2019 Fantasy Baseball Weekly Planner: July 29 - August 4

The trade deadline will happen in the middle of this week and will certainly change some lineups on the surface of them but it won’t affect the schedules or stats just yet and therefore, the Weekly Planner is once again your one-stop-shop for seeing the match-ups on tap this week.

Team Schedules

Interleague Schedule

Who’s Hot

Nelson Cruz , DH MIN – The white-hot Twins offense was powered by Cruz this past week. In seven games and 34 plate appearances, the DH slashed .393/.485/1.143 with seven home runs, 11 RBI, and nine runs and an incredible .750 ISO mark. The Twins are hanging onto a lead in the AL Central and it’ll be sheer power that gets them to the playoffs if they can’t get an arm or two at the deadline and Cruz will be the heart of that lineup and power.

Paul Goldschmidt , 1B STL – St. Louis has been waiting all year to see this kind of Goldy come out and it’s happening just at the right time as they are in a three-way battle for the lead in the NL Central. In seven games and 26 plate appearances, Goldschmidt slashed .375/.423/1.125 with six homers, 13 RBI, and nine runs and all of those bombs came in consecutive games. If the Cardinals are going to stay in the thick of it in the NL Central battle and the wide-open NL Wild Card chase they will need this kind of performance from Goldschmidt the rest of the way.

Travis d’Arnaud, 1B TB – The Rays are the kings of making small moves and having them pay off and that’s what’s happening with d’Arnaud. The former catcher turned first baseman slashed .318/.444/.773 in six games last week with three home runs, 12 RBI, and five runs as the Rays continue to fight it out for the AL Wild Card spots. He also had an impressive 18.5-percent walk rate which if he can keep the patience at the plate up he will continue to find playing time even with Nate Lowe and some others eligible to play first as well in Tampa.

Jonathan Villar , 2B BAL – Villar has been a sneaky name on the trade market over the last week or so since he’s still controllable next year and plenty of teams need middle infield help for the playoff run and he only bolstered his value this week. Villar slashed .281/.361/.563 with three home runs, 10 runs, four RBI, and four steals in the last seven games and 36 plate appearances. The Orioles are clearly only battling for the first overall pick, again, next year and Villar doesn’t really fit into their plans so expect some teams to seek his speed in the coming days.

Who’s Not

Khris Davis , DH OAK – The injury has continued to hurt Davis’ performance and this week was absolutely terrible. He slashed .043/.080/.043 with one run and one RBI in six games. That’s it from a guy that was supposed to be a big power threat in the heart of a good A’s lineup. The injury is costing him and his owner's valuable stats at this point and if this keeps up, he won’t be able to be playable.

Brandon Belt , 1B SF – Belt apparently missed the memo about the Giants heating up given his .083/.185/.083 slash line and no counting stats. The Giants offense wasn’t supposed to be good and isn’t by any means, but the recent hot streak left Belt behind even more and lacking major fantasy value at this point in the season.

Juan Soto , OF WAS – The Nationals are charging for the division and are just 5.5 back of the Braves at this point and will need Soto to be Juan Soto to keep the push up. This week wasn’t his friend with a .160/.290/.200 slash line with two RBI, one run, and one steal in seven games. He did continue to draw walks with his helping keep his value through weeks like this, especially in OBP leagues, but if the counting stats aren’t there it’s hard for the Nationals offense to make up much ground on the Braves.

Match-Up Breakdowns

The teams on the left are showing stats for road games this year and the teams on the right are showing stats for home games this year.

Weekend Match-Ups (Thursday/Friday - Sunday)

Early Week Match-Ups (Monday – Wednesday/Thursday)