We have a tidy six-game slate tonight for the main slate as it was a split slate today. There’s only one game with weather concerns with that being the SF-WAS game seeing increasing chances of rain throughout the evening.
Top Tier
Max Scherzer, WAS - Scherzer has had one start all year with more than two ER allowed and has been even tougher at home with a 0.68 WHIP and sub-2.00 ERA in DC. The Giants have been quite good at manufacturing offense this year but this match-up is likely too tough for them to do that against. The big concern here is the weather in DC and how quick they usually are to PPD a game, so pay attention to the weather up until lock for sure.
Trevor Rogers, MIA - Rogers has been a dominant starter much of the year for Miami and now gets the Rockies, but on his home turf and not in Coors. That makes a big difference. Colorado has struck out 29.3-percent of the time against righties away from Coors the last two weeks with a .227 wOBA and 45 wRC+ mark. All good signs for Rogers tonight.
Mid Tier
Mike Minor, KC - Minor has flown under the radar for quite a bit of the season as he plays for Kansas City and aside from a hot start, they haven’t been doing much since, except for Minor. On the road, things have been good for him with a 3.12 ERA, sub-.200 BAA and more than a K/IP and in the last two weeks, the A’s have struggled at home against LHPs with a .245 wOBA and 64 wRC+.
Zack Greinke, HOU - While the strikeout totals aren’t what they’ve been previously for Greinke, he’s still out there putting up solid start after solid start and that’s all we’re looking for here. While the name on the front of the jersey might scare some folks off this match-up, it should be the names on the back and what they’ve not been doing that should bring people to this match-up. In the last two weeks, the Red Sox have just an 82 wRC+ against RHPs and have whiffed nearly 25-percent of the time.
Value Tier
Anthony Desclafani, SF - This is another play from the dicey game, but if it plays, it’s not such a dicey match-up. Washington has had a tough time of putting good contact on pitches most of the season and is well below-average the last few weeks against RHPs with a .240 wOBA and a 49 wRC+ while striking out over 26-percent of the time.
J.A. Happ, MIN - Look no one is intrigued by going against the Yankees but their offense still has holes and has been less than impressive against southpaws the last few weeks. They’ve struck out 27.6-percent of the time against LHPs and have a below-league-average wOBA and wRC+ as well. There’s a reason he’s this cheap, it’s been a rough go of it for Happ but he’s been far better at home in terms of ERA, WHIP, and BAA.