As a big Baseball fan, I really did enjoy the game at Rickwood Field last night and the throwback graphics that they had on display were very cool as well. I also found it amusing when they were comparing the old stories about the distances on home runs hit there to current day home runs being hit as if we haven’t been altering the Baseballs drastically.
But that note aside, I was not paying attention to the afternoon games yesterday but I saw a ton of home run notifications and did watch the Brewers and Padres turn into the ’27 Yankees last night as well. So, are we finally in the high scoring part of the season now that summer is officially here? Take note, under bettors.
A fourteen game MLB slate today since the Giants/Cardinals are on travel from AL to Missouri, and we’ll give MLB a pass for that one since they did include the Cubs at home on the first official Friday in the Summer. After that, there’s a solid 3 game Turbo slate and then a 10 game Main slate tonight.
We have a new guy alert today, please welcome Astros “prospect”, Jake Bloss to the big leagues. I use the phrase “prospect” in “air quotes”, because you cannot speak about a player making his debut anymore without using the phrase “prospect” in the headline. We’ll give him some kudos though, he has pitched well in the minors thus far and is a college pitcher, which is more of an expectation that his immediate MLB experience will be ok, but his ceiling might be limited. So, what college did he pitch at? SEC?
Oh.. How about Big Twelve? Sounds like an Oklahoma kid…
Oh. Wait. He’s a throwback. He definitely went to a Pac-12 school. Oregon???
This mother fucker pitched at … Georgetown University?
What?
They have a Baseball team?
Georgetown? This damn place is known for two things in Athletics, one is now sucking at Basketball and the second involves a someone screaming “stroke” to a bunch of dudes in speedos. They don’t even have a dedicated Baseball Stadium and would be better served playing Baseball at my old High School’s field, where left field made the original Minute Maid Park center field look like it was flat. Georgetown Baseball? What an oxy-moron. This guy clearly sucks, although he does have a cool name.
WEATHER
All games should play just fine.
Not a ton of big names to get overly excited about and the ones who have been consistent in 2024 aren’t exactly in ideal spots tonight either.
GEORGE KIRBY (DK: $9400, FD: $9800)
So, the Marlins. Let’s talk here for a minute… These people have been starting games at 6:40 or earlier all season long and now the first weekend of the summer and they’re starting at 7:05? Are families really now gonna say, oh wow, it’s a Friday in the Summer now and our kids don’t have to go to school (not that they did on Saturday’s before obviously) so lets go to the game since its 25 minutes later? What? Whatever. They suck. The Mariners going to Miami is the longest flight in the majors but thankfully for the Mariners, they were just in Cleveland and the math says that is not a long flight. No rest issues, and Kirby is not gonna have any pitching issues with these losers.
DYLAN CEASE (DK: $10k, FD: $10k)
Tough to find much fault in Cease today. This is a great rebound spot & Milwaukee has seen him but not done much in that limited scenario, so I don’t think we’re expecting the “Bauer” syndrome here — which if you dont recall is that Cease is just like Trevor Bauer and once teams have seen him a couple times they destroy him. The price is a bit high to combine with Kirby today and there’s not a ton of good secondary options, but Cease is your comfortable pitcher to use today.
TREVOR ROGERS (DK: $5400)
So we have a very tempting SP game stack in South Beach. Seattle has a 31% strikeout rate against LHP over the last 10 days & 3 of the last 4 for Trevor have been good starts where you would be extremely happy with those similar results given how cheap he is today. A huge reason I like the SP game stack is because so many other SP’s out there tonight are definitely not putting up good games, so just take the 2x here and move on.
RED SOX
Tyler O’Neill, Rob Refsnyder, Connor Wong
As will be the case in almost every stadium this weekend, extreme heat is the story. Extreme heat, small stadium, team back from the dead, it all adds up to a 12-6 type game with Boston hopefully having the 12.
ORIOLES
Ryan O’Hearn, Jordan Westburg
Can’t make fun of the Hoya and not try to go with some options from Baltimore. Park is good for Mountcastle going from that wall in Baltimore to the Crawford Boxes.
ROYALS
Bobby Witt, Vinnie Pasquantino, Maikel Garcia
#RoyalsInArlington. Witt back in Texas. And Eovaldi has been hit hard by RHH, so Garcia/Witt/Perez could all do well — maybe even a Nelson Velasquez homer.
CATCHER
- Salvador Perez
- Keibert Ruiz
- Connor Wong
FIRST BASE
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
- Ryan Mountcastle
- Matt Olson
- Vinnie Pasquantino
SECOND BASE
Albies is historically better vs RHP in terms of power, so it’s possible he gets one off the bullpen — but I also see Rodon being a good match-up and he has really turned it on of late.
- Ozzie Albies
- Spencer Horwitz
- Jordan Westburg
THIRD BASE
Get weird here tonight or just take 3B from your top stack.
- Enrique Hernandez
- Maikel Garcia
- DJ LeMahieu
SHORTSTOP
- Bobby Witt Jr.
- Elly De La Cruz
- Romy Gonzalez
OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore
- Tyler O’Neill
- Shohei Ohtani
- Ryan O’Hearn
- Adolis Garcia
OUTFIELD – Tier 2 / Value
- Taylor Ward
- Michael Toglia
- Nelson Velasquez
- Wyatt Langford
- Ozzie Albies – 2B – Atlanta Braves – Chairman of The Dongers Club
- Bobby Witt Jr – SS – Kansas City Royals
- Tyler O’Neill – OF – Red Sox
- Vladimir Guerrero – 1B – Blue Jays
- Kike Hernandez – 3B – Dodgers
- Shohei Ohtani – OF – Dodgers
- Keibert Ruiz – C – Nationals
- Ryan O’Hearn – OF – Orioles
- BONUS …. Rob Refsnder – OF – Red Sox
TOP BETS
Red Sox ML -112
Brewers/Padres under 7.5
Royals/Rangers over 8