Don’t be scared …. come on in, it’s fine!
… Yes, this is the alternative version to the Dongers Club and this is covering the 5 game early slate this Saturday afternoon. You see, who says you cannot teach old dogs new tricks? The day game slates and these early slates have just been troublesome for the better part of a year-plus now. And as I went to write up this slate and prepare my article I said, why am I calling it the Dongers Club? It’s not the Dongers Club. These early slates need their own name and their own flare to them, and they need a chance to do that even if it is approaching the middle of August. So just like a MLB team calling up young kids in September to see how they fit in the bigs, we’re gonna give the ole Pepper Report a chance to play.
Why the Pepper Report? Well, if you never played pepper growing up then you really didn’t live life. A nice quick game where you gotta be on your toes and it doesn’t require a ton of people to play. You know, like a short MLB DFS slate… So lets play a quick game of pepper on this slate.
Long live the game of Pepper.
GAME OF THE DAY
LA Angels vs Boston Red Sox
After Boston completely went off last night in a ‘get right’ game against Jaime Barria & the Angels they will certainly be a popular play today vs Andrew Heaney in an afternoon Fenway park game. The real juice here though is Rick Porcello on the mound for Boston, who I don’t think we should automatically assume is gonna win a third straight game against the Angels to open this series even though Anaheim is a dead man walking team right now. Angels will win this game and do it with their hitting off Porcello and the Sox bullpen. Can Mike Trout (Mr. Saturday) finally hit a Fenway Park home run? This is the only American League stadium he has never homered in. Today is the day for that in my minds and this game sitting at an Over/Under off 11.5 is likely gonna finish right at that number in what I expect is a 7-4 final score with the Angels taking the win.
PITCHING OPTIONS
- Mike Soroka … This is by far the best pitcher on the board and going into Miami he should be your heavy chalk option today. Won’t kill you, but this isn’t someone who is putting up 8 innings and 10 strikeouts either. 6 innings with limited damage is what you should expect here.
- Vincent Velasquez … Pitching very well, yes. Buyer beware.
- Spencer Turnbull … Im leaning that this game has more offense than not but Turnbull and the Tigers are going for a third straight win (something they havent done since April).
TEAMS TO STACK
Favorite player from each team in BOLD
ANGELS
- David Fletcher
- Mike Trout
- Shohei Ohtani
- Justin Upton
YANKEES
- Didi Gregorius
- Mr. August Gary Sanchez
- Brett Gardner … He probably flicks off the umpires as he rounds the bases
PHILLIES
- Bryce Harper
- Rhys Hoskins
- Jean Segura
ONE GUY PER POSITION
CATCHER – Jake Rogers
FIRST BASE – Rhys Hoskins
SECOND BASE – Michael Chavis
THIRD BASE – Vlad Guerrero Jr
SHORTSTOP – Didi
OUTFIELD – Ohtani, Upton, Gordon
