On-Deck

The Week Ahead - April 16 - April 22

One of the new features that we'll be bringing you each week will involve each team's upcoming schedule. This can be a major boost for those of you who keep a flex spot on your roster so that you can pick up players and use them as plug and play options. By knowing not only who they'll be facing, but also where they'll be facing them, this should give you some insight as to who the hot pickups for next week might be a few extra days in advance.

Next Tuesday, we'll be publishing our ballpark data from last season and a three year average for each stadium so that you'll be a little more familiar with how each stadium plays and what, exactly, it plays well to (it's a myth that all hitter's parks only play extremely well to power hitters). For now, we'll be using some of the top hitter's and pitcher's parks based on that data to compile which offenses have favorable schedules coming up and which offenses will be playing in parks that are more geared toward pitchers. As the year wears on, each team's opponents will factor more into the equation, based on how they have performed.

Favorable

Cincinnati: MILWAUKEE (2), HOUSTON (2), PHILADELPHIA (3) - Seven at home in the best hitter's park 2006 had to offer.

Colorado Rockies: SAN FRANCISCO (2), LOS ANGELES (2), SAN DIEGO (3) - Seven in Coors. Need I say more?

Philadelphia: NEW YORK METS (2), Washington (2), Cincinnati (3) - The only two games they'll play that aren't in an extreme hitter's park will come against the lowly Nats' starting staff.

Tampa Bay: BALTIMORE (3), CLEVELAND (3) - Six at home against suspect pitching staffs. The Rays hit nine points higher and slugged 100 homers at home last season as opposed to just 64 on the road.

Los Angeles Dodgers: Arizona (2), Colorado (2), PITTSBURGH (3) - Four at the numbers two and three hitter's parks in baseball last season, followed by three in Chavez Ravine, which surprisingly played in the top ten for hitters in 2006.

Texas: Chicago White Sox (3), OAKLAND (3) - Their three on the road are in the best home run park the past three years, and the only top starter they'll face all week is Rich Harden.

Chicago Cubs: SAN DIEGO (2), Atlanta (2), ST. LOUIS (3) - The weather hasn't warmed up enough yet, but Wrigley still plays fairly well to power. The best starter they'll face all week is Adam Wainwright.

Unfavorable

Washington: ATLANTA (2), PHILADELPHIA (2), Florida (3) - RFK finished as the sixth best pitcher's park overall, while Dolphins Stadium played number five.

Seattle: MINNESOTA (3), Los Angeles Angels (3) - Six games in two of the top five pitcher's parks in baseball last season, and they'll be facing two of the better staffs in the league.

Los Angeles Angels: Boston (1), Oakland (2), SEATTLE (3) - Fenway plays neutral, but both McAfee and Angels Field play to pitchers. They'll also have to mow through both Dan Haren and King Felix.

Detroit: KANSAS CITY (3), CHICAGO WHITE SOX (3) - Six at home, where they hit three points lower and slugged just over two-thirds of the homers they hit on the road in 2006.

Florida: Houston (2), NEW YORK METS (2), WASHINGTON (3) - Five of seven at home in the fifth best pitcher's park in baseball. Houston's pitchers tend to excel in Minute Maid.

Arizona: LOS ANGELES (2), San Diego (2), San Francisco (3) - Penny, Peavy, Cain, and Lowry are all on the slate. Toss in a pair of games in the best pitcher's park in the league and three in a neutral pitcher's park, and their scoring should be down a bit.

Every team in the National League is slated for seven games next week.

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