Forty-four pitchers are throwing twice this week (Monday, April 27th - Sunday, May 3rd). All the games are night games on Monday, so no need to rush. Get your lineups set by 7:00 PM ET for the St. Louis at Atlanta game.
Must Start Dan Haren, Diamondbacks - Tuesday vs CHC (C. Zambrano) and Sunday at MLW (D. Bush) Chad Billingsley, Dodgers - Tuesday at SF (B. Zito) and Sunday vs SD (J. Geer) James Shields, Rays - Tuesday at MIN (F. Liriano) and Sunday vs BOS (B. Penny) Gil Meche, Royals - Tuesday vs TOR (S. Richmond) and Sunday at MIN (S. Baker) Kyle Lohse, Cardinals - Tuesday at ATL (J. Reyes) and Sunday at WAS (J. Lannan) Ted Lilly, Cubs - Monday at ARZ (Y. Petit) and Saturday vs FLA (A. Sanchez)
It's one of the finest days in professional sports. Free agents have been signed. Rookies have busted their humps to make the big club. And now we get to see where the chips will fall.
Now that just about every team has one game in the books, let's look back and talk about some fantasy implications that can be drawn from Opening Day. This first day of baseball offers us only a minute sample size to read from. But there are story lines already developing.
It's only one game but... Did you see what youngsters Jordan Schafer and Emilio Bonifacio did? Schafer hit a home run in his first Major League at-bat (the 99th player in history to do so). He was 2-3 on the night as his Braves team sent a message to the World Champion Phillies that the NL-East wasn't going to be a cake walk. Bonifacio also hit a home run in his first game of the season. His was an inside-the-park job as this kid has speed to burn. Bonifacio was 4-5 with three stolen bases as he hushed the critics that said he was too immature to handle the leadoff role in Florida.
As you set your fantasy lineups for week one remember that there are 43 starting pitchers this week who will start twice. I've broken these 43 pitchers into three categories. There are 19 "must start" pitchers, nine solid options, and 15 risky hurlers throwing twice.
For the record, since there is only one game tonight featuring the Braves and the Phillies, and it's a Sunday night game, you'll find that in most weekly leagues Derek Lowe and Brett Myers (tonight's starters) will only have one start in week one, even though they'll be starting twice in their teams first seven games.
Tim Lincecum looks to have a cake walk first week as he faces Milwaukee and San Diego. While Paul Maholm, Ian Snell, John Lannan and Scott Olsen have some of the toughest two-start schedules as they face tough teams in St. Louis, Cincinnati, Atlanta and Florida.
From now until the regular season begins, Fantasy Flings is where you'll find interesting story lines about your favorite teams from Spring Training. If there is a position battle, a nagging injury, a comeback story or a youngster making a surge for the "big club" we'll let you know the fantasy implications.
Boston Red Sox The Red Sox rotation is still in flux. The four givens are Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jon Lester and Tim Wakefield. The race for the fifth spot has pretty much been narrowed down to two; Brad Penny and Justin Masterson. Most feel the job will be Penny's, but Masterson is still being kept on a starter's schedule until Penny comes out and proves that he can pitch well enough to hold the spot down. Penny pitches today, and Masterson goes in a minor league game on Thursday. Both starts are crucial to these two pitchers and whoever wins this job will see his fantasy value rise.
As our old adage goes, you can't win your fantasy baseball league in the early rounds, but you can definitely lose it by reaching for the overrated players on the board. This isn't to say the guys on this list are bad players -- far from it, in fact -- but that they are likely going to be drafted far too high in fantasy leagues. Whether it's due to unreasonable expectations, too much name recognition, or a fluky 2008 season, here are five guys we recommend you avoid on draft day.
Free agency, it's the nature of the game in the 21st century. No longer are players locked down to one major league franchise (study your baseball history about getting rid of the reserve clause), and it's often the case that players no longer choose to stay with one franchise due to fan and city loyalty (Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio). Today's players are guided by a simple, yet fiscally sound mantra: "show me the money!" Somewhere Jerry Maguire is smiling.
The offseason between 2008 and 2009 featured the same old storylines. We've seen aging superstars sign with better teams to make one last run for a title. We've seen spending by a franchise as if their new stadium has a printing press in the basement. We've even seen a bad economy create new twists to free agency this spring like "Manny being Manny" now being defined as trying to get one team to bid against itself.
Business of baseball aside, it's time to talk about players who are calling new cities home and how that will affect your fantasy baseball team.
Next Big Thing is MLB FanHouse's look at emerging teams, trends and stars in 2009.
After being acquired by the Brewers midseason in 2008, CC Sabathia enchanted Milwaukee fans with a downright absurd stretch of 17 starts. In those starts, he completed seven games, won 11, struck out 128 hitters in 130 2/3 innings, compiling a 1.00 WHIP and a 1.65 ERA.
He finished sixth in MVP voting and fifth in Cy Young voting, and that was after only a half season of work. Along the way, he helped carry the Brewers to their first playoff appearance since 1982.
From the Windup is FanHouse's extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.
While there is still time left in the Hot Stove season, and there are a few high quality players left on the market -- Ben Sheets, anyone? -- the Yankees have been the team who has made the biggest splash in all of baseball thus far. That splash was seemingly a reaction to missing the playoffs for the first time since the strike-shortened 1994.
From the Windup is FanHouse's extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I get pretty aggravated when America doesn't win things we should. For example, I don't even watch the NBA, yet I was one of the biggest Team USA fans for the Olympic men's basketball team in August. America should win the gold in basketball. We invented the game and house the best players. I also believe America should win the World Baseball Classic for the same reasons. (Plus, I'm an ugly American and think we should win everything anyway.)
With this in mind, I'm putting together the perfect team for manager Davey Johnson, in hopes that he takes note.
In my view, there are some things that doomed USA's last WBC team, specifically in the Dontrelle Willis disasters. If you are playing what essentially amount to a bunch of one-game series, you cannot possibly survive with shoddy defense, pitching that gives out free passes, or constantly falling behind in the count. Also, too much reliance on power can hurt you in these games. You need guys who can get on base and "keep the line moving."
Great, now we're getting to that point in the offseason where every news update is about how the Yankees are "interested in" the big free agents and how some guy from some network interviewed them and they totally said they'd love to play for the Yankees, and on and on and blah blah blah. We've been doing this comic long enough to know the two great truths about the Yankees, and they are presented to you in chatroom form below.
Have the Yankees considered getting new uniforms? It works for everybody else. Maybe they can get a mascot. Make him a vague, shaggy grey thing named "OPS the Dog!"
Forty-four pitchers are throwing twice this week (Monday, April 27th - Sunday, May 3rd). All the games are night games on Monday, so no need to rush. Get your lineups set by 7:00 PM ET for the St. Louis at Atlanta game.
Ahhhhhhh... Opening Day! 
As you set your fantasy lineups for week one remember that there are 43 starting pitchers this week who will start twice. I've broken these 43 pitchers into three categories. There are 19 "must start" pitchers, nine solid options, and 15 risky hurlers throwing twice. 
Great, now we're getting to that point in the offseason where every news update is about how the Yankees are "interested in" the big free agents and how some guy from some network interviewed them and they totally said they'd love to play for the Yankees, and on and on and blah blah blah. We've been doing this comic long enough to know the two great truths about the Yankees, and they are presented to you in chatroom form below.
