DraftKings did things somewhat correct today with two Featured slates. An early slate at 2:00 PM EST which has 6 games on it and then the main 7:00 PM EST slate which has five games on it tonight. I’m not even going to bother with what FanDuel has done as they have three slates none of which are bigger than five games. A day with 17 MLB games on it and they have a 5 game slate as their largest?
So this will cover the early six game slate and then a brief breakdown for the main slate later tonight.
WEATHER
Below 60 degrees everywhere, but all games will play.
The Royals and Blue Jays are playing a 7 inning game
The White Sox and Red Sox will have their DH tomorrow so today is a full 9 inning game
It sucks. It sucks this afternoon and it sucks this evening, but that doesn’t mean offensive explosions either, in fact it might mean we finally get a little strategy when it comes to pitching selections on both slates.
MIKE MINOR
Short 7 inning game and with Ervin Santana going in game two for KC they probably need all 7 innings to come from Minor in this first one. His worst pitch is his slider, but that’s where everyone not named Lourdes Gurriel (who is ice cold) on the Jays struggles.
HUASCAR YNOA
Ynoa was a target when we had the Marlins against him, but he also managed to put up a pretty good outing there with 10 strikeouts on just 82 pitches. A really high 45% strikeout rate with a 42% CSW%, neither of which are sustainable here but the Cubs are a really bad offense so I wouldn’t expect him to get blown up in favorable pitching conditions at Wrigley Field. So outside of probably beaning Rizzo once or twice, Ynoa should be clean.
TREVOR WILLIAMS
One of the most profitable strategies on short slates is to game stack two pitchers together. The upside of chasing wins often does not pay off as much as everyone wants when there are limited hitting options to mix in the right salary construction — so often times I find that there are darts thrown trying to get pitchers from different games and in fact if you just take two from what should be a low scoring game you’ll wind up with just as good of a score. Such is the case in Cold Wrigley with the wind blowing in. T-Will got beat up by the Pirates and we all should have seen that coming given that it was a SP vs his former team scenario, yet in a SP game-stack spot I like his chances to get double digits on what is a bleak pitching slate.
- Triston McKenzie has yet to go over 5 IP this season and until he does or until he shows that his GB% from last year is real I will avoid him in these tougher spots
- Sonny Gray makes his first start of the season and vs the Indians should be the chalky SP. I want nothing of a chalky SP making his debut off injury like Gray.
- Dylan Cease and Nick Pivetta have both performed above expectations all season long, but would make for another SP/SP combination like the Atl/Chicago game. However neither of them are facing teams that strikeout as much as the Cubs/Braves can. So that’s why I want nothing to do with them.
- Kwang-hun Kim blows
- Matt Moore … no thanks
- Cole Irvin wouldn’t strike out your grandmother.
- Casey Mize is coming off a great start, considered him, but still not trusting their defense behind him either and it’s a huge park. Expect a ton of BABIP not go go his way.
CARDINALS
Tommy Edman, Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmist, Yadi Molina, Paul DeJong
The price on Edman is incredible that he is the most expensive bat here, but leading off he is one tough guy to leave off a full stack. DeJong and Molina are great values and if they’re going to produce like I expect then those two should have big RBI games.
INDIANS / REDS
Winker & Rosario
Right back to the interleague series of the weekend. Curious if the Indians are smarter today and realize you don’t need defense in the outfield here and they put Franmil in the line-up today. None the less, Rosario/J-Ram are the main Indians to take Sonny deep so focus your game stack on the Reds trio of Winker-Casty-Suarez
TIGERS / ATHLETICS
Goodrum / Grossman / Calendario + Olson/Laureano
Good clear weather in Oakland a game that both teams should be able to get the ball in play alot for long innings. Detroit should be considered even though they’ve struggled with lefties so far, I can see Niko Goodrum, Jeimer Candelario and Robbie Grossman having solid games and all are sub 4k.
CATCHER
- Yadier Molina
- Yasmani Grandal
FIRST BASE
- Rhys Hoskins
- Matt Olson
SECOND BASE
- Tommy Edman
- Jean Segura – Streaky batter who is hitting ball well
THIRD BASE
- Jose Ramirez
- Nolan
- Yoan Moncada
SHORTSTOP
- Amed Rosario
- Eugenio Suarez
OUTFIELD – MT RUSHMORE
- Eddie Rosario
- Ramon Laureano
- Jesse Winker
- Nick Castellanos
OUTFIELD – Value
- Niko Goodrum – Consider at 2B as well if you do not play Edman.
- Mark Canha
- Alex Verdugo
- Andrew Vaughn
CHAIRMAN OF THE DONGERS CLUB
- Paul Goldschmidt – 1B – Cardinals
OTHER HR CALLS
- Eddie Rosario – Indians
- Jesse Winker – Reds
- Niko Goodrum – Tigers
- Yoan Moncada – White Sox
BETS
- Braves / Cubs UNDER 8