Woo Hoo. Day Baseball!
This means we of course cannot get site synchronicity. In my mind the 1PM DraftKings slate is the MAIN slate today and is the proper configuration. FanDuel has three slates and good luck navigating that disaster of a site today.
WEATHER
- Angels at Cardinals: They could wait all day on this one as neither team plays tomorrow. In fact, most of the league doesn’t play tomorrow which is just criminal. I expect it to play & it does feature Kikuchi!
- Twins at White Sox: Being a divisional game they could pass on this one and PPD it. Which would be a blessing for all of us.
- Roofs closed in Milwaukee and Toronto
- Very Warm in Tampa. It is Florida after all.
If you like pitching then this is the slate for you my good friend. Skenes, Skubal, Gore, Ragans, Cease, Easton Lucas… Wait, what the hell is an Easton Lucas? Ah, that would be 28 year old southpaw for the Jays who has appeared in 14 games over his career — one that includes him having being traded for both Jonathan Villar and Shintari Fujinami — so put that on your Immaculate Grid my friends! He sucks, don’t use him. But it is a lefty vs the Nationals, sooo… No. We’re not going there.
Logic says though that early in the season you try to shy away from paying up too often for pitching because they don’t have the upside of going deep into games as often. Hard to ignore the big guns today but the depth in the 7k to 9k range for pitching really makes it easy to pivot off Skenes or Skubal without much fear.
COLE RAGANS ($8100)
A horrible lineup today from the Milwaukee Brewers is all the extra juice we need to push Ragans to the top of the list. I know Skenes and Skubal are going but at this price you get almost the same upside considering the lineup he gets to face. 7+ strikeouts coming.
MACKENZIE GORE ($7600)
I will not stop buying Gore at these discount prices. He won’t follow up the same K% that he had vs the Phillies but he should pitch great again today and for the whole season.
CLAY HOLMES ($7000)
Whether you are a believer in Holmes like the Mets or think he is JAG you can’t be uncomfortable using him against the Marlins for only $7000. They won’t walk as much as the Astros did in his first start, allowing him to get into the 5th, get the Win and put up 16 DK FPTS.
OTHER PITCHING THOUGHTS
- Skenes will be good, he is the #1 option today and I really don’t need to say it. But the 2/3/4/5/6 options are really strong. If someone out there thinks that 90 degrees in a day game will bother Skenes then please refer them to the crazy-bin. 6 Innings, 9 strikeouts. 0 ER. Very possible. But with the depth as I mentioned, we dont have to use him.
- Yeah, Skubal vs Seattle in Seattle is elite. Skenes and Skubal together is going to be a common build today. It’s not bad.
With so many big gun arms going it really limits where the offense should come from today.
PADRES
Tatis, Arraez, Machado, Merrill
Top of the order is hitting really well to start the season outside of Luis Arraez who is very much licking his chops at a contact pitcher today to get right.
ATHLETICS
Butler, Bleday
Happy Butler and Bleday day for those who celebrate.
METS
Lindor, Soto, Nimmo, Winker
It’s a get away game in South Beach but the Mets are veterans who know how to handle South Florida. Plus this is a 4PM game and they’ll make another trip here. They should Ambush Gillispie…
CATCHER
- Luis Torrens
- Joey Bart
- Salvador Perez
FIRST BASE
- Luis Arraez
- Tyler Soderstrom
- Vinnie Pasquantino
SECOND BASE
- Colt Keith
- Jake Cronenworth
- Luis Garcia Jr.
THIRD BASE
- Matt Shaw
- Mark Vientos
- Manny Machado
SHORTSTOP
- Francisco Lindor
- Jeremy Pena
- Dansby Swanson
OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore
- Lawrence Butler
- JJ Bleday
- Jackson Merrill
- Yordan Alvarez
OUTFIELD – Tier II
- Fernando Tatis Jr.
- Juan Soto
- JJ Bleday – OF – Sacramento Athletics — CHAIRMAN of The Dongers Club
- Yordan Alvarez – OF – Astros
- Jackson Merrill – OF – Padres
- Luis Garcia Jr – 2B – Nationals
- Vinnie Pasquantino – 1B – Nationals
- Matt Shaw – 3B – Cubs
- Joey Bart – C – Pirates
- Jeremy Pena – SS – Astros
- BONUS …. Lawrence Butler – OF – Athletics
TOP BETS
Athletics ML
Royals ML
Cubs/Athletics OVER 9