Tomorrow is of course not only the 4th of July, but a Tuesday where you have a ton of afternoon games.  I really want to try and cover all of it but we’ll see what we get from a slate perspective between FanDuel and DraftKings.  Place your bets now on the number of slates which FanDuel will try to roll with, I think 7 seems optimal to them. My vote for the ideal slate tomorrow?  Start us at 1:10 with the Cardinals/Marlins, including the 3 1pm/2pm games and then the five games in the 4PM window, make that an 8 game main slate and then do a five game night slate starting at 6:40.  You can still have the Nationals 11am showdown slate and all is well.  My guess is that DK does three slates, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm.  And FD will have 11am, 1pm, 4pm, 6pm, 7pm with a bunch of cheezy ass contests names like Joey’s Chestnuts and Schlongs. For today meanwhile we have a six game MAIN slate even though there are two games in the afternoon and two games in the turbo/6pm window.   WEATHER Everything should play fine tonight with a chance of storms/late rain in New York and Minnesota   TOP PITCHER Logan Webb (DK: $9200) We should of course assume that Webb was already back in San Francisco and could watch the SNB game last night from the comfort of his couch while sipping on a case of Busch Beer – he’s definitely a Busch guy. I think there is most definitely some logic to a game-stack on pitching here, but my preferred side is picking on Seattle who has a 34% strikeout rate vs RHP over the last week and really that’s been them most of the season as well. SP2 OPTION(s) Mitch Keller (DK: $8800) Kershaw will not go for the Dodgers tonight, instead Michael Grove will start.  Just gonna erase what I had written between both of these guys here but Keller remains my SP2 choice.   OTHER PITCHING CONSIDERATIONS Domingo German has the worlds most unheralded perfect game I could have ever imagined.  Please, do not take the cheese and use him.   These 3 1/2 teams are all pretty equal tonight. ORIOLES Mullins, Rutschman, Hays A very cold lineup against a SP coming off a perfect game?  Yep.  The Orioles should be able to get a couple HR […]

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!  Something dawned on me last night in light of my comments about how the week leading into the All-Star Break has been historically a good week.  We’re not here to come in first place every night, we have realistic expectations, and managing to get yourself consistent 3x, 4x results is just as good as that once every season 20x or 30x return in the long run.  Weeks like this are when those can compile up and yesterday it was a good breakdown but just not enough sauce on the wings to really make it an easy to cash slate. We’re also going to have a weird schedule for the players with Tuesday being the 4th of July and most teams playing day games that day, so I’m kinda curious how that slate is gonna breakdown as teams will be playing 3 out of 4 days in the afternoon.  Yes, these are the random things I think about on Saturday evenings… Today’s slate breakdown is as such.  We do not have Site Synchronicity as FanDuel included Tigers and Rockies on their main slate.  Honestly, you won’t hear anything from me in this article on that game because I really don’t want much to do with it.  Matt Manning will start for Detroit, his second start to return to the mound this year and I think we’re gonna see him get hit a little by Colorado but not enough to go all in there. Otherwise this is a 9 game Main slate today, with a 3 game Afternoon tilt slate and then the Sunday Night ESPN game features the Giants and Mets, while the Twins and Orioles are handling the Brunch Showdown Game — lock in Donovan Solano for over 1.5 total bases which basically equates to him having to get a double in his first AB (which he will).   OPTIMIZER RE-DESIGN Just a little plug here, the Optimizer has been re-designed both for Desktop & Mobile, of which one nice feature for the Mobile crowd is that you can now use it without having to wait 5 minutes for it to load, it’s much faster, cleaner and easier to use. If you bookmarked the direct link, it changed and you can now click here to access it, or access it via the Menu.  By default it will load to DraftKings, but click ont he settings icon to […]

It’s a glorious Saturday, the first day of July.  We are officially in the 10 day stretch to the All-Star break which is slightly earlier this season and often a time when I am able to detach from Baseball or maybe like, a day or two and then come back.  Usually when we go into the break it means a steady streak of cashing day in and day out.  Last night was a good start to that run and so let’s keep it going today as I very much feel locked in on this weekends series. We have a 7 game MAIN slate this afternoon in the 4PM window after 3 games going early and then 5 in the evening. TBD as always on a Saturday night article (translation, yeah, I’ll do one)   WEATHER Rain and Smoke in Pittsburgh.  What a potent combination and this is the only one I could see getting PPD since it is a divisional game.  There is risk in both SP. Rain storms in Baltimore, game should play though. Atlanta summer heat and storms.   TOP PITCHER DYLAN CEASE (DK: $8000 / FD: $10300) In the DFS world the term “smash” is way overused and a day game in Oakland usually has offense with it, but there’s no path by which I don’t see Cease continuing his late run of doing extremely well and pushing towards double digit strikeouts. If you are an avid reader of the Dongers Club, I applaud you, and you should also know why Cease has turned things around by facing the Marlins, Dodgers, Rangers & Angels.  It’s clear folks, he is the new Bauer in that he does well versus teams who haven’t seen him enough to know you just need to be patient and not chase.  Oakland is not that team.  Lock him in. SP2 OPTION(s) JUSTIN VERLANDER (DK: $8300 / FD: $8800) I’ll bite here on Verlander at this price mostly because one alt option Kyle Bradish, has storm/weather concerns and a surging Twins team in a park they definitely fit well in.  JV is pitching well in Citi Field, you’ll get 2.5x from him today for sure on DraftKings.   OTHER PITCHING CONSIDERATIONS Nate Eovaldi pitches well and is best pivot off Verlander IMO. Eury Perez has been fantastic in his rookie season and now he gets the white hot Braves after they hit so many […]

There are 12 main slate games this evening as the Cubs are back to having a Friday afternoon home game and then there are two early window spots with a rare 5PM start on the Friday Turbo slate. We’re going to be missing out on Padres @ Reds and Nationals @ Phillies.  If you wanna dabble on those spots I love Jake Cronenworth/Roughned Odor for San Diego and welcome to the summer of Alec Bohm for the Phillies.   WEATHER Possible storms in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Atlanta, Kansas City, St. Louis, Colorado, but really I think all of them are going to be okay.  Summer storms though can be unpredictable so the St. Louis/Atlanta ones are probably the most likely for an in game storm tonight which really only impacts pitching and no, I don’t want any pitcher from those games which would be Bryan Hoeing, Michael Soroka, Luis Severino, Matthew Liberatore.   SP1 SHANE McCLANAHAN (Both Sites:  $11,000) Not a lot of great pitching options tonight, so this means even at $11k McClanahan is going to be a highly owned option on DK (and definitely on FD as a single SP site).  So yeah, there’s the logic that hey I can try to fade McClanahan at high ownership and out smart everyone seeing as he left his last start early and has not been having as much SwStr% over the last 8-12 starts as he normally has had.  Then again, there is the reality of waking up at 3am and seeing he had how many vs the Mariners — who have had troubles hitting lefties of late??  Yeah, the upside here is tremendous if he really is back to form, especially considering the rest of the options are kinda dogshit.   SP2 OPTION(s) PABLO LOPEZ (DK: $9900, FD: $9500) I love Lopez for $9500 on FanDuel in what feels like an easy steal there.  Give me talent and reliability tonight on this slate.  I don’t need a 60 from anyone on FD and you can play him on DK with Miller as well.  Lopez will give you 6 innings, limited damage, enough strikeouts.  There’s no depth on aces today that you have to beat, so throw out all the %’s and splits and ride the trusted arm to compile outs.   BOBBY MILLER (DK: $8900, FD: $9800) There have been some comparisons between Bobby Miller and Walker Buehler.  Speaking of […]

WEATHER No issues. VIABLE PITCHING OPTIONS MAX SCHERZER (DK: $11,000) On the road in Milwaukee we might look to fade Max, but not on tonights 5 gamer where he should have 8 strikeouts, a double allowed to Jesse Winker and overall 6 innings of quality pitching. ADAM WAINWRIGHT (DK: $6500) After a big scoring game last night, we go to a crafty Waino tonight to shutdown the Astros.  Gotta back the Cardinals side vs France in my mind offensively, so if Waino can just get 5 he should finish as a good SP option on a bad slate. ADRIAN HOUSER (DK: $6900) Safer than Waino but man, 2 of his last 3 starts he hasn’t gotten much in terms of strikeouts and probably won’t tonight either.  Ok to gamestack with Scherzer.   We have some high scoring spots tonight based on various conditions.  We have warm and windy blowing out in Wrigley Field, we have lefties vs Bassitt in Toronto and we have Chase Anderson still in the big leagues in Coors vs the Dodgers.  Oh and then there’s the Astros and Cardinals who went off last night.  So where to go?  I think you can get away without going heavy on one spot, more like a big slate where you can spread things out tonight. The favorite offenses I have, factoring in price as well are Cardinals (Key:  Goldy, Arenado, Contreras, Walker) Giants (Key:  Wade, Conforto) Dodgers (Key:  Muncy) Blue Jays (Key:  Bichette)   Going to the Philies and Cubs is fine for a one off, specifically Schwarber & Bellinger.  If you go more then that then just go all in praying the wind boosts up more than 9 mph.  I won’t though, I don’t think its going to be a Wrigley explosion spot, but I’m also not trusting Walker or Hendricks here. CATCHER Willson Contreras Blake Sabol   FIRST BASE Freddie Freeman Paul Goldschmidt LaMonte Wade Jr   SECOND BASE Brendan Donovan Harold Castro   THIRD BASE Max Muncy Nolan Arenado Alec Bohm   SHORTSTOP Bo Bichette Brandon Crawford   OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore Kyle Schwarber Jordan Walker Michael Conforto Cody Bellinger   Jordan Walker – OF – Cardinals – Chairman of The Dongers Club Kyle Schwarber – OF – Phillies Freddie Freeman – 1B – Dodgers Michael Conforto – OF – Giants Bo Bichette – SS – Blue Jays   TODAY’S BETTING ANALYSIS Good Over Upside — […]

For the most part this season FanDuel has done an adequate job on configuration of their slates to match DraftKings who normally gets it right. Today, neither of them got it right. We do not need a Padres/Pirates Showdown game at Noon today, but boys and girls that’s what we got, and then we have a 2PM Early 5 game slate on DraftKings and as you can probably guess, FanDuel has split that up into two smaller Very Early and Early slates. I am ignoring FanDuel and rolling with this article covering the Tigers/Rangers, Guardians/Royals, Yankees/Athletics, Rays/Snakes, White Sox/Angels   WEATHER All clear, 90+ degrees in Kansas City.   VIABLE PITCHING OPTIONS LANCE LYNN (DK: $8800) Yes, he still gives up insane power to lefties, and yeah, that Means Ohtani and Moustakas (maybe Escobar) but he also can still dominate with strikeouts and the weather in Anaheim isn’t as warm as I would have thought. CLARKE SCHMIDT (DK: $8200) I do not believe that just because they got perfect-gamed last night that Oakland can rebound and come out and hammer Schmidt today.   ROYALS Pratto, Melendez, Isbel, Perez Royals will hit Bieber today, that would be my contrarian ‘build’ on a short 5 game slate.  He hasn’t been able to get the whiff rates he has normally gotten and KC has enough comfort that they should be able to put the ball in play and do some damage here.  Only reason I don’t have Witt included is because there is a SS in the next game which I have a hard time ignoring RANGERS Seager, Semien, Garcia, Jung, Duran Best offense on the slate and at home with Reese Olson who isn’t as good as he pitched vs MIN & KC.  Look for the Rangers RHH to have a field day as well so don’t sleep on them.  If you have a pinch on $, Zeke Duran is a great relief at $3400.   CATCHER Salvador Perez Jonah Heim Carson Kelly   FIRST BASE Nick Pratto Nate Lowe Josh Naylor   SECOND BASE Marcus Semien Ketel Marte   THIRD BASE Josh Jung Evan Longoria   SHORTSTOP Corey Seager Bobby Witt Jr   OUTFIELD – Mt. Rushmore Luis Robert Jr Adolis Garcia MJ Melendz Giancarlo Stanton   OUTFIELD – Value Harrison Bader Ezequiel Duran   MJ Melendez – OF – Kansas City Royals – Chairman of The Dongers Club Evan Longoria […]

Two early games today means that we have just a 13 game main slate tonight.   WEATHER Heavy amounts of rain coming into Citi Field before their game tonight but likely they can keep the field in good condition and get the game in afterwards. After Brady Singer and Gavin Williams pitched gems last night, Kauffman Stadium has 96 degree temps with an 84% DewPoint, the ball if it gets in the air, will carry. The wind is blowing out and could be of impact for hitting in Boston (LF) and Baltimore (RF)   It doesn’t get much cleaner than last night in terms of picking the 4 arms to consider, and certainly today doesn’t look to replicate that ease of selections. TOP ARM LOGAN WEBB (DK: $10,600, FD: $10,700) The Blue Jays are a dead red offense, who loves to sit back and chop away violently at fastballs.  This is not the game plan that Logan Webb deploys and he should be able to keep them off balance for a good portion of tonight’s game.  Combine that with his recent low walk rate and durability to go 7 IP and I think we can pick on the Blue Jays “potent” lineup as they say tonight with Webb, because I was wrong last night, the Jays are NOT about to pop off.   SP2 ARM DANE DUNNING (DK: $6100, FD: $7500) Detroit had their little fun with the Rangers, they should get smoked tonight throwing Joey Wentz out there to start and likely won’t get much damage of Dunning, who honestly is having a breakout season for the Rangers and while his strikeout numbers on the whole aren’t fantastic, the Tigers did K 6 times vs him back on May 31st in Detroit and should produce a similar result tonight.   OTHER NOTES Those are the only two I am considering tonight. The following guys I think will pitch fine but are not ranked ahead of Webb for me today, so why bother. Cristian Javier, Mitch Keller, Lucas Giolito   These guys might get some hype/ownership but I think they are fades JP Sears Domingo German Braxon Garrett Logan Allen   There is a ton of offense projected tonight, and I got 3 home teams here, which normally a full stack is better for the road team, but I can see each of these jumping out early in the first […]

Rocket Mortgage Classic Remember that tough course a couple of weeks ago?  Los Angeles Country Club?  Well, welcome to week #2 of defenseless courses.  TPC River Highlands and the Detroit Golf Club do not cause any of these players to have increased stress levels.  In fact, DGC may be even less of a concern with […]

When Bruce Springsteen wrote about ‘Glory Days’, I am almost 99% certain he was envisioning a 15 game Tuesday slate in late June.  In fact, this is the FIRST 15 game slate we have had all season my friends.  I am 100% sure of this because I looked it up in our database here and as someone who still longs for those Sunday 15 game all day slates on FanDuel I can tell you this is definitely a win for us old folks who like to be nostalgic about the past. When you go through the games tonight, you should have memories of these teams meeting and having dramatic events against each other.  The Jeter throw against Oakland, Kirby Puckett’s homer vs the Braves, Albert Pujols going yard off Brad Lidge, the Red Sox scoring 14 runs in the first inning against the Marlins, the 1970 World Series re-match and much more. Yes, my friends.  Today is a great Baseball day.   WEATHER We definitely still have some chances of storms out there, but after I was told I would be getting tornado like conditions on Monday and I got NOTHING, I can definitely say screw you Weathermen. I say this and then I open my phone and see “Expect numerous thunderstorms to unleaseh downpours & gust winds later today.”  Pfft, whatever. Weather isn’t going to ruin the best day of the year.  Not today woman.   Only a rookie DFS player would see 15 games and think they have to “find value” at pitching or anywhere else for that matter.  The sea is your oyster my friend, you have every team to choose from, we can easily fit in a lineup which will produce 200+ points today no matter where you go on pricing at pitching and 9 times out of 10 on these 15 game slates, having at least one high $ pitching on DK wins because the cheap bats do come through.  On FD it’s no reason to go below 8500 tonight. It’s just a matter of which high $ arm we want…   TOP ARM(s) SHOHEI OHTANI (DK: $11,300, FD: $10.6k) It’s splitter day here in the Dongers Club.  Darvish, will have his going and so too will the next guy.  Neither of them have what Ohtani has.  He will be getting tired soon as he always does, but a heavy RH lineup which he’s dominated […]

Only six MLB games tonight and there are none which are going off earlier than the 7:05 first pitch.  There is the College World Series final game between Floriduh and LSU, which you should definitely tune in for and back the Tigers to win.   WEATHER More storms, and some vicious ones are expected in the Mid-Atlantic this evening.  I do believe all games will find a way to start on time and finish. The two games which could have the worst in game delays are Reds at Orioles – Early in the game, likely before they start Brewers at Mets – Late in the game, hopefully after Verlander has dominated   TOP ARM JUSTIN VERLANDER (DK: $8300, FD: $8100) Not Strider, not Castillo, its JV who I am in love with tonight and think we might even see that “no hitter” alert around the 6th or 7th inning.  Milwaukee isn’t hitting anything of late, they’re striking out 30%+ of the time and Verlander is well into a groove now as he has adjusted to the pitch clock, his new team and is ramped up to his normal 110 pitch limit without concern. The Mets DESPERATELY need some good vibes are a complete melt down on Sunday and JV should be the typical ‘slump stopper’ ace today.   SPENCER STRIDER (DK: $12,600, FD: $11,300) We have plenty of decent value hitting options to plug-in allowing for Strider to lock in with JV tonight, no sense going elsewhere unless you feel concerned with weather on Verlander, in which case your options should go to either Luis Castillo (meh) or … or …. or ya know what, just hammer LSU vs Florida and take the night off   ORIOLES Jordan Westburg, Adley Rutschman, Austin Hays Another day, another Orioles prospect is up and another reason why they’re most definitely winning a World Series this decade.  You build winning teams around the positional players, not pitching and the Orioles have called up infielder Jordan Westburg who had a .939 OPS in AAA and 18 HR.  He’s good and he’s cheap on DK & by cheap I mean $2000! MARINERS Jarred Kelenic, Ty France, Julio Rodriguez, Cal Raleigh We could see this game finish with the most runs on the slate tonight and I promise you that nobody is expecting that.  Trevor Williams continues to be someone who gives up lots of contact (and productive […]