AccuScore
| Playoff Push |
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There is a less than a month to go in the baseball season which means the stretch drive for real-life and your fantasy teams plus the arrival of head-to-head playoffs. It’s time to do whatever it takes to win.
 Congratulations to those of you that haven’t completely shifted to fantasy football. That means you’re still in contention in your fantasy baseball league. Or you’re just a baseball nut like me. Either way, it’s time to prepare for your stretch run or head-to-head playoff match-ups. • Learn your league’s tiebreaking rules in H2H leagues. Which category is the tiebreaker? You can steal a win (and thus a championship) by just one counting stat or perhaps a tenth of a point in ERA. Adjust lineups accordingly • This is a no-brainer but check scores and make lineup moves daily if you can. Focus on categories that you can make up ground in like strikeouts, steals, or saves. It can be done. I needed four saves on Sunday last week to tie the category and got it done. It’s all possible. • This is no time for player loyalty. If you’re not in a keeper league there is no sense in holding onto a promising underperforming player. Have Carlos Guillen sitting for the past week, and need a home run or RBI or two? Drop him and pick up somebody else. Same with Melvin Mora or even Milton Bradley possibly. Players that you can’t count on to be in the lineup everyday do you know good. That also goes for veterans who are healthy, but are losing playing time on non-contending teams to younger players. • Have some owners that aren’t paying attention to their teams? Perhaps if they got a save or two it would benefit you? Maybe give them a helpful nudge to activate players or bench guys on the DL. That’s not collusion, that’s good fantasy management. • Don’t leave stats on the field meaning if you have a innings limit or a cap on starts and you need counting stats, use them. Stream pitchers. Drop useless bench hitters for pitchers. Every stat counts. Of course, if you’re competing in ERA and WHIP as well you have to carefully weigh if the ground you can make up in the counting stats is more than the possible loss in the ratios. If you’re not competing in the ratios anyways, go ahead and pick up pitchers with impunity, just pick match-ups against poor offenses. • September call-ups to consider for those in dynasty and keeper leagues: David Price (TB SP), Mat Gamel (MIL 3B), Acides Escobar (MIL SS), Dexter Fowler (COL OF), Kila Ka’aihue (KC 1B), James McDonald (LAD SP), Max Scherzer (ARI SP), Travis Snider (TOR OF) |
