Although the Cardinals and Red Sox are playing a day-night doubleheader, the early game was not re-scheduled in time to be added onto today’s Main slate. FanDuel is back to adding in the Coors Field on Sunday this year while DK has kept it off. WEATHER Marlins at Braves:  Heavy rain and storms all afternoon could push this divisional game into a DH spot later in the year. Chance of rain in Philly, Washington, New York, but all should play   Quite the interesting Sunday pitching build up today.  The immediate instinct is going to be to look at names such as Glasnow, Sanchez and Burnes but none of them really have that I’m going to dominate feel to them today & in the case of Glasnow/Sanchez the opponent lineups and facing each other is a cause of concern obviously — but Glasnow should be on our radar as a top SP1 today because the Phils will free swing with the best of them and give him a good enough floor. TOP TWO TYLER GLASNOW (DK: $9900, FD: $10.3k) Sanchez is VERY tempting too, but as long as I don’t see Max Kepler leading off then we are safe for Glasnow to have 7 strikeouts and limited damage against him today.  Otherwise, Kepler hits a lead off homer. RONEL BLANCO (DK: $8600, FD: $9300) You run away from attacking the Twins after Arrighetti yesterday, I go right back to the well and nobody would want to touch Blanco for his price when there are similar options that are better on paper.  Minnesota is not a good team, they are not a good offense and this is not a good hitting environment today. SUNDAY SLEEPER(S) WILL WARREN (DK: $6000, FD: $7600) My make or break spot today.  Expect Warren to pitch well with a pitcher friendly park behind him and hopefully better walk rates today.  If he stays ahead in the counts he can pitch 6 shutout innings. KYLE HART (DK: $6500, FD: $7400) Padres win today OTHER PITCHING THOUGHTS I can’t buy into Jackson Jobe at that price, even vs the White Sox.   Young pitcher still with a leash and over priced, over chalk, gimme Sox ML today. Bubic will be good again for Kansas City — but the strikeouts wont be there this time. Burnes is alright, but I don’t use RHP vs the Nationals if I can avoid […]

WEATHER Blue Jays at Mets – High PPD risk on this one.  Bassitt is returning to Citi Field, so that’s the only thing we really miss out on in that regard.  Well, that and the Springer Dinger… Athletics at Rockies – Very cold.   Jacob deGrom (DK: $9000, FD: $10.2k) … Alright, I gotta take the bait on that DK price in his second start.  Being at home and against Tampa Bay puts an 75-85 pitch deGrom in our mix Robbie Ray (DK: $8800, FD: $9400) … The return of Robbie Ray after dark.  Enjoy the 5 IP, 0 H, 7 K and then 4 BB and somehow he leaves before the end of the 6th inning in a tie game.  Good, not great, but good and a night San Francisco game should not hurt. I see no reason to really go anywhere else but Bryce Miller and AJ Smith-Shawver will be “just ok”. REDS … Coldest team in Baseball and I am going all in.  My gut feeling is that we get an Elly huge game tonight and Cincinnati finds a way to break out in a HUGE way.  I would go with 4+ Reds tonight and just throw caution to the wind being all in here. ANGELS … Welcome back Mr. Saturday Night Special Mike Trout and Nolan Schanuel BRAVES … They can’t hit that well but they can hit bad teams and bad teams with … checks notes … Cal Quantrill! on the bump.  Lord have mercy if they dont put up another 5+ runs tonight.   CATCHER Drake Baldwin Logan O’Hoppe Bo Naylor   FIRST BASE Nolan Schanuel Rhys Hoskins   SECOND BASE Gavin Lux Otto Lopez Gabriel Arias   THIRD BASE Jeimer Candelario Austin Riley Gio Urshela   SHORTSTOP Elly De La Cruz Corey Seager   OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore Mike Trout TJ Friedl George Springer Marcell Ozuna   Mike Trout – OF – LA Angels – Chairman of The Dongers Club Elly De La Cruz – SS – Reds Rhys Hoskins – 1B – Brewers Marcell Ozuna – OF – Braves Jeimer Candelario – 3B – Reds   TOP BETS Cincinnati ML Reds/Brewers OVER 8 Mariners/Giants under 7.5

WEATHER There are a couple spots that have some risk in them on the early slate.  Overall only one game has “good” weather and that one is cloudy with a chance of rain too (Diamondbacks at Nationals), so I expect all games to play relatively tame. Cardinals at Red Sox:  Rain risk here.  I expect a possible delay but the game plays Yankees at Pirates:  Rain risk here.  I expect it to play   Spencer Arrighetti (DK: $8000) … Cold but no rain issues here.  Let me see the Twins hit consistently before I avoid picking on them. Mitchell Parker (DK: $6900) … Riding this sleeping pitching candidate in a tough matchup.  No Marte for Arizona should help although ‘Zona still has a stable of RHH they can roll out.  The Nats have not hit LHP very well so run support could be an issue tonight – however you won’t find me touting E-Fraud on the other side (he’s not that bad of a play, I have to admit) Tomoyuki Sugano (DK: $6700) … While Stroman in big PNC park could be tempting I don’t want to experience that frustration, so gimme an asian instead!  Wait, what?  You heard me right.  The Royals vs a SP they have no MLB data on is as weak as the rest of the pitching options on this slate are.  That means for whatever reason the organization just doesn’t scout ahead well.     A good rule of thumb when no single team sticks out is to check the pitching dashboard on the model and just attack the bottom 2-3 pitchers on the slate.  Well, in this case I mentioned both Sugano and E-Rod as probably doing well so that rules that out and thus we’re not landing on any ‘easy’ obvious spots. CARDINALS at RED SOX Weather is the obvious concern, but that brings us good opportunity to snipe low ownership if others get scared close to lock. STL:  Nootbar, Burleson, Arenado, Contreras BOS:  Duran, Devers, Bregman Next Best Spots Dodgers/Phillies Pirates Nationals CATCHER William Contreras Keibert Ruiz JT Realmuto   FIRST BASE Josh Bell Bryce Harper Ryan Mountcastle   SECOND BASE Alex Bregman Jordan Westburg Nico Hoerner   THIRD BASE Nolan Arenado Rafael Devers Jazz   SHORTSTOP Mookie Betts Anthony Volpe   OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore Jarren Durran Lars Nootbar Oneil Cruz Dylan Crews   Mookie Betts – SS – L.A. Dodgers […]

Notes are quick for main slate tonight.  Sources say I may have gone out for a long lunch before doing main slate article…. WEATHER All clear   Spencer Schwellenbach Seth Lugo Zack Littell     Guardians Dbacks Phillies Angels     CATCHER Logan OHoppe Salvy Will Smith FIRST BASE Pavin Smith Kyle Manzardo   SECOND BASE Ketel Marte Ozzie Albies   THIRD BASE Jose Ramirez Alec Bohm   SHORTSTOP Mookie Trea Abrams   OUTFIELD – Mt Rushmore Teoscar Hernandez Kyle Schwarber Steven Kwan Michael Harris II   Kyle Manzardo – Chairman of the Dongers Club TOP BETS Cleveland ML

Doesn’t get much better than two good slates on a Friday in April.  We even have Luis Castillo pitching on a Friday as well.  No, not that Luis Castillo.  You see, this is Luis F Castillo, which as you accurately can predict, stands for Luis Fucking Castillo and yes, he too is a Mariners RHP.  What are the chances?  Naturally, DraftKings was able to figure out this science when they cannot get two Shohei Ohtani entries on the same team when he returns to pitching, but for some reason we had to sacrifice Jorge Polanco’s spot in the player pool there as he returns from paternity leave.  Poor guy left to see his kid born and came back and he’s removed from existence.  It happens bud… Let’s dive into this early 6 gamer which has Opening Day’s in Fenway, Wrigley, Citi, Coors, PNC and Oracle… WEATHER All clear   SHOTA IMANAGA (DK: $9000) Generally I would look at Shota vs the Padres with how they are hitting and think it’s a bad spot for him – but it’s a cooler Wrigley home game today & he is the type of guy who will be very locked in for the teams home opener.  Plus, San Diego actually gets a negative park shift with the weather factor of going from San Diego to Chicago. The options after Shota really fall off.  I have a hard no against Max Fried this early in the year, but he is priced in a spot that should make him the highest owned pitcher today.  That’s enough for me to stick to my guns and skip over him. TYLOR MEGILL (DK: $7000) Eh.  Good enough?  That’s how I feel about Megill.  Final stat line could read as 5 1/3 IP with 6 strikeouts and 1 ER allowed.  More than good enough.  But that’s really his ceiling.   RED SOX Duran, Devers, Campbell, Narvaez It might have clicked for Boston who returns home and Devers should get his first HR of the season this weekend with today being a distinct possibility of it happening.  As always with a good home stack you need the bottom of the order to do well and should tap into the Campbell value once more. ATHLETICS The Coors boost is not a HR boost so much as it is the Rockies bullpen and the big gaps in the outfield for doubles and key hits […]

A short little four game slate tonight, but tons of good options so I think its a playable one.  What else are you going to do, NBA?  (Well, there is a good NHL slate too) WEATHER All Clear   Keeping up with the them from this afternoon we have no shortage of quality arms to build around & will likely get good ownership spread out among them. Blake Snell (DK: $9000, FD: $10k) … Until the Braves get back home we should not expect them to start hitting or to suddenly awaken. Garret Crochet (DK: $8500, FD: $9500) … The new rich guy is too cheap here on DraftKings & with these teams being off yesterday and cooler temps tonight I believe the hitting will be off early.  This gives us the confidence to use Crochet against the mighty Orioles HR hitting lineup   I will pass on Boston and Baltimore offensively & we cannot trust the Rockies vs Wheeler, nor the Braves vs Snell.  This narrows it down to Yankees, Diamondbacks, Dodgers and Phillies — all expensive and none are what I would consider go all in spots. For ranking purposes they’re built like these for these 2-man mini stacks DODGERS:  Hernandez/Muncy, Smith/Conforto PHILLIES:  Turner and Bohm D’BACKS:  Gurriel, Grichuck and Suarez YANKEES:  Judge and Rice   CATCHER Gabriel Moreno Connor Wong Will Smith   FIRST BASE Ben Rice Max Muncy   SECOND BASE Best spot to save money and just punt the position….. Kyle Farmer Jorge Mateo   THIRD BASE Alec Bohm Eugenio Suarez   SHORTSTOP Trea Turner Trevor Story   OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore Randal Grichuk Aaron Judge Michael Conforto Teoscar Hernandez   Randal Grichuck – OF – Diamondbacks – Chairman of The Dongers Club   TOP BETS Sox/Orioles under 7.5 Rockies/Phillies over 7 DBacks/Yankees under 7.5

Woo Hoo.  Day Baseball! This means we of course cannot get site synchronicity.  In my mind the 1PM DraftKings slate is the MAIN slate today and is the proper configuration.  FanDuel has three slates and good luck navigating that disaster of a site today. WEATHER Angels at Cardinals:  They could wait all day on this one as neither team plays tomorrow.  In fact, most of the league doesn’t play tomorrow which is just criminal.  I expect it to play & it does feature Kikuchi! Twins at White Sox:  Being a divisional game they could pass on this one and PPD it.  Which would be a blessing for all of us. Roofs closed in Milwaukee and Toronto Very Warm in Tampa.  It is Florida after all.   If you like pitching then this is the slate for you my good friend.  Skenes, Skubal, Gore, Ragans, Cease, Easton Lucas…  Wait, what the hell is an Easton Lucas?  Ah, that would be 28 year old southpaw for the Jays who has appeared in 14 games over his career — one that includes him having being traded for both Jonathan Villar and Shintari Fujinami — so put that on your Immaculate Grid my friends!  He sucks, don’t use him.  But it is a lefty vs the Nationals, sooo…  No.  We’re not going there. Logic says though that early in the season you try to shy away from paying up too often for pitching because they don’t have the upside of going deep into games as often.  Hard to ignore the big guns today but the depth in the 7k to 9k range for pitching really makes it easy to pivot off Skenes or Skubal without much fear. COLE RAGANS ($8100) A horrible lineup today from the Milwaukee Brewers is all the extra juice we need to push Ragans to the top of the list.  I know Skenes and Skubal are going but at this price you get almost the same upside considering the lineup he gets to face.  7+ strikeouts coming. MACKENZIE GORE ($7600) I will not stop buying Gore at these discount prices.  He won’t follow up the same K% that he had vs the Phillies but he should pitch great again today and for the whole season. CLAY HOLMES ($7000) Whether you are a believer in Holmes like the Mets or think he is JAG you can’t be uncomfortable using him against the […]

Valero Texas Open Not a bad player pool for the week before The Masters.  The downside is simply that, if a guy collapses in Round 1, don’t expect him to give it his best effort in Round 2 if he’s already in the field at The Masters.  Practice rounds at Augusta are more important than […]

We are into April but not fully into a full week of the MLB season and we have a full Tuesday night with just two games on the 6:40 Senior Citizens slate — which includes the Cincinnati and Miami home games. WEATHER All clear   LOGAN GILBERT (DK: $9000, FD: $10.6K) An elite pitcher (yes, he is elite) with his comfortable home environment and the price is sitting at only $9000?  Really questionable effort here by DraftKings as we get an 11-game slate that’s gonna have what should be a high owned late night hammer SP.  There’ll be 2 or 3 games this season when Gilbert has his 2 or 3 HR game while also walking a few.  Tonight, is not that night. CASEY MIZE (DK: $7500, FD: $7800) This is risk avoidance for me.  Back to picking on this stadium for good pitching when the good pitching warrants it. SIMEON WOODS-RICHARDSON (DK: $7800, FD: $8600) I don’t expect to be writing this guy up  much this season — but they need some length out of him and it’s cold in a night game on the South Side.  I don’t see the Twins necessarily winning again, but we’re going to buy into him not being the reason for their failures today. OTHER PITCHING CONSIDERATIONS / NOTES Things are not going to magically get better tonight for the Twins, but I see no reason to really push the limits with Shane Smith making his debut.  We do still have rules here and no pitchers making debuts usually never fails us.   DBACKS Marte – Gurriel – Suarez – Naylor They grade out fantastic because of how the park is playing & more so because Warren has limited (and not great) data splits.  Plus Arizona’s always been an ideal team for me when they’re on the road in a smaller park because they can finally show off HR power instead of just being gap and speed guys. ROYALS / BREWERS India – Pasquantino || Turang – Yelich – Contreras Until the Milwaukee pitching staff gets it right or rolls out someone we can trust we should continue to look to exploit them — and in their park when the roof is closed its a nice hitters park.  KC stack really is centered around India/Pasquantino today, it was the value bottom guys yesterday who were the difference makers but those two are the […]

The second ‘new’ temporary stadium comes into play tonight as the Urgent Care out in Sacramento opens up for the Cubs and Athletics coming into town.  I would like to remind everyone that this is in Northern California and the calendar still reads March, so it’s another cold weather spot and could take time for players to get comfortable playing here.  Yes, the stadium is smaller than the one in Oakland and yes the foul territories are no longer extra outs, but lets wait and see before we crown it Chase Field North. WEATHER All clear, but chilly in a few spots.   My analysis looking at the options tonight:  Ew…  Gross…  Also, gross…  Horrific.  What exactly IS this slate?  This is one of those slates where no pitcher has a 20 and no pitcher gets -10, they’re all the same. TYLER GLASNOW (DK: $10,000, FD: $10,500) After going through the hitting I found way too many cheap and less than popular hitting options that I’m in love with tonight, which turns into just trusting Glasnow to have a high score against a sleeping Braves offense. TYLER ANDERSON (DK: $7800, FD: $9000) My dark horse option.  Anderson and Mikolas will battle to see who can get deeper into the game without a strikeout tonight, but  both should go 5 innings without much damage. BEN BROWN (DK: $7500, FD: $7100) My second sleeper option, ranking just below Anderson in terms of risk as the Athletics do have some pop – but they also bring some whiffs & Brown is better upside than going some of the other SP2 options today. OTHER PITCHING CONSIDERATIONS / NOTES Jackson Jobe:  How good and how long can he be good tonight?  Wouldn’t be shocked if he was good and then imploded with walks. Drew Rasmussen:  I think he’ll be great this year… by May.  Not yet.   PIRATES & RAYS All in on this game.  The park hasn’t displayed huge power yet, but that was also the Rockies coming into town.  Yes, yes, I know this is the PIRATES who are suddenly running a ton but still, I think we get this one to play better than most other spots tonight. NATIONALS Another ideal park to hit in today and the Nationals vs a mediocre RHP. TIGERS Love Detroit in a way nobody should love any hitting offense going into Seattle.  Emerson Hancock isn’t among […]