SPECULATOR: September playing time—NL

As post-season contenders still are fielding their best lineups in an effort to lock up October berths, many MLB teams are already looking toward 2017. With September roster expansion just days away, also-ran clubs already are considering their audition opportunities during the season's final weeks. Not only will some new and potentially productive faces get MLB AB, but other players also are likely to lose playing time as a result of these season-end experiments—or will they? For fantasy owners locked in tight 2016 races as well as keeper leaguers seeking hidden 2017 value, we offer up several interesting NL situations ripe for speculation. We'll do the same for the AL next week.

 

 

An outfield crunch in SD?

 

As the Padres were...

Almost!

You’re just a few clicks away from accessing this feature and hundreds more throughout the year that have a singular goal in mind: Winning your league. Subscribe to BaseballHQ.com here!

Already a subscriber? Sign in here

More From Speculator

This week's exercise is all about picking holes to help avoid early-round busts.
Feb 25 2026 3:10am
Sure, they struggled last year, but if we remove some recency bias, granting mulligans could be a lucrative exercise.
Feb 18 2026 3:06am
Our annual look at who changed their pitch mix the most in-season last year, and (most importantly) whether it worked.
Feb 11 2026 3:06am
Could Jakob Marsee lead the majors in plate appearances? We'll take our component playing time metrics for a spin to see who could bubble up.
Feb 4 2026 8:30am
To the mound this week. We list out all "UP"side pitchers from the Baseball Forecaster with comments on outlooks that may have changed.
Jan 28 2026 3:09am

Tools