Pujols watch is now on, as he is 1 home run away from hitting number 600. Playing for the L.A. Angels is where careers go to die, however Pujols is putting them on the map. Let’s be honest, as soon as Pujols he went there he wasn’t the star that he was. Vlad Guerrero was famous but he was always behind the A-Rod, Manny, Bonds, and Sosa’s of the league.You can even see it now with Trout, I would bet 90% of people in this country wouldn’t recognize Trout if he was in normal street clothes in NYC. L.A. Angels is not an ideal place for super stars however Pujols will draw the attention now.
We have a ton of games today, one of them starting at noon, let’s get to it.
Low-Scoring Plays
Washington Nationals @ San Francisco Giants – Suspensions were dealt out yesterday for the brawl that took place on Monday. The suspensions affect the Nationals more than the Giants obviously. Max Scherzer pitches for the Nationals who should absolute cruise in this game. Last outing Scherzer struck out 13 while almost pitching a complete game. The Giants are a struggling ball club, who shouldn’t make any noise in this game. The Nationals could put up some runs, however, Cain has had success against most of them. Bryce Harper only has one hit in ten at bats against Cain – which was a home run – but if Harper has struggled that much against Cain the rest of the roster will as well. I like this game to be the low game scoring game of the day.
Targets: Scherzer
Milwaukee Brewers @ New York Mets – deGrom takes the bump for the Mets who is having a great year. deGrom is 4th in the league in strikeouts behind Sale, Scherzer and Archer. He should pass Archer tomorrow and move into 3rd in strikeouts. The Brewers are a team that mashes the ball however deGrom doesn’t give up the long ball so it will be tough for the Brewers to score some runs. I like the Mets to take this one from the Brewers. Duda is back in the lineup hitting the ball, Bruce is having a solid year and Walker has been playing well of late. Their lineup is streaky so it will be tough to stack some batters, but I’m not going to talk you out of it.
Targets: deGrom, Duda, Conforto
High-Scoring Plays
Boston Red Sox @ Chicago White Sox – The White Sox were able to put up runs on Chris Sale last night. That means they should destroy Drew Pomeranz. Pomeranz loves giving up the long ball early in ball games. Cabrera is my pick to hit a home run off of Pomeranz in the first. As for Boston they crushed the ball last night. Betts is playing lights out, Travis Scott keeps producing when in the lineup, and Bogaerts added another multi-hit game. However Pomeranz won’t help Boston out by letting up so many runs. I don’t think Boston will be able to keep up in this one.
Targets: Cabrera, Frazier
Houston Astros @ Minnesota Twins – The Astros are the best team in baseball right now. The Nationals firing on all cylinders seems to be the only team that could compete with this team. The Twins are sending Hector Santiago to the mound who is 4-4 with an ERA above 4. He does not strike out a lot of batters so the ball will be in play which favors the Astros. I would stack as many Astros players as you can. Altuve and Correa should be locks in your lineup.
Targets: Correa, Altuve, Beltran
Undervalued Plays
Paxton – SEA – SP – Paxton is under $9000 and averages 25.4 points per game. He is playing Colorado which will be a difficult team to beat, making him a risky play. However he is pitching at home which helps his cause. If you take Scherzer, Paxton will be a solid second pitcher that will allow you to still take players like Altuve or Correa.
Thames – MIL – 1B – Thames was mashing the ball early this season but has cooled off since then. He will be a bold pick going up against deGrom, however, if one person can go deep off of him its Thames. When picking a first baseman I like going with some one I know will get me points. It is possible Thames strikes out 4 times in this game. I won’t pick him for my line up, but for $3800 he can do some damage.
Castro – NYY – 2B – Castro has been hitting the ball well lately. He is batting .322 with 7 home runs and 28 RBI’s. He is in the middle of a great line up where he can score runs and also drive them in. I like Castro as a play today he averages 8.3 points per game which I will take any day of the week from a second baseman.
Betts – BOS – OF – After another home run for Betts last night his price only rose 100 dollars. He isn’t cheap however I think he should be one of the highest priced outfielders. He should be $5400 with Trout and Harper, he is that talented. He is in a hot streak too so I would pick Betts and build the rest of my outfield around him.
Check out our MLB Breakdown Spreadsheet and our newly-released Pitcher Breakdown Spreadsheet (these picks are now at 55.3% accuracy since May 21) where you can compare key statistics and numbers for today’s games.