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When the All-Star break ends and the regular season resumes, the fantasy baseball weekly schedule needs to adjust, causing confusion between head-to-head and roto leagues when it comes to labeling articles. For example, last Saturday we posted our Week 16 Two-Start Pitchers piece. Now, if you’re in a H2H league, your Week 16 matchup started on Thursday and will end on July 29th. If you’re in a roto/points league, where you change your lineup once a week, you still operate at a Monday-Sunday schedule.
So, just to clarify, last Saturday’s two-start pitcher article was for the H2H players. This two-start pitcher piece is for the roto/points players. To avoid confusion, from here on out, the two-start articles will be labeled with the dates applicable and no longer will have the “Week” titles.
In the last article, we suggested Anibal Sanchez, who shined on Friday night. He struck out eight Nationals and allowed three earned runs in the win. Most of the other names on the list haven't pitched yet. We had to look ahead, prior to the All-Star break, when naming other streamers in last week's piece.
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Pitcher Streamers - Under 50% Owned
Kevin Gausman, BAL (41% owned)
Probable opponents: vs. BOS, vs. TB
Honestly, the player pool for streaming pitchers, who are also under 50 percent owned, is slim this week. However, the show must go on. Gausman will not have a favorable matchup against Boston in his first start of the week. He faced the Red Sox on May 17th and it did not go well: 4.2 IP, 6 ER, and 6 K. In his last outing against the Rays, he was crushed, too: 2.2 IP, 7 ER, and 1 K. He does have his bright spots, though. On May 11th, against the Rays, he pitched 7.1 innings and struck out six while allowing only two earned runs. Also, all four of his wins this season came at home. He pitches twice at Camden Yards this week.
Jhoulys Chacin, MIL (38% owned)
Probable opponents: vs. WSH, @ SF
Chacin has allowed two earned runs, or less, in three of the last four outings and has struck out at least five batters in three of the last five appearances. While the Nationals will be a tough task to handle, he should have success against the Giants. San Francisco is 23rd in runs scored (404 runs in 99 games) and eighth in team strikeouts (863) this season. Also, the Giants are 23rd in team wOBA (.314) against right-handed pitchers.
Carlos Rodon, CWS (25% owned)
Probable opponents: @ LAA, vs. TOR
I’m surprised this lefty is as low-owned as he is, especially after his two solid outings recently. Rodon has racked up 13 strikeouts and allowed only two total earned runs in his last two appearances (13.1 innings). Both the Angels and Blue Jays are in the bottom 10, in regards to team wOBA against southpaws. Los Angeles is 27th (.295) and Toronto is 21st (.311). He’ll also face the Blue Jays at home, where Rodon owns a 1.77 ERA in three starts this season.
Pitcher Streamers - Under 25% Owned
Andrew Suarez, SF (24% owned)
Probable opponents: @ SEA, vs. MIL
I recommended him in the last article, for the head-to-head crowd, and now I’ll do so for the roto/points people. When we wrote the last piece, the All-Star break had yet to begin and teams were about to get four days off (three for STL/CHC). So, managers could tweak their rotations however they wanted when the teams returned to action. Now, Suarez will face the Mariners and Brewers.
Joe Musgrove, PIT (23% owned)
Probable opponents: @ CLE, vs. NYM
Musgrove was also listed in the previous article and his opponents haven’t changed. So, I’m just going to copy and paste from the last article. Musgrove has struck out at least five batters in seven of his eight starts in 2018. In his last outing, he struck out a season-high nine batters. Unfortunately, he’ll have the tough task of facing the Indians after the All-Star break. On the bright side, he’ll also likely see the Mets in Week 16. The NL’s New York team is 22nd in team wOBA (.313) against right-handed pitchers and 27th in runs scored (351 runs in 91 games) this season.
Zack Wheeler, NYM (21% owned)
Probable opponents: vs. SD, @ PIT
The strikeouts continue to mount when Wheeler is on the hill. He’s notched at least seven strikeouts in five of the last six outings and has allowed three earned runs, or less, in three of the last four games. In a previous outing against the Pirates, Wheeler struck out seven in seven innings (zero earned runs). In his lone outing against the Padres, while they scored two earned runs, Wheeler struck out nine in five innings of work. Also, the Padres are 28th in team wOBA against righties (.293) and the Pirates are 24th (.310).
