Sunday, August 11th
Did everyone have fun last night? Yay, that was retarded. I mean. It was fucking obvious and somewhat comical to watch unfold, yet, it was just STUPID. Anyways, there are some good things in Baseball still…. Dear NFL, you might be about to completely take over the news cycle, but Major League Baseball is still here and boy what a loaded Sunday afternoon they’re rolling out today. The DFS slate early today has 11 games on it with a TON of stud pitching and a TON of high drama/big games going on… Mets/Nats – WOW. How bad is Houston gonna murder Baltimore again? Or are they? Angels-Red Sox has been good. Indians/Twins battling it out… Reds have all the good vibes vs the Cubs, Jays are competing with the Yanks and Royals/Tigers!! Oh, wait. That game sucks.
WEATHER
All games play
There are 5 pitchers who have ‘big name’ appeal to them today that are going to draw all the ownership just because there are so many of them. I don’t hate any of them, but I’m also not viewing any lineup construction as needing to go with them because of the depth of the slate (11 games) and the quality in the mid range. Here’s my thoughts on the big 5.
Jacob deGrom … Same theory as Thor last night, the Mets are rolling and deGrom is making his Cy Young push right now. His last few starts have been very weak opponents but using any Met right now is fine with me.- My initial thoughts on this game have shifted … See below
- Justin Verlander … The big question is does he go past 7 innings today? I doubt it. But 7, 1 ER and 9 K is likely. Just dont need it necessarily because it’s hard to plug him with a cheap SP2 — there’s no Houser today.
- Luis Castillo … The Mets are getting all the attention, but the Reds have a ton of magic going on right now too. Don’t be shocked to see the Reds and Mets in the Wild Card game. This is a team nobody wants to see in the playoffs either. You think I am crazy on this? Let’s get off topic for a second. The teams in front of Cincy for the WC spot include Arizona (mailed it in), San Francisco (mailed it in), Philadelphia (mailing it in), Mets (hot), Cardinals (they play each other alot), Brewers (ditto) and Nationals. You don’t think they can make up 3-4 games with a rotation of Castillo-Bauer-Gray-DeSclafani-Wood? I wouldn’t be shocked if they even won the division…. Anyways, I’m not touching Castillo but if anyone throws 12 K’s today it’s him.
- Jose Berrios … No strikeouts today
- Lucas Giolito … Nothing says he should dominate today so this dick probably throws a no hitter now…
Again, it’s not that I hate those guys with a passion, its just that playing 2 on DK today and using one of them requires some really shitty SP2 options and when I have 3-4 good mid range options, I’d prefer to go there. If you can get one of the guys above with one of these players then have at it — but there’s some bats I really like that make that hard…
MILES MIKOLAS
I don’t often recommend a pitcher in the Pirates-Cardinals legacy battles but when I do, its on a Sunday in St. Louis. OK, put that aside. Mikolas had a terrible start to the season and it really weighed down his overall numbers, but the Cards righty has been really good over the past month. Five starts in a row without a loss, 44% ground ball rate and only 0.53 BB/9. He’s really pitched well lately.
JAKE JUNIS
Detroit just lost arguably their best hitter in JaCoby Jones. No wind issues here and it’s Junis vs the Tigers a team he pitches extremely well against every start and well, Junis on Sunday’s, no? The biggest concern I have with Junis today? Who the fuck is Nick Dino. I’m a Royals fan and I haven’t paid attention to this kid at all who is called up to catch him in place of Sunday Cam Gallagher. Hey kid, just let Junis throw his slider all day, okay?
MICHAEL FOLTYNEWICZ
Folty came out last start with a completely revamped approach and relied less on his fastball and more on the secondary stuff to a really really really good outing versus a great Twins team. He likely gains a ton of ownership today on FanDuel off that and now facing the Marlins, I’ll go Junis or Mikolas personally because I think Folty was a little lucky vs the Twins but the easier opponent today offsets any of that and he should get you a 40 on FanDuel.
CHRIS BASSITT
A very steady option that ideally would be priced a little lower, but lets not overthink this. Chicago without Moncada doesn’t have much pop from the left side of the plate which would be the major damage on Bassit if any. I 100% expect him to give up 2-3 ER today likely from the bats of Abreu and Eloy Jimenez — but this is one more mid range option that can be considered today.
FAVORITE DK Pairings
- Junis & Mikolas
- Mikolas & Folty
- Junis & Bassitt
- Castillo & deGrom … Just to get weird.
FAVORITE FD ARMS
- Junis
- Mikolas
- Castillo
NY Yankees
Boston on Friday, Houston on Saturday, Yankees today. The Yankees are going to drop 12 to 14 runs on the Blue Jays with 4+ home runs off Trent Thornton and a tired and just not very good Blue Jays bullpen. They’re seeing Thorny for the third time this year and while he is horrific against lefties, we can trust the Yankees right handed bats in this spot as well. DJ LeMahieu has raped the Jays all season long and with Thornton’s giving up oppo-power to RH bats which plays perfectly for Aaron Judge. Sanchez in August (if he starts at DH), Gardy and Tauchman from the left side round out the primary Yankees I am looking at today. Oh, and that Gio guy seems to be playing with some extra crowns in his AB’s these days.
Minnesota Twins
Dear Cleveland, thanks for making things interesting but we’ll take it from here. Even without Nelson Cruz in the core of the lineup today I love the Twins to beat up Civale — but their true upside is limited by how good the Indians bullpen has been lately. Remember when people were all over Griffin Canning as an elite young arm and then he completely went to shit after a couple of starts? Yeah, well, Civale is no Canning and he’s gonna do the same thing making his FIRST start on the road today. Doesn’t pass the smell test with me and the OG Twins Kepler-Rosario-Polanco get it going for them today. Civale is a sinker/cutter pitcher which screams Garver-Sano both being the HR plays here while the lefties Kep-Rosario-Polanco get the doubles and regular base hits.
Texas Rangers
This is the best spot for the ‘bad’ offenses as the Rangers draw Jordan Lyles. Lots of lefties here to beat up on a guy who struggles with the lefties. I would play Texas + Mike Minor together if you go with Texas, because Minor is someone I considered but feared he wouldn’t get the win unless the bats go off. Choo-Mazara-Santana-Odor the bats to focus on.
GAME STACKS
You shouldn’t look to game stack that often in MLB, it’s just not a big deal unless its a Coors or Camden situation but there’s two games today that I feel have the MOON potential associated with them and nobody will be on either one…
Nats / Mets
If you have been following along, you know I love betting the Sunday afternoon OVER in Citi Field, but it’s more then that. The Nationals lineup with Adams, Parra, Suzuki today is actually very sneaky on deGrom who as I mentioned above is coming back into a tougher spot than some of the cupcakes he has had recently. Washington really needs to salvage something in this series and will have to do it off their lefties and Rendon today. The other side is the obvious one. How do you bet against the Mets right now and how do they not hit 3+ home runs today? Rosario, Alonso, Conforto the always sneaky JD Davis and … hey. Look, it’s a bird… It’s a plane… No, it’s Joe Panik hitting his first HR as a Met in Citi Field.
Cubs / Reds
A game between Lester and Castillo, even with Lester sucking in day games should not have a 9.5 total IMO. I said Heyward isn’t leaving Cincy without a homer and Schwarber has been $ in the banks on Sundays all season long. Javy Baez and Bryant are both guys who Castillo should manage but I’m okay with Rizzo as the third option in the Cubs side. For the Reds though, how do you ignore Acquino and Suarez today? Votto is gonna get on via walks, Senzel is going to jack one out to lead off the game and after Aquino walks post Suarez’s double we’ll get Jose Peraza or Phil Ervin going yard to make it 5 or 6-3 Reds and the over hits in the first inning. Okay, maybe I’m fudging a little bit here but you get the point. This game screams stack me, stack me, stack me….
My Fades
Angels, Red Sox, Astros (minus one of the lefty OF)
CATCHER
If you pay up, get the HR from Sanchez or Garver … Otherwise punt.
- Gary Sanchez
- Mitch Garver
- Manny Pina
- Andrew Knizer
FIRST BASE
Worst position on the slate but Freeman will go yard today off Noesi and thus why we aren’t considering the #SBT at all today.
- Freddie Freeman
- Carlos Santana
- Yuli Gurriel
SECOND BASE
OKay…. So DJ LeMahieu and Rougned Odor are nice plays that I’m sure you are certainly aware of. But lets move on to the #$&$@$@ adventure of today. This slate has NOTHING to do with stacks or PITCHERS OR ANYTHING. No sir. This #)(*$@)$&)@$() shit hole of a slate is going to get ruined by the battle between Chris ****** Owings and Joe Panik.
Now. I love Panik today. Why? I don’t fucking know, it just feels right. The Mets are rolling, he is cheap, first Sunday game in Citi Field as a Met, his turn to jack one out as the ball carries better today. But then we have ole Chris fucking Owings. The absolute, worst Baseball player of 2019 statistically. THE WORST. HE HAS BEEN HORRIBLE. Then he suddenly gets scooped up by the Red Sox after finally being DFA’d by the Royals and goes to some New England minor league town like Pantucket or Pawtucket or Nantucket or ShawshankIt or IllTuckItYouSuckIt, or whatever the hell it’s called and he has like 6 HR in his first 9 games or some Yordan Alvarez / Aristides Aquino level shit. This is Chris fucking Owings people. And what do we have today? We have $2100 Chris Owings who is 2B/OF eligible on DK BATTING LEAD OFF AGAINST A LEFTY. So just cue up all the donkeys who are admitting that they would play a drunk cockroach batting lead off for $2100 if their optimizer told them too because Chris Owings fucking sucks. He has been playing professional Baseball since 2014, in that time he has 610 plate appearances against lefties. He has stepped into the box SIX HUNDRED and TEN TIMES against a lefty and guess how many times he has hit a home run. GUESS. GO AHEAD. FUCKING GUESS.
GUESS.
GO AHEAD…
610 AT BATS….
EIGHT…
EIGHT TIMES….
SO WHEN THIS JACK ASS, who this year had a FUCKING IMPRESSIVE .023 ISO AGAINST LEFTIES HITS A FUCKING HOME RUN I DONT WANT TO HEAR ABOUT HOW SHARP YOU WERE FOR CALLING THIS JACK ASS. HE SUCKS. GUESS WHO HAS MORE HOME RUNS THAN HIM?
THATS RIGHT. JOE MOTHER FN PANIK.
#LFGM
THIRD BASE
I bumped Suarez up over Sano, but it’s really close.
- Eugenio Suarez
- Miguel Sano
- Hunter Dozier
SHORTSTOP
Welcome to my fucking hell. I love these three guys today and thus likely will be tilting this spot the most. All three teams can be stacked as well in my mind and I wouldn’t play Polanco naked of the three, but 100% I love these three over everyone else.
- Jorge Polanco
- Amed Rosario
- Jose Peraza
OUTFIELD – Tier 1
- Aaron Judge
- Whit Merrifield … Cycle watch for Whit today.
- Brett Gardner … Friends shouldnt let friends love Brett Gardner like I do today.
- Nick Senzel
- Kyle Schwarber
OUTFIELD – Tier 2
- Michael Brantley … Brantley and Reddick are the only Astros I’m looking at. One if not both hit a HR today.
- Aristedes Aquino
- Jason Heyward
- Eddie Rosario
- Max Kepler
OUTFIELD – Value
- Josh Reddick
- Teoscar Hernandez
- Gerardo Parra
- Eloy
THE CHAIRMAN
- Aaron Judge – OF – Yankees
THE REST
- Whit Merrifield – OF – Royals
- Josh Reddick – OF – Astros
- Amed Rosario – SS – Mets
- JOE PANIK – 2B – METS – SUCK IT
- Miguel Sano – 3B – Twins
- Freddie Freeman – 1B – Braves
- Gary Sanchez – C – Yankees
- BONUS ………………. Carlos Santana – 1B – Indians
- BONUS 2 …………………… Brett Gardner – OF – Yankees
