Fantasy daily notes for Sept. 26
Click through for information on specific matchups and injuries for the day's games.
Starting pitcher rankings for September 26
| Name | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Matt Cain | R | ARI | 9 | 15-5 | 2.86 | 1.05 | 2-0 | 1.77 | 1.23 |
| 2 |  | CC Sabathia | L | @MIN | 9 | 13-6 | 3.47 | 1.17 | 0-2 | 3.86 | 1.00 |
| 3 |  | Felix Hernandez | R | @LAA | 9 | 13-8 | 2.85 | 1.10 | 0-2 | 7.02 | 1.80 |
| 4 |  | Chris Carpenter | R | @HOU | 8 | 0-0 | 3.60 | 1.20 | 0-0 | 3.60 | 1.20 |
| 5 |  | C.J. Wilson | L | SEA | 10 | 12-10 | 3.82 | 1.33 | 1-1 | 3.52 | 1.24 |
| 6 |  | Josh Johnson | R | @ATL | 10 | 8-13 | 3.84 | 1.27 | 1-2 | 3.60 | 1.10 |
| 7 |  | Jon Lester | L | TB | 6 | 9-13 | 4.96 | 1.39 | 1-2 | 4.62 | 1.54 |
| 8 |  | Wade Miley | L | @SF | 6 | 16-10 | 3.25 | 1.17 | 2-1 | 6.38 | 1.64 |
| 9 |  | Clayton Richard | L | LAD | 7 | 14-12 | 3.81 | 1.20 | 2-0 | 4.58 | 1.36 |
| 10 |  | Shaun Marcum | R | @CIN | 6 | 5-4 | 3.86 | 1.25 | 0-0 | 6.10 | 1.40 |
| 11 |  | Aaron Harang | R | @SD | 6 | 9-10 | 3.80 | 1.43 | 0-2 | 4.20 | 1.80 |
| 12 |  | Kyle Kendrick | R | WAS | 5 | 10-11 | 3.89 | 1.27 | 2-2 | 3.28 | 1.01 |
| 13 |  | Martin Perez | L | OAK | 5 | 1-2 | 3.78 | 1.44 | 0-1 | 3.38 | 1.35 |
| 14 |  | Miguel Gonzalez | R | TOR | 5 | 7-4 | 3.52 | 1.27 | 1-1 | 4.34 | 1.39 |
| 15 |  | Hector Santiago | L | CLE | 7 | 3-1 | 3.45 | 1.38 | 0-0 | 1.35 | 1.80 |
| 16 |  | Alex Cobb | R | @BOS | 4 | 9-9 | 4.27 | 1.29 | 1-1 | 3.57 | 1.08 |
| 17 |  | Paul Maholm | L | MIA | 5 | 12-10 | 3.85 | 1.24 | 1-1 | 4.41 | 1.47 |
| 18 |  | Jarrod Parker | R | @TEX | 6 | 11-8 | 3.40 | 1.26 | 2-1 | 1.86 | 0.97 |
| 19 |  | Justin Masterson | R | @CHW | 6 | 11-15 | 4.97 | 1.45 | 1-3 | 5.40 | 1.41 |
| 20 |  | Bronson Arroyo | R | MIL | 4 | 12-8 | 3.63 | 1.19 | 1-1 | 2.57 | 1.24 |
| 21 |  | Jeremy Guthrie | R | @DET | 2 | 7-12 | 4.80 | 1.42 | 1-0 | 1.55 | 0.97 |
| 22 |  | Bud Norris | R | STL | 3 | 5-13 | 5.05 | 1.44 | 0-2 | 8.44 | 1.78 |
| 23 |  | John Lannan | L | @PHI | 4 | 3-0 | 4.43 | 1.43 | 1-0 | 5.79 | 1.71 |
| 24 |  | Rick Porcello | R | KC | 3 | 9-12 | 4.57 | 1.53 | 0-2 | 4.60 | 1.72 |
| 25 |  | Jason Berken | R | @COL | 1 | 0-1 | 3.27 | 1.82 | 0-1 | 1.80 | 1.30 |
| 26 |  | Jeff Locke | L | @NYM | 1 | 0-2 | 5.47 | 1.22 | 0-1 | 5.87 | 1.37 |
| 27 |  | Drew Pomeranz | L | CHC | 3 | 1-9 | 5.30 | 1.52 | 0-1 | 6.23 | 2.00 |
| 28 |  | Carlos Villanueva | R | @BAL | 5 | 7-6 | 3.88 | 1.25 | 0-2 | 7.36 | 1.50 |
| 29 |  | Samuel Deduno | R | NYY | 1 | 6-5 | 4.54 | 1.55 | 1-2 | 8.78 | 1.80 |
| 30 |  | Jeremy Hefner | R | PIT | 1 | 2-7 | 5.79 | 1.47 | 0-2 | 31.91 | 4.91 |
Rk.: The author's ranking of that pitcher for that day only. T: Pitcher throws left-handed or right-handed. Opp: The pitcher's opponent for the day. QR: "Quality Rating," or the starting pitcher's matchup rating -- separate from the author's ranking -- which accounts for past history (three years' worth as well as past 21 days), opponent and ballpark. OPS is the primary statistic used in the calculation. Ratings range from 1-10, with 10 representing the best possible matchup, statistically speaking, and 1 representing the worst. So, for example, a 10 is a must-start rating, while a 1 should be avoided (if possible); a 1-2 is poor, 3-4 is fair, 5-6 is average, 7-8 is very good and 9-10 is excellent. W-L: Pitcher's win-loss record. ERA: Pitcher's earned run average. WHIP: Pitcher's average number of walks plus hits surrendered per inning.
Rankings notes
With just one more week left in the regular season, it's time to go fishing for wins. Here are three arms, available in at least half of the ESPN universe, that should twirl quality starts on Wednesday:
Only five pitchers in the majors have seven wins since the start of August, and Clayton Richard (13 percent ESPN.com fantasy ownership) is one of them. In these nine starts, he's 7-1 with a 3.03 ERA and 1.19 WHIP. However, if you just look at the Petco Park outings in the past two months, Richard is 4-0 with an 0.87 ERA and 0.84 WHIP. He'll toe the rubber on his home mound again Wednesday when he faces a Los Angeles Dodgers lineup he has dominated throughout his career, going 6-2 with a 2.82 ERA and 1.18 WHIP in a dozen starts. If his strikeout rate wasn't so low (4.4 K/9), he'd be worthy of must-start status, but Richard should be played in the majority of fantasy leagues with the roll he's on.
Richard's mount opponent, Aaron Harang (12 percent ESPN.com fantasy ownership) hasn't won in five straight starts, but he hasn't allowed more than three runs in any of those five outings, either. Harang, who pitched for the San Diego Padres last year, is very familiar with Petco Park, going 11-8 with a 3.11 ERA, 1.22 WHIP and 6.9 K/9 in 159⅓ innings in his career in San Diego. This season, he has a 2.38 ERA and 12 K's in 11⅓ innings there. With the Dodgers needing to claw for every game down the stretch, Harang is a strong win candidate on Wednesday and should be started in deeper fantasy leagues.
Kyle Kendrick (36 percent ESPN.com fantasy ownership) has pitched very well in his past eight starts, going 6-2 with a 2.17 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 5.4 K-to-BB ratio and a 7.2 K/9 rate. This includes a perfect 4-0 record at Citizens Bank Park, giving up two runs or fewer in each of these four outings. On Wednesday, he faces a Washington Nationals team that hasn't done much against him in the past two years, as Kendrick has a 2.12 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in seven games against them (five starts, two relief outings). His mound opponent, John Lannan, has loathed pitching in Philly, as he is 1-5 with a 7.06 ERA and 2.11 WHIP, allowing the Philadelphia Phillies to post a .997 OPS in these seven starts. Kendrick is certainly worth a play in NL-only leagues or deeper mixed formats.
Hitter matchup ratings for September 26
| Overall | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | | 7 | 10 | 1 | 3 | |
| | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | |
| | 5 | 6 | 1 | 7 | | 8 | 6 | 10 | 8 | |
| | 9 | 1 | 10 | 3 | | 7 | 1 | 10 | 6 | |
| | 6 | 8 | 1 | 5 | | 7 | 3 | 8 | 7 | |
| | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | | 10 | 10 | 8 | 5 | |
| | 4 | 1 | 7 | 7 | | 7 | 9 | 4 | 7 | |
| | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | |
| | 8 | 9 | 6 | 4 | | 6 | 1 | 7 | 2 | |
| | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | |
| | 8 | 10 | 4 | 5 | | 5 | 1 | 5 | 7 | |
| | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | | 3 | 4 | 1 | 6 | |
| | 4 | 1 | 6 | 9 | | 6 | 6 | 6 | 2 | |
| | 6 | 4 | 6 | 5 | | 7 | 8 | 5 | 1 | |
Hitter ratings account for the opposing starting pitcher's past history (three years' worth as well as past 21 days) as well as ballpark factors. "LHB" and "RHB" ratings account only for left- and right-handed batters, respectively. OPS is the primary statistic used in the calculation. Ratings range from 1-10, with 10 representing the best possible matchup, statistically speaking, and 1 representing the worst. So, for example, a 10 is a must-start rating, while a 1 should be avoided (if possible); a 1-2 is poor, 3-4 is fair, 5-6 is average, 7-8 is very good and 9-10 is excellent.
• Entering Tuesday, Josh Reddick is 7-for-38 (.184 BA) career at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. He has as many strikeouts as hits.
• Joe Mauer is 6-for-31 (.194 BA) with 11 strikeouts career against CC Sabathia.
• Ryan Zimmerman is 10-for-28 (.357 BA) with 7 doubles in his career against Wednesday's starter Kyle Kendrick.
• Allen Craig is a great play against Astros starter Bud Norris. Craig is 7-for-14 with two home runs in his career against the Houston right-hander.
• In Josh Johnson's previous three starts against the Braves this season, Brian McCann has gone 4-for-9 (.444 BA) against him.
Carlos Gonzalez, OF, Rockies: He has inflammation behind his knee and will likely be shut down for the season.
Josh Willingham, OF, Twins: He injured his left shoulder after he slammed into the outfield fence on Monday and will undergo an MRI to determine the severity of his injury.
Jacoby Ellsbury, OF, Red Sox: Day-to-day, strained lat. He hasn't played since Sept. 20, and is not likely to return to action until the middle of this week at the earliest.
Hanley Ramirez, 3B, Dodgers: Fouled a ball off his foot and left Sunday's game after finishing his at-bat. He should be able to return Tuesday following negative X-rays.
Matt Holliday, OF, Cardinals: Though he has not missed any action, Holliday is suffering from back tightness, which could conceivably cause him to sit out for a day if it worsens.
David Freese, 3B, Cardinals: He left Monday's game after rolling his ankle, but the team sees him as day-to-day, and he should return to action shortly.
Dexter Fowler, OF, Rockies: He has not started since Saturday due to tendinitis in his left wrist. He's considered day-to-day.
Aaron Hill, 2B, Diamondbacks: Flu-like symptoms kept him from playing on Monday, but he should return to action shortly.
Chris Johnson, 3B, Diamondbacks: He was hit by a pitch on his left wrist on Sunday, but suffered only a contusion and no broken bones. Expect him back on the field in a couple of days.
Michael Bourn, OF, Braves: Day-to-day, jammed thumb. He injured himself on Saturday and will likely miss a couple of more days with his ailment.
Gerardo Parra, OF, Diamondbacks: He injured his right hand sliding home on Friday and hasn't played since. It's unclear when he will be back on the field.
Michael Brantley, OF, Indians: He hurt his groin running the bases on Sunday and may not return until this weekend.
Jose Altuve, 2B, Astros: He had to depart Sunday's game because of a tight groin and should miss at least another couple of games.
Justin Ruggiano, OF, Marlins: Got hurt diving for a ball Friday and has not yet returned to the lineup. While Ruggiano waits for his sprained right shoulder to heal, Bryan Petersen is seeing more action.
Dustin Ackley, 2B, Mariners: He hasn't played since exiting the game on Sept. 21 due to a stiff neck. It's not clear when he'll be ready to return to the field.
Coco Crisp: OF, Athletics. He has not batted since Sept. 18 due to a pinkeye-like eye condition. It's unclear when he'll be back.
Ryan Ludwick, OF, Reds: Day-to-day, tight left groin. He has not played since Sept. 19, and with Cincinnati having already clinched the division title, the team is in no hurry to rush Ludwick back to the field, making the timetable for his return to action uncertain.
Frank Francisco, RP, Mets: Day-to-day, tendinitis in right elbow. He has not pitched since Sept. 16, and it is unclear if he will return to the mound this season.
Brett Anderson, SP, Athletics: Out for rest of regular season, tightness in side. Travis Blackley is taking his spot in the rotation.
Giancarlo Stanton, OF, Marlins: Day-to-day, sore oblique. He hasn't played since Sept. 16, and there is no timetable for his return.
Carlos Quentin, OF, Padres: Day-to-day, sore left knee. He hasn't played since Sept. 19, and will likely be used sparingly (if at all) in the closing days of the season.
