WEATHER
Warm and humid, but all games play.
Not much on the expensive end tonight as Houck and Ragans are the top guys and I like both, but Ragans has a ton of heat to deal with and might serve up some power, while Houck has limited K% upside but looks pretty safe vs Toronto. A couple likely chalk guys are Peralta and Canning, neither of whom I trust at all.
My guys are Michael Lorenzen and Justin Steele. I love both going on the road against lineups that have cooled down.
- JUSTIN STEELE (DK: $8500, FD: $9500) .. Steele is finally pitching well with two really good starts in a row & should benefit from the large park.
- MICHAEL LORENZEN (DK: $7300, FD: $8500)
Both the Braves and Red Sox are facing the “I get killed by LHH” club guys in Lance Lynn and Chris Bassitt. Plucking some guys like Olson, Kelenic, Duran, Devers is a good move today as one offs.
PIRATES
Bryan Reynolds, Oneil Cruz, KeBryan Hayes
Hide the women, protect the children, grab the guns and protect the Rum. It’s Pirates and Reds squaring off in the dead heat of the summer with both teams failing to live up to some morons expectations that they would compete for the NL Central crown this year. Sounds like an optimal time for a few brawls and some healthy divisional competition. The Reds lineup is too disoriented, they play bad fundamental baseball and run themselves out of big innings lately. Pittsburgh, while not a ton better, does have a core 1-2-3 that could go bop, bang and zoom tonight — or something like that.
ROYALS
Pasquantino, Witt, Melendez
This would be so typical Royals to be dead offensively and then suddenly wake up out of nowhere. Apologies for coming off as a homer, but it’s about 100 degrees in Kauffman Stadium and they hit better here. The newer regime is also better at scouting guys they haven’t seen before, so I trust them against Munoz.
SLEEPER TEAMS
Athletics: Do not be shocked when Angels/Athletics winds up with a high scoring outcome.
Rangers: Really like Texas going into an NL park here, they get away from home and might be ready to turn things around offensively finally.
OTHER NOTES
Blue Jays: Recent trips to Fenway were fantastic for Toronto. Back when you had Teoscar and Bichette in the ilneup as well it was an automatic stack. Now, this team looks lost and has a tough game vs Houck today. Springer or Vlad will have to carry anything with Toronto today. I am passing.
Dodgers: Not seeing a huge explosion game.
CATCHER
- Will Smith
- Sean Murphy
- Shea Langaleirs
FIRST BASE
- Vinnie Pasquantino
- Rowdy Tellez
- Nate Lowe
SECOND BASE
- Marcus Semien
- Nolan Gorman
- Nick Loftin
THIRD BASE
- Austin Riley
- Rafael Devers
- Ke’Bryan Hayes
SHORTSTOP
- Oneil Cruz
- Bobby Witt Jr.
- Corey Seager
OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore
- Bryan Reynolds
- Shohei Ohtani
- Jarred Kelenic
- JJ Bleday
OUTFIELD – Tier II
- Tommy Pham
- Jarren Duran
- Wyatt Langford
- KeBryan Hayes – 3B – Pirates – Chairman of The Dongers Club
- Jarred Kelenic – OF – Braves
- Corey Seager – SS – Rangers
- Wyatt Langford – OF – Rangers
- JJ Bleday – OF – Athletics
- Vinnie Pasquantino – 1B – Royals
- Nolan Gorman – 2B – Cardinals
- Will Smith – C – Dodgers
- BONUS … Austin Riley – 3B – Braves
TOP BETS
Pirates ML
Rangers ML
Red Sox + Braves ML Parlay
Nats/Padres under 8