FanHouse JamesShields

There are some pretty good two-start pitchers going in week seven of the fantasy baseball season. Chad Billingsley and Dan Haren lead the list of "Must Start" pitchers, while I'm not sure which option would be riskier between Dontrelle Willis and Tim Redding this week.

There are 47 two-start pitchers in all and you'll need to lock your lineup by 1:07 PM ET on Monday as that's first pitch between the White Sox and Blue Jays.

Must Start
Dan Haren , Diamondbacks - Monday at FLA (R. Nolasco) and Saturday at OAK (J. Outman)
Derek Lowe , Braves - Monday vs COL (J. Marquis) and Saturday vs TOR (S. Richmond)
Jair Jurrjens , Braves - Tuesday vs COL (J. Hammel) and Sunday vs TOR (B. Tallet)

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the unthinkable happened to the Dodgers in Thursday.

Having Manny Ramirez suspended? No, that's not unthinkable.

Losing at home to the Nationals? Unthinkable.

The Dodgers went into the game 13-0 at home this year and 21-8 overall, the best record in the majors. The Nationals had the worst record in baseball, 7-18, and had lost their past 10 games at Dodger Stadium.

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Saturday Spotlight is a weekly lightning round of questions delving into the personalities of major leaguers.

James Shields wasted no time in becoming a fixture in the Rays rotation. The Rays signed him to a four-year, $11.25-million deal before he started his second full season in the majors. He delivered, winning 14 games and helping the Rays to a surprising AL Pennant in 2008.

On to the questions...

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)

MLB Power Rankings: Where we care what you've done for us lately when we break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world each week.

Baseball is here. Only for three days so far, but that's enough for knee-jerk reactions and our collective excitement, certainly. Are the Yankees in trouble? Will Ken Griffey, Jr. lead the Mariners back to glory? Are the Orioles for real? Are the Braves bound for the playoffs again? Will the Marlins manage to save baseball and win the National League East? What happens when Jim Thome and Kyle Farnsworth meet in a hadron collider?

Find out the answers to these questions -- and more! -- after the jump.

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.

Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.

Meet the ...
Best team in baseball. Yes, they are still better than the Yankees and Red Sox. Lost in all the joy of last season were the facts that two key players were injured down the stretch and another had an absolutely dreadful offensive season. Throw in the addition of Pat Burrell, and the continued growth of the young pitching staff, and you have a team who can take on the big-spending Yankees and venerable Red Sox.

That's right, MLB Power Rankings. You do know that that means, right? It means we're only a few short weeks/months (depends on you how you want to look at it, you pessimistic jerk) from starting the 2009 baseball season. Spring is nearly here, everyone has a bounce in their step and there's not an illegal, injectable steroid in sight!

So without further ado, let's get down to business and rank every single Major League Baseball team right freaking now. Because baseball can't wait any longer to get going.

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.

Hold on. Why would you trade Evan Longoria after the run the Rays just made, going all the way to the World Series? He's young, he's -

Oh, not him.

Well, Carl Crawford and B.J. Upton had off-years, so they can't really be the team MVP.

James Shields? Matt Garza?

Regardless, why on God's green Earth would an up-and-coming team like the Rays trade any of these guys.

They aren't, but they are looking to trade the little guy they named team MVP.

For some reason void of any logic or rational thought whatsoever, their "team MVP" was Jason Bartlett this past season. He of the averageish defense, good speed, and 82 OPS plus. That's right, the Rays' team MVP was a well-below-average hitter. He's got good range, but not great, defensively. He stole 20 bases, so there's that. I'm just trying to find some other legitimate reason he was voted their team MVP. Nothing stat-wise jumps out at me. He only played 128 games, so it's not like you can say something like, "with Longoria and Crawford hurt, he was the ironman of the team." You could try to say something about his attitude, I guess, but would his have really meant that much more than adding Troy Percival or subtracting Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes? And did they really win by staying positive, or by actually playing well?