The Fantasy Baseball Forecast: Bases Loaded, Two Outs

Eddie — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:03:55 +0000

Fantasy Baseball Clock Strikes Midnight
If you’re reading this with anything more than a passing interest, it’s because you’re still alive in your Fantasy Baseball League and need that little extra over the last four days to give you an edge and secure a title. Throw out the scouting reports, the tendencies and projections; you need players that can help you today. To that end, we’ve tweaked the format a little for our final Forecast in hopes that it’ll help raise that flag. Good luck.

Streaking- Your biggest concern here is making sure you have players that will actually be in the lineup. As insane as it might sound to waive/bench Alex Rodriguez for Minnesota’s Matt Tolbert, it makes sense when you realize that ARod will probably rest this weekend while Tolbert and the Twins desperately strive for the post season. Other teams that will still be playing for something are the Braves, Rockies, Cardinals, Phillies and Dodgers. St. Louis and Philadelphia are battling for the second seed in the NL while the Braves and rockies contend for the Wild Card. Even Los Angeles has a vested interest this weekend as they’re head to head matchup with Colorado will determine the Wild Card. Make no mistake, Joe Torre’s boys absolutely care about that as they look to avoid seeing the Cards’ deep rotation in the first round. You’ll also want to use players approaching milestones as well as rookies being auditioned by bad teams; Washington’s Mike Morse for example. One other piece of advice: Pick up as many free agents from the Twins and Tigers as you can. If they finish in a tie, their one game playoff is a regular season game and the stats count. Right now it looks like Nate Robertson and Carl Pavano would be the starters.

Stalling- Veteran players and starting pitchers on the Angels, Red Sox and Yankees will likely be no help to you this weekend as they will be rested by managers fine-tuning their lineups for the post season. You’ll get a game from each, probably, but that won’t do you any good if you need a few R or RBI. You’ll also want to rid yourself of young pitchers whose teams are looking to limit their IP. No matter what’s listed, the possibility exists they won’t go. Stay on top of that. Continue, also, to keep away from veterans like Miguel Tejada who are losing playing time while the organization auditions rookies at their positions.

It’s always sad to see the season come to an end. Congratulations to the winners and good luck to those less fortunate as they prepare their rosters for a big 2010. We’ll be back next week with a playoff preview and follow that up with out Fantasy Awards.

Fantasy Sports Dirt » Approaching Milestones

The Fantasy Baseball Forecast: Bases Loaded, Two Outs