One quick side note: With all of the rain scheduled for the east coast and the NL East and both Wild Card races extremely close, games beyond Sunday may very well be likely. Check your league settings to see if that game will count toward your fantasy results. Some of the popular league sites released these notices on their league sites yesterday:

ESPN: "Important Reminder: the MLB regular season is currently scheduled to end Sunday, September 28. If any play-in or make-up games are played beyond that date, stats from those games WILL count towards your league's final standings."

CBS: "Baseball Make-up Games: In the event of rainouts this weekend, it is likely that games impacting the MLB post-season will be made up early next week. As such, these make-up games would be included in week 26 results."

Unfortunately, I don't use Yahoo for any of my games and couldn't find their rules publicly. Here are the top-5 player spotlights for the National League. Have a great weekend:

Jonathan Broxton - Broxton took over for Takashi Saito this year as the closer, but hasn't performed quite as well as everyone hoped. In 22 save opportunities, Broxton has only coverted 14 successfully this year (with his most recent blown-save coming last night against the Giants). In general, he has been sharp in September but we would expect a little rebound after an attrocious August when he posted a 5.11 ERA in 13 appearances. He's got some work to do before emerging as a top closer, so consider him in the 2nd tier heading into 2009. While Takashi Saito will make a play to reclaim his regular closer job in 2009, the soon-to-be 38-year-old Saito will have to really dominate in spring training to prove he can be the closer for a full season without injury.

Ian Snell - Is there anything positive we can take away from Snell's 2008 effort? Well, not really... other than the fact that now his value has dropped way off and he becomes an "upside" sleeper pick deep in 2009 drafts. So just how bad was he this year? In 2007, Snell posted a 3.76 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 7.7 K/9, and a BB/9 of 2.94. This season, he has declined in every category. His 2008 ERA is 5.42, 1.76 WHIP, 7.4 K/9, and a BB/9 of 4.9. That is a serious downfall for a team that doesn't provide him enough run support to even salvage a decent amount of wins (Snell only had 7 wins this year and 9 last year). He'll be a flier next year, but I wouldn't invest too much in him.

Dan Haren - This has happened for a few years in a row now. Haren's 2nd half decline killed fantasy owners and should be factored into his value next season. First half of 2008, Haren posted a 2.72 ERA / 0.95 WIHP only to follow it with a 4.18 ERA / 1.37 WHIP after the all-star break. 2007 showed a similar trend with a 2.30 ERA / 1.00 WHIP in the first half followed by a 4.15 ERA / 1.50 WHIP in the 2nd. Should we go back one more year? Heck, why not - we're on a roll. Pre-Break 2006 = 3.53 ERA / 1.13 WHIP. Post-Break 2006 = 4.91 ERA / 1.31 WHIP. You get the idea. A full-season of pitching leading to fatigue is certainly one explanation, but no matter what it is, it sure seems to be a consistent trend year-after-year. Plan accordingly next season.

Rickie Weeks - Weeks is doing his part to help the Brewers get to the post-season. He's hitting .306 this month with a .443 OBP, 3 HR, and 7 runs scored. Weeks came to bat one time on Friday night and hit a 3-run HR to help the Brew-Crew go up by one game in the wild-card standings heading into the weekend. Weeks, in general, has had another disappointing season, hitting only .236 with 471 AB, a .344 OBP, and 14 HR. He did swipe a fair amount of bags, successfully converting 19 out of 24 opportunities. Weeks will continue to get fantasy consideration because of three important factors: 1) he can steal, 2) he plays 2B, and 3) he has the talent to be a better player than he has shown in his first few seasons.

Ricky Nolasco - Nolasco gets the nod for the Fish against the Mets on Saturday in Flushing. Nolasco is working on 11-straight quality starts with a 2.80 ERA and 0.89 WHIP since the beginning of August. He has been one of the best pitchers for the last two months, making it even more difficult for the Mets as they try to limp into the playoffs. The 25 year-old Nolasco has certainly found his groove this season and his stuff just keeps getting nastier by the start. He'll be worth a flier on draft boards next year, given the way he has ended this season. I'd keep him on my radar.

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