Is today the perfect Friday slate? Almost. Is it a TestiFriday slate where you crank some Testify around 2PM and start drinking?
Does a Bison flip over an old Grandpa in Yellowstone?
C’mon, what kinda question is that. But, no, today is not the perfect Friday slate. Despite having 15 games overall, 1 of which is in the afternoon and the other 14 are on the main slate, we are missing out on the Mets and Phillies who re-opened the second half last night with the Mets — as usual — winning the first game in Philly with their catcher hitting bombs. But now they are off today. They moved up their game last night because of ‘Air Quality’ concerns thanks to those dipshits in Canada (sorry Canadians) who have everything on fire once again.
And they want us to give them a second MLB team again? I think not!
SECOND HALF PREVIEW
It’s like Opening Day all over again. Hope is renewed for every team and I once again look at teams fondly for wanting to stack them. Then, reality hits, and I remind myself that I should not be lured back in with teams like the Royals, Rangers, Blue Jays, Orioles and most of all, those damn Reds, who just year after year seem to be so tempting to be the darling and just don’t deliver.
Well, guess what. The Reds are one of my NL second half sleepers. The Reds are going to leap the Nationals — who finally start to come down to earth. They’ll pass the Diamondbacks and they’ll catch the Cardinals. The real question in the NL is now between the Marlins, Reds, Pirates and Padres for the final Wild Card spot. The Braves will make a big splash and hold on, the Phillies are there too and the Brewers are just too fundamentally good to choke off. The Cubs? The warning signs are there and if you want a bold bet, take the Reds at +2200 to make the playoffs with the Cubs falling out.
In the American League … Dear God. It remains a massive cluster-****. But nobody is positioned to finally get it right more than the Detroit Tigers. Baltimore’s likely going to come out in the second half and find a way to turn a 4 game winning streak into a 7 game losing streak, I want to believe, but it’s just not in their DNA. So trust the Tigers to make a run in the AL Central and then just throw your hands up and guess beyond that.
WEATHER
Yeah, so the fire/smoke effects will probably be talked about in cities in the Northeast. Outside of that usual storm chances in a few areas but I expect all games to play.
Pitchers should have the advantage with the long lay-off for most hitters, but where this really shows up is in the mid-tier pitchers.
THE ACES TIER
In this tier you could look at Logan Henderson and be tempted – but Miami’s still too pesky & I think they get on base enough to do damage to his pitch count and he’s below the clean path that Miller should have at home vs the Giants & Sale’s always on dominant at home strikeout upside — versus a Texas team who even with Jake “I love Atlanta” Burger is prone to the K’s.
- Chris Sale (DK: $10,000)
- Bryce Miller (DK: $9,900)
THE MID RANGE TIER
Sneaky play here is Jared Jones. If the hitters for Cleveland are off (they should be) then Jones gets a clean start in this game. King’s the probably chalky one vs the Royals – but I’m never a huge fan of his. I think you can go contrarian with the sleeper tonight for SP2.
- Michael King (DK: $7,400)
- Jared Jones (DK: $7,200)
THE SLEEPERS
- Michael McGreevy (DK: $6500): Arizona’s a team I expect to die off in the second half
- Troy Melton (DK: $8700)
Forget what I wrote about pitchers should have the advantage and just look at all these amazing spots tonight… Definitely going to play out like a solid one off night.
REDS
Oh, hey, look who is in Coors field after I just hyped them the heck up.
- JJ Bleday: Hi, my name is JJ Bleday, I was born to play in Coors Field. I am the new Carlos Gonzalez. Dear Colorado, trade for me.
- Elly De La Cruz
- Spencer Steer
ATHLETICS
I’m 100% convinced the Athletics hitters went some place nice over the all-star break after finally going on the road before and laying eggs. They’re refreshed, they’re back home in the hitter friendly park and even if Cavali is okay, they should tear a new one into the Nationals pen.
- Jacob Wilson
- Joshua Kuroda-Grauer
- Lawrence Butler
ORIOLES
Spidey-senses are going straight up seeing Baltimore in Houston. Maybe it’s because of the worst but most famous trade in MLB history was between these two teams. Maybe it’s because Pete Alonso should sent one over the train tracks and Coby Mayo should as well. This is HR or bust play.
- Pete Alonso
- Coby Mayo
ALSO LIKE
- Twins vs Cubs: Speaking of spidey senses…. Who is the person that I can speak with about this not being a 2:20 PM game today? How is this not the game to bring us back into the second half. Twins at Cubs just screams 30 runs every game. Honestly, this is probably the #1 game overall today, but the late start time is bothering me & the lay-off from the all star break probably makes it stay tame. Hot and windy out to RF though.
- Pirates Lefties: How is Lowe not going to homer this weekend???
- White Sox: Love Miggy Vargas
CATCHER
- Drake Baldwin
- Ivan Herrera
- Shea Langeliers
FIRST BASE
- Pete Alonso
- Ryan O’Hearn
- Freddie Freeman
SECOND BASE
- Brandon Lowe
- Ozzie Albies
- Xavier Edwards
THIRD BASE
This is the one position which is pretty thin today.
- Coby Mayo
- Miguel Vargas
- Nolan Arenado
SHORTSTOP
- Jacob Wilson
- Elly De La Cruz
- Colson Montgomery
OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore
- JJ Bleday
- Shohei Ohtani: If he is back in tonight, he will be the first HR notification you get on the slate.
- Mickey Moniak
- Trevor Larnach
OUTFIELD – TIER II
- Lawrence Butler
- Bryan Reynolds
- Dylan Crews
- Gavin Sheets
- JJ Bleday – OF – Cincinnati – Reds – Chairman of The Dongers Club
- Ozzie Albies – 2B – Braves
- Pete Alonso – 1B – Orioles
- Miguel Vargas – 3B – White Sox
- Elly De La Cruz – SS – Reds
- Dylan Crews – OF – Nationals
- Trevor Larnach – OF – Twins
- Ivan Herrera – C – Cardinals
- BONUS … Shohei Ohtani – DH – Dodgers
BETTING CARD
- White Sox ML
- Reds ML
- Cardinals ML