Championships are won by making the right little decisions through the season and micromanaging your lineup well can be the difference maker. Each week, I’ll be taking a look at five hitting matchups you should take advantage of this week, and five hitting matchups you should avoid this week. Here are the batters you should start and avoid for Week 12 (6/19 – 6/25) of the fantasy baseball season.
Notes: All pitching matchups mentioned here are based off of projections as of this writing. It is entirely possible that the actual matchups could change either because of injury, weather, or anything else. Keep in mind, this article is geared toward middle-of-the-road players, meaning you should be starting top of the line bats regardless of the matchup. Always start your studs.
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Cleveland Indians hitters - You need to start basically all of your Indians hitters this week. They get seven games this week, starting off with a four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles in Camden Yards. As an Orioles fan, it's painful to talk about this, but the Orioles pitching has been absolutely pitiful. Through June 15, their rotation has an 8.32 ERA. In fact, as of this writing, the team has given up 10 or more runs in four out of the last seven games. Yea, it's been that bad. The Indians will get to see basically the only worthwhile starter on the O's, Dylan Bundy, so that could be somewhat challenging, but otherwise it's gonna be a cakewalk. They then get to go back home to play the Minnesota Twins, luckily missing Jose Berrios in the rotation, though Ervin Santana could prove somewhat challenging, but the Twins' bullpen has a 6.20 ERA so far in June, so there's that. You were obviously already starting your studs, but I'm saying start everyone. Start Yan Gomes, start Lonnie Chisenhall (when he's platooned in), start Bradley Zimmer and Austin Jackson as they come in and out of the lineup. Start them all.
