What’s up, guys?

If you’re not familiar with this series, each week I’ll look at some batting matchups you should take advantage of and some batting matchups you should avoid based on who the batters are likely to face on the mound. I’ll also focus on catchers to stream each week, as we all know catcher can be a particularly tricky position in fantasy.

Here’s one more thing I’d like to add in the introduction to this and subsequent articles: If you’re in the playoffs right now, streaming on top hitters for a week can be a very viable strategy, and you shouldn’t be afraid to throw out your struggling middle infielders to make the most of a winning streak. Of course, you shouldn’t drop your stars, but you’re fighting for your life in the playoffs, and holding onto a player who has had a .150 batting average over the last three weeks and is one of your borderline starters most of the time isn’t going to help you win.

So let’s take a look at the hitters to use and avoid in Week 25 (9/16-9/22) of the fantasy baseball season.

Notes: All pitching matchups mentioned here are based on projections at the time of publication of this post. It’s entirely possible that the actual matchups will change for a number of reasons. Remember, this article is aimed at mediocre players, which means that no matter the matchup, you should start with the best hitters. Always start with your top hitters.

START

Arizona Diamondbacks hitters – The D’Backs have a full seven-game week this week, starting with three games against the Rockies, who have the worst team FIP in all of baseball, at Coors Field. You couldn’t ask for a more hitter-friendly series.

After that, the D’Backs head to Milwaukee for a three-game series against the Brewers, a team that currently has the eighth-worst FIP ​​in the league. There they’ll see Freddy Peralta, Tobias Myers, DL Hall and Aaron Civale, and Peralta is really the only one I’m even a little bit worried about.

Pavin Smith has hit .286/.385/.905 over the past two weeks and is definitely worth a shot this week (and he’s pretty common too). The same goes for Randal Grichuk, who hit .385/.429/.923 over the same time frame.

CATCHER TO STREAM: If you’re in a big league and need help at the catcher position, Jose Herrera could help you out (or at least not actively hurt your team, like some catchers only available in big leagues probably would). Herrera won’t give you much in the way of power, but he has a .278/.263/.333 line over the past two weeks and is slated for some good matchups this week. You could do worse.

Los Angeles Dodgers batsmen – The Dodgers also have seven games to play this week. They start Monday with a game against Atlanta, which concludes a four-game series from the weekend. The game will be against Max Fried, and in daily leagues, that’s probably one to avoid.

But after that, it should all be clear. The Dodgers follow this game with a three-game series against the Marlins, who currently have the fifth-worst FIP ​​in baseball. In that series, they’ll see Darren McCaughan, Edward Cabrera, and Valente Bellozo, and Cabrera is honestly the only one who gives me even the slightest concern.

The Dodgers will then play three games against the Rockies. Unfortunately, those games won’t be at Coors, but any opportunity to pit your hitters against the worst pitchers in baseball is still worth taking.

Tommy Edman is definitely worth starting this week, as he’s hit .326/.356/.628 over the past two weeks. And if you just need batting average, or OBP, Miguel Rojas has a slash line of .290/.371/.387 over the past two weeks.

Chicago Cubs batsmen – Also for the Cubs, this week is a seven-game week, starting with three games against the A’s, who have the 12th-worst FIP ​​in baseball. In this series, they’ll face Joey Estes, Mitch Spence and Brady Basso, none of whom scare me (I know Basso looked good, but he’s not someone I’m actively avoiding yet).

After that, the Cubs have four games against the Nationals where they’ll see Patrick Corbin, Trevor Williams, MacKenzie Gore and Jake Irvin. I know Corbin had a good stretch where he looked pretty good, but he also allowed seven runs to the Pirates on Sunday, so I’m not suddenly avoiding him, and I’m not worried about the other pitchers they’ll be facing, either.

Michael Busch is worth a look this week as he has a respectable .257/.333/.486 line over the last two weeks that I expect to improve this week. The same goes for Dansby Swanson, who is hitting .311/.367/.511 over the last two weeks.

Atlanta’s batsmen – Atlanta has seven games this week, starting with the one game against the Dodgers I mentioned earlier that concludes a weekend series. In that game they’ll see Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and normally that would be someone to avoid, but it seems like the Dodgers are slowly building Yamamoto’s pitching numbers up with each game to get him ready for the playoffs, which means he might not pitch as much in this game, so it might be OK.

Atlanta then plays a three-game series against the Reds, who currently have the ninth-worst team FIP in baseball, and then three games against the Marlins, who, as I mentioned, have the fifth-worst team FIP in the league.

Here are the opponents Atlanta will face after their one game against the Dodgers: Brandon Williamson, Jakob Junis, Julian Aguiar, Adam Oller and Darren McCaughan (it’s still unclear who will start for the Marlins between Oller and McCaughan, as Miami has been playing with a four-man rotation lately). None of them worry me at all.

Jared Kelenic could be of value if you need some power this week, as he has had a .316 ISO over the past two weeks, the same goes for Jorge Soler, who had a .176 ISO over the same time period (and an OBP of .342, which could be helpful in OBP leagues).

AVOID

Cincinnati Reds batsmen – The Reds have six games this week and they face some pretty tough opponents.

They start the week with three games against Atlanta, who currently have the best team FIP in all of baseball. In this series, they’ll see Ian Anderson, Spencer Schwellenbach and Chris Sale, and while Anderson doesn’t worry me (so feel free to put your Reds hitters against him in daily leagues), Schwellenbach and Sale do.

The Reds then have three games against the Pirates, where they will face Mitch Keller, Paul Skenes and Jared Jones, all three of whom could prove to be pretty tough opponents, making this a week to avoid for the Reds’ hitters.

Baltimore Orioles batters – The Orioles have six games this week, starting with three against the Giants, who currently have the eighth-best FIP ​​in baseball. In this series, they face Blake Snell, Hayden Birdsong and Logan Webb. Birdsong doesn’t worry me too much (though he certainly had his moments), but Snell and Webb do.

After that, the O’s have three games against the Tigers, who currently have the second-best team FIP in the league and nearly pitched a perfect game against the Orioles on Friday. The Orioles are missing Tarik Skubal in this series, but considering how well the Tigers pitched as a team and how much they absolutely dominated the Orioles on Friday, it’s likely going to be a tough series and a tough week for the O’s offense, which has been pretty weak lately.

Kansas City Royals batsmen – The Royals basically have the opposite schedule as the Orioles, and if the Orioles are to be avoided this week, that means the Royals are, too.

They begin their week with three games against the Tigers, who, as I mentioned, have the second-best team FIP in baseball. In this series, the Royals will have the pleasure of facing Tarik Skubal, which is always tough on your hitters.

After that, the Royals have three games against the Giants, who, as I said in the Orioles post, have the eighth-best team FIP in the league. In that series, they’ll see Mason Black, Landen Roupp, and Blake Snell. I’m not worried about Black, but Snell is obviously a problem, and Roupp has actually looked pretty good when he’s been on the field.

All in all, it’s going to be a tough week for the Royals batsmen and I don’t think they can make much of it.

Texas Rangers batsmen – The Rangers have six games this week, starting with three games against the Blue Jays, where they’ll see Chris Bassitt, Bowden Francis and Kevin Gausman. I’m not worried about Bassitt, but Francis has looked great lately (he’s thrown almost two no-hitters) and Gausman has looked really solid lately, allowing more than two earned runs only once in his last seven starts (and that was three runs against Atlanta, so not even that bad a game).

After that, the Rangers have three games against the Mariners, who have the third-best FIP ​​in baseball, where they face Logan Gilbert, George Kirby and Bryan Woo, all of whom I’m concerned about, making this a difficult opening week for the Rangers hitters.