{"id":809406,"date":"2026-09-20T01:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T01:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/809406\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T01:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T01:06:16","slug":"fantasy-baseball-waiver-wire-ride-hot-hand-to-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/809406\/","title":{"rendered":"Fantasy baseball waiver wire: Ride hot hand to championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

\tGambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our links. Read our editorial standards<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n

Forget long-term projections, draft-day pedigree or warm fuzzy feelings about your star players. When you reach the final stretch of the fantasy baseball<\/a> season, the rulebook changes entirely.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MLB managers don\u2019t hesitate to ride the hot hand late in September, and as a fantasy manager pushing for a championship, you shouldn\u2019t either. The finish line is in sight. At this stage, brand names mean nothing. Only raw, immediate stats matter. Ride the wave until it breaks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Look no further than Blue Jays outfielder Nathan Lukes. Entering the weekend, Lukes is riding a scorching 13-game hit streak, making it the longest active hitting streak in MLB. Over this stretch, he is batting .360 with seven runs and five RBIs. <\/p>\n

Sure, those counting stats aren\u2019t mind-bogglingly high, but when you are grinding out the final days of a tight matchup, every fraction of a point in batting average counts. Plucking a red-hot bat like Lukes off the waiver wire could be the exact margin of victory you need to swing a tight category.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The same opportunistic logic applies to speed. San Francisco\u2019s offense, as a whole, has struggled mightily this season, but you aren\u2019t roster-building for the entire Giants lineup, are you? You\u2019re looking for individual sparks. Outfielder Jonah Cox has been providing exactly that, piecing together a seven-game hit streak during which he is slashing .345 with a .387 on-base percentage and four stolen bases. <\/p>\n

\"NathanRight fielder Nathan Lukes gestures from second base after hitting a double during the Blue Jays\u2019 win over the Guardians on Sept. 3, 2026 in Cleveland. AP Photo\/Sue Ogrocki<\/p>\n

Stolen bases are notoriously the most movable category in fantasy baseball during the season\u2019s final week. Adding just one or two steals can flip a category matchup instantly, and taking advantage of a speedster who is actively getting on base is a textbook winning tactic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you are hurting for offense behind the plate, turn your attention to Diamondbacks catcher Gabriel Moreno. Catcher is notoriously a wasteland late in the year, but Moreno has caught fire, riding a six-game hit streak of his own. <\/p>\n

Over that brief span, he is crushing the ball to a tune of a .440\/.517\/.840 slash line alongside three home runs. Getting that level of elite production out of a position that usually drags down your overall ratios is a massive late-season cheat code.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Learn all you need to know about MLB Betting<\/p>\n

Winning a fantasy baseball championship requires ruthless decisions. Bench the slumping star who got you here if his bat has gone ice-cold, and stream the hottest hand on the waiver wire without hesitation. Small margins win leagues. <\/p>\n

Every single extra hit, run, stolen base or home run you extract right now pushes you closer to the trophy. Find every micro-upgrade you can, ride the momentum while it lasts, finish strong, and take home the title.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Howard Bender is the head of content at FantasyAlarm.com<\/a>. Follow him on X @rotobuzzguy<\/a>, catch him on the award-winning \u201cFantasy Alarm Radio Show\u201d on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Ch. 87) weekdays from 6-8 p.m. and dominate your leagues with the latest baseball news and advice from Fantasy Alarm<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[5,684,28,4,722,185,1272,723],"class_list":["post-809406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baseball","tag-baseball","tag-betting","tag-fantasy-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-betting","tag-sports","tag-sports-betting","tag-sports-picks"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117300690255496054","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}