Yesterday’s results were a mixed bag. Johnny Cueto and Scott Kazmir both performed very well but the Cardinals/Pirates game didn’t turn out how I expected for Michael Wacha and Jonathon Niese.
Today is a new day and one where you will need to make sure you are watching the weather as there are a few games on the night slate with rain in the forecast. I will be focusing my picks on the Night slate today where there is a nice mix of aces, values and darkhorse candidates available.
Ace
Stephen Strasburg (FD-$11,300 / DK-$11,200)
Strasburg has all the right check marks in his favor tonight. Biggest Vegas favorite, check. Lowest implied run total against, check. Highest strikeout rate of any starting pitcher tonight, check. The only thing that could derail the Strasburg train tonight is good ol’ Mother Nature. Be sure to check the weather reports as game time approaches. Sonny Gray is a solid, safe pivot in Cash games if there are weather issues in Atlanta.
Value
Michael Pineda (FD-$8,400 / DK-$9,100)
Pineda had a strong season last year with a 4.37 ERA and 23.4% K-rate. If you look behind the numbers you will also see that he might have been a bit unlucky with a .332 BABIP and an xFIP of 2.95. Facing a potent Astros lineup tonight Pineda is not without risk so I would not recommend him for Cash games but with strikeout upside against the Astros who were the 2nd worst in baseball with a 23.6% K-rate against righties, Pineda is a solid GPP option on both sites.
Kenta Maeda (FD-$7,200 / DK-$9,200)
I love Maeda’s price on FanDuel at only $7,200. Maeda couldn’t have a better environment to make his first major league start tonight against the Padres in San Diego as he looks to keep the Padres scoreless for the season. The Padres struck out the 6th most against righties last season at 23.3% and Maeda will bring the element of surprise to hitters who have not seen him pitch yet. Maeda is a viable option in both Cash and GPPs, especially on FanDuel.
Darkhorse
Brandon Finnegan (FD-$6,100 / DK-$6,300)
Finnegan has only started four games and pitched a total of 55 innings in his brief big league career so far, but over that span, Finnegan has struck out a batter an inning and has done it against both right-handed and left-handed hitters. When looking for a darkhorse pitcher for the day I like to look for a pitcher with high strikeout potential who can also get a win and Finnegan fits that mold perfectly tonight. Once again be sure to check the weather report before rolling out Finnegan in your GPP lineups as there is rain in the forecast in Cincy. A cheap pivot option if the game gets canceled would be the Pirates’ Juan Nicasio.
Come back to DailyOverlay later today for the MLB Consensus list and some sample MLB lineups.
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