In the 10 days since Opening Day, a few lessons have been learned. The most important to your Fantasy team is to target the Toronto Blue Jays with every streamer you possibly can.

I’m sure you’ve seen by now that the Jays’ lineup is one of the worst in the league. Through their first eight games, the Jays have been held hitless through six innings four separate times. FOUR.

Any lineup that has Justin Smoak as their best bat is going to have some trouble. Of course, things will change when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. gets called up when his “defense” is ready. Until that happens, owners can happily stream away!

2019 Fantasy Baseball Week 2 Hitting Planner

Offense to Target – Oakland Athletics

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The A’s have almost been a one-trick pony this early in the season. The team is hitting .231 with a .307 OBP but has managed 15 home runs, good for third in the Majors. Next week Oakland will get a couple of matchups to take advantage of their swing-for-the-fences mentality.

First, the A’s will travel to Baltimore for a four-game series against the Orioles. The Orioles have gotten off to a shockingly good start, but their pitching staff is still one of the worst in the league. They’re carrying a 4.87 ERA and an 8.9 percent K-BB%, which ranks 24th in the league. Anyone who thinks David Hess and Andrew Cashner can repeat what they did against Toronto is sorely mistaken.

Next, Oakland will travel to Texas to face a Rangers team with a worse ERA and K-BB% than Baltimore. Globe Life Park is also one of the best hitters parks in the league, making it easy pickings for the power-inclined A’s.

Notable Players

Lesser owned bats like Ramon Laureano, Kendrys Morales, and Chad Pinder are excellent daily options against two terrible pitching staffs. If Marcus Semien is available, he also makes for a great middle infield option next week.

Offense to Avoid – Minnesota Twins

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As of Friday afternoon, the Twins offense has not been good, hitting just one home run in 193 plate appearances. One. With no power coming from the Minnesota lineup, it needs to be avoided in a week filled with land mines.

The Twins only have five games this week, with the first two coming against the Mets. New York has one of the best pitching staffs in the Majors, led by reigning NL Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom, who hasn’t given up a run in 13 innings this season.

After another day off, Minnesota travels home to take on the Tigers, who currently lead all the league in team pitching WAR. This won’t continue for the entire season, but it might be safe to avoid the using your cold batters against a hot pitching staff.

UPDATE: Jorge Polanco and Max Kepler each hit a home run against the Phillies Friday night. I would still avoid them next week.

Notable Players

Willians Astudillo leads the team in runs and WAR after 11 at-bats. If that doesn’t give you an idea of how much this lineup is struggling I don’t know what will. If he is in the lineup, La Tortuga is one of two Twins I would use in weekly leagues. The other is Nelson Cruz, the owner of that single home run.

Offense to Target – San Diego Padres

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The Padres went all-in on their offense and now owners should be willing to take a harder look at some of the non-superstars in their lineup.

San Diego will face two below average rotations this week, starting with the Giants in San Fransisco. By WAR the Giants are the 17th ranked pitching staff in the league thus far. San Diego will then go on to face the Diamondbacks, whose rotation is in flux after the departure of Patrick Corbin and the inconsistent performance of Robbie Ray and Zack Godley.

The Padres’ offense is starting to round into form, with Fernando Tatis Jr. and Hunter Renfroe hitting home runs on Friday night.

Notable Players

If any of Tatis, Renfroe, or Franmil Reyes is available, go make the add immediately. Deep league owners can take a shot on Manuel Margot or Ian Kinsler with a full schedule.

Offense to Avoid – Cincinnati Reds

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An offseason of optimism has turned into early season panic. The Reds offense has been terrible in the early going, sitting last in the league in runs, average, and OBP.

The Reds' starting outfielders have gone a combined 6-for-65 (.092) so far this season. That is the worst average by any starting outfield through six games of a season in the live-ball era (since 1920). — Stats By STATS (@StatsBySTATS) April 5, 2019

Yes, I know they get to face the Marlins this week, but any team playing this poorly needs to be benched until they prove they can hit. On top of their struggles, the Reds will only play five games this week, putting weekly owners in a hole right off the bat.

Notable Players

All of the usual Cincinnati hitters deserve to be benched next week. Joey Votto and Eugenio Suarez owners can make a judgment call, but their performance over the first week hasn’t inspired much confidence.

Platoon Target

Jorge Soler, OF, Kansas City Royals

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The Royals’ offense has been surprisingly competent this year, and Soler should continue that trend next week, especially in the early series against the Mariners. Soler will face two left-handers in that series (Marco Gonzales and Yusei Kikuchi), which bodes well, as he’s hit .311 against southpaws between last season and the first week of this season.

Soler was a semi-popular sleeper coming into the season and he should put some confidence back into his believers this coming week.

Check out the rest of our 2019 Fantasy Baseball content from our great team of writers.