Good morning and welcome back to the Saturday edition Covering ALL the Bases, which should be your first stop when researching any weekend MLB DFS slate. I go by “Thunder Dan” around here and you can find me @ThunderDanDFS on twitter. I’m ready to break down 14 baseball games today, three in the early slate and a nice big 11 game slate on the main.
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4:05 Early Only (3 games)
I’m not usually a fan of such small slates, but this is a pretty decent one. I would mainly play GPP lineups though, as it’s usually tough to construct a safe cash lineup with only six teams to choose from. All three games have right around the same Vegas total of 8.5 or 9 runs, so we should see some offense in the early games.
Pitcher
Mike Clevinger should be the chalk, but I don’t really see any of the other pitchers with both the floor and ceiling that he gives you. Miles Mikolas and Jose Quintana are possible pivots if you have to get off Clevinger, but Vince Velasquez has more strikeout upside than either of them. I like the idea of pairing Clevinger with Velasquez on DK. Whatever you do, DON’T use Blaine Hardy or Matt Harvey!
Bats
The best offense to target would be Cleveland, especially righties and switch hitters who continue to destroy left-handed pitching (Lindor, Ramirez, Encarnacion, Guyer) but at their prices, you’re not likely to fit in a full stack with a decent pitcher. Guyer stands out as a great value play to use as a one-off just to get you a piece of the Tribe attack and whoever catches today, Gomes or Perez might be another target.
I know the Phillies stack burned me last night, but I won’t let recency bias stop me from a chance to pick on Matt Harvey in the Great American Ballpark, where there should be some home runs today. Hoskins, Herrera, Franco and Williams are all home run threats for the Phils. Speaking of homers, Eugenio Suarez went yard again last night for the fifth straight game and Velazquez is likely to challenge him with some fastballs today.
I don’t mind using some Cardinals today for value. Yairo Munoz, Paul DeJong, and Yadier Molina continue to consistently hit lefties and don’t look now but Dexter Fowler has awakened from his first-half slumber and happens to have the best BvP against Quintana.
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7:05 Main (11 games)
Pitcher
It certainly feels like a day to pay up for pitching. I give the edge to Jacob Degrom as the top option today and the safest for cash games. The Pirates have finally cooled off and with Corey Dickerson and Starling Marte likely to be out of the lineup, Degrom should be able to handle the Pirates lineup. Justin Verlander is in a better spot than Degrom for strikeouts against Texas, but the Rangers bats have been hot. I like him as a pivot off Degrom for tourneys.
Patrick Corbin is another great option tinght for several thousand less than the two more well-known aces. He’s coming a great start against the Cubs and has an exploitable matchup with the Padres today. I’m not sure I’m interested in going any cheaper than the top 3 arms on Fanduel, but I know many of you will be looking for an affordable SP2 for Draftkings. Max Fried might be the guy. He’s coming off an injury, but was able to go a full six innings in his last rehab outing and racked up 10 strikeouts. We saw him flash major strikeout upside already earlier this season when he struck out 11 Cardinals. The Dodgers are a tough matchup but this is a talented pitcher at a great price that I am willing to take a risk on.
Bats
There are some massive Vegas team totals tonight, with ith Colorado and Houston leading the way with over six runs each. I am absolutely going back to the Rockies against Brett Anderson in Coors and while Houston busted last night, they should feast on rookie Ariel Jurado tonight.
I’m not overly excited about the Red Sox against Jake Odorizzi, so there’s some chalk I may fade. I do like going back to Toronto tonight after they absolutely smashed Lopez and they get an equally hittable Lucas Giolito tonight plus a bad ChiSox bullpen.
I absolutely want some exposure to the Angels against Felix Hernandez. The Angels have been smashing right-handed pitching and Hernandez is past his prime. Mike Trout has owned him throughout their careers, and hopefully, the Angels roll with a Calhoun, Ohtani, Trout top of the order like we saw earlier in the week.
That’s all I have for you today. Thanks for reading and good luck in your contests. VIP members will be checking with our coaches throughout the day in our premium slack chat. If you’re not a VIP yet, what are you waiting for???
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