Now that the calendar has flipped from April to May I hope you all realize that the world is still spinning. A bad first month stinks but is no reason to panic or worse, make bad decisions. It seems like every week in this space I am telling you to chill yet I continue to get emails, tweets and phone calls of sheer panic. I hope that the new month brings you new hope and the realization that in the grand scheme of the 2014 fantasy baseball season April meant very little. Let's dive into the week ahead and discuss the moves you need to make to stay atop your league or to get back in the race.
What About The DH?
Here is a look at which interleague games are on the schedule for week 6. There are some heavy hitting teams such as the Yankees, White Sox and Blue Jays who will lose the DH this week while teams like the Rockies and Nationals get to utilize some of their depth by adding the DH this week.
Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs (2 x Monday-Tuesday)
Texas Rangers at Colorado Rockies (2 x Monday-Tuesday)
Toronto Blue Jays at Philadelphia Phillies (2 x Monday-Tuesday)
Kansas City Royals at San Diego Padres (3 x Monday-Wednesday)
Cincinnati Reds at Boston Red Sox (2 x Tuesday-Wednesday)
Chicago Cubs at Chicago White Sox (2 x Wednesday-Thursday)
Colorado Rockies at Texas Rangers (2 x Wednesday-Thursday)
Philadelphia Phillies at Toronto Blue Jays (2 x Wednesday-Thursday)
Arizona Diamondbacks at Chicago White Sox (3 x Friday-Sunday)
New York Yankees at Milwaukee Brewers (3 x Friday-Sunday)
Washington Nationals at Oakland Athletics (3 x Friday-Sunday)
Total Games This Week
Playing Five Games: Red Sox
Playing Six Games: Diamondbacks, Braves, Cubs, Brewers, Mets, Pirates, Cardinals, Nationals, Orioles, Angels, Yankees, Rays & Rangers.
Playing Seven Games: Reds, Rockies, Dodgers, Marlins, Phillies, Padres, Giants, Indians, White Sox, Tigers, Astros, Royals, Twins, Athletics & Blue Jays
Playing Eight Games (Yeah...EIGHT!): Mariners
Loaded Lefty Or Righty Matchups
Most Games Vs. Righties
7 Games: Twins
6 Games: Indians, Mariners, Rays, Dodgers, Pirates, Padres
5 Games: White Sox, Tigers, Astros, Athletics, Blue Jays, Diamondbacks, Braves, Brewers, Mets, Phillies, Giants, Cardinals
Most Games Vs. Lefties
3 Games: Orioles, Red Sox, Royals, Rangers, Cubs, Rockies, Marlins & Nationals
Week 6 Starting Pitcher Rankings
You know what time it is now. Time for my always controversial yet deadly accurate starting pitcher rankings for this coming week. Feel free to leave your feedback in the comments section or you can always tweet me (@Jeff_Mans) as well. Here are the rankings:
# | Player | Matchup 1 | Matchup 2 |
1 | Clayton Kershaw (LAD) | @Nationals (Zimmerman) | Giants (Cain) |
2 | Max Scherzer (DET) | Astros (Cosart) | Twins (Gibson) |
3 | Jose Fernandez (MIA) | @Padres (Ross) | |
4 | Masahiro Tanaka (NYY) | @Brewers (Gallardo | |
5 | Zack Greinke (LAD) | @Nationals (Roark) | Giants (Hudson) |
6 | Yordano Ventuara (KC) | @Padres (Stults) | @Mariners (Young) |
7 | Stephen Strasburg (WAS) | @Athletics (Milone) | |
8 | Felix Hernandez (SEA) | @Athletics (Straily) | |
9 | Yu Darvish (TEX) | Red Sox (Buchholz) | |
10 | Adam Wainwright (STL) | @Braves (Minor) | |
11 | Cliff Lee (Phillies) | @Blue Jays (Morrow) | |
12 | Scott Kazmir (OAK) | Mariners (Young) | Nationals (Gonzalez) |
13 | Julio Teheran (ATL) | Cubs (Hammel) | |
14 | James Shields (KC) | @Padres (Cashner) | |
15 | Matt Cain (SF) | @Pirates (Undecided) | @Dodgers (Kershaw) |
16 | Nathan Eovaldi (MIA) | Mets (Niese) | @Padres (Stults) |
17 | Michael Wacha (STL) | @Pirates (Cole) | |
18 | David Price (TB) | Orioles (Jimenez) | |
19 | Matt Garza (MIL) | Diamondbacks (Bolsinger) | Yankees (Phelps) |
20 | Shelby Miller (STL) | @Braves (Harang) | @Pirates (Volquez) |
21 | Cole Hamels (PHI) | @Mets (Mejia) | |
22 | Gio Gonzalez (WAS) | @Athletics (Kazmir) | |
23 | Madison Bumgarner (SF) | @Dodgers (Undecided) | |
24 | Justin Verlander (DET) | Twins (Hughes) | |
25 | Chris Tillman (BAL) | @Rays (Archer) | Astros (Oberholtzer) |
26 | Jonathon Niese (NYM) | @Marlins (Eovaldi) | Phillies (Hernandez) |
27 | Alex Wood (ATL) | Cubs (Samardzija) | |
28 | Wily Peralta (MIL) | Diamondbacks (Arroyo) | |
29 | Johnny Cueto (CIN) | Rockies (Chacin) | |
30 | Sonny Gray (OAK) | Nationals (Roark) | |
31 | Aaron Harang (ATL) | Cardinals (Miller) | Cubs (Jackson) |
32 | Jered Weaver (LAA) | Yankees (Phelps) | @Blue Jays (Buehrle) |
33 | Jeff Samardzija (CHC) | White Sox (Quintana) | @Braves (Wood) |
34 | Andrew Cashner (SD) | Royals (Shields) | |
35 | A.J. Burnett (PHI) | @Blue Jays (Dickey) | |
36 | Roenis Elias (SEA) | @Athletics (Chavez) | Royals (Guthrie) |
37 | Drew Hutchison (TOR) | @Phillies (Kendrick) | Angels (Skaggs) |
38 | Jesse Chavez (OAK) | Mariners (Elias) | |
39 | Gerrit Cole (PIT) | Cardinals (Wacha) | |
40 | Hisashi Iwakuma (SEA) | Royals (Duffy) | |
41 | Marco Estrada (MIL) | Diamondbacks (Collmenter) | |
42 | Homer Bailey (CIN) | @Red Sox (Peavy) | Rockies (Nicasio) |
43 | Francisco Liriano (PIT) | Cardinals (Lynn) | |
44 | C.J. Wilson (LAA) | Yankees (Kuroda) | |
45 | Ervin Santana (ATL) | Cardinals (Lyons) | |
46 | Jose Quintana (CWS) | @Cubs (Samardzija) | Diamondbacks (Miley) |
47 | Jon Lester (BOS) | @Rangers (Perez) | |
48 | Robbie Ray (DET) | Astros (Oberholtzer) | Twins (Pelfrey) |
49 | Tim Hudson (SF) | @Pirates (Morton) | @Dodgers (Greinke) |
50 | Robbie Erlin (SD) | Royals (Guthrie) | Marlins (Alvarez) |
51 | Jordan Zimmermann (WAS) | Dodgers (Kershaw) | |
52 | Zach McAllister (CLE) | Twins (Gibson) | @Rays (Bedard) |
53 | Chris Archer (TB) | Orioles (Tillman) | Indians (Undecided) |
54 | CC Sabathia (NYY) | @Brewers (Lohse) | |
55 | Ian Kennedy (SD) | Marlins (Turner) | |
56 | R.A. Dickey (TOR) | Philies (Burnett) | |
57 | John Lackey (BOS) | @Rangers (Ross) | |
58 | Lance Lynn (STL) | @Pirates (Liriano) | |
59 | Yovani Gallardo (MIL) | Yankees (Tanaka) | |
60 | Robbie Ross (TEX) | @Rockies (Nicasio) | Red Sox (Lackey) |