Clearly Rotoworld doesn't play in an AL-only.

09.04: Breyvic Valera went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run in Saturday's win over the A's. (Valera notched his two-run home run against Paul Blackburn with one out in the fourth inning. The homer was his first of the season and just the
second of his big league career. Nice real-life moment for the
29-year-old infielder, but there is no fantasy spark with this one.)

I hope you didn't put your money where your heart is, Mike.

Andrew Albers (P) MIN - Sep. 04
https://www.rotowire.com/baseball/player.php?id=804332

Albers (1-1) allowed nine runs on 10 hits and one walk with two strikeouts through three innings, taking the loss in Saturday's 11-4 defeat to the Rays.

ROTOWIRE RECOMMENDS: After shutting out the Brewers over 5.1 innings on Aug. 27 in his first start in MLB since 2017, Albers took a giant step in the wrong direction Saturday. He was shelled over his three innings of work, allowing home runs to Yandy Diaz, Jordan Luplow, Manuel Margot and Randy Arozarena. 

This guy can really pitch.  He doesn't throw hard, has one of the lowest spin rates in the majors, and throws a 2-seam sinker in about 50% of his pitches.   Add in pinpoint control and you have an unusual receipe for success.

And then that name,  Ranger.  No, he's not from Texas - but rather from Venezuela.  According to Wikipedia, Suárez is the first player in MLB to be named "Ranger". Suárez has two brothers named Raymer and Rosmer and a sister named Rangerlin. He told reporters that it is a family tradition to give every child a name beginning with the letter "R"

Those of us who FAABed him hoping for a closer are sure happy with the results.

With a win here, a save there, and outstanding qualitatives, he's earned $25 and $19 so far. The nerds in the Rays' front office imagine it and it happens.

September 4, 2021

Tampa Bay Rays — Andrew Kittredge struck out a pair in a perfect 9th inning to pick up his sixth save of the season.  Kittredge has now recorded the last three saves for the Rays and four of the last five, with the only save he didn’t get being a three-inning save by Chris Mazza.  For any other team, this would probably be enough to remove the asterisk, but we wouldn’t even dare suggest that for the Rays would we…

Hierarchy remains: *Kittredge | McHugh | Fairbanks.
* = closer-by-committee

Good call by the Monkey in July.

Chicago Cubs – Rowan Wick struck out the side in a perfect 9th inning to earn his second save of the season.  Wick has been used in the 9th for a save situation in his last three appearances, though he blew the save on Thursday.  If this usage continues, Wick could establish himself as the primary closer for the Cubs to finish the season.

Hierarchy remains: *Wick | Heuer | Morgan.
* = closer-by-committee

Riley has been en fuego on the Nats. Brad Hand is no longer a Blue Jay.

Yesterday's Biggest Play

Batter: Riley Adams (WSN)

Pitcher: Edwin Diaz (NYM)

Situation: Bottom 9th, 1 out, 0-2 count, Runner On 1st

Score:  NYM 2, WSN 1

Double to RF (Fly Ball to Deep CF-RF)
1 run scored on the play, and WSN's win probability increased 62% points, to 83%
NYM went on to win the game, 6-2

View the full game Boxscore at Baseball-Reference.com

Hoby Milner was the victim.

He was hitting okay and, I thought, based on the games I watched, fielding more than okay. But his dWAR this year is -1.4.

Rotowire:

Rotowire:

Rotowire:

Rotoworld:

09.03... Anthony Alford clobbered a pair of home runs and drove in three on Friday afternoon, but it wasn't enough to power the Pirates past the Cubs.
Spin: Alford got the Pirates on the board with a mammoth 469-foot blast off of Alec Mills in the fifth inning to trim their deficit to 5-1. He then smashed a 435-foot shot to center field in the following inning to tie the game at 5-5. That would be the extent of their scoring though. Even with the two-hit attack, he's hitting just .186/.250/.400 with four homers and seven RBI in his limited big league action this season.

With contributions from lots of players and big contributions from no one, the Tigers have been scoring runs in the second half. They plated 15 last night.

Yesterday's Top Performers Batters: Jeimer Candelario* (DET): 4-5, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 4 R Anthony Alford* (PIT): 2-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R Nolan Arenado* (STL): 2-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R Dustin Garneau (DET): 2-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R Jonathan Schoop (DET): 4-6, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 3 R Michael Hermosillo (CHC): 3-5, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R Jesus Sanchez (MIA): 2-3, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R Mitch Haniger (SEA): 3-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 R Harrison Bader (STL): 3-5, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 R Jose Ramirez (CLE): 3-5, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 R View All of Yesterday's Batters at Baseball-Reference.com * - pictured above

Just looking at the respective stat lines, I wonder if Games Scores need to be tweaked a bit? Nestor had a fine outing last night, but Shohei's surely was better.

Yesterday's Top Performers Pitchers: Anthony DeSclafani* (SFG): 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 5 K, 70 GmSc Rich Hill* (NYM): 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 4 K, 68 GmSc Sean Manaea (OAK): 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 9 K, 68 GmSc Michael Wacha (TBR): 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 7 K, 65 GmSc Nestor Cortes Jr. (NYY): 5.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 7 K, 62 GmSc Shohei Ohtani (LAA): 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 8 K, 61 GmSc View All of Yesterday's Pitchers at Baseball-Reference.com * - pictured above

Trevor Megill (P) CHI-N - Sep. 03
https://www.rotowire.com/baseball/player.php?id=804067

Megill (1-0) earned the win Friday over Pittsburgh with 1.1 perfect innings. He struck out three.

ROTOWIRE RECOMMENDS: The 27-year-old hasn't enjoyed many clean outings this year, but he was able to get the final out of the sixth inning in relief of Alec Mills. Megill stayed in and got through the seventh without trouble, contributing part of 3.1 perfect innings from the Cubs' bullpen. The right-hander owns a 9.60 ERA, 1.87 WHIP and 22:6 K:BB across 14.2 innings this year while allowing runs in seven of his 19 appearances.

Junior Fernandez (P) STL - Sep. 03
https://www.rotowire.com/baseball/player.php?id=804105

Fernandez (shoulder) has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2021 campaign, Katie Woo of The Athletic reports.

ROTOWIRE RECOMMENDS: Fernandez landed on the 10-day injured list Friday after he exited Wednesday's nightcap with his shoulder injury, and manager Mike Shildt revealed that the right-hander won't return in 2021. The Cardinals are optimistic that Fernandez won't require surgery, although it's not yet clear whether he'll be available for the start of spring training in 2022.

09.03: Kyle Gibson was pounded for eight runs in 5 1/3 innings by the Marlins on Friday. (Gibson has had an exceptional season, but he relies more than most on his
defense and Philly's just isn't any good. He's now 4-3 with a 4.46 ERA
for his new team and 10-6 with a 3.30 ERA overall.)

Rotoworld:

09.04: Carlos Hernandez allowed two runs on five hits over six innings in Friday's win over the White Sox. (Hernandez
was forced to wait out Mother Nature for two hours and change before
finally getting a chance on Friday. He shook off the weather delay to
turn in a serviceable showing, keeping the White Sox off the scoreboard
up until the sixth inning, when the road team managed to scuttle
together a couple of runs. Hernandez will carry a 3.57 ERA, 1.22 WHIP
and 69/31 K/BB ratio (70 2/3 innings) into a road date with the Orioles
when he next toes the rubber.)

Rotoworld:

The single-season MLB record for holds is 41, established by Joel Peralta in 2013 pitching for the Tampa Bay Rays and equaled by Tony Watson in 2015 pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Peralta surpassed the previous record of 40 holds set by Luke Gregerson in 2010 with the San Diego Padres.

Hold No. 25.

I winder what the record is?