Top Options: Chasing the Runs
The pricing this afternoon has very affordable pitching, which allows the opportunity to load up on some big bats today. Washington, Houston, and Boston combined for 45 runs yesterday, and look to be in a position to put up similar numbers today.
The Astros look to have the White Sox’s number this year, and we see a rematch of an earlier season game in April when Giolito allowed nine earned to Houston, while Keuchel shut the Sox down. Giolito has allowed at least four earned in four out of his last five starts, including seven earned off three homers in his last one. Don’t be afraid to go back to Kyle Tucker after his three-strikeout debut, especially on FD as a minimum price option. José Altuve , and Josh Reddick have taken Giolito deep, with Alex Bregman checking in as a little too overpriced, but works paired up with a cheaper Tucker.
It’s hard to ignore a Nationals team that has now won three straight since Scherzer’s players only meeting. They’ve scored 35 runs over those three games, and will look to beat Miami for a 15th straight time. Richards has allowed 18 earned runs over 26.2 innings on the road this year, and will be facing the Nats for the first time. We will likely have to wait for lineups with Washington, as Mark Reynolds is coming off a career high game, but typically sits vs. a righty. Bryce Harper , Matt Adams , and Trea Turner of course are all elite options. If looking to do a full game stack, the Marlins hit three homers off Scherzer, and face Roark, who is coming off allowing nine earned in his last start.
The Red Sox are your third team that blasted off last night, and face the terrible Royals one more time today. Junis has lost his last seven starts for the Royals, and has allowed three homers in three out of his last five starts, and 12 total over those five. He allowed eight earned in his last start, and could easily load up on their top four bats, who could all go deep today. Mookie Betts , J.D. Martínez , Andrew Benintendi , and Mitch Moreland would be the ideal four pack.
Indians and Yankees
If not chasing runs with the three above, both the Indians and Yankees could reach the double digit runs mark today as well. Cleveland faces Anderson, who is making his first start after being on the DL since May 18th. In his four starts before then, he went 0-2, with a 7.63 ERA. Francisco Lindor has multiple hits in five out of his last six games, and although it’s been hard to pay up for him ad José Ramírez this past week, the affordable pitching today could make that possible. Michael Brantley has four doubles over his last three games, and could likely be low owned in the L/L matchup, as well as one of their cheap spot starters.
The Yankees face Borucki, who is making his third start, and hasn’t pitched that poorly so far, giving up two earned in each of his first two starts. The Yankees started the game off hot last night, and could easily do the same. Similar to Boston, feel free to load up on their top bats in Brett Gardner , Aaron Judge , and Giancarlo Stanton , but could use the fourth spot for salary relief with a Brandon Drury , Clint Frazier , or Neil Walker .
Possible Lower Owned Stacks: Full game PHI/PIT Stack
With the large number of top teams to target today, as well as the affordable pitching, a few of the games on today’s slate will be overlooked. If looking to target one of them, I like the PHI/PIT game the most. Kingham will try to help the Pirates ending their five-game losing streak, and have been outscored 51-15 over that span. Kingham allowed five earned off three homers in his last start, which was his first since being called back up from the minors. Philly has won six straight games, and similar to above, go with their power bats in Rhys Hoskins , Carlos Santana , and Odubel Herrera , and use that fourth spot on a spot starter. The Pirates aren’t scoring at all, but maybe facing the call up Anderson, who is making his first appearance in the bigs today will help spark their offense. He appeared in two games last year, and allowed seven earned over 2.1 innings. Even if not going a full stack, the Pirates have affordable price tags if looking to pair them up with higher priced bats from another team.