Teams to Target with Fantasy Baseball Opposing Pitchers: Baltimore and Cleveland Make the List

It's often said that Memorial Day is a point on the calendar when you can start believing in team records and player performance. Each team has played between 51 and 55 games entering Monday; we're creeping toward one-third of the season being gone.

Some things are making sense: The Dodgers lead their division, while the Rockies and White Sox are in last place. There have also been some surprises, like the Orioles holding the second-worst record in the American League.

We have seen about 200 at-bats for the top hitters and 10 starts for pitchers who have stayed healthy. That's not a lot, but it's enough to start making some informed decisions about guys who might be improving or seeing their skills erode. In such a small sample, a slump or a few good stretches might also be lying to us; things aren't going to stay the same as they are at the end of May.

Every few weeks, I like to look at the teams who stand out as bad offensive units that we can target with opposing pitchers in fantasy baseball. It would be great to have a team full of aces, but things aren't usually that simple. Finding guys who can perform like aces because of a positive matchup can help you accumulate valuable innings when those top guys aren't available.

Let's look at the teams that stand out right now as fantasy targets. I'll go through the process I used to identify the teams then give you the franchises who currently stand out as the worst offensive groups. Stats are from MLB.com and accurate as of Monday morning.

The Process

I used 10 offensive box stats: runs, hits, doubles, home runs, walks, strikeouts, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS. I counted how many times each team showed up in the bottom 10 (or close to it) in each of those stats. The teams most often in the bottom 10s are the ones I look to target with opposing pitchers in fantasy baseball.

It's not perfect; there's not much for advanced stats, and it can overlook recent trends, but teams who are in the bottom 10 in a bunch of offensive stats usually aren't hiding any underlying performance that's about to kick in and push them to be an above-average group.

Teams to Target

Each time I do this exercise, there are about 10 teams that stand out as ones to target. This time, I came up with nine real targets and three more quasi-targets that we can use on days where the schedule is light or we don't have a lot of streaming options.

Top Targets

• Chicago White Sox
• Colorado Rockies
• Pittsburgh Pirates

There's not a whole lot to say here: these might be the three worst teams in baseball, and their offenses are easily bottom-five units.

Daily Targets

• Baltimore Orioles
• Cleveland Guardians
• Texas Rangers

These squads are worth targeting essentially every day. They rank in the bottom 10 in most offensive box stats and don't stand out anywhere in a way that makes them too scary (though they all do hit home runs at an average rate). I'll be looking at these teams when trying to find my streaming pitchers each day/week.

Worth Targeting

• Kansas City Royals
• Minnesota Twins
• Tampa Bay Rays

We can say that these teams have been bottom-10 offenses so far, but they are closer to the middle than the six teams in the previous two tiers. When looking for streamers, I'm starting with the first few tiers then moving to KC, Minnesota, and Tampa if I haven't found enough feasible options.

I still feel good about a decent (or better) pitcher against these teams, but they don't offer the same type of ceiling as a team like Colorado or the White Sox.

Just Missed the Cut

• Los Angeles Angels
• Milwaukee Brewers
• San Francisco Giants

If we don't find enough streamers from the nine target teams, this is the next group where I'll look for quasi-streamers. These teams have recently been targets, but they probably aren't in that bottom-10 group right now. They're still below average, and they offer decent outlooks for opponents, but I will only look at these teams for streamers if I'm out of other options or if the schedule is very light.

The Angels and Brewers have bounced on and off the target list a little bit recently, with Milwaukee standing out as a group who has been struggling recently. The Angels are on the opposite trajectory, having won eight in a row recently before dropping their past two games.

Conclusion

These are mostly teams who have stood out as bottom offensive groups all season. You might not need many intricate numbers to tell you that the White Sox, Rockies, and Pirates are the worst offensive teams in baseball, but franchises like Texas, Cleveland, and Baltimore have recent playoff success that might make you think they are closer to the top teams, not ones you should be looking to go after each day.

This list is fluid and will change again soon; we are simply taking a snapshot on Memorial Day. The teams we go after most probably aren't going anywhere, though, and are safe to target until they show any kind of sustained success.