At this point, there isn’t much we can offer those who still play in their Fantasy Baseball leagues. Of course, you can add pitchers to stream in daily leagues like Logan Gilbert and Michael Pineda on Wednesday or Joe Ryan or Alex Cobb on Thursday, but most of our analysis going forward will be geared towards 2022. You can actually find them. Scott White’s first two rounds for next season here and one player you won’t find in that top 24 is Francisco Lindor.

Lindor has been a disappointment in his first season with the Mets, facing an oblique injury and underperformance for most of the season. The key word is more. I know we don’t want to put a lot of stock in small samples, but Lindor looked a lot alike here in September. For the month, it beats .258 with eight home runs and a .911 OPS. Flying bullets, average output speed and gun rate are also very high, which supports the output power. Join me on a little storytelling street trip, but plenty of Superstars have struggled in their first year of a mega contract, especially during the league change. I guess the Mets have a new manager and potentially some new attacking pieces next year, which can only help Lindor. I have no idea where his first ADP will start, but I will be interested if he is available in the intermediate rounds.

Of course, as always, you can follow along to make sure you get the latest Fantasy Baseball Today episodes as soon as they drop on Apple and Spotify.

Streaking Cards win a wild card

This one isn’t exactly specific to Fantasy Baseball, but it’s the best story in baseball, so we have to cover it. On Tuesday, the St. Louis Cardinals took him 17th in a row to clinch a wild card spot. They clinched the second wildcard slot, and that 17-game winning streak is now MLB’s second longest in the past 60 years.

Adam Wainwright got the job done for St. Louis in what has been a season of recovery for the veteran, playing six innings and allowing just two earned runs on seven hits and two walks. He pulled out four and claimed his 17th win of the season. He also now holds a 3.05 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP while chewing 206 1/3 innings to go with those 17 wins. He’s more than Fantasy relevant in 2021 – he’s a Fantasy asset. Those who picked him up in free agency after his first strong starts were amply rewarded, and he even delivered a last great start for those still playing in the Roto leagues.

Contreras receives the late call

Better late than never for those lead calls, right ?! The Pirates are joining the party by inviting potential pitcher Roansy Contreras to take on the Cubs tonight. Contreras is the prospect who entered the Jameson Taillon business. He is a 21-year-old who has made 12 combined starts this season in Double-A and one in Triple-A. He had a 2.64 ERA with a 0.93 WHIP and 82 strikeouts in just 58 innings pitched. That said, Contreras has also pitched no more than 3.2 innings in each of his last four starts (65 throws, which is what he threw in his most recent start).

Robert keeps lighting up

Hopefully this isn’t a small sample playing tricks on us (an expensive trick that will see it go uncovered next March), but Luis Robert’s White Sox continued their dominance on Tuesday with a double dong night. He’s now beating .349 with 12 home runs and five sacks in just 64 games. During his career, Robert played 120 games at the major league level and has 23 homers, averaging 0.298 and 14 steals.

The biggest difference for Robert may well be his strikeout rate, which has gone from 32% to 20% this season. But as we’ve learned with the 60-game season, we can get ourselves in trouble with these little samples. He will be one of the most interesting players to watch from an ADP perspective this spring.

News and Notes

• Jacob of Grom won’t officially launch this season anymore, which is no surprise.
• The reds have placed Luis Castillo on the family medical emergency list Monday, but he will return and make his final start on Friday against the Pirates.
• Ryan pressly was not available for Tuesday’s win over the Rays due to a knee injury “which has bothered him in the past.”
• Starling Marte missed the last two games due to a lat injury.
• Jameson taillon was released on Tuesday morning after appearing to worsen his ankle injury.
• Brandon belt was placed on the IL with a fractured thumb, retroactive to September 27.
• Michael brantley could come back from IL in the next 2-3 days.
• Antoine Santander went to IL with a sprained right knee.
• Astros manager Dusty Baker said on Tuesday that Zack Greinke will “probably not” make another regular season start and that there is a “distinct possibility” of the pitcher working out of the relieving box during the playoffs.
• Yandy diaz was withdrawn on Tuesday due to discomfort to the left rib.
• Singer Brady was withdrawn from the start due to discomfort in his right arm.
• André Benintendi came out with an apparent knee injury.
• Nick anderson was put back on the IL while Andrew Kittredge was reinstated by the Rays.
• Carlos Rodon will start Wednesday against the Reds, but I guess he’s on a short leash. There is a very early simulation right now where I saw Matt Williams tweeting. Rodon was SP23 out of the pick 73 draw.
• Padres manager Jayce Tingler said Yu darvish starting against the Dodgers on Tuesday will likely be his last outing of the season.
• Willy adames was scratched Tuesday due to left quad discomfort, the same injury he suffered earlier at IL.
• Royals manager Mike Matheny said on Tuesday that Carlos hernandez will not start this week but will be available outside the bullpen.
• Four reds: Jesse Winker, Mike Moustakas, Wade Miley and Shogo Akiyama, were excluded for the remainder of the season.
• Yadier Molina was scratched due to shoulder pain.
• Alec bohm was recalled from AAA on Tuesday but was not in the starting lineup.
• Albert Pujols was placed on the IL without any injury designation, which means it is likely related to COVID.
• Bailey Ober was placed on the IL with a hip deformity.
• Pretty cool moments in recent days:
• Monday, when Bradley Zimmer beat his brother Kyle.
• Noah syndergaard made his comeback as a game opener on Tuesday, striking out two of the three strike hitters he faced.