{"id":676607,"date":"2026-05-31T20:33:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T20:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/676607\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T20:33:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T20:33:21","slug":"fantasy-baseball-winners-and-losers-from-week-9-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/676607\/","title":{"rendered":"Fantasy Baseball Winners and Losers from Week 9 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fernando Tatis Jr<\/a>. finally hit a home run. Jacob Misiorowski<\/a> set a record that probably should not be possible. And two New York Mets<\/a> who have been waiting a very long time for very different milestones finally got them on the same afternoon. Let’s get into it.<\/p>\n

The week that was in fantasy baseball<\/a> featured a 451-foot exclamation point from a man who had been making contact with the baseball at an elite level while somehow watching all of it stay inside the park, a 26-year-old pitcher who threw 57 pitches at 100 miles per hour or faster in a single game \u2014 a number that had never been achieved in the pitch-tracking era \u2014 and a Saturday afternoon at Citi Field that produced two of the purest moments of the season in the same box score.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Baseball sometimes grabs you by the feels. As we head toward summer, this week had a lot of that.<\/p>\n

WinnersFernando Tatis Jr., OF, San Diego Padres<\/a><\/p>\n

He hit one. He finally hit one.<\/p>\n

After 240 plate appearances without a home run \u2014 a stretch that had become the most discussed power outage in baseball, the subject of Statcast deep dives and increasingly frantic Twitter threads \u2014 Tatis deposited a 451-foot solo shot to left field off the Nationals on Saturday, and it traveled 114 mph off the bat. The ball did not leave the yard because he had suddenly fixed something. The ball left the yard because a player ranking in the 97th percentile in hard-hit rate was always going to run out of bad luck eventually.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The relevant question for fantasy managers is not what happened. It is what happens next. Everything underneath the drought was always fine. The expected batting average was 28 points above the actual. The exit velocity metrics were in the top handful of hitters in the sport. The drought was a BABIP story dressed up as a power story. Now that the seal is broken, the reasonable expectation is that Tatis gets back to being Tatis, and the managers who held through the longest homer-less stretch of his career are going to feel very smart for the next three months.<\/p>\n

Buy. Hold. And accept the apology the baseball gods owe you.<\/p>\n

Jacob Misiorowski, SP, Milwaukee Brewers<\/a>\"Jacob<\/p>\n

Jacob Misiorowski continues redefining power pitching ceilings with historically dominant velocity benchmarks.Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

On Monday night in Milwaukee, Jacob Misiorowski threw 57 pitches at 100 miles per hour or faster against the Cardinals<\/a>. The previous record in the pitch-tracking era was 47, set by Hunter Greene<\/a> in 2022. Misiorowski did not merely break the record. He broke it by 10 pitches, finished with 12 strikeouts, and then said “that’s what I do” afterward, which is either the most confident or least self-aware postgame quote of the season and possibly both.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

He leads the majors in strikeouts, K\/9, K-BB rate, and now an unofficial category that did not exist as a tracked statistic 72 hours ago. The fantasy case is overwhelming and the innings-limit concern is real \u2014 he debuted last June, threw 66 major league innings, and the Brewers have been public about managing his workload. The wall typically arrives in June or July for young power arms on innings leashes. This column has flagged it. <\/a>You have been warned. But until the Brewers slow him down, you ride this.<\/p>\n

Gregory Soto<\/a>, RP, Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a><\/p>\n

The quiet story of the week and one of the quieter closer stories of the season. Soto earned a win Friday with a perfect ninth inning as the Pirates walked it off against the Twins, then came back Saturday to get the final four outs for his seventh save in a 10-9 game that required the kind of composure most relievers do not have after a six-run lead has evaporated. He is now 4-0 with a 1.98 ERA and has been, without much fanfare or much ownership in most leagues, one of the better ninth-inning arms in the National League. If he is on your waiver wire, he should not be.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Christian Scott<\/a> and Hayden Senger<\/a>, NYM \u2014 The Batterymates<\/p>\n

Save this one. Frame it. Put it on the wall.<\/p>\n

Christian Scott entered Saturday having thrown 1,250 pitches across 15 major league starts without earning a win. His rookie season was cut short by Tommy John surgery in September 2024. He missed all of 2025. He came back this year and kept pitching well and kept not winning, the way young pitchers sometimes do when run support and bullpen luck and the calendar all conspire against them at once. His winless streak was the second-longest to open a career for a pitcher working exclusively as a starter. Only Liam Hendriks<\/a>, who waited through 17 starts from 2011 to 2012, made him wait longer.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Scott’s afternoon began with a pitch clock violation before he threw a single pitch to a batter. The game was, in other words, exactly on brand. He then went out and allowed one run, struck out eight \u2014 matching a career high \u2014 and finally, on his 96th pitch in the sixth inning of his 16th career start, earned win number one.<\/p>\n

In the seventh inning, his catcher hit his first career home run.<\/p>\n

Hayden Senger was drafted by the Mets in 2018. He spent seven years in the minor leagues. He debuted in 2025 and hit .181 with zero home runs. He came back in 2026 and kept catching and kept not homering, the way backup catchers sometimes do when the baseball gods are saving something up. On Saturday afternoon at Citi Field, with the Mets already up comfortably, Senger parked one in the seats for the first time in his major league life.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

“I’ve had him for a while, and I caught a lot of his games,” Senger said of Scott. “I kind of thought we would do it together.”<\/p>\n

Cade Smith<\/a>, RP, Cleveland Guardians<\/a>\"Cade<\/p>\n

Cade Smith has emerged as one of baseball’s most dependable closers through two months.Ken Blaze-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Save number 20 on Friday, the first reliever in baseball to reach that mark. He has converted 18 consecutive save opportunities. His ERA is pristine, the hierarchy behind him has thinned further with Erik Sabrowski<\/a> going to the IL, and there is no arm in Cleveland that constitutes a threat. This column<\/a> moved him to 95 this week and the only reason he is not higher is that Mason Miller<\/a> exists.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

LosersLucas Erceg<\/a>, RP, Kansas City Royals<\/a><\/p>\n

The column owes you an apology. Last week, we told you to go check on him immediately and add him. Since that endorsement was printed, Erceg has blown a fifth save, his ERA sits at 5.06, his WHIP is 1.69.<\/p>\n

The Royals are 22-32. The column was wrong and we are correcting it in full. Erceg dropped 12 points in a full-throated Closer Confidential <\/a>correction column this week. The apology is genuine. The drop is merciless. Both things can be true at once.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Kenley Jansen<\/a> and Kyle Finnegan<\/a>, RP, Detroit Tigers<\/a><\/p>\n

We are combining these two because the Detroit closer situation is now so thoroughly broken that separating the individual grades misses the larger point, which is that the Tigers have no functioning ninth-inning option and have not had one for the better part of two weeks.<\/p>\n

Jansen is on the 15-day IL with pelvic inflammation. Finnegan, the nominal replacement, left Wednesday’s outing before throwing a pitch to a batter after tweaking his own groin during warmups. Drew Anderson<\/a>, the third option, was used on one day of rest Friday and allowed a walk-off two-run home run. Three different pitchers. Three different injuries or availability concerns. One blown save in each of the last two days. If you have roster space you need for literally any other purpose, this situation has earned your disrespect.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Andr\u00e9s Mu\u00f1oz, RP, Seattle Mariners<\/a><\/p>\n

Four blown saves on the season, a .477 wOBA against his four-seamer, a .538 wOBA against his sinker. The slider is still among the three best pitches in any bullpen in baseball. The two pitches around it are getting hit hard enough that we are concerned. He is still rostered everywhere he needs to be rostered. He is no longer the easy hold he appeared to be in April.<\/p>\n

Jack Flaherty<\/a>, SP, Detroit Tigers<\/p>\n

A 5.90 ERA. Zero wins. A 10.00 ERA across his last three starts. The Tigers are paying him to be their ace and he has been, to use the precise clinical terminology, not that. Detroit appears to have decided that injuries to every closer they employ is not sufficient chaos and has added a collapsing rotation to the mix for full effect. Fantasy managers in deeper leagues should be weighing whether Flaherty’s peripherals \u2014 which are not uniformly terrible \u2014 justify the continued roster hold. In standard leagues, the answer is probably no.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Paul Skenes<\/a>, SP, Pittsburgh Pirates \u2014Week Loser Only\"Paul<\/p>\n

Paul Skenes remains elite despite recent results creating unnecessary fantasy manager anxiety.Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Nine runs in his last two starts, ERA up to 3.00 for the season, and the kind of rough week that will prompt panicked trade offers from the leaguemates who drafted him first overall. Do not accept those offers. His seven-start stretch between the Opening Day disaster and this week produced a 1.31 ERA with 45 strikeouts in 41.1 innings. This is a week loser, not a season story. The managers who sell low on Paul Skenes early June will spend September staring at their phones. Hold him. Buy him from the panickers if you can.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Questions About Winners And Losers In Fantasy Baseball, Answered<\/p>\n

Who were the biggest fantasy baseball winners last week?
Fernando Tatis Jr.<\/a> finally broke his historic home run drought with a 451-foot blast, Jacob Misiorowski set an all-time pitch-tracking record with 57 pitches at 100 mph or faster, and Gregory Soto earned a win and a save in back-to-back days to quietly emerge as one of the NL’s most reliable closers.<\/p>\n

Who were the biggest fantasy baseball losers in the week of May 25-30?
Lucas Erceg blew his fifth save of the season to drop 12 points in Closer Confidential<\/a>, Kenley Jansen landed on the IL with pelvic inflammation while Kyle Finnegan aggravated his own groin in the same week, and Andr\u00e9s Mu\u00f1oz posted his fourth blown save with underlying fastball metrics that are genuinely alarming.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Should I drop Lucas Erceg in fantasy baseball?
Yes in all but the deepest formats, as Erceg now carries five blown saves, a 5.06 ERA, and a Hot Seat designation on the depth charts while his team sits at 22-32 with no indication the role is changing rather than evaporating.<\/p>\n

Is Fernando Tatis Jr. a buy after finally hitting his first home run of 2026?
He was always a buy because his underlying contact metrics were elite throughout the drought, and the 114 mph, 451-foot homer that ended the streak was exactly the kind of ball his Statcast profile said was coming eventually.<\/p>\n

What did Jacob Misiorowski do this week to make history?
The Milwaukee Brewers<\/a> right-hander threw 57 pitches at 100 mph or faster in a single game against the Cardinals, shattering the previous pitch-tracking-era record of 47 set by Hunter Greene in 2022 while striking out 12 batters.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Who are Christian Scott and Hayden Senger and why does their Saturday matter?
Scott earned his first career win in his 16th major league start after missing all of 2025 following Tommy John surgery, and his catcher Senger, who was drafted in 2018 and spent seven years in the minors before reaching the majors, hit his first career home run in the same game.<\/p>\n

Should I add Gregory Soto in fantasy baseball right now?
Yes, Soto is 4-0 with a 1.98 ERA and seven saves for Pittsburgh and is almost certainly available in your league despite performing like one of the ten most reliable ninth-inning arms in the National League.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on May 31, 2026, where it first appeared in the Fantasy<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fernando Tatis Jr. finally hit a home run. Jacob Misiorowski set a record that probably should not be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[295067,34620,58858,170460,2320,372,170333,235267,21850,147741,30290,254329,99198,34196,13260,2321,56663,39123,178465,101221,37886,2325,363,1189,10000,2240,2328,481,99],"class_list":["post-676607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-baseball-gods","tag-cade-smith","tag-cardinals","tag-christian-scott","tag-cleveland-guardians","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-drew-anderson","tag-erik-sabrowski","tag-fantasy-baseball","tag-fernando-tatis","tag-gregory-soto","tag-hayden-senger","tag-hunter-greene","tag-jack-flaherty","tag-jacob-misiorowski","tag-kansas-city-royals","tag-kenley-jansen","tag-kyle-finnegan","tag-liam-hendriks","tag-lucas-erceg","tag-mason-miller","tag-milwaukee-brewers","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-mets","tag-paul-skenes","tag-pittsburgh-pirates","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-seattle-mariners","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}