Corbin YoungYahoo Fantasy ContributorMon, April 20, 2026 at 3:08 PM UTC·11 min readLast week, we talked about how Pirates’ hitters were going to face juicy matchups. Brandon Lowe (2 HR, .346 BA), Spencer Horwitz (2 HR, .333 BA), Oneil Cruz (1 HR, .200) and Konnor Griffin (3 SB, .308) were the top performers, among others, in Week 4. There won’t always be hits like these, but it’s nice when they do hit, especially when poor-pitching teams align with offensive surges.
We’ll examine the notable schedule notes in the week ahead, including the teams with seven games and some with only five. Then we’ll discuss some shallow- and medium-sized leagues, plus deep league waiver wire hitters to consider.
The toughest pitcher matchups heading into Week 5 include the Rangers, Dodgers, Mariners, Padres, Phillies, Yankees, Cubs, Brewers, Rays, Tigers, Guardians and Blue Jays. Kumar Rocker projects to have a two-start week for the Rangers, but his profile is volatile, so the Yankees and Tigers could take advantage in Week 5.
Like Rocker, the Dodgers have a risky starting pitcher in Justin Wrobleski projected for a two-start week, pitching in Colorado and against the Cubs. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays have Patrick Corbin and Eric Lauer pitching earlier in the week against the Angels; there might be some offensive explosions there.
Furthermore, starting pitchers for Detroit and Tampa Bay have been more hitter-friendly from a K-BB% standpoint in 2026. The Rays play all six games at home, and their home park tends to be more pitcher-friendly, even with Jesse Scholtens, Steven Matz and Nick Martinez being wildcards. However, the Tigers’ starting rotation has several skilled players (Jack Flaherty, Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez), so we could see those numbers regress. It’s helpful to see the team-level pitcher skills and who projects to pitch for them.
It’s easy to examine the weakest pitcher matchups, making sense as we head into Week 5. Besides José Soriano, Reid Detmers and Noah Schultz (potentially), the Angels and White Sox pitchers can be favorable for opposing hitters. Pitchers for the Red Sox and Twins feel like the Tigers, where it’s a mixed bag of solid pitchers and volatile ones.
The rest of these rotations have one or two productive and skilled starting pitchers, including Jeffrey Springs, Kyle Bradish, Trevor Rogers, Mick Abel, Joe Ryan, Eury Pérez, Logan Webb and Landon Roupp. No shade to any pitchers not listed, but more so pointing out that opposing hitters should be able to find success against most of their starting rotations.
Atlanta faces six of seven right-handed pitchers in Week 5. This benefits Mike Yastrzemski and Dominic Smith. Smith has been on fire with 3 home runs and a .395 batting average (more on him later). Yastrzemski hasn’t been performing well early in 2026, but he has a career 10.1% barrel rate, so there could be some cheap home runs in Week 5.
Boston faces five right-handed pitchers in Week 5. Interestingly, the Red Sox have only faced a couple of left-handed starting pitchers, with Marcelo Mayer sitting against both. Jarren Duran projects as a strong-side platoon option, though he played against one of the lefties early in 2026.
It’s probably risky to stream Moisés Ballesteros in a weekly league since the Cubs project to face right-handed pitchers in four out of seven games in Week 5. Ballesteros is the only Cubs’ hitter to sit against all six left-handed starting pitchers early in 2026.
The Rockies project to face five out of seven right-handed starting pitchers, including four total games at home in Colorado. It’s a small sample of two games against left-handed starters, but Mickey Moniak sat against both, and Troy Johnston sat in one.
The Tigers will face five right-handed starting pitchers in Week 5. In the only game when the Tigers faced a left-handed starter, Colt Keith and Kerry Carpenter sat.
This looks like a juicy week for Dodgers’ hitters, facing José Quintana in Colorado, Tyler Mahle, Landon Roup and a struggling Logan Webb (5.25 ERA, 3.83 SIERA) in San Francisco. Then the Dodgers face Colin Rea, Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga. That’s five right-handed starting pitchers projected against the Dodgers’ hitters. Besides Hyeseong Kim and Alex Freeland, the Dodgers don’t seem to platoon often early in 2026.
The Phillies face five out of seven right-handed starting pitchers in Week 5, with the only two lefties being Boyd and Imanaga earlier in the week. Philadelphia faced seven left-handed starting pitchers in 2026, and Bryson Stott sat in four of them. Justin Crawford sat in two of the contests against left-handed starting pitchers. Stott and Crawford were the only platoon bats against lefties so far.
The Nationals will face a right-handed starting pitcher in four out of seven games in Week 5. Maybe they’re able to take advantage of Reynaldo López, Bryce Elder, Erick Fedde and Sean Burke. Nationals’ hitters have sneakily been the fourth-best in wRC+ (117) behind the Dodgers, Astros and Braves.
The Diamondbacks’ hitters will face four out of five right-handed starting pitchers in Week 5. Arizona faced a left-handed starting pitcher in five games, Alek Thomas sat in four of them. Since Adrian Del Castillo came up in early April, he sat in three of four games against left-handed starting pitchers. However, with Gabriel Moreno hitting the injured list, maybe Del Castillo plays more often.
Like the Diamondbacks, the Padres’ hitters project to face four out of five right-handed starting pitchers in Week 5. Besides San Diego’s Opening Day game, Gavin Sheets in four out of the five games they faced a left-handed starting pitcher. Be cautious when streaming Sheets in Week 5.
With Jackson’s hot start, his rostered percentage exploded over the past week. After debuting briefly in the majors in 2025, Jackson was likely an afterthought with several hitters to fit into Baltimore’s lineup. Life comes at you fast with Ryan Mountcastle, Adley Rustchman and Tyler O’Neill injured in April. Jackson has matched his five home runs from 2025 across 183 plate appearances in under 75 plate appearances in 2026. The .341 BABIP fuels his .303 batting average, but he has shown high BABIPs throughout the minors.
Jackson increased his bat speed by over 1 mph (73.2 mph) with an attempt to pull the ball often (53.1%) in 2026. Unfortunately, Jackson has been hitting the ball on the ground 51% of the time in 2026, though he somehow already hit six barrels. Meanwhile, we’ve seen Jackson’s pulled air rate jump to 24.4% in 2026 compared to 10% (2025). It looks like a concerted effort to hit the ball harder in the air in 2026, so scoop him up to stream in Week 5 if available.
There’s a chance Jackson loses playing time once other players return healthy, but he should still have another productive week or two before then.