Games Remaining Chart

It’s crunch time, folks! After the remainder of this week, we have just five left so I put together a quick chart of how many games each team has left. There aren’t massive edges to be gained in the aggregate as it’s just a four game split between the most (Cubs) and fewest (Padres) left, not to mention that the team with the fewest isn’t even that fantasy relevant, but whether H2H or Roto, every little advantage can be useful at this point in the season.

A few notes after we take a look at the list:

There can be some single week situations to maximize, particularly if you’re chasing down a playoff spot and then in your league’s playoffs. For example, we have four teams with a 5-game week upcoming so you might favor a 7-game bat over someone from one of those teams next week to get the extra games played even if he projects as a lesser player on per plate appearance basis. After next week, there are just two 5-game weeks remaining all year, one in the Sept 10-16 period from the aforementioned Padres that likely doesn’t change much, but then a huge one from the Reds in the final week of the season.

Yes, the Reds are dead last in the NL Central, but they have several fantasy relevant players, particularly on their offense. A team in their championship week is only going to get five games from cornerstones like Eugenio Suarez, Scooter Gennett, and Joey Votto (assuming he’s back from the DL). If you’re chasing down a roto title with SBs as a key category, the shortened week stings your Billy Hamilton and Jose Peraza shares. Catcher has been a nightmare this year so while Tucker Barnhart is hardly a superstar, he’s been a rather reliable C2 in many leagues.

The Phillies and Rays are the only two teams with back-to-back 7-game weeks to cap off the season. This is obviously good for volume with their hitters, but it also sets up several two-start opportunities, though the Rays aren’t the best team for that with just Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow operating as true starters. The Phillies have an entire staff of fantasy relevant arms so those two-start weeks could be huge if the right guys get them. “Right” just meaning the ones you have in this case.