2015 MLB Fantasy Baseball Weekly Preview: Week 22

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Week 22 is possibly the start of your league’s playoffs, or it could be possibly the final week of your regular season. If this happens to be the start of your league’s playoffs, this is what everything has been for. All of the preparation, all the stats you’ve studied, all of the blood, sweat and tears you have poured into your fantasy team—this is what it all comes down to. These final weeks will be either the most entertaining, the most depressing, but without fail, the most stressful. Every lineup decision could turn out to be the difference between winning and losing, and this weekly preview—along with the multitude of information on this site—will help you advance.

Without further ado…

Let’s run through another edition of the MLB Weekly Preview for MLB Week 22:

GAME BREAKDOWN GRID

For week 22, here are the cold hard facts that you need to know and consider. These are applicable to both your seasonal leagues and daily lineups.

1. Over the last seven days, Ryan Zimmermann is hitting .464 with 5 home runs and 14 RBI.

2. Since the All-Star break, Didi Gregorius (.331) has the fourth highest batting average among qualifying shortstops

3. Who has the highest? Francisco Lindor (.358).

4. Teammates Edwin Encarnacion and Josh Donaldson were first and second in extra-base hits in the month of August.

5. If his hamstring doesn’t keep him out of the lineup, keep starting Miguel Sano. He hit .278 with nine home runs and 26 RBI in August.

6. Who went 6-0 in August with a 2.68 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and 6.81 K/9? That’s right, Joe Kelly.

7. Brett Wallace is hitting .350 through 45 games this season to go along with three home runs and 12 RBI.

INTERLEAGUE OUTLOOK

If you own Corey Seager, it’s time to get him active. The open lineup spot suggests that he will continue to play and he shouldn’t be in any sort of jeopardy of missing some time. Alex Guerrero leads the team in starts at the DH spot, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the team move Rollins to that spot for the series with the Angels. Seager would slide to shortstop, which would be a defensive upgrade over the aging Rollins.

Justin Morneau will likely see two starts at designated hitter, mostly because of the fact that they will face two right-handers during their time in Seattle. He has also missed a lot of time this season with a concussion and a neck sprain, so the team will likely want to ease his overall workload. Regardless of who serves as the team’s DH, they aren’t really worth much more than a DFS play.

STARTING PITCHER RANKINGS

With the season progressing on, it’s that time of year where the conversations about innings limits start rearing their ugly head. Cincinnati Reds pitcher Raisel Iglesias is no exception, which is a shame given his recent string of performances. He has struck out 33 batters over his last three starts, spanning 21 innings. If you look at his four last starts, here is what you come up with: six earned runs on 13 hits while posting a 36:9 K/BB ratio in 28 innings. If he doesn’t reach the magic number the Reds have in mind this week, he is scheduled to face the Pirates and Cardinals in his two-start week. Come Tuesday and Sunday, if Iglesias is on the mound, he is in your lineup.

Chris Rusin makes for an interesting play in DFS on Wednesday. He will face the San Diego Padres, a team who is hitting .260 after the break and just .245 for the 2015 season as a whole. The southpaw has three quality starts in his last four outings, and he fired a complete game in two of those outings. However, it’s worth noting that his most recent non-quality start was an 11 run shellacking by the New York Mets. He could make for a sneaky value play, given the Padres’ offensive struggles in 2015.

What’s the Verdict?

Here is the verdict on a few players in week 22 and whether or not you should play them:

Alex Wood— Wed - @LAA (Richards)

Wood is 9-9 with a 3.67 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP on the season. His 118 strikeouts in 154 1/3 strikeouts are less than inspiring and since being traded to the Dodgers, he is 2-3 with a 4.11 ERA. He hasn’t had the same strikeout potential this season as last year, but there is a lot to like in his Wednesday matchup against the Angels. Since the All-Star break, the Angels have the lowest team batting average and have the fourth fewest runs scored. If Wood can pitch like he did against the Cubs in his last start, he makes for a decent value play as your second pitcher.

VERDICT: Yes.

Ryan Vogelsong— Tue - @ARI (Anderson)

Vogelsong struggled in his last start, but in his defense, it was in the launching pad that is Coors Field. There is no doubting the fact that he has struggled of late, to the tune of allowing 14 earned runs over 11 innings in his last three starts. This season, Vogelsong has appeared in four games (two starts) against the Diamondbacks, going 1-2 with an 8.76 ERA. Since the All-Star break, the Diamondbacks have the third best team batting average and if you can’t tell by now, things aren’t exactly looking up for Vogelsong in this start.

VERDICT: No.

Best of luck in week 22.