Fantasy Baseball Forecaster for Week 1: March 28-31
71dTristan H. co*ckcroft
Sources: Maddison, Jones cut from England squad
3hJames Olley
Euro 2024: All the latest squad lists for the finals in Germany
18mESPN
Sources: PSG owe Mbappé bonus, 2 months' pay
19hJulien Laurens
Sources: Lukaku open to Saudi Pro League move
20mJames Olley
Djokovic: surgery 'went well'; no set return date
1hTom Hamilton
Security steps in between man, Sky's Carter
8hAlexa Philippou
Poirier broke nose, rib, tore ACL vs. Makhachev
14hAndreas Hale
Sources: BVB keen on permanent Maatsen deal
56mJames Olley
Sources: Wolves' vote to scrap VAR set to fail
22hDale Johnson
Porzingis: 'No ill will' toward Mavericks, Doncic
16hTim MacMahon
Kyrie: Kind words from LeBron 'appreciated'
11hDave McMenamin
LIVE Transfer Talk: Man Utd swoop on Madrid target Yoro with €60m bid
1mESPN
Ian Darke: One player that every Premier League club should sign this summer
2hIan Darke
Explaining Man City's lawsuit against the Premier League
2hGab Marcotti
How a $750,000 tanking fine helped the Mavericks reach the NBA Finals
2dTim MacMahon
Who are the top young goalkeepers across Europe?
2hTor-Kristian Karlsen
The FC 100 for 2024: Mbappé, Ronaldo among best men's soccer players
2dESPN
How Saudi's vision for boxing was on display during Fury-Usyk
11hMike Coppinger
Iga Swiatek will face a different Coco Gauff on Thursday
23hTom Hamilton
With Djokovic out, who will win the French Open title?
2dTom Hamilton
Mark Wood seeks fast improvement ahead of crucial Australia clash
14hMelinda Farrell
'Unlapped': How to listen to or watch ESPN's F1 show, episode archive and more
21hESPN
Everything you need to know about the Canadian Grand Prix
22hESPN
NFL minicamp updates: Bears' Caleb Williams up and down; Colts' Mitchell impresses
1dESPN staff
Glove tossing, viral tweets and a whole lot of losing: A look at Mets' month of misery as London Series looms
1dJorge Castillo
Tristan H. co*ckcroft
Mar 27, 2024, 09:04 PM
Happy Opening Day!
The 2024 Major League Baseball season begins -- well, at least games played domestically do -- on Thursday, with a four-day scoring period in ESPN fantasy baseball leagues that concludes Easter Sunday. This wraps the extended "Week 1" that began with the two games between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres in Seoul, South Korea, last Wednesday and Thursday.
For managers in leagues with daily transactions, as is ESPN's standard, lineups will lock at the scheduled start time of each player's game on a given day. For those drafting from this point forward, players will lock into the lineup spots in which you selected them, with statistics from those March 20-21 games being applied retroactively. You may still start, sit, IL, add and/or drop Dodgers and Padres, but those moves will take effect only for upcoming games rather than retroactively.
For managers in leagues with weekly transactions, Dodgers and Padres players are locked into the lineup spot in which you drafted them for drafts that occurred after the games in South Korea, through this coming Sunday. You may still start, sit, IL, add and/or drop any player from the other 28 teams until the scheduled start of their first game of the week on Thursday.
Remember that the season's opening weeks present some of the greatest weather-related concerns, which is why seven host cities -- Arlington (Texas), Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati, Kansas City, New York and Philadelphia -- have scheduled Friday off days, as a safety net in the event of Thursday postponements; games in New York and Philadelphia have already been pushed back from Thursday to Friday. Arlington, however, is the only one of those that calls a weather-controlled environment -- Globe Life Field has a retractable roof -- its home.
Among the eight other host cities during the opening weekend are five more teams that call weather-controlled environments their home -- Houston, Miami, Phoenix (Arizona), Seattle, Tampa Bay -- with an additional three in California where the weather presents minimal risk. All eight of these teams are scheduled for four games with a high probability that all will be played, so if you're looking for volume-driven advantages, look to these eight cities for the opening weekend.
A shortened scoring period also makes it impossible for teams' entire rotations to get a starting assignment. Fortunately, the most prominent starters are typically aligned at the front, but here are some notable names who are not currently projected to work during the opening weekend, either because of scheduling or health reasons: Andrew Abbott, Dane Dunning, Reid Detmers, Kevin Gausman, MacKenzie Gore, Shota Imanaga, Michael King, Dean Kremer, Reynaldo Lopez, Charlie Morton, Ryan Pepiot, Gavin Stone, Louie Varland, Garrett Whitlock, Bryan Woo.
If you play in an offsite league that lumps both the opening weekend and the April 1-7, seven-day week that follows into a single scoring period, keep in mind that no team plays as many as 11 times in those 11 days. Any Opening Day starter would need to work on exactly four days' rest, meaning a team would have to skip another pitcher, to make three starts during that extended period.
No starter is projected to make three starts, but the fantasy-relevant starters with the greatest chance of doing so are Jose Berrios (@TB, @HOU and possibly @NYY), Shane Bieber (@OAK, @SEA and possibly @MIN), Nestor Cortes (@HOU, @ARI and possibly TOR), Zac Gallen (COL, NYY and possibly @ATL), Framber Valdez (NYY, TOR and possibly @TEX) and Logan Webb (@SD, @LAD and possibly SD). Again, every one of these starters has a slim chance of drawing that third assignment.
Among two-start values for those playing March 28-April 7 scoring periods:
Tanner Bibee (90.2% rostered in ESPN leagues): @OAK, @MIN; 24.6 projected fantasy points
Triston McKenzie (38.8%): @OAK, @SEA; 24.2 FPTS
Patrick Sandoval (3.3%): @BAL, @MIA; 23.1 FPTS
Nestor Cortes (35.6%): @HOU, @ARI; 22.6 FPTS
DL Hall (7.3%): @NYM, SEA; 21.9 FPTS
All five pitchers rank among the top 40 in projected fantasy points for those 11 days.
The best-projected offenses in terms of raw matchups for the 11-day period spanning March 28-April 7 are the Pittsburgh Pirates (10 grade; @MIA-4, @WSH-3, BAL-3), Tampa Bay Rays (10 grade; TOR-4, TEX-3, @COL-3), Kansas City Royals (9 grade; MIN-3, @BAL-3, CWS-4) and Colorado Rockies (8 grade; @ARI-4, @CHC-3, TB-3).
The worst-projected offenses for those 11 days are the New York Mets (1 grade; MIL-3, DET-3, @CIN-3), San Francisco Giants (1 grade; @SD-4, @LAD-3, SD-3), Minnesota Twins (3 grade; @KC-3, @MIL-2, CLE-3) and Oakland Athletics (3 grade; CLE-4, BOS-3, @DET-3).
The Milwaukee Brewers and Twins are the only teams scheduled to play as few as eight times during the season's first 11 days, whereas 18 teams are slated for 10 games.
Projected starting pitchers for the next 10 days
Hitter matchup ratings for the next 10 days