Sports
Weekend watch: Angels and Diamondbacks need victories now
Our fantasy baseball experts take a quick peek ahead to the upcoming weekend of action and highlight what they're looking forward to watching.
It's make-or-break time for a pair of struggling wild-card hopefuls that have struggled since the trade deadline.
The Los Angeles Angels, who lost seven straight following their going "all in" at the deadline, take a two-game winning streak into a critical weekend series at the Houston Astros, who are 8 1/2 games up on them in the AL wild-card standings. The Angels, incidentally, need to make up seven games on the final wild-card spot.
Meanwhile, the Arizona Diamondbacks, who have lost eight consecutive games, play a three-game home series against the San Diego Padres, a team that now resides only two games behind them in the NL's wild-card standings. The Diamondbacks need to make up 2 1/2 games on the final wild-card spot, but they could drop behind the Padres in the standings should they get swept. In that event, the Padres could re-establish themselves as bona fide playoff contenders.
There's plenty more going on in the baseball world heading into this weekend, but what's the scoop for fantasy managers? Our analysts, Tristan H. Cockcroft and Eric Karabell, are here to dish out all the lineup advice you need.
Their three-game road series against the Pittsburgh Pirates represents one of the few soft spots remaining on their schedule, certainly so on the pitching side, so these are big matchups for rookies Andrew Abbott (Friday) and Brandon Williamson (Saturday). The former seems like he might be running out of steam, so while I'm OK with Abbott for the Friday assignment, a so-so outing would "land him in Cutsville."
A potential highlight of that series, though, is Jonathan India's expected return. The Reds offense has been decent even through their slump, but he again clutters the infield. Who sits? Elly De La Cruz, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Matt McLain, Spencer Steer and Joey Votto have all played fine recently, and while placing Steer in left could fix that conundrum, the need to constantly check their lineups is frustrating.
OK, I agree the Reds have joined the Diamondbacks are both in a relative free fall, but I look at these teams differently.
With the Reds, they can't pitch -- and we knew that a month ago. Seems like a wise time to invest in hitters facing their pitching, but can we find value on the Pirates? Rookie Henry Davis isn't doing much. Neither is Andrew McCutchen. It should be an interesting weekend and let's not ignore Pirates RHP Johan Oviedo, who has won three consecutive starts and permitted two earned runs in them. He is the No. 6 starter on the 30-day Player Rater, yet available in 80% of ESPN standard leagues.
With the Diamondbacks, they have a big disadvantage Friday night facing Padres LHP Blake Snell, and a big advantage Saturday with fellow Cy Young candidate Zac Gallen hurling. Sunday? It's rookie Brandon Pfaadt and his 7.16 ERA in 10 starts. He hasn't been so bad lately, though, and he may be one of the better Sunday streamer options in weekly formats. Next year, perhaps he is a top-50 starter.
Another pitching staff I'm closely monitoring is that of the Tampa Bay Rays, primarily because their only four healthy starters are aligned from Thursday through Sunday, Zack Littell, Aaron Civale, Tyler Glasnow and Zach Eflin, all in home games facing favorable matchups (Littell faces the St. Louis Cardinals and the others get the Cleveland Guardians).
Glasnow hasn't pitched in 10 days due to a back issue, has had his turn pushed back twice, and is one of the most critical pitchers to watch this weekend for me. The Rays rotation has been decimated by injuries and can't afford to lose its current ace, but would the team push him if he's at noticeably less than 100%?
Fortunately, all of their other scheduled starters are doing fine of late and all of them make for worthwhile fantasy starts. Littell made my Wednesday cut as an "also under consideration," if only because he's more pitch-to-contact than the five pitchers I did profile, but I very much have my eye on Glasnow's outing.
We await other top hitting prospects that could soon get the call, including Red Sox OF Ceddanne Rafaela, who led my Thursday column. This may be new to fantasy managers, but organizations can start calling up hitting prospects as long as they keep them below 130 PA, the threshold for rookie eligibility for next season. It's all about money and control and nobody should be surprised. Anyway, we could see Rafaela soon.
We will see the Athletics promote OF Lawrence Butler, after he hit 15 home runs and stole 23 bases across two minor league levels this season, and the Rangers are giving OF J.P. Martinez a chance. Martinez hit .312 at Triple-A Round Rock with 12 home runs and 33 stolen bases. He's 27. I don't know if he will help fantasy managers, but he's new, and we all love watching the new players. Perhaps a star or relevant fantasy option emerges here.
The next-best grade, surprisingly, belongs to the very team your Lorenzen just no-hit: The Washington Nationals! They host the awful Oakland Athletics pitching staff, which means better things should be ahead for CJ Abrams, Joey Meneses and Lane Thomas, each of whom has been performing recently - and Thomas for the entire year - as a relevant standard-league fantasy hitter.
The opposing Athletics hitters grade "9" from both sides, which props up rookie Zack Gelof as a fantasy starter for the weekend; Toronto Blue Jays lefties grade a "9," which is good news for No. 2-against-righties Brandon Belt; and Los Angeles Dodgers lefties grade an "8," which means resurgent rookie James Outman belongs back in every fantasy lineup.