As a big Baseball fan, I really did enjoy the game at Rickwood Field last night and the throwback graphics that they had on display were very cool as well.  I also found it amusing when they were comparing the old stories about the distances on home runs hit there to current day home runs being hit as if we haven’t been altering the Baseballs drastically. But that note aside, I was not paying attention to the afternoon games yesterday but I saw a ton of home run notifications and did watch the Brewers and Padres turn into the ’27 Yankees last night as well.  So, are we finally in the high scoring part of the season now that summer is officially here?  Take note, under bettors. A fourteen game MLB slate today since the Giants/Cardinals are on travel from AL to Missouri, and we’ll give MLB a pass for that one since they did include the Cubs at home on the first official Friday in the Summer.  After that, there’s a solid 3 game Turbo slate and then a 10 game Main slate tonight. We have a new guy alert today, please welcome Astros “prospect”, Jake Bloss to the big leagues.  I use the phrase “prospect” in “air quotes”, because you cannot speak about a player making his debut anymore without using the phrase “prospect” in the headline.  We’ll give him some kudos though, he has pitched well in the minors thus far and is a college pitcher, which is more of an expectation that his immediate MLB experience will be ok, but his ceiling might be limited.  So, what college did he pitch at?  SEC? Oh..  How about Big Twelve?  Sounds like an Oklahoma kid… Oh.  Wait.  He’s a throwback.  He definitely went to a Pac-12 school.  Oregon??? This mother fucker pitched at … Georgetown University? What? They have a Baseball team? Georgetown?  This damn place is known for two things in Athletics, one is now sucking at Basketball and the second involves a someone screaming “stroke” to a bunch of dudes in speedos.  They don’t even have a dedicated Baseball Stadium and would be better served playing Baseball at my old High School’s field, where left field made the original Minute Maid Park center field look like it was flat.  Georgetown Baseball?  What an oxy-moron.  This guy clearly sucks, although he does have a cool name.   WEATHER […]

WEATHER All clear   Yankees Ace and long time friend of The Dongers Club, Gerrit Cole (He was my 100k winner and has done well in other spots) is back on the mound today and that’s a great thing.  He did make rehab starts, and I don’t see why the Yankees won’t let him do enough to justify his $9k price today.  I mean, he’ll do as much as Sonny Gray usually does and that guy was getting ownership at way higher cost.  The Orioles, yeah, they’re good, so that’s a reason to look away but I expect a good outing from Cole.  Also returning tonight is Bobby Miller for the Dodgers, in Coors. JOE RYAN (DK: $9500) … All that talk about Cole and Joelan Ryan is easily the best pick.  Tampa swings at everything early, they got lucky last night, and they should fail tonight.  MASSIVE upside game for Ryan. SEAN MANAEA (DK: $7200) … Lefties vs Rangers HUNTER BROWN (DK: $7000) … Houston is just a bad team, and when you watch them play the White Sox you realize that because the White Sox are not a good team either.  Last night Valdez was getting squeezed a bit, so hopefully we have better help behind the plate & will try to ride a recent surge by Brown.  Those mid-day Chicago storms could help cool things off as well, but if they don’t then consider going  light here on Brown     Top Ranked Teams METS ASTROS BREWERS     CATCHER Gary Sanchez Yainer Diaz Francisco Alvarez   FIRST BASE Freddie Freeman Pete Alonso   SECOND BASE Jose Altuve Gleyber Torres Enmanuel Valdez   THIRD BASE Alex Bregman Mark Vientos Joey Ortiz   SHORTSTOP Francisco Lindor Bobby Witt Jr. Jeremy Pena   OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore J.D. Martinez Giancarlo Stanton Daulton Varsho Jason Heyward   Daulton Varsho – OF – Toronto Blue Jays – Chairman of The Dongers Club JD Martinez – OF – Mets   TOP BETS Rays/Twins under 7.5 Blue Jays ML -130

Does anyone remember when one of the DFS sites (I think it was FanDuel), tried to do AL-only and NL-only DFS slates for five seconds?  And what a terrible idea that was given that we’ve had interleague play now for, oh, I dunno, it seems like a lifetime for many.  Well, this is a slate with 9 of the 10 teams being from the Senior Circuit, a random factoid on this slate. WEATHER SF @ CHC:  Windy again in Wrigley and HOT.  Fucking balls hot.  So hot that they’re gonna likely see some pop-up storms roll through there which causes a cluster in the game.  Bad pitching going as well.  Should be fine…   Two Kyles as Kyle Hendricks returns to the mound this afternoon.  That should go fantastic for him (not).  Everything is going to be focused around the southpaws Ranger Suarez and Tarik Skubal, both get the top dollar treatment and in the case of Skubal the HR risk is not enough to avoid using him as my #1 given that he should do what he does on normal occasions and strikeout 7+. Tarik Skubal (DK: $9500, FD: $11.2k) Kyle Gibson (DK: $7400, FD: $8500) Hunter Greene (DK: $8500, FD: $10.1k)     Spencer Howard is an expected opener for the Giants today and I wouldn’t ignore that and the warm/windy conditions in Wrigley.   That 16-13 game is coming, but not today, but it’s coming when some random AL team comes into town and today will feel like a warm-up. CUBS/GIANTS Ramos, Chapman, Bailey Suzuki, Morel, Hoerner, Buschhhh REDS Steer, De La Cruz, Friedl I dunno man, the Pirates playing one of their Thursday afternoon games just sounds like them getting their ass whipped. Whatever… PHILLIES Nick Castellanos, Trea Turner RIP to Willie Mays, thank you for the great career and the Nick Castellanos anytime HR pick.     CATCHER Patrick Bailey Yasmani Grandal   FIRST BASE Spencer Steer Cody Bellinger Wilmer Flores   SECOND BASE Jonathan India Colt Keith   THIRD BASE Matt Chapman Alec Bohm Manny Machado   SHORTSTOP Dansby Swanson Elly De La Cruz   OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore Nick Castellanos Riley Greene Seiya Suzuki Heliot Ramos   Nick Castellanos – OF – Phillies – Chairman of The Dongers Club   TOP BETS Reds ML Cubs ML

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

CONTENT UPDATE:  There will be no article on Thursday, June 20th.  I’ll be driving in the late afternoon and looked at the slate of games that day and wont be forcing an article for the afternoon.   WEATHER SF/CHC:  Wind out again in Wrigley for the Giants/Cubs TB/MIN:  Flood watch, heavy rain.  PPD Risk.   ALEC MARSH (DK: $7600, FD: $8800) Homers have bitten Marsh at times, but this is a great spot to avoid that damage today.  Expect a very clean game with 6+ IP, 6+ strikeouts, a win and limited damage against him.  We lock him in on a thin pitching slate on the top end. FRAMBER VADLEZ (DK: $9300, FD: $9400) Should be able to navigate through the White Sox.  He’s better on the road. TANNER HOUCK (DK: $10,300, FD: $11,000) Houck is your best arm today and he is priced as such.  Toronto’s one of the worst lineups going right now as well, so he should be able to put that Hook Ta all over the Jays tonight.  I’ll see myself out. OTHER PITCHING THOUGHTS I really like Walker Buehler today.  Really do.  Won’t push it though, he just hasn’t looked comfortable.   ASTROS Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Yordan Alvarez, Jon Singleton RED SOX Jarren Duran, Rafael Devers RANGERS Corey Seager, Nathaniel Lowe, Adolis Garcia Always go opposite in the blowout     CATCHER Adley Rutschman Yainer DIaz Jake Rogers   FIRST BASE Ryan Mountcastle Nate Lowe Jonathan Singleton Andrew Vaughn   SECOND BASE Jose Altuve Enmanuel Valdz Miguel Rojas   THIRD BASE Not the deepest position, so I would take guys who look really good right now (Riley/Devers) and just put them on a tier above everyone else.  4100 for Bregman in a park the Astros generally hit well in is good value. Rafael Devers Austin Riley Alex Bregman   SHORTSTOP Francisco Lindor … Scorching hot Corey Seager Zach Neto Willy Adames   OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore Yordan Alvarez Jarren Duran Starling Marte Adolis Garcia   OUTFIELD – Tier Two Masataka Yoshida Mickey Moniak Austin Hays Jake Myers   JOSE ALTUVE – 2B – ASTROS – CHAIRMAN OF THE DONGERS CLUB Corey Seager – SS – Rangers Austin Riley – 3B – Braves Ryan Mountcastle – 1B – Orioles Jarren Duran – OF – Red Sox Starling Marte – OF – Mets Yordan Alvarez – OF – Astros Will Smith – C – Dodgers BONUS […]

Happy National Mascot’s Day!   WEATHER Wind blowing out for a hitting boost in Wrigley PAUL SKENES (DK: $9500, FD: $10,300) Every young star has a team in their division which they will forever dominate and thus far Skenes has done well vs the Cubs & Cardinals but something about Skenes vs the Reds screams to me a possible 14 strikeout game.  Maybe not yet, but the ball gets in too quick on the lefties for them to take advantage of PNC’s right field boost for LHH & as long as his outfield defense can chase down Elly’s long fly ball then he’ll cruise to a potential 0 ER game. DAVID PETERSON (DK: $6000, FD: $7100) Why would you pay 10k+ for Sonny Gray when you could have David Peterson against a team who can’t hit LHP?  Both are gonna throw 80-90 pitches, both are gonna strikeout less than 6 guys and this one is going to cost almost half the price. JOSE SORIANO (DK: $7500, FD: $7900) For alternative cheap SP2’s consider Jose Soriano or Cubs starter Javier Assad, but Assad has some significant wind in Wrigley so go with the slightly less risky Soriano. OTHER PITCHING THOUGHTS I am passing on Max Fried tonight.  Yeah, it’s the Tigers, I know.  But I am not comfortable with Fried only pitching once in the last 2 weeks and that one start was just 87 pitches.  No, he’s not injured or anything like that but Fried is a ‘feel’ type pitcher and one of the main reasons I dont love him in April is related to just not having that feel built up.  I have a secure 1A pitcher in Skenes and a pretty good 1B option in Sonny Gray (even tho he’s overpriced).  So fading the guy I think could struggle (not blow up, just struggle) of the three is an easy call.   GIANTS Michael Conforto, Brett Wisely, Matt Chapman Back to the friendly confines and another wind blowing out game tonight, this time we trust the Giants instead of those pathetic Red Birds. PIRATES Bryan Reynolds, Oneil Cruz, Andrew McCutchen Fear not the first game post Coors.  This is a very specific stack, I wouldn’t venture far beyond the top of the order. PADRES Manny Machado, Ha-Seong Kim, Jurickson Profar, Kyle Higashioka Manny hasn’t had much power of late, but him in Philly is a bomb waiting to happen. […]

Happy Father’s Day to all the Dad’s out there and may your MLB DFS and Betting journey be a profitable one today.  Or, if not, just imagine that MLB DFS is that extra kid you never planned on having but wound up with and now you are just spending more money to bring joy to their faces.  You see, it’s all about perspective. Ten game slate on FanDuel as they include the PIrates and Rockies, while DraftKings is just nine games. There is no early, pre-slate, morning game today because the early game is at Wrigley, so thankfully we have a normal 1:05 EST lock. The Athletics/Twins are playing a day-night double header with JP Sears/Bailey Ober set for the early game.   WEATHER All games will play today STL at CHC – Warm temps and winds expected to be blowing out to Left Center Field.  Normally a big boost for the offense.   BEN LIVELY (DK: $8300, FD: $8700) The Guardians organization knows how to teach pitching.  Lively’s lowered his walk rate, raised his K% and the results are that he’s been a quality pitcher.  The Jays meanwhile are not a quality lineup.  The math adds up on this ugly pitching day for him to be in our mix as a top 3 guy. JESUS LUZARDO (DK: $7600, FD: $8900) We will just throw the Luzardo start on June 4th when he posted a nice -10 out the window.  There’s one bat for Washington in Lane Thomas who of course has fantastic power vs LHP (and is 7-16 with 3 HR lifetime against Jesus), but aside from that I believe he’ll cruise around the rest of the DC lineup to be ok. RONEL BLANCO (DK: $9800, FD: $9400) Next man up.  The Houston Astros are scrambling and just moving guys up in the order, which puts Ronel Blanco actually on our radar today because I think he can do better than Spaghetti did in the last minute spot start yesterday. OTHER PITCHING THOUGHTS The Marlins approach yesterday (also vs a LHP) was a disgrace and I cannot imagine it being any worse, then again, I cannot imagine it being any better either.  So, yeah, Mitchell Parker is probably a correct pick today. Colin Rea, JP Sears and even Kenta Maeda — all “sure” type picks who are cheap, not great, but serviceable today. I dont trust Miles Mikkolas who has […]

WEATHER All clear Yoshi Yamamoto (DK: $10.1k) Nathan Eovaldi (DK: $8900)   PIRATES — Reynolds, Joe, Olivares WHITE SOX — Pham, DeJong YANKEES — Soto, Soto, Soto   CATCHER Will Smith Henry Davis FIRST BASE Nathaniel Lowe Connor Joe SECOND BASE Gleyber Torres Cavan Biggio THIRD BASE Ryan McMahon KeBryan Hayes SHORTSTOP Mookie Betts Paul DeJong Bobby Witt Jr OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore Edward Olivares Juan Soto Andrew McCutchen Thomas Pham   Thomas Pham – OF – Chicago White Sox – Captain Douchebag and Chairman of The Dongers Club Juan Soto – OF – Yankees Paul DeJong – SS – White Sox Bryan Reynolds – OF – Pirates   TOP BETS Rangers ML

A little bummed at the configuration on DraftKings today as they have decided to omit the 2PM/3PM window of games from their Saturday afternoon large slate.  So there is the 2PM “Early” slate, then 4PM “Afternoon” slate and then a 7PM “Main” Slate. No promises on the 7PM article tonight, but I’ll try. For the 3 “Early” games which are on the FanDuel Slate: OAK @ MIN:  Under – Ober deals. STL @ CHC:  Cubs + Over – Morel homers CLE @ TOR:  Over – Naylor homers   WEATHER All games play TB at ATL:  Temps approaching 100 degrees.   JUSTIN VERLANDER (DK: $9900) & JACK FLAHERTY (DK: 8900) Here’s a little story about Jack and Justin.  Two pitchers, doing the best they can.  Flaherty vs Verlander in a game stack is your primary route today, both can deliver 5-6 IP, 5-6 strikeouts and should have limited damage on both sides.  With a ceiling of who can go off on pitching, that’s very smart in my mind to take both and go ahead. KEATON WINN (DK: $5800) No reason to go middle of the road if pivoting off JV or Jack.  So go down to Keaton Winn, who hasn’t been good, but the Angels are not putting up another 8 spot in the first 5 innings today. Other Pitching Thoughts I really wanted to justify going with Ryan Pepiot, but 95+ degrees with a good amount of humidity in Atlanta would make that the most ballsy call of the day.  Pepiot continues to build a solid resume as he is among league leaders in SwStr% and CSW% rates.  Enter the Braves hitters, whom are gonna be feeling pretty optimistic today after their early outburst last night & could oblige to giving him another 7+ strikeout game — but signs of life from Austin Riley, a due homer from Murphy or Olson and this can turn south really fast.  I’ll likely avoid Pepiot because of that.   NATS/MARLINS MIA – Bryan De La Cruz, Josh Bell, Jake Burger WSH – Lane Thomas, Joey Meneses I will be picking on DJ Herz, making his third start today, with the Marlins RHH but also expecting Jazz to contribute as the game moves into the Nats bullpen.  Nats are just as good of a play against T.Rodgers, but he did pitch well in his last start and might be good early in this one.  Bottom […]

Happy Flag Day and Happy Father’s Day Weekend.  It’s a great time of year, we are approaching the Summer Solstice, the Cubs are hosting the Cardinals in the afternoon today and we get to actually benefit from the Turbo slate games by avoiding Yankees/Red Sox tonight. If you don’t think the juiced balls are coming out today, you are mistaken. WEATHER Alright, it’s hot as hell now.  We have chance of storms in Baltimore and New York (Mets), but otherwise a clear night and those two games should really be fine as well.  Lots of dome game son this slate too with Arizona, Toronto, Milwaukee and Houston all hosting and all having their tops closed. HUNTER BROWN (DK: $7200, FD: $8600) Brown is acting a lot like a hitting prospect who came up, then got roughed up and was on the verge of losing his role only to recover and ascend up.  Ever since Houston took him out of the rotation briefly he has been on a roll, compiling about six straight decent starts, but two of them were the Angels, one the Mariners and one against these same Tigers.  Not exactly a murders row of lineups — yet we can only play who we face, right? KEVIN GAUSMAN (DK: $8500, FD: $8900) Going a little contrarian, but Gausman can negate the lack of strikeouts from the Guardians generally.  He is coming off his peak start of the year out in Oakland with 10 K, 0 ER and just 6 H/BB.  If this is the turning point for Gausman & he can put home struggles behind him then we’re going to reap the rewards tonight.  Naylors the main bat I fear, and he’s cooled off a little. CHRIS SALE (DK: $10.5k, FD: $11.1k) When at his peak, Sale against Tampa was an automatic cheat code and some of those Tampa teams, while bad, were better than this current Rays lineup.  With a ton of hitting out there tonight, finding some security in a projected 8 to 12 strikeout performance is very nice, even if you gotta pay for it. LUIS CASTILLO (DK: $8600, FD: $9900) No game/series is gonna test the ‘juiced balls’ theory more than this one, which features Castillo being pushed back to Friday to face Texas instead of a free square vs Chicago last night.  If Corey Seager returns I would downgrade Castillo further because Semien and Langford […]