Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 24

With just three weeks remaining in the 2019 season, the stakes are at their highest. There is precious little room for error as we barrel toward the conclusion of the year. That's true regardless of format; head-to-head owners have to navigate their league's postseason, while rotisserie players must make every move count as they scratch and claw for standings points.

Suffice it to say that many of us are feeling the pressure. Fortunately, this column is designed to help you identify the best path forward to fantasy glory.

A reminder before we begin: Our focus is on players who are below 50% owned in Yahoo leagues, and standard 5x5 scoring. Your mileage may vary, in terms of availability or league settings. Using that cutoff point for ownership rate, however, these are your starting pitcher waiver wire targets and adds for Week 24 of the 2019 fantasy baseball season.

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Pickups for Shallow Leagues

Tanner Roark (SP, OAK) — 38% Owned

Roark has been fantastic since coming over to Oakland at the trade deadline, allowing two runs or fewer and completing six innings in five of his six starts with the A's. That stretch includes quality starts against both the Yankees and Astros, and most recently 6.2 shutout innings against the Angels. He'll have to tangle with Houston again on Tuesday, but has a second start against Texas on Sunday and then will finish the year with the Rangers again and the Mariners.

Jordan Lyles (SP, MIL) — 38% Owned

Speaking of beating the Astros, Lyles did just that in his start last week. It was his first time ever facing the team that drafted him back in 2008, and he limited them to two runs in 6.1 innings. The veteran has completely turned his season around since landing in Milwaukee, as that win over Houston pushed him to 5-1 with a 2.56 ERA and 1.06 WHIP in his seven starts for the Brewers. That's partly the result of some BABIP luck, but Lyles has also been inducing a ton of weak contact and pop-ups, so we can't completely hand-wave his success away. Plus he gets the Marlins on Monday as part of a two-start week.

Dinelson Lamet (SP, SD) — 32% Owned

This season hasn't been overly kind to the Padres, who probably hoped that the addition of Manny Machado would allow them to contend for a playoff berth. While that won't happen, Lamet's performance since returning from Tommy John surgery is an undeniable bright spot of 2019. The 27-year-old may only have two victories on his ledger, but he's punched out 74 batters in 57 innings while posting solid ratios (3.95 ERA, 1.26 WHIP). The Cubs present a tough test in his next start, but he does avoid a series at Coors in closing out the year with the Brewers and a pair of games against the Diamondbacks.

Pickups for Deeper Leagues

Reynaldo Lopez (SP, CHW) — 21% Owned

Lopez's Jekyll-and-Hyde routine is well-established at this point, and he's been as on brand as ever lately, basically alternating clunkers and gems over his last seven starts. Most recently, he fired a complete game shutout against the Indians, racking up 11 strikeouts...which of course came after a start against the Braves in which he gave up six runs and couldn't escape the first inning. He should be a reasonably safe play against the Royals though, and after facing the Twins in a subsequent outing will close the year with two tilts against the hapless Tigers.

Chase Anderson (SP, MIL) — 17% Owned

Anderson gets two starts next week, and the first one comes at Miami. The Cardinals next Sunday will be more of a challenge, but after that he'll finish with the Pirates and Reds. His full-season ratios (4.58 ERA, 1.31 WHIP) aren't great, but are skewed by his 10 ER meltdown against the Nationals a few weeks ago. Other than that nightmare of an evening, he has allowed more than two runs just twice in his last 14 starts.

Brendan McKay (SP, TB) —13% Owned

McKay's return to the major leagues couldn't have gone much better, as he struck out seven Blue Jays in just 3.2 innings before being lifted due to pitch count. While he's had an up-and-down rookie year and may continue to see his workload limited, the Rays' top prospect possesses more talent than you'd typically see in a pitcher so widely available on the waiver wire.

For Your Radar

Tyler Mahle (SP, CIN) — 5% Owned

Mahle has made two starts since returning from a six-week stint on the injured list. The most recent came Friday against Arizona and didn't go well, but he looked great in the prior effort against St. Louis (6.1 IP, 1 ER, 5 K, and just two baserunners allowed). He gets a tasty matchup at Seattle on Thursday.

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