There are 12 main slate games this evening as the Cubs are back to having a Friday afternoon home game and then there are two early window spots with a rare 5PM start on the Friday Turbo slate. We’re going to be missing out on Padres @ Reds and Nationals @ Phillies.  If you wanna dabble on those spots I love Jake Cronenworth/Roughned Odor for San Diego and welcome to the summer of Alec Bohm for the Phillies.   WEATHER Possible storms in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Atlanta, Kansas City, St. Louis, Colorado, but really I think all of them are going to be okay.  Summer storms though can be unpredictable so the St. Louis/Atlanta ones are probably the most likely for an in game storm tonight which really only impacts pitching and no, I don’t want any pitcher from those games which would be Bryan Hoeing, Michael Soroka, Luis Severino, Matthew Liberatore.   SP1 SHANE McCLANAHAN (Both Sites:  $11,000) Not a lot of great pitching options tonight, so this means even at $11k McClanahan is going to be a highly owned option on DK (and definitely on FD as a single SP site).  So yeah, there’s the logic that hey I can try to fade McClanahan at high ownership and out smart everyone seeing as he left his last start early and has not been having as much SwStr% over the last 8-12 starts as he normally has had.  Then again, there is the reality of waking up at 3am and seeing he had how many vs the Mariners — who have had troubles hitting lefties of late??  Yeah, the upside here is tremendous if he really is back to form, especially considering the rest of the options are kinda dogshit.   SP2 OPTION(s) PABLO LOPEZ (DK: $9900, FD: $9500) I love Lopez for $9500 on FanDuel in what feels like an easy steal there.  Give me talent and reliability tonight on this slate.  I don’t need a 60 from anyone on FD and you can play him on DK with Miller as well.  Lopez will give you 6 innings, limited damage, enough strikeouts.  There’s no depth on aces today that you have to beat, so throw out all the %’s and splits and ride the trusted arm to compile outs.   BOBBY MILLER (DK: $8900, FD: $9800) There have been some comparisons between Bobby Miller and Walker Buehler.  Speaking of […]

WEATHER No issues. VIABLE PITCHING OPTIONS MAX SCHERZER (DK: $11,000) On the road in Milwaukee we might look to fade Max, but not on tonights 5 gamer where he should have 8 strikeouts, a double allowed to Jesse Winker and overall 6 innings of quality pitching. ADAM WAINWRIGHT (DK: $6500) After a big scoring game last night, we go to a crafty Waino tonight to shutdown the Astros.  Gotta back the Cardinals side vs France in my mind offensively, so if Waino can just get 5 he should finish as a good SP option on a bad slate. ADRIAN HOUSER (DK: $6900) Safer than Waino but man, 2 of his last 3 starts he hasn’t gotten much in terms of strikeouts and probably won’t tonight either.  Ok to gamestack with Scherzer.   We have some high scoring spots tonight based on various conditions.  We have warm and windy blowing out in Wrigley Field, we have lefties vs Bassitt in Toronto and we have Chase Anderson still in the big leagues in Coors vs the Dodgers.  Oh and then there’s the Astros and Cardinals who went off last night.  So where to go?  I think you can get away without going heavy on one spot, more like a big slate where you can spread things out tonight. The favorite offenses I have, factoring in price as well are Cardinals (Key:  Goldy, Arenado, Contreras, Walker) Giants (Key:  Wade, Conforto) Dodgers (Key:  Muncy) Blue Jays (Key:  Bichette)   Going to the Philies and Cubs is fine for a one off, specifically Schwarber & Bellinger.  If you go more then that then just go all in praying the wind boosts up more than 9 mph.  I won’t though, I don’t think its going to be a Wrigley explosion spot, but I’m also not trusting Walker or Hendricks here. CATCHER Willson Contreras Blake Sabol   FIRST BASE Freddie Freeman Paul Goldschmidt LaMonte Wade Jr   SECOND BASE Brendan Donovan Harold Castro   THIRD BASE Max Muncy Nolan Arenado Alec Bohm   SHORTSTOP Bo Bichette Brandon Crawford   OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore Kyle Schwarber Jordan Walker Michael Conforto Cody Bellinger   Jordan Walker – OF – Cardinals – Chairman of The Dongers Club Kyle Schwarber – OF – Phillies Freddie Freeman – 1B – Dodgers Michael Conforto – OF – Giants Bo Bichette – SS – Blue Jays   TODAY’S BETTING ANALYSIS Good Over Upside — […]

For the most part this season FanDuel has done an adequate job on configuration of their slates to match DraftKings who normally gets it right. Today, neither of them got it right. We do not need a Padres/Pirates Showdown game at Noon today, but boys and girls that’s what we got, and then we have a 2PM Early 5 game slate on DraftKings and as you can probably guess, FanDuel has split that up into two smaller Very Early and Early slates. I am ignoring FanDuel and rolling with this article covering the Tigers/Rangers, Guardians/Royals, Yankees/Athletics, Rays/Snakes, White Sox/Angels   WEATHER All clear, 90+ degrees in Kansas City.   VIABLE PITCHING OPTIONS LANCE LYNN (DK: $8800) Yes, he still gives up insane power to lefties, and yeah, that Means Ohtani and Moustakas (maybe Escobar) but he also can still dominate with strikeouts and the weather in Anaheim isn’t as warm as I would have thought. CLARKE SCHMIDT (DK: $8200) I do not believe that just because they got perfect-gamed last night that Oakland can rebound and come out and hammer Schmidt today.   ROYALS Pratto, Melendez, Isbel, Perez Royals will hit Bieber today, that would be my contrarian ‘build’ on a short 5 game slate.  He hasn’t been able to get the whiff rates he has normally gotten and KC has enough comfort that they should be able to put the ball in play and do some damage here.  Only reason I don’t have Witt included is because there is a SS in the next game which I have a hard time ignoring RANGERS Seager, Semien, Garcia, Jung, Duran Best offense on the slate and at home with Reese Olson who isn’t as good as he pitched vs MIN & KC.  Look for the Rangers RHH to have a field day as well so don’t sleep on them.  If you have a pinch on $, Zeke Duran is a great relief at $3400.   CATCHER Salvador Perez Jonah Heim Carson Kelly   FIRST BASE Nick Pratto Nate Lowe Josh Naylor   SECOND BASE Marcus Semien Ketel Marte   THIRD BASE Josh Jung Evan Longoria   SHORTSTOP Corey Seager Bobby Witt Jr   OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore Luis Robert Jr Adolis Garcia MJ Melendz Giancarlo Stanton   OUTFIELD – Value Harrison Bader Ezequiel Duran   MJ Melendez – OF – Kansas City Royals – Chairman of The Dongers Club Evan Longoria […]

Two early games today means that we have just a 13 game main slate tonight.   WEATHER Heavy amounts of rain coming into Citi Field before their game tonight but likely they can keep the field in good condition and get the game in afterwards. After Brady Singer and Gavin Williams pitched gems last night, Kauffman Stadium has 96 degree temps with an 84% DewPoint, the ball if it gets in the air, will carry. The wind is blowing out and could be of impact for hitting in Boston (LF) and Baltimore (RF)   It doesn’t get much cleaner than last night in terms of picking the 4 arms to consider, and certainly today doesn’t look to replicate that ease of selections. TOP ARM LOGAN WEBB (DK: $10,600, FD: $10,700) The Blue Jays are a dead red offense, who loves to sit back and chop away violently at fastballs.  This is not the game plan that Logan Webb deploys and he should be able to keep them off balance for a good portion of tonight’s game.  Combine that with his recent low walk rate and durability to go 7 IP and I think we can pick on the Blue Jays “potent” lineup as they say tonight with Webb, because I was wrong last night, the Jays are NOT about to pop off.   SP2 ARM DANE DUNNING (DK: $6100, FD: $7500) Detroit had their little fun with the Rangers, they should get smoked tonight throwing Joey Wentz out there to start and likely won’t get much damage of Dunning, who honestly is having a breakout season for the Rangers and while his strikeout numbers on the whole aren’t fantastic, the Tigers did K 6 times vs him back on May 31st in Detroit and should produce a similar result tonight.   OTHER NOTES Those are the only two I am considering tonight. The following guys I think will pitch fine but are not ranked ahead of Webb for me today, so why bother. Cristian Javier, Mitch Keller, Lucas Giolito   These guys might get some hype/ownership but I think they are fades JP Sears Domingo German Braxon Garrett Logan Allen   There is a ton of offense projected tonight, and I got 3 home teams here, which normally a full stack is better for the road team, but I can see each of these jumping out early in the first […]

Rocket Mortgage Classic Remember that tough course a couple of weeks ago?  Los Angeles Country Club?  Well, welcome to week #2 of defenseless courses.  TPC River Highlands and the Detroit Golf Club do not cause any of these players to have increased stress levels.  In fact, DGC may be even less of a concern with […]

When Bruce Springsteen wrote about ‘Glory Days’, I am almost 99% certain he was envisioning a 15 game Tuesday slate in late June.  In fact, this is the FIRST 15 game slate we have had all season my friends.  I am 100% sure of this because I looked it up in our database here and as someone who still longs for those Sunday 15 game all day slates on FanDuel I can tell you this is definitely a win for us old folks who like to be nostalgic about the past. When you go through the games tonight, you should have memories of these teams meeting and having dramatic events against each other.  The Jeter throw against Oakland, Kirby Puckett’s homer vs the Braves, Albert Pujols going yard off Brad Lidge, the Red Sox scoring 14 runs in the first inning against the Marlins, the 1970 World Series re-match and much more. Yes, my friends.  Today is a great Baseball day.   WEATHER We definitely still have some chances of storms out there, but after I was told I would be getting tornado like conditions on Monday and I got NOTHING, I can definitely say screw you Weathermen. I say this and then I open my phone and see “Expect numerous thunderstorms to unleaseh downpours & gust winds later today.”  Pfft, whatever. Weather isn’t going to ruin the best day of the year.  Not today woman.   Only a rookie DFS player would see 15 games and think they have to “find value” at pitching or anywhere else for that matter.  The sea is your oyster my friend, you have every team to choose from, we can easily fit in a lineup which will produce 200+ points today no matter where you go on pricing at pitching and 9 times out of 10 on these 15 game slates, having at least one high $ pitching on DK wins because the cheap bats do come through.  On FD it’s no reason to go below 8500 tonight. It’s just a matter of which high $ arm we want…   TOP ARM(s) SHOHEI OHTANI (DK: $11,300, FD: $10.6k) It’s splitter day here in the Dongers Club.  Darvish, will have his going and so too will the next guy.  Neither of them have what Ohtani has.  He will be getting tired soon as he always does, but a heavy RH lineup which he’s dominated […]

Only six MLB games tonight and there are none which are going off earlier than the 7:05 first pitch.  There is the College World Series final game between Floriduh and LSU, which you should definitely tune in for and back the Tigers to win.   WEATHER More storms, and some vicious ones are expected in the Mid-Atlantic this evening.  I do believe all games will find a way to start on time and finish. The two games which could have the worst in game delays are Reds at Orioles – Early in the game, likely before they start Brewers at Mets – Late in the game, hopefully after Verlander has dominated   TOP ARM JUSTIN VERLANDER (DK: $8300, FD: $8100) Not Strider, not Castillo, its JV who I am in love with tonight and think we might even see that “no hitter” alert around the 6th or 7th inning.  Milwaukee isn’t hitting anything of late, they’re striking out 30%+ of the time and Verlander is well into a groove now as he has adjusted to the pitch clock, his new team and is ramped up to his normal 110 pitch limit without concern. The Mets DESPERATELY need some good vibes are a complete melt down on Sunday and JV should be the typical ‘slump stopper’ ace today.   SPENCER STRIDER (DK: $12,600, FD: $11,300) We have plenty of decent value hitting options to plug-in allowing for Strider to lock in with JV tonight, no sense going elsewhere unless you feel concerned with weather on Verlander, in which case your options should go to either Luis Castillo (meh) or … or …. or ya know what, just hammer LSU vs Florida and take the night off   ORIOLES Jordan Westburg, Adley Rutschman, Austin Hays Another day, another Orioles prospect is up and another reason why they’re most definitely winning a World Series this decade.  You build winning teams around the positional players, not pitching and the Orioles have called up infielder Jordan Westburg who had a .939 OPS in AAA and 18 HR.  He’s good and he’s cheap on DK & by cheap I mean $2000! MARINERS Jarred Kelenic, Ty France, Julio Rodriguez, Cal Raleigh We could see this game finish with the most runs on the slate tonight and I promise you that nobody is expecting that.  Trevor Williams continues to be someone who gives up lots of contact (and productive […]

The Twins @ Tigers game was moved up due to rain/weather and will not count on DraftKings, but FanDuel posted their slate late as normal and has included this game as well as an earlier start time. There is also a 10 am game as the Cubs/Cardinals will play in London so in case you are wondering why there is Baseball going on already, no, you didn’t oversleep.   WEATHER Stormy Sunday today, chance of Isolated Thunderstorms in just about every spot that isn’t in a dome today, so that pretty much makes this section easier to write. I believe every game finishes today, but the chance of delay in NY, BAL and PHI is high. Strong winds blowing OUT at New Comiskey Park.   SUNDAY SLEEPER CHARLIE MORTON (DK: $9300, FD: $9800) Here it is boys and girls.  The thing I alluded too yesterday and although the Braves won, we did have a high scoring game once again on Saturday.  Now we get the quiet/fast game as Uncle Chuck baffles the young Reds hitters and winds up as the top overall scoring pitcher on the slate.  Atlanta’s bullpen has been over worked of late as well, and with a veteran like Morton we should be expecting a 7 inning performance.  He has to manage to keep Elly off the bases to avoid the stress of him stealing but otherwise this is going to be my winning ticket today.   TOP CHALK PITCHER TYLER GLASNOW (DK: $8900, FD: $10k) Everyone, their brother, their half-brother, their brother from another mother and even your Uncle Sal are going to be touting Tyler Glasnow today vs the Royals. No way the Royals can win 3 of 4 vs the Rays, right?  NO way, Glasnow at sub 9k on DraftKings cannot mow down Pratto, Melendez and Olivares, right? Right.  It’s legit a no brainer. What could possibly go wrong???  Besides, Status Update:  Tyler Glasnow (back) leaves game early.   CHALK SP2 EURY PEREZ (DK: $8500, FD: $10.1k) Along with Glasnow I would guess that the other heavy ownership on SP on DraftKings logically is Eury Perez.  You won’t find a heavy justification for me to consider avoiding him on either site vs the Pirates.   OTHER NOTES I really think Yusei Kikuchi ($7100 on DK) will do fine vs Oakland outside of maybe a solo hr to Diaz. Eovaldi has seen his velocity drop […]

I won’t be bothering with tonights 4 game 7pm slate, as the 4PM afternoon slate today is the definitive MAIN slate with 10 games on it. The London Series starts up today as well with the 1PM start time and a nice fat 13.5 over/under, which is higher than I had hoped because we’re locked in on the fact that MLB uses juiced balls in a park where pitchers got zero spin last time they played there.  Again, the balls are not normal.  Hammer the over still. The good news today?  We have site synchronicity!   WEATHER Similar spots of concern today but unlike yesterday it’s not a PPD risk however it is a delay risk in these stadiums Philly, Baltimore, New York All games will finish.   TOP PITCHER JOSE BERRIOS (DK: $9900, FD: $9200) The transformation of Jose Berrios into Marcus Stroman and Marcus Stroman into Jose Berrios hasn’t been talked about much.  Berrios has gone from a good strikeout arm at 26% in 2021 down to 21% this year and his ground ball rate has jumped up to 47%.  He’s learned to pitch a little more consistently and has only been hit around by the Braves and Marlins (his last start) this year.  The Jays don’t lose Saturday home games to the lowly Athletics.   SECONDARY OPTIONS There just isn’t a clear second choice today due to rain (Gray/Severino, Scherzer) and due to — no, no chance in hell I touch Lance Lynn vs Devers with Lynn coming off a 16 strikeout outing.  Nuh-uh, no thank you…. OSVALDO BIDO (DK: $7400, FD: $7600) Pitching today is dog crap and Bido isn’t going to be someone that’s around long in the majors but for now he is feeling himself and shouldn’t have any problems with the Marlins after Arraez today.  SP2 is all about risk avoidance, who is going to not put us into the negative around 4:30 today and Bido fits that bill. TANNER BIBEE (DK: $8100, FD: $8500) Two things which bug me here, the lefties obviously in Cleveland (even though Bibee will continue to be good vs LHH) and a very high Humidity/Dewpoint rating which should help the ball travel today & is a big reason why Peralta isn’t on my radar either. Throw those things out however and there’s plenty to like with a free swinging Milwaukee lineup who has to face Bibee’s excellent […]

Today is a Friday.  So there are going to be 15 games tonight, right?  RIGHT??   Newp.  The Cubs, the CUBS of all teams, are being sent over to London to play in London for some unknown reason.  They of course are playing the Cardinals and if you dont think Paul Goldschmidt could double as a guard at Buckingham Palace then I don’t know what else to tell you. So yeah, do the math people, this means there is no Cubs afternoon game on Friday, June 23rd.  I am once again letting MLB know that I am available for hire to do their schedule. We also have four teams who insist on doing 6:40 PM start times tonight, and God forbid FD or DK decide to give us a full 14 game slate with those on them.  This means no Braves/Reds, no Twins/Tigers, no Pirates/Marlins and no Royals/Rays.  I know you are all very sad.   WEATHER Could be ugly, but its trending better than I thought. A 10 game slate tonight which includes the Angels in Coors Field and has weather issues in the following spots.  I am going to put High/Med/Low next to each game which designated the chances that the game is PPD. Mariners at Orioles – Med Mets at Phillies – Med Rangers at Yankees – Med/Low Brewers at Guardians – Low   I do not look at my Dashboard when I first go through deciding on the pitchers I want to look at.  I have a process where I just look at each game and quickly determine who I want to consider and who I do not.  So the fact that my 3 guys here are EXACTLY how they are on the Dashboard (as of Noon) is total coincidence. Then again, I am the guy who built the logic that goes into the ratings, so I guess it shouldn’t be that much of a shocker, should it? None of the SP’s to consider tonight have rain issues.   TOP PITCHER PATRICK SANDOVAL (DK: $6800 / FD: $8200) This is not a ‘leverage’ against Coors play.  I really think Sandoval in Colorado is a solid option and in fact, any lefty right now vs the Rockies is going to be worthy of usage unless Jurickson Profar decides to have his 3 game hot streak or guys like Montero, Montes or Doyle — which sounds like a cross between […]