CheeseIsGood's Million Dollar Musings: Friday, August 27th
Happy Friday! We’ve got a full slate tonight and it looks like we should have a bit of everything from pitching to hitting to weather. I’ll leave the weather for Roth and write this as if everything is going to play, but there’s at least some rain chances for Nola, McClanahan, Gausman and Fried. Join us on Crunchtime for the final word on these situations.
Friday Night Pitching
Again, let me reiterate that the weather is likely to be a factor tonight, but it’s too early to know where and to what extent. Be sure to check out the afternoon Roth report and tune into Crunchtime if you can. For now, let’s just say everything plays! We’ve got a lot of good pitching here, but I am going to start with a two-man top tier and then a Tier 1-A with other the ace level options. This is how things are looking:
Two Aces Up Top
Gerrit Cole at A’s
Aaron Nola vs Diamondbacks
Nearly Aces
Shane McClanahan vs Orioles
Eduardo Rodriguez at Indians
Kevin Gausman at Braves
Joe Musgrove at Angels
Sean Manaea vs Yankees
Max Fried vs Giants
Logan Gilbert vs Royals
Matchup Aided
Wade Miley at Marlins
J.A. Happ at Pirates
Steven Matz at Tigers
Jake Odorizzi at Rangers
Dallas Keuchel vs Cubs
Rich Hill vs Nationals
Two Aces Up Top
Gerrit Cole at A’s
Aaron Nola vs Diamondbacks
There is enough upside in the next tier that these two are not unbeatable, but I have to give Cole and Nola the big edge tonight for their longer-term skills. Cole leads this slate by a healthy margin with a 34.3% K rate on the season and after a short dip, he’s right back to it with a 35.7% K rate over the past month and his usual elite control. Add in a ballpark boost and this is an easy play for me on DK at $10,500. On FD, Nola is $1,200 cheaper than Cole and while the strikeouts haven’t been as consistent, when they show up, it’s Cole level. Plus, when they don’t, we’ve still got control, a high pitch count and a better matchup than Cole. I trust both of these aces and would be completely happy with either in any format on any site. Officially, I prefer Cole and will play him where the salary allows, but that is more feasible on DK, and Nola is more my default SP1 on FD.
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