Sorry if I jinxed us after stating in last week’s MLB Weekly Preview that Week 8 couldn’t be any worse injury wise then Week 7 was. Unfortunately more players have been bitten by that injury bug bastard, including another one as a result of a headfirst slide (Nolan Arenado). For more player updates go to our Player News feed and follow us on twitter @FantasyAlarm. Hopefully the injury madness will quiet down. In the meantime, try and stay positive, as with so many injuries it is likely that every time has been affected, and let's take a look at what is ahead of us and how you can take advantage of it in the upcoming week.

If you have any specific questions, thoughts, etc leave them in the comments section below and you can always tweet me @FantasyNomad if you have any season-long or daily league questions.

Interleague Schedule

Here is a look at which interleague games are on the schedule for Week 9. This week offers up a little more fantasy goodness after a previous week where no teams gained a designated hitter. Sidebar: All those in favor of adding the designated hitter to the National Legaue say, “I.” “I”...gotta believe the pitcher hitting has to soon be on its way out of baseball with the way interleague games are now being scheduled. In the meantime, we will continue give you the scoop on what teams and players are affected by interleague play.

NL Team’s Getting a DH

Braves at Red Sox (2x Wednesday-Thursday) BOS starting two righties so Jordan Schafer might get two starts but he no fantasy upside based on his season is going.

Rockies at Indians (3x Friday-Sunday) Indians rolling with three righties for the weekend series so Corey Dickson could get two starts and with COL facing RHP in five of their six games in Week 9 Charlie Blackmon should start in all but possibly one game of team’s six games.

Padres at White Sox (3x Friday-Sunday) Padres offense needs all the help it can get, but unfortunately the White Sox are starting two lefties in the series (Friday and Sunday), so that puts the hot hitting Seth Smith at slight disadvantage granted he will likely still start but the LHH Will Venable might sit for those games if Carlos Quentin is healthy enough to at least DH(click on Q’s name for injury update).

AL Team’s Losing a DH

Orioles at Brewers (3x Monday-Wednesday)

Red Sox at Braves (3x Monday-Wednesday)

Yankees at Cardinals (3x Monday-Wednesday) Cardinals going with all righties in the matchup which is great news for the hot hitting lefty Brett Gardner (RHH Alfonso Soraino is again the odd man out this week based on these matchups).

Rangers at Nationals (3x Friday-Sunday) the last thing the Rangers need is to have their pitchers bat after all the injuries their staff as incurred on the year.

Total Games This Week

Playing Six Games:

AL: White Sox, Yankees, and Rays

NL: Cubs, Rockies, Marlins, Brewers, Padres, and Nationals

Playing Seven Games:

AL: Angels, Orioles, Red sox, Tigers, Astros, Royals, Twins, A’s, Mariners, Rangers, and Blue Jays

NL: Diamondbacks, Braves, Reds, Dodgers, Mets, Phillies, Pirates, Giants, and Cardinals

Click here for a look back at the Week That Was by Glenn Colten

Loaded Lefty or Righty Matchups

TeamsGames vs LHPGames vs RHPNotes
Angels34 
Braves26 
DBacks24Wed TBD
Orioles14 
Red Sox34 
White Sox15 
Cubs06 
Reds34 
Indians33 
Rockies15 
Tigers34 
Astros24 
Royals24 
Dodgers15Sat TBD
Marlins06 
Brewers24 
Twins15Sun TBD
Yankees06 
Mets16 
Athletics24 
Phillies25 
Pirates25 
Padres33 
Mariners34 
Giants16 
Cardinals16 
Rays23Fri TBD
Rangers07 
Blue Jays24 
Nationals06 

Week 9 Starting Pitcher Rankings

You can click on the players in blue to be sent to their player page at FantasyAlarm.com for the latest updates, player stats, and much, much more. Also, click here for a look at Two-Start Pitchers for Week 9  by Ivar G. Anderson

  1. Yu Darvish (TEX)  Tue-@MIN (Hughes), Sun-@WSH (Roark)

  2. Zack Greinke (LAD)  Tue-CIN (Simon), Sun-PIT (Volquez)

  3. Max Scherzer (DET) Mon-@OAK (Milone), Sat-@SEA (Young)

  4. Clayton Kershaw (LAD) Wed-CIN (Bailey)

  5. Masahiro Tanaka (NYY)  Sat-MIN (Correia)

  6. Chris Sale (CWS) Tue-CLE (Masterson)

  7. Drew Hutchison (TOR)  Mon-TB (Bedard), Sat-KC (Ventura)

  8. Jered Weaver (LAA) Tue-@SEA (Elias), Sun-@OAK (Gray)

  9. Johnny Cueto (CIN) Mon @LAD (Ryu), Sat-@ARI (McCarthy)

  10. Stephen Strasburg (WSH) Fri-TEX (Lewis)

  11. Jeff Samardzija (CHC)  Mon-@SF (Cain), Sun-@MIL (Lohse)

  12. Sonny Gray (OAK) Tue-DET (Smyly), Sun-LAA (Weaver)

  13. Mark Buehrle (TOR)  Tue-TB (Cobb), Sun-KC (Guthrie)

  14. Michael Wacha (STL)  Mon-NYY (Whitley), Sat-SF (Cain)

  15. Cole Hamels (PHI) Tue COL (De La Rosa), Sun-NYM (Niese)

  16. Adam Wainwright (StL)  Fri-SF (Bumgarner)

  17. Jonathon Niese (NYM)  Tue-PIT (Volquez), Sun-@PHI (Hamels)

  18. C.J. Wilson (LAA)  Wed-@SEA (Hernandez)

  19. Hyun-Jin Ryu (LAD)  Mon-CIN (Cueto), Sat-PIT (Cumpton)

  20. Felix Hernandez (SEA)  Wed-LAA (Wilson)

  21. Jose Quintana (CWS)  Mon-CLE (Tomlin), Sun-SD (Ross)

  22. Drew Smyly (DET)  Tue-@OAK (Gray), Sun-@SEA (Elias)

  23. Madison Bumgarner (SF) Fri-@STL (Wainwright)

  24. Tony Cingrani (CIN)  Thu-@ARI (Collmenter)

  25. Jon Lester (BOS) Tue-@ATL (Harang), Sun-TB (Bedard)

  26. A.J. Burnett (PHI)  Fri-NYM (Montero)

  27. David Price (TB) Fri-@BOS (TBD)

  28. Tyson Ross (SD) Mon-@ARI (McCarthy), Sun-@CWS (Quintana)

  29. Kyle Lohse (MIL) Mon-BAL (Tillman), Sun-CHC (Samardzija)

  30. Lance Lynn (STL) Tue-NYY (Phelps), Sun-SF (Hudson)

  31. Tim Hudson (SF) Tue-CHC (Arrieta), Sun-@STL (Lynn)

  32. Ervin Santana (ATL) Mon-BOS (Buchholz), Sat-@MIA (Wolf)

  33. Matt Cain (SF)  Mon-CHC (Samardzija), Sat-@STL (Wacha)

  34. Wade Miley (ARI)  Tue-SD (Stults), Sun-CIN (Simon)

  35. Doug Fister (WSH) Sat-TEX (Tepesch)

  36. Tyler Skaggs (LAA) Mon-@SEA (Young), Sat-@OAK (Milone)

  37. Brandon McCarthy (ARI) Mon-SD (Ross), Sat-CIN (Cueto)

  38. Tim Lincecum (SF) Wed-CHC (Jackson)

  39. Wily Peralta (MIL) Fri-CHC (Wood)

  40. Alfredo Simon (CIN) Tue-@LAD (Greinke), Sun-@ARI (Miley)

  41. Yovani Gallardo (MIL) Sat-CHC (Hammel)

  42. Hisashi Iwakuma (SEA) Fri-DET (Verlander)

  43. Jacob deGrom (NYM) Mon-PIT (Cumpton), Sat-@PHI (Kendrick)

  44. Ian Kennedy (SD) Sat-@CWS (Rienzo)

  45. Yordano Ventura (KC) Mon-HOU (McHugh), Sat-@TOR (Hutchison)

  46. Shelby Miller (STL) Wed-NYY (Kuroda)

  47. Julio Teheran (ATL) Fri-@MIA (Turner)

  48. Justin Verlander (DET) Fri-@SEA (Iwakuma)

  49. Alex Cobb (TB) Tue-@TOR (Buehrle)

  50. Marco Estrada (MIL) Wed-BAL(Norris)

  51. Francisco Liriano (PIT) Fri-@LAD (Beckett)

  52. Anibal Sanchez (DET)  Wed-@OAK (Kazmir)

  53. Tanner Roark (WSH)  Mon-MIA (Eovaldi), Sun-TEX (Darvish)

  54. Chris Tillman (BAL) Mon-@MIL (Lohse), Sat-@HOU (McHugh)

  55. Scott Kazmir (OAK)  Wed-DET (Sanchez)

  56. Corey Kluber (CLE) Fri-COL (Nicasio)

  57. James Shields (KC) Thu-@TOR (Dickey)

  58. R.A. Dickey (TOR) Thu-KC (Shields)

  59. Gerrit Cole (PIT) Thu-@LAD (Haren)

  60. John Lackey (BOS) Wed-ATL (Floyd)

  61. Mike Minor (ATL) Thu-@BOS (Peavy)

  62. Aaron Harang (ATL) Tue-BOS (Lester), Sun-@MIA (Eovaldi)

  63. Ubaldo Jimenez (BAL) Thu-@HOU (Keuchel)

  64. Nick Tepesch (TEX) Mon-@MIN (Correia), Sat-@WSH (Fister)

  65. David Phelps (NYY) Tue-@STL (Lynn)

My Top Streaming Options for Week 9

(Pitchers must be less than 60% owned to qualify).

  1. Jonathon Niese (NYM)  Sun-@PHI (Hamels)- Niese owns a 2.77 ERA with 11 strikeouts in two starts (13 IP) this season versus the Phillies.

  2. Jose Quintana (CWS)  Mon-CLE (Tomlin), Sun-SD (Ross)-Quintana held the Indians to one run on five hits and two walks with six strikeouts over six innings when he faced them back on April 13th and the Padres have the worst overall offense in all baseball.

  3. Brandon McCarthy (ARI) Mon-SD (Ross)- Captain Obvious here again to tell you the Padres offense is terrible outside of Seth Smith and McCarthy has allowed three or fewer runs in six of his last seven starts. Add to that, McCarthy’s 4.6 BB% is sixth best among NL starters this season and his 4.58 K/BB rate is ninth best ahead of some very big names like Johnny Cueto, Adam Wainwright, and Madison Bumgarner, to name a few.

  4. Drew Smyly (DET)  Sun-@SEA (Elias) Smyly has a two start week, but his start on Tuesday in Oakland versus the hot-hitting A’s is not an ideal matchup as he will also be opposed by their ace Sonny Gray. The Mariners lineup has quite a few lefties in it and Smyly has limited LHH to a .105 average on the season, which is tops among all starters (minimum of 35 innings pitched). (Side note: Smyly should remain in the rotation going forward after spending the beginning of the season bouncing back-and-forth between starting and pitching out of the pen as the Tigers wanted to ease him into the rotation to start the season as a way to limit his innings after spending most of last season pitching in relief).

  5. Tyler Skaggs (LAA) Mon-@SEA (Young)-Skaggs has seen a slight uptick in strikeouts and the Mariners are in the top five among AL teams in strikeouts this season.

Best of Luck and remember to view our Daily Fantasy Baseball Playbook if you play DFS, post your comments or questions below, and/or hit me up on twitter @FantasyNomad.