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A trio of rescheduled games beefs up the Week 10 schedule, which might otherwise have been one of the lighter weeks on the schedule thus far. The first is the Los Angeles Angels-Chicago Cubs interleague game on Monday, which makes up for their April 14 postponement. That one has a 4:05 p.m. ET scheduled first pitch, which gets the week off to a slightly earlier start than usual. The other two games set up Saturday doubleheaders: Oakland Athletics-Texas Rangers, a makeup of their April 13 postponement, and Tampa Bay Rays-Boston Red Sox, a makeup of their April 26 postponement, pushing all four of those squads' weekly schedules to a full seven games.
Speaking of the Athletics, they'll play all seven of their games on the road, at a pair of ballparks with more favorable hitter factors than their home, the Oakland Coliseum -- Los Angeles' Angel Stadium (Monday-Wednesday) and Texas' Globe Life Park (Friday-Sunday). Matt Olson (41 percent available in ESPN leagues), who has seven home runs and a .392 wOBA in the past three weeks, is a must-start in all formats. Mark Canha (99 percent available), a .272/.335/.587 hitter against lefties since the beginning of last season, warrants your start in leagues larger than 12-team mixed, as the Athletics face at least two left-handed starters.
Injuries have hit the offense of the Houston Astros particularly hard in recent weeks, with Jose Altuve (hamstring, IL), Carlos Correa (ribs, IL) and George Springer (hamstring, IL), three of the top five hitters in their usual lineup, all currently on the sidelines. Fortunately, the team's Week 10 schedule is a forgiving one, beginning with four road games against a Seattle Mariners pitching staff that has a league-worst 7.07 ERA since May 10. They'll follow that up with three home games against a Baltimore Orioles staff that has a league-worst 5.70 ERA for the season. Yuli Gurriel (34 percent available in ESPN leagues), a .316/.366/.502 hitter against lefties since the beginning of 2018 who shapes up as the team's cleanup man while Correa is out, should benefit from the team facing a pair of left-handed starters (and possibly three). Josh Reddick (76 percent available), who sports a .360 on-base percentage this season, could sneak in some starts out of the leadoff spot against the four right-handed starters the team will face. Jack Mayfield, a .283/.365/.572 hitter for Triple-A Round Rock who has started two of the team's past three games since his recall, is also worth a plug-and-play in deep-mixed/AL-only leagues. In addition, should either Altuve or Springer (with the former already eligible for activation and the latter eligible as of Tuesday) progress quickly enough with his recovery to return during Week 10, either player would be worth immediate activation.
Thanks to the extremely hitting-friendly environment of their home, Miller Park, the Milwaukee Brewers generally stand out in weeks when they're scheduled to play there exclusively. In a week like this, however, including three games against a middling Miami Marlins pitching staff, followed by another three against an injury-ravaged Pittsburgh Pirates staff that has the league's highest ERA in May (6.26), the Brewers could put up some league-leading hitting stats. First and second base are effectively the only question marks in the Brewers lineup for the week, as Eric Thames has made eight of the past nine starts at the former but batted only .241/.267/.345 during that time span, while Travis Shaw (wrist, IL) is expected to be activated on Tuesday, threatening Keston Hiura's playing time at the latter.
The Brewers aren't the only team to benefit from a full week at their hitting-friendly home ballpark. The Rangers enjoy a similar boost in such weeks, as is the case in Week 10. The Orioles (three games) and Athletics (four) come to town, and while Oakland's pitchers have been effective to date in 2019, their current five rotation members have a combined 6.62 ERA -- and 7.66 in 20 appearances (15 starts) at Globe Life Park. Four members of the Texas lineup enter play on May 31 available in at least 38 percent of ESPN leagues, and each one is a good plug-and-play option: Asdrubal Cabrera (38 percent), Shin-Soo Choo (42 percent), Rougned Odor (43 percent) and Hunter Pence (62 percent).
The Chicago White Sox are the only team that has a five-game week, due in part to their two-game interleague series at the Washington Nationals. They'll face Stephen Strasburg in one of those contests (Tuesday) while losing the designated hitter for both games, meaning Yonder Alonso will probably be relegated to pinch-hitting duty while Jose Abreu handles first base. Limit your White Sox exposure in shallow mixed leagues to Abreu, Tim Anderson, Eloy Jimenez and Yoan Moncada.
Four of the five members of the Minnesota Twins rotation are still available in at least 25 percent of ESPN leagues, with ace Jose Berrios (99.2 percent rostered) the only one who's not. All five are well worth your consideration during Week 10 as they hit the road to face the Cleveland Indians (4.07, 24th) and Detroit Tigers (3.41, 29th), two of the bottom-seven teams in terms of runs-per-game this season, for three games apiece. Rookie Devin Smeltzer, who tossed six brilliant shutout innings in his May 28 big-league debut against the Brewers, is currently lined up for a two-start week and is well worth your consideration if he remains on that schedule. If not, Martin Perez (36 percent available), who has pushed his four-seam fastball to its highest average velocity of his career while introducing an effective cutter, would get the assignment. Perez would still be worth your while even as a one-start pitcher, though, pitching Wednesday's game at Cleveland's Progressive Field. As for the team's closer candidates, Blake Parker, who seems to get the majority of the chances, is worth a look, given the team's favorable matchups this week. Even in a closer-by-committee, he could net a pair (or more) of save opportunities. Those in deeper leagues might also sneak in a save from left-hander Taylor Rogers.
While their weekly matchups favor left-handed over right-handed hitters, the Atlanta Braves still have a rock-solid top-six, all of them worth your lineup consideration in every league -- despite four of them batting from the right side of the plate. Rookie No. 6 hitter Austin Riley, incredibly, remains available in 47 percent of ESPN leagues. For those in deep-mixed or NL-only leagues, consider using Brian McCann (96 percent available), a .303/.374/.461 hitter against right-handers this season.
If you're looking for righty/lefty matchup advantages among players more suited for deep-mixed (14 teams or more) or "only" leagues, consider the following options: Hanser Alberto (99 percent available in ESPN leagues), a .403/.403/.565 hitter against lefties this season, Renato Nunez (95 percent), a .294/.351/.632 hitter against lefties, and Pedro Severino (99-plus percent), a .333/.390/.649 hitter against lefties, whose Orioles face three left-handed starters. Also on the table are Derek Dietrich (81 percent available), a .266/.377/.761 hitter against righties, whose Cincinnati Reds face four right-handed starters, Greg Garcia (99-plus percent available), a .286/.390/.440 hitter against righties, whose San Diego Padres face six right-handed starters, Brett Gardner (74 percent available), a .257/.343/.493 hitter against righties, whose New York Yankees face five right-handed starters, Howie Kendrick (89 percent available), a .372/.372/.628 hitter against lefties, whose Nationals face three left-handed starters, Jordan Luplow (98 percent available), a .313/.377/.813 hitter against lefties, whose Indians face three left-handed starters and Neil Walker (98 percent available), a .315/.388/.484 hitter against righties, whose Marlins face five right-handed starters.