I had you there, didn’t I. How many of you were instantly taken back to the 80s just now? Maybe you saw the original movie recently before going to the sequel, so this phrase was fresh in your mind. Perhaps you were born in the right decade and remember seeing the original when it first came out. Either way, it’s still a good flick with great one-liners that stand the test of time. It’s also great to see a true “blockbuster” movie in the theaters again. Author’s Note: I have not seen the new movie yet, but I will very soon (no spoilers in the comments please!). But first, we have some baseball business to attend to.
Overall, today’s pitching slate appears fairly weak to me, despite being headlined by a powerhouse name like Justin Verlander. The Razzball Streamonator really likes Verlander today, and I’ve found the Streamonator to be correct much more often than not, so I don’t blame those of you going that route. I’m going a different way. In fact, my two pitchers have an aeronautical theme to them. See if you can figure it out.
With so many mid- to lower-tiered pitchers taking the mound, there is a wealth of names to consider offensively. Combing through the names in Hittertron, it jumped out at me that today is a great day to make our DFS picks through a series of mini stacks. I’ve been wanting to do this for a while now so today seems as good a day as any.
Before we get to the stacks, just a reminder to check out Streamonator, Hittertron and the other DFS tools from Razzball. There are so many great tools for use, no matter what format or contests you get yourself into. It’ll be well worth your time.
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!
Jameson Taillon, SP: DK: $8,200 / FD: $9,500 – Jameson Taillon comes into the day with a 6-1 record, 2.73 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 47 Ks. He’s not missing a lot of bats generates relatively weak contact and has the best defensive team lined up behind you. It also doesn’t hurt to have the offensive support of almost 5 runs per game to rack up the wins. His last outing versus the Twins was by far his worst of the season. Prior to that, he had 3 in a row where he scored 43 or more FanDuel points. The Yankee pitchers as a whole are absolute money at home with the best ERA and WHIP across all of baseball. I don’t see this changing today versus the Cubs.
Kyle Wright, SP: DK: $10,100 / FD: $10,500– Speaking of bringing the dinero, that’s what Kyle Wright has been doing for the Braves all season. He comes into the matchup with the Pirates sporting a 2.39 ERA and 1.02 WHIP over 67.2 IP. Across his 11 games, he’s failed to reach 5 innings only once. He’s also generating strikeouts at a career best rate, cut his walk rate by almost 50% and found an extra 2 MPH on his fastball since last season. Throw all these numbers together, run it through some advanced calculus, and you get a must start in DFS today.
Alejandro Kirk, C: DK: $5,100/ FD: $x,xxx – To start off our Blue Jays mini stack, I’ll go with one of their seemingly endless supply of backstops. Alejandro Kirk has been on one hell of a run lately, raising his OPS from .711 to .891 over the past 2 weeks. Look at these FanDuel numbers over that stretch: 15.4, 28.3, 47.4, 12.0, 31.4, 24.9, 15.2 and 22.2. At 5’9” and 220 pounds, I’m confident he can carry our DFS squads another day.
Rhys Hoskins, 1B: DK: $x,xxx / FD: $3,000– Speaking of runs, and I’m referring to the good kind of “runs” here, the Phillies have won 9 in a row, spearheaded in large part to numerous Rhys Hoskins sightings. He’ll be the first in our Phillies mini stack today. During this winning streak, Hoskins is batting .305 with 3 HRs and an average FanDuel score over 13.6 per game. Today, he matches up with Luke Weaver who is making his return off a prolonged absence due to an elbow injury. This feels like a game where the DBacks will tap into their pen early and often.
Luis Urias, 2B: DK: $3,400 / FD: $2,800– Let’s do a Brewers mini-stack as well, starting at the keystone. Luis Urias is far below his 2021 pace of 23 dingers and 75 steaks, but the potential is still there. He comes in today with a favorable matchup against starting RHP Paolo Espino, projected to make his first start of the season for the Nationals. Espino has been pitching primarily out of the bullpen so expect a short outing followed by other relievers for the rest of the game. The Brewers will certainly look to exploit this and Urias should be one of the first batters he lines up against.
Alec Bohm, 3B: DK: $3,200 / FD: $2,700 – To complete the Phillies portion of the mini stack, I’ll be rolling with Alec Bohm at the hot corner. His high-level 2022 numbers might lead the average DFS player to quickly look elsewhere but here at Razzball, we want to dig a little deeper. Peeling back the top layer on this season, we find a reduced K% with increases in Contact %, Barrel %, average hit distance, and ISO. I’m no genius but it’s almost like he’s hitting the ball well and not finding the holes. This is clearly a risk/reward pick but also some salary relief thrown in for our next player.
Bo Bichette, SS: DK: $5,800 / FD: $3,900 – Hittertron’s top SS of the day comes in as the second piece to our Blue Jay mini stack. In every other season of Bichette’s career, this pick is a no-brainer. Over the first two months of this season though, his numbers legitimately give some DFS players pause. His K % is up a bit, and Contact %, BABIP and wOBA are all down a tick. Fear, not my friends, there are recent signs of the Bichette we know and love. Over his past 15 games, he finished 9 with double-digit FanDuel points. The matchup versus LHP Tarik Skubal also favors our SS. If you can’t stomach spending up for this risk, I give you permission to break from the mini stacks and go with Dansby Swanson.
George Springer, OF: DK: $5,800 / FD: $3,700 – I warned you back on Easter Sunday that George Springer is one of my favorite players to write about so I can’t have a Blue Jays mini stack without including him. Springer’s bat is hot, dropping hits in 8 of last 10 games, including 5 multi-hit games and 3 HRs. With a 1.063 OPS versus LHP, the splits heavily favor Springer versus Tarik Skubal. Don’t be surprised to see another leadoff HR today as well.
Tyrone Taylor, OF: DK: $3,200 / FD: $2,400 – If you’re keeping count, you noted we need another Brewer for our mini stack versus the Nationals bullpen arms. I almost went with Christian Yelich or Hunter Renfroe but decided Tyrone Taylor is the name for me. What attracts me to Taylor today is his markedly stronger splits versus RHP, which he’ll surely get plenty of cracks at during the game (the Nats only have one LHP in the pen). His bat has cooled a bit since mid- to late- May when he had hits in 11 of 13 games. Time to get back on track.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
Mother Nature may be the only way to cool down the Phillies, and also wreak havoc with my mini stack today. Current predictions show light rain is possible as we approach first pitch. All indications point toward this game getting in just fine. Games in New York and Washington may also be a little wet but a cancellation doesn’t appear likely at this point.
Doing Lines In Vegas
The Giants always play the Dodgers tough at home. After taking the first two games of this series, they are still showing as +119 to win today. Anyone have a broom I can borrow?
