Lots of times DFS touts will start off their article talking about how excited they are for the slate and to get you motivated for it. It’s usually 90% b.s. or just filler or a way to delay getting onto the slate. Oh, hey, that’s what I am doing here…. Well, this is the 10% exception. I fucking love some things on today’s slate. On Tuesday I honestly looked at the slate and thought how I prefer when there are slates that have a couple things immediately stand out to me which aren’t the normal rhetoric and tonight thats what I got. How it plays out we dont know, but I love love love today’s slate.
WEATHER
All games play
Update … there will be thunderstorms rolling through Detroit some point tonight, when is the big question . The game will play, but there’s likely a heavy downpour delay which could impact Boyd. Hes got some risk now because of this.
His Pivots besides Rodon are either Fried who is popular today but someone I’m not on much and Weaver… Or Bleach…. I hate Weaver, but its better than a guy getting into the 3rd inning and being pulled for weather. actually, its not that much better
PITCHING
- Matt Boyd … By now you should know that I trust Boyd’s home/road splits and he has a 2.61 ERA at home this year alone to back it up. Throw on top of that the Rangers coming into town who are one of the worst road teams in the league and might be without Adrian Beltre again and Boyd’s my #1 guy today.
- Justin Verlander … Yeah, I got Boyd ahead of JV and it’s definitely because JV’s price on DK is way over 13k and he’s all alone up top there. White Sox lineup doesn’t have a ton of depth to it, so JV should be trusted here if you wanna expect him to not destroy your lineups, however the price tag means he’s gotta throw up something like 8 innings and 12 strikeouts tonight. I don’t see that happening.
LONGSHOT
- Carlos Rodon … This feels like a perfect Rodon slate. Lots of pitchers who have limited strike-out upside tonight which means a guy like Rodon who can struggle with command but still strike-out over 1 batter per inning will stay in the running tonight. Let’s throw the win out the window for a moment as I don’t see that happening, but process of elimination puts me on Rodon and Houston isn’t a great offense at home. Plus we have an ice cold Springer, no Correa …. We’ve done worse here.
FADES
- Luke Weaver … I don’t play Luke Weaver. He isn’t good. And he’s gonna be chalky…. Move along now.
OFFENSES
- The Dongers Club … I love my one offs tonight.
- Arizona Diamondbacks … It’s 112 in Arizona … oh come on, open the roof and stop being so sensitive!! Roof or not, Eric Lauer checks two boxes here… 1- he is a lefty in Chase field and 2- he sucks. bad. he doesnt have an OUT pitch, let alone a SWING AND MISS pitch. I would put the over/under on Lauer strikeouts today at 1.5. And bury the UNDER. This means ‘Zona is gonna put the ball in play constantly and for those who want a REAL STACK then this is your spot. A Stack as in stringing multiple guys in consecutive order together and watching them go double-double-double-single-walk-double…. 1-5 for the DBacks tonight. Specifically the guy batting in front of Mr. Goldschmidt. Dear Torey Luvullo… Can I submit the lineup card today? Thanks. Peralta-Pollock-Goldschmidt-Lamb-Murphy-Ahmed-Owings-Jay…. Appreciate it.
- Padres … Shelby stinks. He’ll win, but not without some issues early.
- Twins … They hit better at home, but are coming back home a little cold. That said, it’s Cashner on the road. Escobar and Polanco the guys I trust here along with Oriole killer Max Kepler.
SIDE Note: The Nationals had a team meeting yesterday called by Max Scherzer, likely to discuss the lack of giving any ****’s that they have right now and that they are atrocious. I’m not reading too much into it, but this team has been incredibly inconsistent — they get Matt Adams back tonight and he’s seen a major price dip because … well, because he isn’t someone who should be hitting 2 homers every single night no matter who the opponent is.
POSITIONAL RANKINGS
CATCHER
- JT Realmuto … Hey Nats, trade for me. Thanks.
- J.R. Murphy
- Tyler Flowers
FIRST BASE
Justin Bour is from the Northern VA area and I always ride him when he is in DC in a good matchup with good weather. Well, the weather is good and Jeremy Hellickson is pitching for the Nats. So it’s Bour or the guy who is at the CORE of the D’Backs stack tonight in Mr. Goldschmidt at home against a lefty who cannot strike anyone out. Ouch, yeah…. That concludes 1B for me today. No, I am not using that douchebag for the Nationals who is back off the DL.
- Paul Goldschmidt …. Um. Yeah….
- Justin Bour … Pride of Westfields ….
- Matt Adams
- I … am … not … playing … anyone … else (Update … OK, I am playing Freeman if he starts in UTIL on FD)
SECOND BASE
There isn’t much here tonight, Albies is in a great ballpark against a pitcher who I feel is gonna have some major second half regression home or away. He’s the one guy to pay up for, but beyond that I would fill this position LAST when constructing and either take what fits or what correlates with the rest of your lineup.
- Ozzie Albies
- Ketel Marte
- Joe Panik
THIRD BASE
Deep but not a strong position today, meaning there’s lots of upside here but nobody stands out above the rest. The Twins should get to Cashner even though they’re cold and Escobar is the one guy I think is going to break out of the slump first. Him or Polanco are the key to this lineup right now.
- Eduardo Escobar
- Tim Beckham
- Corey Spangenberg
- Jake Lamb … Sadly he will likely bat low in the order but he’ll hit a HR off the bullpen
SHORTSTOP
It’s all about the batting order for Ahmed today.
- Nick Ahmed
- Manny Machado
- Jean Segura
- Jorge Polanco
OUTFIELD – Tier 1
- Wil Myers
- Adam Jones
- AJ Pollock
OUTFIELD – Tier 2
- Justin Upton
- Mitch Haniger … This game is hard to pinpoint, it’s warm in Seattle (for Seattle) …. last game of series, somehow there are runs here.
- Ender Inciarte
- David Peralta … I love Peralta vs Lefties when he has a good batting order spot because the lefty isnt gonna last long in Chase….
OUTFIELD – Tier 3
- Manuel Margot
- Trey Mancini
- Max Kepler – Oriole Killer
- Travis Jankowski
DONGERS CLUB
- Paul Goldschmidt – 1B – Chairman
- Wil Myers – OF
- Adam Jones – OF
- AJ Pollock – OF
- Eduardo Escobar – 3B
- Ozzie Albies – 2B
- JR Murphy – C
- Jean Segura – SS
- BONUS ………………………. Justin Bour – 1B
