Yesterday was fun to see Baseball in action with fans everywhere and somewhat back to normal. Forget that the Nationals and Mets seemingly are going back to 2020 style and just be happy with what we have right now and that appears to be a real full baseball season with good attendance growing as the season progresses along.
Tonight is just a small slate which is normal for the second day of the season and a good way to continue to ease into things. It honestly feels like a Monday slate tonight and most of the games are out on the west coast.
WEATHER
There are weather no issues today
So the Marlins and Rays obviously did not go over and those two pitchers were the primary two to own yesterday. I expect we see lots of chasing in the SP game stack scenario there today and that to me is just being a blind sheep without giving full consideration to who is actually pitching and the actual likelihood that we see another low scoring game there. It’s not a spot I want to rush towards personally.
Once again today forces me to decide if I want to push in the chips on my belief that pitchers in A) New Teams and B) Change of leagues are going to struggle in their first couple of starts. Both Blake Snell and Trevor Bauer look like guys who should pitch well tonight but they both fit one or two (Snell) of those molds. Honestly, Bauer is the type of kid who can go into Coors Field and engineer his way to a dominant outing but even though he will get the win today (Dodgers bats — see below) I do not expect Bauer to have that chemistry game yet in Coors. Wait till his third trip there and then expect him to do something phenomenal. So for now, we fade.
Merrill Kelly (Diamondbacks)
I conceded long ago that I was wrong initially on Kelly when he first started pitching for Arizona. There is nothing sexy about him but he is efficient and in the scoring world of FanDuel — he is Quality. Six innings, 3 or fewer runs allowed, five strikeouts and not too many base runners. The Padres have a bevy of bats who can MASH lefties, but whenever we get them vs a RH like Kelly we can get by with attacking them on slates that lack lots of true mid range options with strike-out upside.
Jesus Luzardo (Athletics)
Luzardo was very good in the Spring, even shedding his glasses as he now wears contacts full time. The young phenom lefty now really in his second season as a starter should have plenty of confidence versus an Astros team he has seen before and done just fine against. Oakland lost 8-1 last night and looked lost at the plate versus Greinke, so run support is definitely a concern again as their lineup is one that can be sluggish at home a lot but given the options, his price and the match-up I would be shocked if Luzardo cannot give us a 14+ point outing on DK — which is good enough tonight.
Blake Snell (Padres)
So far even pitchers who aren’t going deep or maybe struggling with a few long balls are still getting by with their Swing and Miss stuff. Snell can offer us a fairly safe shot at getting over 6 strikeouts versus Arizona, which should offset a SOLO HR or two to Christian Walker or Eduardo Escobar. If you want to ride Snell and Merrill Kelly combined tonight I wouldn’t hate the idea of a Friday night PETCO Park stack for the pitchers.
LA DODGERS
Mookie Betts, Corey Seager, Justin Turner, Gavin Lux
B level velocity righties like Senzatela do not favor well against Seager, Bellinger, Muncy, etc. Look for Mookie Betts to have a big game as well tonight as Senzatela tries to start him off with a 92 MPH fastball which sits right at Mookie’s chest and gets drilled out. Mookie, like the entire Dodgers team drills fastballs that dont have high velo or movement — basically what Senzatela will offer up.
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
Slater – Longoria – Flores – Yastrzemski
I played the late slate last night and like an idiot I rolled out Marco Gonzales trying to be cute. And this is where bad things happen when I rush a 3 game slate lineup in. The lesson here we have to remember is how good the Giants were last year against LHP and with the roof closed in Seattle the park continues to play positively as it has in past April’s. Seattle rolls out a worse LHP tonight and we should see SLater, Longoria, Flores, Posey look favorable again + I wouldn’t mind a little Yaz lefty lefty mash spot tonight too.
LA ANGELS
Trout – Upton – Fletcher
The White Sox are going to continue their march to a 1-6 start on their way to losing all 4 against the Angels and then losing to the Mariners in 2 out of 3. The most likely path is going to be the Angels beating up on Keuchel.
CATCHER
Money is not an issue for building out lineups today, but without question there’s no reason to really spend at C tonight.
- Max Stassi
- Jorge Alfaro
- Buster Posey
FIRST BASE
What a collection of knuckleheads we have here. But I very much like these options compared to yesterday.
- Mitch Moreland
- Christian Walker
- Wilmer Flores
SECOND BASE
David Motha Fletcha when he see’s the White Sox go to the bullpen tonight after he is 2-2 with two doubles …
- David Motha Fletcha … Say it like Samuel L Jackson would. It’s the only way…
- Gavin Lux
- Ketel Marte
THIRD BASE
- Ty France
- Justin Turner
- Brian Anderson
SHORTSTOP
- Corey Seager
- Tim Anderson
- Miguel Rojas
OUTFIELD – Mt Rushmore
- Mookie Betts
- Mike Trout … at home, versus a lefty, on a Friday, a lefty who likes to keep the ball down. Giddy up
- Austin Slater
- Mitch Haniger
OUTFIELD – Tier 2
- Austin Meadows
- Starling Marte
- Mike Yaszstremski
OUTFIELD – Value
- Taylor Trammell
- Justin Upton – If you stack up Angels, get J-Up in.
Tough night to HR hunt with only 6 games…
- Mitch Moreland – 1B – Athletics – Chairman of the Dongers Club
- Mookie Betts – OF – Dodgers
- Tim Andreson – SS – White Sox
- David Fletcher – 2B – Angels
- Jorge Alfaro – C – Marlins
- Ty France – 3B – Mariners
- Austin Slater – OF – Giants
- Justin Upton – OF – Angels
- BONUS …………………….. Corey Seager – Dodgers
FAVORITE BETS
- Mariners / Giants OVER 8.5
- Diamondbacks ML
- Angels ML
- Athletics ML
- Marlins ML