The days are getting away from me and I forgot Free Line up Friday, so you get another weekend of my lineups. Hopefully you will play them and we can win some money together.
Not too many stories coming out of the league last night. Hicks had two home runs for the Yankees to follow up Sanchez’s two homer night the day before. Will another player have 2 more for them today? Headley definitely won’t but maybe Judge?
The other New York team gets their slugger back in Cespedes. The Mets have a double header so if you take Cespedes make sure he’s in the lineup for the game that you pick. Atlanta is a hitters’ ballpark so Cespedes will be a play that could pay off.
Full slate of games and a free line up to follow, let’s get to it.
Low-Scoring Plays
Detroit Tigers @ Boston Red Sox – Chris Sale takes the mound for Boston who hasn’t been great in his past couple of outings. Playing back at home against a team that isn’t great, Sale should have a big day. However Sale’s price point is too high for my liking right now and he is going up against a pitcher who is an all time great – Justin Verlander. At Fenway Verlander has a 2.77 ERA has allowed only 5 home runs and struck out 90. The Red Sox have been streaky lately which makes Verlander even more appetizing. In Sale’s last couple of outings he has let up early home runs that came back to bite him, look for Miggy to be the difference in this one.
Targets: Verlander, Cabrera
Cincinnati Reds @ L.A. Dodgers – Alex Wood still has yet to lose this season, and I don’t think it will come today. Wood has had success against the Reds as they have only hit .250 off of him. He doesn’t have a ton of experience against them but pitching at home I’ll take Wood 10 out of 10 in this one. Puig and Seager will be great plays in this one. Puig has done his damage this year at home, and is still in search for his first home run of the month. Look for him to have the big game today.
Targets: Wood, Puig, Seager
Minnesota Twins @ San Francisco Giants – The Giants are bad and won’t score in this one, but Jeff Samardzija finally drew a favorable game in which he could win. Samazrdzija has been striking out batters and keeping pace with Sale, and Scherzer with the league lead. He just has a terrible offense that can’t help him out in the slightest. This a bold statement and I’ll be eating these words, but I like Samazdzija more than I like Sale today. Posey is an expensive catcher, which is a position I don’t like spending a lot of money on but he will make the difference in this one.
Targets: Samazdzija, Posey
High-Scoring Plays
New York Mets @ Atlanta Braves-Game 1-Gsellman takes the mound for the Mets who the Braves should beat up on this one. Matt Adams-the Braves 1st baseman- has been hot as he is batting .333 with 4 home runs over the last week. The Mets should be able to score in this game especially if Cespedes is back in the lineup. Bruce, Duda, and Cespedes is a nice three headed monster the Mets could have. I’m going to side with the Braves in this one but taking some Mets won’t be the worst move.
Target: Adams, Kemp
Colorado Rockies @ Chicago Cubs – The Rockies are dynamic and playing out of their minds this year. The Cubs have been heating up as they are slowly but surely winning series after series. Blackmond is almost hitting .500 over the last week, has 14 home runs on the season and has a great beard. However the Cubs should take this one at home. Bryant, Rizzo, and Schwarber will all start to hit for power and above .300 again, they should have a big game today. It will be expensive to take all three of these players but if you can, I would make it happen.
Targets: Schwarzer, Bryant, Rizzo
Texas Rangers @ Washington Nationals – Martin Perez takes the mound for the Rangers, who has an ERA above 4 and on 48 strike outs in 66 innings. Stack as many National players as you could in this one as they should be up on Perez. Trea Turner should be a lock as he is hitting .323 with 8 stolen bases over the last week. Harper is due for a power serge as he should catch Judge in the home run standings soon.
Targets: Harper, Turner, Murphy
My lineup
SP-Wood-LAD
SP-Verlander-DET
C-McCann-HOU
1B-Cabrera-DET
2B-Murphy-WAS
3B-Turner-LAD
SS-Turner-WAS
OF-Kemp-ATL
OF-Shwarber-CHC
OF-Bautista-TOR
Check out our MLB Breakdown Spreadsheet and our newly-released Pitcher Breakdown Spreadsheet (these picks – all over/unders – are now at 55.6% accuracy since May 21) where you can compare key statistics and numbers for today’s games.