Welcome to the TheFantasyFix.com’s nightly fantasy baseball recap, where you’ll find updates on bullpen usage, lineup construction, injuries, and transactions. No matter the format, we got you covered with everything you need to know to help you win your league.

What’s not mentioned below: Pittsburgh Pirates’ shortstop Jung Ho Kang hit the team’s first grand slam of the season, a tiebreaking home run in the sixth to help edge the team over the Cincinnati Reds, 5-4. Reds’ first baseman Joey Votto got ejected after going crazy over a called strike, getting ejected while teammates and umpires had to hold him back. Todd Frazier hit his 31^st home run of the season in the loss for the Reds, just his sixth home run since the all-star break as the Home Run Derby champion has found himself in a home run drought. C.C. Sabathia had a strong start tonight in his return from the disabled list, but the New York Yankees ended up losing to the Baltimore Orioles, 5-3. The Orioles took two of the three games in the series win over the Yankees; Baltimore had lost 15 of its previous 18 games coming into the series.

IF YOU ONLY READ ONE THING…

It ain’t over until the fat lady sings, but it continues to look like the New York Mets will be the 2015 NL East champs. Again, anything could happen, but this three game set was the Washington Nationals’ best chance to try and regain the lead in the East. However, things didn’t go the way they had hoped, and the Mets came into D.C. and swept the three game set. Each game the Mets came crawling back from a deficit it seemed they weren’t going to overcome, but there’s just something special about this Mets’ team. Tonight, the offense seemed dead for most of the night. Nationals’ starter Stephen Strasburg struck out 13 batters over his 7.1 innings of work, giving up three runs on five hits while walking one. Strasburg has had an up-and-down 2015 campaign, but the Nats needed him to look like his old self tonight to try and avoid the sweep, and he was just that. Unfortunately, it came apart for him in the eighth, as he served up the game-tying home run to Kelly Johnson to lead off the inning. Yoenis Cespedes untied the game shortly after, launching a two-run home run to give the Mets the lead, his 14^th since being traded to the club. Jacob deGrom was pretty great, as usual, tossing seven innings of two run ball, walking two and striking out nine. If there were one night that could sum up Bryce Harper and the Nats’ 2015 season as a whole, it would be tonight. The NL MVP candidate went 3-4 with two home runs, his 35^th and 36^th on the year, driving in two runs and scoring three. Bryce Harper doing great things while the team otherwise finds a way to lose… ladies and gentlemen your 2015 Washington Nationals! Seriously though, what a disappointment this team has been this season. From being a World Series favorite and running out a rotation that was being called one of the best in the history of the game, to seven games back behind the Mets in the East. Sheesh.

JUST AS WE EXPECTED…

The St. Louis Cardinals stopped the Chicago Cubs in their tracks today, avoiding being swept in the three-game set, winning this one by a score of 4-3. This game belonged to the Cubs for most of it, as they led 3-1 heading into the eighth inning, though things fell apart for the club shortly after that. The Cubs, now two games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Wild Card standings (before tonight’s Pirates-Reds matchup), can blame the loss on the bullpen, as the relief corps behind Jon Lester could not hold on to his lead. Lester finished his great afternoon after seven innings, allowing one run on two hits, walking one and striking out seven. This was Lester’s best start since he came on out away from throwing a complete game against the Cleveland Indians back on August 24^th; Lester had given up seven runs over 11 innings in his two starts since then, leading up to this afternoon. Pedro Strop and Clayton Richard were the two-bullpen members who saw things unravel for the Cubbies in the eighth inning, with Strop being held responsible for two runs, while Richard was on the hook for one earned run, the go-ahead two RBI double off the bat of rookie Stephen Piscotty, though Fernando Rodney was on the mound for that one. Jon Lester would have seen his record go to .500 (10-10) on the year had things gone the way he had planned, though now he has to wait until his next start in Pittsburgh on Tuesday to try and even out his record. If you were on twitter at any point during the eighth inning or later of this game, you can see the outlash from some people Joe Maddon’s decision to bring in Rodney with the tying run on second base, and the go-ahead run on first. To sum all the tweets up into one: there’s a reason the Seattle Mariners didn’t want Fernando Rodney anymore; and if you’re using Fernando Rodney in a high-leverage situation, you probably deserve to lose. For a team that’s trying to make the playoffs for the first time since 2008, your answers should not be Fernando Rodney, Pedro Strop, and Clayton Richard. Opposing Jon Lester on the mound was Carlos Martinez, who scattered ten hits across his five innings of work, allowing three runs to score while striking out eight batters. It wasn’t Martinez’s best start, but it was still a solid performance, though it did take him 99 pitches to get through the five innings. Luckily for him, the bullpen behind him shutdown the Cubs’ lineup for the rest of the afternoon, and the late-inning rally helped Martinez avoid his eighth loss of the season. Trevor Rosenthal pitched a clean ninth inning with one strikeout to notch his 43^rd save of the season.

BUT WE DIDN’T SEE THIS COMING…

The Boston Red Sox beat up on the division leading Toronto Blue Jays tonight, 10-4, taking away what was a great chance for the Blue Jays to cushion their lead in the East on a night that the New York Yankees lost. Mookie Betts helped lead the scoring the Sox, going 2-5 with three RBI and his 14^th home run of the season. David Ortiz drove in three runs as well, though they all came off his only hit of the came, his 32^nd home run of the year and 498^th of his career. Starting pitcher Joe Kelly turned in a solid performance for the Sox, letting up one run over 5.2 innings, walking two and striking out five. The juggernaut offense was not able to catch up after the Drew Hutchinson’s implosion, as he lasted just 3.1 innings, giving up six runs, all earned, on six hits while walking two. Good news is, Marcus Stroman is making his return from his torn ACL and is starting Sunday against the Yankees, replacing the banged up Mark Buerhle, so the rotation has some help on the way. Josh Donaldson collected two hits in his three at-bats for the Jays, raising his average to .307 on the year though he surprisingly didn’t drive in any runs in the ballgame.

THE REST OF THE DETAILS

SAVE CHANCES

Trevor Rosenthal (43)

Jeurys Familia (39)

Zach Britton (32)

Mark Melancon (44)

A.J. Ramos (25)

Cody Allen (30)

LINEUP MOVES

St. Louis Cardinals activate Matt Adams from the disabled list.

New York Yankees outright OF Tyler Austin to Double-A Trenton.

New York Yankees activate C.C. Sabathia from the disabled list.

INJURIES

Adam Jones – Day-to-day – (Shoulder)

Michael Cuddyer – Day-to-day – (Wrist) expected back Friday.

Brett Gardner – Day-to-day – (Shoulder) expected back Thursday.

Steven Matz (Blister) cleared for his Friday start.

Kyle Schwarber (Ribs) returned to Cubs’ lineup this afternoon.

Jonathan Lucroy – Day-to-day – (Concussion symptoms) may require short DL stint

Miguel Sano – Day-to-day – (Hamstring)

Michael Taylor – Day-to-day – (Knee)

Yunel Escobar – Day-to-day – (Fever)

Mat Latos – Day-to-day – (Neck)

Jimmy Rollins – Day-to-day – (Hand)

Yasmani Grandal – Day-to-day – (Shoulder)

Delino DeShields – Day-to-day – (Knee)

Ryan Zimmerman – Could miss significant time – (Oblique)

Buster Posey – Day-to-day – (Ankle)

Nelson Cruz – Day-to-day – (Quad)