Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Hitting Planner for Week 2. The 2024 MLB season is rolling, with or without you.
Matchups are not just numbers, but they’re part of a thrilling season-long strategy game, with rankings crafted from the cunning curveballs of opposing pitchers and the secrets hidden in each ballpark’s corners. Plus, get exclusive insights into pitcher showdowns to make your lineup decisions not just smart, but legendary.
Welcome to the big leagues, where your Hitter Planner is the MVP of making every swing count. The planner tracks games from Monday to Sunday.
Fantasy Baseball Hitting Planner (Week 2: April 1 to 7)
Best Hitter Matchups
Baltimore Orioles (vs KC, at PIT)
Do the Orioles really have that many hitters you want in your starting lineup? Not really! But that’s okay, the Week 2 hitting planner is here to help you plan, not to make decisions for you. The hitting planner adds context to refine your decisions. So let’s get that out of the way before we dive in.
So, a running theme to begin this season is tracking the Pittsburgh Pirates rotation. Martin Perez, Jared Jones, Bailey Falter, and Marco Gonzales are all guys you should be targeting for your hitters to exploit when feasible.
The Orioles also see Kansas City’s Alec March on Tuesday. While he looked good this spring, he struggled a lot last year, allowing a hefty 1.94 HR/9 in his 74.1 IP.
Atlanta Braves (at CWS, vs ARI)
A plus matchup against Chicago’s Chris Flexen on Monday should be a great way to start the week. Hitters lit him up in 2023, as evidenced by his 1.67 WHIP and 6.86 ERA across 102.1 IP.
The Braves have a stacked order, so these are the weeks you’d like the middle-of-the-order guys like Matt Olson, Marcell Ozuna, and Michael Harris to really shine.
Another great opportunity will come against Arizona’s Tommy Henry on Friday. He was tagged on Saturday with six hits, five earned runs, a homer, and two walks in 4.0 IP. Not the best start for the 26-year-old.
Tampa Bay Rays (vs TEX, at COL)
The three matchups against Texas aren’t great on paper. But what we’re after are the games against Austin Gomber, Ryan Feltner, and Dakota Hudson in the back half of the week. With German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela on the 60-day injured list, the Rockies are having to test their bench.
We already saw Gomber get beat up by the Diamondbacks on Saturday, allowing six hits, four earned runs, and two home runs in just 4.2 IP.
Worst Hitter Matchups
Arizona Diamondbacks (vs NYY, at ATL)
We here at the hitting planner understand that this early in the season, you’re absorbing information, monitoring trends, and so on. You’re not going to start or bench your players based on matchups quite yet. However, it is important to judge performance versus expectation.
After a decent matchup against Luis Gil on Monday, it’s tough sledding for Arizona. They then face the Yankees’ Nestor Cortes and Carlos Rodon.
After a day off on Thursday, the Diamondbacks finish the week against Max Fried, Chris Sale, and Charlie Morton. The Braves staff is filthy this year and you’ll want to be cautious with your expectations.
San Francisco Giants (at LAD, vs SD)
Besides one pretty good opportunity coming on Saturday against San Diego’s Matt Waldron, the Giants will have their work cut out for them against LA’s Tyler Glasnow and Bobby Miller. Plus, two more tough contests against Dylan Cease and Michael King on Friday and Saturday.
The Dodgers’ pitching staff has a number of injuries with guys on the 15-day and 60-day, but it’s a testament to their roster that there aren’t that many gaps in their talent.
Cleveland Guardians (at SEA, at MIN)
Two lights-out pitchers are on tap in Seattle’s Luis Castillo (No. 4 in our weekly SP rankings) and George Kirby. We all know this is arguably one of the best one-two pitching punches in baseball right now.
Kirby already had a great duel to start the year, edging out a 1-0 win against the Red Sox in a masterful 6.2 IP in which he struck out eight and allowed just two hits and two walks.
The matchups don’t get much easier against the Twins as the Guardians will likely see Pablo Lopez and Joe Ryan on Friday and Saturday.