Jose Soriano was the only Angels starting pitcher who somewhat scared the writer heading into Week 3, the latest clue in a fantasy baseball matchup column built to help hitters and streamers. The piece focused on advanced stats, and it used those numbers to sort out which pitching staffs could be attacked and which ones still deserve caution.
The bigger takeaway for fantasy managers is that the weak spots are not hard to spot. The Rockies, Nationals, White Sox, Angels and Cardinals were grouped among the worst teams, giving hitters a clear set of staffs to target in 2026. That matters now because Week 3 is the point in the season when early edges can still be turned into usable lineup decisions, especially in leagues where streaming starts can swing the standings.
The column also made clear that most of the lineup does not platoon, with Will Benson standing as the main exception. That detail matters because matchup plays are not just about the pitcher on the mound; they are about whether a hitter’s splits can be exploited. A non-platoon-heavy lineup can make the math simpler, but it also leaves fewer obvious openings when a pitcher is not especially vulnerable.
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Reds hitters may have a slightly tougher path this week because Marlins starting pitchers have been performing better early in 2026. That does not shut the door on Cincinnati bats, but it does mean the matchup is not as soft as it might have looked on paper before the early-season sample settled in. The article’s point was not that the Reds should be avoided outright, only that the numbers have pushed that series closer to neutral.
This is where the method from last week comes back into view. The adjusted-score approach was introduced then to quantify pitching matchups for opposing hitters, and Week 3 uses that framework to separate a useful stream from a fool’s errand. Soriano sits at the center of that conversation for the Angels, not because he was singled out as a matchup nightmare, but because he was the lone starter who still drew a note of caution.
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That leaves fantasy managers with a practical read rather than a broad theory: target the worst staffs when you can, treat the Reds’ matchup with a little more care than before, and keep Soriano on the radar when the Angels come up on the schedule. In a week built around edges, that is enough to matter.
