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The Dongers Club – June 17th

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Welcome to Father’s Day Weekend Baseball, we kick it off with 16 games on a Friday which by now includes the Phillies, Nationals, Cubs and Braves giving us some afternoon entertainment on this warm Friday in June.

The Phillies and Nationals are so excited they’re gonna play two today and will be on the DraftKings main slate tonight making it a 12 gamer there while FanDuel is an 11 gamer.  Neither site includes Senior Citizen games in Cincinnati and ……. Baltimore?  What the hell Orioles?

Today is National Mascot Day, which is a great time to remind you of the Greatest Mascot of All Time, that would be of course, The Famous San Diego Chicken

Fat Magic

Other now retired Mascots who are in the Mascot Hall of Fame Include

The Gorilla – Phoenix Suns

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Super Hugo – Charlotte Hornets

NBA Jam (the book) on Twitter: "From the 1993 NBA All-Star Weekend: Hugo the Hornet comes through with the super swagger in the Mascot Dunk Contest (and eventually takes the whole thing)

Hoops – Washington Bullets

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Among Football Mascots, they don’t get much better than Ragnar for the Vikings.  He appreciated greatness when he saw it.

NFL: Minnesota Vikings mascot Ragnar leaves after pay dispute | news.com.au — Australia's leading news site

If you see Demon Deacon you are either about to watch a high scoring ACC game or die.

Waking The Demon GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY

And while everyone wants Horns Down, you don’t want to fuck with Bevo

Top 30 Bevo GIFs | Find the best GIF on Gfycat

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However, specific to Active Baseball Mascots, there is of course one who stands above the rest.

Phillie phanatic GIFs - Get the best gif on GIFER

On the second tier, we have the up and coming Blooper.  His social media game is A+.

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Astro – Houston Astros – who gets props for using an ATV, running without his shirt off and of course pyro-technics…

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In the underrated department there is Bernie the Brewer, he has a Giant slide which is kind of cheating, but he uses it properly and the stache is A+.

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In the ‘Could be Better’ department there is Billy the Marlin.  Who should really start to use his head more to his advantage to entertain the women of South Beach.

Billy The Marlin GIFs | Tenor

The Veteran that everyone forgets about — The Oriole

Baltimore Orioles The Oriole Bird GIF - Baltimore Orioles The Oriole Bird Orioles - Discover & Share GIFs

They would be cooler if they got a Divorce – Mr and Mrs. Met

Baseballbegins mr met GIF - Find on GIFER

Creepy but Harmless, there is Wally The Green Monster

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Everyone’s favorite Dad Mascots, Mr. Red

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And of course Friar, who got Katie Nolan to Kiss him once….  Which does not suck.

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We have Sluggerrr for the Royals, who most definitely doubles as a porn star on the side

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And then we have the what the hell is that department, featuring Screech – Nationals

Screech Clapping GIF by efitz11 | Gfycat

Baxter – the Arizona Diamondbacks Mascot

D. Baxter the Bobcat on Twitter: "Just practicing my yoga moves between innings. 😸 https://t.co/BUNXRlbCgQ" / Twitter

… and this … thing

I made a .gif of the best part of today's game... : r/ColoradoRockies

But on National Mascot Day, we should remember the forgotten mascot.

Someone who is often sad and lonely and in need of attention.

Someone who really should be better and more deserving of Mt. Rushmore status….

I am of course speaking of,

Parrot, the Pirates Mascot

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WEATHER

Did I mention that it is hot?

There are no PPD risks tonight.  At least not due to weather.

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FRANKIE MONTAS

So the saying is that the Royals don’t strike out a ton but vs Montas they should.  Four of the Royals top 5 hitters have a DCPA rating below 40 and the one who I think could run into one is Bobby Witt but out in Oakland that means at best a double with no men on base and then he is left standing there after Salvy strikes out and Hunter Dozier is caught staring at someone he thinks is a chick in the stands but it’s actually a dude who is working on a nude painting of Jed Lowrie.

CARLOS CARRASCO

Friday home game for the Mets who will be in their Black Uniforms and I am a believer they will not lose with them on and Carrasco on the hill.  Miami offers up plenty of strike-out upside for Carrasco who some might be chasing after his big K performance last Sunday in Anaheim, so yes I expect him to be popular but I also expect him to go longer with less damage tonight.

DANIEL LYNCH

I was really hoping Lynch would get the start tonight and he is.  This is a terrific SP Game stack on DK and I do not mind Lynch as an SP1 even on FanDuel.  The lefty is coming off a string 7K performance vs the Orioles and has been good when he doesn’t walk batters.  In Oakland I expect him to get plenty of foul ball outs as well which is going to help him get through 6 innings tonight.

CARLOS RODON

Rodon is not giving up any line drives and is looking to post another shutout today although he only went 6 IP in his last start vs the Dodgers – he is pitching very well.  This Pirates lineup is ideal in that it gives him plenty of exit spots if he gets into any trouble to avoid long or innings.  He should be a solid pick today.

DEVIN SMELTZER

From a value perspective, Smeltzer has as good of a spot as he can get.  He doesn’t give up any hard contact to lefties and that’s the whole Diamondbacks lineup.  At his $6,500 price tag on DraftKings a 5 to 6 inning win is going to look very good on a night where offense is going to be everywhere it seems.

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Others who probably pitch okay but I don’t see any point using in DFS

Clayton Kershaw, MacKenzie Gore (Really need these two to face off when the Pads/Dodgers meet up soon), Lucas Giolito, Paolo Espino

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CARDINALS/RED SOX

Goldy, Arenado, Gorman – STL

Xander, Martinez, Verdugo – BOS

I’m in love with this game and honestly this series.  A white hot Goldy, Nolan in a park where he can just pepper the wall with line drives and on the other side the Red Sox facing Waino without his Molina behind the dish.  Load up on Fenway which will be warm with the wind blowing out tonight.

I don’t look at BvP before deciding on things and I did not look at BvP before deciding that Arenado was a CORE play tonight.  But yes, he is 6-13 with 3 HR off Wacha, because that’s the exact perfect match-up for him.

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PADRES

Machado, Voit, Nola, Kim, Profar

We shall not overlook the Coors Field aspect today with a Dewpoint over 70 and warm temps overall.  Machado is a more logical play on FanDuel where you can use 2 third basemen and also where he isn’t $6,100 like he is on DK.  But Luke Voit for $3800, Austin Nola for $3400 and Ha-Dong Kim for $3,300 are great plays on DK.

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TWINS

Buxton, Correa, Sanchez, Urshela

Minnesota has been ELITE all season against any LHP, let alone ones that have mediocre velocity and give up lots of line drive home runs, so Madison Bumgarner should be a spot where Correa, Buxton, Sanchez and Urshela.

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RANGERS/TIGERS

Semien, Garcia, Heim (TEX)

Reyes, H.Castro, Meadows (DET)

This game will do what I thought last nights would do and is going over.  Make this your secondary lineup stack of the night….  So it’s right back to the well on a game which was an absolute snooze fest last night.  Hopefully we see Skubal as chalk because I think he gets roughed up tonight.

The Detroit side definitely has some value in it today.

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Other good hitting spots:  Giants, Dodgers, Mariners

Today’s BOOST+ Players

Use the Boost+ tab on the Dashboard to see the full real time breakdown as lineups are confirmed…

Aaron Judge, Yordan Alvarez, Paul Goldschmidt (Which is hilarious given how hot he has been), Starling Marte, Francisco Lindor, Luis Gonzalez, Jonah Heim, Jose Miranda, Tucupita Marcano, Ha-Seong Kim, Gio Urshela, Matt Chapman

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CATCHER

  1. Jonah Heim
  2. Gary Sanchez (or Ryan Jeffers)
  3. Christian Vazquez

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FIRST BASE

Yeah, you are paying here tonight.

  1. Paul Goldschmidt
  2. Vladimir Guerrero Jr
  3. Jose Abreu
  4. Brandon Belt

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SECOND BASE

Kind of a blah position today

  1. Max Muncy – 2600 on FD – Steal
  2. Nolan Gorman
  3. Abraham, the Legend of Toro

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THIRD BASE

For someone who drives the ball as well as Arenado does and crushes mid range RHP he should have a solid day today and a great weekend in Fenway Park.

  1. Nolan Arenado
  2. Manny Machado
  3. Gio Urshela
  4. Alex Bregman

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SHORTSTOP

Deeper than first base tonight, and finally for the first time this season it feels like.  Welcome to the heaters club at Shortstop.  I don’t often go this deep (hey now) in my position rankings but you should have 2 here on a main FanDuel lineup.

  1. Ha-Seong Kim
  2. X is gonna give it to ya Bogaerts
  3. Carlos Correa
  4. Brandon Crawford – Loves him some PNC Park
  5. Trea Turner (FD)

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OUTFIELD – MT RUSHMORE

On larger slates I often find it best to not have too many pay up guys in the Outfield, because there’s often enough spots you can shop around for mid range or value guys that will produce.

  1. Jurickson Profar – His stupid price in Coors makes him a Mt. Rushmore guy as I honestly would like to plug him and Kim in from the Padres and then move on.
  2. Byron Buxton
  3. JD Martinez
  4. Tyler Oneill

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OUTFIELD – Tier 2

  1. Shohei Ohtani … Mr. Road Friday night – 1% HR if you have extra $ with cheap SP.
  2. Adolis Garcia
  3. Teoscar Hernandez

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OUTFIELD – Value

A little thin here, so we’ll see if anything changes with lineups announced later.

  1. Brendan Donovan
  2. Alex Verdugo – Quiet heater
  3. Chris Taylor

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The Dongers Club

  1. Nolan Arenado – 3B – Cardinals – Chairman of The Dongers Club
  2. Adolis Garcia – OF – Rangers
  3. Tyler ONeill – OF – Cardinals
  4. Gary Sanchez – C – Twins
  5. Byron Buxton – OF – Twins
  6. Max Muncy – 2B – Dodgers
  7. Paul Goldschmidt – 1B – Cardinals
  8. Xander Bogaerts – SS – Red Sox
  9. BONUS ……………………… Alex Bregman – 3B – Astros

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I really hate the pricing on DraftKings.  Coors Field is your value spot on DraftKings tonight, which is just utterly ridiculous as they continue to force you into using mid range pitching, chalk hitting and 5 man stacks where the 2300 5th hitter lucks into some bullshit homer.

So when you are building on DraftKings, your first team (lets assume you go 3+ from it) has to have a cheap punt play from that lineup because you’re assuming they’re going to score a good amount of runs and the bottom of the lineup will contribute to that.

CORE Hitters:  Arenado, Profar, Kim, Meadows

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BETTING PLAYS

I did not write up the Dodgers because at those prices in a home game it’s just not a spot I see going off enough, but I would hammer Dodgers -1.5 tonight because they should win this one 8-2.

SF Giants ML

Yankees/Jays UNDER 9.5

Rangers/Tigers OVER 8

Mets ML

Twins ML

Dodgers -1.5

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