If you enjoy pitching name puns then today is your kind of slate. We have Zach (Eflin) vs Zac (Gallen) and we have Jameson (Taillon) vs James (Kaprillian), not to mention the ever so boring match-up of John (Gant) and Chris (Sale) and the very rare but often imitated Yusei (Kikuchi) and I say Brad (Keller).
Which also means worth noting that if you are a fan of Keller’s you can roster two Keller’s tonight.
WEATHER
All clear.
Wait a minute … Max Scherzer and Yu Darvish squaring off in PETCO Park. This sounds familiar…
ZAC GALLEN
The Phils have one right handed bat who can hit worth a damn right now and that is Rhys Hoskins — and look at that breaking news, he is going on the DL. Zac Gallen has been near shut down vs LHB this season which aligns with his overall expectations his whole career. He is coming off a fantastic performance in Coors Field vs the Rockies and should follow that up with another good if not great performance vs the Phillies tonight. Love me some Milk today.
CHRIS SALE
Once upon a time you would often gain a ton of leverage simply by fading Sale whenever he faced his old AL Central foe’s. It was this weird 1-2 year stretch where Sale would get hammered by virtually every AL Central team when facing them as a member of Boston. But those days are long gone and dealing with the facts that we have in front of us for tonight, Sale is in line to strike out 25% of the Twins he’ll see today over 5+ innings as he gets into a groove.
JORDAN LYLES
Sleeper of the night is Jordan Lyles. Not that picking on Cleveland is something I love but his distribution of pitch types give him a good strike-out upside vs Cleveland tonight. RH hitters have hit him harder all season and Cleveland has just one power RHB in my mind with Franmil.
Also expect to pitch well
Max Scherzer/Yu Darvish … Duh, right? Well, they got lit up in the previous matchup here but after that forever game last night you would think they gotta provide some length for their clubs today. Go both if you go one.
Jameson Taillon
BOSTON
Everyone and their brother and their uncle will likely be on Boston tonight with a disparate money line shifting the algo’s in their favor. In reality the players I would focus on are Schwarber and Devers and then just move on. Schwarber looks like he could get on another heater and is certainly one of the obvious plays tonight to consider.
ROYALS
Sneaky late game hammer in a park which hasn’t been a target of late and that is SafeCo/T-Mobile Stadium in Seattle. Roof will be closed tonight which helps the hitters in this park and I really like KC vs a contact pitcher like Kikuchi. Whit/Salvy and a value of Hunter Dozier should be on our radar. If he starts, Carlos Santana is my sleeper in a Royals late night hammer stack.
RANGERS
Gimme some bad offenses against bad pitching tonight. The Rangers get to feast off Sam Hentges and they’re a great value lineup as always.
CATCHER
- Salvador Perez
- Jose Trevino
- Buster Posey
FIRST BASE
By far the longest list of guys I like tonight are here …
- Paul Goldschmidt … Does well vs Pirates always, and hard to stack Cards without him.
- Carlos Santana … Sneaky play of the night.
- Brandon Belt
- Christian Walker … Home town narrative — good nugget found by one of our Members
SECOND BASE
- Whit Merrifield
- Max Muncy
THIRD BASE
- Yonny Hernandez … Lots of 2B eligible guys on Texas tonight against the worst pitcher on the slate in Sam Hentges and they’re all cheap. But Yonny should be leading off and offers us 3B flexibility for a weaker position tonight. He’s also a switch hitter offers us some Switch Hitting LiC once Sammy is showering…. Oooh, I like that nickname. Showering Sammy..
- Rafael Devers
- Asdrubal Cabrera
SHORTSTOP
Big names are on this slate like Seager, Tatis, Lindor, etc… But really, none of them for their price to me are worth locking in on today.
- Brandon Crawford
- Isiah Kiner-Falefa
- Miguel Rojas
OUTFIELD – MT RUSHMORE
- Mitch Haniger
- Kyle Schwarber … Is this time for another Blockhead Heater?
- Dylan Carlson
- Ketel Marte
OUTFIELD – Tier 2
- Bryan Reynolds
- Joey Gallo
OUTFIELD – Value
- Hunter Dozier
- David Peralta / Pavin Smith
- Yadiel Hernandez
- LaMonte Wade
The Dongers Club
- Brandon Crawford – SS – Giants – Chairman of the Dongers Club
- Yonny Hernandez – 3B – Rangers
- Whit Merrifield – 2B – Royals
- Kyle Schwarber – OF – Red Sox
- Paul Goldschmidt – 1B – Cardinals
- Salvador Perez – C – Royals
- Mitch Haniger – OF – Mariners
- Ketel Marte – OF – Diamondbacks
- BONUS …………………. Rafael Devers – 3B – Red Sox
BETS
- Rangers ML
- Royals/Mariners OVER 8
- Cardinals/Pirates OVER 8.5
CHALKIEST STACKS
Red Sox and Indians
GOOD TEAMS GETTING OVERLOOKED
Good? LOL. Well, none are really “good” here tonight getting overlooked. I could make a case though for the Yankees.
BEST LEVERAGE
Minnesota Twins
ROSTER CONSTRUCTION IN GENERAL
I would get Whit Merrifield, Yonny Hernandez and Brandon Crawford in as the core plays tonight which lets you get a stack around them.