WEATHER Royals at Guardians:   Damnit.  This is finally on the main slate and weather is going to be a big issue here.  High probability they do not play unless they just wait things out.   While a couple of other names could pitch well (Skenes, Paxton, Eflin, Fedde, Soriano), I see no reason to pass on these two guys listed below tonight.  Combined together on DraftKings they eat up just 19k of salary, which is up there, but not out there and neither is going to hear those words when pitching tonight as they probably both throw 7 innings of shutout ball… Next question. LOGAN GILBERT (DK: $9200, FD: $10200) … I know that I am a bigger Gilbert fan than most, but I don’t see how he fails today. DYLAN CEASE (DK: $9800, FD: $10300) … Just as dominant of a match-up as Gilbert and with Cease I like when teams really haven’t seen him much. OTHER PITCHING THOUGHTS I am not even considering anyone else.   RANGERS Langford, Lowe, Smith Detroit has won the last two nights with some “excuse me” home runs and tonight that flips over to Texas’ side.  It’ll feel weird, but a non Semien/Seager Rangers stack is the only way they win you the slate. RAYS vs MARLINS B.Lowe, Diaz, Ramirez, Rosario Jazz, De La Cruz, Sanchez, Bell Win the crowd and win your Freedom, famous words spoken once many years ago.  Well, there’s no crowd here, but win this game and you’ll win the slate.  I suspect many will look at Eflin and Garrett for mid range SP options, but I’ll bank on both giving up some damage here. Other Spots I Like Royals … Love Vinnie P, But rain. Orioles – Adley/O’Hearn Twins/Yankees – Soto, Soto, Soto, Soto, Soto for the Yanks   CATCHER Austin Wells Adley Rutschman Dear God, just pick anyone.  Punt here.   FIRST BASE Vinnie Pasquantino … I am starting to get optimistic that they play this one and the week of 1B Chairman should go to Vinnie if that is the case, but for now, it’ll be someone else. Nate Lowe Ryan O’Hearn   SECOND BASE Brandon Lowe / Amed Rosario … Lowe better pick given lineup spot & price Jake Cronenworth Marcus Semien   THIRD BASE Royce Lewis … Just an FYI, it’s his birthday….  As you were. Josh H Smith Jose Ramirez   SHORTSTOP Carlos […]

Six game early/afternoon slate today.  Major credit to both sites for putting together a competent slate here as we have an East coast game, then two central games, a west coast game in Chase Field and then back to two east coast 4PM games in Philly and DC.  A nice little twist for those of us whose brains work right to left time-zone wise on the start times. WEATHER Mets at Nationals:  Thunderstorms could cause delay but the game should finish. Brewers at Phillies:  Similar, but feels less risky. Roofs closed in Houston and Arizona This is one of those slates where focusing on who is going to throw 6+ IP and get 6+ strikeouts is enough to get you past the finish line.  This requires ignoring a couple specific hitters that could take them deep as well AARON NOLA (DK: $10500, FD: $10600) I  am fairly certain of a specific player in the Milwaukee lineup that is going to homer off Nola.  But I am also finding it impossible to identify enough pitching to say we can fade Nola with that.  Expect me to use Nola and that hitter today, because Nola will finish with 7 innings, 2 ER, 8 strikeouts.  That’s perfection on this slate. SP2 … Look.  I was going to outline the options for our SP2 today, but rather than go into details and specifics, watch this classic clip from the Princess Bride, it will sum it up best. The bottom line here besides never getting into a land war in Asia, is that they’re all shitty, but we’ve all played MLB DFS long enough to be immune to a negative score here or there. No, we aren’t using Patrick Corbin.  Don’t be silly. Nor are we using Aaron Ashby, he’s probably gonna get pulled too early. Spencer Schwellenbach?  No, cmon. Ladies and Gentlemen. We’re using Dakota Hudson   ASTROS Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman, Jake Meyers We would be stupid to not like both Yordan Alvarez (5k) and Alex Bregman (4k) once again.  Mikolas shouldn’t strike much fear in either of them and at a minimum you’ll get singles/walks/runs, but there is viable double or homer upside to consider.  Unless this game magically goes under after two overs I don’t see Houston managing to not get 4+ off Mikolas… METS Francisco Lindor, JD Martinez, Pete Alonso, Harrison Bader Despite popular belief, Patrick Corbin has not been […]

WEATHER It will get ugly in Chicago and I’m not just referring to Thomas Pham being a douchebag.  Given the heavy ticket draw at the gate on this one we could see them PPD it and play it on a later date.  I suggest a Friday afternoon at 2PM.  Thanks…   GEORGE KIRBY (DK: $8800, FD: $9600) Last night MacKenzie Gore did not rate as well on the model as he did in my lunatic head, and tonight Kirby does not rate as well as he does in my lunatic head.  The key difference is that the obvious reason last night was the Mets top 4 grading well, where as tonight the Athletics top 4 in the coliseum are nowhere near as high.  So late tonight I know that a gem pitching performance is out there and it’s not exactly in hiding as my lunatic fringe mind gets it’s redemption. MAX FRIED (DK: $9000, FD: $9900) A 10k pitcher who is 9k… No other way to put it, this remains a buy low play. CORBIN BURNES (DK: $10000, FD: 10000) Easy outs.  Vogelbach, Varsho, IKF, Kiermaier.  Those are spots that should allow Burnes to churn right along to another 7 inning outing as the Orioles continue to push him further along and save up on their bullpen when they don’t need it.  The only risk is that they might be up by 15 after the third inning and decide to let Jordan Westburg pitch instead. MITCH SPENCE (DK: $6500, FD: $6900) What’s better than a 10:05 EST game stack in Oakland Alameda County Stadium? Absolutely NOTHING my friends. Fear not as your lineup has 6 home runs and both your pitchers are sitting there yet to start, they will not get negative, not on my watch.  Spence is good for 75-80 pitches & Seattle does not hit in Oakland.  SP2 pairing with Kirby or Burnes. OTHER PITCHING THOUGHTS Frankie Montas is a better play than you want to admit tonight.  If you can miss bats in Coors you will be fine and he should be fine.  He gets lit up obviously when he leaves the ball up, but the walks and not the homers are what I would be worried with. Get to know the new guy:  San Diego promoted Adam Mazur, a 6’2 RHP who pitched for South Dakota State and Iowa in college and reminds me a ton […]

The Monday night slate is an 8-gamer, which begins nicely at 6:40 PM EST.  We have 3 east coast games, 3 central games and 2 west coast late night games.   WEATHER No issues   You should not overthink paying up for both pitchers on DraftKings tonight.  There are just too many good pitchers and too few mid-range/cheap pitchers that are worthy of using.  Guys like Matt Waldron, Tyler Anderson, Tylor Megill aren’t consistent enough for me to use them tonight. JUSTIN VERLANDER (DK: $8800, FD: $9200) St. Louis’ power has woken up a little bit to bring them back to ‘normal’, but it’s not a spot to fear attacking and considering Verlander likes to live up in the zone and this is a bottom of the zone lineup, I really don’t fear them off the Sunday Night game. MACKENZIE GORE (DK: $9000, FD: $9800) There is a strong theory I have that left handed pitchers tend to reach their career peak later than RHH.  Why?  Sorry, I have no scientific theory on this one, but the data with Gore is really supporting it, so lets go with it here.  This is the long way of pointing out that Gore, now in his third full season, is sporting a near 30% strikeout rate, .247 xAVG and .119 xISO.  All career bests for the 25 year old lefty whom I have been following for well over 5 years now as someone I think is a future star.  That stardom is limited by virtue of being a National, but also helped out when you get to face the Mets as he does tonight! TARIK SKUBAL (DK: $10500, FD: $10400) Speaking of lefties.  Skubal too is enjoying some of his best pitching and he took his full leap in his third full season a year ago.  As noted yesterday, we’re still riding lefties against the Rangers & in this case this is an elite lefty to be fine paying up for. OTHER PITCHING THOUGHTS Grayson Rodriguez & Kevin Gausman are both priced to where if they hitched up and got into a pitchers duel tonight you could be thinking you are doing really well.  But there’s too many other good arms and I think the park and potential for HR upside is too great here. I am expecting the ball to carry in Citizen’s Bank Park.  No Wheeler. Andrew Abbott might get some […]

WEATHER Couple spots could have delays, but all should play   Cole Ragans (DK: $10k, FD: $9900) … Cole has been dominant at home and the way this series has gone it might feel scary using a pitcher in it but he’s got a diverse enough pitch mix to carry this one into the 7th to match a chalky Peralta as SP1 Charlie Morton (DK: $9000, FD: $9600) … Coming off a really bad start, he is a veteran and will bounce back Brayan Bello … Riding my gut here even though Riley Greene is raking and lefties are a sore spot for Bello SUNDAY SLEEPER Trevor Rodgers … Worth a shot IMO given Texas season long struggles vs lefties.   OTHER PITCHING NOTES Buyer beware on Hunter Brown, that game is a sneaky over. Nick Lodolo just missed the cut behind Ragans/Morton.  The PC ceiling they have on him right now is a shame because he should pitch very well today.   Blue Jays – Bichette, Vlad, Varsho Arizona/Mets – Grichuk/Alexander … Martinez Guardians – Naylor and Ramirez   CATCHER Danny Jansen Keibert Ruiz William Contreras   FIRST BASE Josh Naylor Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Pete Alonso Mauricio Dubon   SECOND BASE Ketel Marte Blaze Alexander Amed Rosario   THIRD BASE Alex Bregman Maikel Garcia Jose Ramirez   SHORTSTOP Bo Bichette Oneil Cruz Willy Adames Bobby Witt Jr.   OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore Max Kepler Bryan Reynolds JD Martinez Randal Grichuk     Bo Bichette – SS – Toronto Blue Jays – Chairman of The Dongers Club Randal Grichuk – OF – Diamondbacks Max Kepler – OF – Twins Ketel Marte – 2B – Diamondbacks   TOP BETS Nats/Guardians OVER 8.5 Dbacks/Mets OVER 8 Marlins ML

WEATHER All clear Four guys up top that all have 30+ big game ability in Sale, Ryan, Grochet and Bradish.  Out of each of them, right now Sale is on fire and enough of a high price that his ownership could stay favorable. The SP2 options are pretty good too, so we can pay up, I like Lorenzen the most in South Beach with Reese Olson being a sneaky second. CHRIS SALE (DK: $11,000, FD: $11,600) MICHAEL LORENZEN (DK: $7700, FD: $8100) REESE OLSON (DK: $6300, FD: $8500)     ORIOLES … (Adley, Santander) – Warm Saturday afternoon in Camden.  Lock in Adley and Santander TIGERS … (Greene, Vierling, Keith) BRAVES … (Murphy, Riley, Albies)   Other teams that I like today – Brewers (sneaky and bad Sox pen), Mets CATCHER Adley Rutschman Sean Murphy   FIRST BASE Rhys Hoskins Christian Walker Ryan O’Hearn   SECOND BASE Jake Cronenworth Jeff McNeil Ozzie Albies   THIRD BASE Austin Riley Alex Bregman Eugenio Suarez   SHORTSTOP Frankie Lindor CJ Abrams (Much better on FD, this DK price is insane) Paul DeJong   OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore Anthony Santander Colton Cowser Riley Greene Randal Grichuk     Anthony Santander – OF – Orioles – Chairman of The Dongers Club Francisco Lindor – SS – Mets Rhys Hoskins – 1B – Brewers   TOP BETS METS ML Rays/Os over 7.5 Saturday HR Parlay:  Hoskins, Santander, Lindor

This is the best slate of the season.  It is not a coincidence that it comes as we are so close to June (the best MLB DFS month) and WEATHER Padres at Royals — Rain all day in KC area, so they may have a delay possible.   Ronel Blanco is the highest priced pitcher?  Seriously?   Hard pass… WALKER ‘Fn’ BUEHLER (DK: $8700 – FD: $8300) Mr. Friday Night at home and he gets the Rockies off a hot home stand going back on the road to only cool the hell off.  You think Brendan Rodgers, Brenton Doyle and Ezequiel Tovar are gonna hit on the road against Buehler?  No, fucking, chance.  6 innings, 0 ER, 9 strikeouts as Buehler is getting the training wheels taken back off of him coming off a 90+ pitch game and should be ahead in the count often and pitching with confidence at home. TANNER HOUCK (DK: $9600 – FD: $10,600) Too much on FD given the Buehler spot, but easily in the top 4 on DraftKings overall tonight.  There’s no being sneaky here, he is a logical pick tonight who won’t burn you. MARCUS STROMAN (DK: $8400 – FD $9200) It would not shock me if Stroman finished with a no decision in a low scoring game, but his risk should be lower than Jordan Hicks on the other side.  All total I like an under here and Stroman getting a ton of ground balls in a night San Francisco game is gonna be the key for him to do such. Other Pitching Thoughts Pablo Lopez has a “nice” bounce back start tonight after two rough ones vs Washington & Texas. Jose Urena is returning to Miami.  Should go well … for the Marlins! A few guys that I kinda like and would understand if you took darts on them are Jose Soriano (ANA) and Reynaldo Lopez (ATL) It’s Kenta Maeda’s birthday.  Happy birthday to him.  I like Boston, not enough to stack them though.   While we could see the return of “Friday Juiced Balls” tonight, I would still lean on a 2-2-2 type core build for lineups, avoiding that 5-2-1 type build is the best route in my mind unless you are going many multi-entry lineups. THE PIRATES Oneil Cruz, Bryan Reynolds Berrios can be really frustrating to stack against at times and the Pirates are equally a frustrating stack.  But […]

There really isn’t a set good slate today as MLB has 3 early games and then 4 night games, with the Astros vs Mariners as an island Showdown game in between all of that.  So I am going to just write about the games and let you play what you choose. Weekend content update.  I’m traveling again this weekend and will have a Friday article and hope to get Saturday and/or Sunday out as well, but they could just be short informational articles on the weekend.   Early Games:  Brady Singer, Jameson Taillon, Colin Rea, Chris Paddack, Kyle Muller and Shawn Armstrong What a collection of junk right there.  The Twins have seen a ton of Singer and have hit him for some decent power as Kepler and Buxton both have 2 HR off Singer and only Correa/Kiriloff/Castro are big strikeout guys vs Brady.  The Royals are trying to get the split today and I think they will, but I doubt you’ll be saying, “Man, Singer is killing me” if you fade him. The problem is, nobody else is a “good” play here.  So take Singer and I guess try Kyle Muller because Tampa is just hot garbage. Main Slate:  Zac Gallen, Jack Flaherty, Carlos Rodon, Reynaldo Lopez, Nick Pivetta, Trevor Williams, Patrick Sandoval and Christian Scott Gallen is the obvious #1 here & rightfully should be the highest owned pitcher and the most secure option.  But the match-up between much-maligned Jack Flaherty and Nick Pivetta is the most important game on the night cap.  Both could/should be able to generate Swing & Miss stuff and be able to avoid damage on their way to a nice pitchers game stack winning build. My preference is combine Jack and Nick and fade Gallen just because of that.  But if you dont like stacking 2 SP in the same game, then Gallen over Flaherty is the pick.   Early Slate: The Cubs vs Brewers game is the first spot to swim in early for offense.  Both teams have hit the ball well the past two games and there have been a lot of outs right at the wall which have gone un-noticed.  Willy Adames, Christopher Morel and Seiya Suzuki are three guys that look to be primed for some big games & Ian Happ was really locked in for most of the night last night.  Hard to not just want to stack […]

WEATHER All clear   Shota Imanaga (DK: $10,600, FD: $10,800) … Until he implodes, we ride the best Asian pitcher going. Justin Verlander (DK: $8800, FD: $9300) … Gotta trust JV to not implode in Seattle, please JV, this team is whiffing a ton and you should finish this game with 8+ strikeouts old man. MacKenzie Gore (DK: $7700) … High risk, but the only mid range guy who has the ability to win the slate off strikeouts.  His walks are a concern tonight if Atlanta is patient.   Also do not mind:  Bailey Ober, George Kirby Would rather vomit:  Chris Flexen   WHITE SOX (Sheets, Vaughn, Benintendi) NATIONALS (Abrams, Garcia, Rosario) ROCKIES / GUARDIANS   CATCHER David Fry Travis d’Arnaud Salvador Perez   FIRST BASE Vlad Guerrero Jr Andrew Vaughn Alex Kiriloff   SECOND BASE Brendan Rodgers Nico Hoerner Gleyber Torres   THIRD BASE Christopher Morel Jose Miranda Isiah Kiner-Falefa   SHORTSTOP CJ Abrams Anthony Volpe Ezequiel Tovar   OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore Gavin Sheets Ian Happ Eddie Rosario Aaron Judge   Gavin Sheets – OF – Chicago White Sox – Chairman of The Dongers Club Brendan Rodgers – 2B – Rockies Aaron Judge – OF – Yankees Vladdy Jr – 1B – Blue Jays   TOP BETS Rockies ML Cubs ML

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