A very unique construction of the schedule today from MLB and of course our favorite (ha) DFS operators. The Main Sunday slate starts off with 7 games on DK and 8 on FD (White Sox/Rockies) while the afternoon slate features a three game slate that includes The Italian, Paul Skenes vs George Kirby and Commissioner Gordon vs the Dodgers on a Sunday Afternoon in Shavez. But, wait.  There’s more. The showdown lovers of course have two Sunday affairs.  Brunch is served down in Atlanta as the Orioles and Braves square off.  Then the Sunday “Night” game starts early at 6:10 PM in a wind-IN game at Wrigley. But, wait.  There’s STILL more. Yes, we have the return of west coast Sunday Night DFS!  Rangers at Padres in PETCO and Giants at Athletics in the Hospital Ball Stadium. So if you like micro-slates, today, today is your day my friend. Oh, and did I mention there’s a new Asian pitcher today too? Lock it up! WEATHER All clear.  Very hitter friendly weather in most spots. SUNDAY’S ACES Today is headlined by two LHP aces in Tarik Skubal vs the Guardians & Garrett Crochet vs the Nationals.  Sorry, Max Fried, being in Citi Field on a Sunday is not where you want to be today.  Between Skubal (12k on DK) and Crochet (10.5k) the choice is definitely Crochet for me as the Nationals drop off significantly against LHP and honestly, they’re back on a cold funk right now anyways. The second tier includes Zack Wheeler (10k) vs the Reds, Kevin Gausman (8500) vs the Angels.  Wheeler is just a well oiled machine who always manages to get there and I just have too much PTSD with using Gausman on Sunday’s… My official rankings of the aces on this fine Sunday is … Zack Wheeler (DK: $10,000, FD: $10,800) Garrett Crochet (DK: $10,500, FD: $10,900) SUNDAY’S BEST VALUE ARM Drew Rasmussen, Gavin Williams, Edward Cabrera … These three all have favorable metrics that could draw attention for some today, but I want no part of Gavin Williams and I think this is possibly the start where we see Rasmussen wind up going on the IL afterwards.  So, it’s head on down to the South Beach theory with Cabrera pitching VERY well at home lately. Edward Cabrera (DK: $7200, FD: $8400) SUNDAY’S SLEEPER There really isn’t one, although I may talk myself into Chase […]

There are two DraftKings slates today and three on FanDuel (shocker).  While it’s at the point of the year where nobody really knows what day of the week it is, I am here to inform you that today is indeed a Saturday.  And Saturday’s will always be afternoon MAIN slates in my world until we get to mid-August and then we’re just really waiting for some moronic College Football team to ruin our lives. So, this 2PM start time slate on DraftKings will serve as our MAIN slate article with an Evening 7pm 6 gamer following it. WEATHER All clear and more warm and windy conditions in Wrigley Field DEAN KREMER (DK: $7200, FD: $8500) … You are what you are is a great saying when you just want to put someone in their place.  That’s you Atlanta, you are just a BAD Baseball team.  Kremer’s worth giving the nod to as someone that maybe we’ll trust to have a good second half.  The guy has been hammered by lefties still, so expect Matt Olson to hit the solo HR that makes Braves think they’re going to compete today and then they wind up losing 7-1. RANGER SUAREZ (DK: $9700, FD: $10.7k) … Ugh.  Tough to trust the Phillies after that disaster game by Luzardo on the 4th, but Suarez is 10x the trust worthy arm that Luzardo can be.  His blow up and risk factor at this point in the season is way lower. MAX SCHERZER (DK: $7500) … The biggest question with Max is can he stay healthy through 5 innings at minimum to maybe even get the WIN?  The guy is an old man out there just waiting for something to pull or flare up. CARDS / CUBS This game will once again draw most of the attention with warm temps and wind blowing out.  The Cardinals have not been as lethal against LHP as the last 5 have gone 5+ IP and all did well.  They just don’t have the lineup to be able to destroy LHP and the Cubs are going to go with two today to start things off (supposedly).  So the lean should be on the Cubs side, but certainly some Cardinals RHH and even hoping for late game lefty magic is reasonable. NATIONALS It might officially be over for Walker Buehler.  He’s being rumored in trades which is hilarious to consider anyone […]

Happy 4th of July MAIN slate to everyone out there tonight. WEATHER All games play Giants at Athletics:  Warm and Windy OUT, should help offense even more here. SANDY ALCANTRA (DK: $7100, FD: $8300) We have a game today that stands out as one which should be easier to find pitching production in, so of course that means it’ll be the one that explodes.  Nah, can’t think that negative and as I mentioned w/ Sandy last time he’s pitching much better now…. Oh wait, he gave up 10 hits and 7 ER through 6 IP last time I said that.  Trust me, this time! QUINN PRIESTER (DK: $8500, FD: $8700) Other side in the same game.  Has done well at limiting power and the Marlins (not shockingly) have cooled off back at home.  Priester dominated the lowly Rockies, so the confidence and trust from the manager will be there tonight. OTHER PITCHING THOUGHTS Strider will be OK – not great.  Fading for that reason. Don’t HATE Kyle Hendricks as a contrarian leverage against Jays. Reese Olson returns tonight, but he’s usually  been limited below 95 pitches before the injury, so gotta think he is on a PC of some sorts today. Sure, take one of those dumb Coors pitchers against each other.  What a disaster game that is to figure out – but know Ryan McMahon is hitting at least two doubles.   GIANTS / ATHLETICS  Write me down for Heliot Ramos going yard on the Giants side.  Really like Wilson/Kurtz/Shea for the Athletics.  It’ll be warm and windy in the tiny minor league park tonight. ANGELS It would kinda be funny to watch the Blue Jays get shut down by Kyle Hendricks after teeing off on the Yankees.  Lets not overlook that Eric Lauer is still bad at avoiding walks and trouble.  He had 0 vs the Red Sox but I cannot imagine him being clean through the Trout-Ward-Adell trio. OTHER NOTABLE HITTING SPOTS HOUSTON/LA:  If the early games taught us anything it’s that we definitely have Baseballs that are harder to throw and easier to hit today.  This one could be one of those 11-9 opening series games, but it has the return of Christian Walker destroying baseball’s in Dodger Stadium TIGERS:   Good Lefties Spot tonight.  Colt Keith leading off is a virtual must play in at least one lineup IMO. BRAVES:  Morton is back in ATL tonight.  […]

Quick write-up for the early 5 game 1PM slate(s) WEATHER All games play Bryan Woo (DK: $9500, FD: $10.5k) Jesus Luzardo (DK: $9000, FD: $9600) … A lot less risk here than some other spots, but not a dominant game from Luzardo.  His strikeout upside is why we boost him up so high. Zack Littell (DK: $8300, FD: $9000) Marcus Stroman is the only PUNT SP I would give a thought on, but I am not sure how Alonso won’t homer.   Rays:  Heavy winds out to LF.  Could be the game of the day Cardinals / Cubs:  Day game in Wrigley – Thank God.  Great weather, great wind.  Expect 9-7 type final     CATCHER Ryan Jeffers Danny Jansen   FIRST BASE Pete Alonso Yandy Diaz Michael Busch   SECOND BASE Brendan Donovan Brandon Lowe   THIRD BASE Nolan Arenado Junior Caminero Royce Lewis   SHORTSTOP Dansby Swanson Francisco Lindor   OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore Seiya Suzuki Randy Arozarena Alec Burleson Nick Castellanos   Nolan Arenado – 3B – St. Louis Cardinals – Chairman of The Dongers Club   TOP BETS Cardinals/Cubs OVER 9.5 Rays ML Rays/Twins OVER 10

Main slate on FanDuel includes Tigers at Nationals, but not on DraftKings. Meanwhile, Luis L Ortiz of the Guardians is under investigation for Gambling.  No, he just sucks.  Although getting a pitcher to just throw the worst possible “Ball” to start an inning is not that hard to do so I am not shocked at all. WEATHER All games play SETH LUGO (DK: $8300 – FD: $9500) Lugo is the #1 tonight as the Mariners have very few spots that should be an issue & he is also $1400 cheaper than Woo, which just makes no sense what-so-ever here. CHRIS BASSITT (DK: $7600, FD: $8700) After some bananas games and high scoring spots, expect this one to finally be a low scoring, pitchers affair.  I’ll take the gamble here and go under & with Bassitt we have 3+ more strikeouts that we can expect than Schmidt.   CUBS … Tucker, Suzuki, Busch New pitcher, same plan I had when I woke up today.  Chicago will be the team to own tonight. ANGELS … Schanuel, O’Hoppe Both sides are good here.  Riley and Albies are great values for the Braves.  They failed me last night, but they’ll homer tonight.  Meanwhile the Angels though are gonna tee off on Elder.   CATCHER Salvador Perez Austin Wells Logan O’Hoppe   FIRST BASE Nolan Schanuel Michael Busch Rhys Hoskins   SECOND BASE This position has very little that looks good tonight and then Mr. $6000 Ketel Marte with his 16-36-2HR BVP familiarity against Robbie Ray tonight.  There’s value on the slate so Marte as a one off makes sense here. Ketel Marte Ozzie Albies Daniel Schneemann   THIRD BASE Austin Riley Addison Barger Caleb Durbin   SHORTSTOP Mookie Betts Geraldo Perdomo Dansby Swanson   OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore Kyle Tucker Seiya Suzuki Mike Trout Ronald Acuna Jr.   OUTFIELD – TIER II Jo Adell Andy Pages   Nolan Schanuel – 1B – Los Angeles Angels – Chairman of The Dongers Club Kyle Tucker – OF – Cubs Austin Riley – 3B – Braves Salvador Perez – C – Royals Seiya Suzuki – OF – Cubs Ozzie Albies – 2B – Braves   TOP BETS Yankees/Blue Jays UNDER 8.5 Angels/Braves OVER 9 Royals ML

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

WEATHER No major issues anticipated LOGAN GILBERT (DK: $9500, FD: $9400) — Emerson Hancock can make the Royals look good, but Gilbert will make them back to normal.  Maybe Jac hits a double tonight because he hit the ball very hard all series, but Gilbert is still easily #1. SHOTA IMANAGA (DK: $8500, FD: $7800) CLAYTON KERSHAW (DK: $8000, FD: $8500)   BRAVES — Season is over for Atlanta, but now is the time for Albies and Acuna to pad some stats. ASTROS — Should be more expensive in Coors, hard to ignore.   CATCHER Yainer Diaz Sean Murphy   FIRST BASE Christian Walker Matt Olson   SECOND BASE Ozzie Albies Mauricio Dubon   THIRD BASE Austin Riley   SHORTSTOP Corey Seager Willy Adames   OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore Cam Smith Marcell Ozuna Giancarlo Stanton Taylor Ward   Ozzie Albies – 2B – Atlanta Braves – Chairman of The Dongers Club Austin Riley – 3B – Braves Christian Walker – 1B – Astros Giancarlo Stanton – OF – Yankees   TOP BETS Angels/Braves OVER 9.5 Yankees ML

WEATHER Three double headers today as the Padres/Phillies, Tigers/Nationals and Brewers/Mets try to play two today.  Among those the Brewers/Mets could see another rain issue today but they gotta get one game in, which means the first one is likely a go. The rain spot elsewhere early is Athletics vs Rays down in Tampa. Sonny Gray (DK: $9900, FD: $9600) Freddy Peralta (DK: $9700, FD: $9800) Mitch Keller (DK: $6900, FD: $7800)   RAYS / ATHLETICS … Have faith that the game plays and if/when it does the weather is going to help the hitting so much that you want every part of this game. PADRES TIGERS   CATCHER Shea Langeliers JT Realmuto   FIRST BASE Jonathan Aranda Nick Kurtz Rhys Hoskins   SECOND BASE Jake Cronenworth Brendan Donovan   THIRD BASE Manny Machado Matt Vierling Junior Caminero   SHORTSTOP Javier Baez Masyn Wynn   OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore Alec Burleson Riley Greene Brent Rooker Josh Lowe   Manny Machado – 3B – San Diego Padres – Chairman of The Dongers Club Josh Lowe – OF – Rays Brent Rooker – OF – Athletics   Athletics/Rays OVER 9 San Diego ML Cardinals/Pirates UNDER 8

Here we are into the month of July, the kids are off from school, families are on vacation and half the league is still playing games before 7PM on weeknights. This means you can exclude Padres/Phillies, Cardinals/Pirates, Twins/Marlins and Tigers/Nationals from your playerpool on the MAIN slate, but it also means you have a great Turbo slate if you would like. The Yankees and Blue Jays will make Canada feel important as today is Canada Day.  Hey, cool.  Good job fuckers.  You just lost Mitch Marner to Vegas. WEATHER So we have a 10 game slate, and it shall remain a 10 game slate only if storms do not get bad in Atlanta (Angels/Braves) and New York (Brewers/Mets). Yes, that means we almost had Jorge Soler back in Atlanta but he is likely still out and yes, we have … Rhys Hoskins VERSUS the Mets in Citi Field. YOSHINOBU YAMAMOTO  (DK: $10,800, FD: $10,800) … At home.  Versus the White Sox.  Pretty clear path here. ZAC GALLEN (DK: $7800, FD: $7900) … Giants have to prove it to me before we trust their offense again. OTHER PITCHING THOUGHTS A week after almost perfect gaming the Orioles on their “Pride” night, Jacob deGrom is back at home vs the same Birds.  He is the 1b to Yamamoto versus the White Sox, but second time against a team you almost zeroed across the board isn’t likely to repeat itself. EMERSON HANCOCK (DK: $6000, FD: $7100) … If we want to pick on the White Sox, we have to pick on the Royals, it’s far worse of a situation. The other “Cheaper” Options include Gordon (But young kids in Coors is scary), Springs (Rays are too good and will still run on him).   BRAVES I would rather have a full Braves build than the Astros in Coors.  They’re going to go off, maybe for 20…  Which Angels player is pitching the 7th-9th innings? Riley, Ozuna, Murphy, Albies REDS Reverse blowout theory, although it wasn’t a full blowout.  Good matchup against Fitts… Hays, De La Cruz RANGERS Seager and Semien, nothing much else. Seager, Semien   CATCHER Sean Murphy Yainer Diaz Logan O’Hoppe David Fry   FIRST BASE Rhys Hoskins Christian Walker Matt Olson   SECOND BASE Marcus Semien Ozzie Albies Jose Altuve Matt McLain   THIRD BASE Austin “Mr July” Riley Junior Caminero Maikel Garcia   SHORTSTOP Corey Seager … They are […]

Slate configuration notes.  DraftKings has skipped adding San Diego/Philadelphia & St. Louis/Pittsburgh onto the MAIN slate tonight.  That sucks. WEATHER Both games in Pennsylvania though have some weather concerns for those on FanDuel.  I think they will play. CHASE BURNS (DK: $8000, FD: $8800) Burns goes on the road but I saw nothing from the kid in his first start to think he will run into walk issues.  He has a poise and confidence that comes from pitching at a high level in college and it gives me enough trust and faith to use him against Crochet in the game of the night (game of the week?) from a pitching perspective.  Maybe a solo HR to Romany Anthony, or a double, but 7+ strikeouts is not being too optimistic IMO. After Burns you obviously have Garrett Crochet, who is going to be the highest owned pitcher IMO tonight.  At first I would point out we have other good pitching choices – but the risk here is that the offense is limited outside of paying up for a couple Yankees.  So take the safe points with Crochet. ALSO WILL BE OKAY DREW RASMUSSEN (DK: $7500, FD: $8700) … Paying up for Crochet in a game stack with Burns is not a stupid idea — but there’s nothing against Rasmussen either except he only pitches at most 6 innings. GEORGE KIRBY (DK: $7700, FD: $8200) … This is not April games in Seattle when everything was 2-1, as I think you see this game creep towards that 7.5 total — however the Royals do suck offensively enough that I have to give Kirby the props here.   YANKEES vs BLUE JAYS We want and we shall get 3+ HR in this game all total between the two clubs. Judge Rice Bichette – SCRATCHED Vlad   MARINERS Tons of value here.  Going back home the offense should go back to normal but is still worth using. Canzone Raley Polanco   CATCHER The rare — we can play two catchers from the same team, which do we go with?  It’s like we’re in 2015 and the Detroit Tigers are in Minnesota forcing a decision between Victor Martinez & James McCann — boy did I just date myself… Ben Rice – Can be used at 1B obviously Austin Wells   FIRST BASE Vlad Guerrero Jr. Bryce Harper – FD Only, but possibly Back and ready […]