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. Be sure to check back Sunday for the latest updates.
Sleeper pitchers for Week 18 (July 20-26)
A good start at the Red Sox over the weekend will likely nudge Ian Seymour over the 80 percent threshold, but for now, I'm still able to recommend him against a Blue Jays lineup that ranks in the bottom five in runs scored. Despite his modest velocity readings, he's been a bat-missing extraordinaire since joining the Rays rotation, just like he was in the minors.
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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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How amazing is it that Emmet Sheehan now qualifies for this list? His outings have tended to run short and more erratic than you'd expect for as good a bat-misser as he is, but he has the sort of choice matchup this week that might allow him to deliver on his upside.
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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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Dean Kremer has come back from a three-month IL stint doing exactly what he was before it -- i.e., making his best pitch, a splitter, the centerpiece of his arsenal. If nothing else, it's led to him missing bats at a much higher rate, and we could see additional benefits in a two-start week against a poor Red Sox lineup and a struggling Braves lineup.
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Michael McGreevy has emerged as a quality start machine this year, having delivered six in his past seven outings and 12 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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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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Brandon Young has a pretty good slider but little else to hang his hat on. Nevertheless, he's delivered six quality starts in his past nine outings, putting together a 2.96 ERA during that stretch, and is a reasonable bet to keep it going against the second-worst offense in baseball.
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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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