Slate Details
Thanks to Tropical Storm Hilary, all of the California-based games that were going to be on Sunday have been moved to double headers today, making the slates different depending on site:
DraftKings – Early slate (4 games) – starts 1:05 PM EDT; Afternoon slate (2 games) – starts 4:05 PM EDT; Main slate (10 games) – starts 7:10 PM EDT (includes the late ARI@SD/TB@LAA/MIA@LAD games).
FanDuel – Very Early Only slate (2 games) – starts 1:05 PM EDT; Early Only slate (3 games) – starts 4:05 PM EDT; Main slate (7 games) – starts 7:10 PM EDT (no ARI@SD/TB@LAA/MIA@LAD games).
Given that most of the slates are small and there could be multiple lineup changes due to the double headers, this article will only focus on the Main slate games starting at 7:10 PM EDT.
Weather Impact
Main slate has Coors, and the late games of the double headers (DK only) all have chances of rain.
CWS@COL has hot temps and wind blowing in, but still plenty of carry.
DET@CLE will be warm, with slight wind out to right.
PIT@MIN will be hot, with winds out to left-center.
The late games for TB@LAA & MIA@LAD (DK only) will have slight winds out to left, with possibly a little less carry than the earlier games.
The late ARI@SD game (DK only) is projected to have winds blowing in, but has the greatest chance of being affected by rain.
Pitching
Pitchers in green are DK only
Best guess is a bullpen game for ARI in the late game.
Weather concerns and double headers limit the options a bit today.
Sonny Gray should do well at home vs PIT – his K rates are back up and López had 7 Ks vs them yesterday. MIN has also won 4 of their last 5, scoring at least 3 runs in each game. Kodai Senga could also do well vs STL, who have lost their last 3 in a row, and although Senga’s K rate is down vs lefties, STL is using a R-heavy lineup because of injuries to many of their L starters, which plays into his 33.5% CSW rate. Both Gray & Senga are suitable for all formats.
If you have the stomach for it – tournaments only – Logan Webb has the best PLV ratings of the slate and the park conditions are neutral for SF@ATL. He’s primarily a GB pitcher and Yonny Chirinos has not been good in many of his starts this year, so as long as he gets some run support, he could be a low-owned pivot play. Unfortunately he’s not at a discount.
If you’re playing main on DK, you have a couple more options:
Yu Darvish has been a tough guy to trust in what appear to be safe spots, but over the past month, he hasn’t had back-to-back poor outings – after giving up 4 ERs vs BAL in his last start, he should be due for a good bounce back effort today. The wind blowing in helps limit his FB allowances to L bats (as long as he keeps walks under control), but this game has the highest chance of rain interference ranging from a delay to potentially not being able to finish.
MIA is another risk/reward team to target, but Julio Urías has shown improvement in his last 3 starts and had 12 Ks vs COL in his last start. The Marlins hung 11 runs on the Dodgers yesterday and with today’s double header, that’s a lot of swings of the bat for the main threats in this lineup. If Jorge Soler or Jake Burger end up sitting for the 2nd game, that improves Urias’s chances of success even more. There’s also a chance of a rain delay for this game, but probably less impactful than the SD game.
Batting
CWS@COL
Kyle Freeland isn’t missing many bats – K rates are down and hard contact is up vs both L/R – but the White Sox have lost 5 of their last 6, and are currently without Tim Anderson (suspension) and Eloy Jiménez (paternity leave). Jesse Scholtens does a little better vs Ls, with higher K rates and GB contact, with some barrels; vs Rs he gives up more LD/FB contact and that’s where most of the HRs against him have come lately.
Base plays: Andrew Vaughn (CWS); Ezequiel Tovar, Ryan McMahon & Nolan Jones (COL)
Stack/GPP plays: Yoán Moncada & Luis Robert Jr. (CWS); Elehuris Montero & Michael Toglia (COL)
DET@CLE
Are the Tigers trying to play spoiler lately? In August they are a .500 team but they’ve been fairly competitive even in their losses. Tanner Bibee’s PLV ratings are on the rise vs both L/R, but he’s an extreme FB pitcher vs Ls with a concerning amount of solid and hard contact. Matt Manning is a FB pitcher vs both sides of the plate and can give up HRs when conditions are primed for it (6 HRs in his last 4 starts).
Base plays: José Ramírez & Brayan Rocchio (CLE); Riley Greene & Akil Baddoo (DET)
Stack/GPP plays: Spencer Torkelson (DET)
PIT@MIN
Mitch Keller is doing well with Ks lately, but not so much with walks. He also has a bit of a reverse splits problem with LD contact barrels allowed to Rs who can avoid striking out. The Twins balanced lineup could lead to a number of XBH with runners on base.
Base plays: Royce Lewis & Edouard Julien (MIN)
Stack/GPP plays: Carlos Correa & Christian Vázquez (MIN)
SF@ATL
The Braves are on a 4-game win streak (nothing surprising there) but they’ve also shut out their opponents in the last three games. As noted in the pitching section, Logan Webb has the best PLV ratings on the slate which makes ATL bats less of a priority than normal. On the other hand, Yonny Chirinos allows a fair amount of hard contact to both L/R bats which has led to him surrendering 6 ERs in his last two starts. If you want to get wild for tournaments, you could play Webb with a SF stack.
Base plays: Michael Conforto (SF)
Stack/GPP plays: Joc Pederson & Thairo Estrada (SF); Eddie Rosario (ATL)
BAL@OAK
Ken Waldichuk has had a weird 4-game stretch – two 4 inning bulk relief appearances where he only gave up 1 hit (but a lot of walks) and two full starts where he gave up 6 or more hits but limited ERs to two or fewer. BAL had 16 hits total yesterday – and they’re still the 2nd team overall in the league – so it’s more than likely Waldichuk has one of those ‘many hits allowed’ type of starts. He tends to give up a variety of contact vs Rs, and is trending up for hard contact allowed. Even vs Ls, he tends to walk them too often. Cole Irvin has a similar hit profile vs Rs, with slightly less hard contact, but a sub-5.0 PLV suggests there could be runs scored on both sides here.
Base plays: Ryan Mountcastle & Adley Rutschman (BAL); Zack Gelof (OAK)
Stack/GPP plays: Ryan O’Hearn (BAL); Carlos Pérez & Jordan Diaz (OAK)
TB@LAA (DK only)
Patrick Sandoval is giving up a lot of walks lately – 6 in his last start vs TEX. He’s also given up at least 2 ERs in his last four starts. Zach Eflin has been a bit up and down in the last month, with 3 games of one or less ER allowed with a decent amount of Ks (STL/NYY/BAL), and two games with at least 5 ERs and few Ks. He’s also a reverse splits pitcher lately with barrels given up to power Rs as long as they don’t strike out.
Base plays: Harold Ramírez & Jose Siri (TB)
Stack/GPP plays: Randy Arozarena (TB); Logan O’Hoppe (LAA)
MIA@LAD (DK only)
It’s a southpaw battle for the late game, and as mentioned earlier, for MIA it really comes down to whether or not they continue to roll out their power bats after a lot of baseball in the past 24 hours. Braxton Garrett has gone almost a month without giving up a HR, but his PLV rating vs Rs is dropping, so he may be on borrowed time.
Base plays: Miguel Rojas & Will Smith (LAD)
Stack/GPP plays: Mookie Betts & Amed Rosario (LAD); Jorge Soler & Nick Fortes (MIA)
Honorable Mention
Julio Rodríguez is on a tear right now – especially vs Ls – and Framber Valdez is pitching. An excellent tournament play if you have the salary to spare.