It’s time to panic people!! Emilio Bonifacio is the NL Batting Champion, C.C. Sabathia is washed up, Mark Trumbo is going to hit 161 HR’s and it turns out Ryan Braun was nothing but a roided out freak!! If any of those above messages seem premature then chances are there is hope for you yet.
The first week of the fantasy baseball season is in the books. What have we learned?
Nothing.
Well, nothing yet. Could Charlie Blackmon be what Dexter Fowler never was in Colorado?
Sure.
Is this the year that Matt Wieters finally breaks through?
Possibly.
Has the Billy Hamilton era ended before it began in Cincinnati?
Unlikely.
No matter what happened in week 1 it is already time to forget about it. Another week is upon us and new matchups are here for us to exploit. Let’s take a look at some facts before you make a mess in your pants. Here is what you need to know for week 2:
Counting Stats Baby
Always pay attention to which teams play the most games in a given week. This is the perfect way to maximize counting stats such as runs, RBI, wins and strikeouts. Here are the teams that play the most in week 2:
7 Games
Red Sox, White Sox, Indians, Astros & Mariners
6 Games
Orioles, Royals, Blue Jays, Rangers, Twins, Athletics, Rays, Yankees, Angels, Diamondbacks, Braves, Reds, Nationals, Cardinals, Giants, Padres, Pirates, Cubs, Rockies, Marlins, Brewers, Mets & Phillies
5 Games
Dodgers & Tigers
What About The D.H.?
Every week you should be paying attention to the teams who will be gaining and losing the designated hitter. This will have a big impact on your weekly scorecards so be ahead of the game. Here are some storylines for this weeks interleague games:
The Tigers play two interleague series this week first against the Dodgers in L.A. then in San Diego against the Padres. This will be a huge week for those of us who took the gamble that Victor Martinez would be used behind the plate this season. If he can catch a handful of games we will be on our way to having him eligible for later on this season.
The Padres travel to Cleveland this week where we should get a full dose of the hot hitting Seth Smith since all three starters for the Indians are right handed.
The Mets also gain a DH in their series against the Angels next weekend. This means more AB’s for Lucas Duda.
This could be a week in which you sit Jose Abreu. The White Sox go to Colorado and with Adam Dunn, Paul Konerko and Abreu all needing AB’s this could get awfully complicated. I would definitely sit Dunn and Konerko is a no brainer. Abreu is the one you may want to see what other options you have before having him take a seat.
This week's interleague series
San Diego Padres at Cleveland Indians (3 x Monday-Wednesday)
Detroit Tigers at San Diego Padres (3 x Friday-Sunday)
Chicago White Sox at Colorado Rockies (3 x Monday-Wednesday)
Detroit Tigers at Los Angeles Dodgers (2 x Tuesday-Wednesday)
New York Mets at Los Angeles Angels (3 x Friday-Sunday)
Tampa Bay Rays at Cincinnati Reds (3 x Friday-Sunday)
Starting Pitchers
The toughest choices you will make from week to week are what pitchers to use and which to sit on the bench. Lucky for you our staff here at Fantasy Alarm enjoy solving your problems. Not only do we tell you which starters are going twice next week, but we also tell you which starters are worth streaming in week 2 as well.
If that ain’t enough for you I have gone ahead and ranked my top 50 starting pitchers for this coming week. I also went ahead and listed the opposing team and pitcher for each individual matchup as well. You’re welcome you bastards!!
# | Player | Matchup 1 | Matchup 2 |
1 | Max Scherzer (DET) | @Dodgers (Haren) | @Padres (Erlin) |
2 | Gio Gonzalez (WASH) | Marlins (Alvarez) | @Braves (Harang) |
3 | Jose Fernandez (MIA) | @Phillies (Burnett) | |
4 | C.J. Wilson (LAA) | @Astros (Cosart) | Mets (Colon) |
5 | Yu Darvish (TEX) | Astros (Cosart) | |
6 | Michael Wacha (STL) | Reds (Cingrani) | Cubs (Jackson) |
7 | Matt Moore (TB) | @Royals (Vargas) | @Reds (Bailey) |
8 | Homer Bailey (CIN) | @Cardinals (Lynn) | Rays (Moore) |
9 | Felix Hernandez (SEA) | Athletics (Gray) | |
10 | Adam Wainwright (STL) | Cubs (Villanueva) | |
11 | Cliff Lee (PHI) | Brewers (Estrada) | |
12 | Justin Verlander (DET) | @Padres (Kennedy) | |
13 | Stephen Strasburg (WAS) | @Braves (Teheran) | |
14 | Scott Kazmir (OAK) | @Twins (Correia) | @Mariners (Ramirez) |
15 | Madison Bumgarner (SF) | Rockies (De La Rosa) | |
16 | Tony Cingrani (CIN) | @Cardinals (Wacha) | Rays (Cobb) |
17 | A.J. Burnett (PHI) | Marlins (Fernandez) | |
18 | Chris Sale (CWS) | Indians (Masterson) | |
19 | Hiroki Kuroda (NYY) | Orioles (Jimenez) | Red Sox (Lackey) |
20 | Zack Greinke (LAD) | @Diamondbacks (Miley) | |
21 | Masahiro Tanaka (NYY) | Orioles (Gonzalez) | |
22 | James Shields (KC) | @Twins (Nolasco) | |
23 | David Price (TB) | @Reds (Cueto) | |
24 | James Paxton (SEA) | Angels (Santiago) | Athletics (Milone) |
25 | Francisco Liriano (PIT) | @Brewers (Peralta) | |
26 | Gerrit Cole (PIT) | @Cubs (Wood) | |
27 | Jordan Zimmerman (WAS) | Marlins (Koehler) | |
28 | John Lackey (BOS) | Rangers (Scheppers) | @Yankees (Kuroda) |
29 | Danny Salazar (CLE) | Padres (Stults) | |
30 | Matt Cain (SF) | Rockies (Anderson) | |
31 | Shelby Miller (STL) | Reds (Leake) | |
32 | Sonny Gray (OAK) | @Mariners (Hernandez) | |
33 | Corey Kluber (CLE) | Padres (Erlin) | @White Sox (Paulino) |
34 | Chris Archer (TB) | @Royals (Ventura) | |
35 | Jeff Samardzija (CHC) | @Cardinals (Kelly) | |
36 | Ubaldo Jimenez (BAL) | @Yankees (Kuroda) | Blue Jays (Buehrle) |
37 | Matt Garza (MIL) | @Phillies (Hernandez) | |
38 | Lance Lynn (STL) | Reds (Bailey) | |
39 | Zach McAllister (CLE) | Padres (Ross) | @White Sox (Quintana) |
40 | Hyun-Jin Ryu (LAD) | Tigers (Sanchez) | |
41 | Alex Cobb (TB) | @Reds (Cingrani) | |
42 | Jered Weaver (LAA) | Mets (Niese) | |
43 | R.A. Dickey (TOR) | @Orioles (Norris) | |
44 | Felix Doubront (BOS) | Rangers (Perez) | @Yankees (Nova) |
45 | Tim Hudson (SF) | Diamondbacks (Cahill) | Rockies (Chatwood) |
46 | Johnny Cueto (CIN) | Rays (Price) | |
47 | Tim Lincecum (SF) | Diamondbacks (Arroyo) | |
48 | Jon Lester (BOS) | @Yankees (Sabathia) | |
49 | Ivan Nova (NYY) | Orioles (Chen) | Red Sox (Dubront) |
50 | Dan Haren (LAD) | Tigers (Scherzer) | @Diamondbacks (Cahill) |
That will do it for this weeks look ahead. If you have any questions or follow up feel free to hit me up on Twitter (@Jeff_Mans) or post your comments below. Thanks for reading and GOOD LUCK in week 2!!