I get excited when I see new names pop up on my Crushonator. I load up Rudy’s values and then run them through my virtual sausage maker and create the chunkiest Crushers you ever did see. You ever see Yasmani Grandal? That’s a Spartan man. If Plato had been alive to watch baseball, he would have put Yasmani behind his cave fire so he could see the Yas Man’s shadow on the wall and then imagine it as the ideal of man. Michelangelo would have painted Yasmani touching the finger of God. Gilette would have made him shave with a straight razor while riding a rickety train. Dos Equis would have made him interesting. ENYWHEY. Let’s hire our Yas Man and see who else we might want to fire up for DFS today.

New to FanDuel? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well, 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’s how we know you care!

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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Mon 8/4
ARI | ATL | BAL | BOS | CHC | CIN | CLE | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIA | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | ATH | CHW | OAK | SEA | WSH

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Yesterday, Alek Manoah went 8 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, zero walks, 10 Ks vs. the Rays, i.e., they’re supposed to be good. Alek Manoah has a 3.39 ERA, and a mom that’s a 10. Sign me up (for a spot in the mailbox outside their house)! “Hello, Ms. Alek Manoah, can I call you Alek Mommamia? Alek Womanoah? Why are you walking faster? I just wanna chat!” I scream from the mailbox. Call me a Cougar Chaser because I chase cougars! Any hoo! Alek Manoah is doing this as a rookie. Um, how about pretty unheard of. He is the 1st Jays’ pitcher to throw eight scoreless with one hit, zero walks and 10 Ks. Again, that’s against the best AL team. He tied Trevor Rogers for most 6+ innings starts for a rookie this year. His slider was dropping five inches more last night than when he first came up. He looks like a young Lance Lynn if Lance Lynn hung out with Action Bronson. For 2022, he looks like a ready-made horse, even though he will have roughly 100 IP under his belt. Right now, he’s rocking a 9.8 K/9 and a 3-ish BB/9, and for 2022 I’d put him around similar numbers, but with better command upside. So, roughly a number two fantasy starter who will have moments much better and worse. In only year two! Alek Mommamia, I love what you’ve produced! Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

All I ever wanted for Christmas was to see Robbie Ray get all worked up. And Santa brought me my gift early this year! Maybe you casual fans just want to see Lance Lynn get worked up, but when Robbie Ray and the Orioles manager get into a tongue-lashing, that’s the kind of baseball I want to see! Yeah, things are getting pretty slow here on the baseball side. On the plus side, I’m in the top 20 in RazzSlam. On the downside, the cutline only sends the top 10 to the playoffs. So, it’s kind of like I’m the benevolent tight-pants-loving lord of a small fiefdom that resides outside of Coolwhip’s kingdom. I beg thee, King Coolwhip, let Luis Severino pitch! How are all of your teams doing? Still active? Let’s see if we can find some pitchers for your fantasy playoffs!

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Welcome, you die-hard baseball DFS degen. With the NFL now on the forefront of many sports fans’ minds, we here at Razzball push onward and look to keep whatever momentum we have going or starting a new heater as we wind down the season. With this being one of my last articles for this season, I hope it provided some useful insight or at least gave you some players to think about each week and hoped it helped you at least a smidge in your slates this season. The pitcher I’m focusing on today to play is Sandy Alcantara ($10,600). Sandy has had a very productive season for the Marlins this year and will be making his 30th start for the Marlins so he has been very reliable in taking the hill each time it was his turn in the rotation. Alcantara deserves better than his 8-13 record indicates as his surface numbers of 3.24 ERA and 1.10 WHIP don’t completely do justice to the great year he has had. Alcantara commands all 4 of his main pitches with outstanding accuracy and throws a 98 MPH heater as well. Alcantara has one of the best chase rates in all of baseball and will be facing the Washington Nationals today who are very prone to striking out with Bell, Robles, and Soto all nearing the 100 K mark. Alcantara faced the Nationals back on June 27th and pitched ok but did get the loss however the Nationals had a vastly different lineup then and Alcantara will not have to face the same lefties especially he did that day. I think Alcantara has a great game today and wouldn’t be surprised with a 9 inning shutout here.

New to FanDuel? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well, 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’s how we know you care!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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Usually I take Saturday pretty light. Wash my hair, get a pedicure, the normal things, but holy schnikes?! Corbin Burnes did what? Mr. Burnes made a vest out of Cleveland. That’s what he did. On Saturday, Burnes went 8 IP, 0 ER, 0 hits, 1 walk, 14 Ks, ERA at 2.25, and Josh Hader (1 IP, 0 ER) finished the no-hitter. Can a guy win the Cy Young off of one start? We have a tool for the best starts of the year, and are you surprised to see Burnes in the top four? (Side note, interesting to see Triston McKenzie up there in the top 10. Side side note, lots of early in the year starts before they checked for Spider Tack. Side side side note, it was also before pitchers were exhausted. Side side side side, look at all those no-hitters.) As far as FIP is concerned, Corbin Burnes is having the best season since 2000. It’s not even close. It’s truly remarkable and if we talk about it from now until next March, we will not have talked about it enough. His 1.50 FIP is the best pitching season for a starter since 2000. The 2nd best is 2014 Clayton Kershaw with 1.81 FIP, and there’s only three starters below a 2.00 FIP. Of those, Corbin Burnes has the best K/9, and the 9th best K/9 since 2000. There’s no starter with a 12+ K/9 with a sub-2 FIP. His K/9 and BB/9 are 12.4 and 1.7 BB/9. Those Burnes numbers are legitimately some of the best I’ve ever seen. Let’s do a thought experiment: With deGrom injured-slash-saying-he’s-not-injured, there’s a table for one at the top of starters for 2022, does Corbin Burnes sneak into the number one slot for top starters for 2022 fantasy baseball? Even if deGrom’s healthy, I’m not sure he’s above Burnes for 2022 starters. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Like a fool, I went and drafted wrong…

At the beginning of the season, I didn’t publically campaign for him (much) but I did take Blake Snell in probably a third of my 12/15 team leagues—like RazzSlam. Often I was targeting Snell, Burnes, Lynn as my SP1 from the backend draft slot. For Snell, I figured 1) the skill was still there (pitches were still decent and K rate was still good); 2) he’d won a CY in the past and was incredibly unlucky with the long ball in 2020 (29.4%); and 3) Moving out from Kevin Cash’s thumb and the AL East to the NL West and the friendly pitching atmosphere (literal and metaphorical) of the Padres’ and Petco Park would set him up for a very nice year much like Joe Musgrove, whom I did write about here before the season.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Let’s get something out of the way right now. This is the toughest time of the season to pick up streamers for a couple of reasons. The first reason is the fact that every competitive team in your league is doing the same thing. People who are this deep into the season are inevitably going to stream just like you, and it makes the pickings extremely thin. What makes it even tougher is the fact that many of these streamers have weird workloads right now. Some of them are being pushed back and scratched, while others are being held to abbreviated three-inning outings. That drives us nuts because it’s something we can’t predict, and it’s honestly only going to get worse from here on out. With that in mind, let’s hope none of these guys find themselves in that spot!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

When it comes to the Top 25 rankings, I often penalize players who are on the disabled list because those players can’t help your fantasy team. But there is always an exception to the rule. The exception is Wander Franco.

Franco left Friday night’s game against Detroit with right hamstring tightness and was placed on the 10-day IL Saturday. According to manager Kevin Cash, Franco can be out two to three weeks, though he hopes it could be a quicker recovery. The injury couldn’t come at a worst time for fantasy owners as the playoffs have started or about to start, depending on the number of teams that make the playoffs in your league.

Despite the injury, I moved Franco into the top 10 in my rankings as he now sits at No. 9. He would be higher, but my rankings also take into account what players have done the entire season, and Franco has not been with the Rays the entire season. If he had been, he would be in the Tier 1 group.

Before suffering his injury, the 20-year-old Franco ripped a pitch up the middle at 107.5 mph to reach base and extend his on-base streak to 39 games. Franco is now four games shy of tying the record for for the longest on-base streak by a player 20-years-old or younger. In 62 games this season, Franco is slashing .285-.347-463 with 49 runs scored, seven homers, 36 RBI and 2 steals. In his last 25 games, his slash line is .347-.407-.571 with 27 runs scored, three home runs and 16 RBI.

Those stats are why Franco has climbed the rankings despite him now being injured. It’s plainly obvious he is one of the best hitting shortstops in baseball and by next year he will likely reside in Tier 1 all season. Now let’s see who else has climbed in the rankings or taken a tumble.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Welcome to the beginning of the end, baseball fans. Playoffs in fantasy baseball are underway, and this list of two start pitchers might make or break your season. Before we get to the list, we need to take a moment to talk about the Cleveland Indians, soon to be Defenders. This name change is perfect for them because their lineup is actually, quite “offensive”, too hitters everywhere. The Indians were No-Hit yesterday for the 3rd time this season by Corbin Burnes and Josh Hader, striking out 16 times in the game. The “offensive” Defenders broke the MLB record for most times No-Hit in a season. This is a record that will most likely never be broken. Also, just so all you readers are aware, there will be no individual writeups this week. Now that, that is out of the way, lets get to the injury news.

To the news! Gerrit Cole is expected to return to the Yankees Rotation this week, they are hoping for Tuesday but we’ll see. Also, Jameson Taillon hit the 10 day IL with a tendon injury in his right ankle. Sadly, one of my favorite rookies this year Shane McClanahan was placed on the IL with lower back tightness, he pitched through it though. It looks like the Rays are just getting him rested for the playoffs. Adding to the spiraling Covid concerns of the Red Sox, Chris Sale is on the Covid IL. Also, the Astros are hopeful Zack Greinke will return to the mound for them at some point this week. And Lastly, the Cardinals are optimistic Jack Flaherty will be returning in some fashion before the season ends. So if you are in the hunt for a championship and have Flaherty, monitor his return closely. Good Luck!!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

It may be the opening Sunday of the NFL but it’s no time to be slacking on our MLB FanDuel chances to cash in.  Red Sox v. White Sox should be giving us action today, a nice breeze out to left and two SP coming off the DL equals production, especially from the White Sox side. SP Max Fried $9300 has the best matchup at home today vs the Marlins and in his last 5 games Fried has 33 innings with 30 K, 5 walks, and a 1.91 ERA

New to FanDuel? Scared of feeling like a small fish in a big pond? Well, 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’s how we know you care!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

The tinkering is finished for tonight.

At this point in my highway hypnosis of staring at a spreadsheet for two weeks, I’m just hoping to park the car safely.

I’d love to discuss the work with you all, so drop a thought in the comments if that appeals to you.

The only real guide I’d offer to reading these rankings is the top group is fluid. The big two of Julio Rodriguez and Bobby Witt Jr. have built their own little neighborhood. Both should have played in the majors this year. Julio is flat out embarrassing AA pitchers. I maintain my stance that Jerry Dipoto chose foolishly when he decided to push Jarred Kelenic and slam the breaks on Rodriguez, a choice he apparently made sometime back in February and never once revisited throughout the season.

After the top two, there’s not much distance between CJ Abrams at #3 and Adley Rutschman at #8, a group that’s built in part by the injuries to Abrams and Carroll and the tanking of Baltimore, Chicago and Detroit. Can make a pretty strong case that all the healthy players in the elite eight earned a shot at major league pitching this year, but that’s baseball these days. Let’s get romantic about the rest of the list!

Please, blog, may I have some more?