If you’re reading this, you’ve survived another baseball off-season. I know what you’re thinking, how can MLB deprive us of baseball for 13,046,400 seconds? That might be an alternative fact, please don’t fact check me. Let’s get right to the slate for opening day! History repeats itself as we are left with a short slate on opening day once again. First and foremost, Vegas has the away teams completing the 3 games sweep which always makes for an interesting day in daily. Don’t expect any of the SP’s to throw a CG today. All of the guys on the board have averaged around 85 – 95 pitches on opening day for the last 3 seasons. Today’s value lies with Masahiro Tanaka at $18,100. Surprisingly Tanaka is the 2nd cheapest pitcher on the board today. Normally I try to shy away from pitchers on the road however Tanaka is 6-0 at the Trop and boast a k/9 of 8.6 against the Rays. It’s not that I don’t trust Chris Archer but the Yankees offense has been electric this spring. Vegas seems to think this will be the best pitching duel of the day with an o/u of 6 ½ and I’d agree that seems spot on. Tanaka gives you salary relief to pay up for MadBum who is the best pitcher on the board today, though I would proceed with caution. MadBum has a tough matchup in a hitter’s park and that game is projected for the highest scoring game of the day at 8 o/u.
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Jon Lester, SP – $20,200 – My favorite little yipster! Wait, what? I just had to google yipster to see if it was a real word. Let’s just say urban dictionary disappointed me. Again, I don’t like taking pitchers on the road but Vegas likes the Cubs and Lester has always pitched well in St. Louis. I also don’t want to pick any fights with Vegas on the first day of the season. He is the 2nd most expensive pitcher on the board. He has handled this lineup easily over the last 2 years.
Anthony Rizzo, IF: $9,400 – Today is national “Pick on C-Mart Day”. Rizzo is the most expensive bat on the board and should do damage in a plus match up. Paul Goldschmidt $9,300 is another top dollar 1b you can throw in this week. He has good numbers against MadBum but I wouldn’t count on him stealing any bases with Posey behind the plate.
Greg Bird, IF: $6,800 – Bird has been the word all spring and everyone is hoping he continues into the regular season. He draws a tough match up against Archer but he is a lefty and a cheap date.
Brandon Drury, IF/OF: $6,700 – I love bargains, especially ones I can’t pronounce. Drury is batting in the 2 hole and will have an opportunity to make MadBum sweat. A nice punt play if you need salary relief.
Kyle Schwarber, IF/OF: $8,400 – Lefties love C-Mart as much as they love telling us that they are lefty. Schwarber will be a difficult guy to leave out of the lineup given his power and lead off spot. One thing we’ll have to keep in mind for DFS this year is Maddon pulling Schwarber in the 8th or 9th for a defensive replacement.
Kevin Kiermaier, OF: $6,700 – If you are fading Tanaka or if you just want some Tampa Bay exposure on the small slate this guy could be an interesting pick. KK has given Tanaka trouble in the past and should be batting 2nd in the order today. KK once beat a cheetah in a race so it will be interesting to see if Cash gives him the green light to get some SB’s on Sanchez.
Yasmany Tomas, OF: $7,800 – Tomas might go under owned today given his missed time due to an oblique injury and his price tag is somewhat kind of high. Having MadBum on the mound might attribute to the low ownership as well. He is a righty and someone is going to put up runs in this game so I will lock him in as my GPP play.
Denard Span, OF: $6,500 – Grey made me sign an agreement before taking this job to recommend Span in every game that I was covering this season. Okay that might be another alternative fact. Span is likely be the lead off hitter heading into today’s game and should make some noise as he is one of the few lefties in this lineup. Don’t expect him to hit any home runs but he could get a few hits and score a few runs if he’s at the top of the lineup. You can add Brandon Belt $7,200 for a nice mini stack.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
Indoor baseball and clear skies. Nothing to worry about.
Doing Lines In Vegas
Vegas expects some scoring in Arizona and St Lois. In case you haven’t heard there will be a pitching duel in Tampa.
