Fantasy Waiver Wire Focus Shifts to Small Slates as MLB’s New Broadcast Era Nears

A weekly fantasy baseball feature that identifies players available in a majority of Yahoo! leagues is narrowing its focus this season, with contributors publishing initial waiver-wire recommendations on Fridays and refreshing them each Sunday. Rather than exhaustive write-ups, the column now concentrates on a handful of in-depth profiles plus shorter notes for players who can address specific category needs in a given week.

To appear in the feature, a player must be rostered in fewer than 40% of Yahoo! formats — a threshold the authors note still leaves most of the listed names available in over 60% of leagues, and some in as many as 98%.

Hitters drawing attention

Spencer Jones, OF, Yankees (27% rostered) — The outfielder has produced seven home runs, eight stolen bases, 21 runs, and 21 RBI since returning to the majors in late July, alongside a .243 average. His contact metrics remain weak — a 78.0% zone-contact rate (19th percentile) and 32.8% strikeout rate (15th percentile) — but both have improved over the past six weeks, with elevated swing rates on in-zone pitches and strong contact quality offsetting the whiff concerns.

Hector Rodríguez, OF, Reds (20% rostered) — The rookie left-handed hitter entered Friday batting .323 with four home runs, eight RBI, and a 1.100 OPS over his previous seven games, including five homers in his last 10. One of those, a 115 mph, 423-foot blast against the Giants in San Francisco, helped spark a nine-run ninth-inning comeback. His profile features average bat speed near 75 mph and an unusual willingness to pull and lift the ball, and he has started eight consecutive games for Cincinnati.

Broadcast backdrop

The feature also highlighted the league’s incoming media arrangement: MLB returns to Comcast-owned platforms in 2026, with NBC and Peacock becoming the exclusive home of Sunday Night Baseball. The package also includes MLB Sunday Leadoff, Opening Day and Labor Day primetime games, the first round of the MLB Draft, and the entire Wild Card round of the postseason. Comcast shares closed at $26.66 and last traded at $26.56, down 0.38%, valuing the telecom and media company at roughly $94.4 billion.

Source: original release

What to watch

• Weekly Sunday updates to the waiver-wire rankings as rosters expand late in the season.
• Whether Jones’s contact-rate trend continues improving over the final weeks.
• Rodríguez’s playing time in Cincinnati’s outfield rotation.
• Further details on NBC and Peacock’s 2026 MLB schedule rollout.