WEATHER
The only game that looks of slight concern is once again in Boston, where they are playing two today and the night game is on the MAIN slates but has some potential for showers or a delay.
Talk about a reverse/backwards type slate. A couple pitchers that I would use are in the few spots that are in warmer/good hitting environments. Specifically Zack Wheeler out in Sacramento, Clarke Schmidt in Coors vs the Rockies and Drew Assmuffin in Tampa vs the Jays. Then there is my old friend, and not too much of a friend of the Dongers Club, Yusei Kikuchi in Anaheim against those Fish.
Meanwhile, Chris Sale is the other big name tonight. He draws the Padres who were a massive let down in Toronto but are poised to take part in the Ronald Acuna/Ozzie Albies bromance re-union tonight with their own set of homers as well. Should Sale go off? Probably. I don’t hate him, but I am going to be on the Padres one more time, which either pays off, or allows me to say Go F*** Yourself San Diego once again.
As you can deduce, I am quickly just finding reasons to not want to use anyone tonight on pitching.
ZAC GALLEN (DK: $8800, FD: $9300)
I always try to take an initial gut instinct when looking at the games, and this one read as one with some runs in it — but the more we dive into the details the more we realize it’s all on the Arizona side. Gallen, a former Cardinals draft pick, has struggled in recent home starts, so going on the road here is probably a nice relief into a better pitchers park as it’s not as hot out in St. Louis quite yet.
SANDY ALCANTARA (DK: $7700, FD: $8000)
Sandy is going to figure it out. He has just been walking a few too many hitters and had the unfortunate luck of facing the Dodgers twice while trying to do so. His PC is back up and so the strength and confidence is there, which is good because he should give up 2 ER vs the Angels, but if he can get through 6 IP then he’s going to wind up posting his best start of the year. Angels are thin on left handed hitters & those are the ones which could make his outing shorter.
CLARKE SCHMIDT (DK: $7200, FD: $9400)
Despite 80+ degrees in Coors I would still trust Schmidt against the lowly Rockies.
OTHER PITCHING THOUGHTS
- Pablo Lopez will manage to finish with a good score. But I do not use pitchers against the Chairman.
- Clayton Kershaw vs Griffin Canning. Believe it or not, Canning is the better pitcher right now. Expect a game that has men on base but not a TON of big innings.
- If you want my sleeper picks, it’s gonna be in the Orioles/Red Sox game but weather is a concern.
MARINERS / ASTROS
Polanco, Raleigh, Crawford || Paredes, Pena, Diaz
Back down to an AL West match-up with two terrible arms going to open things up before bad middle-relievers.
RAYS
Diaz, Caballero, Morel
They’ll score 5+ runs tonight, but can we get homers instead of boring walks and then one guy hits a 3-run homer please? That’s all the Rays seem to do. Would prefer them against a RHP – but Lauer is trash, so he’ll do just fine.
YANKEES
Goldschmidt, Dominguez, LeMahieu
Yeah, so Judge is 7k, that’s nice and all. There’s a better stack though without him and it’s Goldy-Dominguez-LeMahieu
BRAVES
Acuna, Albies
CATCHER
- Salvador Perez
- Cal Raleigh
- Yainer Diaz
FIRST BASE
- Paul Goldschmidt
- Christian Walker
- Jake Burger
SECOND BASE
- Ozzie Albies
- DJ LeMahieu
- Ketel Marte
- Luisangel Acuna
THIRD BASE
- Isaac Paredes
- Jorge Polanco
- Yandy Diaz
- Alec Bohm
SHORTSTOP
- JP Crawford
- Bo Bichette
- Jeremy Pena
- Xander Bogaerts
OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore
- Daulton Varsho … Park is playing great for lefties.
- Shohei Ohtani
- Nick Castellanos
- Ronald Acuna Jr.
OUTFIELD – Tier II
- Christopher Morel
- Josh Palacios
- Adolis Garcia
- Randy Arozarena
- Salvador Perez – C – Kansas City Royals – Chairman of The Dongers Club
- Ronald Acuna Jr – OF – Braves
- Ozzie Albies – 2B – Braves
- Isaac Paredes – 3B – Astros
- Nick Castellanos – OF – Phillies
- Daulton Varsho – OF – Blue Jays
- JP Crawford – SS – Mariners
- Paul Goldschmidt – 1B – Yankees
- BONUS ….. Shohei Ohtani – DH – Dodgers
TOP BETS
Rays/Jays OVER 9
Padres/Braves OVER 7.5
Arizona ML