Jaime Garcia, Jameson Taillon give owners a two-start advantage

Pitchers who have two starts in a week can deliver an advantage for opportunistic fantasy baseball owners.

Here are the best, worst and risk-reward options for this week:

(Note: Pitching matchups subject to change due to inclement weather, injury or managerial decisions. Stay up to date with our fantasy baseball news.)

Studs

Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco Giants (at LAD, ATL)
Stephen Strasburg, Washington Nationals (at BAL, COL)
Jon Lester, Chicago Cubs (at SD, at LAD)
Carlos Carrasco, Cleveland Indians (at OAK, at TEX)
David Price, Boston Red Sox (at TB, KC)

Three Up

1. Hisashi Iwakuma, Seattle Mariners (NYY, at CHW)

UPDATE: Iwakuma's next start has been moved back to Wednesday to give him an extra day of rest. He's now scheduled for two starts next week.

Iwakuma has been nasty in August (3-1, 1.69 ERA), and he'll look to lock down the New York Yankees to open the week. The Yanks rank 20th in runs since the All-Star break and are hitting .248 as a club. Despite a decent August average (.262), the Chicago White Sox are a dismal 27th in runs scored (70) this month.

2. Jaime Garcia, St. Louis Cardinals (NYM, OAK)

With three wins in three August starts, Garcia has upped his mark to 10-8 on the year. He opens against a New York Mets team managing just 3.8 runs per game in the second half, and follows that with a rare meeting with the Oakland Athletics: .243, 3.6 runs per game in August.

3. Jameson Taillon, Pittsburgh Pirates (HOU, at MIL)

Don't be misled by Taillon's unimpressive 3-2 record as the young right-hander has a 2.25 ERA over his last seven starts with 37 K's in 44 innings. The Houston Astros have been hitting fairly well of late (.264, 5.1 runs per game this month), but the Milwaukee Brewers have really hit the skids, managing just 16 runs in their last six games.

Sleeper of the Week

Tyler Skaggs, Los Angeles Angels (at TOR, at DET)

Skaggs, who recently returned from Tommy John surgery, has struggled after a nice start but could regain his footing against a pair of slumping lineups: the Toronto Blue Jays (.239, 4.2 runs per game in August) and Detroit Tigers (.246, league-low 3.2 runs/game).

Three down

1. Kenta Maeda, Los Angeles Dodgers (SF, CHC)

While Maeda is a steady hand in the Dodgers rotation, he's facing the streaking Giants, who are hitting .326 and plating seven runs per contest over their last seven games. He welcomes the dangerous Cubs later in the week; lest you forget, the Cubbies sit third in the majors in runs this season.

2. Chris Archer, Tampa Bay Rays (BOS, at HOU)

Archer's stuff is top-of-the-rotation material. He hasn't had much success against the Red Sox this year, however, going 0-3 with an 8.10 ERA in three 2016 starts. Archer was solid in his lone game against the Astros this year, but Houston has been doing some damage at the plate recently.

3. Dylan Bundy, Baltimore Orioles (WAS, at NYY)

Since moving into the rotation, Bundy is 4-3 over his seven starts with a 3.65 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 37 innings. He'll be tested by the Nats, who lead all of baseball in runs per game (6.5) this month while hitting a cool .296 as a team. As noted, the Yankees haven't been great, but Washington presents enough problems to sour us on Bundy's prospects.