[player]Mike Fiers[/player] threw the first Astros no-hitter by a single pitcher in over 20 years last night and the very first no-no in Minute Maid Park to make his way into the Houston record books, alongside Houston greats such as Beyonce, Dennis Quaid....uh, Rory Gilmore...did I say, Beyonce already? Anyway, even more impressive, the 30-year old Fiers did it against one of the leagues top offenses in the LA Dodgers. You probably wouldn't have started Michael Fiers unless you owned @#$%ing Michael Fiers! Fiers walked just three batters and struck out 10 in what was also his first career complete game. It took Mike 134 pitches to get through this one, but his stuff seemed to get better as he got deeper into the game. It was his first win with his new team. After struggling in relief in his first appearance with Houston, Fiers settled nicely into a starting role that he will be unlikely to relinquish after last night's dominating performance. He's allowed just one earned run in three starts with Houston, with a 19/6 K/BB rate. Fiers struggles with control at times but when he's on the strikeouts numbers are nice and he can be a very useful fantasy starter. He's available in over half of leagues and gets the Yankees next week, I'd grab him if he's out there, he could be a helpful guy to own as the Astros make their run for a pennant.
Here's what else I saw in fantasy baseball Friday night:
You mean you didn't learn German in High School? Hopefully you didn't try to make sense of today's catchy DraftKings' title or closeout the window thinking your computer was going to crash, because today's focus is on
Taylor Jungmann. Have you wondered why the Jung portion of his name is pronounced as 'young'? Well, the name is German. Halten Sie werfen Wärme junger Mann means 'keep throwing heat young man'. And my friends, that is the language lesson of the day. My favorite subjects were always math, lunch, and physical education so lets move on. Taylor Jungmann's talent is legit. He was once a top prospect in the Brewers' organization. Seven of his last 9 outings have been Quality Starts, and he was only 1 out a way from making it 8 out of 9. He has 73 strikeouts in 80 innings pitched with a .221 BAA and a 1.12 WHIP. The road start against the Nationals might be a scary thought for your DraftKings' opponents, but now we are all brushed up on Jungmann and know that there is a very good possibility that he could be owned at a very low rate in a big 'Guaranteed' entry. So lets go for the gold! He'll make for a very nice first pitcher option at $9,600, as only being the sixth most expensive pitcher of the entire day. This'll give you plenty of money to use on your hitters. Keep reading and check out some of my other picks for today.
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They're the world's most fearsome fighting team, they're heroes in the half shell and they're green. When the Evil Shredder attacks these turtle boys don't.... Oops sorry I got lost for a minute in quite possibly the greatest theme song of my childhood. Say what you will G.I. Joe fans, and followers of He-Man but the Turtles were killing the game back in the early 90's. Maybe you're not familiar with a little ditty called "
Ninja Rap" by the God emcee
Rakim Vanilla Ice! Is it bad that after watching that video I'm reminded that Ice was 100 times more legit hip-hop than Drake or Meek Mill? Seriously some solid scratches in the intro there. But that's all besides the point, today's post is dedicated to those down with the Turtle Power since Day One. Welcome to the sewer...
Riggidy Raow! Oh snap who invited Das Efx? Sorry guys you disappeared faster than Chris Shelton's short lived power surge. Go back down that man-hole cover. Now back to the lecture at hand, this week the tiers are all about the Turtles boi! Oh yeah and two start pitchers, because anyone reading this is in one of two positions. A. You're in the playoffs, don't have a bye and are loading up on the double dippers. or B. You're making that last push to make the playoffs or lockdown that all important bye. Doesn't matter what type of league you're in this time of year, even roto players like myself are looking to stream and load up on starters to reach our limits after being patient boys and girls all year. So this is for y'all. Two Start Pitchers, Week 21!
Give me a buy, a bouncy buy! Wait, might have my Martin Short characters mixed up. *Googling* Damn, that was from his Irving Berlin. Jackie Rogers Jr. didn't have much of a catchphrase. Last Saturday, JBJ was sworn in as the hottest schmotato in the land as Jackie O., his mother and who he was named after, held the Bible. After the ceremony, JBJ stated, "Compared to taking a free pass, hitting is a cakewalk." Then he high-fived himself. Jackie Bradley Jr. is more or less a hot platoon player, but Cousin Sizzlechest is about as hot as they come right now. JBJ will cool off at some point, he strikes out a bit too much, but he's worth owning in all leagues where you're hurting for that little extra spark. Plus, to get JBJ on your team, you don't need the assistance of the Cubans, the FBI, Frank Sinatra, Joe Pesci in a bad wig, a vast right wing conspiracy, Joe DiMaggio and some dude named Zapruder. Anyway, here's some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:
In 1847 in Self-Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson said "consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds". He actually said more than that, but I have taken just those words. Did I just start out my fantasy baseball post with a partial Emerson quote about goblins?! For some reason I apparently have. In one of my preseason rants, I said something about consistency being key. I'd much rather have a hitter that scores about the same number of points each week, than one that is hit or miss. For example, over a five week span, I'd rather have my hitter get 20 points a week than have him score 5 the first week, 45 the second week, 5 week three, 5 week four and 40 in the fifth week. While the two 40-point weeks are awesome, the 5-point weeks are awful. That might now have been the best example, but I believe it sufficient enough to get my point across.
Tehol was enjoying Shark Week while
[player]Miguel Sano[/player] was bashing mammoth home runs a while back. Appropriately,
he gave the Dominican-born Sano the fantastic nickname, “Great White.” I’ve got to say, I have been inspired by this since, and I’m determined to make it stick. I will dedicate my life to getting this nickname uttered by a nationally televised broadcast team. Okay, nicknames aside now, let’s talk about Mr. Sano. Aaron Gleeman, a Rotoworld Senior Editor and Minnesotan, has been posting an onslaught of wonderful OPS statporn related to Sano. Here’s a sampling…
You'd think with a lineup featuring Prince Fielder, the Alfredo would go down fast and leave a mess for someone to clean up. I mean, I know Fielder is a vegetarian so maybe there were too many meatballs? How else can you explain it? It wasn't Sunday so 'Any Given Sunday' need not apply and Any Given Thursday just opens the door for all the days of the week to claim coincidence as its catch phrase. We can't have these things, there must be a reason! Yeah, there are no reasons. To the antithesis of all baseball nerd reasoning,
Alfredo Simon pitched a complete game yesterday against a reasonably good Texas Rangers offense, only giving up one hit and two walks in the process while K'ing five in the shut out. Alfredo was giving up 1.45 HR/9 to go with a .383 wOBA to lefties on the year going into last night and faced a team that had five reasonably good lefty bats in their lineup. Let's just stuff this one away in
Gray's Sports Almanac and move on with our lives without giving it a second thought, shall we? Yes, let's. So without further ado, the guy who isn't Grey will lead you through the rest of what he saw from yesterday for 2015 Fantasy Baseball...
Late bloomers can be found pretty much anywhere you look. Do you remember that Jose Altuve-like kid in junior high who was at least six inches shorter than the next tallest boy in the class? I know I do. That kid is 6'5" now. (Apologies to the real Altuve who might never experience the thrill of riding a roller coaster). If you're a film buff, you're probably aware that Harrison Ford was toiling away in obscurity until his mid-30s when Star Wars hit it big, and Sandra Bullock followed a similar career path with Demolition Man and Speed. In the sports world, there are several post-hype and un-hyped players who break out each year, such as Josh Donaldson, JD Martinez, and Charlie Blackmon over the last few years. Is Chris Coghlan one of those players this season?
Let's take a look at Coghlan's career statistics to see how he's evolved offensively over the years:
When your team is battling for a playoff spot, what's the most important thing? Winning. Winning out of the bullpen is a thing that is not predictable, I get it, but when your team goes 7-0 from the bullpen in the last 14 games, that is just a damn near beautiful thing if you love bullpens as much as I... I mean, you may not, but that's cool (maybe). You have your love interests... invested in beanie babies or all your Gregg Jefferies' rookie cards that your whole childhood fortune is invested in... Just saying, you should probably move out of your mom's basement or branch out from the family business for a bit. As a whole, the Pirates are a top-3 club for bullpen ERA, and are led by the king of Holds currently: Tony Watson. Him and his merry men of "set-uphood" have completely just wrecked shop out of the pen lately, their ERA is 1.21 and they have allowed just a measly 34 hits in 52 innings. Take it from me, that is getting the job done. The addition of Joakim Soria has lengthened their bullpen to the point where Jared Hughes, Joe Blanton, and Arquimedes Caminero are in prime win plucking spots. Yeah, I just used Joe Blanton in a fantasy write-up, and no it's not 2000-never. So stick around as I wax symbolic about other bullpen situations arising as we stream towards the fantasy baseball playoffs.
Guys, each Thursday, I write to help you win money on DraftKings. That's the main objective. But I would be remiss to not mention that almost every Thursday, I complain that the slate is way too small. Trust me, many Thursdays I don't play just because it's so bad.
But not this week.
Twenty weeks into the season, we finally have a big slate on a Thursday. We are looking at 11 games, including the Nationals at Coors Field, but sadly the Blue Jays are off.
Let's get straight to the cash, homie.
New to DraftKings? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well try out this 20 teamer of Razzball writers and friends to wet your DK whistle. Just remember to sign up through us before you do. It’s how we know you care! If you still feel helpless and lonely, be sure to subscribe to the DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. 
