Happy 4th of July weekend to everyone. Hope you have a safe and enjoyable one. For the Nomad crew we have the ribs marinated and will be putting them on the grill after we finish indulging in our first ever time making homemade chicken ‘n waffles. We had them for the first time in Raleigh, NC last week, at a place called Chicken and Honey, and have to say I was surprised how good they were. So, I decided to try and make them at home. Hopefully they, and this week’s MLB Weekly Preview, have everyone licking their chops. Enjoy your long-weekend and good luck in Week 15.
Interleague Schedule
Here is a look at which inter-league games are on tap for Week 15 highlighting which National League teams and players will benefit from the addition of the designated hitter to their lineup and who in the American League will be affected by the loss of the DH.
NL Team’s Getting a DH
Giants @ Athletics (Tuesday)
Dodgers @ Tigers (2x Tuesday-Wednesday)-The banged up HanRam may get a chance to DH.
Nationals @ Orioles (2x Wednesday-Thursday)-solves the whole position dilemma that was created by the return of Ryan Zimmerman and Bryce Harper, at least for two games, as Zimmerman will get to DH allowing Danny Espinosa to start at second and Anthony Rendon at third.
AL Team’s Losing a DH
Orioles @ Nationals (2x Monday-Tuesday)-those jumping out to grab the red-hot Steve Pearce may want to throw some caution to the wind starting him in a weekly league.
Twins @ Rockies (3x Friday-Sunday)-Chris Parmelee likely odd man out, at least for two games.
Athletics @ Giants (2x Wednesday-Thursday)
Click here for a look back at the Week That Was by Glenn Colten
Total Games This Week
Playing Eight Games:
NL: Cubs and Reds
Playing Seven Games:
AL: Angels, Orioles, Red Sox, White Sox, Indians, Royals, Twins, Yankees, A’s, and Rangers
NL: Braves, Brewers, Mets, Phillies, Pirates, Padres, Giants, Cardinals, and Nationals
Playing Six Games:
AL: Tigers, Astros, Rays, and Blue Jays
NL: DBacks, Rockies, Marlins, and Dodgers
Click here for a look at Two-Start Pitchers for Week 15 by Ivar G. Anderson
Loaded Lefty or Righty Matchups
| Teams | Games vs LHP | Games vs RHP | Notes |
| Angels | 1 | 6 | Plenty of playing time for LHH Kole Calhoun and should help LHH Josh Hamilton to continue his trend upward fantasy wise |
| Braves | 2 | 5 | All on road |
| DBacks | 2 | 4 | |
| Orioles | 2 | 5 | |
| Red Sox | 3 | 4 | |
| White Sox | 1 | 6 | Plus for LHH Adam Dunn, Conor Gillaspie, and Alejandro De Aza. |
| Cubs | 2 | 5 | 5 of 8 games are on the road; LHH C John Baker, 3B Luis Valbuena, OF Chris Coghlan, Nate Schierholtz, and Ryan Sweeney get edge on PT RHH over C Welington Castillo, 3B Mike Olt, and OF Justin Ruggiano and Junior Lake |
| Reds | 2 | 5 | Good news for LHH Joey Votto and Jay Bruce as well as for Devin Mesoraco 15 HR (added one in Wk 14) against, Todd Frazier 13 of HR against, and SHH Billy Hamilton .295/.326 4 HR vs RHP, .230/.256 vs LHP 1 HR add in all 8 games are at home |
| Indians | 2 | 5 | 7 at home |
| Rockies | 1 | 5 | Edge for LHH Corey Dickerson, Charlie Blackmon, Justin Morneau; Not so much for RHH OF Drew Stubbs and Brandon Barnes and IF Josh Rutledge |
| Tigers | 3 | 3 | |
| Astros | 0 | 6 | |
| Royals | 2 | 5 | |
| Dodgers | 0 | 6 | LHH Andre Ethier should see plenty of PT while the lefty masher in RHH Scott Van Slyke will not |
| Marlins | 0 | 6 | All at home |
| Brewers | 2 | 5 | All at home |
| Twins | 4 | 3 | |
| Yankees | 2 | 4 | All on road 4 @CLE, 3 @BAL |
| Mets | 2 | 5 | All at home |
| Athletics | 1 | 6 | Makes Brandon Moss (pending extent of ankle injury), Yoenis Cespedes, and John Jaso owners happy; not so much for RHH Derek Norris and Josh Donaldson owners |
| Phillies | 0 | 7 | |
| Pirates | 0 | 7 | All at home |
| Padres | 4 | 3 | All on road |
| Mariners | 1 | 6 | All at home SEA worst team OPS in AL at home. LHH 3B Kyle Seager all 13 HR, C Mike Zunino 9 HR of 12, and Michael Saunders all 5 vs RHP |
| Giants | 3 | 4 | |
| Cardinals | 0 | 7 | Big week for my boy PHAT Matt Adams; All 5 of Matt Holliday's HR have come off RHP |
| Rays | 3 | 3 | All at home |
| Rangers | 2 | 4 | All at home |
| Blue Jays | 3 | 3 | 3 @LAA 3 @TB |
| Nationals | 2 | 5 |
Week 15 Starting Pitcher Rankings:
I didn’t separate the top two-start pitchers for the week, but it is easily ascertainable in the rankings below.
Clayton Kershaw (LAD) -- Thu-SD (Despaigne)
Felix Hernandez (SEA) -- Thu-MIN (Pino)
Chris Sale (CWS) -- Wed-@BOS (Lester)
Yu Darvish (TEX) -- Wed-HOU (Keuchel)
Masahiro Tanaka (NYY) -- Tue-@CLE (Bauer), Sun-@BAL (Chen)
Madison Bumgarner (SF) -- Tue-@OAK (Gray), Sun-ARI (Anderson)
David Price (TB) -- Sat-TOR (Hutchison)
Stephen Strasburg (WSH) -- Mon-BAL (Tillman), Sat-@PHI (Hamels)
Adam Wainwright (StL) -- Mon-PIT (Morton), Sat-@MIL (Estrada)
Johnny Cueto (CIN) -- Tue-CHC, Gm. 1 (Wood), Sun-PIT (Worley)
Julio Teheran (ATL) -- Tue-@NYM (DeGrom), Sun-@CHC (Wood)
Max Scherzer (DET) -- Wed-LAD (Greinke)
Doug Fister (WSH) -- Tue-BAL (Chen), Sun-@PHI (Kendrick)
Hisashi Iwakuma (SEA) -- Mon-MIN (Correia), Sat-OAK (Chavez)
Anibal Sanchez (DET) -- Fri-@KC (Duffy)
Lance Lynn (STL) -- Wed-PIT (Cole)
Garrett Richards (LAA) -- Fri-@TEX (Lewis)
Alfredo Simon (CIN) -- Wed-CHC (TBD)
Drew Hutchison (TOR) -- Sat-@TB (Price)
Jake Arrieta (CHC) -- Fri-ATL (Wood)
Sonny Gray (OAK) -- Tue-SF (Bumgarner), Sun-@SEA (Young)
Mat Latos (CIN) -- Fri-PIT (Locke)
Zack Greinke (LAD) -- Wed-@DET (Scherzer)
Homer Bailey (CIN) -- Thu-CHC (TBD)
Jose Quintana (CWS) -- Thu-@BOS (Lackey)
Cole Hamels (PHI) -- Mon-@MIL (Estrada), Sat-WSH (Strasburg)
Tyson Ross (SD) -- Tue-@COL (Morales), Sun-@LAD (Ryu)
Hyun-Jin Ryu (LAD) -- Tue-@DET (Verlander), Sun-SD (Ross)
Yordano Ventura (KC) -- Wed-@TB (Cobb)
Jesse Chavez (OAK) -- Mon-SF (Vogelsong), Sat-@SEA (Iwakuma)-no
Justin Verlander (DET) -- Tue-LAD (Ryu), Sun-@KC (Vargas)
Josh Beckett (LAD) -- Sat-SD (Kennedy)
James Shields (KC) -- Mon-@TB (Odorizzi), Sat-DET (Porcello)
Alex Wood (ATL) -- Fri-@CHC (Arrieta)
Jordan Zimmermann (WSH) -- Fri-@PHI (Burnett)
Jeff Samardzija (OAK) -- Fri-@SEA (Walker)-this is not official, but looks as if it is where Samardzija will slot in if he does indeed make his OAK debut Sun.
Mike Minor (ATL) -- Mon-@NYM (Matsuzaka), Sat-@CHC (Jackson)
Danny Duffy (KC) -- Fri-DET (Sanchez)Marcus Stroman (TOR) -- Wed-@LAA (Wilson)
Jason Hammel (OAK) -- Wed-@SF (Cain) not official but appears where he will be slotted into the rotation
Jason Vargas (KC) -- Tue-@TB (Bedard, could be Jeremy Hellickson), Sun-DET (Verlander)
Kyle Gibson (MIN) -- Wed-@SEA (Elias)
Zack Wheeler (NYM) -- Fri-MIA (Heaney)
Mike Leake (CIN) -- Mon-CHC (Jackson), Sat-PIT (Morton)
Brandon Workman (BOS) -- Tue-CWS (Danks), Sun-@HOU (Cosart)
Rick Porcello (DET) -- Sat-@KC (Shields)
Tim Lincecum (SF) -- Fri-ARI (Bolsinger)
Dillon Gee (NYM) has not been officially activated but is expected to be, if so projects to face ATL
Tyler Matzek (COL) -- Mon-SD (Kennedy), Sun-MIN (Hughes)
Clay Buchholz (BOS) -- Mon-CWS (Carroll), Sat-@HOU (McHugh)
Roenis Elias (SEA) -- Wed-MIN (Gibson)
Bartolo Colon (NYM) -- Thu-ATL (Harang)
Wily Peralta (MIL) -- Tue-PHI (Kendrick), Sun-STL (Martinez)
A.J. Burnett (PHI) -- Fri-WSH (Zimmermann)
Gio Gonzalez (WSH) -- Thu-@BAL (Jimenez)
Jered Weaver (LAA) -- Mon-TOR (Happ), Sat-@TEX (Martinez)
Scott Kazmir (OAK) -- Thu-@SF (Hudson)
Alex Cobb (TB) -- Wed-KC (Ventura)
Matt Garza (MIL) -- Thu-PHI (Buchanan)
John Lackey (BOS) -- Thu-CWS (Quintana)
Charlie Morton (PIT) -- Mon-@STL (Wainwright), Sat-@CIN (Leake)
Corey Kluber (CLE) -- Fri-CWS (Noesi)
Drew Smyly (DET) -- Thu-@KC (Guthrie)
Gerrit Cole (PIT) -- Wed-@STL (Lynn)
Jake Odorizzi (TB) -- Mon-KC (Shields), Sun-TOR (Happ)
Jacob deGrom (NYM) -- Tue-ATL (Teheran), Sun-MIA (Koehler)
Jon Lester (BOS) -- Wed-CWS (Sale)
Jesse Hahn (SD) -- Fri-@LAD (Haren)
Tom Koehler (MIA) -- Mon-@ARI (Anderson), Sun-@NYM (DeGrom)
Ervin Santana (ATL) -- Wed-@NYM (Niese)
Best of luck and as always if you have a specific question remember you can always tweet @FantasyNomad and/or post in the comments section below.
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