Happy Memorial Day to you all and thank you to all the troops that allow us to be free and play DFS.
The wheels are starting to fall off in Baltimore as they lost again last night. It is now 7 losses in a row and it’s not getting an easier as they face the first place Yankees. As for the Yankees we saw Aaron Judge hit his first career grand slam for his league leading 16th home run of the year.
The rest of the MLB news was pretty quiet, Kershaw and Lester barely made it to 5 innings in their match up which is surprising to me. It’s one thing if it is a blow out, take your pitcher out, but at the point they left in the game it was a close one. I would trust either of those pitchers more than I would with my bullpen having to pitch 5 innings. Regardless the Dodgers picked up the win and completed the sweep against the reigning champs.
We have a ton of afternoon games that could be altered with weather. Since I forgot on Friday to give you my line up, I’ll give you mine today.
Low-Scoring Plays
Cincinnati Reds @ Toronto Blue Jays – Marcus Stroman takes the mound for the Blue Jay who is 5-2 on the year. Stroman is the best pitcher that will give you the most bang for your buck today. He has only faced two Cincinnati batters in which he has held hitless in 5 at bats. I’m a big fan of when a pitcher hasn’t faced a lineup. The batters won’t know what to expect and how he will pitch them. Yes, they have scouting reports, but Stroman has those same reports and knows the opponent is reading them, so he could alter his game plan and mess with their minds.The Reds aren’t a strong ball club so Stroman should have a great outing.
Targets: Stroman, Bautista
New York Yankees @ Baltimore Orioles – At some point the bleeding is going to stop for Baltimore and I like today to be the day. They have a solid pitcher take the mound in Dylan Bundy. The Orioles have lost 7 in a row, meaning they went through their entire rotation and lost. Look for Bundy to bounce back and a great performance. The Yankees’ lineup is good, but I don’t look at it and freak out-probably because their future stars are still young. Regardless the bats were hot for New York yesterday look for them to be cooled off today.
Targets: Bundy, Jones
High-Scoring Plays
Boston Red Sox @ Chicago White Sox – Each team is starting a pitcher who probably isn’t ready to start a game. The Red Sox are sending Price to the mound who makes his long-anticipated return. The White Sox are sending out Holmberg who has made 8 appearances out of the bullpen this year. Price got roughed up in his rehab starts by minor league players so the White Sox should do some damage in this one. We know how good Boston’s lineup can be and they were shut down yesterday. Look for Boston to bounce back and give Price a shot in this one to pick up the win. I’m feeling a Mookie home run to lead off the game. Stacking players from both teams would not be the worst move.
Targets: Betts, Moreland
Milwaukee Brewers @ New York Mets – New York has been hitting the ball lately and are happy that they have Duda back in the line up. Last night Terry Collins sat Conforto – his best hitter – for some reason. I get the idea of rotating in players, but the guy is hitting .333 and was facing a lefty last night who he kills I didn’t understand the move by Collins. At this point in the season I’m not sure who is the worse manager: Collins or Farrell. The Mets are sending Gsellman to the mound who is less than stellar. He got roughed up by the Braves in back to back starts a couple of weeks ago. The Brewers have more firepower than the Braves and should tee off on Gsellman.
Targets: Thames, Villar
My Line Up
SP-Stroman-TOR
SP-Bundy-BAL
C-Avila-DET
1B-Thames-MIL
2B-Pedroia-BOS
3B-Shaw-MIL
SS-Russell-CHC
OF-Cabrera-CWS
OF-Betts-BOS
OF-McCutchen-PIT
Check out our MLB Breakdown Spreadsheet and our newly-released Pitcher Breakdown Spreadsheet (picks are 14-12-3 using this spreadsheet over the last eight days) where you can compare key statistics and numbers for today’s games.