Fantasy baseball: Attack these pitching staffs in your title pursuit

This is it! The final week!

By this time next week, your league will be crowning its champion.

All that sits between you and fantasy glory is seven days when you need to stay on top of your team, and use every possible advantage you can find.

To aid with your final push, Roto Rage is focusing on five pitching staffs worth attacking, so make sure your lineup is stacked against them.

Rangers

On paper, the Rangers’ final two opponents (Athletics and Angels) are not all that intimidating, especially when you consider Texas’ potential starters include Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Kumar Rocker, Andrew Heaney, Nathan Eovaldi, Jack Leiter.

On paper, that looks pretty solid … but looks can be deceiving.

DeGrom looked good in his season debut but lasted just 3 ²/₃ innings in that outing, and his workload will be monitored.

Scherzer is in the same boat as deGrom.

Heaney has pitched less than six innings in 11 of his past 13 starts while Rocker is striking out 15.4 per nine but has lasted seven innings in his first two starts.

Leiter has not worked more than five innings in any of his seven appearances, and Eovaldi has a 5.44 ERA with eight homers allowed over his last eight starts, half of which lasted less than six innings. 

Why is this important? The Rangers’ bullpen entered Friday with the sixth-worst ERA, the fifth-most homers allowed and issued the second-most walks in the majors.

Oakland’s Zack Gelof (12.4 percent) has four stolen bases and hit .308 with a .809 OPS in his first 17 games this month.

Lawrence Butler (42.2 percent) hit .317 with 20 homers, 49 RBIs, 49 runs, 11 stolen bases and a 1.006 OPS in 65 games before Friday.

Brent Rooker (90.5 percent) should obviously remain in your lineup as he hit .367 with nine homers, 27 RBIs, 19 runs, four stolen bases and 1.078 OPS in his past 27 games.

For the Angels, Taylor Ward (50.9 percent) entered Friday with at least one hit in 24 of his past 28 games since Aug. 20, hitting .305 with nine homers, 15 RBIs, 21 runs, two stolen bases and a 1.021 OPS in that span.

Marlins

Since the break, the Marlins have the worst ERA allowed, and have allowed the third-most homers and most earned runs.

Their final six games will come against the Blue Jays (hello, Vlad Guerrero Jr.) and Twins, who are trying to hold onto the final AL wild-card spot.

Minnesota’s oft-injured Byron Buxton (20.8 percent rostered), who had at least one hit in four of his first five games off the injured list, should be on your radar for that series.

When he has been able to stay healthy,

September has always been his best month (.272, 32 HR, 71 RBIs, 88 runs, 12 SB, .902 OPS).

Two other hot-swinging Twins to play: Carlos Correa, who hit .385 with four RBIs and a 1.068 OPS in his first four games off the IL, and Kyle Farmer (0.6 percent), who’s hit .406 with three homers, five RBIs and a 1.223 OPS this month.

Rockies

Their final six games will come against the Cardinals and Dodgers … at Coors Field, a stadium where they own the second-worst home ERA, have allowed the third-most homers and have a league-worst .290 opponents’ average.

They also own the worst team ERA (5.40) in the game.

Players such as Los Angeles’ Tommy Edman (52.4 percent rostered) — who hit .313 with six homers, 19 RBIs, 13 runs, four stolen bases and a .924 OPS in his past 20 games before Friday — and St. Louis’ Brendan Donovan (42.8 percent) — who hit .367 with three homers, 12 RBIs, 12 runs and a 1.008 OPS in 21 games since Aug. 26 — are widely available versatile options who should be in your lineups.

White Sox

They don’t want to be remembered as the worst team ever, but their pitching staff, which owned a 4.78 ERA before Friday, won’t help.

Neither will facing the Tigers, who are in a fight for the final AL wild-card spot.

Play any and all Tigers you have, and see if Riley Greene, Matt Vierling or Parker Meadows — who has hit .321 with three homers, 14 RBIs, nine runs and a .958 OPS in his past 13 games (and .303 in the second half) — are available.

Chicago will also play the Angels, so Ward and Nolan Schanuel — who entered the weekend on a 10-game hit streak in which he hit .389 with a homer, seven RBIs, five stolen bases and a .988 OPS — are options here, too.

Nationals

Since the All-Star break, Washington has the sixth-worst team ERA, the third-highest opponents’ average and the fourth-fewest strikeouts.

Their past six games will be at home, but they will face the Royals, who are battling to hold onto the second AL wild card, and the Phillies, who entered Friday with a comfortable six-game lead over the Mets in the NL East.

Keep all your Royals in the lineup and be sure to check if any Phillies start getting some rest before the final three games of the season.

Big hits

Otto Lopez 2B/SS/OF, Marlins 

At least one hit in 14 of his first 17 games this month — batting .333 with three homers, 12 RBIs, 10 runs, three stolen bases and a .932 OPS.

Shane Baz SP, Rays 

Hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs in any of his past five starts — going 3-1 with a 2.03 ERA, .119 opponents’ average and an 11 percent swinging-strike rate.

Pavin Smith 1B/OF, D’backs 

Raised his average from .253 to .296 after hitting .375 with five homers, 16 RBIs, 11 runs and a 1.355 OPS in his first 15 games this month.

Michael Harris II OF, Braves 

In nine games before Friday, he hit .342 with six homers, 10 RBIs, 11 runs, one stolen bases and a 1.207 OPS. He hit 10 homers since Aug. 14.

Big whiffs

Anthony Volpe SS, Yankees 

Struck out 20 times in his first 58 plate appearances this month while going 9-for-56 (.161) with a .333 OPS. All of his hits were singles.

Nathan Eovaldi SP, Rangers 

Not only did he allow 11 earned runs over his past 9 ²/₃ innings (10.24 ERA), but he allowed four homers, a .391 opponents’ average and a 1.190 OPS. He allowed 13 homers and 39 runs in his past 11 starts.

Alec Burleson 1B/OF, Cardinals 

Entered Friday with 21 homers, but hadn’t gone deep since Aug. 17. In 30 games since, he hit .233 with 17 strikeouts and a .594 OPS.

Seth Brown 1B/OF, Athletics 

Had a six-game hot streak to kick off the month, but hit .121 with nine strikeouts and a .273 OPS in his next 10 games.

Check swings

• Shohei Ohtani became the inaugural member of the 50/50 club, and he did it by going 6-for-6 with three homers, 10 RBIs, four runs and two stolen bases in Thursday’s game. Though he hit just .258 and struck out 65 times in his first 56 games since the All-Star break, he had 22 homers, 51 RBIs, 48 runs, 28 stolen bases and a .956 in that span. Insane stuff.
• The Mets’ Jose Quintana went 4-0 with a 0.28 ERA, .182 opponents’ average and .453 OPS in his past five starts. He has not allowed an earned run in his first three starts this month while going 3-0 with 14 strikeouts and a .147 opponents’ average.
• Hunter Goodman entered Friday hitting .193 in 66 games this season, but he was 8-for-28 (.286) with five homers, 10 RBIs, seven runs and a 1.190 OPS in his past eight games. That included a two-homer, seven-RBI effort against the Cubs on Sept. 13. (That, of course, happened in Colorado, where the Rockies will play their final six games. Just saying.)

Learn all you need to know about MLB Betting

• Read about the Best Baseball Betting Sites
• Learn all about How to Bet on Baseball
• Get the latest World Series Odds

– Luke Raley had at least one hit in 10 of his past 13 games before Friday — batting .357 with four homers, 11 RBIs, eight runs, two stolen bases and a 1.199 OPS in that span.

– Detroit’s Riley Greene hit .290 with five homers, 15 RBIs, 10 runs and a .963 OPS in his first 16 games this month. He has gone deep seven times with 20 RBIs, 20 runs scored and a .843 OPS in his first 27 games since returning from the IL on Aug. 18.

– Before taking the mound on Saturday, Milwaukee’s Aaron Civale was 5-0 with a 2.56 ERA, 34-11 strikeout-walk rate, .218 opponents’ average and a 10 percent swinging-strike rate over his past seven starts.

Team name of the week

Nathan’s Classic