Today brings you an 11 game Sunday slate with just 2 games in the Tilt Afternoon slate. It’s a heavy Sunday afternoon and the first of the final Sunday month+1 week of the MLB season before NFL kicks off next month.
WEATHER
ARI @ MIN: I would imagine with both teams needing to play this game that they will wait it out or play through some light rain. The Twins for some reason opted to sign Dallas Keuchel AND start him today, which I assume is just a giant middle finger to the rest of the AL Central considering they could sleep walk to the title … then again, Cleveland is showing some fight now if you know what I mean. At any rate, I believe this game will play and you weren’t going to want to use any pitchers in it anyway (sorry Zac Gallen)
Happy Za(chk) day folks. Zac Gallen, Zack Greinke and Zack Thompson all pitching today. No, I don’t like any of em… The theme on pitching today is guys returning to the mound such as Jose Urquidy, Brandon Woodruff and yes, Dallas Keuchel!
TYLER GLASNOW SCRATCHED
KYLE BRADISH
Coming in as my favorite SP option on the day. There is a lot to like with Bradish’s development in 2023. He gets a 34% whiff rate on his slider and 33% on his curveball, both which should help him continue a stretch where he has had 7+ strikeouts in 5 of his last 8 games and only once in Philly did he give up more than 3 ER in that time. The Mets are a dead man walking team as we know & I expect them to be not much of a threat.
SANDY ALCANTARA
Remember someone who said the best pitcher in the second half this season would be Sandy Alcantara? Well, nobody is ready to admit it yet, but he’s putting it all back together with back to back dominant outings and when a good pitcher is on a roll, you ride him.
The Sunday Sleeper …
AUSTIN GOMBER
Just 2 walks over his last 24 IP, a very good sign for the lefty and we’ll probably see some old school Goldy/Arenado chalk vs LHP today. I don’t like it much, and with the way the entire Cardinals offense is striking out vs LHP of late there’s a good path here to get a pretty solid score at $5700 on DraftKings. No reason to be this cute on FanDuel IMO, but I also wouldn’t hate it.
PHILLIES
Alec Bohm, Kyle Schwarber, Brandon Marsh
2023 Zack Greinke away from Kauffman stadium is good for allowing 4-6 ER every start in under 6 IP. The Royals streak was fun, now they go back to being really bad and the pitching staff had it’s little boost that should continue to die off here too.
Alec Bohm is really hitting well, he should have another great game today and if Schwarber can’t get it going now vs Greinke then he might not the rest of the season.
ORIOLES
Ryan Mountcastle, Jordan Westburg, Anthony Santander
If 2 of these guys do not homer I will be upset today.
JAYS / SOX
Bassitt is good enough to avoid a full Boston stack and the Red Sox being on a bullpen game is enough to avoid an easy full Jays stack. But there’s reason to like this game for offense, to include the obvious ballpark help.
Toronto … George Springer should finish a very solid weekend back in the park near where he grew up, I would be shocked if that HR doesn’t come today & Brandon Belt at $3300 should factor in well here as the Sox will most certainly use RHP out of the pen if possible.
Boston … After a disaster game yesterday and the Verdugo drama, I would hope Boston has a focused approach in their AB today. If Duran gets on he will run and Yoshida or Devers will drive him in. Gut says Justin Turner has a big hit in this game too.
CATCHER
- William Contreras
- Salvador Perez
- Keibert Ruiz
FIRST BASE
- Ryan Mountcastle
- Brandon Belt
- Justin Turner
SECOND BASE
- Jordan Westburg
- Bryston Stott
- Jose Altuve
THIRD BASE
- Alec Bohm
- Rafael Devers
- Ke’Bryan Hayes
SHORTSTOP
- Bobby Witt Jr.
- Elly De La Cruz
- Orlando Arcia
OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore
- George Springer
- Kyle Schwarber
- Jarren Duran
- Lourdes Gurriel Jr
OUTFIELD – Tier 2
- Aaron Judge
- Anthony Santander
- Nick Castellanos
OUTFIELD – Value
- Sir Thomas Pham
- Max Kepler
- Mike Tauchman
- George Springer – OF – Blue Jays – Chairman of The Dongers Club
- Aaron Judge – OF – Yankees
- Jordan Westburg – 2B – Orioles
- Ryan Mountcastle – 1B – Orioles
- Anthony Santander – OF – Orioles
- William Contreras – C – Brewers
- Bobby Witt Jr – SS – Royals
- Alec Bohm – 3B – Phillies
- BONUS ………………… Thomas Pham – OF – Diamondbacks
TODAY’S BETTING ANALYSIS
Good Over Upside — Meaning these have best potential to go way over…
- Royals/Phillies
- D’Backs/Twins
Good Under Upside — Meaning best potential to be a 2-1 or 5-2 type game.
- Pirates/Brewers
ML Targets
- Astros
- Orioles
- Pirates
- Rockies