Happy 4th of July weekend to everyone. Hope you have a safe and enjoyable one. For the Nomad crew we have the ribs marinated and will be putting them on the grill after we finish indulging in our first ever time making homemade chicken ‘n waffles. We had them for the first time in Raleigh, NC last week, at a place called Chicken and Honey, and have to say I was surprised how good they were. So, I decided to try and make them at home. Hopefully they, and this week’s MLB Weekly Preview, have everyone licking their chops. Enjoy your long-weekend and good luck in Week 15.

Interleague Schedule

Here is a look at which inter-league games are on tap for Week 15 highlighting which National League teams and players will benefit from the addition of the designated hitter to their lineup and who in the American League will be affected by the loss of the DH.

NL Team’s Getting a DH

Giants @ Athletics (Tuesday)

Dodgers @ Tigers (2x Tuesday-Wednesday)-The banged up HanRam may get a chance to DH.

Nationals @ Orioles (2x Wednesday-Thursday)-solves the whole position dilemma that was created by the return of Ryan Zimmerman and Bryce Harper, at least for two games, as Zimmerman will get to DH allowing Danny Espinosa to start at second and Anthony Rendon at third.

AL Team’s Losing a DH

Orioles @ Nationals (2x Monday-Tuesday)-those jumping out to grab the red-hot Steve Pearce may want to throw some caution to the wind starting him in a weekly league.

Twins @ Rockies (3x Friday-Sunday)-Chris Parmelee likely odd man out, at least for two games.

Athletics @ Giants (2x Wednesday-Thursday)

Click here for a look back at the Week That Was by Glenn Colten

Total Games This Week

Playing Eight Games:

NL: Cubs and Reds

Playing Seven Games:

AL: Angels, Orioles, Red Sox, White Sox, Indians, Royals, Twins, Yankees, A’s, and Rangers

NL: Braves, Brewers, Mets, Phillies, Pirates, Padres, Giants, Cardinals, and Nationals

Playing Six Games:

AL: Tigers, Astros, Rays, and Blue Jays

NL: DBacks, Rockies, Marlins, and Dodgers

Click here for a look at Two-Start Pitchers for Week 15  by Ivar G. Anderson

Loaded Lefty or Righty Matchups

TeamsGames vs LHPGames vs RHPNotes
Angels16Plenty of playing time for LHH Kole Calhoun and should help LHH Josh Hamilton to continue his trend upward fantasy wise
Braves25All on road
DBacks24 
Orioles25 
Red Sox34 
White Sox16Plus for LHH Adam Dunn, Conor Gillaspie, and Alejandro De Aza.
Cubs255 of 8 games are on the road; LHH C John Baker, 3B Luis Valbuena, OF Chris Coghlan, Nate Schierholtz, and Ryan Sweeney get edge on PT RHH over C Welington Castillo, 3B Mike Olt, and OF Justin Ruggiano and Junior Lake
Reds25Good news for LHH Joey Votto and Jay Bruce as well as for Devin Mesoraco 15 HR (added one in Wk 14) against, Todd Frazier 13 of HR against, and SHH Billy Hamilton .295/.326 4 HR vs RHP, .230/.256 vs LHP 1 HR add in all 8 games are at home
Indians257 at home
Rockies15Edge for LHH Corey Dickerson, Charlie Blackmon, Justin Morneau; Not so much for RHH OF Drew Stubbs and Brandon Barnes and IF Josh Rutledge
Tigers33 
Astros06 
Royals25 
Dodgers06LHH Andre Ethier should see plenty of PT while the lefty masher in RHH Scott Van Slyke will not
Marlins06All at home
Brewers25All at home
Twins43 
Yankees24All on road 4 @CLE, 3 @BAL
Mets25All at home
Athletics16Makes Brandon Moss (pending extent of ankle injury), Yoenis Cespedes, and John Jaso owners happy; not so much for RHH Derek Norris and Josh Donaldson owners
Phillies07 
Pirates07All at home
Padres43All on road
Mariners16All at home SEA worst team OPS in AL at home. LHH 3B Kyle Seager all 13 HR, C Mike Zunino 9 HR of 12, and Michael Saunders all 5 vs RHP
Giants34 
Cardinals07Big week for my boy PHAT Matt Adams; All 5 of Matt Holliday's HR have come off RHP
Rays33All at home
Rangers24All at home
Blue Jays333 @LAA 3 @TB
Nationals25 

Week 15 Starting Pitcher Rankings:

I didn’t separate the top two-start pitchers for the week, but it is easily ascertainable in the rankings below.

  1. Clayton Kershaw (LAD) -- Thu-SD (Despaigne)

  2. Felix Hernandez (SEA) -- Thu-MIN (Pino)

  3. Chris Sale (CWS) -- Wed-@BOS (Lester)

  4. Yu Darvish (TEX) -- Wed-HOU (Keuchel)

  5. Masahiro Tanaka (NYY) -- Tue-@CLE (Bauer), Sun-@BAL (Chen)

  6. Madison Bumgarner (SF) -- Tue-@OAK (Gray), Sun-ARI (Anderson)

  7. David Price (TB) -- Sat-TOR (Hutchison)

  8. Stephen Strasburg (WSH) -- Mon-BAL (Tillman), Sat-@PHI (Hamels)

  9. Adam Wainwright (StL) -- Mon-PIT (Morton), Sat-@MIL (Estrada)

  10. Johnny Cueto (CIN) -- Tue-CHC, Gm. 1 (Wood), Sun-PIT (Worley)

  11. Julio Teheran (ATL) -- Tue-@NYM (DeGrom), Sun-@CHC (Wood)

  12. Max Scherzer (DET) -- Wed-LAD (Greinke)

  13. Doug Fister (WSH) -- Tue-BAL (Chen), Sun-@PHI (Kendrick)

  14. Hisashi Iwakuma (SEA) -- Mon-MIN (Correia), Sat-OAK (Chavez)

  15. Anibal Sanchez (DET) -- Fri-@KC (Duffy)

  16. Lance Lynn (STL) -- Wed-PIT (Cole)

  17. Garrett Richards (LAA) -- Fri-@TEX (Lewis)

  18. Alfredo Simon (CIN) -- Wed-CHC (TBD)

  19. Drew Hutchison (TOR) -- Sat-@TB (Price)

  20. Jake Arrieta (CHC) -- Fri-ATL (Wood)

  21. Sonny Gray (OAK) -- Tue-SF (Bumgarner), Sun-@SEA (Young)

  22. Mat Latos (CIN) -- Fri-PIT (Locke)

  23. Zack Greinke (LAD) -- Wed-@DET (Scherzer)

  24. Homer Bailey (CIN) -- Thu-CHC (TBD)

  25. Jose Quintana (CWS) -- Thu-@BOS (Lackey)

  26. Cole Hamels (PHI) -- Mon-@MIL (Estrada), Sat-WSH (Strasburg)

  27. Tyson Ross (SD) -- Tue-@COL (Morales), Sun-@LAD (Ryu)

  28. Hyun-Jin Ryu (LAD) -- Tue-@DET (Verlander), Sun-SD (Ross)

  29. Yordano Ventura (KC) -- Wed-@TB (Cobb)

  30. Jesse Chavez (OAK) -- Mon-SF (Vogelsong), Sat-@SEA (Iwakuma)-no

  31. Justin Verlander (DET) -- Tue-LAD (Ryu), Sun-@KC (Vargas)

  32. Josh Beckett (LAD) -- Sat-SD (Kennedy)

  33. James Shields (KC) -- Mon-@TB (Odorizzi), Sat-DET (Porcello)

  34. Alex Wood (ATL) -- Fri-@CHC (Arrieta)

  35. Jordan Zimmermann (WSH) -- Fri-@PHI (Burnett)

  36. Jeff Samardzija (OAK) -- Fri-@SEA (Walker)-this is not official, but looks as if it is where Samardzija will slot in if he does indeed make his OAK debut Sun.

  37. Mike Minor (ATL) -- Mon-@NYM (Matsuzaka), Sat-@CHC (Jackson)

  38. Danny Duffy (KC) -- Fri-DET (Sanchez)Marcus Stroman (TOR) -- Wed-@LAA (Wilson)

  39. Jason Hammel (OAK) -- Wed-@SF (Cain) not official but appears where he will be slotted into the rotation

  40. Jason Vargas (KC) -- Tue-@TB (Bedard, could be Jeremy Hellickson), Sun-DET (Verlander)

  41. Kyle Gibson (MIN) -- Wed-@SEA (Elias)

  42. Zack Wheeler (NYM) -- Fri-MIA (Heaney)

  43. Mike Leake (CIN) -- Mon-CHC (Jackson), Sat-PIT (Morton)

  44. Brandon Workman (BOS) -- Tue-CWS (Danks), Sun-@HOU (Cosart)

  45. Rick Porcello (DET) -- Sat-@KC (Shields)

  46. Tim Lincecum (SF) -- Fri-ARI (Bolsinger)

  47. Dillon Gee (NYM) has not been officially activated but is expected to be, if so projects to face ATL

  48. Tyler Matzek (COL) -- Mon-SD (Kennedy), Sun-MIN (Hughes)

  49. Clay Buchholz (BOS) -- Mon-CWS (Carroll), Sat-@HOU (McHugh)

  50. Roenis Elias (SEA) -- Wed-MIN (Gibson)

  51. Bartolo Colon (NYM) -- Thu-ATL (Harang)

  52. Wily Peralta (MIL) -- Tue-PHI (Kendrick), Sun-STL (Martinez)

  53. A.J. Burnett (PHI) -- Fri-WSH (Zimmermann)

  54. Gio Gonzalez (WSH) -- Thu-@BAL (Jimenez)

  55. Jered Weaver (LAA) -- Mon-TOR (Happ), Sat-@TEX (Martinez)

  56. Scott Kazmir (OAK) -- Thu-@SF (Hudson)

  57. Alex Cobb (TB) -- Wed-KC (Ventura)

  58. Matt Garza (MIL) -- Thu-PHI (Buchanan)

  59. John Lackey (BOS) -- Thu-CWS (Quintana)

  60. Charlie Morton (PIT) -- Mon-@STL (Wainwright), Sat-@CIN (Leake)

  61. Corey Kluber (CLE) -- Fri-CWS (Noesi)

  62. Drew Smyly (DET) -- Thu-@KC (Guthrie)

  63. Gerrit Cole (PIT) -- Wed-@STL (Lynn)

  64. Jake Odorizzi (TB) -- Mon-KC (Shields), Sun-TOR (Happ)

  65. Jacob deGrom (NYM) -- Tue-ATL (Teheran), Sun-MIA (Koehler)

  66. Jon Lester (BOS) -- Wed-CWS (Sale)

  67. Jesse Hahn (SD) -- Fri-@LAD (Haren)

  68. Tom Koehler (MIA) -- Mon-@ARI (Anderson), Sun-@NYM (DeGrom)

  69. Ervin Santana (ATL) -- Wed-@NYM (Niese)

Best of luck and as always if you have a specific question remember you can always tweet @FantasyNomad and/or post in the comments section below.

Fantasy Football Players get a head start planning for the 2014 season with our brand new Fantasy Alarm Fantasy Football Draft Guide.