We have an early Thursday afternoon slate, and I guess that’s just gonna be our jam this year isn’t it? Five games this afternoon and with that and the way the games are setup brings a great game stack kind of slate. For DraftKings players a game stack slate does not just mean the hitting, and in fact it really means more the pitching in many spots. We’re basically playing the games where we expect a high scoring affair vs a low scoring affair and in day games a lot of that is driven by weather and stadium conditions.
WEATHER
No issues other than May is basically April weather now. So there isn’t one specific spot which is HOT for hitting or COLD for pitching today. They’re all equal.
Michael Pineda & Lance Lynn – The Gut
I am going with my gut over the data today. Last night was an explosion of offense and the White Sox are white hot right now with 9+ runs in four straight games. Jose Abreu is on fire yes, but Pineda has handled him and most batters in this lineup not named Tim Anderson. Both Pineda and Lynn are guys I’m typically not fond of but I see them both doing well today making this a favorable SP stack situation.
Jack Flaherty & Corbin Burnes – The Data
These are the best two pitchers on the slate and both have opposing lineups that should give them a nice strike-out floor. Jack is obviously one of the better pitchers in Baseball and to many is the best play on this slate. But he has had a weird issue with Milwaukee and it’s been extremely noticeable in his recent trips there. Flaherty for whatever reason doesn’t feel comfortable in that environment to the tune of 3 of his last 4 starts in Milwaukee have resulted in complete disaster trains with -5.25, -2.00 and 4.95 scores. He has given up 14 HR in 61 innings to the Brewers in his career which for you math majors is obviously NOT GOOD. What gives? There’s no Yelich today obviously. Braun is gone. So is Jack just scared of pitching in Milwaukee or does he find a way to break the slate as the chalk SP1? We have to lean on the recent form of Flaherty being good and the Brewers bats being bad, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see this game have some offense in it.
Toronto Blue Jays vs Atlanta Braves
Charlie Morton will have a good game soon, but it’s not here. Love the Blue Jays and Braves to get things going after a very quiet series and Teoscar Hernandez is the guy coming off a double dong last night who everyone will likely flock too — he’s a streaky hitter so we have to like him here again. But the top of the order combination of Semien-Bichette are the anchors of this stack. Both hit sinkers well & it’s the primary pitch that Morton relies upon vs RH batters.
- Jays batters: Semien, Bichette, Teoscar
- Braves batters: Freeman, Ozuna, Riley
Washington Nationals vs Philadelphia Phillies
Zach Eflin has continued his road struggles in 2021 as he’s always had an ERA about 2-3 runs higher on the road and has continued that in 2021. Tough day game for him to go up against the Nationals this afternoon and while I don’t love their offense the numbers indicate they could have a solid first five innings off Eflin today.
- Nats batters: Soto, Bell, Castro
- Phillies batters: Hoskins, Realmuto, Bohm
CATCHER
- Danny Jansen
- JT Realmuto
FIRST BASE
- Rhys Hoskins
- Josh Bell
SECOND BASE
- Marcus Semien
- Ozzie Albies
THIRD BASE
- Nolan Arenado … Taysom Hill’s life on him homering today.
- Travis Shaw
- Alec Bohm
SHORTSTOP
- Bo Bichette
- Trea Turner
OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore
- Marcell Ozuna
- Teoscar Hernandez
- Kyle Schwarber
- Juan Soto
OUTFIELD – Value
- Odubel Herrera
- Andrew Benintendi
- Max Kepler – Scares me against Lynn but as long as they keep him down in order the fear is reduced.
The Dongers Club
- Bo Bichette – SS – Blue Jays – Chairman of the Dongers Club
- Nolan Arenado – 3B – Cardinals
- Rhys Hoksins – 1B – Phillies
- Juan Soto – OF – Nationals
LINEUP CONSTRUCTION THOUGHTS
Chalkiest Stacks
- Braves, Tigers — These two likely the most popular as folks pay up for pitching and plug in Detroit value against Lynch w/ Braves vs Stripling.
- Phillies – I would be shocked if there isnt ownership against Corbin
- White Sox – Given their outburst yesterday, they will be populuar
Team with most upside getting overlooked and also not being attacked with a SP (i.e. Low owned secondary stacks)
- Toronto Blue Jays
- Washington Nationals
- Minnesota Twins – I’m riding my gut here with the SP’s but the Twins have go off power certainly.