It’s time for Week 7 of the abbreviated fantasy baseball season. Maximizing each outing has become so important for your pitching categories, so putting an emphasis on streaming this year is even more important than ever.
Let’s see how we did last week, as it’s important to hold ourselves accountable.
Chase Anderson (TOR): 5 IP, 0 W, 8 K, 1 ER, 0 BB
Ljay Newsome (SEA): N/A
Josh Lindblom (MIL): 5 IP, 0 W, 4 K, 4 ER, 3 BB
Taijuan Walker (TOR): 5.2 IP, 0 W, 4 K, 2 ER, 1 BB
Dane Dunning (CWS): 4.2 IP, 0 W, 4 K, 3 ER, 4 BB
Taylor Clarke (ARI): 3 IP, 0 W, 2 K, 3 ER, 3 BB
Trevor Rogers (MIA): 6 IP, 0 W, 10 K, 3 ER, 1 BB
Total: 29.1 IP, 0 W, 32 K, 16 ER, 12 BB
Take note that we are looking for pitchers who are rostered in less than 30 percent of Yahoo leagues. Occasionally a recommendation will exceed that threshold if they are in a particularly favorable streaming situation.
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Monday, September 7
Michael Pineda (MIN) vs. DET 25%
Pineda looked good in his first start of the season, as he threw six innings against the White Sox, and he only allowed two runs. He did only have four strikeouts on 16 swinging strikes, but you should expect more help in that category moving forward. The matchup against Detroit is a lot better for Pineda, making him our lock of the week.
Other options: Johan Oviedo (STL) at CHC 3%
Tuesday, September 8
Nick Pivetta (BOS) at PHI 1%
At the risk of losing all credibility, let’s roll with Pivetta here but only in the deepest and dire of situations. We are fully playing the revenge card here, as he’s going against his ex-team. Players want to prove their old teams wrong, right? That should help the 15.88 ERA he’s sporting.
Other options: Ljay Newsome (SEA) at SF 1%
Wednesday, September 9
Tommy Milone (ATL) vs. MIA 6%
What a terrible, no good, very bad day for streaming here on Wednesday. There are a lot of juicy matchups (hello, Trevor Bauer and Yu Darvish), but the streamable options leave a lot to be desired. We’ll go with Milone here, who looked a lot better in his second outing for Atlanta than he did in his first time out.
Other options: Rick Porcello (NYM) vs. BAL 20%
Thursday, September 10
Tarik Skubal (DET) at STL 11%
We typically tend to shy away from pitchers throwing in a doubleheader here in this column, but it could be used to Skubal’s advantage. He went six strong against the Twins last time out, and five in his previous outing. Against lefties this year, the Cardinals as a team are hitting just .218 with a .291 wOBA and 82 wRC+.
Other options: Kyle Gibson (TEX) vs. LAA 9%
Friday, September 11
Trevor Rogers (MIA) vs. PHI 8%
Expect Rogers’ rostership to go up when this is published, as he handled the Rays Sunday to the tune of 10 strikeouts over six innings. Not too shabby at all, kid. He gets a tough matchup against the red hot Phillies, but this game is five days away. A lot can change between then and now. Take the strikeout upside in the good home ballpark.
Other options: Dane Dunning (CHW) vs. DET 21%
Saturday, September 12
Trevor Williams (PIT) at KC 4%
He’s continued his strikeout gains, by striking out 12 over his last 10 innings. Usually, you can’t count on a win from Williams even when he pitches well, as the Pirates are just a terrible, terrible baseball team. However, the Royals, too, are a terrible baseball team, and they have the artist formerly known as Matt Harvey starting for them in this matchup.
Other options: N/A
Sunday, September 13
Tyler Mahle (CIN) at STL 18%
What more does Mahle have to do to get his rostership up? He’s faced the Cardinals twice this year – both since August 23 – and he hasn’t exactly been lights out, but just as we quit him, we seem him put together the 11-strikeout starts like he had against the Cubs two starts ago. He had a quality start the last time out against the Cardinals, but only struck out three batters in seven innings.
Other options: Logan Webb (SF) at SD 4%
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Michael Waterloo is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Michael, check out his archive and follow him @MichaelWaterloo.
