DFS Alerts
NOS WR Jarvis Landry (ankle) has been ruled out for Thursday night.
NOS WR Jarvis Landry (ankle) has been ruled out for Thursday night.
Jonathan Williams (knee) did not practice Wednesday.
Jonathan Williams (knee) did not practice Wednesday.
John Bates (hamstring) did not practice Wednesday.
John Bates (hamstring) did not practice Wednesday.
Dyami Brown (groin) did not practice Wednesday.
Dyami Brown (groin) did not practice Wednesday.
Jahan Dotson (hamstring) limited in practice Wednesday.
Jahan Dotson (hamstring) limited in practice Wednesday.
Logan Thomas (calf) did not practice Wednesday.
Logan Thomas (calf) did not practice Wednesday.
ARI RB James Conner (ribs) is questionable for Thursday night.
ARI RB James Conner (ribs) is questionable for Thursday night.
ARI K Matt Prater (hip) questionable for Thursday night.
ARI K Matt Prater (hip) questionable for Thursday night.
ARI WR Marquise Brown (foot) ruled out for Thursday night.
ARI WR Marquise Brown (foot) ruled out for Thursday night.
Maxi Kleber (illness) upgraded to probable Wednesday
Kleber is now listed as probable on the Mavericks’ latest injury report following his original questionable designation with a non-COVID illness. Kleber figures to be a regular member of head coach Jason Kidd’s frontcourt rotation to begin the year, but the competition for playing time has become significantly steeper with the additions of Christian Wood and JaVale McGee over the offseason.
As reported by: NBA Official Injury Report
Kevin Huerter (ankle) will play Wednesday
Huerter confirmed with reporters following shootaround that he will play in the Kings’ season opener despite originally being listed on the injury report with an ankle injury. There’s been no reports of any potential limitations for Huerter, so look for him to slot into the Sacramento starting lineup at shooting guard as originally projected.
As reported by: James Ham via Twitter Rebound Expected for Top Projected Pitcher on the Board
The likely AL Cy Young winner was blown up by the Mariners in the first game of the divisional round (4 IP – 6 ER – 1 HR – 1 BB – 3 K – 21 BF) and struck out a similar number of Yankees in his only start against them, but with much better overall results (7 IP – 1 ER – 1 HR – 1 BB – 3 K – 27 BF). The strikeout rate increased late in the season, finishing at 27.8% (23.4 K-BB%) to go along with an excellent contact profile that included a 19.7 IFFB%, 6.3% Barrels/BBE and just a 34.8% hard hit rate. His 1.77 ERA was well below estimators ranging from a 2.49 FIP to a 3.23 xFIP. He was breaking estimators with a .240 BABIP and 80.5 LOB% that weren’t even career bests until running into the Mariners, but has had a full week to contemplate his failures in that effort. All of Verlander’s pitches grade extremely strongly by Statcast measures (RV) with the Yankees struggling only with the slider (-0.17 wSL/C) among those in the second half. Verlander also has one of the top defenses in the league behind him (25 Runs Prevented, .268 BABIP allowed). The most expensive pitcher on the board is also the top projected one. Verlander projects as the second best value on either site, but with just 0.2 P/$ separating first from third on DraftKings and even less (0.02 P/$) separating the top three projected FanDuel values. The closed roof in Houston makes the park a slightly negative run environment, though it’s also slightly negative if open.
The Yankees own the lowest team run total on the board (2.97) by half a run, while RHBs (.243 wOBA, .276 xwOBA) at least stood a chance against Verlander, while he dominated LHBs (.201 wOBA, .235 xwOBA), of which the Yankees have very few anyway. Aaron Judge (217 wRC+, .384 ISO vs RHP this season) is still the second best projected bat on the board, but is also the only Yankee projecting among the top 10. No Yankee projects among the top 10 FanDuel values, though you’ll find three among the top 10 projected DraftKings value. Harrison Bader (90 wRC+, .117 ISO), Marwin Gonzalez (60 wRC+, .143 ISO) and Jose Trevino (74 wRC+, .120 ISO), the expected bottom of the Yankee order, all cost $2.5K or less.
Top Projected Bat in the Top Offense
Jameson Taillon has faced just three batters since the regular season ended, one in which he finished with a 3.91 ERA that was within one-third of a run of all estimators, a 4.20 xERA the only one above four. Striking out batters at a near average rate (20.7%), it was really the elite control (4.4 BB%) that was the star of his season. On June 23rd, Taillon was blown up by a Houston offense (5.2 IP – 6 ER – 2 HR – 0 BB – 3 K – 28 BF) that had a 107 wRC+ and 20.4 K% vs RHP, but a 123 wRC+ and 14.4 HR/FB at home this year. Taillon threw a number of pitches (five) more than 10% of the time, but only his four-seam more than 20%. He did have a couple of marginally graded pitches by Statcast measures (slider, cutter) that the Astros did have some issues with in the second half of the season (-0.15 SL/C, -1.33 wFC/C), though the sample size on the latter is much smaller than the former. Three of the four teams left in the post-season had great defenses and while the Yankees are just third among that group (16 Runs Prevented), they’ve added Harrison Bader on top of that. Taillon is the least expensive, but also worst projected pitcher on the board and also easily the worst projected value on either site. The roof is expected to be closed in Houston, which makes it a slightly negative run environment.
It should be no surprise that the Astros are the top offense on the board by half a run with a 4.03 team run total. LHBs (.309 wOBA, .335 xwOBA) were slightly better than RHBs (.307 wOBA, .303 xwOBA) against Snell this season. Also no surprise that Yordan Alvarez (186 wRC+, .328 ISO vs RHP this season) is the top projected bat on the board. He is also joined among the top 10 by Kyle Tucker (142 wRC+, .216 ISO), Jose Altuve (148 wRC+, .202 ISO) and Alex Bregman (151 wRC+, .227 ISO). Bregman also serves as a top 10 projected value on FanDuel ($3.3K). Trey Mancini (111 wRC+, .170 ISO) and Chas McCormick (88 wRC+, .137 ISO) project as top values on both sites for less than $3K. Yuli Gurriel (74 wRC+, .091 ISO) also projects as the third best DraftKings value for $2.4K.
Projections Suggest This Lineup is Loaded with Value
Blake Snell allowed a run or less in 13 of his last 17 regular season starts and did so with a 35.1 K% and 26.6 K-BB%. An 8.4 BB% over that span wouldn’t stand out to most people, but it represented substantial improvement for Snell, who had become accustomed to double digit walk rates for most of his Padre tenure. He finished the season with a 32.0 K%, 9.5 BB% and estimators ranging from a 2.68 DRA to a 3.21 xFIP a bit below his 3.38 ERA. Then the post-season came and he was the only San Diego dark spot of the Wild Card series, walking six of 19 Mets, a number he hit only once this season (at Coors), while striking out five and failing to make it out of the fourth inning. It was a different story against the Dodgers though. He struck out six of 23 with just two walks over 5.1 innings with only a single run allowed. Unfortunately for him, the Phillies mashed LHP this year (115 wRC+, 22.8 K%, 11.9 HR/FB), including Snell in his two starts against him (9.1 IP – 7 ER – 2 HR – 5 BB – 9 K – 42 BF), though both came before July. He will have one of the best defenses in baseball behind him (25 Runs Prevented), though the Phillies struggled against neither fastballs (0.4 wFB/C), nor sliders (0.32 wSL/C) in the second half, which makes up nearly 80% of Snell’s arsenal. Snell is the third most expensive and third best projected pitcher on the board. He’s also the top projected DraftKings value, but third best projected FanDuel value, just 0.02 P/$ from the top though as the top three projected FD values are as close as can be without being tied.
Both offenses in this game are tied at 3.5 implied runs in the middle of the board. He will face a predominantly right-handed lineup, but had virtually no split this season with batters from either side of the plate between a .274 and .285 wOBA and xwOBA. Bryce Harper (117 wRC+, .171 ISO vs LHP this season), Kyle Schwarber (94 wRC+, .193 ISO), Rhys Hoskins (162 wRC+, .272 ISO) and J.T. Realmuto (125 wRC+, .191 ISO) all project as top 10 bats. Hoskins also projects as the top FanDuel value today ($3.1K) with Nick Castellanos (99 wRC+, .082 ISO) right behind him ($2.7K). Realmuto ($3.4K) and Jean Segura (137 wRC+, .194 ISO) also project among the top 10 FD values. Matt Vierling (110 wRC+, .131 ISO) is the only Phillie projecting as a top 10 value on both sites for $2.1K or less. In fact, he is the top projected DraftKings value with Alec Bohm (158 wRC+, .189 ISO) joining him among the top 10 DK values for $3.3K.
Dominant in His Only Regular Season Start Against this Team
If anyone stands a decent chance of taking the NL Cy Young out of Sandy Alcantara’s hands, it’s probably Aaron Nola. He did not always excel at run prevention, but a lot of that can be blamed on the worst defense to make the post-season, which was also the second worst unit in baseball (-31 Runs Prevented). Nola recorded at least two seventh inning outs in 17 of his 32 starts this season, striking out 29.1% of the batters he faced, while walking just 3.6% with a 28.4 Z-O-Swing% and 31.6% hard hit rate. His 3.25 ERA was well above estimators ranging from a 2.58 FIP to a 2.80 SIERA. Nola has continued to excel in the post-season, striking out 12 of 51 batters faced with just three walks and a single unearned run over 12.2 innings. He was similarly dominant (7 IP – 1 R – 0 HR – 2 BB – 10 K – 28 BF) in his lone start against the Padres in June. Nola will likely be facing a balanced San Diego lineup with a 101 wRC+, 22.0 K% and 9.6 HR/FB vs RHP this season. Nola had three above average pitches by Statcast measures that he threw more than 18% of the time (four-seam, sinker, curveball). The only pitch the Padres graded negatively against in the second half was the slider (-0.19 wSL/C), a pitch Nola does not have in his repertoire. San Diego is the more negative run environment today, though the weather appears to be hitter friendly earlier in the day. Nola is the second most expensive pitcher and second best projected pitcher on either site. Pricing is such that the first and third projected FanDuel values are separated by 0.02 P/$ in LineupHQ today with Nola in the lead. The margin between first and third on DraftKings is a mear 0.2 P/$ with Nola coming in third there.
Both teams in this game have a 3.5 team run total, which sits in the middle of a four team board. RHBs (.281 wOBA, .258 xwOBA) had slightly more success than LHBs (.246 wOBA, .260 xwOBA) against Nola, though Statcast suggests he has no real split. As was the case yesterday, Juan Soto (166 wRC+, .249 ISO vs RHP this season) is the only Padre to project among the top 10 bats on either site. Soto also projects as a top 10 FanDuel value, along with Josh Bell (121 wRC+, .143 ISO), who projects as a top 10 value on both sites within $200 of $3K. Trent Grisham (83 wRC+, .156 ISO) is a top DraftKings value for $2.6K.