RotoWire Fantasy Baseball Podcast

Fred Zinkie and Jeff Erickson discuss the NL MVP race, closer pockets from 2026 drafts and one month outliers after the All-Star Break.

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00:00 MLB Pod 8-18-26

00:15 News:

00:30 PCA is the first (and possibly only) 30-30 player this season, as he homered twice (and so did NL MVP challenger Shohei Ohtani)…..

08:00 Cutting Kyle Tucker

16:15 Jacob Wilson was scratched due to a sore shoulder

19:00 Max Fried is back on the IL, which makes him a drop

20:00 Monday was a big day for player returns: Oneil Cruz, Maikel Garcia, Shane McClanahan, Jordan Lawlar, Vinnie Pasquantino, Justin Martinez, Carlos Rodon, AJ Smith-Shawver

21:45 Ketel Marte is away from the team due to a personal matter, then flew back to AZ for knee

25:00 Bobby Witt Jr. had a big game in an otherwise unremarkable (for him) season

28:45 Circa

29:50 Bridge topic: Closer review from 2026 drafts.

31:00 Edwin Diaz to the IL

33:30 Spend Up on Closers Nevertheless

36:00 Second Tier Disasters

39:45 Next Tier Questionable

49:50 BlueWire

49:55 Main Topic: One month since ASB. Article coming for reference.

50:00 Brandon Pfaadt

54:00 Ty France

55:45 Alec Bohm

57:00 Abimelec Ortiz

58:35 Walbert Ureña

1:02:00 Mason Montgomery

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Circa (All episodes)

 

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Jeff Erickson and Scott Jenstad talk about the huge Joshua Báez debut on the field and in FAAB, discuss the playoff races, debate where Paul Skenes and Jesus Luzardo get drafted next year and break down all the non-Joshua Báez adds in FAAB as well, including active bidding on Zac Veen and Kodai Senga.

 

Circa 

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Get the latest fantasy sports insights, expert analysis, and premium tools at RotoWire.com—enter promo code PODCAST at checkout to receive 15% off any product.

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Erik Halterman and Jeremy Schneider share their top fantasy baseball pickups of the week.

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1:34 Joshua Baez

5:06 Zack Gelof

7:38 Zac Veen

10:19 Chase Meidroth

12:48 Abimelec Ortiz

15:30 Alejandro Kirk

18:39 Edward Cabrera

22:49 Brandon Pfaadt

26:18 Andrew Painter

30:17 Tyler Mahle

34:11 Kodai Senga

38:20 Circa

39:28 Cal Quantrill

42:11 Blade Tidwell

44:08 Chris Bassitt

46:48 Drew Anderson

49:26 George Klassen

53:06 Jackson Kent

54:26 Osleivis Basabe

56:34 Javier Baez

59:30 Charles McAdoo/Brett Bateman

1:02:30 Tyler O’Neill

1:05:59 Nick Sogard/Masataka Yoshida

1:08:44 Outro

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Circa

Cash in this football season in Las Vegas with 3 Circa Sports Contests! $30 Million in guaranteed prizes! Visit CircaSports for details.

Get the latest fantasy sports insights, expert analysis, and premium tools at RotoWire.com—enter promo code PODCAST at checkout to receive 15% off any product.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Cash in this football season in Las Vegas with 3 Circa Sports Contests! $30 Million in guaranteed prizes! Visit CircaSports for details.

Intro/Tigers suddenly in the final wild-card spot in AL

Steak League FAAB:

Zac Veen $7

Abimelic Ortiz $5

Tyler Mahle $4

Ben Joyce $4

Kodai Senga $3

Andrew Alvarez $3

Jonny DeLuca $3

Hunter Dobbins $1

Justin Martinez $1

Joe Musgrove

George Klassen

Blade Tidwell



Two-start pitchers (week of Aug. 17, 2026)

Mitch Bratt 1

Mason Barnett 0

Jack Perkins 0

Martin Perez 3 (Todd 2)

Tyler Mahle 3 (Todd 4)

Brandon Young 2

Shane Baz 3

Ranger Suarez 3

Shota Imanaga 4

Rhett Lowder 0 (Todd 1)

Andrew Abbott 3

Foster Griffin 3

Tomoyuki Sugano 0

Luis Castillo 3

Erik Fedde 0

Framber Valdez 3

Cristian Javier 1

Michael Wacha 2

Daniel Lynch 0

George Klassen 2

Jason Junk 1

Nolan McLean 3

Will Warren 3

Cristopher Sanchez 5

Carmen Mlodzinski 1

Walker Buehler 2

Bryce Miller 2

Carson Whisenhunt 0

Andre Pallante 2

Kyle Leahy 2

Nick Martinez 4

Drew Rasmussen 5

Cal Quantrill 1

Jose Soriano 3

Jackson Kent 0 (Todd 1)



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Erik Halterman is joined by Dave McDonald to discuss which of this year's biggest busts came into the season with clear red flags and which ones fell flat out of nowhere.

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00:00 Headlines

12:30 Busts Overview

15:30 Aaron Judge

20:40 Ronald Acuna

22:30 Paul Skenes

29:10 Garrett Crochet

34:00 Gunnar Henderson

38:35 Kyle Tucker

40:55 Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

44:50 Cal Raleigh

49:05 Edwin Diaz

50:35 Francisco Lindor

54:25 Bryan Woo

57:10 Wyatt Langford

1:01:10 Hunter Brown

1:03:55 Devin Williams

1:06:35 Cole Ragans

1:08:45 Brent Rooker

1:11:05 Freddy Peralta

1:14:00 Daniel Palencia

1:15:50 Manny Machado

1:18:35 Maikel Garcia

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Circa

Cash in this football season in Las Vegas with 3 Circa Sports Contests! $30 Million in guaranteed prizes! Visit CircaSports for details.

Get the latest fantasy sports insights, expert analysis, and premium tools at RotoWire.com—enter promo code PODCAST at checkout to receive 15% off any product.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.