Weekly Hitter Rankings: Cleveland Rocks

The Weekly Hitter Rankings is a companion piece to the Weekly Pitcher Rankings. While in many leagues your offensive roster slots are set 'em and forget 'em, in deeper formats where every at-bat counts, knowing which teams have friendly schedules for hitters, and which platoon bats will be getting more action than usual, can be valuable information, especially in head-to-head formats and leagues where you make moves weekly instead of daily. The Weekly Hitter Rankings will summarize all that info in one spot, for your roster-juggling convenience.

For the period Sept 5-11

NOTE: Home/road splits are now pulled purely from 2016 team performances, with 2015 numbers completed phased out. 2016 park factors are also now included, replacing 2013 park factors in the rolling three-year average.

7 GAMES

1. Cleveland (32.982)

vs. HOU (4) – Fiers (R), Keuchel (L), Fister (R), Musgrove (R)
at MIN (3) – Santiago (L), Albers (L), Dean (L)

Mike Napoli should feast with four lefties on tap for the Tribe, but Brandon Guyer also makes a sneaky play in deeper leagues.

2. Colorado (32.600)

vs. SF (3) – Moore (L), Samardzija (R), Suarez (R)
at SD (4) – Richard (L), Perdomo (R), E. Jackson (R), Clemens (R)

3. St. Louis (31.941)

at PIT (3) – Kuhl (R), Vogelsong (R), Taillon (R)
vs. MIL (4) – Guerra (R), Nelson (R), Chase Anderson (R), Davies (R)

Having no lefties on the Cards' slate could cost players like Jedd Gyorko and Stephen Piscotty some at-bats.

4. Seattle (31.307)

vs. TEX (4) – Hamels (L), M. Perez (L), Griffin (R), D. Holland (L)
at OAK (3) – Mengden (R), Graveman (R), Detwiler (L)

The M's also face four lefties, which is good news for Franklin Gutierrez.

5. Washington (31.059)

vs. ATL (3) – Blair (R), Foltynewicz (R), De La Cruz (R)
vs. PHI (4) – Velasquez (R), J. Thompson (R), Eickhoff (R), Morgan (L)

6. Houston (30.480)

at CLE (4) – Clevinger (R), Kluber (R), Carrasco (R), Bauer (R)
vs. CHC (3) – Arrieta (R), Lackey (R), Hendricks (R)

The Indians figure to use a bullpen day Monday, but Mike Clevinger seems the best bet to pitch first. The Astros mix and match lineups almost as much as the Cubs do, but the biggest beneficiaries of no lefties on this week's sked are likely to be A.J. Reed and Colby Rasmus.

7. NY Yankees (30.080)

vs. TOR (3) – Dickey (R), Aaron Sanchez (R), Stroman (R)
vs. TB (4) – Cobb (R), Snell (L), Archer (R), Andriese (R)

8. Tampa Bay (30.072)

vs. BAL (3) – Jimenez (R), Gallardo (R), Bundy (R)
at NYY (4) – Sabathia (L), Pineda (R), Tanaka (R), Cessa (R)

9. Pittsburgh (29.935)

vs. STL (3) – Wainwright (R), L. Weaver (R), A. Reyes (R)
vs. CIN (4) – DeSclafani (R), Straily (R), Adleman (R), Stephenson (R)

Josh Bell is starting to look human at the plate, so John Jaso could get back into the mix at first base this week with no lefties on the slate.

10. San Diego (29.383)

vs. BOS (3) – Pomeranz (L), S. Wright (R), Price (L)
vs. COL (4) – J. De La Rosa (L), Chatwood (R), J. Gray (R), Bettis (R)

11. Cincinnati (28.483)

vs. NYM (3) – Colon (R), Ynoa (R), Syndergaard (R)
at PIT (4) – Nova (R), G. Cole (R), Kuhl (R), Vogelsong (R)

The Reds' roster isn't really constructed to take advantage of platoons, but Tucker Barnhart will likely see the bulk of the action behind the plate.

12. Texas (27.994)

at SEA (4) – F. Hernandez (R), Paxton (L), Miranda (L), T. Walker (R)
at LAA (3) – Skaggs (L), Shoemaker (R), J. Weaver (R)

13. Philadelphia (27.537)

at MIA (3) – Esch (R), Urena (R), Cashner (R)
at WAS (4) – Roark (R), Scherzer (R), G. Gonzalez (L), Strasburg (R)

Stephen Strasburg's return from the DL, or where he'll slot into the Nats' rotation when he does, isn't yet confirmed, so the Phillies might duck him if he takes the mound Wednesday instead of Tuesday.

14. Milwaukee (27.307)

vs. CHC (3) – Hendricks (R), Hammel (R), Lester (L)
at STL (4) – J. Garcia (L), C. Martinez (R), Wainwright (R), L. Weaver (R)

6 GAMES

15. San Francisco (29.188)

at COL (3) – Bettis (R), T. Anderson (L), Hoffman (R)
at ARI (3) – Shipley (R), A. Bradley (R), Greinke (R)

16. Chicago Cubs (28.329)

at MIL (3) – Davies (R), W. Peralta (R), Garza (R)
at HOU (3) – McHugh (R), Fiers (R), Keuchel (L) WITH DH

17. Boston (27.835)

at SD (3) – E. Jackson (R), Clemens (R), Cosart (R) NO DH
at TOR (3) – Estrada (R), Happ (L), Dickey (R)

18. Toronto (25.998)

at NYY (3) – Tanaka (R), Cessa (R), Undecided
vs. BOS (3) – Porcello (R), E. Rodriguez (L), Pomeranz (L)

Chad Green's injury potentially creates an opening in the Yankees rotation. Has Luis Severino run out of chances yet?

19. Detroit (25.895)

at CHW (3) – Sale (L), M. Gonzalez (R), Quintana (L)
vs. BAL (3) – Gausman (R), Miley (L), Tillman (R)

20. Minnesota (25.884)

vs. KC (3) – Kennedy (R), Gee (R), Duffy (L)
vs. CLE (3) – Salazar (R), Tomlin (R), Kluber (R)

21. Chicago White Sox (25.787)

vs. DET (3) – Verlander (R), Boyd (L), Anibal Sanchez (R)
vs. KC (3) – Ventura (R), Volquez (R), Kennedy (R)

22. LA Angels (24.765)

at OAK (3) – Detwiler (L), Manaea (L), Triggs (R)
vs. TEX (3) – Darvish (R), Hamels (L), Lewis (R)

23. NY Mets (24.706)

at CIN (3) – Stephenson (R), Finnegan (L), H. Bailey (R)
at ATL (3) – Gant (R), Teheran (R), Wisler (R)

Note that what Danny Duffy did in June, Brandon Finnegan did in August. If I fudged the numbers at all, I'd drop the Mets a couple of spots based purely on that.

24. Baltimore (24.580)

at TB (3) – Andriese (R), Odorizzi (R), Smyly (L)
at DET (3) – M. Fulmer (R), D. Norris (L), Verlander (R)

25. Oakland (24.229)

vs. LAA (3) – J. Weaver (R), Nolasco (R), Oberholtzer (L)
vs. SEA (3) – Iwakuma (R), F. Hernandez (R), Paxton (L)

26. Arizona (24.020)

at LAD (3) – Maeda (R), Stripling (R), Urias (L)
vs. SF (3) – Bumgarner (L), Cueto (R), Moore (L)

27. LA Dodgers (23.927)

vs. ARI (3) – Greinke (R), S. Miller (R), Ray (L)
at MIA (3) – Fernandez (R), Koehler (R), Esch (R)

28. Kansas City (23.324)

at MIN (3) – Dean (L), E. Santana (R), Gibson (R)
at CHW (3) – Rodon (L), Shields (R), Sale (L)

29. Miami (22.724)

vs. PHI (3) – Eickhoff (R), Morgan (L), Hellickson (R)
vs. LAD (3) – Hill (L), De Leon (R), Kershaw (L)

We need to start a White House petition to get the Dodgers to bring Clayton Kershaw back for Friday's start so he can match up against Jose Fernandez instead of Jake Esch, which sounds like the noise everyone will make when they realize they won't get a Kershaw-Fernandez duel.

30. Atlanta (22.652)

at WAS (3) – G. Gonzalez (L), Strasburg (R), A.J. Cole (R)
vs. NYM (3) – Lugo (R), Colon (R), deGrom (R)

Strasburg's return from the DL, or where he'll slot into the Nats' rotation when he does, isn't yet confirmed, but it seems likely he'll pitch Tuesday or Wednesday if he's ready.