MLB Player News

Isbel cleared the bases with a double off Bryan Abreu in the seventh inning to give the Royals a 3-2 lead. Isbel has been hot lately going 15-for-50 (.300) with 10 RBI in his last 16 games. He’s hitting .230 with seven home runs and 38 RBI on the year so he would only be an option in AL-Only formats.

Manaea gave up four hits, walked one and struck out six. The lone run off Manaea came on a Jose Tena RBI single in the fourth inning. He’s allowed three runs or less in 10 of his last 11 starts. Manaea has a 2.58 ERA and 80 strikeouts in 69 2/3 innings in that time. He’s 11-5 with a 3.26 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 177 strikeouts in 171 innings on the year. The 32-year-old left-hander is set to face the Phillies at home this weekend.

Paredes opened the scoring in the first with an RBI single, and closed it in the fourth with a run-scoring knock. The 25-year-old has driven in a solid 76 runs in 2024, and 10 of those have come in the month of September. He’s hit .302 in that month, but still hasn’t hit a homer since August 26.

Amaya had been in a 2-for-27 funk coming into this game, and he broke out in a big way. It’s somehow the second triple of the year from the not-so-speedy backstop, and he added a pair of run-scoring singles for good measure.

Rooker just continues to demolish pitching in 2024. He’s now just two homers away from 40 — that’s 38, if you needed that help, which is ok — and he also upped his average to .302 with that homer and a single. Rooker was being underrated in fantasy drafts coming into the year, but no one could have seen him being this good.

Swanson belted his homer with a couple runners on in the second inning to give the Cubs a 6-0 lead. He drove in his fourth run and 62nd of the season with a single an inning later. It’s a nice game but a little too late in terms of making fantasy managers happy with Swanson, as there just haven’t been enough of them in 2024. September has been nice, however, as he now has an .830 OPS for the month.

Imanaga did deal with some traffic, as he walked three and gave up five hits. Outside of a two-run homer to the ever-so-underrated Brent Rooker, he kept that contact at bay with those 11 punchouts. That’s a new career-high for the rookie, and it improves his K/BB to 170/28 over his

Yikes. Estes allowed two runs in the first, and then couldn’t get out of the second — and couldn’t get an out in the second — while allowing a four-spot. It’s a disappointing effort from the 22-year-old who has had his fair share of highs and lows. That’s not surprising nor indicting, but just the way it goes for a lot of pitchers of his age and experience. He’ll try and rebound Sunday against the Yankees in his penultimate start.

Buxton drove in two runs with a single off Matthew Boyd in the third inning. He has a home run and four RBI in three games since retiring from a hip injury. Buxton hasn’t had double digit stolen bases in a season in years, but he’s still a good hitter with power when healthy.

With Steven Kwan dealing with body fatigue, Martinez replaced him in the leadoff spot and had three hits. He’s certainly valuable in deeper formats as long as he’s hitting at the top of the order, but he’s just a compiler. Martinez is hitting .258 with only three home runs and three stolen bases in 120 at-bats.

Weathers has missed three months due to a sprained index finger on his pitching hand. He pitched well on his last rehab start, throwing five scoreless innings for Triple-A Jacksonville, but we wouldn’t trust him against the Dodgers in his first start back.