Slate Details
With the early games all being split across extremely small slates on both sites, this article will only feature the Main slate.
There is one double header at Coors between SF-COL; DK features both games, FD only features the 1st game of the DH on their Very Early Only slate. 6 PM games are only on the All Day slate for FD.
DraftKings – Early slate (4 games) – starts 2:10 PM EDT; Turbo slate (2 games) – starts 6:10 PM EDT; Main slate (10 games) – starts 7:05 PM EDT.
FanDuel – Very Early Only slate (2 games) – starts 2:10 PM EDT; Early Only slate (2 games) – starts 4:07 PM EDT; Main slate (9 games) – starts 7:05 PM EDT.
Weather Impact
Significant rain delay expected for HOU@KC; slight delay possible for PHI@STL.
Variable winds moving from left to center for the SF@COL night game.
Winds out to left (and across the field) for MIN@CWS & WAS@MIL.
Medium winds out to center for DET@LAA.
Winds mostly blowing in or around for TB@BAL, CHC@ARI & HOU@KC but all favor XBH over HRs.
Pitching
The main three arms to get excited about for the main slate are Tyler Glasnow, Pablo López, and Corbin Burnes. Pablo López feels the safest of the three as the White Sox are currently on a four game losing streak, scoring no more than 2 runs in their last 3 games. Corbin Burnes gets the Nats – also on a four game losing streak – but the Nats have a slightly lower K rate vs Rs. Lastly, Tyler Glasnow has the toughest matchup as the Rays and Orioles are battling for first place in the AL East. Glasnow certainly has the stuff, but he has also been more volatile away from home.
Grayson Rodriguez also has a tough matchup vs TB and is probably only a slightly risky tournament upside play. If the Orioles get to Glasnow early, Grayson could frustrate the Rays further with his impressive PLV numbers. The better bang for your buck play might be Sawyer Gipson-Long vs the Angels. Our resident expert Nick Pollack compares him to Logan Webb, which is a favorable endorsement, even if the wind and park could be a bigger challenge for him than the White Sox were his first time out.
Other pitchers that will likely see some ownership are J.P. France (because he’s facing KC), Cole Ragans (PitcherList’s hype machine in full effect) and Clayton Kershaw (big name draw). The concerns with France are two-fold – his walks and barrel rates allowed vs Ls are both up, causing his PLV rating vs L to be on the decline. Kauffman Stadium isn’t a risky HR park, but it is deep enough to allow XBH if solid contact is made. Ragans is fun, but HOU is not a fun matchup, as they don’t tend to strike out enough to pay off (although Ragans is pretty strong with Ks vs Ls). Speaking of Ks, the knock vs Kershaw is that his Ks are down – and he’s still dealing with a nagging shoulder injury – which makes him a tough arm to trust given his price.
Batting
SF@COL (DK only)
Ross Stripling is coming off the IL to start this one, and it’s hard to say whether he’ll be on a pitch count or not. He tends to allow FB contact to Ls and mainly GB contact to Rs, but he wasn’t bad the last time he faced the Rockies in July (2 ER over 3.2 IP, 3 Ks). Kyle Freeland is still a guy you want to target, giving up lots of hits, few Ks, and is susceptible to hard contact. Second games of double headers tend to disappoint; even though it’s Coors, it might be better to stick to a couple bats and move on.
Base plays: Wilmer Flores (SF); Charlie Blackmon (COL)
Stack/GPP plays: Ryan McMahon (COL)
MIN@CWS (Slight rain risk)
Touki Toussaint has the worst PLV average rating overall for the slate and although he doesn’t give up many HRs, he gives up too many hits and walks. Patient bats that aren’t mainly GB hitters are key.
Base plays: Max Kepler & Edouard Julien (MIN)
Stack/GPP plays: Royce Lewis & Carlos Correa (MIN)
WAS@MIL
Trevor Williams is yet another 5+ ERA pitcher on this slate who also happens to have the highest barrel rate allowed to Rs. MIL bats can be tough to count on, but they’re still leading the NL Central.
Base plays: Carlos Santana & Sal Frelick (MIL)
Stack/GPP plays: Willy Adames & Tyrone Taylor (MIL); Drew Millas (WAS)
DET@LAA
Drama is high with the Angels right now- Shohei Ohtani has cleaned out his locker, Anthony Rendon is suggesting the Angels weren’t forthcoming with his injury details, every week they put another player on IL, and yesterday they got blown out 11-2 vs the Tigers. The only thing missing is fans chanting “Sell the Team” like in Oakland. Tyler Anderson’s stats actually aren’t horrible – he gives up more barrels to Ls than Rs – but sometimes the off-field stuff can be more distracting than the game itself.
Base plays: Andy Ibáñez & Jake Rogers (DET)
Stack/GPP plays: Kerry Carpenter & Andre Lipcius (DET); Brett Phillips & Jared Walsh (LAA)
CHC@ARI
Hendricks v Davies is a matchup of two reverse splits pitchers on teams fighting for a wild card spot. The Cubs have lost 3 in a row, and the D-backs have lost 3 of their last 4. Put it all together and you have two teams that should put up points on both sides hoping to turn things around. Slight advantage to Hendricks as the D-backs are striking out more vs Rs lately.
Base plays: Seiya Suzuki (CHC); Tommy Pham (ARI)
Stack/GPP plays: Ian Happ & Cody Bellinger (CHC); Christian Walker & Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (ARI)
HOU@KC (Moderate rain risk)
This has been broken down to some degree above under pitching, but KC did get to Cristian Javier yesterday. Rain is due to start right around first pitch, so this may require some monitoring if you’re looking to get exposure to this game.
Base plays: MJ Melendez (KC)
Stack/GPP plays: Bobby Witt Jr. (KC); Alex Bregman & Yainer Diaz (HOU)
PHI@STL
PHI is leading the way for a NL wild card spot, but they aren’t playing like they’re ready for the postseason quite yet – maybe Miles Mikolas can help with that. Mikolas gives up hard contact to both sides of the plate. Ranger Suárez could be serviceable vs a team like the Cardinals, but he seems to always allow 2-3 ERs every time he takes the mound.
Base plays: Bryce Harper (PHI); Paul Goldschmidt (STL)
Stack/GPP plays: Trea Turner & Kyle Schwarber (PHI); Willson Contreras & Luken Baker (STL)
Honorable Mentions
Julio Rodríguez is facing Clayton Kershaw for the 1st time – SEA is on a bit of a slide, but Julio loves crushing some Ls.
Heston Kjerstad got called up…and crushed a HR. Does BAL trust him to actually start today?