It’s Sunday, so you know what that means! It’s time to take a look at the interleague matchups for the upcoming week and determine how it will affect our fantasy lineups. Which players are gaining or losing fantasy value this week? You’ll find that and more here at Fantasy Alarm!
This week, we are treated to six interleague matchups, all of which feature the NL team heading to an American League stadium! A lot of teams will be gaining the designated hitter spot in their lineup this week, but are there any substantial fantasy winners? Of course! Without further ado, let’s dive in!
Braves @ Red Sox (5/25-5/26)
With Atlanta gaining the luxury of the designated hitter, Pablo Sandoval gets a nice bump. He’s served as the designated hitter for the Braves in four of five interleague matchups this year, and with Boston tentatively scheduled to start Garrett Richards (RHP) and Nick Pivetta (RHP), expect Sandoval to be the DH for both contests and daily leagues could exploit his favorable splits against right-handed pitchers (.948 OPS).
Winners: Pablo Sandoval
Losers: None
Marlins @ Red Sox (5/28-5/30)
A three game set in Boston opens the door to the designated hitter for the Marlins, which likely lends to one or two outcomes. With Boston scheduled to trot out two lefties, Adam Duvall will find himself in the lineup for those days and he stands the most to gain with the addition of the designated hitter. Two of his last three starts have come against lefties, so he gets a slight boost here over the weekend. However, unless you’re in a daily league where you can mix and match to attack split advantages, it’s tough to trot out Duvall for the whole week.
Winners: Adam Duvall
Losers: None
Cardinals @ White Sox (5/24-5/26)
For the Cardinals, Matt Carpenter could serve as the designated hitter, but he has been abysmal this season. Lane Thomas could see some at-bats, but he hasn’t been any better. The Cardinals are beat up with injuries, with Paul DeJong and Tyler O’Neill both on the injured list. To put it bluntly, there’s not much to be excited about here.
Winners: None
Losers: None
Dodgers @ Astros (5/25-5/26)
Justin Turner could DH for the Astros this weekend, or the team could elect to let Max Muncy play first base and let Albert Pujols DH in one of these contests. With two righties likely on the bump for Houston, the team could let Muncy play first, Pujols DH and then take their pick amongst their outfielders (like Yoshi Tsutsugo and Matt Beaty ). Or, and this likely happens once, but Pujols plays first, Muncy plays second base, and then Chris Taylor could find himself in the outfield, with Beaty serving as DH.
Winners: No Major Winners
Losers: None
Padres @ Astros (5/28-5/30)
San Diego has a pretty tried and true lineup, but the added DH spot likely just assures that Jurickson Profar , Jake Cronenworth are in the lineup. Potential DH candidates for the Padres, outside of veterans like Eric Hosmer and Manny Machado would be Jorge Mateo , Ha-Seong Kim and Brian O’Grady. Of the latter three names, only Mateo could really be useful in deeper leagues, and maybe Kim in even deeper formats.
Winners: Potentally Jorge Mateo
Losers: None
Phillies @ Rays (5/29-5/30)
The Phillies have played three games in an American League stadium this year, and they used a different designated hitter in each game. Could it be a similar situation here in the two games against Tampa Bay? Perhaps. Expect Philly to let some of its veterans (namely Andrew McCutchen ) to get the DH time, opening the door to regular playing time for Brad Miller for two games.
Winners: None
Losers: None