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!! 

#PlayerMatchup 1Matchup 2
1Max Scherzer (DET)@Dodgers (Haren)@Padres (Erlin)
2Gio Gonzalez (WASH)Marlins (Alvarez)@Braves (Harang)
3Jose Fernandez (MIA)@Phillies (Burnett) 
4C.J. Wilson (LAA)@Astros (Cosart)Mets (Colon)
5Yu Darvish (TEX)Astros (Cosart) 
6Michael Wacha (STL)Reds (Cingrani)Cubs (Jackson)
7Matt Moore (TB)@Royals (Vargas)@Reds (Bailey)
8Homer Bailey (CIN)@Cardinals (Lynn)Rays (Moore)
9Felix Hernandez (SEA)Athletics (Gray) 
10Adam Wainwright (STL)Cubs (Villanueva) 
11Cliff Lee (PHI)Brewers (Estrada) 
12Justin Verlander (DET)@Padres (Kennedy) 
13Stephen Strasburg (WAS)@Braves (Teheran) 
14Scott Kazmir (OAK)@Twins (Correia)@Mariners (Ramirez)
15Madison Bumgarner (SF)Rockies (De La Rosa) 
16Tony Cingrani (CIN)@Cardinals (Wacha)Rays (Cobb)
17A.J. Burnett (PHI)Marlins (Fernandez) 
18Chris Sale (CWS)Indians (Masterson) 
19Hiroki Kuroda (NYY)Orioles (Jimenez)Red Sox (Lackey)
20Zack Greinke (LAD)@Diamondbacks (Miley) 
21Masahiro Tanaka (NYY)Orioles (Gonzalez) 
22James Shields (KC)@Twins (Nolasco) 
23David Price (TB)@Reds (Cueto) 
24James Paxton (SEA)Angels (Santiago)Athletics (Milone)
25Francisco Liriano (PIT)@Brewers (Peralta) 
26Gerrit Cole (PIT)@Cubs (Wood) 
27Jordan Zimmerman (WAS)Marlins (Koehler) 
28John Lackey (BOS)Rangers (Scheppers)@Yankees (Kuroda)
29Danny Salazar (CLE)Padres (Stults) 
30Matt Cain (SF)Rockies (Anderson) 
31Shelby Miller (STL)Reds (Leake) 
32Sonny Gray (OAK)@Mariners (Hernandez) 
33Corey Kluber (CLE)Padres (Erlin)@White Sox (Paulino)
34Chris Archer (TB)@Royals (Ventura) 
35Jeff Samardzija (CHC)@Cardinals (Kelly) 
36Ubaldo Jimenez (BAL)@Yankees (Kuroda)Blue Jays (Buehrle)
37Matt Garza (MIL)@Phillies (Hernandez) 
38Lance Lynn (STL)Reds (Bailey) 
39Zach McAllister (CLE)Padres (Ross)@White Sox (Quintana)
40Hyun-Jin Ryu (LAD)Tigers (Sanchez) 
41Alex Cobb (TB)@Reds (Cingrani) 
42Jered Weaver (LAA)Mets (Niese) 
43R.A. Dickey (TOR)@Orioles (Norris) 
44Felix Doubront (BOS)Rangers (Perez)@Yankees (Nova)
45Tim Hudson (SF)Diamondbacks (Cahill)Rockies (Chatwood)
46Johnny Cueto (CIN)Rays (Price) 
47Tim Lincecum (SF)Diamondbacks (Arroyo) 
48Jon Lester (BOS)@Yankees (Sabathia) 
49Ivan Nova (NYY)Orioles (Chen)Red Sox (Dubront)
50Dan 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!!