Alot of people like slates like tonight because they are in that mid range (only 8 games). I like it because we just don’t have any donkey situations like Yankees in Camden or an 80 degree game in Coors Field, etc. The slate has a lot of west coast games as well so I hope you plan on staying up late tonight or just playing the fun game of will I see a DK notification on my phone when I wake up? Fun times.
WEATHER
All games play
Gerrit Cole (DK/FD)
This is the part where I assure you that every other article today has something wrote up about Cole in which they not only reference his strikeout rate but they also mention something like the Rangers strike out a ton, the roof closed helps pitchers or something, something, something about run totals and money lines and all this other nonsensical bullshit that really you already knew when you saw hey – Cole vs Texas Rangers in Texas. So fuck all that noise, here’s that you need to know.
Cole is Brandon Crawford’s brother in law. That’s right. His wife Amy was also a pitcher at UCLA and she is indeed the sister of the Giants Shortstop. In 2010 for the UCLA team that reached the Softball Championship game she was mostly a UTIL player who got only 4 hits in 29 AB striking out 16 times. So all I can assume is that the Crawford parents taught their kids defense because that’s what Brandon is mostly known for and Amy herself wasn’t exactly raking things on the field. So there, you now actually learned something today reading this article about Gerrit Cole who is gonna strike-out 10+ Rangers tonight and give up no more than 2 ER with a win.
Yu Darvish (DK/FD)
Not sure how I follow up that nugget on Gerrit Cole by finding out something on Yu Darvish, so I’ll just keep this short. He’s facing the Rockies tonight who are god awful with just 2 road wins on the season. They’re not the strikeout upside that the Rangers are so that’s why he grads out #2 but he too should dominate.
Max Fried (DK/FD)
Now we get into the part that actually has some value in it. Can Fried who has struggled a little bit in 2021 get back to his 2020 form in one of the better hitters parks tonight against the Mets? You’re probably wondering why I am asking you the reader a question — I am not. I am just asking myself this main question tonight and I believe the answer is yes. Outside of Pete Alonso he gets most of the Mets in situations where they’re not as dominant of an offense. Lindor hits worse from the right side so it’s just Alonso-Pillar-McCann that are challenges tonight for Fried who I anticipate pitches his best game of the year much like Mike Minor did for the Royals on Saturday night.
Other Value SP to consider
We have some 30 point upside arms going, so these guys aren’t in their tier but I like both to get 15+ on DK today. I wouldn’t use either on FD.
- Casey Mize
- Jon Gray
Minnesota Twins
Cruz, Garver, Garlick, Donaldson
Donaldson started the season slow and was injured for the first couple of weeks but has 6 doubles and 2 HR in the month of May with an xSLG of .715 over his last 50 PA. He’s hitting the ball well and figures to have men on in front of him and see good pitches tonight with Cruz behind him.
Chicago Cubs
Contreras, Rizzo, Bryant, Baez
Someone like Lester going back to Wrigley might offset the SP vs their former team narrative, but Jon Lester isn’t exactly someone we should expect to continue his “good” start this season. For those who don’t know, there is no such thing as pitcher revenge vs his former team because they always get hammered. Give me the C vs SP narrative with Contreras leading off tonight.
Atlanta Braves
Albies, Freeman, Riley, Acuna
Atlanta mashes at home. Ozzie, Freeman, Acuna, Riley all have really good home splits and it figures given how good the park normally plays for them offensively. Taijuan Walker is the guy I am picking on in this game and not Fried because to me Fried is the better long term pitcher and things will start to normalize back to the median for everyone now. That includes Walker getting hit harder.
SNEAKY STACK OF THE NIGHT
Arizona Diamondbacks
Escobar – Smith – Peralta
CATCHER
- Wilson Ramos – Expected to return off the IL tonight.
- Willson Contreras
That’s it…. That’s the list.
FIRST BASE
- Freddie Freeman
- Jeimer Candelario
- Anthony Rizzo
SECOND BASE
- Eduardo Escobar – This is a very weak position tonight and this is my best “go contrarian” take of the day. Arizona will pop 3 HR tonight off Buehler’s fast ball. Sure, they’ll strike out a ton too but Escobar or Pavin Smith are going yard and given the position balance, Escobar is my guy for snake exposure. Start dancing.
- Ozzie Albies
- Cesar Hernandez
THIRD BASE
- Josh Donaldson
- Kris Bryant
- Austin Riley
SHORTSTOP
- Tim Anderson
- Andrelton Simmons
- JP Crawford
OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore
- Nelson Cruz
- Kyle Garlick
- Ronald Acuna Jr
- Juan Soto
OUTFIELD – Tier 2
- Kyle Schwarber
- Mitch Haniger
- Robbie Grossman
OUTFIELD – Value
- Andrew Vaughn – I like Garlick over Vaughn for value here given that he is at home.
- Eddie Rosario
- Thomas Pham
The Dongers Club
- Josh Donaldson – 3B – Twins – Chairman of The Dongers Club
- Willson Contreras – C – Cubs
- Eduardo Escobar – 2B – Diamondbacks
- Tim Anderson – SS – White Sox
- Nelson Cruz – OF – Twins
- Mitch Haniger – OF – Mariners
- Kris Bryant – 3B/OF – Cubs
- Jeimer Candelario – 1B – Tigers
- BONUS …………….. Wilson Ramos – C – Tigers
LINEUP CONSTRUCTION THOUGHTS
Chalkiest Stacks
- Yankees … LOL. Why are the Yankees chalk? You want to know why? Fucking implied run totals. Guess why they have a “implied run total” so high. Because people are fucking morons and use a worthless stat like implied run total. Gerrit Cole is pitching, so if you wanna bet on the Yankees to win tonight you gotta lay some heavy ass juice. Do not listen to any assclown who starts off with “Vegas thinks the Yankees are gonna score the most runs tonight”. No, Vegas doesn’t think that. Vegas doesn’t give two shits how many runs the Yankees score tonight. Are the Yankees hot? No. They just played in Camden Yards which is If I went into a bar on a random Tuesday and the bar trivia of the night was the 2009 New Orleans Saints. Come back Wednesday and the trivia topic is Pop Culture and I’ll suddenly go colder than nipples on a Sea Lion…
- Twins/White Sox
- Angels … Newp
Team(s) with most upside getting overlooked and also not being attacked with a SP (i.e. Low owned secondary stacks)
- Braves
- Cubs
CORE PLAYS FOR SINGLE ENTRY
- You want exposure in the Twins/White Sox game. Donaldson/Garlick from Minnesota and Anderson/Vaughn from Chicago would be the core spots to focus on.
- Pay up for SP1.
FAVORITE ONE OFFS
- Willson Contreras
- Eduardo Escobar
Yes, Sea Lions have nipples.