Fantasy Football Weekly Player Rankings
Player News
Shohei Ohtani hit two homers and walked twice in the Dodgers’ 11-5 smackdown of the Giants on Saturday.
It was 11-0 until; the ninth, when the Dodgers tried to save a little wear on their pitchers by putting in Enrique Hernández for the final inning. Hernández, though, gave up a grand slam and five runs while getting two outs, and Anthony Banda ended up finishing the game. Ohtani has 25 homers this year, leaving him one behind Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh for the MLB lead. He’s up to 250 career homers in 929 games since debuting in 2018.
Clayton Kershaw tossed seven scoreless innings in defeating the Giants on Saturday.
Kershaw allowed three hits, walked one and struck out five in his best outing since 2023. He’s 2-0 with a 3.25 ERA in his six starts this year, and he’s set to face the Nationals next time out.
Landen Roupp recorded just five outs and gave up six runs Saturday against the Dodgers.
Roupp hadn’t walked more than two in any of his previous seven starts, but, including an intentional walk to Shohei Ohtani, he handed out five free passes to the 13 batters he faced tonight. In all, just 21 of the 45 pitches he threw went for strikes. With any luck, it’ll prove to be a blip on the radar for Roupp, who entered the game with a 3.29 ERA. He’ll make his next start at home against the Red Sox.
Casey Schmitt hit a grand slam for a second straight day Saturday against the Dodgers.
Schmitt’s slam Friday was hit against one of the NL’s best pitchers in Yoshinobu Yamamoto. His slam tonight was hit against Enrique Hernández, one of the NL’s top 10 or 15 utilitymen. It all counts the same, so Schmitt, who is filling in for Matt Chapman at third base, has three homers and 11 RBI in his last five games. He’s had no homers and three RBI in his first 20 games.
J.P. Crawford went 3-for-3 with two walks and a steal as the Mariners came back to beat the Guardians 4-3 on Saturday.
Jorge Polanco had the walkoff hit in the ninth. Crawford didn’t factor in then, and his five times on base tonight led to just one run scored and no RBI. He did steal his fourth base of the year, but he was also caught for the first time after being picked off first. Crawford has been a great surprise in hitting .295/.410/.401 in 285 plate appearances, but since he doesn’t excel in any category, his fantasy value remains limited.
George Kirby tossed five innings of two-run ball Saturday versus the Guardians.
The runs scored on a double from Nolan Jones in the fourth and a solo homer from José RamÃrez in the fifth. Kirby walked three tonight for the first time since 2022 and just the third time in 94 big-league starts. Still, that’s not a disaster; he might actually benefit from throwing fewer pitches within the strike zone. He’s set to face the Cubs in his next start Friday.