The good news this Thursday afternoon is that all four games will play without weather issues. The three games which are outdoors are going to have 70+ degree temps with wind blowing out at a reasonable rate in all three spots.
The fourth game is down at Tropicana Field in Tampa.
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This is a slate with plenty of options at pitching and DraftKings but I am warning you nobody is going to pitch 7 innings of shutout ball out of these options. There’s a bomb here or there just waiting to smack each pitcher in the face. So we are prioritizing strikeouts.
DYLAN CEASE
As I go through each game to find hitters that I like I found that there are less Dodgers which I want to use today than any other team. Crazy, right? This is a get away game and right now both guys that Cease could struggle with — Mookie & Freddie — are quiet offensively and I hope maybe one of them gets a get away rest game here.
TYLER MAHLE
Well, fuck me sideways. The highest strike out probability today has to be Mahle who is very cheap on DraftKings for what he has the potential to do. He’ll give up 2 homers and strike out 6+.
CORBIN BURNES
Milwaukee might need Burnes to hit as well because right now they aren’t doing that, so Burnes will have to be great for them to end the Phillies winning streak.
Outside of Kyle Schwarber or maybe Castellanos I don’t see anyone on Philly who is going to repeat what they did the last two nights. Any damage Burnes’ allows via HR’s will be offset by a good strikeout game.
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My Fade
Shane McClanahan
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Despite three decent weather games none of them have extremely high Dewpoint ratings. The highest by a slight margin is Cincinnati, which also features the two pitchers most likely to give up homers today.
If these four games were on a larger slate I would likely be looking elsewhere to push out a “stack” option, but with just four games the chances of a single team winning everything increases.
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Votto, Pham, Stephenson
Joey Votto has definitely been on fire of late and on FanDuel early you will want to play him no doubt where you can use two 1B if you so choose. Zach Davies is just bad and his sinker should fly a long long way off the bats of the Reds hitters today.
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Abreu, Robert, Pollock, Vaughn/Berger
Tyler Anderson is pretty good at taming LHB but below average vs a RHB lineup which he will no doubt see from the White Sox here.
Abreu has been showing some recent power of late just missing on a big one last night and your daily roulette on the White Sox is Burger or Vaughn. That said, Pollock is great value and Robert is insanely talented obviously.
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Today’s BOOST+ players:
AJ Pollock, Jake Burger, Luis Urias
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CATCHER
- Tyler Stephenson
- Victor Caratini
Ugly catching slate on DK. I would anticipate that Stephenson is paid for by many so ride him.
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FIRST BASE
- Joey Votto
- Jose Abreu
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SECOND BASE
- Kolten Wong – DTD – Hopefully he is back in today at a bad position.
- Isaac Paredes
- Tommy Edman
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THIRD BASE
- Josh Rojas
- Nolan Arenado
- Jake Burger
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SHORTSTOP
- Luis Urias
- Willy Adames
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OUTFIELD – Mt Rushmore
- A.J. POLLOCK
- Luis Robert
- Kyle Schwarber
- Sir Thomas Pham
OF Value: Harold Ramirez, Nick Senzel, Alek Thomas
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The Dongers Club
A modern day warrior, mean mean stride, today’s Chairman, mean mean stride…
- Joey Votto – 1B – Cincinnati Reds – Chairman of The Dongers Club
- Kyle Schwarber – OF – Phillies
- AJ Pollock – OF – White Sox
- Josh Rojas – 3B – Diamondbacks
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CORE BUILD
Dylan Cease
Joey Votto
Nolan Arenado
AJ Pollock
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OWNERSHIP THOUGHTS
I expect that McClanahan and Burnes will be two of the highest owned options with Mahle being right behind them. This means that your leverage stacks are Phillies and Cardinals. Of which Schwarber/Arenado offer the best picks.
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BETTING PLAYS
D’Backs/Reds OVER 9.5 – If this doesn’t hit then Mahle pitched a gem
Cards/Rays UNDER 7
White Sox ML
Brewers ML
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