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          Fantasy Baseball Forecaster Week 19: Aug. 14-20

          With a week's worth of home games on tap, Rockies bats are expected to follow their mascot's instructions. Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
          • Tristan H. Cockcroft
          Aug 14, 2023, 10:23 PM

          Fantasy baseball's Week 19 has more interleague play than usual, covering 14 of the 30 overall scheduled series. This leads to five-game weeks for six teams, the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Minnesota Twins, Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays. Remember, with this year's more balanced schedule comes "natural rivalry" interleague series that are divided into two pairs of two-game sets (they often fall on Tuesday and Wednesday, creating these five-game weeks).

          By contrast, six other teams play seven times, the Arizona Diamondbacks, Kansas City Royals, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners. Keep this imbalance in the number of scheduled games in mind when setting your weekly lineups.

          It's a full week of games at Colorado's Coors Field as well, their first week spent entirely at home since Week 13 (June 26-July 2), as the Colorado Rockies host the Diamondbacks and White Sox for three games apiece.

          The week concludes with the MLB Little League Classic on ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball," with the Phillies "visiting" the Washington Nationals at Muncy Bank Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field. As has been the case with the past five such contests, there will be no off day for either team before their series shifts from Washington, D.C., to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, as the travel isn't considered to be extensive.

          As far as park factors go, five games hardly represents a suitable sample size, but between those past results and the venue's slightly smaller than league average outfield dimensions, the Forecaster has calculated this park to be "mostly neutral."

          It might be slightly pitcher-friendly (by mere percentage points) for runs and hits, but it's also slightly hitter-friendly for home runs, with right-handed hitters gaining a greater advantage than lefties thanks to the shorter dimensions to left- (323 feet, versus 331 to right) and left-center fields (360, versus 375 to right-center). That's only slightly more pitcher-leaning than the game projections would have been at Nationals Park, where the first two games of this series will be played.

          Lineup lock times

          Scheduling quirks for Week 19

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