We’re one day away from the second half of the baseball season returning, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been able to play in contests on Boom Fantasy. Boom now has six different sports you can partake in – MLB, NBA, PGA, Tennis, NASCAR, and E-Sports. We’re going to get a jump-start on Friday’s massive slate, but we’ll be the first to tell you to make sure you participate in Boom’s other contests as well as the MLB ones!

Question one is a doozy as we jump right into the hits category, as two of the sharpest beards in all of the land do battle. We’re talking about Justin Turner and Daniel Murphy; both have quality beards, but even better bats. Murphy is the favorite and it’s warranted, as his matchup against Tim Adelman is definitely more ideal than Dan Straily who’s pitched extremely well this season.  That said, Turner is the one hitting .349 against RHP while Murphy sits at .342.

We continue with the hits theme as we gather up Charlie Blackmon, Bryce Harper, Yoenis Cespedes and Dustin Pedroia for a question. Blackmon, the favorite, is tasked with the toughest challenge, as the Mets will send Jacob deGrom to the hill. We already mentioned the Nats play the Reds and Harper will face Tim Adelman who is no slouch against left-handers. He’s held LHH to a .214 AVG on the year, so Harper is also tasked with a tough opponent. The Yankees have decided whom they’re pitching so Pedrioa’s matchup is an unknown while Cespedes is hitting .082 in the month of July.

We move from hits to RBI for question three, as it’s a four-person question on who will drive in the most runs. Featured in this question is Marcell Ozuna, Joey Votto, Mark Reynolds and Zack Cozart. Ozuna is tied for the league lead in RBI, while Votto isn’t far behind in second, just two RBI back. Reynolds has a really tough matchup in Jacob deGrom but he’s been substantially better against RHP than LHP this season. Cozart has also only driven in two runs since his return from the DL (eight games), so that’s why he’s the long shot to win.

Sticking with the run producers, choosing one player between Nolan Arenado, Ryan Zimmerman, Mookie Betts and Michael Conforto is extremely tough. We’ve touched on the Rockies matchup a few times already and how tough it is. Couple that with the fact Arenado is better against LHP and on the road he’s going to be an underdog even though he’s listed as the favorite. We also mentioned how Reds’ SP Tim Adelman has reverse splits this year, which bodes well for Ryan Zimmerman here. Betts is an elite talent that may erupt no matter who the Yankees send to the mound, and Conforto has driven in 34-of-41 runs against RHP, so he’s definitely in a way more comfortable spot.

Question five asks us how many extra-base hits will Giancarlo Stanton accrue? Well what we know going into Friday’s contest against the Dodgers is that he’ll be facing Brandon McCarthy. McCarthy has been primarily a ground-ball pitcher his whole career and that hasn’t changed this season. Against RHH specifically he produces grounders at a 43.7-percent clip. Stanton has a ton of thump as we all know, but he’s been way better against lefties than righties this season, posting an OPS north of 1.000 against LHP, but under .900 against RHP.

Moving right along we get an Aaron Judge question, so the answer is always yes. Well in this case, how many total bases will he have, so it’s never out of the question he puts up a big number. Judge is slugging .776 against LHP and gets a matchup against Drew Pomeranz who has allowed a 45.6-percent hard contact rate in the month of July thus far.

It’s always a nice change of pace with the last two questions being about pitching. We’re first asked about Justin Verlander and the amount of strikeouts he’ll accumulate, but it’s been tough sledding for the former Cy Young award winner of late. Verlander is only averaging 5.3 K’s per game over his last five starts and the Blue Jays aren’t a team that necessarily strikes out all that much as they’re 17th in the league in strikeout-percentage. Jacob deGrom’s total amount of strikeouts is the last question we’re asked and ladies and gents, it could be a lot. deGrom is fifth in the NL in K’s and has a 28.4-percent K-rate on the year. We’re looking at scenario that he could strikeout double-digit Rockies fairly easily, especially when you couple that with the fact they have the eighth highest strikeout rate in all of baseball.