After messing up big time yesterday, FanDuel receives the gold star today for proper slate construction as they have included the 6:35 Nationals-Pirates game and the 6:40 Phillies-Marlins game.  Unfortunately, neither site has the Cardinals visiting Miller Park so we will just save that annual stack tradition for tomorrow. [spacer height=”20px”] WEATHER All clear.  Every game should play without any concerns and I expect some roofs to be open tonight Phillies at Marlins – Mid 70’s, roof should be open Angels at Rangers – Mid 70’s, roof should be open, no major wind warnings Only 64 in LA for the Dodgers first home series of the season Upper 50’s in Coors Field, cross wind to right field. [spacer height=”20px”] WALKER BUEHLER The Reds should feature a lineup with more RH than LH bats tonight, which will greatly help Buehler out.  He is very consistent with a 28%+ strikeout rate to RH batters, has a very high arsenal rating tonight vs the Reds lineup and is about as consistent as they come when at home in Dodger Stadium JOE MUSGROVE The price on Musgrove on DK should make him a little chalky at just $7,600 so there’s a strong case to be made for Charlie Morton in the same game at likely lower ownership given his price tag but Musgrove is a solid PETCO Park pitcher and Atlanta’s not clicking every game right now so they’re very boom or bust and I’ll err on the side of lots of bust in their first road trip. LUIS SEVERINO This is my wild card pick tonight.  Toronto got a 3 HR game from Who’s your Vladdy last night but lost Teoscar Hernandez in the process and this is still a lineup that can have a high strikeout game when faced with a talented arm. Sevy historically was really dominant vs RH bats as well and that’s pretty much the entire build of this Toronto lineup.  He should remain  limited on pitch count but makes for a nice SP2 on DraftKings given that nobody else will throw more than 90-95 pitches, so his price discount takes into account the pitch difference from everyone else.  He is safe to use. [spacer height=”20px”] I expect Kyle Gibson (FD), Sandy Alcantara (FD), Casey Mize, Charlie Morton and Kevin Gausman to all pitch “well” but not into the “well” category of the above three. The pitching is dominating […]

Updates – 11:28 AM EST Trevor Story is in for Boston today, Xander is out.  Swap Story in over Xander. I was too passive when talking about Aaron Nola, definitely have him in the top tier and expect him to be sub 10% on FanDuel where I am using him instead of Webb because of good value with the hitting. Go Pie-Rats, Ian Happ just as much a strong play as Suzuki from the Cubbies. KC/STL PPD Good luck! [spacer height=”20px”] We have DAY baseball and a BIG slate at that.  If you want to call this the Early slate that is fine, if you want to call it the MAIN slate that is fine too.  It’s the MAIN slate honestly but on the dashboard/tools it will show up as Early. FanDuel actually has the bigger slate with 9 games but I cannot explain what they decided to do for the night slate later on tonight.  The two extra games on FanDuel are … Houston at Arizona San Diego at San Francisco These are both viable spots for pitching today and for FD arms consideration I would rank the four there ahead of just about everyone else on this slate. WEATHER Unfortunately our expectations for a fantastic early MLB DFS slate today are going to be hampered by weather. CLE/CIN – There’s some weird storm going into Ohio.  It’s not ideal for playing Baseball KC/St. Louis – This has storms too and lots of humidity with it, but it could play if they just wait it out as I don’t think Zack Greinke has anything else planned for today.  No desire for the game either way. [spacer height=”20px”] I am going to cover the DK only arms first and then list the FanDuel guys below. NATHAN EOVALDI Big Nate checks in as number one on our list today as I projected him to go up to 85+ pitches today after throwing 76 in his first start vs the Yankees.  The Tigers have four bats which project to have 25+ strikeout potential in Baddoo, Baez, Miggy and Victor Reyes, so that combined with Eovaldi overall consistency of 25+ K% and a big park on day with the winds blowing in has him #1.  I would project 6 , 1 ER and 7 K from Eovaldi. MAX SCHERZER There are two Max(es) to consider between Scherzer and Fried and one is facing […]

Hot diggity damn we have a slate which begins at 7PM and has a decent amount of games on it and has no Pirates on it either, which is just how we like it. WEATHER Dodgers at Twins – PPD risk here.  They play a day game tomorrow as this is a short two game series, but they likely would try to wait it out for a little if they can.  If it delays, we fade, if it starts on time, we play.  Although it is cold so there’s really not a TON to like here except for oh my god, yes, that is Andrew Heaney on the mound for LAD and that won’t end well for him. Royals at Cardinals – The suckitude of the Royals pitching staff has brought with it some winds blowing out heavily to LF [spacer height=”20px”] There’s a crap ton of “not my guys” on this slate tonight.  Eric Lauer, Yu Darvish, Chad Kuhl, Chris Archer, Andrew Heaney, Yusei Kikuchi, I say stick a fork in my eye…. ALEX COBB A new year makes a new man?  Well, Alex Cobb now with the Giants showed up to Spring Training throwing straight heat and struck out 9 batters over 7 1/3 IP while allowing just 1 ER.  Big deal you say, it’s just Spring Training, to which I agree except his velocity suddenly went from 92-93 MPH to 97 MPH this spring. Either this guy has found the secret sauce, is about to go on the IL for the season or will be busted for PED later this year.  In two of those scenario’s, he’ll reproduce it well enough today in the large stadium against a weak offense.  And he is the other SP in what should be a low scoring game against the likely chalk SP1 tonight… DAKOTA HUDSON Hudson draws the Royals who were seeing the fewest pitches per AB through the first three games of the season and that has historically been a trend with that offense.  Hudson needs to avoid a mistake down in the zone to Salvador Perez and he can get through 5 IP with likely having the lead to qualify for a win as well.  The upside is limited, but I trust he wont be negative either. [spacer height=”20px”] LONGSHOT ARMS JESUS LUZARDO & PATRICK SANDOVAL  Alright, so we found “my guys”, but there are some glaring trouble […]

There is a crap ton of hockey tonight as only 3 teams aren’t playing today.  The NHL season got extended more than usual with COVID challenges and so we’ll continue our NHL DFS coverage a little longer even though MLB is going on right now and that has priority.  The contest pool on DraftKings is […]

Monday Baseball is a fantastic thing.  It’s calm, it’s quiet and we really have had plenty of time since our last battle to either let the excitement come back to reality or the disappointment be removed with optimism for whatever new series we have in front of us today. One tradition over the years has been giving a lean to those teams who are Home on a Monday after being Home over the weekend.  One exception tonight is that the Mariners and Twins does not apply here since they faced each other over the weekend, but the teams who do fall into this category tonight includes … Everyone! Yes, how about them apples?  Every team who is home tonight was also home over the Opening Day weekend and thus every team on the road tonight had travel involved yesterday.  We also have the Yankees playing after a Boston series, which more times than not ends up in the Yankees/Red Sox both losing the next day. WEATHER There are no PPD risk games tonight and no Roofs to worry about either while nothing is extremely warm.  It’s an April Monday night if I ever saw one. [spacer height=”20px”] The options are REALLY limited today and some risk even among the top guys. ALEK MANOAH I bought heavy into this kid a year ago and despite the allure of a Yankee Lineup at home and the highest price on both sites, he is among the best options on this slate.  His spring workload is promising as well as he logged 14 innings over 4 appearances this Spring, which is good for the big young kid from West Virginia as his confidence should be high in the park where he made his debut last year. HAUSCAR YNOA A couple offenses have been bad as advertised and one of them is the Nationals offense.  Sub 70 degrees and a slight breeze in Atlanta will play that park more to normal.  A bottom of the order featuring Keibert Ruiz, Maikel Franco, Lane Thomas, Alcides Escobar and Gary from DuPont.  And Ynoa, yeah I think that’ll play just fine tonight.  His slider was among the best in the league at times before a stupid self-inflicted injury last season, so load up on him on both sites. [spacer height=”20px”] LONGSHOT ARMS DYLAN BUNDY Bundy’s career has been a disappointment from where he was once projected to be.  […]

WEATHER All four games should play without issue but we have one which is worth of monitoring. Pirates @ Cardinals – A divisional game so they could say screw this, let’s play one more double header later in the season or they could just play through some rain or wait things out to when it clears up later this evening.  I would highly anticipate that they decide to wait things out and get the game in.  St. Louis is home tomorrow and Pittsburgh is back at home vs the Cubs for their Home Opener. The Rangers are back home and with some rain potential they could have the roof closed which would help the pitchers out there. Baltimore is also home for the first time this season and the new configuration out in Left Field.  As karma would have it, the wind is blowing out 10+ mph to left field [spacer height=”20px”] I am not fond of writing up slates with fewer than 5 games on them and usually avoid slates with fewer than four games on them.  But in general when we have a 4 gamer I will go down the process of focusing my attention on one game for pitching, another for offense and then the other two games for secondary one offs.  It doesn’t always setup like that obviously but the key for a short slate is to not over think things and many times like today you really aren’t investing in a team for them to score 8 or 9 runs as much as you want to just make sure you get something. Such is the case with four games that I would recommend betting the UNDER on today despite what appears to be less than attractive pitching options and some higher totals. Milwaukee at Baltimore … This is likely the most popular hitting game as even with the new left field design for Camden Yards, it is still the best park on this slate by a mile.  Milwaukee is overrated and Adrian Houser is good vs RHB so he will gain a good amount of ownership, which makes the Orioles a logical leverage play given that to me they are equal offensively to Milwaukee.  Plus with the Orioles starting LHP Bruce Zimmerman it plays even more into their favor.  Unfortunately for the Orioles it’s only Cedric Mullins, Anthony Santander and Rougned Odor who are the […]

A very fine Happy Sunday in the Dongers Club to you and all those who celebrate this weekly tradition.  Ten games on the Sunday Main slate today, which is just perfect before the TILT afternoon slate and then the TILT-TILT Showdown Slate. I re-designed the optimizer before the season and of course did not get to implement the Showdown Version of it just yet, I plan to get that working before tonight’s Single Game/Showdown spot but if for some reason it’s delayed I apologize and it will be ready for sure by next Sunday night’s game. WEATHER All games play, here’s the most relevant info … Once again Windy and the only potential hitting boost is in Kauffman Stadium where the winds are 20+ MPH out to Left Field Busch and Wrigley both have some strong winds but I think they’re a little more cross wind to left than directly out to LF, but certainly viable spots there too. Everything is chilly, offense should remain dormant due to that and hitters just not having their timing down yet. [spacer height=”20px”] A quick early observation would say that almost every SP is doing well because offense is slow starting.  Yes, but there are a few teams who are kind of validating the thought that they are just horrific offenses.  Nationals, Athletics, Guardians specifically are just bad overall and probably will be bad in that order all season long which is making it pretty easy to just open up the slate and try and pick on them.  Not referencing that specifically for today, but I’ve seen no indication that those three teams are going to be good offensively.  I also believe Milwaukee is worse than everyone projects. FREDDY PERALTA What is it with Peralta and getting to play the Cubs early in the season every year to start his season off with some dominant outings?  He once again gets to face Chicago in cold Wrigley and has as much of a chance at putting up a 30 on DK today as anyone (I don’t expect 30, but I said he has a chance) ZACH EFLIN One of the major elements to the Phillies starting pitching has been that Nola and Gibson have not walked anyone on Oakland and that has as much to do with the Athletics as it does the Phillies pitching.  Eflin grades very strong against the A’s projected top […]

WEATHER All games play Cooler temps for HOU/LAA Warmer temps in Coors for LAD/COL Roof likely open in Arizona again, not that it matters with these teams. [spacer height=”20px”] Very clear cut for me on this early slate with just 10 options and two of them are Pirates/Orioles pitchers, so let’s be honest — it’s 8 options, no? CHRIS BASSITT Remember this call now which isn’t as bold with deGrom injured but Bassitt and not Jake/Max is the key to the Mets season from a pitching standpoint.  100% locked in on Bassitt tonight as your SP1 on FanDuel and an anchor in 3-entry max spots on DraftKings because the other guys we can pair with him will be high risk high upside plays and I believe CB will just cruise through the Nationals dumpster lineup. JOE MUSGROVE Musgrove ran into trouble when getting a lot of lefties with power and should see 8 lefties today but if they cant hit the ball then they can’t hit the ball far. Verlander and Thor Two guys making come backs and should have nice bounce back seasons.  Another one of my off-season calls was that Thor would thrive in LA home games due to the rocks behind him, so I am tempted to go there but this is a really tough first spot.  Same with Verlander.  Game stack only. [spacer height=”20px”] Cincinnati Reds Joey Votto, Tyler Naquin, Nick Senzel The ball was dead in Atlanta last night but 12+ mph winds tonight could push a couple warning track power shots out.  Kyle Wright is going to have to prove himself before we avoid sdtacking against him.  The 30% barrel rate in limited time last season is obviously not going to stay that high, but I don’t think we’re going to suddenly see it drop to 0 over night.  Load up some Reds. LA Dodgers Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Cody Bellinger Mookie Betts against German Marquez is probably the easiest pick I have seen so far to start the season.  Will it come through?  Time shall tell, but with warmer temps in Coors and the obvious Dodgers chalk I don’t want to lose to Mookie going off, so take him and then figure out the rest. [spacer height=”20px”] CATCHERS Will Smith Austin Nola FIRST BASE Joey Votto Freddie Freeman SECOND BASE Ozzie Albies Nick Senzel Max Muncy THIRD BASE Mike Moustakas Austin Riley SHORTSTOP […]

We actually do have site synchronicity today (which means both DraftKings and FanDuel have the same configuration on slate sizes), but we do not have consistency with the naming convention, and certainly not in contest selection. So for Early this means 1:00 PM slate with five games on it and there’s absolutely NOTHING to play on FanDuel’s (Very Early) version of this slate, so we’re 100% focused on DraftKings for this article today. The Main slate tonight should be a normal balance between the two sites. [spacer height=”20px”] WEATHER It’s chilly everywhere except for Tampa of course which is inside a COSTCO warehouse and it’s extremely cold in Detroit. [spacer height=”20px”] Very clear cut for me on this early slate with just 10 options and two of them are Pirates/Orioles pitchers, so let’s be honest — it’s 8 options, no? DYLAN CEASE I laughed in 2019 when everyone raved about Dylan Cease making his debut and just smiled while he struggled out of the gate like all rookie pitchers do.  Then in 2020 and the start of 2021 I remained patient while he started to figure things out and now this year I have bought 100% into Cease proclaiming him as my American League Cy Young Winner this season and bought into him in all seasonal & dynasty formats. So of course I should be looking to target him in DFS now and of course I want to target him against the Detroit Tigers – who as an organization he has absolutely dominated.  Yes there are some new faces here, but with the weather and that Tigers ML win yesterday I have no doubt in Cease living up to the hype in his season debut today.  Lock and load in a pitching duel with Casey Mize (viable as an SP2 in a gamestack) BRANDON WOODRUFF Woody was on our list yesterday before the PPD announcement came down and the weather has not adjusted in any way to dislike him today. [spacer height=”20px”] The only wild card choices would be Justin Steele (Cubs) and Miles Mikolas (Cards) neither of whom I am enamored with compared to Woodruff and Cease so there is no reason in wasting any more space or time on this topic. [spacer height=”20px”] RAYS Brandon Lowe, Ji-Man Choi, Wander Franco Jordan Lyles … I am not a fan.  He will see 8 left/switch hitters from the Rays and […]

This isn’t a normal Friday with just five main slate games tonight but it sure beats writing up KBO slates. [spacer height=”20px”] WEATHER All games will play No word on roof status in Toronto.  Closed would greatly help the hitting. Roof is expected to be open in Arizona which is a plus for hitting. Very warm out in LA [spacer height=”20px”] Overall Charlie is my #1 pitcher today – even ahead of Max.  So FanDuel lineups would be Charlie and let it ride, while on DK we have simply an ownership upside pivot off Max to decide with it being a small slate. CHARLIE MORTON Charlie will match Scherzer in strikeouts, get enough run support and provide Atlanta with their first win of the season tonight.  He went 4 2/3 IP in his lone Spring outing so I have a hard time doubting him to get 5+ today as he is looking to have another great late career season. JOSE BERRIOS The Rangers project to be a bad breaking pitch offense.  Yes, they are revamped with Semien, Seager, Garver and mighty Kole Calhoun but if you want to get off Max who has a couple red flags with him then Berrios to me has the most upside tonight.  Game stacking SP in this game would be a little contrarian for sure, but also something to consider as we use that to our advantage often on small slates. [spacer height=”20px”] BRAVES Olson, Riley, Duvall Welcome to the Braves hammering LHP season once again and the Reds are into their young pitching rotation now.  There’s no easy out the way Sanmartin lines up vs the Braves today because the LHB he can tame in Matt Olson is very good vs his profile and the rest of the guys around him should feast off Sanmartin being prone to hard contact by RHH. ANGELS Ohtani, Trout, Walsh, Rendon vs Jake reverse eggs Odorizzi, they are a team I will chase again tonight after Framber shut them down last night. PADRES Machado, Grisham, Myers, Hosmer Merrill Kelly has actually done okay vs San Diego in his career and is now a veteran enough arm that I don’t love picking on him excessively.  But for other factors such as the roof being open and compared to the rest of the slate this is one of the better spots to invest in. [spacer height=”20px”] CATCHERS Travis d’Arnaud […]