Week 8 is upon us, and things are starting to come into focus. We can say with relative certainty that the Colorado Rockies are historically bad. In last week’s Hitting Planner, I mentioned that Kyle Freeland had a solid xFIP, which made facing him seem like a difficult matchup. He promptly gave up 11 hits and nine runs (five earned) in three innings of work against the Detroit Tigers. Following Saturday’s 21-0 drubbing at the hands of the San Diego Padres, Rockies starters have now combined for a 3-25 record, 7.31 ERA, and 1.77 WHIP this season. Sure, pitching in Coors Field doesn’t help. But just because Colorado has an all-road week on deck does not mean fantasy managers need to shy away from starting all their Texas and Arizona hitters against this atrocity of a pitching staff.
What other MLB offenses stand to benefit from favorable matchups this week? I answer that with the Week 8 fantasy baseball Hitting Planner! Below you will see matchup ratings for each offense based mainly on that day’s opposing starting pitcher. I also take into consideration ballpark effects for both left and right-handed hitters. I would not let these factors keep me from sitting a stud hitter, but they can often help determine start/sit decisions for some fringe hitters on your roster. As always, the ballpark factors listed below are based on the overall park factor for each MLB stadium. Since the Rays and Athletics are on the road this week, all numbers are based on three-year rolling data.
Week 8 Schedule Notes
Week 8 is an equitable one from a volume standpoint. Four teams (Atlanta, Houston, Texas, and Washington) will play seven games this week. As noted earlier, the Rangers also benefit from facing Colorado for three games, so their hitters are poised for a solid week. The other 26 MLB teams will all play six games. The upcoming weekend features rivalry games. These games are often exciting for fans, but I would not go overboard making too much more of these contests from a matchup perspective. Â
Six teams are scheduled to face three left-handed starting pitchers. Among them are the San Francisco Giants and the Chicago White Sox. Though they do not platoon as often as the Tampa Bay Rays, hitters like Wilmer Flores and Lenyn Sosa should receive solid playing time in Week 8, perhaps at the expense of LaMonte Wade Jr. and Josh Rojas, respectively. Speaking of Tampa Bay, they are slated to face all right-handers this week. That means Jonathan Aranda should get all the at-bats he can handle. Similarly, this week, the Rays will likely start Travis Jankowski over Jose Caballero. Christopher Morel is also likely to see his playing time limited this week.
Week 8 Hitting Planner
| Team | Games | Home | Road | v. LHP | v. RHP | LHB | RHB | Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | Sat | Sun | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARI | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 98.0 | 100.5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 5.83 | |
| ATH | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 96.5 | 99.5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 4.33 | |
| ATL | 7 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 103.4 | 100.9 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 5.86 |
| BAL | 6 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 102.0 | 100.0 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 5.83 | |
| BOS | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 102.5 | 100.0 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 4.00 | |
| CHC | 6 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 96.0 | 97.0 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6.50 | |
| CHW | 6 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 100.0 | 99.5 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4.67 | |
| CIN | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 104.0 | 102.0 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5.33 | |
| CLE | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 100.5 | 99.5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 4.83 | |
| COL | 6 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 100.0 | 101.5 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5.17 | |
| DET | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 97.0 | 99.0 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 6.00 | |
| HOU | 7 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 99.9 | 99.4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3.86 |
| KC | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 101.0 | 101.5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5.17 | |
| LAA | 6 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 97.0 | 100.5 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4.67 | |
| LAD | 6 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 98.0 | 102.0 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 6.00 | |
| MIA | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 100.5 | 98.5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4.67 | |
| MIL | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 96.5 | 97.0 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4.83 | |
| MIN | 6 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 99.0 | 98.5 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5.50 | |
| NYM | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 97.5 | 100.0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 4.17 | |
| NYY | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 96.5 | 95.0 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 5.17 | |
| PHI | 6 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 104.0 | 98.0 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 4.67 | |
| PIT | 6 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 99.5 | 98.5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4.00 | |
| SD | 6 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 96.0 | 99.0 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 5.83 | |
| SEA | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 94.5 | 94.0 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4.33 | |
| SF | 6 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 95.0 | 97.0 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5.17 | |
| STL | 6 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 102.5 | 100.5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4.00 | |
| TB | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 101.0 | 100.0 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 5.17 | |
| TEX | 7 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 99.0 | 99.0 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5.57 |
| TOR | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 97.0 | 100.0 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4.67 | |
| WAS | 7 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 100.9 | 100.0 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 5.57 |
