Twenty eight weeks ago we started out on the longest DFS journey that there is. An entire MLB season to digest 7 days a week for 6 months. We went through the ups and downs, the Chairman Double Dongs and the Double Negative pitchers. It was great to have MLB back for a full season and I have heard from many people that I know in the industry that they had their worst MLB season that they can recall. Not us. I feel that the launch of this site and the tools and dashboard went well but by no stretch is it something that we will just blindly turn on again next April without continuing to make improvements.
I think each and every one of you for your participation in the Dongers Club and although this isn’t the official sign off for 2021 because we have playoffs next week, it is the last regular season article that will be posted.
Unless of course you all twist my arm into doing one final article tomorrow on a Friday, October 1st.
WEATHER
We have a chance for some light rain out in Kauffman Stadium between the Indians and Royals and I can’t believe God would let it rain on Angel Zerpa’s parade. You are probably wondering, who the fuck is Angel Zerpa? That most definitely sounds like a made up name where some baseball reference person is fucking with us just to increase the number of Z letter players that are in Major League Baseball.
It actually made me think, how many players have had a first initial A and last initial Z or vice versa.
Glad you asked as well!
There’s Adrian Zabala and Albert Zachary who were both pitchers as well as Al Zarilla, but all three of them are dead and only Zarilla (OF) really did anything of substance in his career playing in 1,120 games and hitting 61 home runs while playing for the St. Louis Browns, Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox and was an all-star in 1948. Whoop te do.
Then there is the fourth A-Z player, Alan Zinter. Zinter is more recent having played from 2002-2004 with Houston and Arizona. He was a pitcher actually drafted in the twenty third round of the 1986 draft and eventually made his debut 16 years later which is quite impressive.
How did Zinter do? Not bad, he held opponents to .167 batting average over …. oh, scrap that. I got this all wrong. No, he wasn’t a pitcher. He was a pinch hitter/outfielder.
Who hit .167…
He sucked.
But he’s not dead. In fact, he has parlayed that career .167 and 3 home run average into a career as a coach — and by coach I mean he is the CURRENT hitting coach for one Joey Votto.
Go figure.
See, you just learned something new on the last week of the MLB season — because that’s what we do here in the Dongers Club. We spew random bullshit information from A-Z, from April through September. And next time your wife asks you if you remember what she said, you can fire back – yeah well did you know that Joey Votto’s hitting coach only hit .167 in the majors 16 years after being a 23rd round pick????
Nick Pivetta
Boston still needs this game and really there’s not much in Baltimore that has done well against Pivetta and not much that profiles to do well against him either.
Joe Ryan
Cotton Eyed Joe Ryan has come into our lives late into September here and is no doubt gonna be that “oh yeah” guy next March when fantasy drafts are beginning for the 2022 season (hopefully). He’s got a really good slider which is the one pitch that the Tigers could hit but for the most part relies upon good placement of his fastball to have success and Detroit is a lineup that should be beatable with it.
Also do not mind — Rich Hill, Shane Bieber (but don’t expect dominant Bieber), Tony Gonsolin
My Fade
Robbie Ray
This is not a harvest your nuts game. This is a throw your nutsack on the table game for Robbie Ray. I listed him third because the Yankees bats to me today are a really good contrarian spot with good profile metrics against Ray — but if anyone will nut up and go 8 innings tonight with 13 strikeouts it has to be Ray — and no, it’s not Corey Kluber on the other side.
Boston Red Sox
If you simply go with 4 Red Sox righties tonight you shouldn’t be hating life. Scott Wells is a premiere target for their RH batters.
- Enrique Hernandez
- Hunter Renfroe
- JD Martinez
- Kevin Plawecki
Yanks and Jays
Call me crazy — do it, go ahead … But this is a 10-8 wild back and forth homer fest game tonight. Both sides are POPPING in terms of DCPA metrics tonight. Vlad Jr and Stanton cannot stay quiet today.
- NY – Giancarlo Stanton, Joey Gallo, Gleyber Torress
- TOR – Vlad Jr, Springer, Gurriel
CATCHER
Salvy could sit tonight after he injured his ankle. But then did you know yesterday was the seven year anniversary of the best baseball game played in the last 25 years? Just felt like I should remind you of that.
- Salvador Perez
- Kevin Plawecki
FIRST BASE
Its pay for Vlad or take value here.
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr
- Bobby Dalbec
- Eric Hosmer
SECOND BASE
- Enrique Hernandez
- Adam Frazier
- Trea Turner
THIRD BASE
- Rafael Devers
- Austin Riley
- Santiago Espinal – Nice value in bottom of TOR order.
SHORTSTOP
- X – gonna give it to ya
- Beaux Bichette
- Corey Seager
OUTFIELD – Mt Rushmore
- Hunter Renfroe
- JD Martinez
- Giancarlo Stanton
- Jorge Soler
OUTFIELD – Value
- Harold Ramirez
- Odubel Herrera
- Brandon Nimmo
- Michael Conforto – Going out in style in his final days as a Met.
- Gleyber Torres – 2B – Yankees – Chairman of the Dongers Club
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr – 1B – Blue Jays
- Joey Gallo – OF – Yankees
- Michael Conforto – OF – Mets
- Odubel Herrera – OF – Phillies
- Santiago Espinal – 3B – Blue Jays
- Xander Bogaerts – SS – Red Sox
- Kevin Plawecki – C – Red Sox
- BONUS …………….. Salvador Perez – MVP of the American League
Good luck!