MLB First Look: Saturday, September 2nd (Early)

The MLB First Look, complete with sortable odds, a pitcher breakdown, and team offense rankings, will help you get an early start on the upcoming slate.

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MLB Schedule & Vegas Lines (Early Slate)

Away Pitcher Home Pitcher Vegas Line Run Total Ballpark LHB Rating RHB Rating Time (ET)
Boston Red Sox Drew Pomeranz – L at New York Yankees Masahiro Tanaka – R NYY-135 8.5 Yankee Stadium 99 100 1:05 PM
New York Mets Matt Harvey – R at Houston Astros Charlie Morton – R HOU-215 9.0 Minute Maid Park 84 82 2:10 PM
Atlanta Braves Lucas Sims – R at Chicago Cubs Jon Lester – L CHC-240 TBD Wrigley Field 79 88 2:20 PM
Los Angeles Dodgers Brock Stewart – R at San Diego Padres Clayton Richard – L LAD-134 9.0 Petco Park 77 86 3:40 PM
St. Louis Cardinals Lance Lynn – R at San Francisco Giants Chris Stratton – R STL-120 8.5 AT&T Park 70 79 4:05 PM
Cleveland Indians Corey Kluber – R at Detroit Tigers Jordan Zimmermann – R CLE-250 8.5 Comerica Park 93 91 6:10 PM

Starting Pitchers (Early Slate)

Pitcher Team Matchup Opp. K% Line FD DK FDRFT SIERA ERA K% BB% SS% GB% HC% HR/FB Time (ET)
Corey Kluber CLE at DET 22.2% -250 $11,300 $13,200 N/A 2.67 2.63 34.9% 5.4% 15.8% 46.0% 30.5% 14.5% 6:10 PM
Masahiro Tanaka NYY BOS 19.4% -135 $9,300 $9,500 N/A 3.61 4.69 24.8% 5.5% 14.6% 48.6% 31.6% 20.9% 1:05 PM
Jon Lester CHC ATL 18.5% -240 $9,200 $11,800 N/A 3.85 4.37 24.9% 7.4% 11.2% 47.1% 26.8% 15.0% 2:20 PM
Drew Pomeranz BOS at NYY 23.5% 135 $8,500 $8,300 N/A 4.19 3.23 24.5% 9.4% 10.5% 42.6% 31.5% 11.4% 1:05 PM
Charlie Morton HOU NYM 19.8% -215 $8,500 $9,100 $17,700 3.84 3.88 25.9% 8.8% 11.0% 50.6% 29.1% 13.2% 2:10 PM
Lance Lynn STL at SF 19.4% -120 $7,800 $7,700 N/A 4.68 3.14 20.3% 9.4% 9.1% 43.9% 30.9% 14.8% 4:05 PM
Chris Stratton SF STL 21.7% 120 $7,300 $7,400 N/A 4.92 3.82 20.3% 12.3% 9.7% 44.9% 27.5% 6.7% 4:05 PM
Matt Harvey NYM at HOU 17.5% 215 $7,100 $5,100 $10,000 5.24 5.25 17.4% 11.3% 8.1% 45.3% 34.9% 22.2% 2:10 PM
Clayton Richard SD LAD 22.2% 134 $6,900 $5,700 $11,200 4.07 4.96 17.0% 6.6% 8.4% 59.4% 33.7% 20.6% 3:40 PM
Lucas Sims ATL at CHC 22.3% 240 $6,300 $5,600 N/A 5.08 4.41 14.5% 5.9% 8.1% 36.9% 32.5% 11.6% 2:20 PM
Jordan Zimmermann DET CLE 19.7% 250 $5,600 $4,900 N/A 5.25 6.08 14.5% 6.5% 8.1% 32.6% 39.3% 13.7% 6:10 PM
Brock Stewart LAD at SD 25.2% -134 $5,500 $5,800 $11,600 5.17 3.38 16.8% 10.9% 8.9% 38.6% 23.6% 10.0% 3:40 PM

Note: All statistics in the pitching table are from the 2017 season.

Offenses (Early Slate)

Offense IRT RPG +/- Opp. Pitcher L/R P vs. LHB P vs. RHB T-wOBA T-ISO Time (ET)
Chicago Cubs TBD 4.98 TBD Lucas Sims RIGHT 0.346 0.358 0.327 0.192 2:20 PM
Atlanta Braves TBD 4.57 TBD Jon Lester LEFT 0.229 0.301 0.331 0.164 2:20 PM
Houston Astros 5.16 5.59 -0.43 Matt Harvey RIGHT 0.370 0.311 0.356 0.206 2:10 PM
Cleveland Indians 5.11 4.91 0.20 Jordan Zimmermann RIGHT 0.353 0.366 0.330 0.188 6:10 PM
Los Angeles Dodgers 4.70 5.00 -0.30 Clayton Richard LEFT 0.314 0.366 0.346 0.203 3:40 PM
New York Yankees 4.46 5.24 -0.78 Drew Pomeranz LEFT 0.326 0.285 0.309 0.159 1:05 PM
St. Louis Cardinals 4.37 4.70 -0.33 Chris Stratton RIGHT 0.361 0.267 0.329 0.165 4:05 PM
San Diego Padres 4.30 3.83 0.47 Brock Stewart RIGHT 0.327 0.342 0.304 0.170 3:40 PM
San Francisco Giants 4.13 3.97 0.16 Lance Lynn RIGHT 0.347 0.248 0.297 0.133 4:05 PM
Boston Red Sox 4.04 4.80 -0.76 Masahiro Tanaka RIGHT 0.298 0.305 0.318 0.152 1:05 PM
New York Mets 3.84 4.61 -0.78 Charlie Morton RIGHT 0.253 0.345 0.323 0.190 2:10 PM
Detroit Tigers 3.39 4.77 -1.38 Corey Kluber RIGHT 0.274 0.254 0.314 0.154 6:10 PM

Note: All statistics in the team offense table are from the 2017, season with the exception of the pitcher splits by handedness. They are from the last two seasons combined.

First Look Legend

Term Description
LHB Rating The ballpark rating for left-handed hitters
RHB Rating The ballpark rating for left-handed hitters
Opp. K% Strikeout rate of the opposing offense against the handedness of the pitcher
SIERA Skill-Interactive Earned Run Average – A good predictor of future ERA
ERA Earned Run Average
K% Percentage of batters a pitcher strikes out
BB% Percentage of batters that a pitcher walks
SS% Swinging Strike Percentage
GB% Ground Ball Percentage
HC% Hard Contact Percentage
HR/FB Percentage of fly balls a pitcher gives up a home run
IRT Implied run total based on the Vegas line and over/under
RPG Average runs scored per game
+/- The difference between a team’s implied run total and their average runs scored per game
P vs. LHB The wOBA a pitcher allows to left-handed hitters
P vs. RHB The wOBA a pitcher allows to right-handed hitters
T-wOBA A team’s wOBA vs. the handedness of the pitcher they are facing
T-ISO A team’s ISO vs. the handedness of the pitcher they are facing

About the Author

Notorious
Derek Farnsworth (Notorious)

Derek Farnsworth (aka Notorious) is a lead RotoGrinders Expert and one of the most recognizable names and faces in all of DFS. Before joining the RotoGrinders team, Derek received a Master’s Degree from the University of Utah. When he’s not busy providing content, he’s dominating the DFS industry as evidenced by his consistent top rankings in several sports and multiple Live Final appearances. Noto provides expert NBA, NFL, MLB, and PGA analysis for RotoGrinders Premium members on a daily basis and has also been nominated for five different Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association (FSWA) awards. Follow Noto on X – @RG_Notorious