We are now at the halfway point of the Major League Baseball season. The MLB All-Star Break starts tomorrow but not before we are treated with one more full slate of Sunday games! Before getting ready for today’s action, we need to first take a look back at the top fantasy baseball news and headlines from Saturday’s Major League Baseball games which included another explosive Yankees win, Paul Goldschmidt reaching an impressive career milestone, José Ramírez launching bombs on a day in his honor and more magic by the Mariners. Do not forget to check out our updated July Fantasy Baseball Rankings and MLB Starting Lineups before setting your fantasy baseball lineups. We also have the MLB Injury Report and Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire article to help you improve your season-long lineups as well. Let’s look back at the top performances and key injuries from Saturday and take a quick look ahead at today’s MLB baseball action.

Matt Carpenter Keeps Slugging

 

Matt Carpenter became the seventh player to hit at least 13 home runs through his first 30 games with a baseball team after a double dong night in New York. Aaron Judge also got in on the fun as he hit his Major-League leading 32nd and 33rd home runs in the Yankees 14-1 route of their AL East rival, the Boston Red Sox. Carpenter, the former Cardinal, who was acquired from the Rangers Triple-A team in late May, is having a resurgence in the Bronx as he is slashing .360/.473/.933 with an OPS of 1.406. 

Paul Goldschmidt Hits His 300th Home Run

 

What a first half it has been for Paul Goldschmidt. The Cardinals veteran leads the National League in batting (.330), on-base percentage (.414) and slugging percentage (.590) and will be headed to his seventh All-Sat Game on Tuesday. That’s not all because Goldy became the tenth active player to hit at least 300 home runs yesterday in the Cards 11-3 win over the Reds. He had been in a bit of a rut after a massive first three months, but he finally ended the 17-game power outage with a blast that made him one of only 153 players in history to accomplish 300 home runs.

Seattle Mariners Now At 13 Straight Wins

The streak is still alive, but it took some late inning heroics by J.P. Crawford to get to 13 straight. The Mariners shortstop, who missed the first two games of the series against the Rangers, knocked in Sam Haggerty in the tenth inning for a 3-2 win and their 13th straight; two shy of the franchise record set back in 2001. 

A Pair Of Home Runs On José Ramírez Bobblehead Day

Fans flocked to Progressive Field yesterday for José Ramírez bobblehead day, but little did they know that they would receive more than a souvenir from their All-Star third baseman. Ramirez slugged two home runs in the Guardians 10-0 rout of the Tigers and to breakout of a miniature July slump where he only hit .250 with a .791 OPS. The AL RBI leader had five more yesterday and became just the fourth Cleveland player in franchise history to record 75 or more RBI before the All-Star break. 

Max Fried Records 50th Win As Braves Continue To Roll

 

Braves All-Star southpaw Max Fried bounced back from a five-walk outing in his last start to throw seven strong innings and beat the Nationals 6-3 yesterday. Fried allowed three runs on seven hits while striking out four as the Braves won their 14th straight at Nationals Park. Fried (10-3) won his 50th career game in his 97th start and only two other Braves pitchers have done it in less since the move to Atlanta in 1966 (Pat Jarvis and Kevin Millwood). 

Trevor Story To The Injured List

 

Boston’s Trevor Story was placed on the Injured List with a hand contusion. He was hit by a pitch on Tuesday and has sat out since. Story has had an up-and-down first half after signing with Boston in the offseason for six-years and $140 million. He did provide Red Sox fans with a historic week back in mid-May when he had seven home runs and 21 RBI but overall is still just slashing .221/.289/.423 with a .712 OPS and 15 home runs with 58 RBI.

SUNDAY'S MLB BEST BETS

 

Shane Bieber OVER 6.5 Strikeouts

Shane Bieber comes into the matchup with Detroit with a 3.24 ERA and 25% Strikeout rate. He is coming off an impressive complete game shutout against the White Sox and now gets a Tigers team that is striking out 24% of the time against right-handed pitching and has a league worst team ISO of .101 and second-worst wOBA of .263. Over his career against the Tigers Bieber has an ERA of 2.61 with a 0.95 WHIP and 11.7 K/9 rate. The weather forecast is ugly for this game, but if it’s good to go take the over prop on Bieber.

 

Jonathan India OVER 7.0 Fantasy Points 

Jonathan India is riding a seven-game hitting streak and in that span is slashing .290/.353/.548 with a couple of home runs. After a trip to the IL, India has become a different player and the 2021 Rookie of the Year has a hit in nine of his last ten games going 13-for-43 with three doubles and a couple bombs. He also gets the platoon advantage today against left-hander Steven Matz who is making his first start in two months. 

 

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