Don’t worry, fantasy baseball faithful, I’ll take a break from the fantasy gridiron to provide you with extremely important fantasy baseball content for your playoff run. Pitching and defense wins championship, but only one of those accrue fantasy points. Let’s talk about wins this week, folks! Yeah, baby! Win, win, win, all we do is win!

WINS

Martin Perez, SP TEX – Perez lost a few days ago, but so what, he’s won seven of his last 10 starts, including seven in a row from early-August to early-September. Much like many of the pitchers in this article, the numbers aren’t particularly great, but he’s in a groove. Hell, the game he lost on Wednesday night wasn’t a terrible outing by any means. In fact, he was just two outs away from a quality start, allowing three earned runs in just under six innings of work. Regression is inevitable and he isn’t going to sustain this sort of production, but get him while he’s hot! Texas should get him run support and he’ll win more often than not down the stretch. You can mark that in the books. He’s owned in just under 16 percent of ESPN fantasy baseball leagues and if you need wins, make him owned in your league. People he has the most wins in the past month of baseball, tied with guys like Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer!

Jon Gray, SP CLE – Gray might be owned in your league, but if he isn’t, scoop him up immediately. Not only has he been pitching well of late, but his next start is against the San Diego Padres! He’ll easily make it 5-2 over his last seven starts and has upside of double-digit strikeouts. He’s won three of his last four starts and as we all know, the Rockies will get him plenty of run support. Albeit a small sample size (six starts), he’s been much better at home in Coors Field than on the road. His home ERA is nearly a run less and opponents hit roughly 30 points lower away from Coors Field. Weird, right? Oh well. Don’t overthink it people. Gray is a must-add at this point of the season and simply put, there is no way he should be available in your league. Dynasty formats, he’s likely rostered, but there’s a 50-50 chance he’s available for you re-drafters out there.

Rafael Montero, SP NYM – There is a lot of risk and volatility in adding Montero, but fortune favors the bold. His ERA is north of 5.00 and his WHIP is a hair under 1.70. Yikes. Ugly. Garbage. However, he’s won each of his last three starts, two of which have come against the Reds while the third was against the Philadelphia Phillies. He draws a decent start today against the Atlanta Braves and I believe he’ll extend his streak to four wins in a row. The volatility with Montero comes that he’s walked an alarming 14 batters in his last 18.2 innings. In fact, over his last 10 appearances, he’s walked at least two batters in eight of them. I’m a little weary of this addition, but he’s unowned everywhere, and his chances of getting a few more wins down the stretch are enticing.

Kyle Gibson, SP MIN – Gibson’s numbers aren’t sexy, unless 10-10 with a 4.97 ERA and 1.56 WHIP gets you going. For me, it doesn’t, but I’ll tell you what does, and it’s the fact that Gibson hasn’t lost since August 17. It’s almost been a whole month, ladies and gents! Yeah, that’s pretty damn good. The other categories aren’t Gibson’s forte, but with the way the Twins are playing, he’s as valuable as they come at this crucial point of the fantasy baseball season. He’s allowed two or less earned runs in each of his five starts, and if you stretch that threshold to three runs or less, it’s been since mid-July. He’s owned in under one-third of ESPN fantasy baseball leagues and if you’re desperate for wins at this point of the fantasy baseball season, go add Gibson. His next start comes on Sunday against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Stay tuned for next week’s edition of Category Impact. Be sure to follow me on Twitter (@colbyrconway) as well.