2014 Fantasy BaseballAndrew Miller

2014 Fantasy Baseball: Week 18 Two-Start Pitchers and Streamers

There are several two-start pitchers who qualify for the streaming portion of this article. For sake of brevity I’ll only cover them in the top portion of the article, but you should definitely pick up any of the two-starters you want to stream. If you have any questions about these starters, other pitchers or general fantasy baseball questions hit me up on Twitter.

Must-start

  1. Yu Darvish – Mon vs. NYY, Sun at CLE
  2. Madison Bumgarner – Mon vs. PIT, Sun at NYM
  3. Tyson Ross – Tue vs. STL, Sun vs. ATL
  4. Cole Hamels – Tue at NYM, Sun at WSH
  5. Stephen Strasburg – Tue at MIA, Sun vs. PHI
  6. Hisashi Iwakuma – Tue at CLE, Sun at BAL
  7. Jose Quintana – Tue at DET, Sun vs. MIN

Quintana is the only outlier here, but the 25-year-old has allowed just 1.28 runs a start in his last seven. He’s struck out seven or more in five of those starts, too.

Start in 12-teamers

  1. Ervin Santana – Mon vs. SD, Sat at SD
  2. Jordan Zimmermann – Mon at MIA, Sat vs. PHI
  3. James Shields – Tue vs. MIN, Sun at OAK
  4. Jake Odorizzi – Mon vs. MIL, Sun vs. LAA
  5. Lance Lynn – Tue at SD, Sun vs. MIL
  6. Marcus Stroman – Tue at BOS, Sun at HOU
  7. Anibal Sanchez – Tue vs. CWS, Sun vs. COL
  8. Jered Weaver – Tue at BAL, Sun at TB
  9. Kyle Lohse – Mon at TB, Sun at STL
  10. Henderson Alvarez – Tue vs. WSH, Sun vs. CIN
  11. Homer Bailey – Mon vs. ARI, Sat at MIA
  12. A.J. Burnett – Mon at NYM, Sat at WSH
  13. Jesse Chavez – Mon at HOU, Sun vs. KC

Santana gets the Majors’ worst offensive team twice, so you can start him in almost any league. Zimmermann has two rough starts in a row – both in hitters’ parks – but with 11 strikeouts and no walks in 8.1 innings. Both his matchups this week are favorable. Odorizzi has a 2.39 ERA in his last eight starts with 53 strikeouts in 49 innings. He’s got two top-10 teams against righties this week, but he should be a good source of Ks regardless. Alvarez has six starts of zero earned runs allowed in his 21 starts this year, and in his last 12 starts he’s allowed more than two earned runs just once. He doesn’t get you many strikeouts, but he’s usually always able to go deep into games and has earned our trust this season.

Deep-league starts

  1. Trevor Bauer – Tue vs. SEA, Sun vs. TEX
  2. Aaron Harang – Tue at LAD, Sun at SD
  3. R.A. Dickey – Mon at BOS, Sat at HOU
  4. Chris Tillman – Tue vs. LAA, Sun vs. SEA
  5. Bartolo Colon – Mon vs. PHI, Sun vs. SF
  6. Josh Beckett – Tue vs. ATL, Sun at CHC
  7. Francisco Liriano – Tue at SF, Sun at ARI
  8. David Phelps – Mon at TEX, Sun at BOS

Bauer has two bottom-10 teams against righties this week after posting four straight quality starts averaging seven strikeouts a game. Harang has allowed more than three earned runs just once in his last 10 starts. The Dodgers are a scary matchup, but he should feast on the Padres. Dickey‘s a good play for the deeper leagues, because usually you’ll get either a good strikeout total or a deep start with very few runs. He’s not always consistent, but he’s a reliable start one way or the other. Tillman has pitched very well since early June, relying more on his curveball when ahead in the count. He doesn’t get many strikeouts with it, but he’s only given up one extra-base hit with it in 34 at-bats since June 9.

AL-/NL-only starts

  1. Mike Leake – Tue vs. ARI, Sun at MIA
  2. Chase Anderson – Mon at CIN, Sat vs. PIT
  3. Jorge De La Rosa – Tue at CHC, Sun at DET
  4. Clay Buchholz – Mon vs. TOR, Sun vs. NYY

Pitchers to avoid

Top streaming options available in at least 50 percent of ESPN leagues

Charlie Morton – Wednesday at San Francisco – Morton just double-dipped against Colorado, throwing 13 innings with a 4.15 ERA, allowing just one home run and two walks. He’s not striking out many guys, but his ground ball rate is still great. The Giants just aren’t a great offensive team at home.

Wade Miley – Wednesday at Cincinnati – The Reds rank 24th in wOBA against lefties, and Miley’s been pitching well despite a rough outing in his last start. He has a 2.94 ERA and 1.07 WHIP in July with 35 strikeouts and eight walks in 33.2 innings.

Chris Young – Thursday at Cleveland – The tall righty has seven quality starts in his last eight outings with his lone non-quality outing being a five-inning, one-run start. He has 43 strikeouts to nine walks in that same timespan.

Ryan Vogelsong – Friday at New York Mets – Vogelsong has pitched fairly well in July, and his last start in the month comes against the sixth worst team against righties. He’s not striking out many guys, but he’s limiting his walks and home runs (two allowed in last 10 starts).

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