One of the best things on Draft.com is the ability to easily play the early evening games that are popping up more and more. Other sites leave them off their main slates, and that makes them the stray cats of the DFS world. Which is a shame, because there’s some good baseball being played between 6:00 and 7:00 Eastern Standard Time. So open up your homes/lineups to a cat like Mitch Haniger.
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Charlie Morton, SP: Early. I won’t fault you for going with Jose Berrios as the top pitcher, if that’s your preference. Both hurlers are carving up opposing hitters at the moment. The Astros being at home gives Morton the slight edge for me. All the small things matter in baseball, and turn-of-the-century song trivia.
Kenta Maeda, SP: Middle. Be sure to turn the strikeout toggle to 10, instead of 2. Those are apparently his two settings. Maeda is usually more reliable at home and tough on righties. The Marlins’ only lefty threat is Justin Bour.
Ian Kennedy, SP: Late. The Brewers strikeout 25% of the time vs RHP and are losing the power advantage of their home park. Kennedy is a strikeout pitcher, so no concerns on that front. The problem is getting a win, with the Royals’ offense questionable to score many runs.
Shohei Ohtani, SP: for the gambler. Blisters on your pitching hand are no joke. It turns out gripping a baseball is rather important to the success of throwing a baseball. I’m reading the tea leaves here, but I don’t feel like the Angels would be starting Ohtani if they had any significant concerns.
Nolan Arenado, IF: Early. The Hittertron obviously likes Coors bats today (get a free trial of Rudy’s Tools here). Arenado came back from his suspension with a vengeance, hitting three homers since last Friday. That should continue, as he faces the lackluster Padres’ pitching staff.
Hanley Ramirez, IF: Middle. HanRam has gotten the career resurgence into full gear, contract year and all. New manager Alex Cora has done wonders for that club’s approach so far, though. Ramirez is even stealing the occasional base.
Matt Chapman, IF: Late. Hopefully, your competition hasn’t listened to any baseball podcasts this week. Otherwise, they’re aware of the great start Chapman is off to. I think he continues to get overlooked today and makes for a great way to get a piece of the Oakland lineup.
Wil Myers, OF: Early. Myers checks all the boxes today. Coors field, check. Facing a mediocre lefty, check. Spells his name with the wrong number of letters, check.
Mitch Haniger, OF: Middle. Maybe my many season-long shares overly influence my high opinion of Haniger. He’s a stud in my book, though. It’s a tall order to hit a home run in a fifth straight game. That doesn’t mean he won’t continue hitting the ball hard and have RBI and extra-base opportunities.
Shin-Soo Choo, OF: Late. Enjoy Choo while you can. It’s the same story every year. He pops, shines bright, and succumbs to injury. He’s in the shining phase of that life cycle. It’s also a very nice spot against Andrew Triggs, who couldn’t manage any Ks in his last start.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
It’s looking pretty dicey in Baltimore at the moment. Stay away from the pitching there and think hard about deploying any hitters as well.
Doing Lines in Vegas
It’s tall order with an over/under of 9.5, but I’d bet the Mariners and White Sox pitching staffs have enough blow-up innings in them to get it to double digits.
