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Here are our rankings and analysis to help you set lineups for the second-to-last Sunday of the regular season.PitchingSolidSince the All-Star break, Jon Lester is sporting a nifty 1.46 ERA and 0.91 WHIP with 76 whiffs in 80? innings. This second-half surge has thrust the veteran lefty in contention for his first Cy Young award. Sunday might be the last chance Lester has to make his case in full, since hes likely to be lifted early from his final outing of the season next week. Opposing the Cubs southpaw will be the St. Louis Cardinals in the finale of a weekend set at Wrigley Field. The Redbirds hit lefties hard, but they are extremely strikeout prone in this scenario, making Lester an upside GPP option.While the Cubs are biding their time until the postseason, the Cardinals are fighting tooth and nail to get there. Their de facto ace, Carlos Martinez, is tasked with keeping the vaunted Cubs offense in check while his teammates try to scratch out a few tallies against Lester. As his ownership is apt to be low, theres ample strikeout upside to use Martinez as a contrarian option, especially if the NL Central winners give some regulars the day off.Robert Gsellman might only have two wins, but the job the 22-year-old has done for an injury-riddled New York Mets staff is integral to their wild-card push. The rookie right-hander takes the hill at Citi Field, closing out a weekend set with the Philadelphia Phillies. Gsellman faces a lineup with an above-average strikeout rate against righties, putting him in play both cash and GPP contests.The Jekyll and Hyde nature of Michael Pineda has been discussed quite often in this space over the second half of the season. Sundays date with the Toronto Blue Jays north of the border is the ultimate meeting of high risk with high reward. Of the top offenses, the Jays offer the highest strikeout potential. The upside puts Pineda in play for GPP; just beware that his outing, and your sweat, could be cut short if he struggles.It might be surprising to learn that the Dodgers are the weakest team in the league facing southpaws, at least in terms of weighted on base average (wOBA). This puts the Rockies Tyler Anderson in a good spot, as hell take the hill in Dodger Stadium. Consider Anderson viable in all DFS formats.Taijuan Walker has been tinkering with his mechanics with mixed results. After a complete-game blanking of the Angels, the Blue Jays picked up three runs in 5? innings against the Mariners righty. Since Toronto does at least that to most hurlers, lets call Walker a work in progress. Next up for Walker are the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. The hosts have been scuffling lately, adding Walker to the list of intriguing GPP picks.StreamersEven on the high-profile Boston Red Sox, Eduardo Rodriguez is only owned in 19 percent of ESPN leagues. Granted, its late in the season, which impacts ownership, but still, thats low. Rodriguez is battling Clay Buchholz and Drew Pomeranz for a spot in the playoff rotation and is in a great position to improve his chances against the Tampa Bay Rays. In fact, the combination of low wOBA and high whiff rate against southpaws for Tampa Bay not only makes Rodriguez a great streamer but also puts him in play for DFS.Despite rumors of an innings cap for Brandon Finnegan, the Cincinnati Reds young southpaw will get the ball one more time. If this is Finnegans last start of the season, theres a good chance he will go out on a high note in squaring off with the Milwaukee Brewers. Just be aware that hes not likely to pitch more than five or maybe six frames.Need a win? Joe Musgrove and the Houston Astros face the Los Angeles Angels at Minute Maid Park, where theyll be decided favorites against Daniel Wright.Similarly, Josh Tomlin and the Cleveland Indians host the underdog Chicago White Sox at Progressive Field. Despite losing a couple of their top starters, the Indians are in the thick of things for home field advantage throughout the American League playoffs.Matt Boyd is coming off of his best outing of the season after shutting down the Twins for eight innings, allowing just one run with seven strikeouts. The Detroit Tigers southpaw is in a good spot for another strong outing with the Kansas City Royals in town. The guests have been whiffing versus southpaws, putting Boyd in DFS consideration.AvoidIn what could be the most important day in head-to-head leagues, everyone is in play, depending on the scenario. That said, the three hurlers landing in the avoid range --?Colby Lewis, Braden Shipley and Wily Peralta?--?are all huge risks to ratios. Of the three, Lewis in Oakland is the safest.HittingThe Astros grab the top spot with a prime matchup against Daniel Wright and the Angels. The clash is at homer-friendly Minute Maid Park. In 27 frames, Wright has allowed five homers after surrendering 10 in 83 innings before being summoned by the Halos. The Astros are dangerous versus righties, even without the platoon edge, so dont be shy about building around George Springer, Yulieski Gurriel, Carlos Correa and Evan Gattis.Another hurler with a penchant for allowing the long ball is Braden Shipley, who draws the unenviable task of keeping the Baltimore Orioles under wraps at Camden Yards. Shipleys 1.8 HR/9 does not match up well with the club thats bashed more homers versus righties than anyone. Adam Jones, Chris Davis, Manny Machado, Mark Trumbo, Pedro Alvarez and Jonathan Schoop are all power threats.The Mets draw rookie righty Jake Thompson at Citi Field. The hosts vary their lefty hitters, so be sure to check lineups. The top four is very likely to be Jose Reyes, Asdrubal Cabrera, Yoenis Cespedes and Curtis Granderson, all of whom are in play. Some combination of Kelly Johnson, Michael Conforto, Lucas Duda, James Loney and Alejandro De Aza comprise the better ancillary parts.Wily Peralta has been throwing well for the past month, so a full-on Reds stack is ill-advised. That said, lefties Joey Votto and Scott Schebler are an intriguing ministack or useful as stand-alone options.Similarly, piling on Colby Lewis isnt the most efficient use of resources as the Athletics, as a team, dont have the punch to take full advantage of Lewiss fly ball offerings. However, catcher Stephen Vogt and slugger Khris Davis are in play.Most likely to hit a homer: Sometimes we get fancy and look for an under-the-radar option to feature, but with Shipley being very susceptible to left-handed power, Chris Davis is the chalk play.Most likely to steal a base: Trea Turner has nine pilfers in September and is in a great place to hit double digits, facing a Pirates club that is one of the easiest to run on in the league.Dennis Santana Dodgers Jersey . Their experience showed Tuesday as the No. 10 Badgers blunted a Saint Louis surge to win 63-57 and advance to face West Virginia in Wednesdays finals of the Cancun Challenge. Joe Kelly Jersey . Following a lopsided 5-2 loss against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night, Paul MacLean told reporters that "theres a lack of focus, theres a lack of leadership and theres a lack of preparation" with his struggling team. That came on the heels of Bryan Murray taking the unusual step of going into the locker room at the Prudential Center and addressing the players himself. https://www.cheapdodgersonline.com/3075h-tyler-white-jersey-dodgers.html . After dropping their final six games of December, the Wild opened the new calendar year with four consecutive wins. Following a loss to Colorado on Saturday, Minnesota rebounded the following night to blank Nashville 4-0, but then had the tables turned on them Tuesday. Kristopher Negron Dodgers Jersey . Badenhop was 2-3 with a 3.47 ERA in 63 relief appearances for Milwaukee this season. He is 18-20 in his career with three saves and a 3. Rick Sutcliffe Dodgers Jersey . After Mondays hard-fought loss, the wait seemed longer than usual. Getting set to go their separate ways for a short Christmas break, the Raptors coach credited his team for their effort on a seemingly impossible three-game road trip, urging them to build on that success when they get back to work at the end of the week.This shouldnt come as a shock, considering his former line of work, but it usually doesnt take Phil Brooks long to make an impression.Take UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, for example. He first met Brooks, better known as former pro wrestler CM Punk, in January 2015, and thanks to pure coincidence, the two joined Roufusport martial arts academy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, around the same time.Punk, 37, was brand new to the sport at that point, signing with the UFC the previous month despite having no experience. Woodley was a veteran who, as it would turn out, was just 18 months away from winning a UFC title.Unlike some of his peers, Woodley never took issue with Punks fast track to the UFC. He wasnt necessarily a fan either. He was indifferent to Punks story at first, but quickly came to respect him, even learn from him.One of the first conversations we had, we were talking about the WWE, and he told this story about early in his career, a guy came down from the big circuit and asked if anyone knew how to ride a motorcycle, Woodley said. Everyone in the room started answering, No, no, no. Punk stood up and said, I can ride a bike. The guy said, Cool, were pulling you up for this show. After he left, everybody was like, Man, youre so lucky. If only I knew how to ride a bike, and Punk said, I dont know how to ride a bike, but Ill learn between now and then.He was telling this story like it was funny or a joke, but it was inspiring to me. Just that mindset: You dont have to have it all figured out.It has taken longer than some originally expected, but that same mindset has carried Punk to his Octagon debut against Mickey Gall (2-0) at UFC 203 on Saturday inside Clevelands Quicken Loans Arena.The impression Punk will ultimately have on MMA might take longer than the one he made on Woodley, Then again, maybe not. Perhaps Saturday will mark the start and finish of Punks career, or maybe hell fight into his 40s. Its hard to say.A celebrity with no experience making his MMA debut in the sports top promotion, against a 24-year-old opponent who was hand-picked during an internet mini-series -- theres no precedent for something like this.At the very least, one would assume theres pressure on Punk to look respectable Saturday. Many view him as a privileged star who has been gifted an opportunity he doesnt deserve. Punk is not a fighter but has been afforded the luxury of the UFCs promotional muscle. Hes taking attention away from the real athletes in Cleveland, and probably earning more than them. Those who see it thhis way want Punk to lose, badly -- enough that hell never venture close to a cage again.ddddddddddddPunk and his team claim hes not feeling that pressure though. As trite as it sounds, he just wanted to get in a fight, and it isnt more complicated than that. Placing it under a spotlight only made sense, but its not the main reason behind it.Punk gets hounded by people, but theyre not seeing it from his perspective, UFC lightweight and Roufusport teammate Erik Koch?said. Punk never asked to fight in the UFC. He said, Hey, this is something Id like to try, and when Dana White heard that, he jumped all over it. Punk said, Id feel like a jackass if I turned this opportunity down. People kill for this opportunity.I think a lot of people are under the impression theres this pressure on Punk, and in a way there is, but hes doing this to have fun. Hes doing it because at the end of his life, he wants to look back and say, Hey, I did that s---.In the last year, Punk uprooted his life from Chicago to Milwaukee to eliminate the daily drive to practice. At the peak intensity of his training, he was in the gym three times per day.He has been a teammate to former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis during a championship fight week. Earlier this year, Punk and Koch went to a movie theater in Milwaukee while Koch was in the process of dropping weight. Instead of popcorn, Koch brought what he thought were hard-boiled eggs as a snack, but mistakenly grabbed raw ones. When he cracked an egg all over himself in the theater, Punk nearly died laughing. In recent months, Punk has gone through the process of trimming weight himself.In the fight itself, anything can happen, and although he has hinted at fighting beyond Saturday, nothing is guaranteed. After UFC 203, though, Punk will have experienced the life of a professional fighter. In that sense, hes already comfortable with the outcome.I dont think it was ever questioned whether physically I could handle the training camp, Punk said. I think mentally was the question, but now we all know.[Regarding naysayers], if I set foot in the Octagon, Ive already won. Im doing something that a lot of people thought I couldnt do. At the end of the day, I dont want to walk in there and lose. I want to show up. I want to beat Mickey. Theres so many different variables, everything has to line up on that one perfect day, you know, and Im looking to that on [Saturday]. ' ' '