In today’s fantasy baseball daily round up, we’ll cover the Major League Baseball landscape for the relevant news and notes that you need to know. American League MVP candidate Aaron Judge hit his 44th home run of the year for the New York Yankees, but the Yankees may be without Matt Carpenter for an extended period of time due to a foot injury. Cole Irvin continued his breakout fantasy campaign with eight excellent innings against the Angels, while Chris Bassitt and Blake Snell gave their teams solid starts as well. The Twins will lose Alex Kiriloff for the rest of the season due to a nagging wrist issue, and while that’s a noticeable loss from the lineup, prospect Jose Miranda should have a clearer path to playing time the rest of the way as he continues to look like an excellent fantasy baseball waiver wire pickup for those who nabbed him earlier in the season. As we close the door on Monday’s Major League baseball action, we’ll look ahead to Tuesday’s slate of games, and I’ll give you my two best MLB bets for the day. If you are going to be making some MLB DFS lineups tonight, be sure to check out our lineups page for projected/confirmed lineups, our weather report, and daily projections, as well as all our other great MLB DFS content.

 

 

 

MLB News and Notes from Monday

Aaron Judge, Josh Donaldson Propel Yankees to Victory

Aaron Judge hit his 44th home run of the year, although it feels like his 144th, and Josh Donaldson went 4-for-5 with three RBI to propel the Yankees past Logan Gilbert and the Mariners. Judge is now hitting .391 with a .783 slugging percentage in the month of August and he’s just two RBI short of 100 on the season. While the Yankees got a much needed win, and a strong effort from starter Jameson Taillon, they did lose Matt Carpenter to a fractured foot. The hope is that he can return in 2022, and I mean, I don’t see why he can’t, seeing as he can just DH for the Bronx Bombers, hit home runs, and jog/limp around the bases! Isn’t hitting home runs all he’s done anyways?

Pitchers' Duel in Oakland

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that two bad offenses found themselves in the middle of a good ole fashioned pitcher’s duel. José Suarez allowed just two hits and two walks while striking out eight batters over seven scoreless innings. The southpaw has added a second changeup into his arsenal post-All-Star break, and the returns have been great. In three starts since the break (Athletics 2x, Royals), he’s allowed just one unearned run across 17.1 innings with a 16:5 K/BB ratio. It will be intriguing to see what he does against better competition, but using his fastball less and the added variation to his changeup should continue to generate more swings out of the zone for the 24-year-old southpaw.

Cole Irvin continued his breakout campaign by allowing just one earned run on five hits while striking out six over eight strong innings. Irvin may have only posted a 29 percent whiff rate on the evening, but that isn’t his game. The southpaw just gets guys out, and when looking at his velo from last night, it was up across the board, so that was encouraging. The Oakland left-hander has allowed two or fewer earned runs in seven straight starts, posting a 1.88 ERA (2.90 FIP, 4.04 xFIP) during that stretch with a miniscule 0.94 BB/9. His lack of strikeouts limits his overall fantasy appeal, but he doesn’t walk batters, and he has seven straight quality starts to his name.


Chris Bassitt Impressive Against Reds

The Mets told Bassitt to go do his thing and give the bullpen a day off. Bassitt said, “yes coach,” and allowed just one unearned run on eight hits across eight strong innings of work. His eight strikeouts were a nice boost to his fantasy line, especially when you consider that he was coming off a measly 4.15 K/9 in his prior two starts. He’s now completed at least six innings in nine straight starts, and he’s posted a 2.19 ERA and, 8.03 K/9, and 55 percent ground ball rate during this impressive streak. In this contest, he threw his sinker more than he has in any of his last five starts, and opted for his curveball and cutter more so than his slider and four-seamer. His four-seamer is all the more nasty when he doesn’t use it as much. 

His sinker kept the ball on the ground, and his cutter and slider each posted a whiff rate of 50 percent. Yes, it was an easier matchup for Bassitt yesterday, but he took care of business and improved his record to 9-7 on the year.

 

 


 

Blake Snell Continues Dominant Run

If the Padres get this version of Blake Snell the rest of the way, especially with their new-look lineup, watch out. Snell allowed just one earned run over 5.2 innings while striking out eight batters. He was saddled with the tough-luck loss, but that was his first loss since June 25th. Snell has allowed one earned run or fewer in four of his last five starts, and in six of his last seven. Over his last four starts, he has a 3-1 record with a 1.19 ERA, 11.51 K/9, and 1.99 BB/9. If he can continue commanding the strike zone, he has plenty of swing-and-miss stuff, and Snell will be another top-tier arm for the Padres come postseason time.


Twins' Alex Kirilloff Out for Season

This is a blow for the Twins and fantasy baseball managers alike. There’s just no way to sugarcoat this as Kiriloff will miss the rest of the season as he undergoes ulnar shortening surgery.

His numbers may not jump off the page, as he was hitting just .250 with a .286 wOBA through 45 games, but the 24-year-old was putting things together at the game’s highest level. He missed some time on two separate occasions earlier in the year, but from June 18th to July 24th, he hit .304 with a .347 wOBA, 127 wRC+, three home runs and 21 RBI. Also in that stretch, he had a 48.2 percent hard hit rate and an 8.2 percent barrel rate. Hopefully this fixes his wrist issue for good, and he’ll be ready to make a difference at the start of the 2023 season.


Orioles Outslugs Blue Jays in AL East Showdown

Toronto’s Yusei Kikuchi struggled against Baltimore, serving up five earned runs on six hits (three homers) as Toronto dropped this game to Baltimore. Jordan Lyles let up a ton of hard contact, but it didn’t hurt him all things considered, and the Orioles watched Anthony Santander, Ryan Mountcastle, Ramón Urías, and Austin Hays all leave the yard in this one. That quartet of Orioles went a combined 7-for-14 with four home runs, seven RBI, and five runs scored. From a fantasy perspective, Santander and Urias are names to monitor, especially if they were dropped in your league. Santander has 20 home runs on the year and is hitting .350 over his last 15 games, and while Urias is slumping a bit to start off August, he’s coming off a hot July where he hit .329 with five home runs and 18 RBI.

 

Tuesday’s Best Bets

New York Mets -1.5 Run Line First 5 Innings (-105 Bet MGM)

The Reds are getting abused by right-handers of late, to the tune of a 27.3 percent strikeout rate and measly .213 batting average over the last two weeks. The Reds are vulnerable away from their home park, and the team’s 62 wRC+ and .263 wOBA over the last two weeks are the worst in baseball. After facing Chris Bassitt last night, they get to face Carlos Carrasco this evening, who has a 1.50 ERA and 8.25 K/9 over his last six starts. Furthermore, the veteran right-hander has a 3.41 ERA at home this season, compared to a 4.41 ERA on the road. Cincy’s Mike Minor has a 6.10 ERA on the road this season and over the last two weeks, the Mets’ .311 batting average, .383 wOBA, and 163 wRC+ against left-handers ranks third, second, and second in the MLB respectively. Keep an eye on the weather though, as there is a delay/postponement risk.

 

Toronto Blue Jays -0.5 Run Line First 5 Innings (-115 Bet MGM)

The Baltimore offense has been solid of late, and Ryan Mountcastle has good BvP numbers against Alek Manoah, but I expect the Toronto right-hander to keep this Baltimore offense grounded tonight, while his run support should be strong against Kyle Bradish. Manoah has a 2.43 ERA on the road this season, and over his last eight starts, he has a 3.18 ERA and 1.08 WHIP. While Manoah grounds the Orioles, the Blue Jays should feast on Bradish. Yes, Bradish has a 2.70 ERA since rejoining the rotation, but Toronto tagged him for five earned runs back in the middle of June, and Bradish’s last two starts have come against Texas (better against LHP) and Cincinnati (struggling offense). Bradish has a 6.75 ERA and 2.43 HR/9 at home this season, and those are not the numbers you want when facing the Blue Jays.


 

 


 

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