by Simon Jones

Friday was night dominated primarily by the pitching lines, both god and awful. There was a Japanese pitching duel in the Bronx, another great outing from Alex Wood, plus a couple of starters who must be nearing the end of their stint in the rotation.

So let’s look at some of the bigger stories from Friday’s games.

1) Wood’s dominance continues….
Alex Wood delivered another great performance on Friday against the Rockies in a 6-1 win. Wood pitched six innings of one run ball, striking out another seven batters. Wood has been inspirational for the Dodgers this year, beginning the year way down the depth chart, but stepping in admirably with the injuries to Scott Kazmir and Julio Urias, as well as the struggles of Rich Hill and Kenta Maeda. He now sports a sparkling 1.86 ERA and 0.92 WHIP and has actually outpitched Clayton Kershaw this year. Read more

by Ray Kuhn

Sometimes the schedule on a Thursday is on the lighter side, but that was not the case yesterday. We had six games in the afternoon to get us through the day, and that was followed by another six games at night. After a first inning scare, the X-Rays on George Springer’s hand were negative, and then the Astros had a little scare of their own thanks to their bullpen on their way to becoming the first team to 50 wins. Let’s take a look at some of the fantasy performances that stood out from a busy day around the league:

1) Nola Out Duels Carlos Martinez…

Thanks to the Phillies’ state of rebuilding, young pitchers like Aaron Nola have every chance to impress and prove they belong at the major league level. However, you can’t afford to be as charitable with starting spots on your fantasy team, but Nola does have some value. He picked up his fourth victory of the season yesterday by allowing one run on four hits and two walks to the Cardinals in 7.1 innings. The lone damage was a Paul DeJong home run in the eighth inning as Nola struck out eight while lowering his ERA to 4.32. For a young pitcher, you have to like the fact that Nola is striking out 8.48 batters per nine innings while limiting opponents to 2.78 walks per nine innings. Due to injury, Nola has only make 10 starts so far this season, and he has a decision in nine of them despite averaging 5.8 innings per start. With a 3.79 FIP and 3.81 xFIP, Nola is a safe arm to target if you are looking for some strikeouts. Read more

by Ray Kuhn

We had a full day of baseball to get us through the midpoint of the week, and there was almost some history in Miami. Entering the day, especially the evening slate of games, there was a far amount of offense expected. There were just too many double digit games expected, and multiple teams were projected to eclipse five runs. While that certainly happened, things were also a little quieter than originally expected. Let’s take a look at some of the performances that stood out from a busy day around baseball:

1) Scherzer Flirts With History…

Yes, we know, Max Scherzer is elite. Every so often though, he likes to remind us in case we forgot, and Wednesday was one of those days. The right-hander, took his quest for a third no-hitter into the eighth inning against the Marlins before it was broken up by A.J Ellis with an infield single. However, not only did Scherzer lose his no-hitter, but he also ended up losing the game. Thanks to an Adam Lind error, both runs Miami scored were unearned, and Scherzer ended his eight innings of work allowing two hits and a walk as he lowered his ERA to 2.09 and his WHIP to 0.81. It was another double digit strikeout game for Scherzer, as he struck out 11 this time, giving him 145 strikeouts in 107.2 innings on the season. Read more

by Eric Stashin (aka The Rotoprofessor)

Manny Machado exploded against Josh Tomlin (5 ER over 4.2 IP) and the Cleveland Indians, going 4-4 with 2 HR, 4 RBI and 2 R.  Corey Seager helped to lead the onslaught of Mets’ pitchers, going 4-5 with 3 HR, 6 RBI and 3 R.  Daniel Murphy led the way to Nationals’ blowout victory, going 2-3 with 1 HR, 2 RBI and 2 R.  What else happened on the field that we need to know about?  Let’s take a look:

1) Is the hot hitting Cameron Maybin for real…
He went 3-5 with 1 HR, 2 RBI and 2 R, putting him at .279 with 5 HR and 21 SB on the season.  He’s also hit in all 10 games he’s played since coming off the DL, going 18-44 (.409) with 2 HR, 4 RBI, 14 R and 8 SB.  Throw in 5 doubles and there’s a lot to like, though he has just 2 BB over this stretch (0 BB in his past eight games).  Of course that may be searching for a negative, as he’s shown great plate discipline all season long (7.6% SwStr%, 20.7% O-Swing% entering the day).  His .320 BABIP, 17.0% strikeout rate and 10.3% HR/FB are all believable, meaning it’s possible Maybin is simply finally producing as was expected when he was called up many years ago.  Obviously there’s a little bit of risk, but at this point we’re buying (especially if you are looking for help in SB, R and AVG/OBP). Read more

by Ray Kuhn

While we never start the week off with a full slate of games, there is always enough action to pique our interest from a fantasy perspective. In fact, there were 11 games across baseball last night, and all provided some level of fantasy impact. Derek Fisher went deep again as part of his five game cameo with the Astros, and as a parting gift, he was sent back down to Triple-A with the return of Josh Reddick. Before the year is out, we will see Fisher again in the majors; whether or not it is with the Astros is up for debate. Let’s take a look at some of the performances of note from last night:

1) Kluber Gets Way More Than he Needed…

All Corey Kluber needed was one run of support last night, but he got 12 from his offense. The right-hander went the distance for a complete game shutout in Baltimore last night as he picked up his sixth victory of the season. At this point, it is safe to conclude that Kluber is fully healthy and has found his groove following a DL stint earlier in the season and a slow start. Kluber limited the Orioles to just three hits as he struck out 11 and didn’t walk a batter. After last night, Kluber’s ERA now sits at 3.58, with a WHIP of 1.09, as it continues to trend in the right direction. With 80 strikeouts in 65.1 innings, Kluber is pitching at an “ace” level. Read more

by Eric Stashin (aka The Rotoprofessor)

Jacob deGrom continued his rebound, dominating the Nationals (8.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 6 K) while also providing a bit of offense (solo home run).  Nolan Arenado capped off his cycle with a walkoff home run, finishing the day going 4-5 with 1 HR, 4 RBI and 1 R.  It was another big day for Edwin Encarnacion, going 3-4 with 2 HR, 5 RBI and 2 R.  What else happened on the field that we need to know about?  Let’s take a look:

1) Another dominant outing from Jacob Faria…
The offense gave him plenty of support, led by Logan Morrison (2-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 3 R) and Steven Souza (2-4, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 R), but that shouldn’t take away from Faria’s strong outing.  Taking on the Tigers he allowed 1 ER on 6 H and 1 BB, striking out 9, over 7.0 IP to improve to 3-0 with a 1.37 ERA.  Obviously he’s not going to maintain these types of numbers, as he carries home run risk (he allowed 3 groundballs vs. 9 fly balls yesterday, after posting a 41.5% groundball rate entering the day) and is unlikely to maintain this type of excellent control (3.38 BB/9 at Triple-A, 4 BB over 19.2 IP thus far).  While he’s going to remain a viable option thanks to his strikeout stuff, as he had 17 swinging strikes yesterday, keep in mind that there will likely be struggles in his future.  Read more