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Monday of fantasy's Week 21 is Labor Day, and with it comes a much earlier start to our week. The first of seven day games, among 13 total, begins at 12:35 p.m. ET, as the New York Mets visit the Pittsburgh Pirates on a game broadcast on ESPN+. Make sure you set your lineups before heading out for any holiday activities!
For the remainder of your daily lineup planning, all 15 games on Tuesday begin at night, the first scheduled for 6:35 p.m. ET. Wednesday has five day games, the earliest being the Milwaukee Brewers at Colorado Rockies at 3:10 p.m. ET, among 15 total. Thursday has three day games, the first being Washington Nationals at St. Louis Cardinals at 1:15 p.m. ET, among seven total. Friday has one day game, San Francisco Giants at Chicago Cubs at 4:05 p.m. ET, among 15 total. Saturday has four day games, the earliest being Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees at 1:05 p.m. ET, among 15 total. Sunday's games begin at 1:05 p.m. ET, which is the scheduled start times of two of 14 day games and 15 overall, the day's slate concluding with Giants at Cubs on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball at 8 p.m. ET.
Additional ESPN+ games for Week 21 include Minnesota Twins at Yankees on Thursday at 7:05 p.m. ET, Rays at Yankees on Friday at 7:05 p.m. ET, Giants at Cubs on Saturday at 2:20 p.m. ET, and Cleveland Guardians at Twins on Sunday at 2:10 p.m. ET.
In ESPN standard head-to-head leagues, Week 21 begins the fantasy playoffs. If you've advanced this far, congratulations! This week is the first of a two-week, first-round playoff matchup, beginning with the games on Monday, Sept. 5, and spanning through Sunday, Sept. 18 (Sunday of Week 22). The winners of those matchups will then square off in the championship round, which begins Monday, Sept. 19, and lasts through Wednesday, Oct. 5 (the final day of what will be an extended, 10-day Week 24).
There are three makeup games during Week 21, and two of them are a Giants at Brewers doubleheader on Thursday, those making up the remaining 2-of-3 that were postponed by the lockout in early April. That gives each of the Brewers and Giants eight-game weeks, a noticeable advantage in a week where only nine teams are scheduled to play as many as seven times. It's a continuation of what has been an extremely favorable portion of the Brewers' schedule, and while the team has sputtered through the early stages of it, winning only 4-of-7 games in what's ultimately an 18-games-in-17-days stretch against sub-.500 teams, it still grants opportunity to this playoff-hopeful team. Three games at hitters' heaven Colorado's Coors Field to begin Week 21 alone significantly boosts the fantasy appeal of Brewers hitters, who on the whole are above-league-average, but it only helps that the Giants have fifth starter Jakob Junis and a doubleheader spot starter aligned for Thursday, plus three weekend home games against a patchwork Cincinnati Reds rotation represents another matchups plus for Brewers bats. Hunter Renfroe (19.7% available in ESPN leagues), a .283/.365/.551 hitter with 10 home runs while starting 36-of-37 team games since the All-Star break, and Kolten Wong (35.4% available), a .301/.382/.522 hitter while starting 31-of-37 in that time, have moved firmly into fifth-sixth spots in the order and should be activated everywhere. On the mound, a Tuesday Coors assignment detracts from Brandon Woodruff's two-start week, but his weekend home game against the Reds is favorable enough to propel them into any fantasy lineup. Eric Lauer, projected to pitch at Coors on Wednesday and 0-4 with a 14.63 ERA in five career starts there, is the Brewers pitcher to avoid.
Jack Flaherty (shoulder, 60-day IL) had already been scheduled to rejoin the Cardinals on Monday, even before his 6⅔-inning, three-run, nine-strikeout, 102-pitch Aug. 31 outing for Double-A Springfield, but his promising ramp-up over five minor league rehabilitation starts sets him up brilliantly for what'll be a two-start week of favorable matchups against the Nationals (Monday, home) and Pirates (Saturday, road). His return provides the highlight for this fellow National League Central contending team that is also concluding a stretch of 13 games in 14 days against sub-.500 teams, one that's only snapped by the aforementioned Brewers and these Cardinals battling head-to-head to begin fantasy's Week 22. The Cardinals' offense is led by higher-profile fantasy stars than that of the Brewers, but Lars Nootbaar (69.5% available) continues to get mentions in this space for his recent play, expanded role and absurdly low roster percentage, while Tyler O'Neill (29.2%), a disappointment over the full season to date, is on a .262/.370/.574, six-homer, 18-game hot streak that should earn him universal activation for the week. The only shame of this schedule is that all seven Cardinals games are projected against right-handed starters -- by the way, the Nationals' Patrick Corbin is the only other current lefty in either opponent's rotation -- meaning Albert Pujols (82.0%), a .191/.291/.321 hitter against right-handers, aligns poorly for NL-only and deep-mixed purposes.
While we're on the topic of pitchers recovering from injuries, Zack Wheeler (forearm, 15-day IL) was on track to rejoin the Philadelphia Phillies' rotation early in the week, but following a setback his return date will now be pushed back, presumably beyond Week 21. Barring a quick turnaround of events before the week begins, leave him on your bench. From the lower rankings tiers, Hunter Greene (shoulder, 15-day IL) has an outside chance at a Sunday return to the Reds, having thrown 28 effective pitches for Triple-A Louisville on Sept. 1. He'll make another minor league rehab start on Tuesday for Louisville, but if he returns this week, he'd likely be pitch-capped and he'd face the Brewers, against whom he has a 9.69 ERA in three starts. Michael Lorenzen (shoulder, 60-day IL) made his final minor league rehab start for Class A Inland Empire on Sept. 2, setting him up to rejoin the Los Angeles Angels on Friday. As he has been largely ineffective in two rehab starts and a Friday return means a road start against the Houston Astros, he should be left on fantasy benches.
The Atlanta Braves are the only team facing a five-game schedule, though two of those are extremely fantasy-friendly road matchups against the Oakland Athletics. A three-game weekend series at the Seattle Mariners, however, includes games against projected starters Robbie Ray (Friday) and George Kirby (Saturday). Consider it a below-average schedule from a weekly-transactions standpoint, but there are bright spots, including Spencer Strider's (Tuesday) and Kyle Wright's (Wednesday) easy matchups and that this offense, which has a second-best .344 wOBA against lefties as well as a 25-point wOBA split favoring that side, is projected to face four left-handed starters in those five games.
The Toronto Blue Jays are involved in the week's only other rescheduled game, as their four-game, week-opening series at the Baltimore Orioles includes a Monday doubleheader, with one of the games making up their Aug. 10 rainout. As both the Orioles and Texas Rangers, their three-game weekend opponent, have rotations that rank in the game's bottom 10 in ERA, it's a good opportunity for this offense to build up some momentum heading into a critical Week 22 against their intradivisional wild-card competition (the Orioles included, whom they'll rematch). This would be a good week to speculate on rebounds from colder Blue Jays bats, like Bo Bichette, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Alejandro Kirk.
You can't go wrong with Rockies hitters when they get full weeks at Coors, even when one of their projected opposing starters is the aforementioned Woodruff (Tuesday). The team's weekend three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks more than counterbalances that matchups challenge, and there are a projected two games against lefty starters. The Rockies have a 29-point wOBA split favoring greater success against lefties, and Randal Grichuk (47.6% available), now playing nearly every day, is a .319/.344/.569 hitter against left-handers who has begun leading off against that side. Additionally, Brendan Rodgers (21.5%), Jose Iglesias (81.6%) and Elehuris Montero (99.0%), .314/.377/.491, .309/.338/.453 and .283/.313/.522 hitters against lefties, are all worth consideration in larger-than-standard fantasy leagues, in that order.