A Cub, a Ranger and an Angel walk into your fantasy baseball team

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Okay all you fantasy baseball players, the weekend is here so time to buck up and get those lineups stacked to win the week. Even if you’ve been getting trounced since Tuesday’s late local news, I have a few remedies to stop the bleeding so you don’t get completely destroyed on your league message boards and group chats.

Fantasy baseball advice including the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Angels, and Texas Rangers

Now Batting…

It’s been a fun season over in Wrigleyville so far as the Chicago Cubs are off to a solid start and there’s no reason to think they’ll fall off any time soon. If the Pittsburgh Pirates weren’t blowing MLB’s mind Chicago would be the talk of the NL Central town. Between the hitting, pitching, Chicago dogs and neon relish, everything is going right for the Cubs. Chicago is tied for fifth in runs scored throughout the entire league and we’re riding one of their bats through their next homestand.

Not since the days of Atlanta Braves cornerman Bob Horner has there been such excitement for a “Horner” in baseball, but Nico spelled-slightly-differently Hoerner is filling that bill for Cubs fans. The 25-year-old second baseman, who in most leagues can also be used as a shortstop, is batting a career best .338 (tied for best on the team), leads the Cubs in hits (27) and is tied for the league in steals with nine. Equally as impressive is his only six strikeouts in 75 at-bats.

The Cubs are hosting the Dodgers all weekend in a four-game set that started Thursday and with L.A.’s projected starters one may shy away from Cubs hitters, but I say head straight on into battle. Ride the hot hand. Do it for Johnny!

This weekend the Cubs will face Julio Urias (3-1, 1.90 ERA), Dustin May(1-1, 3.00 ERA) and Clayton Kershaw (3-1, 2.52 ERA). Now here’s the good news. Chicago just beat Urias at Chavez Ravine and Hoerner went 2-for-3 against him. May is coming off a rough outing against the Mets and L.A. has lost three of the four games he’s started. And as for Kershaw, well, he’s coming off a strong seven-inning, three-hit win against the Mets, but our boy Nico is 3-for-6 against Kershaw. Hoerner is .348 versus all current Dodger pitchers, including a career 3-for-4 against Friday’s starter Urias.

I can’t believe Hoerner was available in my league as recent as last week. If he’s still on the waiver wire, grab him quicker than the L to Wrigley on a Saturday morning. In DFS leagues, Hoerner is around a $7500 bu,y which is like finding a solid pair of slacks at Marshalls. BUY NOW!

Apr 4, 2023; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers starting pitcher Dane Dunning (33) pitches in relief against the Baltimore Orioles during the third inning at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /

Now Pitching…

Texas Rangers fans are having as much fun as Cubs fans these days, possibly more. Not only are the Rangers ahead of in-state rival Houston in the AL West, but trail only the blazing hot Tampa Bay Rays as the top team in the AL. Rangers pitches are tied for fifth in earned runs with 62 while teams are only batting .231 against them. One guy in Texas’ bullpen is a big reason for all the smiles in the DFW.

In six appearances over 15.1 innings, right-handed reliever Dane Dunning has an ERA of 0.00. Two of those six relief outings were four innings. The Ranger righty picked up the win Monday, going 4.1 innings with five strikeouts in relief of starter Jacob deGrom, who left the game with soreness in his right wrist.

Dunning is in his third season with the Rangers and is excelling coming out of the pen after two subpar seasons as a starter. Texas hosts Oakland this weekend. The one-foot-in-Vegas A’s are a league worst 3-16 with a mind-boggling horrible minus-86 run differential. How is that even possible? With a win and two holds, Dunning has proven to be a key member of the Rangers pitching staff so probably a good idea to grab him before too many people know about him.

Apr 12, 2023; Anaheim, California, USA; Los Angeles Angels right fielder Hunter Renfroe (12) hits a double against the Washington Nationals during the fifth inning at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /

Resurrected Angel In The Outfield

It’s only April, but there’s a strong feeling that the Angels are “gonna Angel”. Even with complete baseball studs like Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani LAA is sputtering again a game under .500. After a 2-5 road trip in the AL East, the Angels are back in Anaheim and have some gifts awaiting them.

The only thing better than facing the A’s this season is facing the Royals. LAA gets both teams back-to-back at home this weekend through middle of next week. As bad as the A’s are the Royals aren’t much better. Only a game up in the win column on Oakland, Kansas City has scored six less runs than the Royals while “boasting” a league second worst -51 run differential. For the Angels over the next several days they play at home against a whopping -137 run differential. Yikes.

One Angel who will look to capitalize on these subpar opponents is Hunter Renfroe. Remember him? The 31-year-old outfielder is looking to resurrect his career with the Angels and is off to a good start, leading the team in RBI(16) and total bases(36). Like his teammates, Renfroe had a tough trip out east batting only .214 but he still tallied seven RBIs while hitting safely in 6 of 7 games. The ERA of the Royals starters Renfroe will face this weekend is 4.88, KC’s staff as a whole is a league third worst 5.46 with batters hitting .269 against them. I like Renfroe to get back into earlier-in-April form and continue his career resurrection during the upcoming homestand against the absolute dregs of baseball.

Well, that’s it. Now go make some moves and GOOD LUCK this weekend!

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