The trade deadline was fun and all but I am extremely excited that monkey is off our backs and behind us now. We are in the dead heat of the Dog days of Summer with underdogs winning, Burnes walking Pirates and all.
RIP to the legend Vin Scully.
We have a short 5 game slate on the MAIN slate later tonight and so you can check back in for my full tribute to the most legendary person in Sports in my lifetime and I cannot help but write today without hearing Scully’s voice read my entire article as if he was broadcasting a game.
For now we look at the Afternoon/Day game slate(s) today and look at this, we have FanDuel taking the lead with the better slate including the two Hangover games in Tampa & Atlanta in the 12pm EST window.
DraftKings then follows with the other 6 games as their early afternoon slate.
So that is 8 games early for the Blue DFS players on FanDuel and 6 games early for the Orange DFS players on DraftKings.
Of course, scholars know that if you mix Blue and Orange together, you get brown. Which is hopefully not the color that we will be thinking of when we check our lineups this afternoon.
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WEATHER
All games play.
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The four pitchers who are FD only include Yusei Kikuchi — who I wish Vin Scully had been broadcasting his games, there would have been gold in those broadcasts — Jalen Beeks, Zach Wheeler and yes, Charlie Morton.
Arizona will be starting rookie Tommy Henry, who makes his debut in Cleveland. Henry is a former college pitcher who is a big lefty. His best could be Jordan Montgomery and his worst would be just another guy out of the bullpen for the Diamondbacks. I would expect he walks a good amount of hitters today and does not make it through the 4th inning.
Luis Castillo will make his Mariners and American League debut in Yankee Stadium. There’s a little bit of Felix Hernandez in Luis Castillo and if you know, you know. Okay fine, I’ll share. King Felix was the master of dominating the Yankees in New York, he loved pitching there and with the Yankees passing on trading for Castillo I could see him having a couple dominant innings. But no, I am not gonna trust him just yet.
Happy Brady Singer day and in a day game. Unfortunately, I have been quiet on the Singer front while he dominates everyone and now he gets the RH heavy White Sox with the winds blowing out to left field at oh, 17 MPH and 90+ degree temps. Singer kills lefties. The White Sox, have no lefties. If a hurricane could come in and wipe out this game, I would appreciate it. Thank you.
And the Red Sox are expected to piggy back Dick Mountain with Brayan Bello in some manner today. Neither idea is going to end well.
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ZACK WHEELER (FD)
I expect a lower scoring game in Truist Park today with these two bulldog type pitchers on the mound. Wheeler is going to cost you 10.6k on FanDuel but is extremely likely to throw 7 innings with 10 strikeouts.
SHANE BIEBER (DK/FD)
Similar to what I mentioned on Brady Singer above, Beebs is elite when he can get a lineup with plenty of lefty batters who can swing and miss at his slider and curve. His overall K% is down in 2022 but this is a game where he could continue to correct that and no, Christian Walker, is not taking him deep.
GERRIT COLE (DK)
Cole wins today. He hasn’t been able to do that in 3 of his last 4 starts but this is a scenario where I believe in the pitchers ability over what the hitters profiles are. Seattle does not project to strike out a ton, yet Cole at home finds a way to get 8+ strikeouts again today.
KYLE BRADISH (DK)
I am a fan of young kids who struggle and then have time off and come back and start to play better. Bradish is certainly not without risk but he has a highly regarded slider which is something the Rangers haven’t been very good against in 2022.
At his 6400 price, he should match Joe Ryan, Martin Perez, Jose Urquidy and other more popular options.
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TWINS
Buxton, Correa, Urshela, Polanco,
Buxton has to return otherwise this is just a value one off team. If Buxton is in, then Buxton-Correa start to get things going at the top and if we also get Gio Urshela then it’s lights out Tyler Alexander and someone let me know when its the bottom of the 6th so I can turn the game on to watch Harold Castro pitch.
ASTROS
Bello, Hill, doesn’t matter. They’re getting smoked by the sleeping giant known as the Houston Astros lineup today.
ROYALS / WHITE SOX
Welcome to my hell.
Singer will not completely implode. I just don’t see that happening. I really like the Royals side a good amount today with Melendez and the Italian beast Vinnie P doing what they should vs Lance Lynn. Bobby Witt Jr is banged up, but if he can have a big day then the Royals can win us some big $
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CATCHER
Just a couple pay up options here or you just find your favorite 2k-3k player on DraftKings and punt the position.
- MJ Melendez (C/OF)
- Salvador Perez
- JT Realmuto (FD)
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FIRST BASE
- Jose Mr August Abreu
- Vinnie Paquantino
- Jose Miranda
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SECOND BASE
- Jose Altuve
- Jorge Polanco
- DJ LeMahieu
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THIRD BASE
- Jose Ramirez
- Alex Bregman
- Gio Urshela
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SHORTSTOP
- Carlos Correa
- Bobby Witt Jr
- Amed Rosario
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OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore
- Byron Buxton
- Aaron Judge
- Yordan Alvarez
- Luis Robert
FD Only: Teoscar Hernandez
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OUTFIELD – Value
- Oscar Gonzalez – One of my favorite plays today. The 4-7 part of the Cleveland lineup is too much value to completely ignore and he is the best of the group.
- Victor Reyes
- Jake Meyers
- Nick Pratto
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- Byron Buxton – OF – Twins – Chairman of The Dongers Club
- MJ Melendez – C – Royals
- Victor Reyes – OF – Tigers
- Jose Abreu – 1B – White Sox
- Jorge Polanco – 2B – Twins
- Oscar Gonzalez – OF – Guardians
- Alex Bregman – 3B – Astros
- Carlos Correa – SS – Twins
- BONUS …………… Yordan Alvarez – OF – Astros
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BETTING PLAYS
Phillies/Braves UNDER 7.5
Blue Jays ML
Parlay: Twins / Guardians / Yankees
Royals/White Sox over 8.5