The Cut List goes into Week 21 with a clear tone: drop candidates who’ve lost value, hover watchers to consider replacements, and hold those on the hot seat for now. Marcus Semien paces toward a career-low batting average and may slip in the Rangers’ order as offense stalls; Jasson Dominguez has shown little sustained fantasy upside this year and is a candidate to drop in shallower formats. Max Fried remains a hold despite a rough stretch, while Steven Kwan still chips in counting stats even as his slash line falters. Spencer Strider sits on the hot seat, needing a couple strong turns to regain trust, while Wyatt Langford and Lawrence Butler are eyed by readers for potential demotions or opportunistic holds. Brandon Nimmo caps the week as a player whose value hinges on lineup placement and continued production between Soto/Alonso, with proceed-with-caution in shallow setups.

Beyond the headlines, the piece stresses not overreacting to a bad week but recognizing where a decline could linger. It outlines practical moves around 2B, outfield balance, and rotation plans, including a possible six-man rotation for Atlanta that could impact Strider. It also emphasizes dynasty vs. redraft nuance for Dominguez and Langford, and invites reader requests for next week’s Cut List. The overall message: smart, evidence-based cuts and timely pickups beat knee-jerk reactions as the season advances into late August and September.

For fantasy managers, Week 21 demands disciplined roster management—trust the data, watch injury flags, and keep a few durable producers like Nimmo in play, while being ready to pivot from underperforming holdovers. The Cut List serves as a weekly sanity check for rosters, reminding managers to optimize for counting stats and park effects, not just raw averages.

Stretch drive on the horizon and Sorare MLB lineups have to adapt. Upgrades ignite upside: Matthew Boyd jumps as a top pitching add with a career-best season, plus Brent Rooker and Taylor Ward provide heavy on-base and RBI potential as the Athletics and Angels trend toward late-season bursts. Holds lean into Malik-like caveats: Lawrence Butler, Jackson Holliday, and Nick Lodolo offer value with patience, while downgrades such as Ozzie Albies, Clay Holmes, and Nathaniel Lowe carry clear downside risk on short weeks. The narrative centers on park shifts, platoon splits, and the necessity to balance hot streaks with injury or matchup risk as September looms.

Tampa Bay rolled to an 8-2 win over Oakland as Drew Rasmussen delivered six solid innings, ending a rough patch with six scoreless frames to start. The offense broke through early, plating four in the first and adding two in the second behind a 458-foot Brandon Lowe blast and a multi-RBI night from Junior Caminero — his 34th homer of the season. Caminero later doubled, driving in more runs to push the lead to 6-0 before the night ended. The Rays bullpen closed it out as they push to salvage a series on this 14-game, 12-game road swing, now 59-63 and within striking distance of the AL wild-card chase at 5½ games back.

The Rays seized control with an aggressive two-out rally in the first, highlighted by Lowe’s RBI double and Caminero’s run-scoring hits, then doubled the lead in the second with Lowe’s homer and timely two-out singles. Rasmussen faced little resistance until a third-inning homer by Lawrence Butler and a fifth-inning run-scoring single by Gio Urshela kept Oakland within reach for a moment, but the Rays answered by tightening the defense and letting their bullpen finish the job. Chandler Simpson and Jake Mangum set the tone with speed on the bases, and the Rays tacked on late to secure the series victory and maintain momentum heading into the weekend against the Giants.

The A’s fell 8-2 to the Rays in a night where Tampa Bay jumped on JT Ginn early and never let up, leaving Oakland with a tough series-ending defeat. Ginn battled to find his command in a warm, bandbox-like environment, allowing four runs in the first and finishing after two innings. The Rays tacked on two more in the second behind a Brandon Lowe two-run homer, widening the gap to 6-0. Oakland finally got on the board with Lawrence Butler’s 16th homer in the third and Gio Urshela’s RBI single in the fifth, but the night belonged to Rasmussen, who controlled the tempo from the start. The A’s bullpen steadied for a stretch, but Elvis Alvarado surrendered two runs in the ninth as the Rays completed the win and the series split. Oakland now faces an off-day before hosting Los Angeles in a weekend set, with uncertainty surrounding the A’s Friday starter. Fantasy takeaway: Ginn’s next start is high-risk, Rasmussen remains a stable operator, and the A’s offense is still anchored by a core of Urshela, Butler and Soderstrom with upside for multi-homer contributions from the lineup.