Yu Darvish has delivered. He is the first Dodger since ’02 to strike out 10 and throw 7 scoreless innings. Now he did this against the Mets who aren’t a great team but still Darvish should finish this season strong and help the Dodgers out on their playoff run.
Bartolo went old school last night and threw a complete game in the victory for the Twins. Yes you read that correctly, Bartolo threw his 37th career complete game, 20 years after he threw his first. It was Colon’s first complete game since 2015 and he is the oldest to throw one-at age 44-since Jamie Moyer at age 47. I would have never thought to pick Bartolo and if his name didn’t slide past me yesterday I would have picked him to get beat up in a high scoring play.
We have a full slate of games with 3 getting started before the traditional 7:05 start so get those lineups in.
Low-Scoring Plays
Seattle Mariners @ Kansas City Royals- The Kansas City Royals have been hot as we know they have climbed back into the picture for the play offs. At home I would usually like them to have a big day. Felix isn’t have his usually year numbers wise. However he is still a great pitcher and the pitcher I like the most today. He has had success against the Royals holding them to 4 home runs in 205 at bats.
Targets: Hernandez, Cano
New York Yankees @ Cleveland Indians – Danny Salazar take the mound for the Indians. On a day like today, Salazar is a play that I usually be all in on. The Yankees bats have been silent so it could be a monster game for him. At the same time the Yankees can wake up and it can get bad. You can’t silence a good team for this long. Which leads me to think, are the Yankees good? Yes of course they are they are about to win 6 of the next 8 World Series. But right now they are young and don’t have a veteran leader to help them through this rough patch. Don’t tell me Gardner is a leader either, I have more pull in that club house than him. I’m staying away from Salazar today because the Yankees could erupt. However if you think this slump for them is legit then lock in Salazar.
Targets: Salazar, Lindor, Encarnacion
Texas Rangers @ Minnesota Twins – The Twins aren’t much of a threat at the plate besides Sano. No one is batting over 300 and only Sano has more than 20 home runs. This shapes up well for the Texas pitcher Cole Hamels. Now in his 11th season Hamels is 5-1 with a 4.01 ERA. The ERA isn’t great but pitching against the Twins is something Hamels is good at. He has held them to an average of .238 with 2 home runs in 84 at bats. Hamels has a WHIP of 1.13 and the Twins already struggling hitting. Lock Hamels in as your second pitcher.
Targets: Hamels, Odor
High-Scoring Plays
Washington Nationals @ Chicago Cubs – John Lackey gets the call for the Cubs who is 8-9 this year with a 4.87 ERA. This is not shaping up well for the Cubs as the Nationals should tee off. Murphy is hot yet again as he hit 2 home runs yesterday and now has 19 on the season. Harper is always a great play and Rendon is a play that I love today. However it won’t be a cake walk for the Nationals because the Cubs have found their grove, and are playing at home. Edwin Jackson pitches for the Nationals who isn’t great. The Cubs have collectively hit .319 off of Jackson with a slugging percetange of .574. Taking players on both sides would be a good move as I like this game to be the high scoring one of the day. It starts at 2:05 so if you want them get the line ups in.
Targets: Harper, Rendon, Murphy
Chicago White Sox @ Boston Red Sox- Boston won this game last night in extra innings after a Moreland walkoff home run. Moreland’s bat has woken up after being silent since June. Pomeranz pitches for the Red Sox who has turned his season around and probably has more fans in Boston now than David Price does. The White Sox aren’t a great team but I like them to win here against Pomeranz. Moncada is a play that I absolutely love today. He was the player that was traded for Sale. Look for him to hit a long ball today and taunt the Red Sox for what they could have had. Granted it was a great trade because Sale is a monster, but it will still sting a little bit to see him do that.
Targets: Moncada, Davidson, Abreu
L.A. Dodgers @ New York Mets – The Mets have fallen into 4th place in the division as they are 3-7 in their last 10 games. They are 9 games under .500 and more than 10 games out of the wild card. We know this season is wrapped up for them, but they are due for a big game. They only traded Duda at the deadline which was dumb they should have traded more but that’s whatever. Look for Cepsedes and Reyes to have big games today. Reyes has been ice cold after he went on a hot streak to turn his terrible season around. Rosario got the call up who was the #2 prospect in all of baseball. Look for him to finally get his beak wet and have Mets Nation rally behind him.
Targets: Cespedes, Rosario, Reyes
Undervalued Plays
Jon Gray-COL-SP- Gray doesn’t have the best numbers but he only cost $7000 and is pitching at home against the Phillies. At the very least he will get the win, but I think he will have a good day stat wise as well. There aren’t many great pitchers today that are locked in for big stat lines so save some money sacrifice a couple points you could have had with a big name pitcher and get a big name batter to make up for it.
Tyler White-HOU-1B-White hasn’t played much this season as he has appeared in 8 games this season. Well last night he went off with a 44 point performance. I don’t think he will replicate that, hit he is only $2200 and could be good for a couple of hits or walks. If he puts up 0 there is no harm, Draft Kings is paying you to take him at that price point.
Kaleb Cowart-LAA-2B- Another player Draft Kings is paying you to take. HE is only $2000 and averages 10 points per game. He has a limited sample size but again if he puts up 0 thats okay because taking him will allow you to take Harper and Trout who will career enough of the load for the entire team.
Yoàn Moncada-CWS-3B- This is the guy that was traded for Sale. He was said to be the next Mike Trout but he has been terrible since coming to the big leagues. He is batting .136 and 1 home run, but I would say he is undervalued today. Pomeranz gives up the long ball and he has to have at least one this series to stick it to Boston. That’s how the story line always shapes up. The kid does show a ton of potential and will be great but right now the Red Sox look like the robbed the White Sox of Chris Sale.
Judge-NYY-OF- Judge is on the expensive side however his price has dipped under $5000. That is a great price point to pick Judge as we know what he can do. Look for him to have a big day against Salazar because he is a legit hitter. These other guys like Clint Frazier I have yet to see but Judge is legit. There might not be people on base for him but he should still have a good day, he is due for it.