Fantasy Baseball Today - Trey Yesavage's Strong Debut, Elly De La Cruz's Struggles & More! (9/16 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 16, 2025

Trey Yesavage was electric in his debut (3:56)! ... Sal Stewart is making some noise (9:41). ... Emmet Sheehan continues to pitch well (13:07). ... News (19:04): Yordan Alvarez left Monday night with an ankle injury. ... Elly De La Cruz has not homered since July 31 (24:07)! ... Drake Baldwin started his week off with a bang (29:49). ... Jameson Taillon turned in a strong start against the Pirates (35:25). ... Zac Gallen is finishing strong and Spencer Strider had his best start in a while (42:25). ... Let's play some Fantasy Feud (46:04)! ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpens, streamers and Team Name Tuesday (58:51). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow FBT on TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CBSScottWhite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Roto_Frank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. And first pitch, Rishing. Got a fantasy question, email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. The macho man has arrived.

Welcome in, Tumfancy Baseball today on Tuesday, September 16th. I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. to date on the show. Is that what they're calling him? Yeah, can you explain that one? That is, I haven't heard anyone else call it calls. Trey Savage that, but I am a huge macho man fan. So it just felt like it made sense with the Savage and the last name and everything.

Yeah. You're talking about Trey you Savage. So Chris and I looked perplexed when you said that. I completely forgot that the macho man is not his legal name. That's on me. I forgot that his legal name is Randy Savage. That's not a- I was extremely confused.

I don't think that's his legal name either. What do you mean? His name is Randy Savage. They can't call him that if his name's not Randy Savage. That's his name. I don't think you're being sincere right now. It's called Kay Fab. For the purpose of this exercise, yes, his name was Randy Savage.

Trey Yes Savage looked awesome in his debut. And so I am dubbing him the macho man. We have another Yordon Alvarez injury, unfortunately. what has happened to Ellie Dela Cruz, and a bit of a light night here. I have fantasy feud on the skull. Yes. Yes. Let's do it. I'm going to lose.

I don't know if I've ever won fantasy feud. Let's jump in. Is this happening? It is. All right, Trey Yavage is happening. Scott, you are up. All right, let's talk about it. Treyia Savage had the sort of debut pitchers dream of. The sort of debut I hoped we would have gotten from Jonah Tongue, actually.

But it turned out Trey Savage was the one to do it at Tampa Bay, one and run in five innings, nine strikeouts. A total of five base runners in those five innings, three hits two walks. But the nine strikeouts, and even more impressive than that, 19 whiffs on just 69 pitches. That's a 28% swinging strike rate, which of course is unsustainable. But like even half of that swinging strike rate would rank among like the top five pitchers in baseballs. So that's that's the kind of swinging strike great. Yesavage was putting up in his first career start. Of the 19 whiffs, 11 came on the splitter for each on the fastball and slider.

But that splitter just seems like a ridiculous pitch for him. He has that extreme high arm angle, which actually was one of the reasons I wasn't sure. sure whether we should take the minor league numbers at face value, the big strikeout rates there, because Jonah Tong also ran a very high strikeout rate with a very high arm slot. And we haven't seen the fastball getting nearly as many whiffs in the major so far as it was in the minors. But Yesavage has that great splitter. And that's part of the difference, I think. So I did not like the idea of starting Trey a Savage.

Even in theory he was lining up for two starts, but they weren't promising he'd get a start after this one. I think he has to. He has to now, right? It was so impressive that I think we can confidently say, okay, they're going to keep him in the rotation, at least for one more start, if not two, each of the last two turns to close out the season here for Treyi Savage.

The next one would line up at Kansas City. There aren't many pitcher matchups better than that one. So I think if you play in a Daily League, it's not too late, apparently, for Trey Yassavage to contribute to your fantasy team because I now like him for that start. Scott, would you say this is a May Yassavage Culpa? Sure, we could call it that. It's a sort of thing where, like, yeah, I mean, he's a big prospect.

had huge strikeout numbers in the miners. So of course, this was always a possibility, but did I reason incorrectly that you couldn't start him, given the circumstances? I don't think I reasoned incorrectly. He just did the best he was capable of doing. And so, of course, you would have liked to have that in retrospect. So anyway, he gets the Royals later this week, Traya Savage,

I think absolutely worth using in Daily Leagues for that. and if he comes through in that and he line and the Blue Jays decide to give him another turn, his final start would line up against the same rays in Toronto next time. So, no, there's a possibility you're just leaving you a savage in your lineup the rest of the way. Depending how that Kansas City start goes. I was talking to someone during Kevin Gosman's last start about the, just the Blue Jays playoff rotation and how like they don't have a bad rotation. but it feels like they're short on impact arms and like Gosman has been pitching like one for the last three months so like there's your number one.

Bieber has shown flashes of it but not consistently enough so far. I think Bieber and Bassett and Burrios, it's a lot of bees are they're fine, but I don't know if you want them starting, you know, a big game if you can avoid it and like, I don't know what your Savage has shown in his first start. It's only one start, but if he keeps pitching like this the next couple, Blue Jays look a lot scarier in the postseason, even if it's just, you know, he's a multi-inning relief ace. I think that looks like a real potential weapon for them. So that's super fun as well. And good luck keeping Max Scherzer off the mound in the postseason too. He's been a little bit shakier here, but I kind of feel like this is why you bring him in, right?

It's big games and in the postseason and he's got all that experience and everything. Scott, you know it. What was the guy's name and Angels in the outfield? The guy with the old guy. Not, but not the old guy. Mel Clark. Yeah, like, didn't you used to be Mel Clark? That's kind of how I feel about Max Scherzer.

Like, he's not bad, but he's definitely more in the Bassett-Barrios grouping than a true impact arm, I think, at this point. Yeah, I would agree with that. Completely. 43 years old. or whatever. That's not a knock against him. I don't think he's going to be thrown 156 pitches in a playoff game. Probably not.

Probably no. That was irresponsible even back then. That's a messed up storyline. They're just like, oh, he's dying. It's fine. He can throw as many pitches as he wants. That's a crazy thing. Was it just an anti-smoking message?

Was that the only reason they put that in? You know what? It really worked on me. It's such a bummer. It's such a bummer at that point in the movie. That is a crazy thing to add in a children's movie. Last thing on Trey Savage, anyone asking if you should pick him up and use him the rest of the way? The answer to that is definitively, oh yeah.

Sorry, I had to get that in there. All right, Chris, let's go over to you for your player of the night. South Stewart, he's got four home runs and I think 11 games so far. He hit his fourth on Monday, three runs to RBI going three for five. It's back to back games. It's four homers in his at past. eight games. 919 OPS.

He hasn't walked at all, but he's crushing the ball, 94 mile per hour average, eggs of velocity, a ton of line drives, a ton of hard hit balls in the air. And I mean, go pick him up for fantasy because I think he just has to play

every day for the Reds. He's first base and second base eligible. And the other thing I keep thinking about is the Reds might have blown it, waiting as long as they did to call him up, man. Like, they were getting nothing from third base for almost the entire season. They were getting like replacement level production for Matt McLean.

This dude's been awesome all year. Now he looks like he belongs. Man, they're going to miss the playoffs by a game or two maybe. And that might have been the difference right there. That's a bummer for Reds fans that they did not call this dude up until this. Well, September. It was a pretty aggressive timeline, all things considered, 21 years old. Then it became a year at AAA.

So I don't know. I mean, obviously, I think Sal Stewart blew away everybody's expectations this year and ultimately did get the call. I wish she was playing more third base so he could be eligible there next year. And maybe that's to come just because he's playing first base now doesn't mean it'll be forevermore. But that is the one frustration with Sal Stewart's performance. Can you like, I just can't shake this thought. Like, can you imagine how devastating. that Angels team, the entire fan base, would be

when this like resurgent pitcher who like single-handedly pitches them from last place into playoff contention and then he dies that off-season. Like that they just gloss over that. It's a real bummer. It's a real bummer. Joseph Gordon Levitt was crushed.

Yeah, in the moment. I had no idea what you were talking. Even he got over it kind of quickly, right? I had no idea what you were talking about. for a second, you went straight from South Stewart to talking about an Angels picture, like, dying? Angels in the outfield, I'm sorry. Angels in the outfield, Mel Clark,

Tony Danza, I believe, is playing him. One of the few roles, I feel like where Tony Danza isn't playing a guy named Tony. That happened a lot. Yeah, weird, weird storyline that I had never heard of or never thought about until just now. Pretty sure that I've seen that movie at some point in my life when I was younger,

but I have no recollection, So I need to now watch it as a crazy stay grown adult. The most emotionally resonant of the mid-90s kids in baseball movies. The thing for me is just that plot point at the end is just ridiculous. Crazy stat cast. You got Academy Award winner Matthew McHanahey in Center Field. I think Academy Award winner Adrian Brody at Shortstop. That's two-time Academy Award winner, Adrian Brody.

His dad is Kyle McLaughlin, I think, or someone like that. It's like a stacked for no reason cast, although most of those guys are pre-fame. Anyway, South Stewart Sheehan has looked really good. I'll stop derailing this for Angels in the outfield. I'm sorry. My player of the night is Emmett Sheehan, who pitched very well as the bulk reliever here against the Phillies, tough matchup, five and two-thirds innings, one hit, one run, seven strikeouts to three walks, had 13 whiffs on 94 pitches here.

His velocity was actually down across the board. I don't know if it was coming into this game as a reliever. Maybe that affected him some way somehow, but something to watch for his next start. Obviously, it didn't affect how good he was in this one. He leaned on his fastball. That was a good pitch for him. Had seven of his 13 whiffs on that pitch.

And he does get whiffs on that pitch, but he also gives up a lot of hard contact, usually. The slider and change-up are just really, really great pitches here for MHG. And so, I mean, look, just talking about him and South Stewart, Sheen has done this for longer, and we've seen him in previous years. I think these are two names that will kind of carry over into next year, as I think exciting sleeper, late round target guys. But for I guess the rest of this year,

Sheehan trying to project when he's going to pitch again, I couldn't tell you that. They have seven games this week. He pitched here on Monday, so I assume we'll see him again against the Giants later in the week. Can't say that with certainty. And then in the final week, he would probably pitch at the M. Mariners. I would use him in both.

Yeah. He's 62% rostered. So I mean, for anyone still playing at this point, shallower leagues, he's looked really good. His last four games, a 148 ERA.74 whip, 32 strikeouts over 24 and a third for Eichien. And he's going to, he's positioning himself to be like one of the trendiest. I don't even know that I could call him a sleeper pick because I don't think anybody's going

to be sleeping on him. But mid the one of the trendiest breakout picks for next year, Emmichian, The point that he'll probably be overdrafted, and I won't end up with any shares of him. But this has been a long time coming. He's been a higher order of bat misser, dating back to the 2023 season in the minors.

And then, of course, he got sidetracked by Tommy John surgery. And when he first came back, he wasn't quite missing bats at that same rate, but he's turned it around. He's really showing the extent of his upside image. The only thing is, If Clayton Kirshall comes back next season and Roki Sasaki is ready for the start of the season. I'm going to get, I assume, but I don't know.

I like Roki Sasaki was such a big deal. I don't like you just don't know how the the personality's involved are going to work. Like I I assume and I certainly hope that Amishian is going to be in the rotation next year. It's just for as good as he's been, it's less of a guarantee. than it probably should be just because of the team he pitches for. And he won't often be a two-star pitcher because they go six match with Otani. Yeah. This is also a rotation that features a lot of injury prone pitchers.

And so obviously that can open things up. But it's a fair point that you bring up, Chris. I think just based on the skills and the talent that we've seen here, Sheehan deserves to be an exciting player to draft next season. but we do have to learn more in the offseason, I guess. I also just want to point out that we should not discount the degree of difficulty in his start today because he followed an opener. Anthony Banda opened the game and the assumption is Anthony Banda is going to pitch the first inning.

They have a bunch of lefties at the top of the order. Well, he strikes out the first guy, gives up a home run to Cal Schwabre, walks Bryce Harper. Emachine comes in with a runner on base and gets out of that and ends up going almost six innings. So that also just speaks to the degree of difficulty of what he had to do. Coming in mid-inning cold with a runner on base and still pitching as well as he did. It was very impressive. All right, before we hit our first break, I just want to let people know if we helped you win your championship this year, if it's already done or in the process once the season is over, send us those screenshots,

tweet at us, email them in. If you want to leave us a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify, let us know how we helped to win a championship in their view. you know, bosses like that kind of stuff, and we appreciate it. So yeah, make sure to send those things in. And big thanks to those watching live. Make sure to hit the like button and subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already. Let's take that break, and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball Today.

News and notes, Yordon Alvarez just cannot catch a break. He left Monday's game with a left ankle sprain. He suffered it after slipping across home plate, and then his ankle actually touched the ground. his foot and ankle were a right angle. It looks disgusting. And my guess is this probably is not going to go very well here for Yordon Alvarez. He's scheduled for an MRI on Tuesday.

We'll learn more about it. Obviously, it's been an injury-ridden season all year for Yorlon Alvarez. I guess the one glimmer here, Scott, is that your guy, Zach Cole, could be in line for more playing time. and he came off the bench. He had a home run. He also had a 100 and 12 mile per hour ground out showing the three batter balls over 103 miles per hour. Yeah. Yeah.

So if he makes enough contacts, Zach Cole is going to be good. But that's a big if. Next up, Wilson Guterres left Monday's game due to right biceps tightness. Trey Turner went through a full workout in Philadelphia on Monday. he's working his way back from a grade one right hamstring train. Sounds like maybe he could be back for the final week of the season. And speaking of the Phillies, they just wrapped up that game and they have officially clinched the NLEs. So shout out to the Phillies.

Bobauchette is receiving a second opinion on his injured left knee. The initial diagnosis was a sprained PCL. Jose Altuve was back in the lineup after missing Sunday with foot soreness. Marcus Semyon was spotted taking batting practice on the field Monday. He's currently on the aisle with a broken left foot that he suffered in late August. Corey Seeger did some light jogging on Monday. He underwent an appendectomy on August 28th.

Jordan Westberg will be activated on Tuesday. He's coming back from an ankle sprain. Adley Ruchman will start his rehab assignment at AAA on Tuesday. Zander Bogartz is gearing up to return in the final week of the season. He went on the IL in late August with a fracture in his left foot. Max Muncie of the Dodgers returned to the lineup after mid-year-old. Missing Sunday's game. He was hit by pitches on both Friday and Saturday,

and he promptly hit a home run off of Ranger Suarez in this game. So if you had him and saw him in the lineup, I hope you use them because one for one. Good game here for Max Muncie. Red Sox pitcher news. Connolly Early will start on Tuesday against the A's. And it sounds like the plan for Peyton Tolly is for him to be used as a bulk reliever the rest of the season. His last start, he only threw two innings. So perhaps he's just a multi-ending reliever from here on out.

So an exciting player for the future and for next year, I just don't think Peyton Tolley will have much fantasy value for the rest of this season. Spencer Steer was scratching the lineup with neck spasms. Brian Hayes took his place. Anthony Santander will remain on his rehab assignment through at least Thursday. He's been out since late May with a subluxation of his left shoulder. I'm not sure how much he will contribute or even how healthy he is. I think he's three for 13 with a homer on his rehab assignment,

but it's pretty crazy to think about what the Blue Jays have done, and they are missing their prized acquisition from the offseason. Yeah, I mean, well, they got the George Springer. They thought they were getting four years ago when they signed him, so that worked out nicely to make up for it. Big bounce back from Bo Bichette. Yep. They definitely have room in their outfield for Santander,

if they feel like he's ready to play every day. How much can you trust him? Well, I suppose it's possible if he comes back Friday has a huge weekend with a couple of homers, then maybe we would consider using him in a five outfielder league for that final week of the season. But it's not the most probable outcome, I would say. Jonathan Aranda is scheduled to take live batting practice this week.

He's working his way back from a fractured left wrist. Mason Wynne is expected to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery within the next two weeks to repair a torn meniscus. Jason Adam is expected to need six to nine months of recovery after he underwent surgery to address a ruptured left quad tendon. Dean Kramer has been cleared to start Tuesday against the White Sox. He's been dealing with forearm discomfort. And DeBacks reliever Andrew Solfranc is dealing with left shoulder fatigue. He's kind of been in the mix for, say, and late-ending situations there for the D-backs,

but their whole bullpen is kind of a mess. And don't look now, I think they're one game out of a playoff spot as well. So between the D-backs, Giants, Reds, they're all, I think, a game or two out of the last wild card spot, and the Mets are free falling. So this NL Wild Card race has really, really heated up here,

and we'll be very entertaining over the final two weeks of the season. Speaking of those Reds, we're getting lots of questions about Ellie Dela Cruz and rightfully so, more so about, all right, what do we think about him for next season and, you know, what has gone wrong? He has not hit a homer since July 31st. He was dropped to 7th in the Reds lineup here on Monday.

He went one for three with two walks in this game. But since the start of August, this is now a 40-game stretch. He is hitting 208, zero homers, 17 runs, 10 RBI, six steals, an OPS that is below 600. Lots of ground balls. Only five barrels during that stretch. It's a 4.4% barrel rate. Apparently he's been dealing with a quad injury for much of the season.

And he's also seen more off-speed pitches this year, and he just is not nearly as good against those as he is against fastball. So what do you take from this? I mean, how do you feel about L.A.R. L.A.C.A. Cruz. where do you think he'll be drafted next year? What has happened?

He's not healthy. That's probably true. I just, I don't think it's any more complicated than that. And if you don't believe it based on the way he's performed at the plate, well, he's got 35 steals after stealing 67 last season. And if you don't believe that's evidence that he's hurt, he's gone from one of the very best defensive short stops in baseball, last season 98th percentile in outs above average, according to statcast,

to 11th percentile. this season. His sprint speed has gone from 100th percentile. He was the fastest man in baseball last year to 90th percentile. Still very fast, but every single thing that you could possibly look at shows that L.A. Dale Cruz has not been the same guy as last season. And so it's either he is 23 years old and he's just finished or he's playing hurt. And I think he's just playing her and look I've been there are other outcomes than those two I think based on the evidence those are that it's he's you're probably right you're probably right that's what it is and he has one home run in his last 313 plate appearances yeah and and I think the biggest thing is

that this is not a guy with a huge margin for error as a hitter like I think because his approach is still so raw and still so flawed he has has to be a supernatural physical talent to be an impact player. And playing at less than 100% is going to make it harder to do that. And I think that's just what it is, is that he just doesn't have a lot of ways that things can go right if he's not at 100%. And if you want to look at that from a 2026 perspective and say, you know,

other guys, Francisco Lindor played through that, toe injury earlier this season. He's still going to end up with 30-30. He's still going to end up with a huge season. He's still going to end up putting up more or less the same numbers. If you want to make the argument that, hey, Ellie De La Cruz can't do that when he's less than 100 percent, I guess that's a reason to fade him. But I don't really see much reason to view Ellie De La Cruz any differently right now than you did at the start of the season. Well, I think it's also important to keep in mind first half of the year. Like, It's easy to fixate on the second half numbers,

but the first half, it looks like L.A. Dela Cruz had taken a big step forward as a hitter. His strikeout rate was below 25%. I think he hit 284 for the first half. He was a plus in batting average. So, I mean, long story short, he's going to be drafted later next year than he was this year. But I still have him 12th. So I still have him rounding out the first round for Roto Leaks next year. I just put together my top 24, subject to change, obviously.

Probably change many times between now and March. But right now, El-A-Da-Cruz is 12th for me. Yeah, I've not drafted a lot of L.A. Cruz the last couple of seasons. And if he's going to fall to the back half of the first round or first half of the second round, I'm going to draft a lot of L.A. Dela-Cruz next season because that feels like a nice value to be able to get. for a guy that was a top four pick in most drafts this year? Yeah, I'll take that. Roto.

Yeah. I think mostly NFBC he was top four. Yeah, like a top. He wasn't far off for that. In category leagues, he was a top six player drafted. Yeah. Pretty consistently. I guess the other outcome here, Chris, which you didn't mention, is that he's just

really shrieky and maybe he's just been slumping in the second half for a really long time. But I think it's more likely that this quad has kind of derailed his season. You pointed out the defensive men. metrics that have come down, the speed has come down. I think there are still, obviously, warts in his game. He's still really, really bad against lefties, right? And that's, I don't know if maybe he should just kind of ditch switch hitting or whatever it might be.

That's probably not going to happen. But in his career, it's a 219 batting average with a 605 OPS. So I think that's always kind of going to limit his overall upside, at least in terms of batting average and on base and OPS and things like that. But when he's right, I mean, I think he still has the talent to steal 50 plus bases and hit 25 plus home runs. I think it's more likely than not. This injury has really just kind of derailed L.A. Dillard Cruz's season. Let's take a look at some waiver wire hitters here for the final two weeks.

Can any of these names make an impact? Scott, Drake Baldwin, off to a nice start here as one of your sleeper hitters, three for five with his 16th home run for RBI. He was having a rough September before this one. But the underlying numbers remain amazing for Baldwin. There's no Sean Murphy there. He's playing almost every single day. So in one catcher leagues, if you still need a name, Drake Baldwin is there. Chris, we were talking beforehand, and you have just finished ranking your top 12 catchers.

It's very early for next season. I did like top 20. I did top 30, I think. Where did Drake Baldwin kind of come in there? 10, but that's sort of hedging on the Sean Murphy of it all. Marcelo Zuna of it all, I guess, if they, you know, I think it's going to come down to how many, does he have a chance to play five days a week? And if he does, I think there is a big group after Cal Rally with probably William Contreras in his own like mini tier, but then Hunter Goodman,

Shay Lang Lears, Will Smith, I think Ben Rice could be in there. I think Augustine Ramirez could be in there. I think maybe even Salvador Perez. Like I think those guys could all kind of be in the same tier. And Drake Baldwin, I think, is clearly in that tier. And it's just a question of no Sean Murphy. They just get, I don't know, Travis Darnow or something, if they just trade for him. I don't know. That's the first name I thought of.

Then it's like, okay, Drake Baldwin, top five catcher maybe. If it's the status quo, Marcelo Zun is back at DH or someone else good at DH and Sean Murphy's still the number two catcher, then I think Baldwin's more of a fringe number. number one catcher. But clearly, I think there's no talent reason he can't be in that first group. Yeah, agreed across the board. A couple names here in deeper leagues. Austin Martin had a nice game with the twins, one for four with four RBI and two steals. He has started eight straight.

And having a nice September hitting 326 with an 8.71 OPS, it's just kind of empty. There's no homers there. There's no power at all. But he has eight steals and 40 games. So in deeper leagues, if you're looking for speed. Austin Martin is a name. We brought up Zach Cole, who came off the bench for Alvarez and went two for three with his second home run.

And Dailin Lyle continues to impress two for three with his sixth homer. He's up to a 292 batting average. Six homers, eight steals, 8 14 OPS in 80 games played so far. It's got any thoughts on these deep league names here, Austin Martin. Zach Cole, we already kind of talked about

and Dale and Lyle. Yeah, Daly and Lyle. Lyle might be a little better than deep league. He kind of reminds me of Isaac Collins back when he was mattering in five outfielder leagues. And he's kind of cooled off. I don't think Dalyle and Lyle has huge upside, but he's doing a lot of things right. He's hitting the ball reasonably hard. He's striking out on only a 16% rate.

That's very good. he has 91st percentile sprint speed and his swiping bags he's got a ton of triples i mean his second did you give his second half numbers dayland lyell i just gave out his full full season numbers okay second half 329 batting average four homers eight triples nine doubles and five steals so in leagues where triples count he matters even more i you know it's it's it's top 60ish type outfielder probably not much higher than that. So it'd have to be a five outfielder league or such a deep league.

However deep it needs to be to go that deep into the outfield. But he's kind of interesting, Dail and Ile. All right, let's take our final break. When we return, I have a few waiver wire pitchers. What do the matchups look like

for the rest of this week and next week? We'll talk about that right after this. Do any of these waiver wire pitchers matter over the final two weeks of the season? James and Tyone. a strong start at the Pirates, six shutout innings with three strikeouts. He is at the Reds later this week and gets the Cardinals next week. So it's not an exciting play, but the Cardinals have been pretty bad in the second half.

I do realize they just got Brendan Donovan back and Nolan Aronado, so they're probably not going to strike out as much with those two in there. But Tyone against the Cardinals next week, yeah, maybe it could be fine. I mean, the time to start him was against the Pirates. Yeah. He was among my sleeper pitchers for this week because he lined up for two starts the first against the pirates. So, so far, so good. But if you kind of bring yourself to start Tyone in that game, I don't see why you would do it in the next two games.

He's already 73% rostered. Hard to conceive that that should be much higher. Yeah. Matthew Liberator turned in a quality start against the Reds, six innings, two earned runs with six strikeouts to one walk. but he has not been very good here in the second half. His first 17 starts, Liberator 370 ERA 11-WIP. His next 11 starts, 547 ERA 156 whip. So can't imagine anybody is using Liberator at this point.

This was his first six-ending start since June, I believe. Ooh. So, yeah, I think it's fine to ignore it. Not using him against the Brewers next later this week. now. Yeah, Brewers later this week and then at the Cubs next week, so. No, thank you. Don't think so on Liberator. Joe Boyle, great start here against the Blue Jays, six shotout

innings with five strikeouts, zero walks through 68% of his pitches for strikes. That is the key. How consistently can he do it? Clearly hasn't been able to do that enough, but had 11 whiffs on 78 pitches. He's 17% rostered. I'm not even sure he'll stick around in the rotation.

But, Scott, you look like you want to talk about Joe Boyle. I do. I mean, I like Joe Boyle. And, We've been down this road a few times before, so maybe it'll just never work out. But this was, he went up against Trey Yassavage, so the start was obviously overshadowed, but in some ways it was just as impressive with all the strike throwing.

He threw his fastball less. And I wondered if that helped with the strike throwing, if that's something the rays have worked on with him. Interestingly enough, his three starts back in the miners after flopping in his latest stint. the control was terrible. It was actually much worse than it had been during all his time in the minors before then. So didn't it seem like Joe Boyle was making progress.

But if they give him another turn or two to close out the season here, I'm definitely going to be interested in seeing how it goes for Joe Boyle because he could position himself as a sleeper for next year. He has a ton of strikeout outside if he could just get the control figured out. Yeah. So it's more so a scouting for next year. we're not really looking to use Joe Boyle for the rest of this season. Probably the same for Simeon Woods Richardson, who just had the best start of his career against the Yankees.

Six shutout innings with 11 strikeouts, had 16 whiffs on 92 pitches. Completely changed his pitch mix in this start as well. He led with the splitter through it 35% of the time. Entering the start, it was just six and a half percent. Yeah. So a big change. Simmon Woods Richardson has really been ramping up that splitter usage since returning from his I.L. stint for a stomach illness, I believe it was.

It basically was non-existent until these four starts back. And this was by far the most he's thrown it and got a great result with 11 strikeouts. So it's another situation where I can't imagine using Woods Richardson right now. But let's see if this goes somewhere over these final two weeks. if he has another start like this on the back of that splitter. Woods Richardson looks like he faces the Guardians later this week and then at the Phillies next week. So do not think we're going to plan to use him

even in Deeper League against the Phillies next week. He does have like a 3ERA at home. Might be a sub 3ERA at home now compared to like almost 6 on the road. So I don't know, he's home in his next start at least. So if you believe in that. The Phillies one is on the road next week. Yeah. I mean, look, that might be a skeleton crew lineup for them.

True. By that point. But I don't. I mean, it's not like the Splitter's been like a great swing and miss pitch. It's generated a lot of weak contact, but I don't see a good explanation for why he had an 11 strikeout start here, at least not one that I imagine will count moving forward. I think the pitch mix is, you know, pretty substantial for him. But even with that, it's the slider and splitter are his two best pitches. neither of them have a whiff rate over 27%.

So it's not like he has a ton of swing and miss in his game. It's just... He did get all those whiffs against the Angels with the fastball a few turns ago. He's one of those pitchers. Well, everybody, I got a bunch of whiffs against the Angel. That's true. How hard do you think you throw nowadays, Chris?

You think you're pumping like a 65 mile per hour fastball past the Angels? I think with like a crow hop, I could get to like 72. All right. That's probably better than me, man. I've got a messed up shoulder. It's not going to work. I would be impressed if you got to 72.

I think I did it at a Cyclones game last summer, like just out of the stretch, and I think I got to, like, low 60s. So I feel like a running start. I could hit 70. I might, you know, need to take several months off immediately after that. But, you know, I mean, it's... Get some dipping dots to cool it down.

Or the layman... you know, who obviously hasn't been building up his arm. That's like 70s impressive. Well, yeah, everybody should be ashamed of that. This is one of those things where it's like, yeah, you have no idea how hard major leaguers throw. You might think you do. But like when I play softball, I've got, I've usually got one of like the three best arms on my team. And I'm not, I'm not within 30 miles per hour of major leaguers.

Like it's just they're, they're a different species. Yeah. I went to a batting cage a couple of years ago and I think I put it on 80 miles per hour just to see how fast it was. I had no chance. No chance at all. It was not close.

There was a great video the other day of someone batting against Trevor May who is retired now. Yeah. And by the end, Trevor May is like, I'm throwing you a change up. And the guy had no chance. And this is like a decently in-shaped guy

who plays like amateur adult baseball every week. And he had zero. chance. Like this guy was in good shape. So yeah. No, those guys are doing a whole different world, it turns out. Zach Gallen, back from the dead. Too little, too late, most likely. But a strong start here against the Giants, six innings of one run ball with six strikeouts, had 12 whiffs on 96 pitches. He emphasized the changeup, and it was very good for him in this one. Last nine starts, a 268 ERA 101 whip. Strikeouts are down, but doing a much better job limiting walks and hard contact. I don't know that it matters much for the rest of this season,

but I guess he's a free agent. We'll see where he lands. And, you know, he's finishing very strong after an abysmal first four months of the year. Yeah, I have no idea what to make of him next season, but it is better that he's doing this than not this being pitching well for once this season, but I can't imagine there's anything he could do over the next two starts that would convince me to make him a top 40 starting pitcher. I don't even think top 50, to be honest. I think he should be treated sort of like we've treated Michael Walker the past couple years, so maybe top 75, top 80 for Zach Allen, just like a late round innings eater.

And, you know, he has a history that could allow him to exceed that, of course, but I don't think that's a fair expectation and I think there will be enough more exciting pitchers to draft ahead of him. And you have to consider this is not just a one year phenomenon. He was pretty mediocre in the second half of last season too. Yeah. I think most people myself included thought it was kind of just related to that hamstring injury last season. I definitely did. And then, you know, he comes out this year and again, the first four months were just, he was unusable. I think he had an ERA over like 550 for the first four months. Do you have that 14 strikeout game against the Yankees it was?

Yeah, and then everything just went downhill after that. Spencer Shreder had his best start in a while here. He went seven innings, one run, six strikeouts with 15 whiffs on 96 pitches. That was at the Washington Nationals. Did some things a little bit differently here as well. And he's at the Tigers later this week, we think. And next week lines up for the Pirates. So I think we're going to be using Spencer Shreider in the final week of the season

if you made it this far with him on your team. They've got a spot start coming up for the double header tomorrow, so it's possible Spencer Strider's two-start status gets pushed back again. Oh, gosh. Yeah, no, he's, you know, last four starts, 252 ERA. He's been emphasizing this curveball more, six straight with its percentage usage in double digits. And this was the highest yet for the curveball. at 23% usage.

And it seems like it's a couple of variations of the curveball. He was like unveiling a really slow curveball in this one, which is why its average velocity was down two miles per hour. So I like that he's trying to broaden the arsenal because the only way Spencer Strider is going to get out of this is to really hit the lab and figure out why he's lost his fastball shape. That would be the preferable approach. But failing that, he's going to have to be.

broad in his arsenal so it's not just that slider because the fastball doesn't bring much anymore ideally both will happen and he'll be great after that but one or the other has to happen or else it's just going to be a repeat of 2025 for strider all right well it's about time for fantasy feud are you guys ready head to head let's do it let's do it all right let's fire up a little game show music here and people in the chat let me know if it's too loud too low and I'll kind of monitor that but here we go oh that's really low I don't know it's too it's too low Frank how's the sound now sound right sounds incredible all right sounds like a Mario Kart song yeah I don't I just got some kind of generic game show music from somewhere all right here we go fantasy feud for those who

are not aware it's like the game family feud so I've got three different questions or categories here. The first person to buzz in, you'll have a chance to answer. The other person will then get to answer as well and we'll play it out from there. So, let's do it.

Nine players have gone 25, 25 already this season. Buzz. Buzz. Chris. Pete Crow Armstrong. Pete Crow Armstrong is second on the list. I think these are sorted by

steals? Yeah, let's go with that. So, yes, the number... Should have let us know that before. The number two answer is PCA. Scott, you have a chance to get the number one answer. They're sorted by steals. I don't think he has more steel than Peter Armstrong, but I'm going to say Corbyn Carroll. Corbyn Carroll is on the list, but he is lower than PCA. So Chris, it is your decision to pass or play this category. So now the rule is, if I pass, Scott has... has to get every single one on the list. No, no.

If you pass, I get three strikes to potentially get the whole list. And if I run out of strikes, you get one shot to steal. Right, okay. So that's, yeah, I pass. You pass every time, right? Okay. All right. Many would say.

Scott, you're up. There are already two answers off the board. Pete Kerr Armstrong and Corby and Carole. Nine players have gone 25-25 already this season. Uh-huh. Well, Okay, let's think about some of the others here. I'm going to say, Jose Ramirez.

Jose Ramirez is the number one answer. Yeah. Sorted by steals. All right. Yeah. We've got three down. That's Julio Rodriguez. Julio Rodriguez is on the list.

Let's keep it going. Let's keep it going. Let's go with Francisco Lendor. Francisco Lindor is on the list as well. He's closing in on 30-30. Mm-hmm. Who else? Who else?

Let's go with... Now, it's getting hard. I'm going to say... I think this is wrong. That's definitely wrong. James Wood. James Wood is incorrect. He doesn't have the home runs.

First strike. He doesn't have the seat. He doesn't steal. Oh, interesting. Okay. I'm also going to fact check myself throughout the course of this. Oh, obviously, Juan Soto. Juan Soto is correct.

I had the same, like, oh, right, yeah. James Wood, 27 homers, 15 steals this season. Only 15 steals. I didn't realize it was that low. He has fallen off in the second half in a big way. But yes, Juan Soto is correct, Scott. You have one, two, three, four, five, Five, six.

Six of the nine. So there are three names left, and you have two strikes left. I think Jazz Chisholm has gotten there. That is correct. He's closing it on 30-30 as well. Two names left on the list. Can we get a sweep? I don't think so.

Yeah, these last two are a little bit tougher. I mean, they can't be that tough, right? they've gone 25, 25, but... But they're tough. Let's say... Let's say Kyle Tucker. Kyle Tucker is incorrect. That is your second strike.

Chris is going to steal it. I know he's going to steal it. Can't let him steal it. Kyle Tucker, by the way, three homers short. He does have the 25 steals, but only 22 home runs. Who am I forgetting? I've got a couple of names, but I don't know if they've gotten there. Okay, let's say, let's say, oh, oh, Christian Yellich.

Christian Yellich is incorrect. That is your third strike, and Chris, you are up for the steel. Guys need you get one, right? Just need one. One of two names that are left. All right, I've got two teammates, but I don't think one of them has the home runs weirdly. So I'm going to go with Randy or Rosarena. Randy a Rosarena for all the marbles.

Is correct. Every single Marvel. Josh Nailer does not have 25 homers, right? He does have like 28 steals. He, I don't know if he has 25 of either. Randy Rosarena has 27 and 28. Josh Nailer. Josh Nailer has 27 steals and 19 homers.

27 steals, my gosh. Yelich, by the way, had, he cleared the home runs, but not the steals. Yeah, I don't think Buxton has the steals. 28 homers for Yelich, 16 steals the season. So who's the last one? The last one is. Hold on. Is Chris, you have a guess?

Gunner didn't get there, did he? No. He doesn't have the homers or the steel. Well, he might have the steels. Hint. Tatis. No. He missed the first month of the season.

The last name on the list, missed the first month, yeah. The whole first month. Oh, Zach Netto. Zach Netto. Zach. Yeah, that's a good one. Yep. All right.

We'll talk about PC. in just a little bit. He had a huge game here, though. Hopefully he could finish strong, but it obviously has been a very rough second half here for Pete Crow Armstrong. All right, next up, do you guys want to go with strikeouts or with? Because we're moving over to starting pitchers. That's two K's, baby. All right, six pitchers have 200 strikeouts this season.

All right, I'll go. Uh-oh. That was kind of a tie. I give it a guy. I'll give it a scout. I give him to Scott. It's gonna Which one? I'm gonna say I'm gonna say Terik Scouble Terak Scouble is the number two answer

Chris you have a chance to Guess the number one? Garer Crochet Garcchet is number one pass or play There are four names left on the list Three strikes Six pitchers with 200 or more strikeouts He's hesitating over pass or play

Chris I'm gonna pass All right pass over over to Scott. No, no, you know what, I'm gonna play. Not gonna be a coward. Scott, I'll leave it up to you. What do what? Is that right? It can play. All right. Chris gets to play. All right. Six pitchers with 200 plus strikeouts, crochet and scoble the top two answers. Paul Skeens. Paul Skeens is one of them. Logan Webb is there, right? We talked about that I think last week. Is that an official guess? Logan Webb yes. Logan Webb is on the list.

Two names left. I feel like there's someone obvious. I'm forgetting. Is Carlos Rodan there? Carlos Ferdon is not. That is your first strike. Okay, first strike. There will be more strikes coming. Don't worry, you guys. Carlos Ferdon is up to 190 after today.

Okay. I thought he was a little higher than that. All right. All right, all right. Nobody on those teams. I'm just looking at a list of teams. I'm not cheating. I mean, that might be cheating.

I don't know how you do. It's not cheap. You're fine. You're cheating, then I'm cheating. Hmm. Yeah, this is surprisingly... All right, Chris, we're going to need an answer here. This is surprisingly tough.

200 strikeouts. Frambravaldez. Framber Valdez is incorrect. Of course it is. That's a dumb guess. All right, you have one strike left. Scott, get your answer ready. I think I got one.

Framber Valdez has 173, by the... That's not even close, is it? Bad guess. Man, I'm really sure, because I'm fairly certain Zach Willer ended with like 190. He was really close. I'm going to go with McKenzie Gore. Mackenzie Gore is incorrect. That makes sense.

Scott, that was dumb. You have the chance to steal. I think I got it. All right. Christopher Sanchez. Christopher Sanchez for the steal and to keep the game alive. is incorrect. You picked the wrong Phillies lefty.

Oh, we talked about this last week. Yeah. Christopher Sanchez was 192. The other two names that we were looking for, Dylan Sees and Jesus Lazardo. I'm pretty sure we talked about this exact topic last week, and apparently none of us were paying attention. All right, so Chris has officially won,

but we'll play out the final round here. Seven pitchers have 30 saves this season. Buzz Chris Carlos Estabez Carlos Estabez is the number one answer Pass or play Oh we're definitely passing

Come on You know I don't You know I don't want to talk about relievers Pass on to Scott So six other names With 30 saves the season I just saw Jaron Duran got there

So let's knock that one out Do you mean Yuan Duran Yeah that's the wrong answer Because you said Jaron Which is the outfielder For the Red Sox

Do you want to give me an X for that No no no He does have, he could have had 31, but he blew a save tonight, but he does have 30s. Okay. Yon Duran, you're giving it to me. I appreciate that. Aroldus Chapman. Aroldus Chapman does have 30s on the list.

I believe Jeff Hoffman has 30. Jeff Hoffman is right at 30. Robert. It's four out of seven. Juarez. Robert Suarez is correct. There are two names left. Oh, yeah.

With no strikes. Uh, oh, um, Andrus Munoz. Yes. Andres Munoz is the number three answer on the board. One. Can I get the clean sweep? Can I get the clean sweep? Oh, he's got to be there, right?

I don't know who you're talking about. Oh, I'm not trying to help. No, he's not. Okay. All right. Uh, man. Now I'm blanking. Uh, let's go with, let's go.

Chris, don't look up how many saves people have. You still have a chance to sweep this. If you can steal it. I was cheating. Yeah, I was cheating now. Ricele glacial is incorrect. That is your first strike. Did Trevor McGill get there?

Trevor McGill is correct. That was going to be my guess, and I checked to make sure. All right. The second face. The seven pitchers with 30 saves, Carlos Estevez, Robert Suarez, Andris Munoz, Aroldus Chapman, Jeff Hoffman, Trevor McGill, and Yohan Duran. It was not a great season for taking closers early in fantasy drafts. I mean, Josh Hader was great until he got hurt.

Edwin Diaz has had a good season. Edwin Diaz has been good. It's just only weirdly 26 saves. Devin Williams. Nope. Yeah. Not so much. But yeah, I'm surprised.

We already have seven with 30s. Mason Miller was. Yeah. Mark, who'll be the best closer in baseball before he got traded. All right. So that was Fantasy feud. Congrats, Chris. You took it home.

You are the champion. Woo. You don't always lose. Let the record show. Let's, uh, doesn't always lose. Literally not always. Let's wrap up here with some leftovers. Some big games from big name hitters.

PCA, two for four with a sock into shoe. His 29th homer, his 35th steel. Matt Olson, a huge game, four for five with two doubles, his 26th homer and four RBI. He has homered in 30th. three straight and he's having a massive September. Ronald de Cunia, his 17th home run, but seems like that calf injury has kind of derailed him in 28 games since returning, a 212 batting average with three homers, two steals, and an OPS over seven, under 700 for Ronald Cunia. Mookie Betts hit another home run. He had three RBI as well. Last 36 games, 354, eight homers,

29 runs, 30 RBI, and OPS over a thousand for Mookie Betz. Kyle Schwerber hit his 53rd home run, Bryce Harper had himself a sock in a shoe. So that is his 27th homer and 12th steel. And not a big name, but a big game for Andy Pahez, who went three for four with his 25th home run, a game-tying home run off of Yuan Duran in the ninth inning. Lots of names here. I think some interesting discussion points like PCA big game, Akunia has really slowed down since returning. You know, does that affect his draft stock for next year? I think he's still a first rounder personally. I haven't done it yet, but I have a hard time imagining I wouldn't put him in the first round.

Who was that? Ronald Cunia. Yeah, so it was, like I said, I ranked the top 24 and he might have been the toughest one to place. I was trying to guard against ranking him too low because I feel like I'd be more inclined to do that than rank him too high. And I got him sixth and roto. and actually fifth in points with Bobby Witt being the one who drops behind him in points.

Yeah, that sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Yeah, we don't know what kind of base stealer he's going to be. I think it's only what six this season. I would anticipate it's higher than that next season, but it's certainly not going to be 70 again. Yeah. I would guess, you know, I think we were talking about it last week,

you know, put the over under for both him and Wans Soto at 19 and a half. I really don't know which, way I'd go on either of them. His sprint speed, Ronald Cunia's sprint speed hasn't dropped at all this year. So that's encouraging. And remember it was his first

full year after the last ACL surgery when he did have the 74 steals, I believe it was. So you know, it's it's riskier than I'd like in the first round and if I'm on an island ranking him that high, then I will get off that

island. But as it stands, now, I'm thinking mid-first round. And like, even for as bad as he's been for the past, I don't know, a month or so, whatever it is, it's still basically like a 35 homer, 120 run. The RBI are low, but I would expect that to be better next season, even if he's hitting leadoff. Still just a super impactful player. I still think he's one of the five best hitters in baseball, even if he doesn't steal bases. Scott, did PCA make it into your top two rounds for next season?

I thought he was going to, but then I added the pitchers at the end, and he ended up being 26th for Roto for me. You know, I do think the first baseman that you mentioned are interesting. And I did my kind of first look at first base rankings as well for next season. And the number one spot's going to be interesting. I imagine everyone's going to go with Nick Kurtz. Maybe I will go that way as well, but I haven't finalized that yet.

But then, like, Matt Olson, it would be nice if he turned his season around in June rather than September two years in a row. Three years in a row. His last three Septembers have been amazing. And I'm thinking he's not a top 40 pick. probably a top 50, but I'm not sure yet. And then Harper might be my number five first baseman for next year.

I just don't know how to how to handle his age. Obviously Pete Alonzo is a free agent. Devers is a pure first baseman now for fantasy. Just first baseman. I think I'm going to rank those three Alonzo Devers Harper with Freeman sixth. But I think that's a tier that you could go in any order with that. And also a head of Freeman? No, Olson behind Freeman.

Okay. Because Olson's going to end up hitting about 280 unless these last two weeks go horribly. So he's going to end up a plus and batting every. That's surprising, yeah. Probably about 30 homers close to 100 runs in RBI. Like it's, it felt underwhelming as it was playing out, but the numbers are going to be there at the end for Matt Olson. It looks like, though I only have two first basemen in my top 24. Yeah, I think there's only, I would only put Kurtz in Guerrero.

Yeah, Kurtz one and Guerrero, two, and Roto. I actually have Guerrero over Kurtz and points since there's a huge difference in strikeout rate. And we're going to have all offseason to litigate Nick Kurtz's value and the Kurtz versus Guerrero. So I don't want to get into that too much. I was just say, as amazing as he's been, it's only 105 games so far. Vladimir Guerrero has also had very good 105 game stretches, including, I think, his last 105 games. are like very close to what Nick Kurtz did in this stretch. So it's not the slam dunk that I think some people are going to make it out to be.

Some pitching leftovers here. Kyle Bradish was effectively wild at the White Sox, five innings, one run, nine strikeouts, but also had four walks in that game. He gets the Yankees later this week and then he's at the Yankees, the final week as well. Carlos Rodon, a quality start at the twins, six innings of two-run ball with four strikeouts, and Ranger Suarez turned in a quality step. start at the Dodgers over his last six starts, a 147 ERA 106 whip. 44 strikeouts over 36 and two-thirds innings for Ranger Suarez.

Anything to add on him, Rodan, or Kyle Bradish? I remain extremely impressed by Kyle Bradish. Not surprised that the command's been a little iffy at times, but this stuff has looked awesome. We expect the command to be better in year two back from Tommy John's surgery. Um, there's a chance I'll rank him as a top 24 starting pitcher for next year. I'm, I'm really, really excited about Cobrash. All right.

The call to the bullpen for the Cubs, Porter Hodge started the ninth inning with a four-run lead. He recorded two outs, but allowed three base runners. Brad Keller came on to get the final out and picked up his second save. Of course, one day after we told everybody it was Andrew Kittridge. But Kittridge pitched Friday and Sunday. So I'm guessing they just didn't want to use him for a third time in four days. For the Astros, Brian Abraeu got the ninth with a three-run lead. He allowed three base runners but picked up his sixth save.

And for the Phillies, Yohan Duran got the ninth with a one-run lead. He allowed a game-tying homer to Andy Pahez. But the Phillies did wind up winning that game in 10 innings. And it was David Robertson who closed it out and picked up his first save of the season. To stream or not to stream on Tuesday, we have Zebby Matthews up against the Yankees, Joey Cantillo at the Tigers, Jeffrey Springs at the Red Sox, Connolly Early against the Athletics,

Shane Smith against the Orioles, Dean Kramer at the White Sox, Michael McGreevy, home against the Reds, and Eduardo Rodriguez, home against the Giants. Let's see, we were fine with Shane Smith and Joey Cantillo yesterday when we were talking about

Tuesday's matches, but I think I'd slot Connolly Early ahead of both of them. He'd be my top choice. I don't love anybody. else here. Yeah. Yeah, early at the top and then I think Shane Smith and Cantillo, I agree agree with that. On Wednesday we have Johan Oviedo home against the Cubs, Tyler Wells at the White Sox, Justin Verlander at the D-Backs, Ian Seymour home against the Blue Jays, Christian

Javier, home against the Rangers and Ryan Weathers at the Rockies in Coorsfield. Well, well, Wells, at the White Sox. That's the pick. That is better than anybody on Tuesday. Tuesday either. I think him and Christian Javier are both equally mildly interesting, I would say. I like Seymour and the skills that he's shown so far, but Blue Jays are just a pesky matchup. Verlander's been pitching really well too, but at the D-backs, it's kind of a tough spot too. So I'll go Wells at the top, and then probably Javier and Verlander. That's for Wednesday. And let's wrap up with some team name Tuesday.

we just got a bunch from an email or name Matthew. He sends us a bunch of team names every week, so thank you. We do appreciate it. Here we go. Yackety, yackus, don't talk, backus. Yep. I'll pick up, I'll pick up

Nabil for lunch. Nabil for lunch. I guess, like, I'll pick up the bill. Okay. All right, yeah. Beaks and mailies? I guess that's Luke Maly. Males? Beaks and Males?

I don't know. I don't get that one. If I have too much to drink tonight, I'll be ill tomorrow. That's pretty good. Little Red Rort Vitt. That's good. That's solid. Murder she sproat.

He just needed to get on a roll. It's like in the home run derby. You know, you just need to see one go over. Yeah. Who's the Bloss? Yep. Freaks and Beaks. Speaking of Tony Danza, who's the Bloss?

Perfect. You want to talk about Mel Clark again? I'm sure you have. a bunch of thoughts to get up. I mean, that got really, it did get a little dark really quickly. I apologize for that. Like, I just don't think they thought it through. Like, it just like, I feel like that was just like that you got to put in something super treakly in a children's movie. You know, that happens before he has the big moment at the end of the game. You know, he's thrown his 156 pitches. He catches the line drive. It makes a diving catch on the line drive on the

blows out his shoulder. The ball bounces out of the glove. He grabs it with his bare hand, pushes it back in the glove. But the whole time that's happening, you're not thinking, wow, great play,

great season. You're thinking, oh no, Mel Clark's not going to be alive more than six months from now. And so, like, all the enthusiasm is gone.

Just what were they thinking? Perfect Stromgers. Yeah. That's right. It's always sunny in Philadelphia. Yep. Bo, Unity.

Very good. Modern frambly. Yep. And ugly fetti. That's very good. I like that. These last ones are Beastie Boys theme.

They're also from Matthew. So Waka, Waka, Waka Wants. Yeah. Yeah. No sleep till Brooks Lee. Sure. Sabletage. Yes.

Boz Monkey. Batsam. Yeah. Mitz are Galactic. Stanick Terry Stanick Terry Mintergalactic Anytime you can get Ryan Stanick in there You got to I think

All right, we're gonna wrap there For Scott and Chris I have Frank, thanks as always for tuning into Fantasy Baseball today Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify And we will be back again

Tomorrow! Bye Bye!