Fantasy Notebook: Aaron Judge, Matt Carpenter and the Yankees Are on Fire

And we finally learned who won Mike Trout’s fantasy football league.

It was another fun weekend of major-league baseball! Here’s what you need to know as we head into another big week of games.

The Yankees continue to mash, punctuating the weekend with an 18-4 win over the Chicago Cubs at home on Sunday.

Aaron Judge mashed his 24th home run and is now on pace for a 67-homer season.

Remember this next time you’re considering whether or not to draft a player in a contract year.

Matt Carpenter stole the show, though, with a two-home run, seven-RBI game. Carpenter reached base four times, and hit his fifth and sixth home runs in pinstripes.

Six of Carpenter’s first seven hits as a Yankee have been home runs. He’s the first Yankee to hit at least six homers in his first 10 games with the Bombers.

A month ago, Carpenter was on his couch.

On the season, Carpenter is batting .333 with six home runs and 13 RBI in just 24 at-bats. Though he doesn’t get everyday playing time, he’s defensively flexible and the Yankees will find ways to get his bat in the lineup. He’s available in 93% of fantasy leagues.

Mike Trout’s big reveal
If you’re wondering who won the high-stakes fantasy football league that launched the feud between Joc Pederson and Tommy Pham (I know I was), Mike Trout revealed the champ last night on ESPN: Alex Bregman.

Trout also indicated that he likely won’t return to the league and threw some shade at ESPN fantasy while being mic’d up on ….ESPN.

Trout remains a favorite for AL MVP at +500, behind Judge (+105) and teammate Shohei Ohtani (+250).

Walker Buehler’s month off
Walker Buehler has officially hit the IL with a flexor strain in his right elbow. The official timeline is 6-8 weeks, but he won’t even pick up a baseball for at least six weeks. Buehler has already had one Tommy John surgery, and I anticipate the Dodgers will be careful with their ace. Not great news for those who had Buehler as their SP1. Buehler was +1500 to win the NL Cy Young only a few days ago.

If you’ve been holding Lance Lynn, it’s time to take him off the IL. Lynn will start tonight for the White Sox vs. the Tigers. It’s a soft matchup for the veteran returning from a knee injury.

Speaking of the White Sox, it looks like rookie Jake Burger has secured an every-day playing role–and he’s earned it. Burger now has 10 RBI across his last eight games. He has eight home runs and is batting .277 in 37 games this season.

Meanwhile over in the NL Central, Jack Flaherty threw another successful rehab start, and he likely only needs one more before returning to the Cardinals’ rotation. He has allowed only one run over his first two rehab starts. If you’ve been holding Flaherty, the time is near.

Rookie watch
Finally, looking at prospects: Alex Kiriloff has been raking in Triple-A. It’s only a matter of time until the Twins call him back up. He homered three times over the weekend, and he’s batting .355 with a 1.083 OPS, nine homers and 29 runs scored across 32 games of minor-league play.