A haze wraps the country in a blanket as Canada continues to breathe its smoky breath down from the north. A five-game DraftKings night slate opens. At 7:10 eastern, Max Scherzer, grunting with a look of malice in his two-toned eyes, tosses the first pitch of what will be 110 total, striking out 12 Brewers with their 25% team K rate against right-handed pitchers.
Ninety minutes from Max’s first pitch, Mookie Betts stands in the batter’s box, looking out at Chase Anderson with his pitiful 15% K rate in the early Rockie Mountain evening. Mookie makes contact with the first pitch for a roping single to left field. Freddie Freeman stands in next ready to do damage. Chase throws his second pitch of the game, and Mookie takes off for second base. Elias Diaz has no time to even attempt a throw. The third pitch is a weak four-seam fastball that doesn’t elevate as intended, and Freddie blasts it deep into the outfield stands.
And that’s how The Night of the Living Chalk begins.
How’s that for a DFS scary story? Do you think my family will find that scary around the campfire while we camp this weekend? It gives me the chills thinking about all of that chalk going off. Ownership should be heavy tonight on Max and the Dodgers in Coors. It’s possible to play some of those pieces if you must, but the best path to first tonight goes through avoiding playing them together.
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J.P. France, SP: $8,000 – It’s rough out here at the pitcher position. There is a reason that Max is going to be so popular. France is intriguing to me against St. Louis who will likely be missing Nolan Arenado who left the game last night with back soreness.
LaMonte Wade Jr., 1B: $3,900 – The lefty Giants hitters are a great option to add some leverage to your lineup against Chris Bassitt who rates out to be the second most popular pitcher behind Max Scherzer. Bassitt has given up a lot of power to lefties this season.
Bryson Stott, 2B: $3,800 – Kyle Hendricks is going to get rocked sooner or later. All luck indicators for him say so. I will be stacking against him every game until the regression monster comes.
Ryan McMahon, 3B: $4,600 – If you are building the Colorado side of the Coors game today, McMahon is a core piece of that stack, and could feast on any rookie pitcher making his first trip to Coors like Emmet Sheehan today.
Ezequiel Tovar, SS: $3,600 – Tovar has a pretty simple case to be rostered today. He is a leadoff hitter with an affordable price point in Coors against an inexperienced pitcher.
Bryce Harper, OF: $5,800 – Mired in an extended power slump, people are starting to wonder if Harper rushed back from his elbow surgery too soon. His salary doesn’t match the slump, but as DFS players, we want to capitalize on great players when the public starts to turn on them. The matchup today against Kyle Hendricks seems like a great time to break out if you ask me.
Kyle Schwarber, OF: $4,900 – We play Schwarber for home runs. Kyle Hendricks’ leading indicators all point towards a blow-up soon. Today we play Kyle Schwarber.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
Chicago and Denver have some chances for rain today. Be sure to double-check those games closer to lock.
Doing Lines In Vegas
I’d look to capitalize on the Phillies today if I were to make any bets. As I said earlier, it’s only a matter of time before Kyle Hendricks blows up. As of writing, a 4.5 run team total seems like a decent over play if you can get good odds.
