Due for a big bounce back after last night’s wild ride which was about as wild as the Marlins facing the Pirates could be. Today we have a big Saturday night slate which is great this time of year. Two more weeks until the football people take over Saturday’s with their pre-season games and then shortly after that it’s the College and MLB double dip in September.
Luis Castillo was traded late last night and that offers up a quick reminder that you’ll want to double check lineups as players could be shipped out this weekend.
[spacer height=”10px”]
WEATHER
All games should play but with some storm potential in Atlanta
[spacer height=”10px”]
JOE MUSGROVE
Musgrove is getting a new contract from the Padres and that’s great for him and the team. As well as Darvish can pitch, he is their true Ace this season and they need him to pitch like it down the stretch. The K results lately for Musgrove haven’t been anything that make him a dominant play but there are a few guys in this lineup who I believe will help that out today and I would expect over 6 strikeouts from Joe at home in PETCO without the Twins doing what I thought they would do last night.
JAKE JUNIS
Six of the Nine projected Cubs hitters tonight have extremely high whiff rates vs Sliders and this is one of the best sliders in all of Baseball. Junis with a night game at home is going to be money and dominate the Cubbies today for as long as they let him go — which is hopefully 80-90 pitches and enough to put up a 17-20 score which on tonight’s DK slate is very much in play.
PAUL BLACKBURN
Alright folks, I am sorry I doubted the mighty Athletics facing the horrible White Sox. Clearly they are going to come in and sweep Chicago and then whoever they face after that they get worked. Lemme go look.
We’ll deal with that next week. For now Blackburn is our guy on the road, he’s been weird in that he’s been less likely to struggle away from the Coliseum and Comiskey this time of year plays very well for early inning unders due to the early start time (6PM local) on Saturday night’s and how the lighting is. Yes, I have watched a lot of Baseball over the years and so I have random nuggets like this.
SONNY GRAY
Double SP game stack alert! Sinker baller vs the Padres alert! Yeah the Padres went off on Joe Ryan’s fastball last night but flipping to Sonny Gray today is doing a 180 and his method against the RHB will result in a good amount of ground balls. The upside is not the same as other SP going tonight but he is going to pitch well again.
[spacer height=”10px”]
Other pitching thoughts
Framber Valdez is the one top end arm who stands out that I opted to skip over. This is a scenario seeing each other twice within a week and at best he just does well but isn’t going to blow past Musgrove as SP1.
No chance in the world I am going to recommend Clayton Kershaw in the second half of the season and on the road, much less in Coors Field. It’s not that I project him getting blown up as much as why bother with him as the season moves along and the Dodgers should not extend him too deep.
Hopefully Ranger Suarez is bad chalk tonight. Same with Glenn Otto.
[spacer height=”10px”]
Atlanta Braves
Corbin Martin’s last two appearances have totaled 8 innings with 9 walks. That shit aint gonna fly if he does it again today and thus some crooked innings are in order for the Bravos today.
- Ronald Acuna Jr
- Dansby Swanson
- Matt Olson
[spacer height=”10px”]
St. Louis Cardinals
Fedde scratched, but still on Cardinals
Tyler O’Neill should hit a ball to the White House tonight. Erick Fedde is the new Tanner Roark, a guy who throws 100+ pitches over 5 innings, gives up a few runs and does absolutely nothing to help his team besides eating up some innings. ONeill and/or Carlson are must owns.
- Tyler O’Neill
- Dylan Carlson
- Paul Goldschmidt
[spacer height=”10px”]
Other spots to target:
Astros – Kyle Tucker or bust tonight.
Pirates – Some good value in this lineup centered around KeBryan Hayes as the core
Nationals – Ruiz/Cruz
[spacer height=”10px”]
CATCHER
- Keibert Ruiz
- JT Realmuto
- Jonah Heim
[spacer height=”10px”]
FIRST BASE
- Paul Goldschmidt
- Christian Walker
- Matt Olson
[spacer height=”10px”]
SECOND BASE
Weak position today, look for value, which we have with the two Cardinals who can be used here.
- Nolan Gorman / Tommy Edman … Both are cheap on DK and both are okay to use where eligible.
- Tony Kemp
- Kevin Newman – Ideally he will lead off for Pitt today.
[spacer height=”10px”]
THIRD BASE
- KeBryan Hayes
- Austin Riley
- Eugenio Suarez
[spacer height=”10px”]
SHORTSTOP
- Trea Turner
- Corey Seager
- Dansby Swanson
[spacer height=”10px”]
OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore
Ronald Acuna has 8 HR on the season but only 2 have come since his good pal Ozzie Albies got injured back on June 14th. In fact, his last home run was Friday, July 8th and the last three times he has homered the Braves scored 10+ runs. So basically Acuna is law of averages due for a big game or he just can’t do it without his good pal Ozzie. He is running still though so if he doesn’t get into one in a blowout we’re still okay with him getting on and stealing and scoring. Good buy low spot with him at 4800 on DK.
- Ronald Acuna Jr
- Kyle Tucker
- Dylan Carlson
- Shohei Ohtani
[spacer height=”10px”]
OUTFIELD – Tier 2
- Tyler O’Neill
- Kris Bryant
- Nelson Cruz
- Daulton Varsho
[spacer height=”10px”]
OUTFIELD – Value
- Greg Allen – Needs a good spot in the order to warrant using.
- Eddie Rosario
- Nick Castellanos
- David Peralta
[spacer height=”10px”]
[spacer height=”12px”]
- Dylan Carlson – OF – Cardinals – Chairman of The Dongers Club
- Ronald Acuna Jr – OF – Braves
- Corey Seager – SS – Rangers
- Keibert Ruiz – C – Nationals
- Paul Goldschmidt – 1B – Cardinals
- Tony Kemp – 2B – Athletics
- Austin Riley – 3B – Braves
- Shohei Ohtani – OF/DH – Angels
- BONUS ……………….. Kyle Tucker – OF – Astros
[spacer height=”12px”]
CORE PLAYS
Joe Musgrove
Tony Kemp
Ronald Acuna Jr and/or Kyle Tucker
Dylan Carlson
[spacer height=”10px”]
BETTING PLAYS
Pirates ML
Oakland/Chicago NRFI
Cardinals ML
Padres ML
Giants ML