I am back and so too is Walker Buehler as he makes his Dodgers season debut tonight and first appearance in the Majors since 2022. The main slate tonight doesn’t lock until 7:40 because God forbid that we include the three early games starting at 6:10, 6:40 and 6:40 on the Main slate as well. This means you miss out on Tigers/Guardians, Angels/Pirates and White Sox/Rays. You know what. Thank you DraftKings and FanDuel. If you are playing with those teams or even watching those games then I am truly sorry.
WEATHER
Milwaukee at Kansas City: Not ideal here as lots of storms are coming through while Cole Ragans takes the mound. This definitely could be a delay-start-delay-start-finish type scenario.
Update – They have moved the start time up to 6:10 on this game. But I haven’t seen anything from DraftKings yet as to what they are doing with the game on the slate. IF they move the slate up, I would be shocked, but we would want to take Ragans
LUIS CASTILLO (DK: $9600, FD: $10200)
I can’t find a legit sales pitch to you on not playing Castillo today. The Twins win streak has ended & they’re not destroying Castillo tonight to avoid using him. This series SHOULD have some homers in it though and there will be one from a Twins lefty off Castillo tonight, likely early from Kiriloff. There will also be a 7 strikeout finishing number for Castillo today.
ANDREW HEANEY (DK: $6600, FD: $7700)
Yes, Oakland is winning games and just had a WILD series with the Marlins. This is a divisional spot, I trust the pitching battery on the Rangers side to handle things and a night Oakland Coliseum game is favorable for the pitching to not get murdered.
OTHER PITCHING THOUGHTS
- Cole Ragans is without a doubt the top option today but weather is going to be a huge risk. If the game starts in a delay then we are hoping they see a clear window to let him go out and pitch and in that scenario I trust it, if not then I would avoid. DFS players are smart enough and most risk adverse by default (despite blowing their money on shitty teams) so I don’t think he is heavy chalk if they start in a delay. The other nice thing is that it’s the first game on the slate, so you can wait.
- Lets see if we get news on Walker Buehler and a pitch count limit. If he was cheaper I would plug him equal to Heaney.
- Justin Steele is also returning tonight after making just one start before going on the IL this year. I would avoid him until we see 2 or 3 good starts in a row.
METS vs CARDINALS
Lindor, Baty, Goldschmidt, Carlson
Mets offense is playing better away from home and Francisco Lindor might be getting hot enough to trust him consistently. Kyle Gibson has been very good at limiting blow-up spots, but his sinker approach is not something which the Mets should have issues with. We might even see a JD Martinez double tonight folks!
MARINERS
Polanco, J-Rod, Haniger, France
There’s a couple familiar faces going back into Target field from Seattle (Garver/Polanco) and there’s also a very hitter friendly SP in Simeon Woods Richardson going for the Twins. He cannot get lefties out and a lot of the RHH for the Mariners will have the proper power to square up his bad fastball.
DODGERS
Freeman, Muncy, Betts
Don’t sleep on a couple Marlins (Jazz/Jesus) but also do not be silly here, the Dodgers will get theirs early.
CATCHER
- Mitch Garver
- Tomas Nido
FIRST BASE
- Freddie Freeman
- Ty France
SECOND BASE
- Jorge Polanco
- Michael Massey
THIRD BASE
- Brett Baty
- Josh Rojas
- Nolan Arenado
SHORTSTOP
- Francisco Lindor
- Mookie Betts
- Bobby Witt Jr.
OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore
- Julio Rodriguez
- Shohei Ohtani
- Mitch Haniger
- Jazz Chisholm Jr.
OUTFIELD – Value / Secondary Options
- Alex Kiriloff
- Dylan Carlson
- Jesus Sanchez
- Freddie Freeman – 1B – Dodgers – Chairman of The Dongers Club
- Julio Rodriguez – OF – Mariners
- Francisco Lindor – SS – Mets
TOP BETS
- Mariners ML (-130)
- Mets/Cardinals OVER 8
- Rangers/Athletics UNDER 8