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Tampa Bay Rays Fantasy: Importance of elite SPs in 60-game season

By Seth Carter |
Charlie Morton #50 of the Tampa Bay Rays (Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images)
Charlie Morton #50 of the Tampa Bay Rays (Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images)
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Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

Tampa Bay Rays: With the season set to start on July 24, fantasy strategies are quickly being revamped. We take a look at why SPs will be very important in this shortened season.

Tampa Bay Rays – Today we talk a little fantasy baseball 2020 and the importance of aces this season.

With the announcement that players would report to camp by July 1 and the season would begin 24 days later, fans have been losing their minds. Well, I can’t speak for all of you, but I have been losing my mind.

While fantasy league managers are consulting with their constituents on whether they should cancel entry-fees (are you listening MLB.TV?) for the season or simply reduce them, we take a look at the impact a good staff of starting pitchers will have on your roto team.

A typical innings limit on a full season is usually 1,400 innings for your pitching staff in roto. That means that you can use any combination of pitchers you can muster to build your statistics until your players have accumulated 1,400 innings pitched.

Considering that the 2020 season will only be 37% of a regular season, in theory, that means we are only getting a cap of 518 innings from our starters.

The importance of getting a handful of elite-starting pitchers is magnified when you run some numbers.

First, here’s a look at ESPN’s top 20 starting pitchers.

ESPN’s Fantasy Top 20 Starting Pitchers

  1. Gerrit Cole
  2. Jacob deGrom
  3. Max Scherzer
  4. Justin Verlander
  5. Walker Buehler
  6. Jack Flaherty
  7. Stephen Strasburg
  8. Shane Bieber
  9. Clayton Kershaw
  10. Aaron Nola
  11. Luis Castillo
  12. Patrick Corbin
  13. Charlie Morton
  14. Mike Clevinger
  15. Lucas Giolito
  16. Zack Greinke
  17. Blake Snell
  18. Yu Darvish
  19. Jose Berrios
  20. Chris Paddack
Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

Tampa Bay Rays – Max Scherzer in 60 Games

You want to spend the capital on one of those top four pitchers. Let’s take a look at why pairing Blake Snell or Charlie Morton with at least one of the top four monsters is paramount this season.

I selected one of my favorite major-league pitchers to watch, “Ole Blue Eye” himself, Max Scherzer.

Last season through the Nationals’ first 60 games, Scherzer accumulated 85.1 innings pitched with a 3.06 ERA, 1.125 WHIP, and 117 strikeouts.

Those are fantastic numbers and they just accounted for 16.4% of your total innings. Whereas over the course of an entire 162-game season, with a higher probability of injuries, Scherzer only finished with 172.1 innings or 12.3% of the 1,400 innings cap.

Being able to grab guys with elite ratios that are innings-eaters could be crucial in this frantic race to the postseason. With such a small schedule, I imagine we will see elite starting pitchers getting as much extra use as their arms can handle. Guys like Scherzer could end up accounting for something closer to 17% of your innings limit this season.

Some people like to stream starting pitchers but that is a more risky play, especially in this year’s scenario. You really don’t have enough wiggle-room to afford mediocre outings by your streamers. Even in good scenarios, you are really hoping a streamer produces a “meh” day for a frontline starter.

Spend the early draft capital on the best pitchers in the league and dominate in four of your pitching categories.

The workhorses will give you more innings and consistently go deep into games, which puts them in a better spot to earn a decision.

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – Charlie Morton #50 of the Tampa Bay Rays (Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – Charlie Morton #50 of the Tampa Bay Rays (Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images) /

Tampa Bay Rays – Charlie Morton in 60 Games

Through the first 60 games, last season, Rays’ ace Charlie Morton racked up 74.1 innings (13% fewer innings than Scherzer) and posted a 2.30 ERA and 91 strikeouts. While he’s been extremely effective the past few seasons, Morton has never been a true workhorse pitcher. Entering his age-36 season, he’s never crossed the 200-innings threshold in his career.

The Tampa Bay Rays are not keen on risking overuse with their pitchers, so it should be interesting to see how it’s handled this season. The Rays trust their bullpen, which led all of baseball in ERA last season.

That being said, the Rays have a vesting option on Morton in 2021 and he’s hinted at possibly hanging up the cleats after this season. With his status uncertain beyond this year, it’s possible the Rays squeeze a few extra innings than they typically would out of Morton’s arm.

With his ratios (ERA, K/9, WHIP) Morton could be a steal as ESPN’s 13th-overall pitcher.

Five or six starters will carry you to your innings limit this year (assuming leagues keep typical numbers). Ensuring you get two or three elite pitchers at the top and breakout players like Tyler Glasnow near the middle or bottom of your rotation could be the difference in winning and losing your fantasy leagues this season.

From a team perspective, it’s good to see the Rays place two pitchers inside the top 20. You know as well as I do that Tyler Glasnow could very well end up firmly entrenched in this group as one o the game’s best young pitchers.

Next. Buster Olney picks Rays for WS. dark

So, try and nab one of the top four and supplement him with Rays pitchers and you should be in good shape!

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