Last Updated on September 19, 2025 12:15 pm by Paul Williamson | Published: September 19, 2025

If football is known as a game of inches, then baseball is a game of millimeters, as the most minute differences can make outsized impacts with cascading effects down the line. Those differences become all the more important during the fantasy playoffs, so if you’re able to successfully use these to your advantage, it may mean the difference between squeaking out a close victory to sit atop your standings and burying your head in shame as you instead contemplate what could have been.

As much as I am a proponent of the idea that you should “dance with the one(s) that brought ya” to the playoffs by trusting in your established talent, we’re at the point of the season where you may need to let them take a trip to the free agent pool if they’re not performing – whether due to injury, fatigue, or otherwise. If so, the names below have a chance at being true difference makers during one of the most important weeks of the year.

Let’s dive in!

Mickey Moniak – OF – COL – 24% Yahoo, 45% CBS

Last 14 Days: .350/.381/.725 – 5HR/3SB – .465 wOBA – .375 ISO – 190 wRC+

If you’re looking for a short-term surge for your hitting stats, there’s probably no better type of hitter to pick up than one who is currently on a hot streak and has an upcoming series in Colorado this weekend, where he is the owner of a .957 OPS through 236 PAs this year.

The former first overall pick has seemingly come into his own in his age-27 season, recording new highs in Runs, Home Runs, RBI, Stolen Bases, as well as a career-best ISO (.251) and wOBA (.348). Those numbers are seemingly legit, even without the Coors Field bump too. Unlike many Rockies hitters of both past and present, his xStats are closely aligned with his actual numbers – which suggests he may even have a little bit more ceiling available to him – thanks to a substantial boost in his hard-hit rate, which has gone from 34.4% last year to 45.6% this year, raising his ability to do damage on batted balls.

Even if this does represent the ceiling of Moniak’s production, the level he’s at is enough to put him in contention as a top-200 fantasy player. His overall whiff-heavy profile will lead to some boom-or-bust stretches – making him a bit less reliable in H2H formats versus Roto – but my expectations for him going forward are somewhere in the range of a 70/25/70/8 line with a .260 average.

Jo Adell – OF – LAA – 63% Yahoo, 83% CBS

Last 14 Days: .194/.219/.484 – 3HR/0SB – .295 wOBA – .290 ISO – 86 wRC+

I last wrote about Adell two weeks ago, in this same space. I apparently chose my timing poorly as he’s been a below-average hitter since that date, with his roster rate jumping only a couple percentage points despite an impressive performance from a season-long perspective.

Inextricably linked to Moniak thanks to the two being selected in the first round by the Angels in back-to-back drafts, Adell carries a similar low-contact, high-power, mid-level speed profile – just without the bonus of playing in the thin air of the Rockies;

Adell is definitely the owner of the better underlying metrics, but here’s a good reminder that even I sometimes forget – there’s no fantasy category for xSLG. Because of the Coors factor, Adell and Moniak will likely end up with similar actual lines. Whether you take that as a compliment to Moniak or a slight to Adell is up to you – but personally, I’m just happy to finally see the Angels development team get a bit of a win after so many notable failures the past few years.

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Jeff Clowers

• Working The Waiver Wire: September 19th
• Working The Waiver Wire: September 12th
• "The Dynasty Diamond": September 9th