Fantasy Baseball Today - Injury Updates & Replacements for the Final Week! (9/21 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)
Episode Date: September 21, 2026Dylan Cease had an MRI on his shoulder and won't start in the final week. Aaron Judge went on the IL with that calf strain. Start or sit Ohtani? Alex Bregman suffered a scary injury on Sunday. Dansby ...Swanson looks set up well in this final week. Connor Prielipp is a deeper pitcher you could stream.Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballTodaySign up for the newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Lots of injury updates for the final week of the season.
Up next on Fantasy Baseball Today Express.
Welcome into MPT Express on Monday, September 21st.
I am Frank Stample joined by Scott White,
and let's get you caught up on all the injuries from the weekend.
Dylan Cease underwent an MRI on his shoulder Saturday
and will not make his scheduled start this week.
So make sure to get Dylan Seas out of your lineups.
We'll talk about a few replacements.
but Scott 93.6 miles per hour on his fastball, by far the lowest of the season.
This is pretty scary stuff for Dylan Cease, you know, heading into next year now.
Yeah, it is.
And it's kind of unclear what the timeline was.
He's been dealing with shoulder fatigue for a while.
They said this was his third straight start with the season low velocity.
The biggest drop of all.
it was more than one mile per hour loss
from the start in the previous one,
but three in a row with season low,
an 11-start stretch overall
where his velocity had been diminished.
And the first eight of those 11,
it was like the best Dylan cease
we've ever seen.
In those first eight starts,
he had a 1380RA.
0.83 whip 11.4K per 9.
So it almost looked intentional
at the start of,
this for those first eight.
But then the last three
became a little bit clear
something was wrong and now
he's having an MRI. So we'll see what the MRI turns
up. Hopefully it's nothing too serious
because if it is, yeah, that could absolutely
impact Dylan C's for
2027. And
if you need replacements the final week,
Scott's top five sleeper pitchers. We have
Jared Jones, Tyler Malley,
Walmart Arrania, Ryan Johnson, and
Peter Lambert. We
also got an update on Aaron Judge.
He was placing the IL Saturday with a right calf strain retroactive to Thursday.
And Judge and the Yankees are hopeful that he'll be back for the playoffs, but really nobody knows as of now.
Just been a brutal season for Judge with all the injuries.
First, the rib, now the calf.
Sleeper outfielders for this week.
You've got Henry Bolte, Lawrence Butler, J. O'Hanoha, A.J. Ewing, Jacob Marcy, Zach Gelloff.
And if you're in a deeper league, Brett Bateman could be an option for you.
Sohey Otani said that there is a good chance that he will be activated this week against the Padres.
He is eligible to return on Wednesday.
Scott, if you have Otani the hitter in a weekly lineup league, would you start or sit, Shohei Otani?
So in theory, you can play five games.
You have to assume it's going to be less than that, fewer than that, because Dodgers have nothing more to gain this final week.
it's really just about being prepared for the playoffs.
They don't want to rest their hitters too much
because they're in all likelihood
going to have a buy that first round
and don't want to be too rusty going in.
But considering Otani's coming off the IEL,
I'd be surprised if he started all five games.
And we don't know if he's going to look normal.
He definitely didn't before going on the IL.
So if you're,
really don't have a great option otherwise to use a DH. I understand just hoping Otani comes back
and does Otani things. But in most cases, I think I would shy away from that.
Speaking of somebody who does not look normal, Alex Bregman hit in the face while he was in the
on deck circle here on Sunday. And he posted a picture on Instagram. I mean, it was very rough stuff.
Look like he, you know, was in a boxing match with Mike Tyson or something like that. His eyes
completely swollen shut.
So if I had to guess,
I don't think he's going to play at all this week, Scott.
We might need third base for placements.
You have Aronado, Sonoha, and Gelloff on your sleeper hitters,
but it was scary scene there for Alex Breggman.
Yeah, and other than that picture and a declaration that he'll be back,
don't have much information.
So I don't know how much this will impact him for the postseason,
postseason, obviously, rest of this week is out, as far as I'm concerned.
If those three options you mentioned that are on my sleeper hitters list, Nolan
Aeronado, Javier Sonoha, and Zach Loff, if they're already rostered in your league, you could
look to, you could look to Pablo Ramirez, or sorry, Pedro Ramirez, who would presumably be the one
replacing Alex Bregman at third base.
And the matchups do favor him this week.
So that's a deeper league option for you.
All right.
Let's take a quick break.
When we return, we'll talk about some other waiver names from the weekend.
We'll do that right after this.
Welcome back, FBT Express going over some waiver names from the weekend.
And Dan v. Swanson returned with a bang.
He was activated on Friday.
He went two for four with a home run on Saturday.
Scott, I think there could be even some deeper leagues where people drop Danesby Swanson
thinking that he was out for the year.
Now, he does return for this final week.
The pitchers on the schedule look pretty bad.
I think it could turn out to be a pretty good setup here for Danesby-Swanson.
Yep.
Like I said, the matchups favor Pedro Ramirez,
and they favor Dansby Swanson, too.
Swanson, even better hitter.
And I like that he homered in his second game back.
Sort of like I was saying for Otani, though,
the Cubs really can't improve their situation over the final.
their playoff situation over the final week of the season.
So I imagine there will be some amount of resting happening.
But if you need shortstop help, it's hard to imagine you'd find much better than Swanson.
I guess Javier Sunohide prioritize over him, but that's about it.
All right, some names in the mid-tier, some medium-depth leagues here.
Anhele Martinez had a big weekend.
He had a two-homeer game on Saturday.
And then he started.
both Saturday and Sunday. He sat a couple
games before that, but he has crushed lefties
this year, and the Guardians
have four lefties on the schedule this week.
Anhele Martinez is second and outfield eligible,
and Yainer Diaz
has had himself a big September.
He is hitting 357 with three home runs
and 961 OPS, and
has six games this week, four of those
in Sacramento. So, Scott, on paper,
I kind of like the matchups here for both
Anhele Martinez and Yiner Diaz
if you are in a slightly deeper league.
Yeah, I think
that makes sense. Yiner Diaz since returning from an oblique injury that was
missed like half of May or most of June like a six weeks period around there. Since coming back
he's been about a 300 hitter with an 830 OPS looked basically like Yiner Diaz and regardless
of matchups I think needs to be started in in more leagues than he is. Catchers obviously deep
but even so I think he's a good place.
play for this week.
Anhele Martinez was the other one, correct?
Yep.
Yeah, I think especially, well, outfield or second base, he qualifies it both.
Don't love the matchups for the Guardians this week.
They're actually the fifth worst, but with all those lefties, I could see using
Anheel Martinez if there was a positional need there.
All right.
On the pitching side, I have just one name.
I want to mention a lower end name, but Connor prelip had a big start this weekend.
seven shutout innings, eight strikeouts.
He is only 23% rostered.
He has pitched very well in September,
and he gets the Giants this week.
Scott, I know he is someone you added
to the back end of your sleeper pitchers.
Yeah, it looks like he is going to move up
and face the Giants now.
Originally, it was going to be the Rangers,
but Bailey Overs, surprise, surprise.
Got a three-inning save on Sunday.
So that kind of moved everybody else up.
not eager to star pre-lip, to be clear,
the seven-inning star was the first time he'd gone that deep.
Generally, he's limited more to about five innings.
But it seems low risk at San Francisco
with the kind of lineup they're running out there now,
presumably without Bryce Eldridge,
or at least potentially without Eldridge.
If you're in a desperate spot for pitching help,
I think pre-lip is somebody you could consider.
All right, for more extensive fantasy
Baseball coverage, listen to our full-lane podcast Fantasy Baseball today on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else podcasts are found.
Thanks for listening to FBT Express, and we will be back again later this week.
Bye-bye.
On podcasts.