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Baseball’s punching bags?
Matchups play a huge role in fantasy baseball success, and it’s around this early stage of each new season that managers are seeking out which are the most generally favorable on a day-to-day basis. Which teams are our effective “punching bags,” opponents against whom we should load up our lineups?
Through nearly two weeks, the Chicago White Sox and Miami Marlins are shaping up as just that. The White Sox have lost nine of their first 10 games, lost their cleanup hitter, Eloy Jimenez, to a left adductor strain after three games and their No. 3 hitter, Luis Robert Jr., to a hip flexor injury, one that will cost him at least 6-8 weeks, just five days later. The White Sox are baseball’s lowest-scoring offense as is. The Marlins, meanwhile, lost 10 of their first 11 games, were outscored by 32 runs during that time and have three-fifths of what would’ve been their projected Opening Day rotation on the injured list (including Eury Perez, whose season is over following Tommy John surgery).
Though there’s more future rebound potential from the Marlins’ roster — the approaching returns of Edward Cabrera and Braxton Garrett should help — this team could find itself quick sellers, cementing its punching-bag status in the process. For now, with Luis Arraez underperforming, the team’s catchers batting a collective .030 (1-for-33) and Tim Anderson striking out in bunches with little pop, this is an opponent primed to exploit in fantasy baseball.
Marcus Stroman, who will start against the Marlins, stands out as one of the day’s top pitchers, accordingly. He has delivered back-to-back quality starts to begin his season, he seemed energized by his Yankee Stadium surroundings during the team’s home opener, and he continues to generate ground balls more often than not, which helps alleviate concerns about the venue’s home run friendly dimensions.
Stroman is a must for fantasy managers, while Yankees right-handed hitters like Gleyber Torres, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Volpe shape up as the same on the hitting side against Marlins starter Ryan Weathers. Weathers has surrendered lifetime .296/.373/.529 rates to right-handers.
Tanner Bibee of the Cleveland Guardians is a similarly strong choice for Wednesday, as he’ll face the White Sox at home. Bibee tossed a quality start in his only career game against the White Sox last July, and that was against a White Sox lineup that packed a decent amount more punch (it had Robert and Jimenez, for one).
Everything else you need to know for Wednesday
Jordan Hicks‘ return to a starter’s role has been one of the early success stories of 2024, and he’ll make his eligibility-earning third start — relief pitchers add starting pitcher eligibility in-season with at least that many — against the Washington Nationals offense, another team that belongs in the same sentence as the aforementioned White Sox and Marlins. As a starter, Hicks has dialed down the velocity of his ground ball-inducing sinker (95.6 mph, after it was generally 100 mph in a relief role in the past) while getting similar whiff rates with his sweeper and splitter.
Many runs should be scored at Coors Field, as it’s a matchup of hittable starters in the Colorado Rockies‘ Austin Gomber, projected for…
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