If you like offense you are going to like what is likely going to come this week.  Weather is heating up, bullpens are wearing down and overall the schedule this week puts us in some spots where we should see some nice offensive outputs. Sadly, many of the best games are going to be on the Turbo/6pm/Senior Citizens Slate(s) here early in the week.  Tonight has 3 games on that slate and then the MAIN slate features 8 games on it. Once again, most teams on Mon-Wed series that are home were also home over the weekend.  Only the Yankees and Brewers have home games today after having to travel yesterday. WEATHER I project everything will play without issue, but they’re expecting rain most of the day in Chicago, so that field could be pretty wet since is historically has had drainage issues, but overall it’ll be fine.   ZAC GALLEN Last night when I first glanced at today’s slate I had a thought on a reason to fade Gallen.  Today I have woke up and realized that I must have been out of my damn mind because we’ve really got no reason to be thinking along those lines. Yes, he is facing his former team so if you wanna buy into the amped up narrative then go ahead, but I don’t think it matters.  Gallen’s worst start was his last one, and when you are at his level you do not have two starts like that in a row (not that it was that bad). ANTHONY DeSCLAFANI The Italian!  We’re getting the Nationals coming out of Chase Field where they had a good series and going into the windy/cold/dark San Francisco Bay area.  Coming off an 8 IP gem his last start, I think we see another performance that is free of major damage.   Also like to pitch well Nestor Cortes Miles Mikolas Tony Gonsolin   Gonna pitch okay, but can’t beat Gallen/Cortes Logan Gilbert Dylan Cease   DIAMONDBACKS Marte, Rivera, Gurriel, Walker They’re smashing LHP right now and getting the wrap-around homestand at Chase Field is most definitely a big plus for the snakes today.  Look for them to jump on Garrett early and put this one away.  The Marlins either WIN a 1-run game or get blown out this year, and tonight points to a blowout. MARINERS Kelenic, Raleigh, Teoscar A lineup that is no doubt […]

I wanted to put out a bonus article since there are five games on the Sunday afternoon slate today Brewers at Giants Rangers at Angels Nationals at Diamondbacks White Sox at Reds Astros at Mariners   ROSS STRIPLING Never a great option but this is a short slate in terms of great options.  He should benefit from favorable weather conditions and the Brewers free swinging lineup RYNE NELSON Roof closed in Arizona, which significantly reduces the Nationals power potential MICHAEL KOPECH We know the deal with Kopech, can he limit walks and keep the ball in the park.  REally just banking on a high strikeout game.  The Reds have a ton of guys who he should be able to blow it past.   RANGERS / ANGELS Semien, Garcia, Jung, Heim Ward, Trout, Renfroe, Drury WHITE SOX Anderson, Vaughn, Robert, Grandal ASTROS / MARINERS Bregman Kelenic     CATCHER Yasmani Grandal Cal Raleigh   FIRST BASE LaMonte Wade Jr Andrew Vaughn   SECOND BASE Marcus Semien Brandon Drury   THIRD BASE Josh Jung Alex Bregman   SHORTSTOP Tim Anderson Jeremy Pena   OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore Joc Pederson Mike Trout Luis Robert Jr Jarred Kelenic     Joc Pederson – OF – Giants – Chairman of The Dongers Club Yasmani Grandal – C – White Sox Jarred Kelenic – OF – Mariners Alex Bregman – 3B – Astros Adolis Garcia – OF – Rangers   FAVORITE BET(s) Rangers/Angels OVER 9.5    

A light Sunday slate as one game is already in progress (Orioles @ Braves) and this is a heavy west coast weekend with five games in the afternoon today.  The Sunday Night Baseball game today is between the Dodgers and Padres as well, so we’re kinda light on the slate for a Sunday…  Why?  Because the Reds and White Sox think they are special and want to play on the 4PM tilt slate today.  Makes no sense, but go ahead Cincinnati. The weather looks rough in just one spot, Pittsburgh.  Where the Jays have been sending the Pirates back to reality and today it should be raining throughout the day.  Expect them to either announce PPD or just sit and ride it out and hope they can get the game in.  The Jays are off tomorrow before going to Philadelphia on Tuesday (oh… that’ll be fun) and the Pirates are at home tomorrow, so they CAN wait this one out. Everything else is fine, with warm temps in St. Louis and Kansas City.   SANDY ALCANTARA In the division, Sandy has been hit a little bit harder in 2023, but out of the division he remains the Cy Young that we saw last season.  Yes, it’s warmer in Chicago today but no real wind impact and under 10k for Sandy is a steal, lock it in for an 8 inning dominant 0 ER performance today from the Marlins ace. MASON MILLER Coming off a 100 pitch outing last start which was near perfect, Miller will go on the road for the second time in his big league career.  I don’t think he will burn you at $7600 considering this fits my Royals haven’t seen this guy theory and last night even Waldichuk racked up the strikeouts on them, but we should pump the brakes on crowning his ass thinking he’s gonna go 7-8 IP of no hit ball here… Expectations – 5 2/3 innings, 2 ER, 7 strikeouts. POSSIBLE SUNDAY SLEEPERS It’s really bleak today.  The two names who I wanted to give consideration for are Steven Matz (could be chalky, which is just bad) and … Taijuan Walker, but the way Boston is hitting right now and Walker’s likely struggles when he pitches at home the guy has to produce a near 40% strikeout rate today to pay off and I just can’t pull that trigger.  The other value […]

All games play tonight, no weather issues.   SPENCER STRIDER Baltimore is a slight downgrade for strikeout upside for Strider.  Whoop te do, he goes from 50-60% down to 35-40%. KEN WALDOSUCK Hi!  Let’s go contrarian for SP2 tonight, shall we?  And no, I am not here to tout Brady Singer, but rather I am going with the SP that the Royals have never seen before, which is a tradition in them putting up goose eggs.  Waldosuck as I call him had a VERY rough schedule to start, but there are signs he can dominate tonight with just 2 walks over his last two starts and Baltimore is a slight downgrade for strikeout upside for Strider.  Whoop te do, he goes from 50-60% down to 35-40%. ALEX COBB (FD) This one definitely worries me a good bit, but the drop off afterwards is pretty steep as I do not want Reid Detmers vs Texas (more on that below) and right now not even I can try to jump back on the Brady Singer bandwagon. Cobb should have a big strikeout game today, but I also think he serves up a couple HR.  His price on DK is a no, but FanDuel he can get by where hits/walks wont hurt you either. FADING Dustin May & Blake Snell … I wanted to go May but Soto is going to destroy a fastball up in the zone over the LCF wall for a home run and Snell? … Hell No.   LIVING DANGEROUS SP COMBINATION DK:  Waldichuk & Singer   RANGERS Adolis Garcia, Josh Jung, Jonah Heim Texas is the best team in the league this year when they see a LHP two days in a row.  Their expected run output jumps up 2-3 runs and Detmers is due to get touched up by the RHH a little bit.  His output this far in 2023 should shift back to the norm more tonight. PHILLIES Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Brandon Marsh I know Boston is the hot lineup right now and they face Bailey Falter – but Corey Kluber almost certainly gives up a 1st inning homer to Harper and isn’t leaving tonight before he allows 5-6 ER. MARINERS / ASTROS Suarez/France || Yordan/Pena/Maldanado This is the face of the dude the Astros have promoted to pitch against the Mariners. That’s most definitely the face of a man who wants to dock with Eugenio […]

Here are the four MLB games going ‘Early’ on this Saturday which is light in the afternoon for Baseball. Tigers at Cardinals … Temps climbing after morning rain and some decent wind in this game as well Rockies at Mets … Very nice day Yankees at Rays Marlins at Cubs … Showers throughout the day – I expect game to play TYLOR MEGILL Fantastic weather up there in Citi Field but I see that waking up the Mets bats more than juicing the Rockies vs Megill. DREW RASMUSSEN I would not advise using Wainwright in his first start of the MLB season, nor do I trust German to deliver like he did in his last start.  Rasmussen will get to 5 1/3 or maybe 6 IP today if we are lucky, but he will do it without a ton of ER allowed to a bad offense.   MARLINS / CUBS Soler, Berti | Swanson, Happ Suzuki Don’t really care too much about the wind, but it could help a little bit out to LF.  I really don’t trust either SP and Soler vs Smyly should be a HR pick today for prop betting. METS Marte, Alonso, Canha After going ice cold, they are incredibly cheap against Austin Gomber.  Pete Alonso, Starling Marte and Mark Canha   CATCHER Tucker Barnhardt Christian Bethancourt   FIRST BASE Pete Alonso Paul Goldschmidt Trey Mancini   SECOND BASE Jon Berti Nolan Gorman   THIRD BASE Ryan McMahon … Third base is so bad today that I’ll be fine on a short 4 game slate locking in McMahon vs Megill in my own lineup.  Gimme that solo hr.   SHORTSTOP Dansby Swanson Wander Franco   OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore Jorge Soler Starling Marte Seiya Suzuki Mark Canha     Jorge Soler – OF – Marlins – Chairman of The Dongers Club Ryan McMahon – 3B – Rockies Pete Alonso – 1B – Mets   FAVORITE BET(s) Mets ML + Cubs ML

Bienvenidos a una edición de viernes de The Dongers Club, ya estamos en mayo y, aunque parece que MLB ya lleva 4 meses, en realidad han sido poco más de 4 1/2 semanas. El clima va a mejorar en aproximadamente 3-4 días y espero que los bullpens continúen desgastándose, los bateadores se calienten en todos los ámbitos y los Mets continúen apestando. oh wait….  My bad, I went a little too extreme with the Cinco de Mayo celebration there, didn’t I?  Okay, here’s what I said. “Friends dont let friends stack the Pirates, Cardinals.” Got it?  Cool.  Now on with the show. WEATHER As I mentioned above in Spanish, the weather is going to start warming up soon, just not quite there yet today.  Chilly but comfortable conditions everywhere.  As is the case on all Friday slates, if a game is going to PPD they would have done it by now get ahead of ticket sales for the weekend doubleheader.  All games play. No Coors Field tonight, rejoice! WSH at ARI – Roof Open HOU at SEA – Roof likely Closed     CORBIN BURNES A reduced price for Burnes, who has gotten over his little early season hissy-fit start and turned in three starts in his last four with 13+ Swinging Strikes and has done it vs teams much more potent than the San Francisco Giants.   In this matchup I have Burnes projected at a 30% strikeout rate and outside of a 2 out double to JD Davis in the bottom of the 2nd he should just cruise right along. Thus, by the time you have finished your potent potables tonight you should be able to remember that you still have an SP1 going and can most definitely take down the tournament you are in today thanks to Burnes.   CRISTIAN JAVIER The only guy that could possibly overtake Burnes today is Javier, who every once and a while pulls out a dominant 1 hit, 0 walk, 10 strikeout outing.  He dominates RHH and the Mariners basically are rolling with a banged up Julio, a cooling off Kelenic and a bunch of other RHH who aren’t smashing RHP all too well lately. Don’t love Houston much this season, but I think they give the Mariners fits again this weekend and remind them who Daddy is. MERRILL KELLY “The Nationals do not strike out much….”, “The roof is open in […]

The force is definitely strong today with FD and DK both having the exact same slate of games on this mostly day game Thursday.  I really have despised Thursday’s in the past, but I like this configuration a ton.  We have nine games, including Coors Field and the return of Justin Verlander not only to the majors for his Mets debut, but back in Detroit where the Mets cannot seem to win a game. WEATHER Milwaukee at Colorado – Rain throughout the day here, they either play through it (which I expect) or they get all weird and make the Brewers come back to Coors Field for one random game later in the year.  I assume they play.   I will be passing on Verlander both because of his price and because this is his first start of the season. GEORGE KIRBY Kirby has been fantastic this season, a step forward I wasn’t expecting to be so strong this early in the year but when you command the zone like he does you will have success.  Just 2 walks on the season, 1 HR allowed and he has faced some tough lineups to do that against.  The Athletics?  They’re not that tough. GRAYSON RODRIGUEZ The Royals generally do not hit a SP they haven’t seen in person before and so for that reason Grayson Rodriguez is likely to have a strong game.  RHH are hitting his fastball fairly well so far, which is a concern here but generally I think he does well in KC. If anyone on the Royals touches him up today I expect it to be Olivares.   OTHER PITCHING NOTES Yes, I do think Jameson Taillon and Patrick Corbin have a nice little throw back pitchers duel in DC today.  Problem is, JT will be lucky to strikeout 2 Nationals and Corbin is going to only pitch well if he is getting the Cubs to swing early and rush their way out of town to get home for their Friday afternoon 2pm game tomorrow.  Take the under here and if you are living dangerous, follow the Corbin sleeper pick for some value. Jesus Luzardo – nobody goes from white hot to doing nothing as fast as the Atlanta Braves.  Worth the risk on FanDuel today IMO.   Not a heavy ‘must stack this team’ type slate tonight. PIRATES & RAYS PIT:  Bryan Reynolds – Jack Suwinski […]

WEATHER All games will play tonight.  Some cloudy/overcast conditions in Washington, New York and Boston, but none of them have a high PPD risk or any major delay concerns either.  The best weather hitting conditions are in Coors and Kauffman, but nothing extreme.   LOGAN GILBERT Give me Gilbert or give me death.  Gilbert against the Athletics is likely to be just as good as Miller was last night, maybe with fewer strikeouts but as good of a chance of allowing 0 ER through his time on the bump today. SHANE BIEBER One of his better starts in 2023 came against the Yankees and they had more fire power in that meeting than they will tonight.  I personally think Shane is going to wind up being dealt if Cleveland cannot get it going as a team since they have so much pitching depth in the organization about to come up, and so if he wants that next big contract he needs to start acting like the Cy Young potential that he used to have.  This is a good spot for that to come true with the NYY watered down lineup likely giving him a start where he can be in the 70% range on his strikes thrown. FAVORITE CHEAP ARM Miles Mikolas … This is entirely a gut call because obviously Mikolas vs Trout/Ohtani combination warrants some fears but with Ohtani also pitching tonight I believe that does take a little out of him and so the stache just needs to get past Trout and this will be his best outing of the 2023 season. OTHER PITCHING NOTES No Ohtani for me, even vs a bad Cardinals lineup right now. Marcus Stroman should be good, but also should not have a ton of K today, so for 9100 I see no point going there, it won’t win much Kyle Gibson vs a possibly Salvy-less Royals team is going to be good.   On another slate he might crack the top 3.   Not a heavy ‘must stack this team’ type slate tonight. TWINS vs WHITE SOX The White Sox side seems pretty clear cut to me against Louie Varland.  He heavily relies on his cutter which LHH have hit much better in a limited dataset, so Andrew Benintendi gets a rare mention here along with Andrew Vaughn from the right side of the plate for Chicago. To me the sneaky play […]

Another day and more pitchers making their ML debut.  Last night the Mariners got quite the perofrmance from Bryce Miller striking out 10 and walking none.  Let me inform you that what he did (10K) in a debut has only been done twice and it was done by Johnny Cueto and Stephen Strasburg.  So before you go crowning his ass and claiming that using rookie pitchers in DFS is the way to go, just think of all the shitty ones who have come up and struggled. What I had originally wrote yesterday when I was thinking Gilbert was Tue and Miller was Wed is how the Athletics offense was good in April but as we turn into May they’ll cool off and Miller for sure benefited from that.  He’s a one pitch pitcher at best who got a very generous draw, now that one pitch is VERY good with some wild movement on it, but lets pump the brakes here considering he wasn’t even the best Miller on the mound in Oaktown last night. Today we have one really good prospect in Brandon Pfaadt who long term projects to be a front of the rotation potential guy for the Diamondbacks. Pfaadt is 6’4, 230, which makes me feel good about my physique potential to be a MLB starting pitcher, but unfortunately nobody wants to see an old Phil Niekro pitch anymore and my command surely wasn’t that great.(there’s a good reason why I played 1B I guess).  He has a solid fastball, slider, change balance to his arsenal, long term we might be biting on him more.  But today, well… It doesn’t matter because they didn’t have him in the player pool at first. We also have Gavin Stone who either dawns the nickname Stone Cold or Kidney Stones based on how he performs.  Stone has a little bit of Sonny Gray in him and how well he manages to control his command with 4-5 pitches available is going to be key.  Doing that vs a veteran Phillies lineup isn’t ideal for your first start and I would bet some good $ that he allows runs in the 2nd inning. Slate Differences FanDuel has included G1 of the Mets (Luchessi) Tigers (Wentz) doubleheader in chilly Detroit. WEATHER Only two games in California that are outdoors and both are fine.   Oh Look!  Logan Webb is pitching.  Must be a day […]

Broken down by pricing tiers, Mark Farris outlines his favorite PGA DFS plays on DraftKings