Fantasy baseball lineup advice: Pfaadt, Bradley lead Monday streamers

Look for our fantasy baseball starting pitcher rankings, hitter upgrades and downgrades daily to help you make smart fantasy baseball lineup decisions and for MLB betting tips . MLB game odds are provided by ESPN BET , and fantasy advice is geared toward ESPN 10-team leagues with standard scoring .

Note: This file will be updated with any overnight pitching changes or weather-related game postponements, along with the addition of the latest MLB game odds as of the indicated time of publication.

No problems in Houston

At the end of April, the Houston Astros were in last place in the AL West, with a 10-19 record. At the end of May, they climbed to third place but were still eight games under .500 at 25-33. After a 17-8 June, the Astros were in second place, just 4.5 games behind the Seattle Mariners , but only two back in the loss column. Entering Sunday's action, the Astros were atop the division at 66-56, four games ahead of the Mariners.

Like all 30 of the major league teams, the Astros were bitten hard by the injury bug, with their pitching hit harder than most. Framber Valdez has been steady all season. Ronel Blanco has been a pleasant surprise. Hunter Brown's turnaround has not so coincidentally coincided with the Astros' surge in the standings. Veteran Justin Verlander is expected to help down the stretch. Even so, the club fortified its rotation at the trade deadline, acquiring Yusei Kikuchi from the Toronto Blue Jays . The Astros won all three of his starts so far, with Kikuchi collecting the win in the past two. He has recorded a 2.70 ERA and 0.96 WHIP in 16⅔ innings since the deal, fanning 24 while issuing six walks. Kikuchi's bugaboo is the long ball. He has surrendered a palatable two over this span.

For the season, Kikuchi has administered 19 homers in 132⅓ innings. However, nine came in the span of six games, covering 28⅔ innings. That means the lefty allowed only 10 homers in the remaining 103⅔ frames. Of course, every hurler's stat line would look better by selectively ignoring the subpar efforts, but looking at Kikuchi's season in this manner could help assuage lingering biases.

Even with a career best 27.4% strikeout rate a career low 6.4% walk rate this season, Kikuchi is rostered in only 44.9% of ESPN leagues, up from around 33% at the time of the trade.

On Monday, Kikuchi and the Astros welcome the Boston Red Sox to Minute Maid Park for the opener of a three-game set. It's an intriguing matchup since the Red Sox's lineup feeds into Kikuchi's ability to miss bats, but they've been productive facing southpaw pitching over the past month. Even so, in most leagues, Kikuchi warrants an active spot in a fantasy lineup. The exception is teams in season-long leagues with tightly contested ratio categories.

Everything else you need to know for Monday

• The slate's top-ranked streaming option is Monday's second-highest pitcher overall. The Arizona Diamondbacks ' Brandon Pfaadt (46.9% rostered) has a favorable road date with the Miami Marlins . The right-hander is coming off one of the best outings of his fledgling career, tying a career high with 11 strikeouts with no walks at home against the Colorado Rockies . Matching that will be a challenge, but the Marlins sport the league's third-lowest wOBA facing righties with the 12th-highest strikeout rate.
• Tampa Bay Rays SP Taj Bradley (43.3% rostered) seemingly caught a break when his scheduled Sunday start against the Diamondbacks was pushed to Monday facing the Oakland Athletics . It was the right call with opener Drew Rasmussen and primary pitcher Tyler Alexander keeping the league's top-scoring offense in check. Now it's up to Bradley to do the same against a much less daunting lineup. The Athletics' wOBA facing righties is the 11th poorest in the league, in large part due to the third-highest strikeout rate with a right-hander on the hill. Bradley hasn't compiled enough innings to qualify, but if he did, his 28.5% strikeout rate would rank ninth.
• San Francisco Giants LHP Kyle Harrison (28.6% rostered) draws the enviable start in the opener of a home series with the Chicago White Sox . Harrison has posted a 4.32 ERA and 1.12 WHIP in five outings since the break. He has fanned an impressive 30 batters in 25 stanzas over that span, but he also has served up six homers. Since the break, the White Sox have clubbed a league-low 21 long balls, and they'll have to deal with a huge park downgrade from their home venue.

Starting pitcher rankings for Monday

Reliever report

To get the latest information on each team's bullpen hierarchy, as well as which pitchers might be facing a bit of fatigue and who might be the most likely suspects to vulture a save or pick up a surprise hold in their stead, check out the latest Closer Chart , which will be updated every morning.

Hitting report

Plan ahead in fantasy baseball with help from our Forecaster projections. Each day, we will provide an updated preview of the next 10 days for every team, projecting the matchup quality for hitters (overall and by handedness) as well as for base stealers.

Best Sub-50% rostered hitters for Monday

Best and worst hitters from the day are generated by THE BAT X, a projection system created by Derek Carty using advanced methods like those used in MLB front offices, accounting for a variety of factors including player talent, ballparks, bullpens, weather, umpires, defense, catcher pitch-framing, and lots more.

• Oneil Cruz (PIT, SS -- 49%) at Jose Urena
• Joc Pederson (ARI, LF -- 17%) at Adam Oller
• Michael Massey (KC, 2B -- 2%) vs. Carson Fulmer
• Josh Bell (ARI, 1B -- 40%) at Oller
• LaMonte Wade Jr . (SF, 1B -- 4%) vs. Jonathan Cannon
• Michael Conforto (SF, RF -- 13%) vs. Cannon
• Taylor Ward (LAA, LF -- 40%) at Seth Lugo
• Nathaniel Lowe (TEX, 1B -- 18%) vs. Luis Ortiz
• J.D. Martinez (NYM, DH -- 12%) vs. Trevor Rogers
• Daulton Varsho (TOR, LF -- 35%) vs. Julian Aguiar

Worst Over-50% rostered hitters for Monday

• Triston Casas (BOS, 1B -- 50%) at Yusei Kikuchi
• Jackson Holliday (BAL, SS -- 60%) at David Peterson
• Jeremy Pena (HOU, SS -- 51%) vs. Tanner Houck
• J arren Duran (BOS, CF -- 97%) at Kikuchi
• Royce Lewis (MIN, 3B -- 86%) at Michael King
• Masataka Yoshida (BOS, LF -- 56%) at Kikuchi
• Yainer Diaz (HOU, C -- 91%) vs. Houck
• Spencer Steer (CIN, 1B -- 96%) at Kevin Gausman
• Brent Rooker (OAK, RF -- 86%) vs. Taj Bradley
• Cedric Mullins (BAL, CF -- 54%) at Peterson