Fantasy Baseball Week 4 is almost here and we are going to have another early one, with games starting just after 2pm ET. Another important note for this week is that roster sizes will be reduced from 28 to 26 starting on Monday. This may not immediately affect the players on your roster, but it will affect how major league teams utilize their players. Most notably, we expect starting pitchers to start seeing a larger workload.
Another major story in the league is the return of Ronald Acuna, Jr. (OF, 99% owned), who was activated from the IL but will play in limited games as he is eased back into things. Nonetheless, Acuna should be in your starting lineup in any game that the Braves choose to utilize him.
The league has a few games to make up this week, creating an eight-game week for the New York Mets. They will face the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies four times each. The Mets are red hot to start the season and currently rank top six in both runs per game and ERA. We will be targetting a handful of their regulars for these games, including Brandon Nimmo (OF, 30% owned) and Eduardo Escobar (1B/2B/3B, 78% owned).
Another team we will look to target this week is the Minnesota Twins, who play seven games this week: four on the road against the Baltimore Orioles and three at home against the Oakland Athletics. From the Twins, we are targetting Gio Urshela (3B/SS, 20% owned), Ryan Jeffers (C, 3% owned), and Emilio Pagan (RP, 8% owned).
On the other side of things, the Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, and Los Angeles Dodgers are scheduled to only play five games each this week, leaving the Dodgers as the only fantasy-relevant team of the bunch this week.
In this post, I will also always discuss a few more players that I will be targeting on the waiver wire and who are currently available in most leagues:
- Tampa Bay Rays' Drew Rasmussen (SP, 60% owned) and Los Angeles Angels' Patrick Sandoval (SP, 60%) have both started the season strong and could be in line for two starts this week.
- Another starting pitcher we are keeping our eyes on this week is Cincinnati Reds' Luis Castillo (SP, 90% owned), who could be activated from the IL in time for a start over the weekend.
- Last week, we wrote about a shortstop worth adding, Seattle Mariners' JP Crawford (SS, 68% owned), who currently ranks as a top 60 player overall and has seen his ownership spike up over 40% since last weekend's post.