Archive for Head to Head

12 wins were calling:

Pete Fairbanks always looks like he just got frightening news on his glove phone. pic.twitter.com/66dJhEWbwk

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 13, 2023

Pete Fairbanks closed it out and Taj Bradley won his major league debut, pushing the Rays streak to 12 wins. Bradley struck out eight and allowed 3 ER over 5 IP in the 9-7 win over Boston. His four-seamer averaged 96 mph and generated a 33% SwStr%. His counterpart, on the other hand, was roughed up again – Chris Sale allowed six runs (5 ER) on seven hits over four innings in the loss. Sale now has an 11.25 ERA over his first three starts, lining up to face the Angels next Monday. Read the rest of this entry »

The Bloodline comes to MLB:

Sean Manaea and Blake Sabol became the first Samoan pitcher and catcher pair to start an MLB game 👏

"It's amazing. There's not too many of us Samoan baseball players. To form a battery like that is incredible for all of us." – Manaea

(via @MLB) pic.twitter.com/SUHpjyRLko

— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) April 9, 2023

On the Agenda

1. IL Apocalypse
2. Easter Dongs
3. Monday Morning FAAB Attack: Wiemer Business
4. Streaming Pitchers

Read the rest of this entry »

We’re only a week in, so our time is probably better spent on things other than hemming and hawing about hitters having good and bad starts. One week of games probably shouldn’t be changing our opinions of anyone but it can be useful to get an early handle on how and where players are being utilized. Things are going to change (and drastically!) but I like to take a long look at early-season lineups in order to get a rough handle on what managers are considering as their best bets for everyday lineups.

With that in mind let’s take a spin around baseball and see what can be gleaned from early lineups and possible platoons situations, starting with the National League. Read the rest of this entry »

That’s one:

JORDAN WALKER'S 1ST CAREER HOME RUN! pic.twitter.com/xxi9sVba1G

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) April 5, 2023

On the Agenda:

1. Quick Hits
2. The IL Cometh
3. Closer Kumite
4.  Happy Coors Day!
5. Streaming Pitchers

Read the rest of this entry »

We first had to suffer our yearly winter of the damned, with little news and less ball, waiting for the K(umite)FL to finally release the national consciousness, retreating to lick their wounds and find new bodies. And while we did get a small respite from the WBC coming around to whet the appetite early, we still had to suffer six more weeks of no MLB baseball after Rob Manfred again emerged on Valentine’s Day to see only a shadow of his baseball heart. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, hello there, puddin’ pops. I’m not Justin Mason (or Burt Reynolds) – but that’s the easy answer.

The real question is whether I’m a permanent fill-in or just a one-day sub because Cedric Mullins and his 2 HR/3 SB start have made Mason’s pants just way too tight to show himself in public. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week on League Losers we covered the hitters who might be destined to ruin your teams, as well as covering why they don’t actually exist. At least, as singularities. Collect a whole set, however, and your roster will eventually collapse under the gravity of defeat.

Pitchers are a different bird, though, when it comes to ruination potential. You can, after all, just stop starting them when things go really wrong. But all sorts of variables will be pushing on when you’ll finally pull the pine trigger on someone you thought you could trust. And often by the time you do, the damage will have already been done.

Now then, we simply have no more time for preamble. In just a few hours I’ll be going under for foot surgery – and about 12 hours after that is something far more important: Read the rest of this entry »

Bad news, everyone – I come bearing ill tidings. Regardless of what you read, no matter how hyperbolic the verbiage, I’m afraid there is no such thing as a “league winner” in fantasy baseball. Not “rare” or “uncommon” – actually imaginary. Like, unicorns, imaginary. Read the rest of this entry »

Must. Reach. Finish line…So. Close. We’re almost done with our positional previews, having now covered catchers, first base, second base, third base, shortstop, outfielders, and relievers. We got started on the starters last week, checking it on the Top 50 options. But as we leave those tiers behind, the waters necessarily get choppier, with more categorical warts appearing as player quality (and reliability) begins to drop off. So, before we get to this latest Rankening*, let’s have a quick chat about how these ranks come to be and the wiggle room inherent. Read the rest of this entry »

Alright, alright – the official start of fantasy baseball has officially officialized, with the NFL kumite finally in our rearview mirror. We’ve now come to our final positional rankings, after first covering catchers, first base, second base, third base, shortstop, outfielders, and relievers. It’s time for starting pitchers – let’s have some fun. Read the rest of this entry »