Better late than never, right? *checks stats* OK, maybe not. But I think these are three pitchers with pretty good matchups this week that can help you if you’re looking for late two-start help.

Here are the totals halfway through week 19 (with updates from previous listing):

30-47 record (1-1)
4.74 ERA (-0.03)
7.0 K/9 (+0.03)
2.3 K/BB (+0.1)
1.42 WHIP (no change)

Here’s a look at this week’s recs, with team wRC+ in parentheses. Y! ownership numbers usually pulled courtesy of twitter pal @PandapPete21 (but not this week) whom you should give a follow:

RHP Scott Feldman – 7.9% ESPN – v. SEA (99), v. MIN (91)

Feldman gets a pair of below average offenses this week, and as an added bonus gets them both on the road. The Twins have a 79 wRC+ as a team on the road — an MLB worst — and the Mariners are markedly better but still just a 94. Feldman is also on a pretty nice roll, allowing three or fewer earned runs in his last six starts, resulting in a 1.80 ERA, .588 OPS against and 20-6 K/BB ratio. He won’t do much for you strikeouts-wise, but I like his chances to grab a couple wins.

LHP Brett Anderson – 20.7% ESPN – v. SFG (108), @SDP (89)

MLB’s surprise leader in groundball rate, Anderson has sort of flown under the radar while rejuvenating his career on arguably the NL’s grandest stage. That’s kind of amazing. At 27, Anderson appears headed for possible career highs in innings and starts. He’s got 25 starts and 147.1 innings, both of which could threaten his 2009 marks of 30 and 175.1. Nevertheless, it’s amazing that a guy who hasn’t done it in that long — back when he was 21 — still had it in him to get close to it. The Giants matchup isn’t ideal as they’re one of baseball’s best offenses, but getting them at Chavez Ravine is a nice bonus. The Giants are still one of baseball’s best road offenses, but it’s a bit more muted with a 104 wRC+. It’ll also be interesting to see how much Anderson’s groundball tendencies can neutralize the Giants’ power, as you’d expect it to do just that, but home runs have actually been an issue for the left-hander this season (0.9 HR/9, 15.9% HR/FB).

RHP Joe Ross – 39.4% ESPN- @STL (96), v. ATL (86)

I almost hesitated recommending Ross because my brain is automatically programmed to think the Cardinals have a stellar offense, but in fact their team wRC+ is below average, and it doesn’t hurt opposing pitchers that they have entire outfield of injured players — Randal Grichuk, Matt Holliday and Jon Jay — along with Matt Adams. The Cardinals are a little better at home (101 wRC+), but the matchup to stay for this week is the Braves anyway. Only four Braves with appreciable plate appearances have a wRC+ over 100, and that includes Freddie Freeman who has really struggled since returning from the DL in late July (.205/.293/.356 in 82 PA). Ross struggled last time out when we recommended him in this space, but those were basically his only two rough starts of the season. He’s got a 3.24 ERA, nearly a strikeout per inning and exactly a 50% groundball rate. You won’t be able to stream him for long — if at all. If he’s owned in your league — and there’s a good chance he is — consider one of the guys below.

Also considered: Tyler Duffey, Jake Peavy and Felix Doubront.

Today’s Roto Riteup author is enjoying something of a Harry Potter marathon this weekend and doesn’t appreciate you judging him.

On today’s agenda:
1. Various news and notes
2. Streaming Pitcher Options

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Today’s Roto Riteup is happy to celebrate the start of the busiest draft week-plus in all of fantasy sports as the football season draws ever closer.

On today’s agenda:
1. Raisel Iglesias does it again
2. Various news and notes
3. Streaming Pitcher Options

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Agenda

1. Durham Notes
2. Daily DFS
3. GB / FB Splits
4. SaberSim Hi/Lo
5. Tomorrow’s Targets – McCullers, Tomlin, Khris, Inciarte
6. Factor Grid

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Vin Scully is coming back for his 67th season, and everything else is secondary.

A.J. Ramos (and his 6.58 FIP and 8.18 ERA over the past thirty days) shut down the Nationals in the ninth for his 23rd save of the year. Carter Capps was still experiencing discomfort throwing his fastball on Monday, so his return is still up in the air, though he hints that he expects to be airing it out soon. For the Nationals, Jonathan Papelbon warmed up, but didn’t get in the game. He pitched each of the previous two nights, so I wouldn’t be entirely shocked if Drew Storen saw a save opportunity in Miami this weekend.

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This is what Chris Davis does. He’s always going to swing hard, resulting in what Brooks Baseball lovingly refers to as a “disastrously high likelihood to swing and miss.” But sometimes he’s going to connect on those swings with pleasant results.

This approach lends itself to results like the past three seasons when his wRC+ bounced from 168 to 95 to 138. Plenty have tried to figure out exactly what went wrong with Davis in 2014, and now with the benefit of a rebound season’s worth of data, I think it’s worth seeing if we can learn anything.

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Agenda

1. Problems with Splits
2. Daily DFS
3. GB / FB Splits
4. SaberSim Hi/Lo
5. Tomorrow’s Targets – Medlen, Rea, Schoop, Taylor
6. Factor Grid

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Episode 101 – I Don’t Think You’re Crazy

The latest episode of “Field of Streams” is live!

In this episode, Dylan Higgins and Matthew Dewoskin discuss Russell Martin’s ice-cold streak, comparing Ryan Howard to Pedro Alvarez to Mark Teixeira to Chris Davis, Scooter Gennett being a weak fantasy contributor, Dylan being wrong on Nolan Arenado, the Twins not being “bad,” Marcus Semien being just a guy, predicting Juan Uribe’s playoff heroics, and Matt not wanting to watch the White Sox even when tickets are free.

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Today at the Sophomore Report we look at two pitchers and two hitters experiencing varying degrees of success — and failure — in 2015.

Trevor Bauer, RHP, Indians: The third overall pick in the 2011 draft, Bauer has shown immense promise since his amateur days. He joined the Indians’ promising, young staff on a full-time basis in 2014 and he’s produced very similar numbers again in ’15 — which is actually a bit of a disappointment. Truth be told, he hasn’t improved much on his areas of weakness. His walk rate, which has been an issue in the past, has gone up a bit this year and while his hit rate has gone down, it’s mostly due to a below-average BABIP. In other words, if the rate moves back towards average then it could mean a lot of base runners for Bauer in 2016. And that’s bad news because he’s also struggled with the home run ball and continues to be an extreme fly-ball pitcher. Combine baserunners and home runs on a regular basis and it can make for some ugly outings.

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A new Star Wars: The Force Awakens teaser dropped yesterday, and like previous teaser trailers, I’m pretty giddy about this. I was a boy of 11 when Episode I was released, but even then I remember feeling disappointed by it. Here’s to hoping Episode VII lives up to the hype.

On today’s agenda: 
1. Farewell, Denard Span
2. Take note of Travis d’Arnaud
3. Love/Hate with Joe Ross
4. Streaming Pitching Options
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