Hopefully, the first day of summer on Tuesday brings with it some nice victories in DFS as it was a buzz-saw of a weekend for me. I’ve been dealing with a visit from everybody’s favorite virus since Friday. I am fortunate, as symptoms are mild, but it still feels like I’ve run three marathons every time I get out of bed and try and do something. Writing tonight’s article is a battle of will between my eyelids and devotion to you, my fellow Razzballers. I apologize if my summaries are a little lighter than normal. My home league team was marred by back-to-back devastating injuries to Mookie Betts and Manny Machado. Hard to take a bigger two-pack of shots to the nuts than that over the span of a weekend. Also, MLB continues to define itself by stupid rules, they are now enforcing a rule where players cannot have wedding rings on as they may conceal a foreign substance. The rule has always been there, but this is just another in a long line of things MLB does that makes it look dumb vs things it could do to improve the game. You know, like get rid of Angel Hernandez. Let’s get into our picks for this week!
I’ll be bringing you my DFS picks for the main evening slate on Tuesday, June 21st, 2022. If you play on DraftKings, it is a 13-game slate starting at 6:05 Central time. This article will be primarily focused on the DraftKings slate, so if you play on Fanduel I encourage you to sign up for the DFS tools to help you make the best decisions for your lineups on FanDuel, DraftKings, and Yahoo.
New to DFS? You can start playing right now on FanDuel and put our picks to the test. If you’re scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond, be sure to read our content and subscribe to the DFS Bot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before jumping into the fray, it helps support your Razzball team!
Sean Manaea, SP: $9,000. I’m fading the top arms tonight. Nestor Cortes gets the Rays who he has handled twice this year, but the price has become unappealing at $10,400 and he just faced them last time out. Kevin Gausman has to be tipping his splitter cause guys are sitting dead red, he is getting hit hard, and until he shows otherwise or magically evolves an effective third pitch I’m off him. Dylan Cease gets the red hot Blue Jays bats so that’s a big time pass. So it is into the next tier of pitchers I am looking to find some winners. I landed on Manaea who has been serviceable so far but hasn’t really become the ace everyone was expecting in his move to San Diego. Here’s the thing, he’s the exact same pitcher he was in Oakland. He has a 3.95 ERA currently and a 3.65 xFIP. Last year he finished the season with a 3.91 ERA and a 3.62 xFIP. Hard hit % last year was 32.4%, and this year it is 32.0%. The only glaring difference is he is walking an extra batter per nine innings vs last year. He gets a favorable match-up vs the Diamondbacks who are only 24th in OPS and strike out the third most of any team in MLB.
Roansy Contreras, SP: $7,400. I’m gonna take a shot on Roansy here. Streamonator really likes the start, and I really like the underlying metrics. He had a rough time out vs the Cards last week, but the other four starts have shown he has high K potential (Still not fully realized at the MLB level this season) and solid control. He has been building up to get deeper into games and I am hopeful the Cubs are a team he can do that against. They have an OPS on the road of .683 and have only left Wrigley for one road trip so far in June where they averaged 2.5 runs per game. Hopefully, they continue with the hangover away from the Friendly Confines.
Adley Rutschman, C: $3,400. I’m going double stack Tuesday with the O’s and Cards. I love Adley and his .205 BA, 1 HR and 4 RBIs and you should too. I love that the O’s are letting him learn on the fly and play almost every day. They will be rewarded. He hit 23 Home Runs across AA and AAA last year with a 79/90 BB/K Ratio. That’s elite stuff. He’s hitting .303 in his last ten games and has only struck out 5 times in 33 at bats. He’s getting the batting eye locked in at the top level and the power won’t be far behind.
Paul Goldschmidt, 1B: $5,400. In the last week+ he is 14 for 34 with 4 Home Runs, 7 Runs and 11 RBIs. I made the mistake of not putting him in my lineup against a subpar pitcher last Tuesday. Not doing that again tonight. For those of you born after 1990 you might need some help with this title. Here you go – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi-Chi%27s
Brendan Donovan, 2B: $3,700. There’s nothing spectacular about Donovan other than he’s found himself near the top of the Cards lineup when he is in it. He is a great speed and contact combo and should continue to hit at or near .300. That’s enough for me at this price to try and get a few hits, runs and steals on the board.
Nolan Arenado, 3B: $4,800. Sometimes I don’t understand how the DFS pricing works. Jake Cronenworth has been hot and is facing a pretty good pitcher in Zac Gallen and is $6,000 tonight. How Nolan is $1,200 cheaper who knows, but he completes the core of this stack and I like it. He has 4 multi-hit games in his last 10 and 3 HRs in that span.
Jorge Mateo, SS: $2,700. Not much to say here other than Mateo gives us a second leadoff hitter in the Orioles lineup to hopefully put up some points. Oh and he’s cheap.
Anthony Santander, OF: $4,000. The O’s stack against Erick Fedde is really a play vs his recent performance as he hasn’t turned in a decent start in almost a month. His walks keep going up and Ks keep going down. I’m hoping it continues tonight. Santander is hitting .315 in his last ten games and has multi-hit efforts in 4 of 5.
Cedric Mullins, OF: $4,600. Mullins is finally starting to heat up, although still putting up a less than stellar effort this season. He hasn’t homered since June 7th, but the contact has been there as he is at .300 over his last ten games.
J.D. Martinez, OF: $5,100. Hard to find a better bat to fill out a double stack in this situation than J.D. vs Beau Brieske. He hasn’t been lighting the world on fire with counting stats, but this could be a great spot against Brieske. Let’s go O’s, Cards, and J.D.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
Small rain chances in Chicago, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Minneapolis. Winds will be strong and blowing straight out in Minneapolis and slightly out to left in Chicago.
Doing Lines In Vegas
I did mention I do a bit of Sports Handicapping. Follow me on Twitter @TheGreat Knoche for more info. I’ll give out a Free Play here every Tuesday, but you can find all my free and premium picks for MLB and a few other sports at The Odds Breakers
I will be on the over in Milwaukee of 8.5 as I obviously like the Cards vs Chi Chi, but I also don’t trust Flaherty in his second start back.
