Happy Wednesday Razzball Nation! It’s your favorite DFS dad back for another week of picks and peeps to plug into your DraftKings lineups today! I took a look at our starting pitchers and found a juicy one for you all in Nestor Cortes (DK: $9,200). Cortes had a great spring and a rough June but has bounced back to the guy we saw early in the year with 2 or fewer earned runs in his last 4 starts. His opponent tonight, Robbie Ray, has given up 5 HR in his last 4 starts and the Seattle offense is coming into tonight ranked ahead of only 3 other AL teams. Not only could we see a good outing from “Cortes the Killer” in this one, but it also got me thinking…Could I drop a whole DFS lineup with Neil Young references? Oh, I’d bet the farm on that one.
This Wednesday, we’re looking at a 15 game schedule that starts at 1:10 PM ET, but has 9 games starting at 7:05 PM ET or later. I tried to draw most of the plays from that later grouping but snuck in a couple afternoon ones if you want to mix and match with a couple of tourneys or double-ups.
But as always, a reminder that a lot of the notes that I take and share here are influenced by Rudy’s Streamonator and Hittertron, as well as the DFS tools available right here on Razzball. The DraftKings/FanDuel lineup optimizer is a great way to get more bang for your DFS buck! You can access all of this information by signing up for Rudy’s tools using the DFSBot link below.
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 DFSBot for your daily baseball plays. Just remember to sign up through us before jumping into the fray, it helps support your Razzball team!
Madison Bumgarner, SP: (DK) $6,900 – “Our House” MadBum is at home against the Pirates for this one. Yes, it’s that same Pittsburgh squad that managed just 4 hits off of left-handed rookie Tommy Henry last night. Bumgarner’s last two starts haven’t been that impressive, but before that, he went 8 IP against the Nationals with 9 K’s. I think he can repeat that kind of performance against a similarly punch-less Pirates squad tonight. As for the Neil Young reference, I suppose you could Google some combination of his wife, Daryll Hannah, the Tom Hanks early 80’s movie “Splash” and the term MadBum and see what you get.
MJ Melendez, C/OF: (DK) $4,500 – “Down By The River” – Well, apologies to you U.S. Geography buffs, but I had to google to see which river was closest to Kauffman stadium (spoiler : it’s Blue River). At the very least, we can pretend the waterfall in CF is close enough. MJ Melendez has been a steady pick in this slot for a few weeks here and this week is no different. Even with Salvador Perez back, Melendez has been catching and even leading off for the Royals. He had 3 HR in his last 4 games (not including last night) and went off for 6 RBI against the Red Sox on Sunday.
Matt Olson, 1B: (DK) $4,800 – “Southern Man” – Like Grey, I have Olson in almost all of my season long leagues this year (his slow start definitely helped to sink me in the Razzslam). But as Uncle Neil says, “Southern change gonna…come at last…”. Well, Neil wasn’t wrong there. Olson had a healthy July with 9 HR and a 134 wRC+ to bring back some of those power numbers. 18 of his total 21 homers have been against RHP and he’s hitting 20 points higher on the road. Nick Pivetta could get cut down by the Southern Man tonight.
Whit Merrifield, 2B/OF: (DK) $4,400 – “The Needle and the Damage Done” – Well, this one kind of writes itself. There was subdued and polite panic up here in the great white north when the Blue Jays traded for Merrifield at the deadline, but it seems that getting dealt to a playoff bound team trumped whatever damage was done by the Royals’ Covid research team. Merrifield has hit .316 since the trade and has a hit in 4 of his 5 starts (excluding last night). I doubt Rocco Baldelli is playing him in his DFS lineups tonight, but I would.
David Fletcher, SS/2B: (DK) $3,100 – “After the Gold Rush” – Neil sings ‘I was lyin’ in a burned out basement’ in this one, and David Fletcher can probably relate. The A’s are the only thing keeping the Angels out of the basement in the AL West, but that ‘yellow haze of the sun’ is definitely not feeling good these days in Anaheim. Fletcher came back a couple of weeks ago and has recorded a hit in every start but one. He led off again last night and should be good for some FPTS against Paul Blackburn and the replacement level A’s today.
Nolan Arenado, 3B: (DK) $5,200 – “Sugar Mountain” – ‘Oh to live on…Sugar Mountain’. That was Arenado for a lot of years in Colorado and low and behold the player of the week is back in town with St. Louis tonight. Arenado is coming off a 7 day stretch with a .476 average, 3 HR, 8 RBI, and a 1.560 OPS. After tonight I’m sure Kyle Freeland won’t be thinking Arenado is leaving there too soon.
Tommy Pham, OF: (DK) $4,700 – “Old Man” – With all due respect to Julio Franco, 34 years old as a hitter in baseball qualifies as “old”, but one of the newest Red Sox has definitely been swinging like a youngster. Pham homered Sunday night out of the leadoff spot and had doubled and homered again last night at the time of this writeup. ‘Old Man take a look at my life, I’m hot like a schmotato’. Sounds pretty close to me.
Steven Kwan, OF: (DK) $4,400 – “Ohio” – This one fits pretty well too. The lyric ‘four dead in Ohio’ made me think of Franmil Reyes. I almost slotted him in here ($2,700) but went with Kwan instead. Kwan won’t blast many 450+ foot home runs, but I went back through his last 20 games and he failed to get a hit in only one of them. Add in a few XBH and a couple of steals there and Kwan could fill up the box score in front of Jose Ramirez and the Guardians today.
Jarred Kelenic, OF: (DK) $2,200 – “Like a Hurricane” – I will admit that this is more about me hoping Kelenic can start a run here for one of my home leagues. But with Julio Rodriguez still out with a wrist injury and Jesse Winker being about as lucky with his health as Jesse Pinkman in an RV in the desert, I’m going with the affordable Kelenic here. Kelenic came into draft season ‘like a hurricane’ but malfunctioned like a cool Pacific ocean breeze. He did homer off of Gerrit Cole last week, but I’d understand if you pivoted out to JJ Bleday ($2,200 at Syndergaard) or Nate Eaton ($2,200 vs Cueto). Yes, he’s facing a LHP in Nestor Cortes, so he may not make the lineup, but as long as he’s in the lineup over Jake Lamb or Sam Haggerty I still think it’s a better bet than going all in on Jarren Duran in a Hot Potato contest.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains…
Toronto at Baltimore and Miami at Philly are both 30% chance of rain but don’t let it bring you down. Just double-check the radar before locking any of those guys in.
Doing Lines In Vegas…
I think Sandy Alcantara (+110) has a good chance of shutting down the Phillies today. For the O/U, I think the San Francisco/San Diego game can hit the over of 8.5.
Best of luck in the DFS plays today! If you have any questions, shoot me a note on Twitter @MarmosDad and Keep On Rockin’ In The Free World!
