So this is always the most awkward streamers piece each year. The All Star break is approaching next week and most teams will be off from Monday-Thursday of next week save for the Cubs and Cardinals who play in a nationally-televised game Thursday night on ESPN. The midsummer classic is, in my opinion, the worst time of the year. And it’s a shame because Sunday features the World Cup Final, the Men’s Wimbledon Final, and a full MLB slate. Then Monday night features the Home Run Derby and there’s only one participant from the American League because so many guys wise up and choose not to put the second half of their season at risk. Then you have the actual All Star game the following night and then it’s a dead zone for a couple days where all sports journalists will likely talk about how Magic Johnson lured Lebron James to Los Angeles, because lord knows we haven’t heard about that enough.

But I digress. So this week is going to be a little abbreviated with the exception of my rant above. Now the next scoring period for fantasy baseball will likely span July 19th-July 29th. It’s basically a week and a half. So I’ll do my best to cover a few pitchers to target next weekend, but mind you that most of the guys pitching Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are front of the rotation arms who don’t necessarily qualify as streamers. So I’ll try to find a few lower owned guys to recommend so don’t be surprised by the brevity of the remainder of this article. I’ll cover the remainder of the scoring period with a full write up next Saturday. Without further ado, here are some guys to look at next weekend if you find yourself inclined to stream.

Nathan Eovaldi (TB) – Prior to Friday night’s start, Eovaldi was looking great in his three prior outings. He logged a 0.95 ERA over that span, with 23 strikeouts in 19 innings, while he surrendered just three walks and a lone home run. His most recent start last night was an absolute disaster as he gave up eight earned runs and failed to get out of the third inning. But don’t be deterred. It was against the Twins in Minnesota and while the Twins aren’t necessarily a playoff team, I always consider them a fairly decent stack in DFS. But back to Eovaldi, I think he’ll likely get one of the starts against the Marlins after the All Star break. The Marlins, as a team, have a .693 OPS against right-handed pitching which is sixth worse in baseball. The Marlins have also struck out the seventh-most in MLB against RHP’s so this could be a nice spot to target Eovaldi if he’s available. Again it’s not official that he’s locked in to one of these starts to kick off the second half of the season so keep an eye on his matchup when it becomes official.

Nick Pivetta (PHI) – Welcome back Nick Pivetta ! He’s this year’s version of Tyler Chatwood with how many times he appears in this article and surprisingly he’s under 40% owned in ESPN and Yahoo! I kind of understand the notion to drop him because he’s had a 6.57 ERA since the beginning of June and he’s given up nine home runs in his last 38.1 innings of work. The silver lining might be 46 strikeouts he’s collected over that span. But I get it; he’s been bad. But maybe a few days off will do him some good! The Phillies open the second half of the season against San Diego and if Pivetta gets one of those starts he’s in play as a streamer. The Friars are possibly the worst team in baseball on the road. They average just 3.38 runs per game playing away from Petco Park and they slash just .230/.284/.356 outside of San Diego. It’s safe to say this team isn’t exactly a group of road warriors so Pivetta is a solid option next weekend if he gets a start.

Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson (MIN) – Lynn was mentioned in this piece last week and while he didn’t exactly pad the stat sheet he did provide fantasy owners with five innings of work with six strikeouts in a winning effort. Yes he did surrender three walks and three earned runs. It wasn’t a smashing effort, but still good enough to help streamers in the wins category or get a bump in points leagues. Lynn is in play next weekend because he may have another matchup against the Royals on the horizon and this time it’ll come in Kansas City which is a pretty nice park upgrade. The Royals are still pretty bad (1-12 in their last 13 games) so getting another win is certainly in play. Kansas City has certainly fallen quite far from the World Series team they were just three years ago.

Gibson, like Lynn, was also mentioned last week and he was an absolute stud against the Rays lasting eight innings of one-run ball while striking out nine batters. It was his second straight start with nine punch-outs and he didn’t allow a home run, which he had done in each of his four previous trips to the hill. Like Lynn, Gibson might get a road start next weekend against the Royals. So both these guys are in play if available in your league.

For you deeper league players, don’t panic. I know none of the four guys mentioned above may be available in your league, but never fret. There will be a full write up next week to break down streamers in all formats. These are just the four guys I like that could get starts next weekend. Enjoy the All Star break FANation and don’t forget to check out the 2018 NFL Draft Guide that is constantly being updated daily!