Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Streaming Reds and Mariners a sound strategy this week

If it feels like teams have been struggling to hit, that aligns with the data, especially on a few surprising teams. In recent seasons, the Pirates, Rockies and White Sox were common teams found with a wRC+ below 90 or 95, which usually provides a cutoff for the bottom 10 teams in wRC+. The surprising teams with a wRC+ below 95 in 2026 include the Phillies, Padres, Reds, Red Sox and Mets.

Meanwhile, the Pirates, Mariners, Nationals and Cardinals rank inside the top 10 in wRC+. We highlight that because it might be time to bench struggling hitters to stream for others in some formats. Soon, we might need to adjust our expectations for these teams and hitters based on the underlying metrics.

There are no teams with five games and four teams with a seven-game slate in Week 8. It looks like a week where we can stream strong-side platoon options on several teams. It’s helpful to see the 2025 and 2026 team-level advanced metrics to quantify a team’s pitching staff.

That’s mainly evident via the Astros, Rays and Phillies having a few outlier data points in 2026. With Hunter Brown injured and Framber Valdez gone, the Astros have been relying on Spencer Arrighetti, Peter Lambert, Lance McCullers Jr. and Mike Burrows.