STLCards' Covering The Bases - Saturday, August 7th
Saturday, August 7th
Happy Saturday, Grinders!
We have a fun slate on tap for today, and we have a split schedule with five early games and ten late games. Both FanDuel and DraftKings are offering an early slate that includes all of the early starts, with the only exception being that FD has removed the seven inning BOS/TOR game since it is the first game of a doubleheader. I was worried about the early slate being split up all sorts of ways with the games starting at differing times during the afternoon, but thankfully the sites chose not to do that.
Let’s dig in and see what today has to offer!
Early Slate Pitching
Carlos Rodon vs. Cubs
Andrew Heaney vs. Mariners
Tylor Megill vs. Phillies
Cole Irvin vs. Rangers
Robbie Ray vs. Red Sox (DK only)
We have some interesting pitching options on this small early slate. As usual, here’s a peek at their 2021 numbers to date:
Rodon – 2.49 ERA, 2.60 xERA, 35% strikeouts, 7% walks, 30% hard contact
Heaney – 5.42 ERA, 4.40 xERA, 28% strikeouts, 7% walks, 35% hard contact
Megill – 2.68 ERA, 2.40 xERA, 26% strikeouts, 7% walks, 30% hard contact
Irvin – 3.50 ERA, 4.37 xERA, 18% strikeouts, 4% walks, 31% hard contact
Ray – 3.04 ERA, 3.72 xERA, 31% strikeouts, 7% walks, 35% hard contact
Rodon is clearly the top pitcher on this slate when you factor in matchup. While both he and Ray have shown similar upside this year, Ray has a difficult matchup against the Red Sox, while Rodon gets to face the current Triple-A version of the Chicago Cubs lineup. The Cubs are really only rolling out two or three major league caliber hitters at this point, and Rodon should simply carve them up. I will prioritize Rodon as my SP1 on all sites and in all formats today. Ray is a reasonable contrarian pivot on DK, and he has had two high strikeout starts (eight and ten) in three outings against Boston this year. Still, it’s hard to get away from Rodon here.