka ranked as a mid-line starter, but his status is currently up in the air for his final few starts due to a lower forearm strain. Although the injury has been described as “slight” by Joe Girardi, it is clear that the team won’t pressure him to finish the season if they continue to fall out of contention.

What can I say about Bartolo Colon that hasn’t been harped on a million times previously? Sure, he’s fat and out of shape. He’s old. Every time he swings at a pitch his helmet comes flying off like a cartoon character. Yet as much as we might put him down, at 43 years old he is having one hell of a season. Just how good, you might wonder? His ERA currently sits at 3.12 (top 15 in all of baseball, ahead of Chris Sale) and his WHIP is 1.19 (top 30, barely behind David Price and Jason Hammel). Colon cracks my top 10 rankings as he faces off against the Miami Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies.  

Analysis: Clayton Kershaw ranked first. Yep, no surprise there. But Alex Reyes second? Alright, I’ll admit that I might be going out on a limb here, but hear me out. Over 35 innings pitched this season in the major leagues, Reyes has an absurdly-low 1.03 ERA and 1.09 WHIP. He’s striking out over a batter-per-inning, and just limited the San Francisco Giants to just four hits over seven innings. I’m not afraid of any hitter on the Cincinnati Reds other than Joey Votto currently, and feel that Reyes will strike out double-digit batters for the first time in his career. Trust me, it won’t be the last.

Another surprising addition to the top of my rankings? Kevin Gausman. FINALLY given an opportunity to start and not be yo-yo’ed back and forth between the minor leagues and bullpen, Gausman has rewarded his owners with a 3.57 ERA and averaged a strikeout-per-inning. He faces the New York Yankees in his final start of the season – over last two outings against the Pinstripes he’s gone 13 innings without allowing a run, while striking out 17 batters. I’ll go back to that well.