Walk off wins are en vogue. I’m not quite sure who first coined the phrase walk off win, but there is no more exciting moment in baseball. Chicago Cubs rookie Kris Byrant had the pentultimate walk off moment with the walk off home run early in the afternoon. The rookie hit his 20th home run on the season and showed why many have him pegged as the National League Rookie of the Year. Meanwhile, the Yankees put the walk in walk off when they drew three walks in the ninth inning against the Houston Astros. A hit finally won that one as well.

If you read only one thing…..

Last season there was a movement afoot to make Alex Gordon the MVP of the American League. It was the so-called combination of his offensive and fielding value. This year, that movement has moved to his teammate Lorenzo Cain. Cain had three hits and two RBI, but the notion of him being an MVP is somewhat ludicrous in a league that has Josh Donaldson and Mike Trout.

Cain is hitting .307 on the season with 12 home runs and 54 RBI. He is on pace to score 100 runs on the season, but the idea of him being the MVP just doesn’t make sense. He likely won’t get to 600 plate appearances either. He’s a nice player and I’m glad he’s come of age, but Royals fans need to take a deep breath.

Just as we expected….

If you are a Draft Kings guy (or gal) then start whoever is starting against the Astros. They have averaged 2.5 runs per game over the last 19 games and although they are 9-10 in that span, nearly all of their wins have occurred late. It’s getting to the point to where the Astros should just take the first eighteen outs of the game for granted and start from the 7th inning on. That means you get some guaranteed production in the first six to seven innings for the starting pitcher.

On the other hand, the Mets have been going absolutely nuts the past week. Part of it could be attributed to the thin air in Denver, but they continued their onslaught on the Phillies. The Phillies have the worst starting rotation in baseball, so that’s hardly a surprise. A huge welcome back to Captain America (David Wright). He hit his second home run on the season and scored three runs in the process.

But we didn’t see this coming….

Who’s the best pitcher on the New York Yankees? In fantasy terms it just might be Nathan Eovaldi. Who in the heck is Nathan Eovaldi? Obviously, he isn’t actually the best pitcher on the Yankees, but he is 13-2 with a 4.00 ERA. Sure, wins and losses don’t mean everything and in fact it doesn’t mean hardly anything, but in fantasy baseball we can become a slave to wins. Needless to say, Eovaldi has been a huge surprise for the Yankees this season.

You don’t hear the name J.A. Happ very often, but he’s a decent fantasy prospect at this point in the season. He usually has a good strikeout rate and he is playing for the second best team in the National League. He pitched six scoreless innings with six strikeouts on Monday night. His ERA is 4.21, but most of that came in the American League. He might end up below 4.00 ERA by the end of the season.

The Rest of the Details

Save Chances

• Arodys Vizcaino (converted)
• Mark Melancon (converted)

Injuries

• C.C. Sabathia has been placed on the disabled list with a knee injury and he may be out for the season.

Rumors

Success has a way of becoming costly. The Astros have had the lowest payroll in baseball for the past several seasons. That ceased this season when the Astros added Scott Kazmir, Carlos Gomez, and Oliver Perez late in the season. More importantly, some of their younger players are coming of age and are due significant raises. Supposedly, the club is negotiating with Dallas Keuchel on a long-term extension. Couple that with a possible contract for Scott Kazmir and perhaps George Springer and you could be looking at a 100 million dollar payroll again.