Lineup Forecasts???

[birty74]

Is there any place I can go to get lineups for the evening's games well in advance of the starting times?

Every place I look posts these lineups no more than 1/2 hour before game time. I'm not sure if managers announce their lineups earlier than this, or if 1/2 hour before game time is the earliest anyone gets access to a lineup.

I ask because I play on Yahoo where we change our starters on a daily basis. Tonight, Pudge Rodriguez plays at 10:00 and my backup catcher, Eli Marrero, plays at 8:00. I'd like to be able to find out if Pudge is playing tonight, early enough so that I can start Marrero if he is not.

The more often I can start a full lineup, the more statistics I can accrue. Every little bit counts.

Any suggestions?

[jdh]

You can check articles in the teams' local papers or on their MLB sites which might mention that so and so is going to have a day off next game, etc. However, generally, managers don't announce their final lineups until 30 mins before a game because it often isn't unclear until then whether players with nagging day-to-day injuries can start or not. With catchers, you should assume that they will be sat at least one game a week and almost always when they are playing a day game after a night game.