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Week 21 is important to everyone, but there is some extra zest for those in dynasty leagues. Sept. 1 is when the rosters expand to 40 men, giving the young guns an opportunity to showcase their talents, especially if they are playing for a non-contending team. Joey Gallo, Jose Peraza, Dalton Pompey and Corey Seager are all names to be aware of moving forward. The Cardinals will likely welcome back Matt Adams this week, while the Astros should see George Springer return to their lineup sometime this week.

With just a few weeks left in the fantasy season, it’s important to keep your eyes on the prize. With lots of big series being played this week, you can expect some great fantasy performances. Chris Sale, Zack Greinke, Madison Bumgarner, David Price, Felix Hernandez and Chris Archer are some of the big name pitchers who will toe the rubber twice this scoring week. When it comes to pitchers, what ace are you going to play on Tuesday in DFS? Sale against the Twins? Greinke or Bumgarner in a matchup of Cy Young candidates? Lots of tough decisions this week, but let’s be honest, what is fantasy baseball without tough decisions? Anyways, without further ado…

Let’s run through another edition of the MLB Weekly Preview for MLB Week 21:

GAME BREAKDOWN GRID

For week 21, here are the cold hard facts that you need to know and consider. These are applicable to both your seasonal leagues and daily lineups.

The rookies out in Minnesota are striking out a ton. Miguel Sano (.289 average) and Byron Buxton (.225 average) are striking out 42.7 and 38 percent of the time.

Looking for a low budget play in DFS? Trayce Thompson is hitting .519 (14-for-27) with two homers and six RBI through 12 August games.

Through 20 games in August, Michael Brantley is hitting .407 with three homers, 16 RBI and three stolen bases.

Believe it or not, Logan Forsythe, Mike Napoli and Jhonny Peralta all have nine home runs off lefties this season, tied for third in all of baseball. Alex Rodriguez and Giancarlo Stanton have also left the yard nine times against southpaws.

Looking for cheap speed in DFS? Delino DeShields (6), Gregor Blanco (5) and Anthony Gose (5) have all swiped five or more bags in the month of August.

Since the All-Star break, Francisco Lindor has the second most hits in all of baseball.

Yoenis Cespedes has been exceptional since heading to the Big Apple. He has eight home runs and 23 RBI to go along with his .303 average in 24 games as a Met.

TEAM

# GAMES

HOME

AWAY

VS LEFT

VS RIGHT

Orioles

6

3

3

3

3

Yankees

6

3

3

2

4

Red Sox

6

6

0

1

5

Blue Jays

6

6

0

1

5

Rays

6

0

6

1

5

Tigers

6

3

3

0

6

Royals

6

6

0

4

2

White Sox

6

0

6

2

4

Indians

6

0

6

1

5

Twins

6

3

3

4

2

Angels

6

3

3

2

4

Mariners

6

0

6

2

4

Athletics

6

6

0

3

3

Rangers

6

0

6

1

5

Astros

6

6

0

1

5

Nationals

7

4

3

0

7

Marlins

6

3

3

0

6

Mets

6

3

3

2

4

Braves

7

3

4

4

3

Phillies

6

0

6

2

4

Cardinals

6

6

0

3

3

Pirates

6

0

6

1

5

Brewers

6

3

3

4

2

Reds

6

3

3

1

5

Cubs

6

6

0

3

3

Dodgers

7

3

4

1

6

Giants

7

0

7

5

2

Padres

7

7

0

3

4

Rockies

8

8

0

2

5

Diamondbacks

7

0

7

2

5

 

INTERLEAGUE OUTLOOK

Player A: 17 home runs, 71 RBI and slashing .316/.380/.474.

Player B: 18 home runs, 67 RBI and slashing .287/.335/.490.

Both players are having great seasons, right? Well, one of them will find themselves out of the starting lineup for at least one game while in San Diego. Player A is Prince Fielder and Player B is Mitch Moreland. If you have one or both of them, expect one of them will play one fewer game during this scoring week. History tends to repeat itself, and even though both players are in a bit of a power drought, expect Fielder to get the better end of the stick in San Diego.

With the Phillies heading to Boston, no player in seasonal leagues gains a tremendous amount of value, but there is some to be had in DFS. Cesar Hernandez will continue to play every day and he should easily exceed his price tag when playing in Boston. When the Phillies play Boston on Saturday, Darin Ruf should be in your DFS lineup. He is hitting .365 against lefties this season, with four home runs and 12 RBI in 74 at-bats.

AWAY TEAM

HOME TEAM

# GAMES

DH?

PLAYER(S) IMPACTED

Rangers

Padres

3

No

Prince Fielder, Mitch Moreland

Phillies

Red Sox

3

Yes

Ryan Howard

 

STARTING PITCHER RANKINGS

Lance Lynn makes for an interesting choice this week. Lynn is pitching at home, where he is 6-4 with a 2.53 ERA in 13 starts. However, he is going up against a Pittsburgh Pirates team who he's struggled against thus far in 2015. He is 0-2 with a 6.94 ERA in three starts against the Buccos. Keep in mind, he couldn’t even finish the first inning the last time out, allowing three earned runs on six hits in just 2/3 of an inning. Pair the matchup woes with his recent struggles, and it makes Lynn a low-end option in DFS and could have a tough time exceeding his value.

Is it crazy to say that Nathan Eovaldi is a must-start option? The answer is absolutely not. In seven post All-Star break starts, Eovaldi is 4-0 with a 2.93 ERA, 1.22 WHIP and a 7.04 K/9. If you want to dissect his excellent second half even more, look at his month of August. He is 2-0 with a 2.70 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 7.43 K/9. With the newfound success of his splitter, he is poised to be the No. 2 starter the Yankees have desperately been searching for all season. In week 21 he will face the Rays, a team who is in the bottom half in terms of run scoring offense for the month of August.

RANK

PITCHER

MATCHUP 1

MATCHUP 2

1

Chris Sale

@Twins (Duffey)

@Royals (Cueto)

2

Zack Greinke

Giants (Bumgarner)

@Padres (Cashner)

3

Clayton Kershaw

Giants (Leake)

 

4

Madison Bumgarner

@Dodgers (Greinke)

@Rockies (Flande)

5

David Price

Indians (Tomlin)

Orioles (Chen)

6

Felix Hernandez

@Astros (Feldman)

@Athletics (Bassitt)

7

Corey Kluber

@Tigers (Simon)

 

8

Jacob deGrom

@Marlins (Koehler)

 

9

Max Scherzer

@Cardinals (Wacha)

 

10

Chris Archer

@Orioles (Chen)

@Yankees (Nova)

11

Jake Arrieta

Diamondbacks (Ray)

 

12

Stephen Strasburg

Braves (Teheran)

 

13

Noah Syndergaard

@Marlins (Hand)

 

14

Matt Harvey

Phillies (Nola)

 

15

Sonny Gray

Angels (Heaney)

 

16

Tyson Ross

Rangers (Lewis)

Dodgers (Anderson)

17

Johnny Cueto

Tigers (Verlander)

White Sox (Sale)

18

Jon Lester

Diamondbacks (Chacin)

 

19

Gerrit Cole

@Brewers (Jungmann)

 

20

Cole Hamels

@Padres (Kennedy)

 

21

Francisco Liriano

@Brewers (Garza)

 

22

Justin Verlander

@Royals (Cueto)

Indians (Tomlin)

23

Dallas Keuchel

Mariners (Elias)

 

24

Danny Salazar

@Blue Jays (Dickey)

 

25

Masahiro Tanaka

@Red Sox (Owens)

 

26

Shelby Miller

Marlins (Nicolino)

@Nationals (Ross)

27

Hisashi Iwakuma

@Athletics (Doubront)

 

28

Andrew Cashner

Rangers (Gallardo)

Dodgers (Greinke)

29

Mike Fiers

Twins (Pelfrey)

 

30

Gio Gonzalez

@Cardinals (Lackey)

Braves (Foltynewicz)

31

Michael Wacha

Nationals (Scherzer)

 

32

Raisel Iglesias

@Cubs (Hammel)

 

33

Jaime Garcia

Pirates (Morton)

 

34

Michael Pineda

@Red Sox (Rodriguez)

 

35

John Lackey

Nationals (Gonzalez)

Pirates (Locke)

36

Nathan Eovaldi

Rays (Karns)

 

37

Carlos Martinez

Nationals (Ross)

 

38

Joe Ross

@Cardinals (Martinez)

Braves (Miller)

39

Garrett Richards

Rangers (Perez)

 

40

Jordan Zimmermann

Braves (Wisler)

 

41

Jake Odorizzi

@Yankees (Severino)

 

42

Scott Kazmir

Twins (Santana)

 

43

Julio Teheran

@Nationals (Strasburg)

 

44

Collin McHugh

Mariners (Walker)

 

45

Kris Medlen

White Sox (Samardzija)

 

46

Ian Kennedy

Rangers (Hamels)

 

47

James Shields

Dodgers (Wood)

 

48

Kevin Gausman

Rays (Ramirez)

 

49

Jason Hammel

Reds (Iglesias)

 

50

Carlos Rodon

@Twins (Milone)

 

51

Matt Shoemaker

@Athletics (Brooks)

 

52

Lance Lynn

Pirates (Happ)

 

53

Taylor Jungmann

Pirates (Cole)

 

54

Marco Estrada

Indians (Anderson)

 

55

Taijuan Walker

@Astros (McHugh)

 

56

Chris Bassitt

Angels (Santiago)

Mariners (Hernandez)

57

Jonathon Niese

Phillies (Harang)

 

58

Luis Severino

Rays (Odorizzi)

 

59

Jose Quintana

@Royals (Duffy)

 

60

Brett Anderson

Giants (Peavy)

@Padres (Ross)

 

What’s the Verdict?

Here is the verdict on a few players in week 20 and whether or not you should play them:

Roenis Elias— Tue - @HOU (Keuchel)

Elias’ last start was his first in two months and it was obvious that he was rusty. He allowed three earned runs on nine hits, but still managed to register a quality start. He is kind of a boom-or-bust kind of guy, but with his low price tag in DFS, he is typically worth the risk. Elias faced the Astros twice in June and had mixed results. He was tagged for seven earned runs in his first outing (L), but he struck out 10 Astros in seven innings for a win in his second attempt. Houston has struggled in the month of August, to the tune of a .230 batting average. With his low price tag and the matchup, you could do worse. He will be a low cost option on Tuesday, but the reward is worth it.

VERDICT: Yes.

Anthony DeSclafani— Tue - @CHC (Haren)

Yes, he has allowed double-digit hits in two of his last four starts. Yes, he hasn’t won since the beginning of the month. Yes, he isn’t going to rack up a ton of strikeouts. However, he has allowed three or less earned runs in all but one outing this month and has walked only four batters in August. Even though he doesn’t strike out a ton of batters, this matchup presents an opportunity for DeSclafani to complete such a task. The Cubs have the second most strikeouts in August and the most since the All-Star break. There is a bit to worry about here, particularly with the long ball, but the chance for seven or eight punch outs isn’t absurd.

VERDICT: Yes.

Best of luck in week 21.