2015 MLB Fantasy Baseball Weekly Preview: Week 23

The DFS Playbook PRO is finally here!! It has been years in the making but we’ve finally built the most robust, convenient and winning daily fantasy sports tool ever. The DFS Playbook PRO for MLB features specialized hitting & pitching coaches, optimal daily lineups, daily fantasy baseball rankings, daily projections, access to our brand new Stats City tool, a live DFS scoreboard to track your players and SO MUCH MORE!! If you want to win at daily fantasy baseball isn’t it about time that you GO PRO?

BONUS: If you create a new account with our boys at Fantasy Aces, you will receive two MONTHS FREE of the DFS Playbook PRO! Just follow the link and the directions to redeem the free two month offer!! 

Yes, the football season is underway and that deserves every bit of your attention. However, don’t throw away 22 weeks of hard work, sweat and tears during the roller coaster ride that is the fantasy baseball season. Your fantasy baseball preparation started back in mid-January, when Howard Bender (Twitter: @rotobuzzguy) started sending out those e-mails for the Mock Draft Army. Give your lineup the attention it commands and deserves, and if you are in the playoffs, you shouldn’t need any more incentives. Continue to study your matchups, check out all of Fantasy Alarm’s great tools and use this weekly preview to help you determine which players are worthy of starting in your lineup for the 23^rd week of fantasy baseball.

Without further ado…

Let’s run through another edition of the MLB Weekly Preview for MLB Week 23:

GAME BREAKDOWN GRID

For week 23, 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. Since the start of August, the Twins have a league-worst 23.5 percent strikeout rate when facing a righty.

2. Yunel Escobar and Yangervis Solarte rank third and fourth among hit leaders thus far in September.

3. Starlin Castro is white hot over his last seven games, hitting over.500 three extra-base hits.

4. Since the All-Star break, Aaron Nola is 6-2 with a 3.56 ERA.

5. Shawn Tolleson has the most saves (18) since the All-Star break.

6. Over the last 30 days, Dexter Fowler is in the top-5 for extra-base hits.

7. Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Donaldson lead all of baseball in hits against right-handers. They will face five and four righties respectively.

INTERLEAGUE OUTLOOK

In week 23, the Braves are the unlucky squad that has to face the Toronto Blue Jays. Due to a multitude of injuries, Edwin Encarnacion has spent a lot of his time in the designated hitter role. However, when Toronto goes to a National League venue, Encarnacion will typically slide over to first base, just like he did when the team last played. With this lineup adjustment likely to occur, Chris Colabello and Justin Smoak will serve as the top pinch-hitting options while in Atlanta.

The Yankees will play the Subway Series without Alex Rodriguez in their lineup. When was the last time A-Rod played an inning in the field for the Yankees? The answer is May 23. That’s right. It’s been almost four months since Rodriguez has last logged an inning in the New York infield. There is nothing indicating that this trend will change anytime soon, so owners of the Yankees DH should expect to be without him for the latter part of the scoring week.

STARTING PITCHER RANKINGS

Over the last 15 days, do you know what pitcher has the third highest player rating on the player rater? It’s J.A. Happ. The southpaw in Pittsburgh trails only Clayton Kershaw and Jake Arrieta, but he ranks ahead of pitchers along the likes of Zack Greinke, Madison Bumgarner and Jacob deGrom. Happ was 4-6 with a 4.64 ERA in Seattle before being traded to Pittsburgh. Since that trade, he is 5-1 with a 1.79 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and a 9.37 K/9 in seven starts. He’s been nothing short of dominant in his last two starts, allowing just two earned runs on six hits while posting an incredible 18:0 K/BB ratio in 13 innings.  He has been awesome lately and will look to continue his success against the Cubs on Wednesday. Should you start him in week 23? Continue reading…

Along with J.A. Happ in the player rater for not only the last 15 days, but for the past month or so as well, Cleveland Indians pitcher Josh Tomlin is in the top-5. He is 5-1 with a 2.85 ERA since coming back from shoulder surgery. He has pitched well of late and there is no reason he shouldn’t be able to continue this sort of production moving forward. In 41 innings this season, he has allowed 13 earned runs on 27 hits while posting an 8.34 K/9. If anything is going to halt this type of production, it would be the long ball. The right-hander has been taken deep 10 times, registering a 2.20 HR/9, the highest of his career.

What’s the Verdict?

Here is the verdict on a few players in week 23 and whether or not you should play them:

J.A. Happ— Wed - @CHC (Lester)

As alluded to earlier, Happ has been pitching extremely well of late. However, on Wednesday, he runs into a stiff matchup against the Cubs and a powerful lineup that boasts Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber, just to name a few. While the team is powerful and there is no doubting that, they are prone to striking out in bunches. The Cubs lead all of baseball in strikeouts for the season, they have the eighth most against southpaws and they have the sixth most in the month of September. The strikeout potential is there for Happ on Wednesday and that matchup is worth exploiting.

VERDICT: Yes.

Justin Nicolino— Mon - @NYM (Verrett)

If you ignore his last outing, Nicolino had fired quality starts in five of seven starts. He’s 3-3 with a 3.72 ERA and he could be a solid plug-and-play option if the right matchup presents itself. However, this matchup isn’t one of those. In the month of September, the Mets are tied for the most runs scored, while smacking 18 homers and hitting .294. Also, in the past 30 days, the Mets have been the top offense in terms of weighted runs created (139). Seeing as Nicolino doesn’t exactly have swing-and-miss stuff (2.98 K/9), there isn’t a lot to like with this matchup. The southpaw shouldn’t be in any of your lineups on Monday when he pitches in the Big Apple.

VERDICT: No.

Best of luck in week 23.