2015 Fantasy BaseballFantasy Baseball

Fantasy Baseball Final: May 26, 2015

Welcome to the The Fantasy Fix nightly fantasy baseball recap, where you’ll find updates on bullpen usage, lineup construction, injuries, and transactions. Whether you play season-long or daily fantasy, expect to see the best coverage from ever team, every night, all season long.

All 30 teams were in action tonight, including some talented lefties. Madison Bumgarner wasn’t exceptional in his start—pitching six innings of three-run ball, giving up four hits while striking out three. The Giants’ pitcher still picked up the win but definitely wasn’t worth the $9,600 price tag on DraftKings. Clayton Kershaw came into tonight as the most expensive pitcher, and he delivered the good with 10 strikeouts over seven innings.

Some of the early winners include the Yankees (5-1 over Kanas City), Pittsburgh (5-1 over Miami), the Cubs (3-2 over Washington), Toronto (10-9 over the White Sox), Texas (4-3 over Cleveland), Cincinnati (2-1 over Colorado), the Mets (5-4 over Philadelphia), Seattle (7-6 over Tampa Bay), San Francisco (6-3 over Milwaukee) and St. Louis (6-4 over Arizona).

IF YOU ONLY READ ONE THING…

It was a good old slugfest in downtown Toronto tonight. Both Jose Bautista and Josh Donaldson powered the Blue Jays to a win over the Chicago White Sox, extending their current winning streak to three games. Bautista finished the night three-for-four with five RBIs, while Donaldson went four-for-four with five runs scored, four RBIs and two homeruns. The duo combined for nine of their team’s ten RBIs, with Steve Delabar picking up his first win of the season. Donaldson racked up 48 fantasy points on DraftKings, while Bautista finished with 25 fantasy points.

JUST AS WE EXPECTED…

Guess who hit a homerun today—yes, Bryce Harper did. It was a battle of two of the league’s best young players in the game, and both delivered for their respective teams. Harper hit his 17th homerun of the season, while rookie Kris Bryant hit his 7th of the season. Denard Span and Dexter Fowler also picked up homeruns in this game, and rookie second baseman Addison Russell ended it with a walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth. The Nationals have now gone 17-6 in the month of May and sit 1.5 games ahead of the New York Mets. The Cubs haven’t been as successful, going 13-12 this month, but sit only 4.5 games behind the division leading St. Louis Cardinals.

Don’t look now but the Texas Rangers won again tonight. After a 7-14 month of April, Jeff Banister’s team has turned it around in the month of May with a 16-9 record to bring them back to .500. Price Fielder continued to be one of the hottest players in baseball, hitting his 10th homerun of the season. The first baseman finished the night three-for-five with a home run and three RBIs. He now leads the American League in batting average (.365) and has been by far the best player for the Rangers. It’s unclear if his resurgence this season will last all year, but trading him at his “sell high” value wouldn’t be a terrible idea.

BUT WE DIDN’T SEE THIS COMING…

The Cincinnati Reds and Colorado Rockies engaged in a pitcher’s battle tonight at Great American Ball Park. The Reds beat the Rockies 2-1 thanks to a walk-off double by pinch-hitter Skip Schumaker. For the Rockies, Chris Rusin was solid in his spot-start for Jorge De La Rosa, who missed his start because of a cut on his hand. The 28-year-old pitched seven innings of one run ball, giving up four hits while striking out five. Not to be outdone was Michael Lorenzen, who went seven innings, giving up one run on only two hits while striking out three. The Rockies are now 7-16 in May and are looking more and more like a team that will be sellers come trade deadline. The Reds have faired no better, as they sit 19-26 on the season (10.5 games behind the Cardinals).

Mike Pelfrey and the Minnesota Twins continue to be one of the hottest teams this month, defeating the Rex Sox 2-1 at Target Field. The Twins got on the board early thanks to doubles from Brian Dozier, Trevor Plouffe and Kurt Suzuki in the first. The Red Sox answered back in the top of the second when Mike Napoli singled to left to score David Ortiz but couldn’t solve Pelfrey after that. The 31-year-old is now 4-1 this season with a cool 2.77 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP.

THE REST OF THE DETAILS

SAVE CHANCES

LINEUP MOVES

  • According to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, the Braves and Dodgers agreed to a six-player trade that would see Juan Uribe go to the Braves and Alberto Callaspo to the Dodgers. The details of the four other players involved are still unknown, but speculation is that either Eric Stults or Trevor Cahill may be part of the deal going to Los Angeles.

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