Roto Riteup: April 20, 2026

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April 20, 2026

This was a cool moment over the weekend:

On the Agenda: 

  1. Patriots Day
  2. Closer Chaos
  3. Quick Hits
  4. Various News and Notes
  5. Streaming Pitchers

 

Patriots Day

Quick reminder that today is Patriots Day in Boston and the first pitch is at 11:10am EST. Get your lineups set early today!

 

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Closer Chaos

Caleb Thielbar threw a scoreless 10th inning versus the Mets to register the save on Sunday for the Cubs. 

With Daniel Palencia out with an oblique injury, the Cubs are looking for an interim closer. Thielbar may factor in that picture, but they also have Ben Brown who could be the next man up.

Bryan King threw a scoreless ninth inning, but then blew the game against the Cardinals in the tenth inning on Sunday.

With Bryan Abreu struggling and Josh Hader still on the IL, the Astros need a new closer. King may factor into the equation, but they also have Enyel De Los Santos who registered his first save of the season last week.

 

Quick Hits

Freddie Freeman was placed on the Paternity List. He will miss the next few games and return mid-week most likely. 

Corbin Carroll left Sunday’s game with back tightness.

This doesn’t sound too serious yet so consider him day-to-day for now.

Various News and Notes
Bailey Ober threw 6.1 innings versus the Reds, allowing just an unearned run on three hits and four walks while striking out 10 in the no-decision on Sunday.

Time to play the Jesse Pinkman GIF of him screaming “HOW DOES HE KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS?!” Ober is still throwing less than 90 mph on the fastball in spite of the amazing surface results. This will come back to bite him pretty hard once the weather heats up, but he is making it work for now.

Kazuma Okamoto went 2-for-4 with a home run in the victory over the Diamondbacks on Sunday.

Okamoto has struggled so far since his arrival in the Majors, but talent and approach are good. This may be a good buy low time as he has shown he can hit for power and the hit tool is better than he has shown thus far.

Mitch Keller threw seven innings, allowing two runs on five hits and no walks while striking out five in the victory over the Rays on Sunday.

Keller has quietly been pretty good this season, but the stuff is underwhelming and he is relying on inducing a ton of weak contact to get the job done. He is still walking too many batters and he is getting luck in the BABIP and strand rate departments. Regression seems to be around the corner.

 

Streaming Pitchers (Under 50% in Yahoo)

Pitcher for Today: None

Not a lot of great options, so I would rather not stream if I can avoid it today. 

Other Options: Reid Detmers vs TOR, Spencer Arrighetti at CLE, Michael McGreevy at MIA, Rhett Lowder at TB, Max Meyer vs STL, Justin Wrobelski at COL, Colin Rea vs PHI. 

 

Pitcher for Tomorrow: Mick Abel at NYM

Abel continues to pitch well and gets a Mets team that hasn’t hit its stride yet. 

Other Options: Carmen Mlodzinski at TEX, Keider Montero vs MIL, Sean Burke at ARI, Steven Matz vs CIN.

For those of you that would like to see how these picks play out, I have a doc I put together to track the stats from my recommended pitchers. It does not include the “Other Options.”





 

Justin is the co-host on The Sleeper and The Bust Podcast and writes for Rotographs covering the Roto Riteup as well as other periodic articles. In addition to his work at Rotographs, Justin is the lead fantasy writer/analyst and co-owner for FriendswithFantasyBenefits.com, and the owner of The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational. He is also a certified addiction treatment counselor. Follow Justin on Twitter @JustinMasonFWFB.

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sloejoeMember since 2025
22 days ago

Based on the video, the Reds need to use those challenges!

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