The best starting pitcher options don’t get too expensive today/tonight so we’re going to look at some Streamonator plays below. That just leaves us more money to spend on hitters, and oooooo-wee do we have some tasty matchups sitting out there for us tonight. Hittertron loves the Yankees at home vs Cleveland SP Eli Morgan and the Astros in the Juicebox vs. Blue Jays righty Ross Stripling. The top two Hittertron options are NYY sluggers Aaron Judge (FD $3,600/DK $5,400) and Giancarlo Stanton (FD $3,400/DK $5,100), and coming in ranking 5th and 6th in the projections are Yordan Alvarez (FD $3,700/DK $5,600) and Kyle Tucker (FD $3,200/DK $5,200). Tucker may be the best play of them all just due to price, but let’s face it–they’re all pretty darned affordable and you could roster them all after the kind of money I’m about to save you on pitching today/tonight. It looks like a beautiful night for stacking NYY and HOU hitters (though if you’re looking to take down a big tourney, you may want to stack a less-popular team). On Fanduel, you could roster Skubal, all four of these hitters, and *still* have $3,300 per spot left over. If you choose Detmers, you get $3,600 for the rest of your lineup. Is this the pitcher zig while everybody else zags? If this works out, you owe us here at Razzball a subscription to the Streamonator/Hittertron services by Saturday morning. If it doesn’t, well…the Internet never forgets and Grey will probably have my IP blocked by Saturday morning.
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Tarik Skubal, SP: FD $7,900/DK $8,600 – Justin Verlander is your top-ranked SP for the day, but he’s going against the Blue Jays lineup and I don’t have the pants cantaloupes to make that play with my money. At the risk of setting my comments on fire, I’m going to go with Streamonator for my two SP picks and hit you with the next two highest projected/ranked SPs. When perusing the probable starters on Thursday before the FD/DK prices came out, these were actually the two slingers I wanted to choose most but figured I’d be bonkers to even consider that. Then I checked Streamonator…and said let’s get nuts. The Rockies have only played two games outside of Coors so far this year (and are 2-0…uh-oh), but traditionally they’re far more punchless closer to sea level. In 2021, they hit .217 with a .643 OPS on the road compared to .280/.817 at home. Comerica is difficult enough to hit homers in, and a little wind is supposed to be blowing in from LF (could help negate C.J. Cron?). Skubal is throwing his worst pitch (fastball) less and his best pitch (slider) more, and the results in his last start are confidence-building. Skubal’s biggest issue is allowing HRs and the Rox are dogwater on the road, so this is basically the completely resistible force vs the entirely movable object…and somebody has to win that battle. Streamonator says bet on Skubal.
Reid Detmers, SP: FD $6,700/DK $7,700 – According to Hittertron, the highest-projected Baltimore hitter is Cedric Mullins…all the way down at 57th. Detmers comes with the proper prospect pedigree (try saying that three times quickly), and is a much better pitcher at home. Against lefties on the road so far this year, the O’s are only hitting .247. I don’t have much in the way of fancystats for Detmers here. I’m just a man with flaws, and Streamonator is a next-generation predictive marvel, so I’m riding with him (it?) here.
Anthony Rizzo, C/1B: FD $3,700/DK $5,400 – Another Hittertron play, Rizzo ranks 9th in the projections today, and has two things staring at him–Eli Morgan and the tiny RF porch in Yankee Stadium.
Willson Contreras, C/1B: FD $3,400 – Contreras may have a strong wind blowing in at Wrigley, but he’s also facing Jose Quintana. We may get an answer to the question, “Exactly how strong do the winds have to be to keep hitters from homering off of Jose Quintana?” today.
Brandon Lowe, 2B: FD $3,400/DK $5,400 – RHP Michael Wacha should have Lowe sitting at the top of the Rays lineup, and Lowe gets to tee off on a guy who over the last two years is giving up over 40% Hard Hit percentage.
Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B: $3,200 – After the money saved on pitching, you could roster all of those OFs above and still choose between Nolan Arenado and Jose Ramirez, but if you want to look under the hood a little, your gaze should take you to Ke’Bryan Hayes. You’ll smile when you realize Hayes faces LHP Drew Smyly, and that grin will widen when you learn that Ke’Bryan has a career .322 AVG/.849 OPS vs. lefties.
Bo Bichette, SS: FD $3,200/DK $5,200 – Back to the money saved above. You could roster all of those OFs, Jose Ramirez, and Francisco Lindor here at SS, but let’s look at a more budget-friendly option for those who don’t follow these suggestions. I know the Jays are facing Verlander, but I feel like the $3,200 price tag is begging us to go with Bo.
Frank Schwindel, OF: FD $3,000 – If you don’t want to load your OF/Util up with my suggestions in the intro, maybe you’ll be enticed by Schwindel’s career .580 SLG/.935 OPS vs. lefties. Didn’t I mention in the Contreras blurb that Jose Quintana is the opposing pitcher?
Steven Kwan, OF: FD $3,000/DK $4,800 – Kwan doesn’t give you the power potential that you’d like from your hitters, but if he’s going to hit one out, isn’t Yankee Stadium and its short RF fence the place to do it? Even if he can’t go yard, it’s a pretty good bet Kwan will get on base multiple times and allow for the hot Cleveland offense to knock him in when he does.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
As of this writing, rain doesn’t look to impact any of the games on the schedule. The wind, however, could. A strong wind blowing in from RF at Wrigley could help the pitchers in the Cubs/Pirates game, while a strong wind blowing out at the Oakland Coliseum could turn that pitcher’s park into a hitter’s haven for the A’s/Rangers game. Did Texas spend any money on hitting this offseason? I didn’t hear.
Doing Lines In Vegas
I’ve already gone this far trusting Streamonator, so why stop now? FanDuel has Detroit as a +168 dog at home to the Rockies. If Skubal pitches like the second-best pitcher this day, and the Rockies live up to their rotten road rep, this bet’s got to be placed.
