Field of Streams 2021: Week 8
The winner of “Last Week’s Pick of the Week” goes to Adbert Alzolay, who posted one quality start, a 9:0 K:BB ratio, 0.833 WHIP, and a 7.5 H/9 over his two starts. The rest of the pack did not pitch poorly (with the exception of Luis Patino, who ended up getting placed on the IL after his start and that may explain his performance), but none of them pitched exceptionally well either.
As is always the case we are moving on to the next week of the fantasy baseball season, and bring you some more hurlers who have an opportunity to post fantasy relevant starts in the upcoming slate.
As was the case last year, any game that I reference here is subject to change should individual players or full teams end up missing games due to the COVID protocols. Sometimes we have little to no heads up on any of these schedule adjustments, and games — especially later in the weekdays after this series posts — may not play out as they were originally expected to at the time of this writing. Two-Start Adds may turn into Single Game Streamers if one of their games gets postponed or pushed back in the week and SGS picks may not actually have that selected game happen, so be sure to check on player and team news daily to make sure you put yourself in the best possible position.
NOTE: I will typically try to stay around the 50% owned mark for my selections, but may reach up to guys owned in around 65% of leagues as well depending on different matchup factors. Owned percentages will read (ESPN, Yahoo), and all percentages and stats are current prior to Sunday’s games unless stated otherwise.
Without further ado, here are my streaming picks for Week 8 of the 2021 season.
Two-Start Adds
Cole Irvin — OAK (38.4%, 40%) vs SEA, vs LAA
Though he did take a step back in his last start, Irvin has been solid for the A’s this year. In 9 starts this season he owns a 3.59 ERA, 1.158 WHIP, and a strong 4.00 K/BB ratio (thank s to his 1.7 BB/9 rate), all of which are career lows at this point. He will have a great shot at getting back on track this week with the teams he is on track to face.
His first start of the week is set to come against the Seattle Mariners, who have the worst team AVG (.198), OBP (.279), and OPS (.637) in all of baseball. And to make matters worse their offensive production is falling off of a cliff with their .181/.260/.313 slash line over the last 28 days, and their .149/.255/.235 slash line over the last week (including being no-hit by Spencer Turnbull of the Tigers). Add in the fact that the Mariners are slashing .183/.256/.313 with 3 runs per game against left-handed starters this year, and that makes Irvin’s matchup as much of a lock as you’ll see.
The second team he is scheduled to face this week is the Angels, who will now be without Mike Trout for at least the next 6 weeks or so. Over the last two weeks the Halos have dipped in their offensive production as they have slashed just .206/.269/.374 as a team and have scored just 3.42 RPG in that span. With their key contributor out and the team’s production dying down, expect Irvin to take advantage.
Rich Hill — TB (44.6%, 47%) vs KC, vs PHI
After a rough start to the season in which he allowed 4 ER in each of his first four starts, Hill has figured things out recently and has only allowed 3 ER total over his last five outings. In that span he has four quality starts, a 0.98 ERA, 0.795 WHIP, and an excellent .112/.248/.202 slash line allowed to opposing hitters.
The Royals are about the exact opposite from Rich Hill in that they got off to a hot start out of the gate but have since cooled off. Their season stats have regressed back down toward the league average as they have a .237/.307/.366 slash line over the last 28 days, and they are averaging just 3.88 RPG in that span as well. Kansas City also has not performed exceptionally well against starting southpaws as they own a .232/.296/.356 slash line and have scored 3.54 RPG in 13 games against left-handed starters.
Although the Phillies have started to hit the ball better in recent weeks they still rank at or below league average in most offensive categories on the season, and they haven’t done much against Hill personally. The only current Phillies player with regular at bats against him is Andrew McCutchen, who has a .286/.286/.357 slash line in 14 at bats against him. As a team combined they have a .143 AVG (6-for-42, including McCutchen’s four knocks) with a .367 OPS and 2 RBI. Personal history could prevail in this one as Hill looks to keep rolling along.
Single Game Streamers
James Kaprielian — OAK (11.4%, 12%) vs SEA on 5/26
I have already gone into some detail on Seattle’s offensive struggles when discussing his teammate Cole Irvin above, but Kaprielian should be able to post a strong fantasy outing in his own matchup against the Mariners. In his two outings this year he has allowed just 3 ER over 10 2/3 IP (2.53), and also owns a 1.125 WHIP, 6.8 H/9, and a 12.7 K/9 in those games. His finished just one out shy of recording a quality start in his last outing, as he allowed 2 ER (both on solo HR) and recorded a 9:1 K:BB over 5 2/3 IP against the Angels. Look for Kaprielian to carry that momentum into his next outing as he goes up against arguably the least productive offense in the league right now.
Matthew Boyd — DET (64.8%, 64%) vs CLE on 5/27
Boyd has had a strong bounce-back season to this point in the year. In his nine starts he owns a 3.08 ERA (which is completely supported by his 3.07 FIP), 1.082 WHIP, and a 7.5 H/9 rate — all career lows. Another career low is his miniscule 0.3 HR/9 rate which has certainly helped him keep those other numbers down this year. As for Cleveland, they have had production issues of their own as they rank as the third-worst team in AVG (.213) and second-worst in OBP (.285). While their slash line has improved over the last week (.236/.305/.402 in their last six games), they still have struggled to push runs across the board as evidenced by their 3.33 RPG in that span. In addition to their own struggles current Cleveland hitters have slashed just .218/.284/.388 against Boyd, which also helps solidify Boyd’s fantasy case this week.
The Fantasy Life app is the best sports community app to talk fantasy football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer, WWE, MMA, Nascar, golf, eSports, or anything else you would hear about at a sports bar. Find or post funny memes, polls, GIFs, or join chats about your teams. Matthew Berry (ESPN, The Talented Mr. Roto), the face of fantasy football co-founded the app as a place for fans to chat about sports, get fantasy advice, or find sleepers for your team. Find Matthew on the app @matthewberry
Download the iPhone or Android app at fantasylifeapp.com. Also available in the App Store and Google Play.
