Maine, Cain and Pray for No Rain
As I sat through the monsoon that hit Chicago yesterday, I thought about the
fantasy effects of rainouts, doubleheaders, and schedule make-ups. Those who play in daily leagues have
certainly picked up a player in a double-header with the hope of earning
"double the stats"for that day. My
head-to-head league was looking good until yesterday - John Maine and Matt Cain
had set a solid foundation for my pitching this week and I was gearing up for
Josh Beckett to dominate the lowly White Sox on the Southside of Chicago. Jim Thome has been
on a power surge lately and Manny Ramirez is due for a breakout. I grabbed some pizza, a beverage, and my
remote.... then the rains came.
By 9:30pm CST, the Sox/Sox match-up had been rained out and
I was combing the wires picking up Julio Lugo and Josh Fields for today's
day/night doubleheader. I'm on the
"playoff bubble"in one of my head-to-head leagues . Now is NOT the time to gaze at the rain and
the 60mph winds. Desperate times call
for desperate measures. A quick plea to Lugo: please run on AJ Pierzynski today. He
has thrown out 22.1% of runners this season - please be a part of the other
77.9%. But I digress.
Here's a quick flashback to April: remember the snow outs in
Cleveland? Remember the cold and the rain that wreaked
havoc on fantasy teams? Well, those
games are finally going to be played and they may have a gigantic impact for the
fantasy home stretch. If you can plan in
advance and stack your team with some free agents that have full 7-day weeks or
doubleheaders, you could end up increasing some of your offensive volume stats
(like runs, RBI, SB, etc).
Of course, simply picking up a player who is playing for a
team that has a doubleheader does not guarantee more stats. There is always the possibility for an 0-for-8 performance (thanks Randy Winn - Aug 13th
v. Pittsburgh)
that could hurt your average and OBP. Also,
catchers rarely get double time. Its tough on the body to catch 18 innings in one day. Platoon situations usually lead to split time
and players with nagging and recurring injuries tend to sit out at least one of
the games and appear in pinch-hitting duties.
Its also rare for there to be back-to-back save
situations and see your closer finish them both.
So for today's First Pitch, I went through the entire MLB
schedule and plotted information that may be helpful when making fantasy
decisions over the last five weeks of the season. "CHART A"indicates all make-up games by date
and by league for the rest of the season.
Games in red are doubleheaders.
As you can see, there are plenty of "Ernie Banks' Specials"smack-dab in
the middle of fantasy playoff season:
CHART A
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SCHEDULE NOTES
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AL
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NL
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Friday, August 24
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Red Sox @ White Sox Doubleheader
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Makeup from PPD on 8/23
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Monday, August 27
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Devil Rays @ White Sox
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Makeup from PPD on 5/26
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Tuesday, August 28
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Reds @ Pirates Doubleheader
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Makeup from PPD on 8/5
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Thursday, August 30
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Mariners @ Indians
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Makeup from PPD on 4/8
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Friday, August 31
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Royals @ Twins Doubleheader
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Makeup from PPD on 8/2
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Monday, September 10
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Blue Jays @ Tigers
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Cardinals @ Cubs
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Makeup from PPD on 4/5
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Makeup from PPD on 8/19
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Tuesday, September 11
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Rangers @ Tigers Doubleheader
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Makeup from PPD on 6/27
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Saturday, September 15
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Cubs @ Cardinals Doubleheader
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Makeup from PPD on 4/29
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Tuesday, September 18
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Dodgers @ Rockies
Doubleheader
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Makeup from PPD on 7/27
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Monday, September 24
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Blue Jays @ Yankees
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Makeup from PPD on 4/25
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Royals @ Orioles
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Makeup from PPD on 4/15
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Wednesday, September 26
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Indians @ Mariners Doublheader
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Makeup from PPD on 4/9 in Cleveland
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Thursday, September 27
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Cardinals @ Mets
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Makeup from PPD on 6/28
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"CHART B"shows the teams that play full 7-day weeks. The chart is sorted by the 5 remaining
fantasy weeks (Monday through Sunday) and is organized by league and by
team. The Cardinals are a team of note on
this list with only one off-day (Aug 27th) from now until the end of
the season.
CHART B
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TEAMS THAT PLAY FULL 7-DAY WEEKS
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AL
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NL
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Monday, Aug 27 -
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Devil Rays
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Diamondbacks
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Sunday Sept 2
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Indians
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Mets
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Mariners
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Padres
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Tigers
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Phillies
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White Sox
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Yankees
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Monday, Sept 3 -
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Angels
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Cardinals
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Sunday, Sept 9
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Indians
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Cubs
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Orioles
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Dodgers
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Red Sox
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Pirates
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Monday, Sept 10 -
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Athletics
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Cardinals
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Sunday, Sept 16
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Blue Jays
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Cubs
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Devil Rays
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Phillies
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Mariners
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Rockies
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Orioles
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Monday, Sept 17 -
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Angels
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Astros
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Sunday, Sept 23
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Mariners
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Braves
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Orioles
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Brewers
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Rangers
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Cardinals
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Royals
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Giants
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White Sox
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Marlins
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Mets
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Nationals
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Padres
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Phillies
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Pirates
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Reds
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Monday, Sept 24 -
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Blue Jays
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Brewers
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Sunday, Sept 30
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Royals
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Cardinals
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Twins
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Mets
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Yankees
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Padres
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"CHART C"is the final list and shows the number of games remaining
for each team. The Cardinals still have
plenty of games to make-up to reach the 162-game plateau. If you have players on the A's, you'll see some
6-game weeks with various off-days on Mondays/Thursdays.
CHART C
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MLB
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Games
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Games Played
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Teams
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Left
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Through Aug 23
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St. Louis Cardinals
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38
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124
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Seattle Mariners
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37
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125
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Baltimore Orioles
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36
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126
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Chicago Cubs
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36
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126
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New York Mets
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36
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126
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Pittsburgh Pirates
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36
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126
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San Diego Padres
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36
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126
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Cleveland Indians
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36
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126
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Kansas City Royals
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36
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126
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Philadelphia Phillies
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36
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126
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Chicago White Sox
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36
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126
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Los Angeles Angels
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35
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127
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Cincinnati Reds
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35
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127
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Colorado Rockies
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35
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127
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Tampa Bay DRays
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35
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127
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Texas Rangers
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35
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127
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Toronto Blue Jays
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35
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127
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Minnesota Twins
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35
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127
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Boston Red Sox
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35
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127
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Detroit Tigers
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35
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127
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Los Angeles Dodgers
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35
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127
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New York Yankees
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35
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127
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Milwaukee Brewers
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35
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127
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Houston Astros
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34
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128
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Washington Nationals
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34
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128
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San Francisco Giants
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34
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128
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Atlanta Braves
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34
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128
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Florida Marlins
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34
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128
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Arizona DBacks
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34
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128
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Oakland Athletics
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33
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129
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Its tough to make fantasy decisions
when your season is on the line. The
more homework you do with the information available gives you an advantage over
the competition. Looking at the
something as simple as the MLB schedule may mean the difference between a
fantasy win and loss. Sometimes it just
takes that extra run or that incremental RBI to lead you to a fantasy
championship. Good luck! jribando@fantistics.com
