Fantasy Baseball: Week 18 Starting Pitching Streaming Options

Week 18 of the Fantasy Baseball season begins Monday August 10^th, 2015. Please be sure to check your individual league rules for Trade Deadline information, starting pitching limits and of course check your waiver wire for these and other options for you to employ this week.

Week 18 Bullpen Report

Boston Red Sox closer Koji Uehara was hit on the wrist by Ian Kinsler line drive on Friday night. Uehara finished the game but was in obvious pain. If for whatever reason is unable to pitch in the short term look for the Red Sox to go to Junichi Tazawa to close up games.

Hector Rondon is now closing games for the Chicago Cubs replacing Jason Motte who replaced Rondon. It's been a merry go round in Chicago this season. Over the past two weeks Rondon has 6 saves, 1 hold, an ERA of 1.17 and 1.04 WHIP and most importantly zero blown saves. Rondon is available in roughly 20 percent of all Major Fantasy Baseball leagues.

Week 18 Two Start Pitchers

The following are the probable starting pitchers as of this publication. Please remember to check the schedule daily for any changes to the schedule.

Madison Bumgarner (Tue-Sun), Zack Greinke (Tue-Sun), Johnny Cueto (Mon-Sat), Matt Harvey (Tue-Sun), Chris Sale (Mon-Sat), Carlos Carrasco (Tue-Sun), Aaran Harang (Mon-Sun), Gio Gonzalez (Mon-Sat), Carlos Martinez (Tue-Sun), Yordano Ventura (Tue-Sun), Dan Haren (Tue-Sun), Drew Hutchison (Tue-Sun), Matt Shoemaker (Mon-Sat), J.A. Happ (Tue-Sun), Rubby De La Rosa (Mon-Sun), Miguel Gonzalez (Mon-Sun), Hector Santiago (Tue-Sun), Yovani Gallardo (Tue-Sun), Jonathon Niese (Mon-Sat), Ian Kennedy (Mon-Sun), Brett Anderson (Mon-Sat), Michael Lorenzen (Tue-Sun), Erasmo Ramirez (Tue-Sun), Kendall Graveman (Tue-Sun), Jon Gray (Mon-Sat), Matt Boyd (Mon-Sat), Luis Severino (Tue-Sun), David Holmberg (Mon-Sat), Vidal Nuno (Mon-Sun), Chris Rusin (Tue-Sun), Joe Ross (Tue-Sun), Tyler Duffy (Tue-Sun) and Taylor Jungmann (Tue-Sun).

Week 18 Starting Pitching Options

The following are the probable starting pitchers as of this publication. Please remember to check the schedule daily for any changes to the schedule.

Brett Anderson and the Los Angeles Dodgers play host to the Washington Nationals in a Monday night contest. Over his last 4 starts Anderson is 1-1 with a 2.78 ERA on 12 strikeouts, 5 walks and 3 bombs over 22 innings pitched. Good 1.15 WHIP and .243 BABIP with a average 4.42 FIP and much better 3.83 xFIP. Since the All Star break the Nationals have been struggling slashing a .221/.292/.359/.651 line with a 23 percent strikeout rate, .139 ISO, .267 BABIP, .287 wOBA and a wRC+ of 80. Anderson should be a good option in all scoring categories on Monday.

Ian Kennedy and the San Diego Padres host the Cincinnati Reds in a Monday evening contest. Kennedy is 2-1 over his last 4 starts with a 3.12 ERA on 25 strikeouts, 4 walks and 4 bombs in 26 innings pitched. Above average 1.08 WHIP and solid .278 BABIP with a good 3.75 FIP and even better 3.33 xFIP. Since the All Star break the Reds have slashed a .265/.334/.399/.733 line with a 19 percent strikeout rate, .134 ISO, .314 BABIP, wOBA of .321 and a wRC+ of 101. I'm thinking strikeouts in this matchup and everything else is just gravyon Monday night.

Joe Ross and the Washington Nationals have a Tuesday night road game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Over his past 4 starts Ross is 1-2 with a 2.92 ERA with 24 strikeouts, 2 walks and 4 bombs in 24.2 innings pitched. Excellent 0.81 WHIP and .219 BABIP and good 3.75 FIP and even better 2.79 xFIP. Since the All Star break the Dodgers are slashing a .272/.333/.422/.755 line with a 21 percent strikeout rate, .150 ISO, .323 BABIP, .330 wOBA and wRC+ of 113. I'm thinking strikeouts in this one.

Wei-Yin Chen and the Baltimore Orioles are in Seattle for a Tuesday night game against the Mariners. Over his past 4 starts Chen is 1-1 with a 6.30 ERA with 16 strikeouts, 5 walks and 5 bombs over 20 innings pitched. High 1.75 WHIP and .375 BABIP with a 5.65 FIP and better 4.45 xFIP. Since the All Star break the Mariners have slashed a .269/.332/.456/.788 line with a 19 percent strikeout rate, .187 ISO, .304 BABIP, wOBA of .340 amd wRC+ of 121. Chen has been solid this season and the high stats over the last 4 games are from just one game against the Tigers. He should be good on Tuesday night.

Aaron Brooks and the Oakland Athletics are in Toronto for a Wednesday evening game against the Blue Jays. Brooks is 1-0 over his last 2 starts with a 1.26 ERA 12 striekouts, 1 walk and 1 bomb over 14.1 innings pitched. Terrific 0.70 WHIP and .205 BABIP and solid 2.54 FIP and 3.41 xFIP. The Blue Jays since the All Star break are slashing a .265/.342/.474/.816 line with a 15 percent strikeout rate, .209 ISO, .275 BABIP, wOBA of .352 and wRC+ of 124. It is a daunting task in front of Brooks but stranger things have happened.

Kyle Gibson and the Minnesota Twins host the Texas Rangers in a Wednesday night contest. Over his past 4 starts Gibson is 0-3 with a 8.49 ERA on 18 strikeouts, 7 walks and 3 bombs in 22 innings pitched. High 1.73 WHIP and .373 BABIP with an average 4.46 FIP and better 4.17 xFIP. He'll face a Rangers team that since the All Star break has slashed a .287/.346/.450/.796 line with a 19 percent strikeout rate, .163 ISO, .338 BABIP, .345 wOBA and wRC+ of 115. The Twins should be able to hammer the Rangers Nick Martinez and if Gibson can get back to where he was three weeks ago Gibson should get a win.

R.A. Dickey has a Thursday afternoon home start against the visiting Oakland Athletics. Over his last 4 starts Dickey has posted a perfect 3-0 record with an ERA of 0.89 on 19 strikeouts, 6 walks and one bomb over 30.1 innings pitched. Fantastic 0.86 WHIP and .211 BABIP with a 2.96 FIP and avererage 4.40 xFIP. He'll face an Atletics team that since the All Star break has slashed a .222/.277/.342/.619 line that strikes out 17 percent of the time with a .115 ISO, .246 BABIP, wOBA of .264 and wRC+ of 67. Dickey is currently available in 50 percent of all Major Fantasy Baseball leagues.

On this week's Phil's Fantasy Sports Fake Teams writer Tim Finnegan joins me to discuss tips and strategies to help you win more money at sites like Fanduel. Draft Kings Playbook writer Jason Walker and I discuss sleepers at the QB position, Rotowire NHL expert Brian Rutherford joins me to discuss the top goaltenders in this seasons Fantasy Hockey draft and Utah Jazz expert Amar joins me to discuss the Fantasy Basketball value of Trey Burke, Alec Burks, Rudy Gobert, Derek Favors, Gordon Hayward and Dante Exum. You can download the show from my site or listen on the player provided below.

Good luck this week Fantasy Baseball owner!