On-Deck

The Week Ahead - April 30 - May 6

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.

On Tuesdays, 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.

Home games are listed in CAPS, while the number in parentheses shows how many games they'll be playing each team.

Favorable

Texas: Toronto (1), NEW YORK YANKEES (3), TORONTO (3) - Though they'll actually face a handful of very good starters (Mussina, Pettitte, Burnett), a phenom (Hughes), and a great starter (Halladay) twice, it's difficult not to love the Rangers when they're playing in Ameriquest Field. They'll do so six times next week, and will begin the week in top ten hitting Rogers Centre.

Kansas City: LOS ANGELES ANGELS (4), DETROIT (3) - While I'm certainly not a huge fan of their opposition for the week, they'll get to play seven games at home in hitter-friendly Kaufmann Stadium.

Tampa Bay: MINNESOTA (3), OAKLAND (3) - It's a fairly light week for favorable parks, but we'll take the Rays. They'll play all six at home in neutral hitting Tropicana Field and they'll also only face one legit front line starter in Dan Haren. The Rays, who lost 100 games and finished with the worst record in the league last season, were 41-40 at the Trop last season and scored 56 more runs at home than they did on the road.

Cincinnati Reds: Houston (3), COLORADO (3) - The Great American Ballpark played as the number two hitter's park overall last season, while Minute Maid plays extremely well to power hitters. Load up on your Reds hitters on the wire.

Unfavorable

Chicago White Sox: Seattle (2), Los Angeles Angels (3) - Not only are they one of just two teams only slated for five games this week, but they'll be headed out west. If there's one positive, it's that Angels Field played neutral hitter in the average department. However, both Angels Field and Safeco played as top five pitcher's parks overall.

Florida Marlins: New York Mets (3), SAN DIEGO (3) - Both Shea and Dolphin Stadium played in the top seven overall for pitchers. Neither park plays well for much of anything, suppressing both average and power.

Philadelphia: Atlanta (3), San Francisco (4) - Both played as neutral pitcher's parks last season, but when you combine the fact that they're playing seven on the road in neutral pitcher's parks with the fact that they won't play a single game in hitter-friendly Citizens Bank, that knocks them down a notch. Toss in Matt Cain and Tim Hudson, and it could be a slightly down week for the Phils' hitters.

San Diego: WASHINGTON (3), Florida (3) - While the Nats' staff is very capable of blowing up, Petco may keep that from happening to start the week. A trip down to Florida won't just give the Pads jetlag, but will also set them up for three games in one of the few parks where it's more difficult to hit a homer in than their own park.

Teams playing seven games this week: San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Phiadelphia, New York Mets, Milwuakee, Arizona, Toronto, Texas, Los Angeles Angels, Kansas City

Teams playing just five games this week: Oakland, Chicago White Sox

---