Welcome back to the best damn fantasy baseball preview in the world. Alright maybe I am overselling myself a little bit here but you get the idea. After two weeks what have we learned? Well honestly not that much because it is still way early people. But there are some trends that are developing that we should be aware of. What are these trends? Well I am glad that you asked!
- Joe Nathan will be fine. He struggled last April too and wound up being once again one of the best closers in baseball. Don’t sell him short!
- Masahiro Tanaka is one of the best pitchers in MLB…for now. There is so little advanced scouting on him that hitters are having a tough time figuring out his location. But they will and his numbers will come back down to earth. Sell high by the end of the month if you can.
- Jose Abreu is legit. He’s going to hit 28-32 HR’s and drive in 90+ runs this season. He will be a second round pick in 2015.
That is about it for now. In the coming weeks we will discuss the progress of Billy Hamilton, how much PED’s aided Ryan Braun, great bullpen arms who will wind up closing this season and so much more.
Now it is time to look ahead to week 3 in fantasy baseball. We’ll start out by looking at what teams will feel the impact of losing and having to use the designated hitter next week.
This Weeks Interleague Series
Chicago Cubs at New York Yankees (2 x Tuesday & Wednesday)
Seattle Mariners at Miami Marlins (3 x Friday-Sunday)
The Cubs will be able to use the likes of Justin Ruggiano and Nate Schierholtz in their lineup by gaining the DH while the Yankees will have to decide how much they need Alfonso Soriano’s bat in the lineup.
The Mariners will have plenty of bats to use off the bench as Logan Morrison, Corey Hart and Stephan Romero will fight for at-bats in the National League park.
Counting Stats
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 3:
7 Games
Braves, Rockies, Brewers, Phillies, Pirates, Padres, Cardinals, Nationals, Mariners, Rays & Rangers
6 Games
Diamondbacks, Reds, Dodgers, Marlins, Mets, Giants, Red Sox, Orioles, White Sox, Indians, Tigers, Astros, Royals, Angels, Twins, Yankees, Athletics, Blue Jays
5 Games
Cubs
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 3 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 | Stephen Strasburg (WAS) | @Marlins (Koehler) | Cardinals (S. Miller) |
| 2 | Cliff Lee (PHI) | Braves (Hale) | @Rockies (Nicasio) |
| 3 | Masahiro Tanaka (NYY) | Cubs (Hammel) | @Rays (Odorizzi) |
| 4 | Gerrit Cole (PIT) | @Reds (Leake) | Brewers (Estrada) |
| 5 | Jordan Zimmerman (WAS) | @Marlins (Hand) | Cardinals (Lynn) |
| 6 | Yu Darvish (TEX) | Mariners (Hernandez) | |
| 7 | Felix Hernandez (SEA) | @Rangers (Darvish) | |
| 8 | Jose Fernandez (MIA) | Nationals (Roark) | |
| 9 | Max Scherzer (DET) | Angels (Weaver) | |
| 10 | Adam Wainwright (STL) | @Nationals (Jordan) | |
| 11 | Homer Bailey (CIN) | Pirates (Rodriguez) | @Cubs (Jackson) |
| 12 | Shelby Miller (STL) | @Brewers (Estrada) | @Nationals (Strasburg) |
| 13 | Chris Sale (CHW) | Red Sox (Lester) | |
| 14 | Yordano Ventura (KC) | @Astros (Harrell) | Twins (Hughes) |
| 15 | Anibal Sanchez (DET) | Indians (McAllister) | Angels (Santiago) |
| 16 | Brandon Morrow (TOR) | @Twins (Hughes) | @Indians (McAllister) |
| 17 | David Price (TB) | @Orioles (Tillman) | |
| 18 | Tony Cingrani (CIN) | @Cubs (Villanueva) | |
| 19 | Zack Greinke (LAD) | @Giants (Bumgarner) | |
| 20 | Madison Bumgarner (SF) | Dodgers (Greinke) | |
| 21 | Gio Gonzalez (WAS) | Cardinals (Wacha) | |
| 22 | Chris Archer (TB) | @Orioles (Chen) | Yankees (Nova) |
| 23 | Justin Verlander (DET) | Indians (Masterson) | |
| 24 | James Shields (KC) | Twins (Nolasco) | |
| 25 | Lance Lynn (STL) | @Brewers (Garza) | @Nationals (Zimmerman) |
| 26 | Marco Estrada (MIL) | Cardinals (Miller) | @Pirates (Cole) |
| 27 | Francisco Liriano (PIT) | @Reds (Cueto) | |
| 28 | Scott Kazmir (OAK) | Astros (Oberholtzer) | |
| 29 | Johnny Cueto (CIN) | Pirates (Liriano) | |
| 30 | Zack Wheeler (NYM) | @Diamondbacks (Arroyo) | Braves (Hale) |
| 31 | Jake Peavy (BOS) | @White Sox (Johnson) | Orioles (Chen) |
| 32 | Sonny Gray (OAK) | Astros (Cosart) | |
| 33 | A.J. Burnett (PHI) | Braves (Teheran) | |
| 34 | Ervin Santana (ATL) | @Phillies (Hernandez) | @Mets (Colon) |
| 35 | Matt Cain (SF) | @Padres (Ross) | |
| 36 | Michael Wacha (STL) | @Nationals (Gonzalez) | |
| 37 | Jake Odorizzi (TB) | @Orioles (Gonzalez) | Yankees (Tanaka) |
| 38 | Danny Salazar (Indians) | @Tigers (Porcello) | |
| 39 | Yovani Gallardo (Brewers) | @Pirates (Volquez) | |
| 40 | Hector Santiago (LAA) | Athletics (Chavez) | @Tigers (Sanchez) |
| 41 | Tim Lincecum (SF) | Dodgers (Beckett) | @Padres (Stults) |
| 42 | R.A. Dickey (TOR) | @Twins (Pelfrey) | |
| 43 | Jeff Samardzija (CHC) | Reds (Simon) | |
| 44 | C.J. Wilson (LAA) | @Tigers (Smyly) | |
| 45 | Julio Teheran (ATL) | @Phillies (Burnett) | |
| 46 | Zach McAllister (CLE) | @Tigers (Sanchez) | Blue Jays (Morrow) |
| 47 | Andrew Cashner (SD) | Rockies (De La Rosa) | |
| 48 | Alex Wood (ATL) | @Phillies (Pettibone) | |
| 49 | Jesse Chavez (OAK) | @Angels (Santiago) | Astros (Harrell) |
| 50 | Josh Beckett (LAD) | @Giants (Lincecum) | Diamondbacks (Arroyo) |
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 3!!