It’s virtually impossible to see some things coming, but by preplanning for each and every week of the Fantasy Baseball season, you can often get a jump on the trends that are brewing around the league. Let’s take a look at how the upcoming week of the MLB campaign is shaping up.

 

MLB Schedule Breakdown

TEAM

# GAMES

HOME

AWAY

OPPONENTS

Braves

7

4

3

at COL (3), vs NYM (4)

Marlins

6

3

3

at CIN (3), vs PHI (3)

Mets

6

2

4

vs MIN (2), at ATL (4)

Phillies

6

3

3

vs WAS (3), at MIN(3)

Nationals

6

3

3

at PHI (3), vs PIT (3)

Cubs

6

6

0

vs PIT (3), vs LAA (3)

Reds

5

5

0

vs MIL (3), vs STL (2)

Brewers

6

0

6

at LAA (3), at LAD (3)

Pirates

6

0

6

at PIT (3), at WAS (3)

Cardinals

6

4

2

vs LAD (4), at CIN (2)

Diamondbacks

6

6

0

vs TEX (2), at SD (4)

Rockies

7

3

4

vs ATL (3), at SF (3)

Dodgers

7

3

4

at STL (4), vs MIL (3)

Padres

7

0

7

at SF (3), at ARI (4)

Giants

7

7

0

vs SD (3), vs COL (4)

Orioles

7

4

3

vs OAK (4), at BAL (3)

Red Sox

5

5

0

vs TOR (2), vs BAL (3)

Yankees

6

3

3

at HOU (3), vs CHW (3)

Rays

6

0

6

at CHW (3), at TOR (3)

Blue Jays

5

2

3

at BOS (2), vs TB  (3)

White Sox

6

3

3

vs MIA (3), at NYY (3)

Indians

6

0

6

at DET (3), at KC (3)

Tigers

6

3

3

vs CLE (3), at MIN (3)

Royals

7

7

0

vs SEA (4), vs CLE (3)

Twins

5

3

2

at NYM (2), vs DET (3)

Astros

6

3

3

vs NYY (3), at SEA (3)

Angels

6

3

3

vs MIL (3), at CHC (3)

Athletics

7

0

7

at BAL (4), at TEX (3)

Mariners

7

3

4

At KC (4), vs HOU (3)

Rangers

5

3

2

at ARI (2), vs OAK (3)

 

Who’s Hot

Cody Bellinger - Bellinger has started off the season with an absolute torrid start, hitting six home runs in nine games while posting a .425 batting average. More impressively, he has a 20% O-Swing rate and a 6.2% swinging strike rate, both of which are career lows. If Bellinger can continue in his plate discipline gains, we could be talking about a career season for the 23-year-old slugger.

Yoán Moncada - Moncada has started off the season hot, hitting .379 with two home runs in seven games this season. He is sporting a career low 18.8% strikeout rate with a career high 82% contact rate. Moncada has always had the tools to be a star, but has yet to put it all together. The early season work is impressive, but too small of a sample to believe quite yet.

Carlos Rodón - Rodon has started off his season fast as well. He has a sub 2.00 ERA, a sub 1.00 WHIP, and a 32% strikeout rate. He is doing this on the backs of career high swinging strike and O-Swing percentages. Rodon’s velocity is down, but not enough to be overly alarmed as he has been impressive through two games, but they have been versus lackluster offenses in Kansas City and Cleveland. That being said, the AL Central is filled with lackluster offenses and this could be the start of something special.

 

Who’s Not

Jurickson Profar - Profar has only five hits and one walk in his first 45 plate appearances. On the plus side, he is not striking out a ton and he is making a ton of contact, but is suffering through an extremely lower BABIP of .139. Profar appears to mostly be getting unlucky at the plate to start the season and should turn it around soon. With the injuries in the infield to the A’s there isn’t a ton of risk of Profar being sat, so he should be able to hit his way out of this slump.

Eduardo Rodríguez - Rodriguez has struggled through his first two starts of the season. While some of the underlying numbers are intact from last year, there are some troubling things in his profile. His velocity is down almost a full mph and a half from last year. This may be a cold weather/early season struggle though. E-Rod struggled out of the gate last year, but rebounded, putting up a 3.33 ERA and an almost 26% strikeout-rate after May 10th last year. I would stay patient for now, especially with a home start versus Baltimore coming this week, but keep an eye on whether that velocity starts to creep up over his next few starts.

 

Interleague Outlook

AWAY TEAM

HOME TEAM

GAMES

DH?

Player(s) Impacted

Rangers

D-Backs

2

No

Shin-Soo Choo

Angels

Cubs

3

No

Albert Pujols , Justin Bour

Twins

Mets

2

No

Nelson Cruz

 

Top-25 SP Rankings

Rank

Pitcher

Game 1

Game 2

1

Jacob deGrom

vs MIN

at ATL

2

Max Scherzer

vs PIT

 

3

Justin Verlander

vs NYY

at SEA

4

Trevor Bauer

at DET

 

5

Gerrit Cole

vs NYY

 

6

Blake Snell

at CHW

at TOR

7

Aaron Nola

vs WAS

 

8

Chris Sale

vs TOR

 

10

Carlos Carrasco

at KC

 

9

Corey Kluber

at DET

at KC

11

Walker Buehler

at STL

 

12

Jameson Taillon

at CHC

at WAS

13

Noah Syndergaard

vs MIN

 

14

Mike Clevinger

at KC

 

15

Jack Flaherty

vs LAD

 

16

James Paxton

at HOU

 

17

German Márquez

vs ATL

at SF

18

Patrick Corbin

vs WAS

 

19

Luis Castillo

vs MIA

 

20

Stephen Strasburg

at PHI

 

21

José Berríos

vs DET

 

22

Zack Wheeler

at ATL

 

23

David Price

vs BAL

 

24

Zack Greinke

vs TEX

 

25

Madison Bumgarner

vs SD

vs COL

 

On the Rise

Trevor Bauer (SP #4, CLE)

German Márquez (SP #17, COL)

 

On the Decline

Corey Kluber (SP #9, CLE)

Zack Greinke (SP #24, ARI)

 

SP Rankings 26-50

Rank

Pitcher

Game 1

Game 2

26

Miles Mikolas

vs LAD

at CIN

27

Charlie Morton

at CHW

 

28

Kyle Freeland

vs ATL

at SF

29

Masahiro Tanaka

at HOU

vs CHW

30

Yu Darvish

vs PIT

 

31

Kyle Hendricks

vs LAA

 

32

Chris Paddack

at ARI

 

33

Robbie Ray

vs TEX

 

34

Tyler Skaggs

at CHC

 

35

Hyun-Jin Ryu

at STL

vs MIL

36

Nathan Eovaldi

vs TOR

 

37

Ross Stripling

at STL

vs MIL

38

Chris Archer

at WAS

 

39

Jon Lester

vs PIT

vs LAA

40

Cole Hamels

vs LAA

 

41

Shane Bieber

at DET

 

42

Yusei Kikuchi

at SEA

 

43

J.A. Happ

vs CHW

 

44

Jon Gray

at SF

 

45

Kenta Maeda

at STL

 

46

Nick Pivetta

vs WAS

 

47

José Quintana

vs PIT

 

48

Aaron Sanchez

at BOS

 

49

Brandon Woodruff

at LAA

 

50

Kyle Gibson

at NYM

vs DET

 

On the Rise

Hyun-Jin Ryu (SP #35, LAD)

Aaron Sanchez (SP #48, TOR)

 

On the Decline

Nick Pivetta (SP #46, PHI)

Kyle Gibson (SP #50, MIN)

 

SP Rankings 51-75

Rank

Pitcher

Game 1

Game 2

51

Eduardo Rodríguez

vs BAL

 

52

Reynaldo López

vs CHW

 

53

Matthew Boyd

vs CLE

 

54

Jeff Samardzija

vs COL

 

55

Tyler Glasnow

at CHW

 

56

Julio Teheran

at COL

vs NYM

57

Jhoulys Chacín

at LAA

at LAD

58

Joey Lucchesi

at SF

at ARI

59

Marco Gonzalez

at KC

vs HOU

60

Carlos Rodón

vs TB

at NYY

61

Urias, Julio

vs MIL

 

62

Sean Newcomb

vs NYM

 

63

Zack Godley

vs SD

 

64

Richards, Trevor

at CIN

 

65

Jake Arrieta

at MIA

 

66

Pablo Lopez

at CIN

 

67

Caleb Smith

at CIN

 

68

Collin McHugh

vs NYY

 

69

Joe Musgrove

at CHC

 

70

Frankie Montas

at BAL

 

71

Kevin Gausman

at COL

 

72

Matt Strahm

at ARI

 

73

Brad Keller

vs CLE

 

74

Rick Porcello

vs BAL

 

75

Matt Shoemaker

at BOS

 

 

On the Rise

Matthew Boyd (SP #53, DET)

Caleb Smith (SP #67, MIA)

 

On the Decline

Eduardo Rodríguez (SP #51, BOS)

Rick Porcello (SP #61, BOS)