Welcome back to baseball. How did it feel to set your lineup after taking this past Monday off? Pretty good, right?
Well, it's already time to set it again.
It is, anyway, if your league treated the first weekend after the All-Star break, meaning Thursday through Sunday, as its own distinct scoring period. Not everyone did. Some combined it with the first full week for a supersized 11-day scoring period. If that's your league, then this article doesn't apply to you, plain and simple. It's only for those who are beginning a new scoring period Monday, a scoring period that I'm going to call Week 18.
As usual, I've limited my selection to those rostered in less than 80 percent of CBS Sports leagues. All information is up to date as of late Sunday.
Sleeper pitchers for Week 18 (July 20-26)
How amazing is it that Emmet Sheehan now qualifies for this list? His outings have tended to be short and more erratic than you'd expect for as good a bat-misser as he is, but he has the sort of choice matchups this week that might allow him to deliver on his upside.
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Jack Flaherty has looked good in three starts since returning from an ankle injury, but he had regained his bat-missing powers well before then, putting together a 2.55 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 11.0 K/9 in his past seven turns. The first of his two matchups this week is pretty risky, but the Royals still make for a nice one.
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A poor outing at the Red Sox over the weekend has put Ian Seymour back on shaky ground in Fantasy, but I'd still recommend him against a Blue Jays lineup that ranks in the bottom five in runs scored. Despite his modest velocity readings, he's had no shortage of missed bats since joining the Rays rotation, as was also true in the minors.
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Shane Drohan's fastball is a bat-missing marvel, and he always seemed like he'd be worth pursuing in Fantasy if only he would work as deep as a conventional starter. Well, now he has three straight outings of six-plus innings, and his next will come against the Rockies away from Coors Field.
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Now back in the starting rotation, Reynaldo Lopez seems to be reinvigorated, getting his average fastball velocity up to where it was during his impressive 2024 season. He has yet to go beyond five innings but has built up his pitch count enough that it should be possible. Either way, he'll get two bites at the apple this week, including one against the worst offense in baseball.
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Michael McGreevy has emerged as a quality start machine this year, having delivered seven in his past eight outings and 13 overall. His biggest shortcoming is that he doesn't get strikeouts, but that could change this week with him facing the most strikeout-prone lineup in baseball.
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Shane Baz has been more serviceable than dominant this year, and you definitely need to pick your spots with him in Fantasy. The Red Sox and Braves lineups were both struggling before the break, but they've been hot to start the second half. Still, there are two chances at a quality outing here.
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Andrew Abbott seems like he's barely been keeping it together this year, with the walks in particular climbing to an unacceptable range. But he remains enough of a quality start candidate for points leaguers to give him a go with his two solid matchups this week.
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Kyle Leahy wouldn't seem to have much going for him, judging by the contact quality and strikeout-to-walk ratio, but he's been a steady enough performer for you to hold your breath and give him a go in a two-start week. It helps that his opponents are two of the three most strikeout-prone.
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Going deeper with this one, but it makes sense with two bottom-10 offenses on the schedule. Luinder Avila has been limited to five innings at a time, and with a strikeout-to-walk ratio that's downright nauseating, but he's managed to limit damage thanks in large part to a 48 percent ground ball rate.
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