There are Nine Weeks Left

Well we have started the 17th week of the fantasy baseball season. This of course means one thing and one thing only. There are only nine weeks left to the season. Now that is certainly a lot of baseball, fully 1/3 of the season to go, and now is not the time to fret over ratio innings that you have lagged in. If your team batting average is poor or your team ERA is high the denominator is quite large at this point to enact any meaningful changes. But in the all important counting stats; stolen bases, strikeouts and stats, much can and should be done. In my dynasty league I find myself entering week 17 down nine saves. Now the math is not very difficult with nine weeks left to go, I need to gain one save per week. The key for you is to stay focused, see the task at hand and implement the plan.

This is the worst time of the season to employ rookie starting pitchers. A rookie starting pitcher will tend to be on a strict pitch count. That will curtail his opportunities at quality starts and games won. So much to my surprise when I checked the stat categories for the last 15 days, I ran a sort of the save category. And much to my surprise two names came up with five saves in the last 15 days, Adbert Alzolay of the Chicago Cubs and Trevor May of the Oakland A’s. Now the Oakland A's have not been competitive in 2023 so I would not endorse putting in for Trevor May. But the Chicago Cubs, we’ll give plenty of opportunities for saves to Alzolay. In 46 innings pitched he has allowed 37 hits while striking out 52 batters and walking only seven. This means that his WHIP is a figure below 1. And he has converted 12 save chances.

File Photo

Most of the season I have employed a split of six starting pitchers alongside two relief pitchers. And with Devin Williams and Will Smith of the Texas Rangers, I have eight of 12 possible points in that category. But I am only nine saves away from being the best saves team in my league, and those are four points that are not smart to walk away from. Simply switching to a five starting pitcher alongside three relief pitcher configuration may yield the nine saves that I need to become the best save team in my dynasty league. I know that I have written in the past that it is always smart to put counting categories in the bank whenever possible and I did that when the Atlanta Braves had an injury to their closer in April. I knew A.J. Winter would not be a long-term solution for saves this year. What I did know was that if I carried him as a third closer during the month of April those would be saves in the bank that I would look back later on in the season and be thankful for. And sure enough that has happened. I am now within striking distance of the league lead in a counting category. And that is just where I am. Banking stats is one of the smartest strategies any fantasy baseball owner can employ. Always do it with stolen bases and always do it with saves. If I can move from an eight to a 12 in this one category it could be the difference between prize fund money and not finishing in the money.

Some owners do like to double down with starting pitchers who are getting two starts in a given week. I have not had good luck with this strategy during the 2023 season. It has felt like the pitchers that have gone twice in a given week have had one or more of their starts blow up during that week. It is symptomatic of how unreliable starting pitching is in the game of baseball at this time. But there is a certain common sense to the fact that if you employ a five starting pitcher alongside three relief pitcher configuration you can get the extra starts put to good use that you are losing by putting in the third relief pitcher. There is no mitigating strategy that can reduce this risk for your offense. If you put in a player who has a high number of stolen bases but very low power and low on base percentage and a poor batting average, those things will be exposed. Jorge Mateo is a perfect example of a player who embodies that risk. Because while it's true that he can steal 50 bases in a season he can also put up a 278 on base percentage and go for weeks at a time without hitting a home run.