A good sized Friday twelve game slate tonight.
WEATHER
I expect all games to play, with a possible delay in Cleveland but a clear window afterwards to get the game in assuming the daytime weather doesn’t make it unplayable — but that’s a well built stadium, so they should be ok.
You do not go from being very bad to bouncing back with an elite start and that is the key thing to monitor here tonight with Kevin Gausman (vs COL) and Max Fried (vs MIA) who are good pitchers that have struggled out of the gate, but now find themselves in great match-ups. I’ll be avoiding both and in the case of Fried, we do not use him until late April/early May every year and that is ringing true again this season. In the case of Gausman, there’s definitely some concerns with the shoulder, so while Colorado is a bad lineup, I would avoid going here because I just cannot see him having a 12 strikeout type performance.
Top Recommendations
So all those notes aside, here are my top 3 guys tonight.
TANNER HOUCK (DK: $8400, FD: $9500) & REID DETMERS (DK: $8300, FD: $9400) …
These guys faced off last Saturday night in Anaheim and now they go at it again in Fenway Park. It will be in the upper 50’s and Boston is likely without Rafael Devers for possibly the entire series. Detmers (who is good at home) dominated the Red Sox bats last week and is only $8300 here. He’s definitely worth consideration, but I would not overlook Houck — who was equally very good in that same game. This is almost a spot to double stack them and hope for similar performances, because both opposing lineups look very managable.
ANDREW ABBOTT (DK: $8200, FD: $8400)
In the same range as a lot of other SP’s tonight, but Abbott is facing the f’n White Sox and while he hasn’t jumped out of the gates this year like Detmers/Houck, I just cannot ignore that he is playing … the f’n White Sox.
Other Pitching Notes
- Tyler Wells is the next guy on my list for $7700 on DraftKings. Just hard to push him above the three guys above.
- Michael Wacha has zero upside, even facing the Mets in Citi Field. He won’t suck, but…. Blah.
- Paul Blackburn is not capable of having 3 good starts in a row. He has had two in a row and now faces Washington on a Friday night in Oakland and let me tell you, there is nothing exciting about a Friday night in Oakland but, please, just remove this game from your memory. In fact, remove the entire series from your memory. It’s not happening. It never happened. Your life will be much better if you view it this way. Although Jake Irvin is your best “cheap” SP, but why go there tonight.
CARDINALS vs DIAMONDBACKS
Goldy, Arenado, Contreras || Gurriel, Suarez
Chase Field game stacks in April my friends. We have an open roof with temperatures in the mid 90’s tonight and it’s the weekend before Nolan Arenado’s birthday — which means he is about to get white hot and don’t even get me started on lefty pitchers in Chase Field and how much they suck. I am of course, referencing the Diamondbacks getting to tee off on Steven Matz.
REDS
India, Benson, Christian Encarnacion Stranded on a desert island, Elly De La Cruz
The one concern that Abbott could have in this game is the winds, but he can at leas offset that with swing and miss stuff. Chris Flexen my nutz cannot do that. If you go Reds, you are going all in for them putting up a 13 spot and getting some 9th inning bonus work off Kevin Pillar, Paul DeJong, South Side Sal from section 307, whoever the White Sox decide to let pitch the 9th inning.
RANGERS
Seager, Langford, Garcia
The Rangers bats are a little quiet right now but we’re getting two teams who obviously know each other very well and the Houston bullpen isn’t that strong at the moment.
BLUE JAYS
Bichette, Turner, Varsho
Expect Toronto to be popular tonight because they are such heavy favorites. This isn’t a great lineup but a Bichette/Turner/Varsho stack is good
CATCHER
- Willson Contreras
- Gabriel Moreno
- Tyler Stephenson
FIRST BASE
- Paul Goldschmidt
- Christian Walker
- Christian Encarnacion-Strand
SECOND BASE
This is a bad position tonight and one which might be worth punting because other IF positions are pay up spots. Further complicating things is that pre-lineups coming out I don’t see any good value to build around either. There’s almost a logic here which is hey, this Mookie Betts guy doesn’t suck, probably gets a 20+ tonight and nobody else at this spot gets above 8. But, I’ll ride with India and hope the Reds lead off guy delivers.
- Jonathan India
- Mookie Betts
- Ketel Marte
THIRD BASE
- Nolan Arenado
- Justin Turner
- Eugenio Suarez
SHORTSTOP
- Bo Bichette
- Elly De La Cruz
- Jeremy Pena
OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore
- Seiya Suzuki
- Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
- Marcell Ozuna
- Will Benson … So long as he hits second & draws a terrible RHP we will let him cook. He’s not a good player, but so far he’s playing way above his head.
OUTFIELD – Value
- Kevin Kiermaier
- Mickey Moniak
- Seth Brown
- Nolan Arenado – 3B – St. Louis Cardinals – Chairman of The Dongers Club
- Seiya Suzuki – OF – Cubs
- Lourdes Gurriel Jr. – OF – Diamondbacks
- Christian Walker – 1B – Diamondbacks
- Willson Contreras – C – Cardinals
- Bo Bichette – SS – Blue Jays
- Jonathan India – 2B – Reds
- Nolan Jones – OF – Rockies … He will hit a HR this weekend no doubt.
- BONUS …………………. Nolan Arenado 2nd HR of the night
TOP BETS
- Cardinals/Diamondbacks OVER 9
- Cubs ML
- Royals ML
- Nationals ML