Not too many stories coming out of the league last night. As we know, Trout is having a monster year to the point where it’s being asked if teams should walk him with bases loaded. At this point in the season, I would have to agree and walking Trout with the bases loaded isn’t a bad play.
As Trout continue his run through the league we are witnessing the next Trout in Aaron Judge. Aaron Judge now has his own chambers at Yankee Stadium. That isn’t a metaphor. He actually has his own chambers where fans can sit and wear Yankee Judge Robes. I personally am not a fan of it and think it’s over-the-top, but its a great marketing play by the Yankees.
We have 15 games in action tonight after a slow night last night so let’s get to it.
Low-Scoring Plays
St. Louis Cardinals @ L.A. Dodgers – Clayton Kershaw takes the mound for the Dodgers who is 7-2 on the year. Kershaw is the best pitcher in the game that isn’t even up for debate. Sale and Syndergaard are fighting for 2nd in my eyes but Kershaw is just flat-out number one. Kershaw is even more dominant at home where he is averaging 7.75 strikeouts-per-game. St. Louis already doesn’t score runs, they are 21st in the league, going against Kershaw won’t make it any easier. Kershaw will be expensive but pitching at home it has to be a play for you.
Targets: Kershaw
Minnesota Twins @ Baltimore Orioles – A game that went high-scoring yesterday, I like to go low-scoring today. Ervin Santana takes the mound for the Twins who is having a great year. In his last start we he went 7 innings allowing 5 earned. He picked up the loss in a game that he only struck out 3. Look for Santana to bounce back tonight and keep the Orioles from scoring. On the other side Bundy takes the mound for the O’s. He is one of the Orioles’ best arms but not as good as Santana. However, the Twins line up isn’t as stacked as the Orioles. All around I like this game to be the low-scoring game of the day.
Targets: Santana, Shaw
San Francisco Giants @ Chicago Cubs – The Chicago Cubs have not been hitting the ball like they did last year. The team’s record is floating around the .500 point and they are looking for answers quickly. No answers will be found tonight as Johnny Cueto. Cueto has found his grove this year – don’t let his record of 4-3 fool you, his team is bad. Due to how bad the Giants’ offense is likes me to side with the Cubs. Jon Lester should have field day against the Giants and this game should be very low-scoring.
Targets: Lester, Shwarber
High-Scoring Plays
San Diego Padres @ New York Mets – It’s Harvey Day and that used to mean something in New York. Now it means that the Mets are going to lose another game. San Diego is one of the worst offenses in baseball but even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while. If Harvey falls behind in this game the boos will rain down on him from the Met fans. This is not something that will help Harvey get through this game. The Padres are a bad team so I like the Mets to score some runs as well. Conforto and Bruce have been playing great baseball. At the end of it I’ll take the Mets because they are a home team, but it should be a very high-scoring game.
Targets: Bruce, Reyes, Conforto
Pittsburgh Pirates @ Atlanta Braves – The MLB is always looking ways to speed up the games. I have an idea, any time Glasnow pitches and someone reaches first, automatically give them second because they are stealing it anyways. The Pirates will be able to swipe some bags too as R.A. Dickeys’ knuckleball will be bouncing all over home plate. At the end of the day I like the Braves at home but taking some Pirates players like McCutchen wouldn’t be the worst move.
Targets: Kemp
Texas Rangers @ Boston Red Sox – These were two offenses I loved coming into the season to lead the league in stats. However like the Cubs both teams have been struggling so far this season. Both teams are coming back from a day off so they should be rejuvenated. Porcello hasn’t been great this year, but he is a number 3 starter in this rotation once Price comes back. I like the Rangers to win this one because of one player: Napoli. Every time a corner infielder leaves Boston he seems to go off at his new team and Boston looks like idiots for letting them walk – Napoli, Shaw, Gonzalez. Look for Napoli to send bombs to the Lands Down Street over the Green monster.
Targets: Napoli, Odor
Undervalued Plays
Porcello – SP – BOS – I like Texas to win this game, and it to be high-scoring. However, Porcello won the Cy Young last year so he is a good pitcher. I don’t like him in this game but if you are feeling risky you can get a Cy Young pitcher for $8500. He averages 16.6 points per game which isn’t awful. I am not going to play him, but if you want to and he plays well, take your significant other out to dinner because you just won some money.
Gonzalez – 1B – LAD – Gonzalez has yet to hit a home run on the season which is just surprising. A hitter who has 308 career home runs you would expect him to hit at least 15 this year. At some point he is going to get into one and send it over the wall. He might put up 0 points so he could be a risk, however with Kershaw on the mound playing an instate rival, I like the play.
Motter – 2B – SEA – With Cano out Motter will take his spot. Second baseman aren’t usually your team’s slugger, except for Cano. So a 2nd baseman putting up a ton of points will almost always put you in the money. Motter normally bats 6th for Seattle and has 5 home runs on the season, which is 1 behind Mookie Betts, Boston’s best player. For a backup who will get the start, he is a steal. He is only $3000 and will save you money for other players.
Werth – OF – WAS – Werth is part of the best lineup in baseball. Zimmerman, Murphy, Harper, and Turner are the stars of the team, where Werth goes unnoticed. Look to put him in your line up to drive these guys in once they reach base – because you know they will. Outfielders are expensive so save some money on one where you can get Werth and beef up some other positions.
Check out our MLB Breakdown Spreadsheet and our newly-released Pitcher Breakdown Spreadsheet where you can compare key statistics and numbers for today’s games.