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I was in Baltimore yesterday, watching AL Cy Young winner Roenis Elias toe the mound for the Mariners.  King Felix who?  During the game, I was keeping tabs on my DraftKings lineup, which ultimately failed me in the end.

I was texting back and forth with my buddy, who is newer to DFS games.  We have seemingly different strategies when it comes to setting our lineups, where I will always pay up for at least one stud pitcher and fine a bargain pitcher with upside for my second slot.  He, on the other hand, prefers to find two cheap pitchers with strikeout upside.  I explained my reasoning for how I do it.  I feel that elite pitchers are the surest bet in fantasy, where even the best hitters get out seven out of 10 times at the plate.

It didn’t work for me yesterday, but you know what they say about trusting the process, right?  That’s something I plan on doing, but when I look at the slate today, I get a little sick.  There are only six games, but the pitching may be worse today than it has all year long.

Here’s hoping for the best.

Straight to the cash, homie.

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Danny Salazar, SP: $9,300 – No disrespect to Salazar, but it’s a bad day for fantasy when he’s the top-priced pitcher for the evening games.  The White Sox are hitting just .259 against right-handed pitching this year, but as a collective unit, they are hitting .360 against Salazar for their career.  Still, I’m paying for the top pitcher on the board and trusting the strikeouts and win potential.

Jesse Chavez, SP: $7,200 – I told you it’s ugly.  I wouldn’t mind Alex Colome as a tournament play against Chavez’s Athletics, but they just crush right-handed pitching.  I’ll take Chavez against a lineup that fails to excite me or produce.

Stephen Vogt, 1B/C: $3,700 – It’s simple; anytime the Athletics face a righty, you put Vogt in your lineup.  Today, he gets the aforementioned Alex Colome.

Freddie Freeman, 1B: $4,400 – It’s the first time I’ve used Freeman this year for DFS, and he just kind of fell in my lap due to my options at other positions.  It’s a small sample, but he’s 4-12 with a homer against Matt Garza in his career.  Anyone facing Garza makes me confident, actually.

Logan Forsythe, 2B: $3,200 – It’s more of a punt play than anything, but Forsythe has been hot, though I expect him to cool down pretty quickly.  I’ll ride it while it lasts for this price.

Josh Donaldson, 3B: $4,500 – Kris Bryant is tempting here, but the ballpark factor is the tiebreaker for me.  Matt Shoemaker has already given up 11 homers on the year, and I like his chances to add a couple more to that today.

Hanley Ramirez, SS/OF: $4,800 – Assuming he plays, that is, which there are no indicators right now that he won’t.  I don’t care what Wandy Rodriguez has done this year.  I watched him enough with Pittsburgh to know what type of pitcher he is, especially at this point in his career.  The Red Sox stack didn’t work yesterday, but I’m trusting Hanley to produce today, as he’s 10-24 off Rodriguez for his career.

Michael Brantley, OF: $5,400 – He’s the most expensive outfielder today, but he’s worth it, going up against John Danks, who I like anyone against.  His lefty-lefty splits are fine, so he’s finding his way into my lineups today.

Ryan Raburn, OF: $2,900 – Ryan Raburn vs John Danks.  He’s 17-47 off Danks in his career with four homers.  Give me that production at $2,900, please.

Ryan Braun, OF: $4,400 – Since April 28, the only player that Ryan Braun trails in home runs and RBI is Bryce Harper, according to the team.  Julio Teheran has been as bad as you think, as his xFIP (4.15) is on par with his ERA (4.33) so far this season.  His BABIP against is .339, but he has a 22 percent home-run-to-fly-ball ratio.  Take advantage of the mismatch with Braun or Carlos Gomez today.

I’m Only Happy When It Rains

It’s a pretty clear slate tonight, with San Diego the only game threatened with a 11 percent chance of rain.  Go about setting your lineups as you usually would.

Doing Lines In Vegas

We have some high-scoring games tonight, according to the Vegas lines.  The Angels and Blue Jays come in at 9 over/under, as does the Rangers and Red Sox game.  Plan accordingly.