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Paul Blackburn or Riley O'Brien

Who Should I Start? - Week 19 • Start New
Paul Blackburn

Paul Blackburn

RP • New York Yankees NYY
Riley O'Brien

Riley O'Brien

RP • St. Louis Cardinals STL
OR
🔓 EXPERT ANALYSIS

Owners starting Blackburn over O'Brien

 
 
 
 
START BOTH START BENCH BOTH BN

Includes Detailed Projections

Learn More
Latest News Paul Blackburn
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🔓 EXPERT ANALYSIS

Owners starting O'Brien over Blackburn

 
 
 
 
START BOTH START BENCH BOTH BN

Includes Detailed Projections

Learn More
Outlook Riley O'Brien

Riley O'Brien maintains dominant closer role amid heavy late-inning usage

Riley O'Brien has been heavily active over the last 30 days, posting a 2.22 ERA and striking out 11 batters across 8.1 frames. The Cardinals sit fourth in the NL Central with a 52-49 record and continue to lean heavily on O'Brien at the back of the bullpen, supported by his team-leading closer role on the depth chart despite teammate JoJo Romero landing on the injured list with appendicitis.

His recent stretch aligns closely with his stellar 2026 campaign, where he has locked down 26 saves with a 3.84 ERA and nearly a strikeout per inning. While his last 7 days featured a bit more traffic with four walks over 2.1 innings, his season-long performance underscores that his elite save production and strong strikeout baseline are entirely sustainable anchors for fantasy ratios.

The Cardinals have a busy week ahead, hosting matchups against Arizona and Cincinnati. O'Brien will look to add to his save total while navigating games against teams like the Reds, whose starters feature varying ratio risks such as Rhett Lowder's 5.94 ERA. Given his locked-in role at the end of games and immense volume of high-leverage opportunities, he remains a mandatory option for fantasy managers. Start.

Updated 2 days ago

Latest News Riley O'Brien
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Next Up ❱ Performance Comparison
Performance Paul Blackburn
Fantasy Chart Loading...

ERA W-L HLD SV SO WLK WHIP GP
0.001-000420.732
Season stats based on the past 7 days

ERA W-L HLD SV SO WLK WHIP GP
0.001-001630.564
Season stats based on the past 14 days
Performance Riley O'Brien
Fantasy Chart Loading...

ERA W-L HLD SV SO WLK WHIP GP
16.360-101434.552
Season stats based on the past 7 days

ERA W-L HLD SV SO WLK WHIP GP
5.810-103652.584
Season stats based on the past 14 days
Next Up ❱ Own/Start Comparison
OWN/START Paul Blackburn
OWN
 
3%
+2.69 compared to last week
START
 
3%
+2.24 compared to last week
OWN/START Riley O'Brien
OWN
85%
+1.49 compared to last week
START
82%
+0.16 compared to last week
Next Up ❱ Consensus Rankings
Expert Consensus Paul Blackburn
Not Ranked
Average Ranking of Fantasy Experts
Expert Consensus Riley O'Brien
18th
Average Ranking of Fantasy Experts
Next Up ❱ Player Breakdowns
Breakdown Paul Blackburn

    Overview

  • Experts don't even rank him among RP's. Based on his stats from the past 60 days, he is currently ranked 24th.
  • The current leader among RP's is Jacob Latz

    • Trending Pitching Stats

  • Top 25 in WHIP and is currently ranked 24th with 0.88
  • Top 25 in ERA and is currently ranked 23rd with 1.27
  • Not too impressive with strikeouts and is currently ranked 159th with 26
  • Top 75 in saves and is currently ranked 71st with 1
  • His average points in the past two weeks have increased by 1.6 PPG.
  • At this point in the season his numbers compared to last years: W: +3, L: -2, WHIP: -0.974, ERA: -6.029, K's: +26, Walks: +11
Breakdown Riley O'Brien

    Overview

  • Experts rank this player at 19th among RP's. Based on his stats from the past 60 days, he is currently ranked 117th.
  • The current leader among RP's is Jacob Misiorowski
  • He is doing dreadful lately. If he is star player then he should rebound.

    • Trending Pitching Stats

  • Currently ranked 188th in WHIP with 1.58
  • Currently ranked 170th in ERA with 4.74
  • Top 25 in walks and is currently ranked 23rd with 13
  • Not too impressive with strikeouts and is currently ranked 244th with 17
  • He is among the best in saves and is currently ranked 5th with 13
  • His average points in the past two weeks have remained fairly consistant and rose slightly by 0.1 PPG.
  • At this point in the season his numbers compared to last years: W: +3, L: +4, WHIP: -0.302, ERA: +1.607, K's: +17, Walks: +4
Next Up ❱ Health Check
Injury Paul Blackburn

No Injury Reported

Injury Riley O'Brien

No Injury Reported

Next Up ❱ Matchup Comparison
Matchups Paul Blackburn
DateOpponentResult
Jul 20VS PITAngel ChivilliW 8-5
Jul 21VS PIT
Jul 22VS PITMason MontgomeryL 3-5
Jul 22VS PITPaul BlackburnW 2-0
Jul 24@PHICam SchlittlerW 0-1
Jul 25@PHI
Jul 26@PHICristopher Sanchez
Week Today Home Away
ERA W-L HLD SV SO WLK WHIP GP
0.001-000310.501
Season stats based on this weeks opponents
Matchups Riley O'Brien
DateOpponentResult
Jul 20@LAAJose FerminL 3-2
Jul 21@LAAWalbert UrenaL 5-1
Jul 22@LAAHunter DobbinsW 0-1
Jul 23VS ARIBrandon PfaadtL 6-10
Jul 24VS CINJulian GarciaL 2-4
Jul 25VS CINHunter Greene
Jul 26VS CINAndrew Abbott
Week Today Home Away
ERA W-L HLD SV SO WLK WHIP GP
2.900-205961.947
Season stats based on this weeks opponents
Next Up ❱ Ratings Comparison
Rating Paul Blackburn
8.28
FantasySP Player Rating
Rating Riley O'Brien
9.20
FantasySP Player Rating
Next Up ❱ Career Comparison
Career Paul Blackburn
YEAR TM APP INN PC K WLK SV W-L ERA WHIP K/9 PTS
2017 OAK 10 58.2 937 22 16 0 3-1 3.22 1.26 3.4 108
2018 OAK 6 27.2 442 19 6 0 2-3 7.16 1.41 6.2 47
2019 OAK 4 11.0 224 8 4 0 0-2 10.64 2.09 6.6 -1
2021 OAK 9 39.1 681 26 10 0 1-4 5.72 1.58 6 32
2022 OAK 21 112.0 1762 89 30 0 7-6 4.26 1.25 7.2 206
2023 OAK 21 103.2 1875 104 43 0 4-7 4.6 1.55 9 178
2024 OAK 14 75.1 1212 59 21 0 5-4 4.66 1.29 7.1 148
2025 NYM 16 40.1 702 34 12 1 0-3 6.92 1.61 7.6 41
2026 NYY 35 49.1 757 41 18 1 3-1 2.19 1.14 7.5 124
ON PACE 55 78 1190 64 28 1 4-1 2.19 1.14 7.5 195
3-YEAR AVG 17 72 1263 66 25 0 3-5 5.05 1.47 8.1 122
Career 136 510.1 8592 402 160 0 0-0 4.74 1.4 7.1
Career Riley O'Brien
YEAR TM APP INN PC K WLK SV W-L ERA WHIP K/9 PTS
2021 CIN 1 2.0 42 2 3 0 0-1 9 2.5 9 -5
2022 SEA 1 1.0 23 1 1 0 0-0 0 2 9 2
2024 STL 8 8.0 194 11 8 0 0-0 11.25 2.5 12.4 7
2025 STL 42 43.1 758 45 22 6 3-1 2.28 1.27 9.4 142
2026 STL 42 41.2 694 44 17 26 3-4 3.67 1.22 9.5 210
ON PACE 66 65 1091 69 26 40 4-6 3.67 1.22 9.5 330
3-YEAR AVG 25 25 476 28 15 3 2-1 3.86 1.48 9.8 75
Career 94 91.1 1711 103 51 0 0-0 3.94 1.46 10.2
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Matchups

Week 1
ARI @LAC
ATL @PIT
BAL @IND
BUF @HOU
CAR vs CHI
CIN vs TB
CLE @JAC
DAL @NYG
DEN @KC
DET vs NO
GB @MIN
LAR vs SF
LV vs MIA
NE @SEA
NYJ @TEN
PHI vs WAS
Matchup Time Pitchers
ARI @WAS 04:05 EDT EST Mitch Bratt
Foster Griffin
ATH @MIN 07:10 EDT EST Mason Barnett
ATL @BAL 07:05 EDT EST Bryce Elder
Brandon Young
BOS vs TOR 04:10 EDT EST Sonny Gray
Dylan Cease
CHC @PIT 06:40 EDT EST Shota Imanaga
Paul Skenes
CHW vs HOU 07:10 EDT EST Sean Burke
Hunter Brown
CIN @STL 07:15 EDT EST Hunter Greene
Andre Pallante
CLE @TB 06:10 EDT EST Tanner Bibee
Nick Martinez
COL @MIL 07:10 EDT EST Ryan Feltner
Robert Gasser
DET vs KC 01:10 EDT EST Casey Mize
Michael Wacha
LAA @SF 04:05 EDT EST Ryan Johnson
Robbie Ray
LAD @NYM 07:15 EDT EST Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Nolan McLean
MIA vs SD 04:10 EDT EST Eury Perez
JP Sears
NYY @PHI 06:05 EDT EST Ryan Weathers
SEA @TEX 07:15 EDT EST Bryan Woo
Nathan Eovaldi
Matchup Time
No games scheduled
Matchup Time
No games scheduled