Week six of fantasy baseball is upon us so take a few minutes to look at you lineup and consider the variables that lie ahead which can potentially determine the outcome of your matchup.

Each week we bring you all the best articles to help you prep for your upcoming fantasy matchup. So without further ado, here is your week 6 guide to fantasy baseball.

Rotoworld: Week Ahead: Max Power

Max Scherzer is picking up where he left off last season and should be a great asset to you this week if you’re fortunate enough to have him on your roster. He’ll have two starts taking on the Astros and Twins at home and two out of his six starts have led to 10+ strikeouts. He will hope to get that up to 3-of-7 or 4-of-8 against two teams with K-prone lineups. Of course if you don’t have the luxury of owning the reigning Cy Young winner, there are a few two-start guys who might be available for you. For the full list of two-start plays, visit Nick Nelson’s article at Rotoworld, for now though, here’s a few decent options that are likely available for waiver pick ups.

Jordan Lyles (SP) Rockies

Matchups: TEX (Martin Perez), @CIN (Johnny Cueto)

• Lyles has been incredibly effective at Coors Field (2-0, 0.66 ERA). The away game @CIN will be a challenge.

Robbie Ray (SP) Tigers

Matchups:  HOU (Brett Oberholtzer), MIN (Samuel Deduno)

• He’s making his major-league debut on Tuesday and can fill in on Sunday as well if Anibal Sanchez isn’t ready.

Roenis Elias (SP) Mariners

Matchups: @OAK (Jesse Chavez), KC (Jeremy Guthrie)

• He racked up 10 strikeouts over seven innings and baffled Yankees’ hitters. He hasn’t been able to make it past six innings in four of his six starts so consider him just a decent play.

CBS Sports: Start and sit hitters for Week 6

For week 6, Scott White (CBS Sports) brings us his start and sit hitters that he breaks down by “too obvious” and other candidates that you may consider starting or sitting due to various short-term factors. You can easily see who his start and sit guys are by each position as well as his sleepers for week 6. Down below you can see who he has listed for second and third base. For the rest of his positional breakdown as well as sleepers, visit his article.

Second Base

Start: Howie Kendrick (2B) Angels

His last 12 games have helped string together a .386 BA, 2 HR, and 3 SB. It’s a deep position, but his hot hand against soft pitching this week make him a strong start candidate over the likes of Dee Gordon, Emilio Bonifacio and Neil Walker.

Sit: Brandon Phillips (2B) Reds

He’s batting .179 over his last 14 games and only has five games this week. Even if he has a slight turnaround, you should sit him for guys like Howie Kendrick, Emilio Bonifacio and Omar Infante.

Third Base

Start: Nick Castellanos (3B), Tigers

He hasn’t been stellar, but has as good of a chance as anyone to take advantage of easy pitching matchups throughout week 6. Play Castellanos over guys like Pablo Sandoval, Brett Lawrie and Will Middlebrooks.

Sit: Marcus Semien (3B), White Sox

Injuries have allowed Semien to stay in the lineup and that time may be coming to an end. With Conor Gillaspie coming back mid week, Semien may find himself on the bench in the near future. Stronger plays would be Trevor Plouffe, Nick Castellanos and Todd Frazier.

ESPN: Fantasy Forecaster: Week 6

Week 6 provides a heartier schedule for teams after a week 5 that was already light before seven games were postponed. Be aware though that the 98 total games in week 6 are not evenly shifted as the Mariners will play eight games next week while the Red Sox and Reds both only have five games. Don’t worry though, there are 16 teams that will play a full seven games so filling your weekly roster shouldn’t be an issue. Looking at the schedule there are also a large number of interleague games.

This week’s interleague series:

• Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs (2 games, Monday-Tuesday)

• Texas Rangers at Colorado Rockies (2 games, Monday-Tuesday)

• Toronto Blue Jays at Philadelphia Phillies (2 games, Monday-Tuesday)

• Kansas City Royals at San Diego Padres (3 games, Monday-Wednesday)

• Cincinnati Reds at Boston Red Sox (2 games, Tuesday-Wednesday)

• Chicago Cubs at Chicago White Sox (2 games, Wednesday-Thursday)

• Colorado Rockies at Texas Rangers (2 games, Wednesday-Thursday)

• Philadelphia Phillies at Toronto Blue Jays (2 games, Wednesday-Thursday)

• Arizona Diamondbacks at Chicago White Sox (3 games, Friday-Sunday)

• New York Yankees at Milwaukee Brewers (3 games, Friday-Sunday)

• Washington Nationals at Oakland Athletics (3 games, Friday-Sunday)

The Royals are the most impacted team with Billy Butler and Eric Hosmer possibly finding themselves in a straight platoon at first base during their three game stretch against the Padres. For the full breakdown of interleague impact as well as pitcher and hitter rankings/advantages, read Tristan Cockcroft’s (ESPN) fantasy forecaster for week 6.

ROTOGRAPHS: Stream Stream, Stream: 2x SP 5.5-5.11

Brandon Warne (Fangraphs) enters into this week with an 8-4 record so far with his stream picks. This week, there are familiar names from the past like Jon Niese whose week 5 game postponement will make him a two-start stream option this week. Drew Hutchison is also an option this week as he’ll face Phillies and Angels. While the Angels will prove to be a tough matchup he’s been striking out everyone making him an interesting option. Finally there’s Nathan Eovaldi who for some reason is still sitting there on waivers across the majority of leagues. Eovaldi has been mentioned in nearly every article we’ve covered when talking about pitchers. For more in depth information about these three streaming options, visit Warne’s article.

SI: Fantasy owners, rejoice! Clayton Kershaw returns

From favorable/unfavorable matchups to roster trends, Michael Beller and his updated weekly planner help provide fantasy owners some knowledge for their weekly lineup decisions. Week 6 will bring the highly anticipated return of Clayton Kershaw and ultimately will shuffle the pitcher rankings a bit. Kershaw however is just one player and you may not have him on your team. What is more likely is that you have a player on your team from the Dodgers, Pirates, Padres, Cardinals or Nationals. These five teams have unfavorable matchups this week and if you visit Beller’s article, you’ll see why.