WEATHER
Cardinals at Braves: Chance of storms here.
All games should play
GERRIT COLE (DK: $9000, FD: $9600) … So are we just gonna apply the Max Fried rule on Cole all season long, because the guy should be a 10k pitcher very soon and in a normal scenario when facing Tampa Bay he should be an 11k or 12k pitcher — ON BOTH SITES. Unless Tampa somehow signs Ji-Man Choi back to their roster before 7pm tonight I don’t see anyone in Tampa’s lineup having much success off Cole. He’s got no real restrictions & should be 90% owned tonight as he puts up a 27.5 on draftkings..
HUNTER BROWN (DK: $8400, FD: $9100) … A lot of fantasy people soured on Brown real quick late last year and early into this season and I was close to doing so myself but there’s no doubting that he’s quite possibly the Ace of the Astros staff in this second half. Going into Seattle has been a blessing for pitchers and we’ve known about some guys complaining in regards to the batters eye (although it never bothered Nelson Cruz, Mike Trout or Mike Zunino, ahem…) but I heard something VERY interesting over the all-star break. It was in regards to Teoscar Hernandez and his time with the Mariners and the claimed that the batters box was diagonal to the pitcher, or at least he felt like that was the case. Most likely this is a depth/eye perception issue but we cannot ignore the constant data this year telling us that guys just cannot hit in SafeCo/T-Mobile Park. That includes the home town Mariners and between Brown and Castillo in this game, I lean Brown more just because I hate Castillo knowing that at any point he can rip your balls out like a pissed off and hungry hyeena.
OTHER PITCHING THOUGHTS
- Nick Pivetta is one of the more interesting spots tonight. He was clearly in a bad groove for almost a month and couldn’t get his location right, couldn’t get whiffs and just couldn’t be trusted. Then the magic of facing the Marlins and Athletics in back to back spots seems to have gotten his confidence back and now a 9 day break to get his energy back could prove to be a perfect adrenaline rush to just come out and ball out for 5-7 innings against the Dodgers at home tonight.
TOP TEAMS
TIGERS
Riley Greene, Colt Keith, Wenceel Perez
Not a great lineup to lead things off in the second half here, but we have a great split spot against Chris Bassitt and a park shift that favors lefties going into the smaller SkyDome across the border for Detroit. We’ll see in this second half just how good Colt Keith is as pitchers adjust to him, but if he has a good game along with Wenceel Perez then we could be looking at a 2 HR, 6 RBI game for Riley Greene tonight — who is easily the best play here.
ROYALS
Bobby Witt Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino, Michael Massey
Thank you to the White Sox, thank you very much for giving us the fine gift of Chris Flexen on the first day back. This is like Christmas morning and one of the first presents you see is a brand new video game console.
GIANTS
LaMonte Wade Jr, Patrick Bailey, Mike Yastrzemski, Matt Chapman
And immediately after opening that Video Game Console is the opposite effect, you are a Dad on Christmas Morning and your kid is all stoked for you to setup the new trampoline that Mom had shipped because of some stupid ad she saw… And it’s cold outside, windy, and you haven’t really had your coffee yet. Hey look, Coors Field with Cal Quantrill and 90 degree temps. Awesome. Oh yeah, moderate pricing too.
SECOND TIER TEAMS
- BLUE JAYS: While Jack Flaherty was great in the first half, Springer-Bichette-Vlad-Turner is a great stack IMO today. Love Bo this second half of the season.
- METS: Nimmo, Martinez, Alvarez
CATCHER
- Francisco Alvarez
- Salvador Perez
- Danny Jansen
FIRST BASE
- LaMonte Wade Jr.
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
- Vinnie Pasquantino
SECOND BASE
Two gut calls here on stud hitters in Albies & Altuve, otherwise Keith and Massey are the clear top picks.
- Ozzie Albies
- Colt Keith
- Jose Altuve
- Michael Massey
THIRD BASE
- Matt Chapman
- Manny Machado
- Chris Taylor
- Zack McKinstry
SHORTSTOP
- Bobby Witt Jr.
- Bo Bichette
- Ezequiel Tovar
OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore
- Riley Greene
- Jurickson Profar
- Masataka Yoshida … #West-Coast-Asians, and yes the official hash tag has -‘s in it.
- Michael Conforto / Michael Yastrzemski / Jorge Soler
OUTFIELD – Tier II
- Wenceel Perez
- Jackson Merrill
- Alex Verdugo
- Riley Greene – OF – Detroit Tigers – Chairman of The Dongers Club
- Ozzie Albies – 2B – Braves
- Bo Bichette – SS – Blue Jays
- Vinnie Pasquantino – 1B – Royals
- Francisco Alvarez – C – Mets
- Alex Verdugo – OF – Yankees
- Jurickson Profar – OF – Padres
- Matt Chapman – 3B – Giants
- BONUS … Masataka Yoshida – OF – Red Sox
TOP BETS
- NYY + NYM Money Line Parlay
- White Sox / Royals OVER 8.5
- San Diego ML