DFS Alerts
As Good As Advertised
After the top three aces, there is plenty more pitching to go around. My preferred play is Walker Buehler going into Miami. In his first four starts, he has shown that the hype was justified. He has allowed just four runs while piling up 27 strikeouts in his first 22 career innings. Though his pitch count will still be limited, he has been in the mid-90, which should be good to get him six innings more often than not. Even though he may experience some hiccups at some point, his ground ball ability adds a lot of safety to his skill set.
Loaded With Aces, Play One
This is crazy loaded pitching slate. There are six pitchers I want to play, starting with the three aces up top, Scherzer, Sale and Verlander. With likely weather issues in Washington and a tough strikeout matchup for Verlander, my top spot goes to Chris Sale at home against Oakland. There is a little bit of power risk, but also added strikeout upside from the A’s. With Sale’s low walks, even a home run or two is unlikely to hurt him. He looks to be back in top form with 27 strikeouts in his last two starts.
A High Upside Risk/Reward Stack
The Braves are an interesting potential offense to target tonight. They face a pitcher in Tyler Chatwood that does get a fair amount of strikeouts, but Chatwood also has a mammoth 19% walk rate this season. It doesn’t bode well for him against a Braves offense that strikes out at the second lowest clip in the league. I like the high end pieces like Freeman and Albies here, but there could also be some value in whoever catches and also in a guy like Jose Bautista, who is still showing some power potential these days. Don’t sleep on the Braves as an under the radar team to stack tonight.
Other tagged players: Jose Bautista, Kurt Suzuki
Always a High Upside Offense
Trevor Cahill is not a pitcher that I often want to stack against, but it’s a viable option on a short slate Wednesday night. He is just coming off injury, so we could reasonably expect some rust or a shorter outing, and the Red Sox are always dangerous as a team. Cahill is a relatively splits-neutral pitcher, so I would just make a stack based on whatever fits your salary needs. If you have the dollars to spend, the likes of Betts, Martinez, and Bogaerts are strong options, but you can dip lower in the order if you need a salary saver. Keep an eye on Boston’s lineup here.
Other tagged players: Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts Ready to Break Out of a Long Funk?
There isn’t much to love for bats on this short slate, so I will gladly take some GPP shots on the Dodgers at reasonable price tags. Caleb Smith has been a revelation on the mound for the Marlins, but he is a relatively unheralded prospect that seems to be pitching over his head right now. Teams should start to figure him out, and he has command issues at times. This could be a spot for the Dodgers to break out, especially now that Justin Turner is back. Fire up their RHBs as a risk/reward stack this evening.
A Viable Salary Saving Option on the Mound
I am generally looking to spend at pitcher tonight, and I don’t see any reason to dip down below the aces on FanDuel where you only have to pick one. However, on multi-pitcher sites, Garrett Richards deserves consideration — especially at $5,800 on DraftKings. He has found his control of late with 12 strikeouts to just one walk over his last two outings, and his other numbers have been solid all year, as he owns a 3.64 SIERA and 3.34 xFIP. It’s a very dangerous matchup against Houston, but Richards is in the GPP conversation on a short slate.
Lots of Aces on a Short Slate
We have just five games on the main slate today, but we also have several aces on the mound. Max Scherzer is out of play for me because of the weather concerns there, so we are down to Verlander and Sale as the options at the top. I will almost certainly have exposure to both of them, but Sale gets the slight edge for me if choosing between the two. He has more access to upside pitching at home as a large favorite, whereas Verlander has to take on a tough Angels team on the road. Sale is also finding his form with 27 strikeouts compared to just one walk over his last two starts, and I am not afraid of a matchup against Oakland, a team that generally rolls out quite a few left-handed hitters. The spot is right for Sale to continue his recent dominance.
Chris Sale coming into form
Sale, by his expectations, had a very inconsistent April, just barely reaching his expected point value 3 times. In recent starts though Sale has begun to turn things around, he has back to back 37+ point performances and gets to face an A’s team he recently lost to but put up 25.55 points during. Chris has a 9.4 expected K prediction tonight, 2nd highest on the board. Sale has Vegas working in his favor as well tonight, the A’s are projected for the lowest team total with 3(and dropping) and also he opened up as a -250 and that line has already risen to a slate high in -263. Sale will be a popular option due to his price and recent history but he might be worth taking the bait at that price.
Walker Buehler offers big upside
On a slate with two popular stud pitchers throwing, Walker Buehler offers some salary relief to those either fading or looking to pair with Sale and Scherzer. The Marlins lead todays slate with a SO/AB ratio of .281, Buehler is projected for the 3rd highest K prediction with 8.4. In his 4 starts this season, Buehler is hitting expected value at a 100% consistency rate and an avg expected points/actual of +7.52! The Marlins also support the 3rd lowest team total on Wednesdays slate. Buehler is both a cash and GPP option for me today.
Start of Tuesday's PHI-BAL game will be delayed due to rain
The start of the matchup between the Philadelphia Phillies and Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night will be delayed due to rain. There’s yet to be any confirmation of an official start time, and the Orioles have not committed to a specific timeline for providing further updates. Since starting pitchers from this game weren’t realistic options for any daily fantasy formats, the late start won’t do much to add to their appeal, but the delay is obviously a potentially positive sign for hitters if the teams opt to play through any potentially additional precipitation later in the evening. However, as Kevin Roth has detailed in the latest update to his MLB weather forecast, the game certainly possesses plenty of risks and a postponement cannot be entirely ruled out.
As reported by: Eduardo A. Encina via Twitter
Start of Tuesday's TOR-NYM game will be delayed due to rain
The start of the matchup between the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Mets on Tuesday night will be delayed due to rain. There’s yet to be any confirmation of an official start time, though the Mets are tentatively aiming for an 8:00 pm EST first pitch, at the latest, but have not formally committed to a specific timeline for providing further updates. The late start is better news for the prospects of the starting pitchers like Noah Syndergaard not being pulled from his start early because of a mid-game delay, and as Kevin Roth has detailed in the latest update to his MLB weather forecast, the likeliest outcome appears to be the teams are able to play through following the initial delay as storms clear out of the area.
As reported by: Kristie Ackert via Twitter Start of Tuesday's OAK-BOS game will be delayed due to rain
The start of the matchup between the Oakland Athletics and Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night will be delayed due to rain. There’s yet to be any confirmation of an official start time, though the Red Sox are tentatively aiming for an 8:30 pm EST first pitch, but have not formally committed to a specific timeline for providing further updates. The late start is better news for the prospects of the starting pitchers like Eduardo Rodriguez not being pulled from his start early because of a mid-game delay, but as Kevin Roth has detailed in the latest update to his MLB weather forecast, a late postponement cannot be entirely ruled out of the equation, even though the likeliest outcome appears to be the teams are able to play through following the initial delay.
As reported by: Sean McAdam via Twitter Salary If Needed
I’m adding Flores to the FanDuel Core Plays, mostly in the event that Carlos Santana needs to be faded due to weather. I don’t think Flores is a must play, but this is a strong value for a guy with good power and low strikeouts and a long history of hitting lefties well. Jaime Garcia is getting hit hard and has lost his ground ball ability. If not spending for Santana, I like paying down at 1B on FD.
Arizona has some left-handed value at the top of a lineup against Jhoulys Chacin (LHBs .347 wOBA since 2017)
Jhoulys Chacin has some major platoon issues (LHBs .347 wOBA, 34.4 Hard% since last season) offering some major value at the top of the Arizona lineup despite a mediocre 4.48 implied run line. David Peralta (121 wRC+, .193 ISO vs RHP last calendar year) and Daniel Descalso (113 wRC+, .184 ISO) both cost less than $4K on either site. The latter is just $2.5K on FanDuel and may provide a clearer path to high priced pitching.
Other tagged players: Daniel Descalso, Jhoulys Chacin
The east coast is a mess in Kevin's updated forecast
There are several concerning situations all along the east coast, putting several pitchers at risk at the very least. Players can read the entire report on the Weather page. Premium subscribers will want to be sure to catch Crunch Time at 6:30 ET where Kevin will give further updates.