.jpg)
Welcome to the newest edition of the Weekly MLB Preview!
This article is an invaluable tool for the hardcore fantasy baseball owner, as it will assist you with mapping out the week ahead, pointing out tips for roster construction and matchups to exploit. Below you’ll find a wealth of information, ranging from a game breakdown grid to an interleague matchup preview. We’ve done all the leg work so you can sit back and focus on the most important thing – winning!
GAME BREAKDOWN GRID FOR WEEK 3 (4/18-4/24)
| TEAM | # GAMES | HOME | AWAY | VS LEFT | VS RIGHT |
| Orioles | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Yankees | 6 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| Red Sox | 7 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Blue Jays | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 7 |
| Rays | 6 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| Tigers | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Royals | 6 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| White Sox | 7 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Indians | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Twins | 7 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| Angels | 7 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Mariners | 6 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 5 |
| Athletics | 6 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 5 |
| Rangers | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Astros | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| Nationals | 7 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 5 |
| Marlins | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 7 |
| Mets | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Braves | 6 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Phillies | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Cardinals | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Pirates | 6 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| Brewers | 7 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Reds | 7 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 5 |
| Cubs | 7 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 5 |
| Dodgers | 6 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 5 |
| Giants | 7 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Padres | 6 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Rockies | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| Diamondbacks | 7 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
Analysis: At this point in the season we have small sample sizes to draw definitive conclusions from, but the following are some statistics which owners should be made aware of off the bat.
- The San Francisco Giants currently lead the majors with 50 runs scored and 17 home runs, and have a seven-game homestand during Week 3. Additionally, the two staffs which they face (Arizona and Miami) are both underperforming compared to expectations. The Diamondbacks and Marlins are currently 10th and 17th in runs scored, respectively.
- The Houston Astros lead the majors with nine stolen bases. They take on Cole Hamels next week, who finished seventh worst in baseball last season with 24 stolen bases allowed. Expect them to get the green light early and often against the lanky lefty.
- The Atlanta Braves are second worst in the majors against LHP with a .153 AVG, and face three lefties next week in Alex Wood, Clayton Kershaw and Steven Matz. Expect their struggles to continue.
- Although reasoning suggests otherwise, the Chicago Cubs scored more runs in away games (363) than home games (326) last season. They clearly aren’t bothered by being on the road, and face a seven-game stretch away from Wrigley. The Cubs also face the backend of the St.Louis Cardinals staff, and the Cincinnati Reds. Don’t downgrade them.
INTERLEAGUE OUTLOOK
| AWAY TEAM | HOME TEAM | # GAMES | DH? | PLAYER(S) IMPACTED |
| Twins (2), Brewers (2) | Brewers (2), Twins (2) | 4 | Yes (2), No (2) | Byung-ho Park, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Ramon Flores |
| Twins (3) | Nationals (3) | 3 | No (3) | Byung-ho Park, Matt den Dekker, Stephen Drew |
Analysis: The Minnesota Twins draw the short end of the stick this upcoming week, losing their DH for five of the next seven games. Already off to an incredibly slow start, this team can ill-afford to lose one of its most powerful hitters. While Byung-Ho Park is batting just .143 with one HR to his credit, his presence will surely be missed. The Brewers and Twins gain a DH, but none of the options are particularly appealing from either season-long or DFS purposes as an addition.
STARTING PITCHER RANKINGS
Note: I’ve broken down the rankings below into two separate tables, which is a change from last season. The first table will contain rankings for the top 25 two-start pitchers of the week, and the following table will rank the top 35 one-start pitchers of the week. Enjoy!
| RANK | PITCHER | MATCHUP 1 | MATCHUP 2 |
| 1 | Noah Syndergaard | Phillies (Eickhoff) | Braves (Wisler) |
| 2 | Stephen Strasburg | Marlins (Conley) | Twins (Santana) |
| 3 | Francisco Liriano | Padres (Rea) | Diamondbacks (Ray) |
| 4 | Jose Fernandez | Nationals (Roark) | Giants (Peavy) |
| 5 | J.A. Happ | Red Sox (Buchholz) | Athletics (Gray) |
| 6 | Carlos Rodon | Angels (Santiago) | Rangers (Holland) |
| 7 | Michael Pineda | Athletics (Graveman) | Rays (Smyly) |
| 8 | Jerad Eickhoff | Mets (Syndergaard) | Brewers (Peralta) |
| 9 | Tanner Roark | Marlins (Fernandez) | Twins (Hughes) |
| 10 | John Lackey | Cardinals (Leake) | Reds (Simon) |
| 11 | Carlos Carrasco | Mariners (Miley) | Tigers (Greene) |
| 12 | Marcus Stroman | Orioles (Jiminez) | Athletics (Graveman) |
| 13 | Hector Santiago | White Sox (Rodon) | Mariners (Iwakuma) |
| 14 | Chase Anderson | Twins (Hughes) | Phillies (Morton) |
| 15 | Phil Hughes | Brewers (Anderson) | Nationals (Roark) |
| 16 | Ervin Santana | Brewers (Peralta) | Nationals (Strasburg) |
| 17 | Drew Smyly | Red Sox (Kelly) | Yankees (Pineda) |
| 18 | Alex Wood | Braves (Wisler) | Rockies (De La Rosa) |
| 19 | A.J. Griffin | Astros (Feldman) | White Sox (Latos) |
| 20 | Mat Latos | Angels (Shoemaker) | Rangers (Griffin) |
| 21 | Mike Leake | Cubs (Lackey) | Padres (Rea) |
| 22 | Jake Peavy | Diamondbacks (De La Rosa) | Marlins (Fernandez) |
| 23 | Raisel Iglesias | Rockies (De La Rosa) | Cubs (Hammel) |
| 24 | Shane Greene | Royals (Ventura) | Indians (Carrasco) |
| 25 | Matt Shoemaker | White Sox (Latos) | Mariners (Miley) |
Analysis: There is a strong chance that owners will be seeing plenty of Syndergaard and Strasburg atop the pitching ranks, as they continue to feast on the Phillies and Braves. I selected “Thor” as the top choice this week, mainly in part since Strasburg faces the Marlins, who occasionally provide spurts of offense.
Look for Jose Fernandez to start returning to form in Week 3, especially if the team stops babying him so much with watching his pitch count with an eagle eye. Carlos Rodon’s matchups aren’t particularly stellar, but the young lefty has enough upside to post six-plus strikeouts per game, while the White Sox offense has shown signs of life.
| RANK | PITCHER | MATCHUP 1 |
| 1 | Clayton Kershaw | Braves (Perez) |
| 2 | Matt Harvey | Braves (Norris) |
| 3 | Max Scherzer | Marlins (Koehler) |
| 4 | Jake Arrieta | Reds (Finnegan) |
| 5 | Chris Sale | Angels (Richards) |
| 6 | Madison Bumgarner | Diamondbacks (Grienke) |
| 7 | David Price | Rays (Odorizzi) |
| 8 | Gio Gonzalez | Twins (Gibson) |
| 9 | Michael Wacha | Padres (Erlin) |
| 10 | Gerrit Cole | Padres (Pomeranz) |
| 11 | Luis Severino | Athletics (Hill) |
| 12 | Aaron Sanchez | Athletics (Bassitt) |
| 13 | Jon Lester | Reds (Moscot) |
| 14 | Steven Matz | Braves (Jhoulys Chacin) |
| 15 | Felix Hernandez | Angels (Tropeano) |
| 16 | Adam Wainwright | Padres (Cashner) |
| 17 | Aaron Nola | Brewers (Davies) |
| 18 | Hisashi Iwakuma | Angels (Santiago) |
| 19 | Vince Velasquez | Mets (Verrett) |
| 20 | Danny Salazar | Mariners (Walker) |
| 21 | Jeremy Hellickson | Mets (Colon) |
| 22 | Chris Archer | Red Sox (Porcello) |
| 23 | Cole Hamels | Astros (Fister) |
| 24 | Jose Quintana | Angels (Weaver) |
| 25 | Johnny Cueto | Diamondbacks (Miller) |
| 26 | Dallas Keuchel | Rangers (Perez) |
| 27 | Jeff Samardzija | Marlins (Cosart) |
| 28 | Masahiro Tanaka | Rays (Moore) |
| 29 | Garrett Richards | White Sox (Sale) |
| 30 | Taijuan Walker | Indians (Salazar) |
| 31 | Jordan Zimmermann | Royals (Kennedy) |
| 32 | Bartolo Colon | Phillies (Hellickson) |
| 33 | Ross Stripling | Braves (Teheran) |
| 34 | Jimmy Nelson | Twins (Milone) |
| 35 | Drew Pomeranz | Pirates (Cole) |
| 36 | Zack Greinke | Giants (Bumgarner) |
| 37 | Rich Hill | Yankees (Severino) |
| 38 | James Shields | Pirates (Locke) |
| 39 | Justin Verlander | Indians (Tomlin) |
| 40 | Patrick Corbin | Pirates (Niese) |
| 41 | Nick Tropeano | Mariners (Hernandez) |
| 42 | Andrew Cashner | Cardinals (Wainwright) |
| 43 | Matt Moore | Yankees (Tanaka) |
| 44 | Sonny Gray | Blue Jays (Happ) |
| 45 | Corey Kluber | Tigers (Sanchez) |
| 46 | Mike Fiers | Red Sox (Kelly) |
| 47 | Jhoulys Chacin | Mets (Matz) |
| 48 | Juan Nicasio | Diamondbacks (De La Rosa) |
Analysis: There are no large surprises amongst the top 10 selections this week, but the 11-20 tier is filled with pitchers who have raised a few eyebrows this season, namely Aaron Sanchez and Vince Velasquez. Sanchez has provided a wonderful complimentary piece in the Blue Jays rotation and has a plus matchup against the Oakland Athletics, who currently rank in the bottom five of most offensive categories. Velasquez has been on fire to start the season, having pitched 15 innings without allowing a run while striking out 25 batters in the process. He faces the Mets for the second time this season, and looks to have a repeat performance against the struggling NL champions. The third tier is filled with above-average pitchers facing difficult matchups (such as Chris Archer against the Red Sox, or Cole Hamels against the Astros), while the fourth has elite talent who has started slow at the beginning of the season (Grienke and Kluber).