Yu Darvish: 2022 Fantasy Baseball Bust?

Once among the most feared strikeout pitchers in the game, the cracks have finally started to show on Darvish, who is coming off his worst full season in the majors. He put up an uncharacteristic 4.22 ERA, served up 1.52 HR/9 despite pitching for San Diego, and his 29.2% strikeout rate was his lowest since […]

Failure to Launch: Decreasing Launch Angles and Home Runs for Fantasy Baseball

Once the toast of advanced stats in the baseball universe, average launch angle’s prominence as a performance predictor has taken a step back to other power-focused metrics such as barrel rate and max exit velocity. Perhaps this is because the “launch angle revolution” from a few years ago turned out to be more of a […]

Prime-Age Outfielders Set to Break Out for Fantasy Baseball

In modern baseball, we expect players to perform the instant they hit the majors, or shortly afterward. If the player hasn't broken out by age 25, we assume he will never break out. That wasn't always the case, however, as we used to view a player's mid-to-late-20s as the crucial time for a step forward. […]

Infielder Busts Who'll Keep Junking it Up - Fantasy Baseball Players To Avoid?

When it comes to busts, there are two types of fantasy managers. The type who carries the wounds of drafting the bust with them always and never picks the player again, and the type who sees once-reliable players underperform and gleefully scrutinize the player's numbers, hoping to find value in players discarded. The latter approach […]

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 26

Welcome to Are You For Real?, a weekly column where we look at pitchers who turned in surprisingly good starts and try to determine whether they are the real deal. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, as we go to battle one more time in search of fantasy titles. This week we're […]

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 25

Welcome to Are You For Real?, a weekly column where we look at pitchers who turned in surprisingly good starts and try to determine whether they are the real deal. We're already on Week 25, meaning it's the fantasy playoffs in head-to-head leagues, or crunch-time in Roto leagues. Every start, every win, and every strikeout […]

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 24

Welcome to Are You For Real?, a weekly column where we look at pitchers who turned in surprisingly good starts and try to determine whether they are the real deal. This week we're looking at a trio of pitchers who have been around the block for a while, but have come alive recently with some […]

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 23

Welcome to Are You For Real?, a weekly column where we look at pitchers who turned in surprisingly good starts and try to determine whether they are the real deal. This week we're looking at some of the young arms that non-contending teams are using to fill out their rotation for the end of the […]

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 22

Welcome to Are You For Real?, a weekly column where we look at pitchers who turned in surprisingly good starts and try to determine whether they are the real deal. The youth went wild this week, as we're taking a look at three starting pitchers all under the age of 27 who turned in excellent […]

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 21

Welcome to Are You For Real?, a weekly column where we look at pitchers who turned in surprisingly good starts and try to determine whether they are the real deal. It's late August, which means all fantasy sports eyes are on one thing: the fantasy baseball playoffs! We're down the contenders in most leagues, which […]

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 20

Welcome to Are You For Real?, a weekly column where we look at pitchers who turned in surprisingly good starts and try to determine whether they are the real deal. It was apparently the week of the lefty and the week of the Diamondback, as we're breaking down three southpaws in this piece, including two […]

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 19

Welcome to Are You For Real?, a weekly column where we look at pitchers who turned in surprisingly good starts and try to determine whether they are the real deal. Things are starting to heat up in the baseball universe, with fewer than two months left in the regular season. With many contenders looking to […]

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 18

Welcome to Are You For Real?, a weekly column where we look at pitchers who turned in surprisingly good starts and try to determine whether they are the real deal. With the trade deadline behind us we're entering the home stretch in fantasy baseball. The leagues are shrinking down to the contenders, and we need […]

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 17

Welcome to Are You For Real?, a weekly column where we look at pitchers who turned in surprisingly good starts and try to determine whether they are the real deal. The trade deadline approaches, both in real baseball and in many fantasy leagues. Sometimes rather than pulling off that blockbuster deal, the difference maker we […]

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 16

Welcome to Are You For Real?, a weekly column where we look at pitchers who turned in surprisingly good starts and try to determine whether they are the real deal. The All-Star break is behind us, and chances are you know whether your team is a contender at this point. Now comes the time to […]

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 15

Welcome to Are You For Real?, a weekly column where we look at pitchers who turned in surprisingly good starts and try to determine whether they are the real deal. With all eyes glued to Colorado, we can catch our opponents napping during the All-Star break and hopefully make some sneaky adds while no one […]

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 14

Welcome to Are You For Real?, a weekly column where we look at pitchers who turned in surprisingly good starts and try to determine whether they are the real deal. As we trudge towards the All-Star break the waiver wire feels thinner by the week, and we aren't flush with as many exciting, fresh young […]

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 13

Welcome to Are You For Real?, a weekly column where we look at pitchers who turned in surprisingly good starts and try to determine whether they are the real deal. This week we're looking at a veteran who's trying to right the ship after early season struggles, and two prospects who turned in the first […]

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 12

Welcome to Are You For Real?, a weekly column where we look at pitchers who turned in surprisingly good starts and try to determine whether they are the real deal. This week we're looking at two pitchers from our nation's capital, and one a little farther south down in the sunshine state. We're breaking down […]

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 11

Welcome to Are You For Real?, a weekly column where we look at pitchers who turned in surprisingly good starts and try to determine whether they are the real deal. This week we're spending some time in the NL East, as we saw three strong starts from pitchers on three different NL East teams worthy […]

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 10

Welcome to "Are You For Real?", a weekly column where we look at pitchers who turned in surprisingly good starts and try to determine whether they are the real deal. The youngsters keep on pitching well, and this week we're looking at a trio of 24-year-olds who came up big in their outings over the […]

Are You For Real? Surprising Pitcher Starts from Week 9

It was a week of young guns in the fantasy baseball world as we saw excellent outings from tons of young, exciting pitchers around the league. Alek Manoah has received his fair share of coverage, and deservedly so, but we're going to take things in another direction in this piece and look at some under-the-radar […]

Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts from Week 8

As we approach Memorial Day, season-long numbers are starting to feel a lot more real. That makes it even more important to analyze surprising starts from pitchers who may not have been caught up in the whirlwind of April breakouts. This week we're taking a trip across the junior circuit, looking at a pitcher from […]

Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts from Week 7

It was another exciting week in major league baseball, which brings an overabundance of surprising starts around the league. This week we're looking at a pair of veterans who were considered top-30 starting pitchers in their heyday, but injuries have resulted in quite a fall from grace. We're also looking at an emerging left-hander who's […]

Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts from Week 6

April hot streaks are either fading or becoming more real, so this week we're looking at pitchers who've had more than one surprising start and a surprising first six weeks of the season. This week's trio capped off their hot starts with some of the best outings of their season, if not their career, this […]

Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts from Week 5

Welcome to the 2021 edition of "Are You For Real?" This is a weekly column where we dissect surprisingly good starts from under-rostered and unheralded hurlers to try and determine whether they can maintain their performance or if it was just a flash in the pan. With April behind us, the numbers are beginning to […]

Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts from Week 4

Welcome to the 2021 edition of "Are You For Real?" This is a weekly column where we dissect surprisingly good starts from under-rostered and unheralded hurlers to try and determine whether they can maintain their performance, or if it was just a flash in the pan. As April comes to a close, the days of […]

Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts from Week 3

Welcome to the 2021 edition of "Are You For Real?" This is a weekly column where we dissect surprisingly good starts from under-rostered and unheralded hurlers to try and determine whether they can maintain their performance, or if it was just a flash in the pan. Week 3 was another good one in the baseball […]

Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts from Week 2

Welcome to the 2021 edition of "Are You For Real?" This is a weekly column where we dissect surprisingly good starts from under-rostered and unheralded hurlers to try and determine whether they can maintain their performance, or if it was just a flash in the pan. Week 2 brought even more surprising starts, and with […]

Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts from Week 1

Welcome to the 2021 edition of "Are You For Real?" This is a weekly column where we dissect surprisingly good starts from under-rostered and unheralded hurlers to try and determine whether they can maintain their performance, or if it was just a flash in the pan. Major league baseball is back and in full swing […]