It’s a TestiFriday, and it’s the perfect setup of Friday MLB games with an afternoon Wrigley game and then 14 games on the main DFS slate tonight. I don’t know if I have ever said this before, but without question my favorite article to write is Friday afternoon articles and when my day works out that I wind up writing it in the afternoon right around 3PM that typically is my most relaxing and best time to write any DFS article at all. Just a little random TMI information for you.
Below is information on the Dongers Club Appreciation Championship that I am running and mentioned in yesterday’s article, along with the link to join on DraftKings. It’s Free. It’s something I have run for about 3-4 years now and this is the largest and best prize pool that I have ever associated with it. I’m not running this for attention or for kudos or — okay, lets cut the bullshit, I without a shadow of the doubt will bring this up no fewer than 50 times when comparing my site to others. Because it is something I am very proud to do and as a very competitive person I want everything I work on to wind up being well received by the majority of those who are receiving it. In this case, that is you the members of Daily Ambush and the readers of The Dongers Club. If you don’t join this contest then you are telling me that my dog is ugly. And any person who doesn’t like a dog is no good person at the end of the day. Are you a bad person? No, of course not! So join the damn contest and follow this one piece of advice –>
Just don’t suck!
Information on the Dongers Club Appreciation Championships
https://www.draftkings.com/draft/contest/111380651
Here is how this will work out, the contest begins tomorrow, August 5th with the qualifier round that will run for three time periods. The whole rest of the month on Tuesday’s and Friday’s there will be some form of the tournament running.
- August 5th, August 10th and August 12th: Qualifier Period
- August 17th, August 19th: Pool Play
- August 24th, August 26th: Championships
The top 9 entrants from the qualifier period will be entered into three pool play groups on the 17th and 19th. Seeding is calculated based upon results from August 5th, 10th and 12th. First place = 25 points, second place = 21 points, third place = 17 points, fourth place = 15 points and then 14 points, 13 points, 12 points, etc… all the way down to 1 point as the minimum each week. So if you don’t play, you don’t get a point.
The top 4 will then advance to the Championships on August 24th and August 26th
First place = $750, Swag
Second place = $250, Swag
Third place = Swag
Fourth place = First loser
WEATHER
All games play
I love some hitting options tonight, and will prioritize my bats with my top pitcher (Bassitt) and then am open to various options on SP2 tonight. But it’s most certainly a 2-2-2 or 3-2-2 type spread out the bats kind of night, so lock in your 2-2 combination first then get your pitchers and make sure you are optimizing the right value, which is in the infield. On the high end tonight only Corbin Burnes is really someone I could see doing damage and there’s rest risk with him as well as the fact that the Giants are no slouches. So for me, it’s a night you roster a pitcher that is about as exciting as a mens water polo match between two blind teams.
CHRIS BASSITT
Hard not to go with Bassitt. He’s big and durable enough to go deep into the game, faces a really bad Texas lineup and is at home which favors the pitchers quite a bit. For $9,800 we’ll get 2x if not 3x tonight. He is the player I would have 100% of if I were to by chance go to a bar and start to drink and stupidly enter multiple lineups.
ZACK GREINKE
I love Greinke tonight, which always terrifies me because I’ll just put on blinders with him sometimes, but this is a Houston bounce back against the Twins today. They’ll give him the win and I still dont believe the Twins have good bats in their lineup.
MIKE MINOR
A little battle in St. Louis between two old guys as Minor squares off against Wainwright. First one to finish the early bird dinner wins this game, but Minor gets a slight nod as a cheaper option. A game stack of arms is definitely in play in what should be a lower scoring game.
FADE
German Marquez
It’s definitely up for debate if Jesus Christ can hit a curve-ball, but no doubt Jesus Aguilar and Jazz Chisolhm can hit Coors fastballs. Fade on chalky Marquez tonight for me.
BEST LONGSHOT VALUE ARMS
Matt Manning … Manning is going to put it together for a great outing here down the stretch. Picking on Cleveland might seem riskay, but we gotta take a shot somewhere tonight.
Logan Webb … Webb should not be limited and the Brewers still are up there in strikeout rates.
NEW YORK METS
I honestly did not look at a single game today beyond the White Sox-Cubs before around 2pm and holy hell this was the first thing on the menu? Signed, sealed and delivered boys. Kyle Gibson toes the rubber in Philadelphia and he is going to get a rude introduction to the Philly fans in his first home start as a Philly. Drawing the Citizens Bank destroyers, also known as the Mets who are fully recovered from their South Beach Hangover on Wednesday night. Load is up some Conforto, McNeil, Dom Smith and whoever is the starting catcher tonight because he will homer in the name of Travis d’Arnaud, praise God, the Church of Conforto is open.
BOSTON at TORONTO
Two decent arms are on the mound but both will give up 2+ HR tonight in the Skydome tonight. Boston continues to be too quiet for me to trust them and by too quiet I mean they are quiet like your kids on a random Saturday night when you settle down along with your better half to just relax in front of the TV and then about 30 minutes into just laying there you look at each other and say, oh shit, what are the kids doing? Only to go upstairs and find that there is some “experiment” going on in the bathroom involving crayons, paint and oh my god why is Justin hanging upside down out the window, what the hell is going on here. Oh wait, flashbacks (Justin is my son)… Anyways, uh yeah. Verdugo/JD/Xander for Boston and Springer/Semien/C-Dick run for the Jays.
RAYS vs ORIOLES
When Tampa trucks into Baltimore they rake, but more so tonight is about really good hitting conditions in the tiny Camden Yards and Nelson Cruz getting to put the fear of a multi-HR night into everyone who doesn’t have him today. John Means had his get right game but has a lot of problem spots vs this Rays lineup today. Do not overlook Baltimore who has seen Yarbs enough to know what he will do, really like Mancini.
Other really favorable hitting spots
Philadelphia – Do not overlook the Phils against Stroman. he lets the ball get into play too much and can blow up very easily.
Atlanta – Nats/Braves, a fun tradition. The Nats usually rake in Atlanta and by the Nats I mean … well shit, none of them are left. Atlanta is on an absolute tear and Adam Duvall should crush one off Fedde
Oakland/Houston/NY Yankees – All three are facing some bad arms, but Oakland gets the primary nod for me. Folty is going to struggle with them again. One offs on Houston/New York, priority on Houston.
CATCHER
- Mike Zunino
- Tomas Nido
- Carson Kelly – Hits LHP well and Weathers is terrible
- Kyle Higashioka
FIRST BASE
- Freddie Freeman
- Miguel Cabrera
- Trey Mancini
- Pete Alonso
SECOND BASE
- Harold Castro – LiC and superb value.
- Jeff McNeil
- Mookie Betts – The fact that he now has 2B eligibility makes him a better play even though he is extremely pricey.
THIRD BASE
- Kyle Seager
- Raffy Devers
- KeBryan Hayes
- Ryan McMahon
SHORTSTOP
- Kevin Newman
- Xander Bogaerts
- Nick Ahmed
- Ramon Urias
OUTFIELD – Mt Rushmore
- Michael Conforto
- Nelson Cruz
- George Springer
- Adam Duvall
OUTFIELD – Tier 2
- JD Martinez
- Starling Marte
OUTFIELD – Value
- Odubel Herrera
- Alex Verdugo
- Dominic Smith
- Brandon Nimmo
- Jordan Luplow
SCREW YOU DRAFTKINGS
- Lewis Brinson – $2,000 batting clean up in Coors Field and probably hits for the god damn cycle. Lovely.
The Dongers Club
- Michael Conforto – OF – Mets – Chairman of the Dongers Club
- Carson Kelly – C – Diamondbacks
- Harold Castro – 2B – Tigers
- Kevin Newman – SS – Pirates
- Trey Mancini – 1B – Orioles
- Rafael Devers – 3B – Red Sox
- Nelson Cruz – OF – Rays
- Dominic Smith – OF – Mets
- BONUS ………………………………….. Adam Duvall – OF – Braves
BETS
- Mets ML
- Mets / Phillies OVER
- Mariners / Yankees UNDER
- Red Sox ML
- Pirates ML
- Houston -1.5
- Rangers/Athletics UNDER
- Shohei Ohtani to hit a HR
HR Parlay
- Conforto, Cruz, Duvall
The Chalkiest Stacks
Yankees, Reds, Rockies
Good Teams Getting Overlooked
Literally everyone. The Red Sox, the Jays, the Mets, the Rays…
Best Leverage Play against Chalk
No need tonight just dont play Ryan Weathers please. NOt even on the tilt slate.
Favorite DK Pitching Combinations
Bassitt and value SP2 wild card or Greinke
FAVORITE HITTERS
Michael Conforto
Harold Castro