DFS Baseball 101: Team Batting Status Update

This article is part of our DFS Baseball 101 series.

In this week's article, I updated and broke down each of the 30 major league baseball teams and give a profile of what is the optimal scenario for when to use them in daily fantasy baseball. I look at home/road, right handed versus left handed pitching, and April/May/June/July (through the All-Star break). Each team is ranked 1-30 in four categories: K%, ISO, wOBA, and wRC+ and averaged to get an overall ranking.

The Angels' offense has really taken off, especially on the road. In my last rankings, they were just 23rd on the road, and they have jumped all the way to fifth. So far in July, they are one of the hottest offenses in the league.

The Astros remain a feast or famine team. I no longer target them with starting pitching because of the blowup potential. I'd rather focus on a weak offense that maybe doesn't strikeout as much, but can't hurt me.

Oakland's numbers have changed quite a bit since the last update. They are no longer a superior team against right-handed pitching, and they have improved greatly against left-handed pitching. I think they are still a team you can stack but only in hitters' parks against weaker right-handed pitching.

The most dominant offense in baseball has actually improved since the last update. They are an automatic stack at home against weaker left-handed pitching, but now you can even stack them at home against weaker right-handed pitching. The park favors right-handed power, and the Jays are a heavy power right-handed hitting team. Rule of thumb: never take a starting pitcher against this team.

The Braves' lineup was not very good to begin with outside of April, but when they lost Freddie Freeman they became a team to automatically target, especially against left-handed pitching. While they do not strike out a lot as a whole, they are vulnerable to lefties, and offer no risk in the power department.

The Brewers are a perfect example of why tracking team batting stats by months is important. Because of so many injuries early in the season, you can pick on them with any starting pitcher. But now that they are fully healthy, this team is one of the hottest offenses in baseball.

The injuries to Matt Adams and Matt Holliday really killed the Cardinals' lineup in the power department. They went from a team that was one you could stack, especially against right-handed pitching, to a team that you can now target against with left-handed pitching.

The Cubs are a lot like the Astros in that they strike out a ton, but they are really starting to regress in the power category, especially at home versus right-handed pitching.

Any lineup with Paul Goldschmidt and A.J. Pollock is going to present problems especially against left-handed pitching. Their home park favors right-handed power against left-handed pitching, so much like the Jays, look to play them in that situation.

The Dodgers started the season as mostly a team that was destroying right-handed pitching at home, but now with the right-handed bats also starting to produce, you can use them against any team at home or on the road.

If you didn't believe enough in park factors, just take a look at the Giants, who play in the worst hitters' park in the majors, and look at their incredible numbers on the road. They are a team I always look to stack on the road against weaker right-handed pitching.

When I did this article in early June, the Indians were firing on all cylinders and looking like one of the best offenses in the league. Since then, they have regressed significantly, especially at home and against right-handed pitching, which does not bode well.

Last year, the Mariners were one of the worst hitting teams in the league, and this year they are not much better, with the exception of Nelson Cruz. This team just does not get on base enough especially at home and against right-handed pitching.

Losing Giancarlo Stanton should have crippled this lineup, but it hasn't. They are still very good against left-handed pitching and one of the worst teams in the league against right handers, especially at home.

At this point in the season, we have large enough sample sizes where we can draw significant conclusions, and one is to take any right-handed starting pitcher at home against the Mets, who are one of the worst hitting teams in the league and struggle to score more than a few runs per game.

Injuries could start to be catching up to the Nationals, with Denard Span, Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth all banged up to some extent. The Nationals' offensive numbers are pretty much driven by Bryce Harper against right-handed pitching on the road, so stay away from them.

The Orioles are most dangerous when facing right-handed pitching at home which makes them a nice tournament stack. You can target left-handed starting pitching at home against the Orioles when they are outside of the homer-friendly Camden Yards.

Long gone is the month of April when it looked like this right-handed heavy lineup was going to do some damage. They have been one of the worst hitting teams in the league since May and it does not matter if it is at home or on the road. They are also just as bad against right-handed pitching and left-handed pitching.

While the Phillies are near the bottom in ISO, wOBA and wRC+, they do not strike out as much as you would like. They are actually league average against left-handed starting pitching, which is surprising.

The Pirates have been a middle-of-the-pack offense all year with no real outliers. However, you can target right-handed starting pitching against them on the road.

It's been hard to put a label on the Rangers this season. At times they have looked awful (April) and others they have looked unbeatable (May). The one thing is that they are extremely vulnerable to left-handed pitching on the road.

The Rays are only dangerous on the road against left-handed pitching due to Evan Longoria and Logan Forsythe. You can attack them at home with right-handed starting pitching, especially since June when their team stats have really started to drop.

The one thing you can say about the Red Sox offense is that they don't strike out. But the lack of power upside really makes them a tough team to stack. On the other hand, you really can't attack them with pitching either.

The Reds have been pretty consistent from month-to-month this season. They are much stronger at home and against left-handed pitching (Todd Frazier).

If you look at the Rockies' monthly totals, it does not tell the story. It makes them look like one of the most consistent hitting teams in the league, which is far from the truth. It's real simple: play the Rockies at home against right-handed pitching, and go against them on the road against left-handed pitching.

There was a point in May and June when it was looking like the Tigers' offense might not be the same as it was in 2014. Victor Martinez had not been healthy and Miguel Cabrera went down with an injury. But they have surged and now are back to being a potent offense on both sides of the plate, at home or away.

The Twins have been a tough team to figure out because they were killing left-handed pitching earlier in the year, but now the numbers have normalized. They are a top hitting team at home in what has typically been a pitchers' park.

It's not very hard to figure this out: target starting pitching against the White Sox every day because they have the worst offense in the league in almost every category.

I wrote about this in my last article, and it still holds true: I don't think people realize just how good the Yankees' offense has been this year. They have been the most consistent hitting team outside of the Jays and they do it against all pitching and parks. You really want to take them against right-handed pitching at home where they have elite power numbers.