SLATE NOTES
Both FanDuel and DraftKings have included all 12 games today, which is pretty fricken awesome that we are three slates into the season and have had 100% site synchronicity thus far. I am not sure if FanDuel is going to recognize that there is an evening slate later tonight as well but let’s not confuse them because for once they did a full Saturday afternoon slate instead of splitting it up into 5 slates.
WEATHER
Lots of wind today and some morning showers but most of them will be out of the key spots. The one rain game which I am crossing off for various reasons is the Giants vs Yankees. I don’t like either offense enough even with wind blowing out and I don’t trust either pitcher to go deep enough on this slate either.
The following games have some strong wind(s)
- Braves at Nationals – 20+ mph gusting all over the place, also very high Dew Point here and it feels kinda muggy. I think we see some balls get out of the park here.
- Jays at Cardinals – 20+ mph winds out to RF but not as high temps/dew point
- Brewers at Cubs – 20+ mph winds IN/Cross
- Orioles at Red Sox – High humidity & winds 10 mph out in Fenway
- Pirates at Reds – 19 mph winds out to LF. Big boost for hitters in a tiny park.
- Roof TBD in Houston, not extremely hot
- Roof TBD in Miami, weather is nice here
PATRICK SANDOVAL
Sando-goat was in the WBC and pitched a gem in his final start there. Historically his troubles can come with power hitters against him, which Oakland really is not and being a LHP I think he can do well at holding runners on to keep them from running. The one big power bat to fear is Jesus Aguilar, but it’s Saturday so we’re good there, right?
JUSTIN STEELE
The big battle here is who wins between the winds blowing in and the Brewers trying to swing and miss. Not even sure these weak guys can get the bat through the zone to make contact in that wind. Pick on the Brewers, this park plays for unders early in the season and especially with the wind blowing in like it is.
Other SP Notes
- I am not listing a third SP today on this slate because this early in the season I am not expecting massive 7 IP & 10 SO type performances. Plus we saw a big number of pitcher friendly umpires on opening day and this slate isn’t projecting that. So pass on Strider, Gausman, Wheeler, Woodruff, Urquidy for me compared to the two guys above…. But if you are wanting extra exposure, that’s the list in that order.
- Shintaro Fujinami … No chance I touch him in his MLB debut, but he is a SO/IP guy who faces a still swing happy Angels lineup and is just $5,500. We really don’t need his value with Steele being better, but worth a mention.
Red Sox
Devers, Turner, Yoshida, Duvall
Dean Kremer has never been one to be good at missing bats. While it may not be extremely warm in Boston, the wind does help and we have two teams who hit just fine on opening day in similar conditions. Top of the order has to do damage for Boston and Devers is a key bat in any Boston stack, however it will be either Yoshida or Duvall who has the 4 RBI game for Boston.
Braves
Acuna, Olson, Albies
Put your chips on Matt Olson today folks. Josiah Gray isn’t going to suddenly become dominant vs LHB and Olson’s 4700 price is just a free square on DK.
Plus, who trusts the Nationals bullpen? Not me.
Pirates
Hayes, McCutchen, Reynolds
Great American Smallpark, this game should feature some good HR upside in a time of season when chasing homers isn’t ideal. Love KeBryan Hayes, him vs Raffy Devers at 3B is the hardest call on the slate.
CATCHER
- Tyler Stephenson / Curt Casali … Stephenson in a Reds mini stack, Casali as a cheap punt one off.
- Sean Murphy
- Christian Vasquez
FIRST BASE
- Matt Olson
- Andrew Vaughn
- Justin Turner
SECOND BASE
Position looks ugly, Albies has HR upside but for $3800 Luis Arraez just gets on base folks…
- Ozzie Albies
- Luis Arraez
- Brandon Lowe
THIRD BASE
- KeBryan Hayes
- Rafael Devers
SHORSTOP
Really aren’t many options from the core teams here, so this will be a one off position unless you wanna ride Rodolfo Castro for Pittsburgh.
- Bobby Witt Jr
- Wander Franco
- Jeremy Pena
OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore
- Bryan Reynolds
- Ronald Acuna Jr
- Austin Hays
- Austin Meadows
OUTFIELD – Tier 2
- Kyle Schwarber
- Andrew McCutchen
- Adam Duvall / Masataka Yoshida
- Corey Dickerson
THE DONGERS CLUB
- Matt Olson – 1B – Braves
- Austin Meadows – OF – Tigers
- KeBryan Hayes – 3B – Pirates
- Bobby Witt Jr – SS – Royals
- Tyler Stephenson – C – Reds
- Ozzie Albies – 2B – Braves
- Andrew McCutchen – OF – Pirates
- Austin Hayes – OF – Orioles
- BONUS ……………. Raffy Devers – 3B – Red Sox
TOP BETS
- Pirates/Reds over 8.5
- Angels/Athletics under 7.5
- Cubs ML
WINNERS PARLAY OF THE DAY
- None….
TOP PROP(s) OF THE DAY
- Chris Sale u5.5 strikeouts
- Edward Cabrera u4.5 strikeouts
- Austin Hays Antyime HR +750
Gotta have a CORE lineup to build around today. This is a great 3-2-1-1-1 type slate though and I am not really getting too deep into SP beyond the top guys I mentioned.
C/2B/SS are your punt one off positions.