The chart includes their performance for 2025, their opponent’s wOBA rank versus the pitcher’s handedness from this year so far, my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them. Obviously, there are league sizes beyond those three so it’s essentially a shallow, medium, deep. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s a much riskier stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. This is for standard 5×5 roto leagues. The thresholds for H2H starts are generally lower, especially in points leagues so I thought there would be more valuable focusing on roto.

Holy Toledo, what a rough board for the short slate Thursday! I keep a running loose ranking all throughout the year and only 2 guys in my Top 40 are going today. I’ll let you guess which 2 and neither is Schlittler or Seymour yet despite their impressive small samples. But that lack of experience also stands out when they rank 2nd and 4th on a board, respectively.

• Luzardo draws the top spot, but the Mets are blazing hot vL lately sitting 1st in wOBA over the L30
• I’m still starting Schlittler and Seymour in virtually all spots so that wasn’t a diss earlier, just underscoring how thin Thursday is. These two will be the subject of many offseason conversations and appear on a lot of breakout/sleeper lists as the next big thing. I need to do more research on Seymour to see where I land, but I can see myself contributing to the Schlittler hype for sure.
• Gausman’s been undeniably good this year (SP23 on Player Rater) and yet I never feel that good starting him and I really can’t explain it. It’s also theoretical for me this year because I don’t have him so I should say “recommending him” more than “starting him’. It’s idle concern, though, because I can’t see benching him anywhere even in tougher matchups.
• Love that my guy Gav Williams has his ERA down to a strong 3.17, but I haven’t been sprinting victory laps around everyone because I understand the 1.29 WHIP mitigates some of his impact… he’s SP40 which is 1 spot higher than my SP41 spring rank.
• Peterson’s been all over the map lately: 26-79-55-6-41 Game Scores over his L5 so I really wouldn’t blame anyone for passing in Philly, but he’s at least worthy of consideration everywhere even if only in hopes of nabbing a W.
• Smith’s had an excellent 2H rebound and honestly as I’m typing this I’m realizing I like him over Peterson but I’ve already remade the board like 6x writing these comments so pardon me for being a lazy bum and leaving it as-is and just telling y’all I prefer our boy Shane!
• Weathers is coming off the IL so he’s a total wildcard but he reached 4.7 IP in 68 pitches during his last rehab so if they expand that to 75-80 pitches, 5 IP should be doable… I’d say pickup and stash but he’s headed to Coors next week and I’m doing my best to avoid ALL Coors starts down the stretch (studs still starting there, though).
• Oviedo’s a hot hand play, but he’s legitimately hot and someone I really liked both coming up with St. Louis and during his platform 2023 season with Pittsburgh; more BB (13%) than we’d like in his 5 starts off the IL, but also a 29% K and very few hits fueling a sharp 1.10 WHIP. BAL can still clip a pitcher, but I don’t run from them.
• Sori’s WHIP remains terrifying and despite the elite matchup, I’m not sure how good Kolek is so I don’t think he’s an overwhelming must start.

—

Read the rest of this entry »

Katie Stratman-Imagn Images

While the NFBC Main Event garners most of the attention, there are a handful of leagues with even larger entry fees ($2.5K to $15K). They are named “High Stakes Leagues,” and there are eleven of them. With so much money on the line, these fantasy managers try to gain any advantage. Most of the time, these managers will be a week or two ahead of everyone else on their adds. Here are the players and some information on the ones added in five or more leagues. Read the rest of this entry »

Hello, and welcome to one of the last Position Player Playing Time Changes roundups of the year! We’ve got plenty to go over this week, as usual, but before we dive in it’s important to note how the methodology makes for some large swings this late in the season.

Because we’re looking at remaining playing time and there’s so little time left in the season, even the most minor of injuries — like an IL stint for Alec Bohm that’s expected to be the minimum ten days — can lead to massive swings in playing time because the Phillies only have 18 games left. For example, if this was Opening Day and Bohm was expected to miss only ten games, his projected playing time would only go down six percent. But now even a relatively minor injury means his playing time goes down 50 percentage points. Basically, there’s an inverse relationship between games remaining in the season and the significance of an individual injury, which is why our list keeps getting longer with each week!

With that explanation out of the way, let’s get to it:

Read the rest of this entry »

This should be a felony:

Read the rest of this entry »

The chart includes their performance for 2025, their opponent’s wOBA rank versus the pitcher’s handedness from this year so far, my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them. Obviously, there are league sizes beyond those three so it’s essentially a shallow, medium, deep. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s a much riskier stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. This is for standard 5×5 roto leagues. The thresholds for H2H starts are generally lower, especially in points leagues so I thought there would be more valuable focusing on roto.

Board tonight, comments in the morning!

—

Read the rest of this entry »

The chart includes their performance for 2025, their opponent’s wOBA rank versus the pitcher’s handedness from this year so far, my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them. Obviously, there are league sizes beyond those three so it’s essentially a shallow, medium, deep. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s a much riskier stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. This is for standard 5×5 roto leagues. The thresholds for H2H starts are generally lower, especially in points leagues so I thought there would be more valuable focusing on roto.

Board tonight, comments in the morning! I’m also curious if there’s anything those of you still chasing down titles and placements would want to see to make the board more useful in September.

• Tough board today starting with pitchers 2-5 all have medium-to-tough matchups. It doesn’t take me off any of ’em, of course, just know there’s some downside w/a rookie in ATL, anyone v. ARI, Biebs still only making his 6th start in 2 yrs, and Ranger in a heated divisional matchup v. NYM
• Pitchers 6-10 go the other way where it’s less bankable arms, but much stronger matchups:
  • Is Eury hitting a wall and done being good this year or ready to rebound v. WAS? It’s Mazur today, Eury tom.
  • Can Houser defeat his old team despite their improved offense? (15th wOBA in L30)
  • Will Bradish stay hot w/a great matchup?
  • Is Cameron’s tank running empty? 0 K/6 ER, 5 BB/3 ER in his L2 starts
  • Does Sheehan go long enough to steal a W in a great spot?
• I can see running any of the 2-x’s in 10-teamers, but I don’t think they are anywhere near must starts… Strider’s been better in his L2 but still just 4 Ks/5 BB so he’s not necessarily back just bc of the 4 ER in 12 IP.
• King’s 1-x is just IL return caution. As I discussed with someone in the comments, if he goes off today then it’s all systems go v. COL

—

Read the rest of this entry »

Here is today’s chat transcript:
Read the rest of this entry »

Still better than any catch in the NFL:

Read the rest of this entry »

The chart includes their performance for 2025, their opponent’s wOBA rank versus the pitcher’s handedness from this year so far, my general start/sit recommendation for 10-team, 12-team, and 15-team (or more) leagues, and then a note about them. Obviously, there are league sizes beyond those three so it’s essentially a shallow, medium, deep. If a pitcher only has an “x” in 15-team, it doesn’t mean there’s no potential use in 10s and 12s, but it’s a much riskier stream for those spots.

These are general recommendations, and your league situation will carry more weight whether you are protecting ratios or chasing counting numbers. This is for standard 5×5 roto leagues. The thresholds for H2H starts are generally lower, especially in points leagues so I thought there would be more valuable focusing on roto.

Board tonight, comments in the morning!

• Not all the 3-xs are created equally, of course, w/Crochet-Woo-Webb-Lodolo-Glasnow-Imanaga sitting a cut above youngsters Bergert and McLean, but I can’t envision sitting those two in many – if any – spots. McLean is in PHI which isn’t easy, but he’s just been SO elite so far.
• TEX isn’t a total walkover so I don’t think Q coasts to a win, just that I’d be willing to chase a W with him as opposed to relying on him for ratios.
• Darvish-Morales-Cecconi-Cavalli is an interesting group of risky upside arms… any of the four can pop off or get smoked and figuring who will do what is the tough part. I, of course, lean toward Darvish and Morales with their 2-x rankings, but not exponentially ahead of Cecconi-Cavalli by any stretch.
• Crismatt’s WHIP makes clear that ERA is fraudulent laced with good fortune. Still might not be the worst spot to do a haf-assed Win chase as the D’Backs can still swing it a bit so while they are an also-ran team at this point, they still have a fair win probability on most nights.

—

Read the rest of this entry »

7:31	Jeff Zimmerman:

Read the rest of this entry »