Another small slate with only 6 games tonight.
There is one game with weather concerns and it’s the one which pops in my mind the most right now – Anaheim vs Toronto (in Dunedin). So this looks like they’ll have some showers popping up around game time and lingering into the night which presents a situation on them fighting through it or having to PPD for later in the season given that tomorrow is a get-away spot for the Angels.
The reason this game pops in my mind though is because right now a team like the Angels is one we should be throwing a stack in every single night on. I don’t care if you donkey it into something but the Angels are this years version of the 2018 Red Sox. I picked them at the start of the season to win the World Series, which is bold but at the same time when you consider the Trout-Rendon-Ohtani core of that lineup you can understand how this team is hitting so well every single day. They don’t need launch angles, they don’t need juiced baseballs and they don’t need to only face really bad pitching to hit. Are they expensive? Damn straight. You know who else was expensive and always produced? 2018 Red Sox. Much like when Patty Mahomes took over for the Chiefs they were an auto play every single week in NFL DFS because they just scored so consistently against everyone and you could find value elsehwere to pair with it. So it might not always be the best ‘main’ lineup play, but just ride the Angels now until everyone else finally catches onto the fact that they are much deeper than just Trout and Ohtani.
WEATHER
Just the Angels-Jays game has risk, we would only want hitters in this game anyways.
CHRIS PADDACK (FD: 6,900 / DK: $9,200)
Much like just ride the Angels or hot teams, we’re seeing the easy button trend early in the season work on pitching. Easy button meaning take pitchers against the really bad lineups — of which there are quite a few early in the season as one would expect. I’ve never been a huge Sherrif guy but in context of tonight’s slate, he’s among the three choices and his FanDuel price is borderline criminal.
ZACH EFLIN (DK: $8,300 / FD: $8,300)
Two pitchers who probably get a good amount of ownership tonight are Eflin and Ian Anderson in the same game. We have another situation where the teams are seeing the same pitcher twice in one week and there’s going to be home runs in this game for sure. But one thing I can rely upon for both Eflin and Anderson is that they’ll pitch 5+ innings which is more than we can say for almost every other starter on the slate tonight, so we need that attrition of stats and strikeouts even if they will not pitch a perfectly clean game. Eflin should have more strikeouts than Anderson, will be lower owned and is going to win. So he’s the play.
There is no true third pitcher tonight …
- Jordan Lyles: Probably not pitching long
- Gerrett Richards: Is still not a good pitcher
- Quintana/Matz: Not in that park and rain issues
- Urias: Depth
- Jeff Hoffman: Not worth it IMO
- Nationals SP: This is the spot I want to go with, but it’s either Corbin or Voth. Corbin would be pitching first time in forever and coming off the COVID list. He supposedly is flying out to LA right now so that gives me concerns.
ANGELS
See above. They’re a must play in some capacity for me every day and with a great ballpark and a bad lefty (Matz) on the hill I want to go right back to them again. Yes, pay for Trout.
ORIOLES
Ryan Mountcastle, Anthony Santander, Trey Mancini, Freddy Galvis
G-Rich got rocked by Baltimore and while one could assume a veteran like him can come out and pitch better tonight I cannot trust him in this park. It’s here or go back to the well on the Cincinnati Reds facing a pitcher they’ll know nothing about. I’ll lean Baltimore.
PHILLIES
Bryce Harper, Jean Segura
To the Atlanta fans who were mocking Harper all game last night and couldn’t even pronounce Acuna properly when mocking him, you can all take a bow when Harper hits two bombs out tonight.
CATCHER
Both guys below are cheap and in terrific ballparks. No brainers in my mind
- Tucker Barnhart
- Pedo Severino
FIRST BASE
- Freddie Freeman
- Bobby Dalbec
- Trey Mancini
SECOND BASE
- Marcus Semien
- Nick Senzel
THIRD BASE
- Maikel Franco
- Anthony Rendon
SHORTSTOP
- Eugenio Suarez … Looked good in his late AB last night
- Xander Bogaerts
OUTFIELD – Mt Rushmore
- Mike Trout
- Bryce Harper
- Ryan Mountcastle
- JD Martinez
OUTFIELD – Tier 2
- Hunter Renfroe
- Nick Castellanos
OUTFIELD – Value
- Cedric Mullins
- David Dahl
- Joey Gallo
THE DONGERS CLUB
- Bryce Harper – OF – Phillies – Chairman of the Dongers Club
- Eugenio Suarez – SS – Reds
- Mike Trout – OF – Angels
- Ryan Mountcastle – OF – Orioles
- Anthony Rendon – 3B – Angels
- Bobby Dalbec – 1B – Red Sox
- Marcus Semien – 2B – Jays
- Carson Kelly – C – Diamondbacks
- BONUS ……………………. Joey Gallo – OF – Rangers