I’d like to wish all of our faithful readers here at Fantasy Alarm a very Happy Easter holiday. Hopefully all of that talking you down off the ledge a few weeks back has paid off for you now that guys like Emilio Bonifacio and Andre Brown (remember opening day?) have cooled down.

This week will be the first that will look like an actual MLB week throughout the summer. There are not nearly as many day games and every team is playing at least six games this week. With that let’s get you prepared for week four in fantasy baseball.

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 worth streaming next week, but we also tell you this weeks two start pitchers 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
1Jose Fernandez (MIA)@Braves (Wood)@Mets (Gee)
2Yu Darvish (TEX)@Athletics (Straily)@Mariners (Hernendez)
3Felix Hernandez (SEA)Astros (Keuchel)Rangers (Darvish)
4Cliff Lee (PHI)@Dodgers (Maholm)@Diamondbacks (Arroyo)
5Adam Wainwright (STL)@Mets (Gee)Pirates (Volquez)
6Justin Verlander (DET)White Sox (Sale)@Twins (Pelfrey)
7Masahiro Tanaka (NYY)@Red Sox (Lester)Angels (Richards)
8Chris Sale (CWS)@Tigers (Verlander)@Rays (Odorizzi)
9Andrew Cashner (SD)@Brewers (Peralta)@Nationals (Roark)
10Stephen Strasburg (WAS)Padres (Erlin) 
11Max Scherzer (DET)White Sox (Quintana) 
12Anibal Sanchez (DET)White Sox (Danks)@Twins (Hughes)
13David Price (TB)Twins (Gibson) 
14Julio Teheran (ATL)Marlins (Koehler)Reds (Cueto)
15Zack Greinke (LAD)Phillies (Burnett) 
16Michael Wacha (STL)@Mets (Niese) 
17Johnny Cueto (CIN)@Pirates (Volquez)@Braves (Teheran)
18James Shields (TB)@Indians (Salazar)@Orioles (Gonzalez)
19Hyun-Jin Ryu (LAD)Phillies (Hamels)Rockies (De La Rosa)
20Jon Lester (BOS)Yankees (Tanaka)@Blue Jays (Dickey)
21Dan Straily (OAK)Rangers (Darvish)@Astros (Keuchel)
22Francisco Liriano (PIT)Reds (Leake)@Cardinals (Lyons)
23Madison Bumgarner (SF)@Rockies (Morales) 
24Danny Salazar (CLE)Royals (Shields)@Giants (Vogelsong)
25Cole Hamels (PHI)@Dodgers (Ryu)@D-Backs (McCarthy)
26Scott Kazmir (OAK)@Astros (Oberholtzer) 
27Gio Gonzalez (WAS)Angels (Weaver) 
28Sonny Gray (OAK)Rangers (Perez) 
29Jordan Zimmarman(WAS)Padres (Stults) 
30Hiroki Kuroda (NYY)Angels (Wilson) 
31Tommy Milone (OAK)Rangers (Scheppers)@Astros (Feldman)
32Yovani Gallardo (MIL)Padres (Kennedy) 
33Matt Garza (Brewers)Cubs (Villanueva) 
34Shelby Miller (STL)Pirates (Cole) 
35Clay Buchholz (BOS)Orioles (Chen)@Blue Jays (Morrow)
36Gerrit Cole (Pirates)@Cardinals (Miller) 
37Lance Lynn (STL)@Mets (Colon) 
38A.J. Burnett (PHI)@Dodgers (Greinke) 
39Alex Wood (ATL)Marlins (Fernandez) 
40Marco Estrada (MIL)Cubs (Hammel) 
41Yordano Ventura (Royals)@Orioles (Jimenez) 
42Jered Weaver (Angels)@Nationals (Gonzalez) 
43Jake Odorizzi (TB)Twins (Pelfrey)White Sox (Sale)
44R.A. Dickey (TOR)Orioles (Gonzalez)Red Sox (Lester)
45Tony Cingrani (CIN)@Pirates (Rodriguez) 
46Jeff Samardzija (CHC)Diamondbacks (Miley) 
47Jenrry Mejia (NYM)Cardinals (Lyons)Marlins (Koehler)
48Wily Peralta (MIL)Padres (Cashner)Cubs (Wood)
49Matt Cain (SF)@Rockies (Chatwood) 
50Homer Bailey (CIN)@Braves (Santana) 

 

What The D.H.?

It is always important to look at the interleague games for the week ahead. This week we've got two American League teams visitin National League Ballparks. Here are the matchups:

Los Angeles Angels at Washington Nationals (3 x - Monday-Wednesday)

Cleveland Indians at San Francisco Giants (3 x - Friday-Sunday)

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 4:

7 Games 

Orioles, Red Sox, Indians, White Sox, Tigers, Astros, Royals, Athletics, Nationals, Cardinals, Padres, Pirates, Phillies, Mets, Dodgers, Reds, Cubs & Diamondbacks

6 Games

Angels, Twins, Yankees, Mariners, Rays, Rangers, Blue Jays, Braves, Rockies, Marlins, Brewers & Giants

Other Trends

The Orioles, Braves and Mets play all of their games this week against RHP

The Yankees play four games against left handed starters

Braves starter Mike Minor is due to come off the disabled list this week and could replace either David Hale in the rotation

Mets starter Jenrry Meija is questionable for his starts this week due to a finger blister on his pitching hand