Week 5 MLB Closers & Bullpen Usage Report

Monitoring bullpens in 2020 will be a vital task each and every day. Because of this, we'll be publishing a weekly article at RotoBaller that tracks which bullpens are being taxed and which pitchers within that bullpen are being heavily used. The idea of this column is to help you gain an inside track into which […]

Daily MLB DFS Value Plays for FanDuel, DraftKings - August 20, 2020 (Premium Content)

All other Premium Tools can be accessed on the premium dashboard. Below you will find our Premium DFS value plays for 8/20/2020. These picks will target low-priced players in the main slate. We have an 8-game slate on tap tonight that has some higher-priced pitching with some really nice offensive spots to target; however, Coors Field […]

DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks (8/20/20) - MLB DFS Lineups

We head into Thursday night with a nice 8 game slate on tap. There is a nice mix of pitching and bats to attack tonight. It has been hot on the west coast, so do not forget to focus on some of those big offenses. There is no Coors in play tonight which is always […]

Tommy La Stella Slugging .577 Over Last 15 Games

Los Angeles Angels second baseman Tommy La Stella went 1-for-3 with one walk and one run scored in the Angels loss to the Giants on Wednesday. La Stella has been hitting the ball very sharply recently, slashing .308/.362/.577 over his last 52 at-bats with three home runs and 11 runs batted in. He also now […]

Shohei Ohtani Stuck In 2-For-22 Skid

Los Angeles Angels designated hitter Shohei Ohtani went 0-for-4 in the team's 7-2 loss to the Giants. Ohtani now is 2-for-22 (.090) over his last six games played and is hitting only .220 in August. Ohtani was shut down from pitching for the rest of the season so his fantasy value is now solely tied […]

Anthony Rendon Stays White-Hot

Los Angeles Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon collected two more hits in the Angels 7-2 loss to the Giants on Wednesday. Rendon extended his hitting streak to nine games and is 15-for-32 (.468) during that span with three doubles, five home runs and nine runs batted in. After a sluggish start to his tenure in […]

Justin Upton Starting On Wednesday

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Justin Upton is in the starting lineup on Wednesday despite his awful start to the season. Manager Joe Maddon is trying to get Upton back on track after the 32-year-old posted a .100/.179/.200 slash line over his first 17 games, but Upton has shown few encouraging signs with a remarkably poor […]

Andrelton Simmons Nearing A Return

Los Angeles Angels shortstop Andrelton Simmons (ankle) is reportedly nearing a return and was scheduled for a full workout on Wednesday. Simmons’s recovery from his ankle sprain isn’t likely to be complete even when he gets back in the lineup according to manager Joe Maddon, and the 30-year-old is expected to deal with ankle soreness […]

Julio Teheran Shifted To Angels Bullpen

Los Angeles Angels right-handed pitcher Julio Teheran will be moved out of the club’s starting rotation amid his early-season struggles, with a role in the bullpen coming his way. Teheran has been clobbered thus far in 2020, yielding 11 runs and four homers in his first eight innings; his .793 xSLG, .497 xwOBA, and .562 […]

Jason Castro Returns To Lineup Wednesday

Los Angeles Angels catcher Jason Castro is back among the starting nine for Wednesday’s contest against the Giants and right-handed pitcher Johnny Cueto. Castro last appeared in the lineup Friday, having been sidelined since due to neck stiffness. Additionally, Justin Upton will start over rookie Jo Adell, continuing the daily lineup crux that manager Joe […]

DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks (8/19/20) - MLB DFS Lineups

Gerrit Cole and Jacob deGrom highlight today's 11-game slate on DraftKings, while the Tigers' top pick Casey Mize will take the mound for his big league debut against the White Sox. There are plenty of intriguing arms to consider on this slate, so getting that right will be imperative to success. We also have the […]

Daily Slivers of the Fantasy Soapbox - Yesterday's Recap

Welcome to the August 19th edition of Daily Slivers of the Fantasy Soapbox. Discussing baseball is as fun as the game itself. It has a way of bringing people together to share different opinions about the sport we all love. A similar action can be done with fantasy baseball where we not only discuss topics […]

Daily MLB DFS Value Plays for FanDuel, DraftKings - August 19, 2020 (Premium Content)

All other Premium Tools can be accessed on the premium dashboard. Below you will find our Premium DFS value plays for 8/19/2020. These picks will target low-priced players in the main slate. We have an 11-game slate on tap tonight that has some higher-priced pitching with some really nice offensive spots to target. Some will pay […]

Jason Castro Out Of Lineup Tuesday, Battling Neck Ailment

Los Angeles Angels catcher Jason Castro remains out of the lineup Tuesday against San Francisco and right-hander Trevor Cahill as he continues to battle neck stiffness. Manager Joe Maddon indicated that Castro’s ailment is “definitely improving,” which lends credence to the thought that he may be able to avoid a stint on the injured list. […]

Albert Pujols Not In Tuesday’s Starting Lineup

Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols was back out of the lineup Tuesday against the Giants and right-hander Trevor Cahill. His absence marks the third time in the club’s last four games that Pujols has been on the pine with Tommy La Stella shifting over to first base. A two-hit night Monday pulled Pujols’ […]

Daily Slivers of the Fantasy Soapbox - Yesterday's Recap

Welcome to the August 18th edition of Daily Slivers of the Fantasy Soapbox. Discussing baseball is as fun as the game itself. It has a way of bringing people together to share different opinions about the sport we all love. A similar action can be done with fantasy baseball where we not only discuss topics […]

2020 K% Decreases: Buy, Sell, or Hold

Faster than most stats, the strikeout rate for batters stabilizes quickly. While not a guarantee of the future, once we have 60 plate appearances we can start making some judgments on where batters are at in their plate discipline and what we might expect going forward. Last week, we took a look at some of […]

WPC+ Videocast: Week 5 Risers & Fallers

Pierre Camus and Nicklaus Gaut recap MLB action heading into Week 5 of the 2020 season for fantasy baseball. They identify key risers and fallers, dissect rookie debuts, and discuss major injuries and statistical quirks. Like and subscribe to the RotoBaller channel on Youtube to get all our latest podcasts and catch us on iTunes […]

The Baller Ranks: Top 101 Starting Pitchers Weekly Rankings

Welcome to the Week 5 Starting Pitcher Baller Ranks, where we take a look weekly at where the top 101 SPs stand moving forward in this strange sprint season. You can check out my weekly Top 101 Relief Pitcher Baller Ranks as well. David Emerick rolled out an introduction to our Baller Ranks here -- I suggest […]

Cam Bedrosian Still Without Timetable For Return

Los Angeles Angels right-handed pitcher Cam Bedrosian has been out of the mix since Aug. 3 due to a right adductor strain, and per manager Joe Maddon, Bedrosian is “still not 100 percent,” which leaves him without a timetable for when he could rejoin the club. Bedrosian presumably would be in the conversation for the […]

Andrelton Simmons' Return On The Horizon

Los Angeles Angels shortstop Andrelton Simmons (ankle) is eligible to come off the injured list, but he isn’t ready to jump back into action just yet. Per manager Joe Maddon, Simmons’ return is not in “the too distant future,” signaling that he may be ready for a return at some point this week. How the Angels […]

Shohei Ohtani Out Of Lineup Monday Against Southpaw

Los Angeles Angels designated hitter Shohei Ohtani is out of the starting nine Monday against San Francisco and left-hander Tyler Anderson. The move appears to be in an opportunity to get both Justin Upton and Albert Pujols back in the lineup against a southpaw. Ohtani has struggled mightily against left-handed pitching thus far in 2020, […]

MLB Betting Picks (8/17/2020) - Moneylines, Totals, and Runlines

Welcome back, RotoBallers! We had a nice little write-up for Sunday that resulted in a 2-1 start, with one of those wins being of the 2-unit variety. Then I got a little greedy in thinking that the Red Sox offense could salvage one game in their series against the Yankees on Sunday night. No luck. […]

1B and 3B Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 5

Entering week five and it feels like the season is more chaotic than ever. We just need to grind it out a bit longer. This will help you do just that. Before we dive in, we need to keep a few things in mind: We focus on players rostered in 5x5 Roto formats in Yahoo! […]

Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 5

Most breakout starters who were afterthoughts to start the year have found their way onto a fantasy roster by now. Such as Dylan Bundy, Dustin May, Aaron Civale, and even the legend that is Randy Dobnak. However, there are still plenty of young, high-upside starters to be plucked from the waiver wire. Who to add […]

Outfield Waiver Wire Pickups For Week 5

Through four weeks of the 2020 MLB season, almost all teams have played more than one-quarter of their season. The Cardinals, on the other hand, have played only six games. Although a significant number of the remaining Cardinals games will last only seven innings, Cardinals hitters are set for an exceptionally high workload over the […]

H2H Points League Pickups, Waiver Adds: Week 5

We almost had it. With the return of the St. Louis Cardinals, we almost had the full league in action. Not so fast, suckers! The pandemic struck again, this time snipping the Reds right out of the schedule. But all we can do is march on and try to win each week. Oh, and trawl […]

Daily Slivers of the Fantasy Soapbox - Yesterday's Recap

Welcome to the August 17th edition of Daily Slivers of the Fantasy Soapbox. Discussing baseball is as fun as the game itself. It has a way of bringing people together to share different opinions about the sport we all love. A similar action can be done with fantasy baseball where we not only discuss topics […]

Fantasy Baseball Injury Updates for Week 5

Injuries are commonplace in all sports. Baseball has seen the rate of injury continue to rise over the past few years. In fantasy, if someone is not in the medical field, it is hard to gauge how long a player will be out and whether they need to be replaced in a lineup. Sometimes this […]

Two-Start Pitcher Streamers for Fantasy Baseball - Week 5

Welcome to RotoBaller's weekly article of two-start pitcher streamers for 2020! Successfully streaming pitchers can literally be a game-changer when it comes to fantasy baseball. When it comes to daily leagues, two-start streams aren't that important, since you can stream every day. But when it comes to weekly leagues, two-start streams become exponentially more important. […]