The Los Angeles Dodgers closed out the first half of the 2017 MLB regular season with a 5-2 win over the visiting Kansas City Royals on Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium. The win gave the Dodgers an MLB-best 61-29 record at the break, a whopping 27-games better than the rival San Francisco Giants, who stumbled into the midsummer classic with the second-worst record in baseball.
The Houston Astros own the best record in the American League at 60-29, a comfortable 16.5 games ahead of the second-place Los Angeles Angels in the AL West. The Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians lead their respective divisions, while the rebuilding Chicago White Sox ended the first half with an AL-Worst 38-49 mark.
For fantasy baseball purposes, the final week of action in the first half of the season (The All-Star game is not technically the true midway point of the season, but for nostalgia’s sake it is commonly referred to the half-way point) came to a close with very few significant injuries to major fantasy baseball players. Unlike the previous few weeks in which marquee players like Trey Turner and Mark Melancon went down, fantasy owners fared well with injuries in the last week of action.
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Here are a few of the injuries from last week that we are monitoring, including a hamstring injury to Jason Kipnis that may keep the Indians second baseman out for an extended period.
Veteran relief pitcher Huston Street missed most of the first half of the regular season with a lat strain suffered in spring training. After working his way back and rehabbing his injury, Street was able to return to the mound last week in the Angels bullpen.
Although Street pitched well in his brief return to action, with four scoreless innings of work out of the pen, a new groin injury unrelated to his lat strain forced the journeyman pitcher to the disabled list.
According to a report by Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, Street told reporters that he does not believe the injury is serious and he plans on returning when eligible after the break. From a fantasy perspective, Street has very little value with Bud Norris continuing to work as the closer for manager Mike Scioscia. Feel free to drop him in all but the deepest of leagues, only to be re-added if he officially replaces Norris as the team’s closer.
The record-holder for most mentions on our weekly injury report, Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun left Saturday’s game early with tightness in his left calf and was not in the starting lineup on Sunday.
The extended break could be all Braun needs to heal from his leg injury, and a DL stint may not be in his near future. However, this could be the next in a long list of injuries for the veteran left fielder and may require another stint on the DL.
A comebacker off the bat of Andrelton Simmons in the fourth inning of last Wednesday’s loss to the Angels has forced Ryu to the 10-day disabled list. Manager Dave Roberts told reporters on July 4th that X-rays on the southpaw pitchers foot came back clean, but the team is being cautious and will let Ryu rest on the 10-day DL.
With a 3-6 record and a 4.21 ERA, the South Korean native has been somewhat of a disappointment for fantasy owners this season. Despite his struggles, Ryu will still have value in NL-only and deep mixed league formats when he returns, merely for the fact that the Dodgers are on fire and the offense will likely provide ample run support for victories.
After playing in a career-best 156 games in 2016, Jason Kipnis missed the start of the 2017 regular season with a rotator cuff injury and missed a few weeks of action with a stiff neck.
His latest injury, a hamstring strain suffered in Saturday’s win over Detroit, landed the two-time All-Star on the 10-day disabled list. The severity of the injury is not known at this time, but it would not be surprising to see the oft-injured infielder miss more than just ten days of action with his latest injury.
Just like fellow outfielder Ryan Braun, Rockies outfielder/first baseman Ian Desmond suffered a calf strain that resulted in a trip to the DL. According to multiple reports, Desmond is progressing well and is likely return when eligible on July 14th.
A groin strain forced Tigers pitcher Daniel Norris to the 10-day DL. According to Anthony French of the Detroit Free Press, Norris is participating in rehab exercises, but will not throw over the break.
Updating Previous Injuries
Chris Davis (1B – BAL) Oblique Strain
Davis participated in batting practice on July 3rd and appears to be on track for a rehab assignment on July 10th.
Starlin Castro (2B – NYY) Hamstring Strain
Progressing well and appears to be ready to be activated on July 14th. He is running well and participated in live batting practice on July 7th.
Kyle Hendricks (SP – CHC) Finger
Hendricks made it through a short bullpen session and is scheduled to start a minor-league rehab assignment on Monday.
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Andrew Swanson is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Andrew, check out his archive or follow him @FantasyProsAndy.
