What a crazy day yesterday was, right? Ray Flowers and I were on the SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio broadcast during the action and between Max Scherzer’s record-tying 20 strikeouts, Wei-Yin Chen making Ted Schuster look like a genius with his 12 Ks and Drew Pomeranz racking up 10 as the Padres swept a doubleheader from the Cubs, we were truly in the middle of a Twilight Zone episode. Oh yeah, and Noah Syndergaard’s two home runs! Nuts. Just nuts.
We can only hope for an equally exciting night here on Thursday, but we’re not going to set expectations too high. There are a number of good options, but it’s tough to see a duplication of yesterday’s Bizarro World. Here’s a look at tonight’s data:
| vs L | vs R | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Name | Team | Hand | H/A | Opp | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | HR/9 | AVG | SwStr% | ERA | xFIP | WHIP | BABIP | GB% | FB% | GB/FB | wOBA | wOBA | FD | DK | Aces |
| Clayton Kershaw | LAD | L | H | NYM | 53.0 | 10.87 | 0.51 | 0.51 | 0.199 | 15.4% | 2.04 | 1.99 | 0.77 | 0.282 | 47.6% | 29.4% | 1.62 | 0.154 | 0.241 | $12,500 | $13,300 | $8,000 |
| Zack Greinke | ARI | R | H | SF | 43.2 | 8.24 | 1.85 | 1.03 | 0.298 | 12.0% | 5.15 | 3.41 | 1.44 | 0.360 | 46.8% | 30.9% | 1.51 | 0.374 | 0.335 | $10,900 | $8,400 | $7,200 |
| Johnny Cueto | SF | R | A | ARI | 50.2 | 7.82 | 1.42 | 0.36 | 0.257 | 10.5% | 3.02 | 3.11 | 1.13 | 0.324 | 46.4% | 29.0% | 1.60 | 0.320 | 0.261 | $10,300 | $10,400 | $6,850 |
| Dallas Keuchel | HOU | L | A | BOS | 44.0 | 7.77 | 3.89 | 0.61 | 0.279 | 10.9% | 4.70 | 3.65 | 1.52 | 0.344 | 56.5% | 21.4% | 2.64 | 0.321 | 0.339 | $9,400 | $6,900 | $7,000 |
| David Price | BOS | L | H | HOU | 41.1 | 11.54 | 2.61 | 0.87 | 0.269 | 14.1% | 6.75 | 2.97 | 1.38 | 0.373 | 40.0% | 30.9% | 1.29 | 0.260 | 0.352 | $9,400 | $11,100 | $6,950 |
| Vince Velasquez | PHI | R | A | ATL | 37.1 | 10.61 | 2.65 | 0.72 | 0.185 | 11.7% | 2.17 | 3.24 | 0.96 | 0.250 | 38.2% | 41.6% | 0.92 | 0.254 | 0.233 | $9,100 | $10,900 | $6,600 |
| Nathan Eovaldi | NYY | R | H | KC | 37.2 | 8.84 | 1.91 | 1.43 | 0.265 | 9.6% | 4.78 | 3.12 | 1.25 | 0.317 | 55.5% | 28.2% | 1.97 | 0.381 | 0.292 | $8,900 | $7,700 | $5,900 |
| Adam Wainwright | STL | R | A | LAA | 40.0 | 5.18 | 2.70 | 0.90 | 0.294 | 7.3% | 6.30 | 4.67 | 1.50 | 0.324 | 40.7% | 33.3% | 1.22 | 0.301 | 0.388 | $8,300 | $7,200 | $6,500 |
| Ian Kennedy | KC | R | A | NYY | 38.0 | 8.29 | 3.08 | 0.71 | 0.209 | 10.7% | 2.13 | 4.43 | 1.08 | 0.260 | 35.7% | 45.9% | 0.78 | 0.246 | 0.294 | $8,000 | $8,600 | $6,600 |
| James Shields | SD | R | A | MIL | 45.0 | 6.80 | 4.00 | 1.20 | 0.242 | 10.5% | 3.60 | 4.50 | 1.33 | 0.272 | 45.3% | 34.4% | 1.32 | 0.256 | 0.403 | $7,900 | $8,200 | $6,500 |
| Bartolo Colon | NYM | R | A | LAD | 38.1 | 7.75 | 0.94 | 0.94 | 0.260 | 7.4% | 2.82 | 3.22 | 1.12 | 0.310 | 40.5% | 34.2% | 1.18 | 0.263 | 0.333 | $7,800 | $7,900 | $5,800 |
| Jimmy Nelson | MIL | R | H | SD | 43.1 | 7.48 | 3.74 | 1.66 | 0.222 | 6.3% | 3.74 | 4.22 | 1.25 | 0.237 | 49.6% | 33.3% | 1.49 | 0.312 | 0.316 | $7,600 | $9,200 | $5,900 |
| Ubaldo Jimenez | BAL | R | H | DET | 35.2 | 8.83 | 4.04 | 1.01 | 0.293 | 8.2% | 4.54 | 3.77 | 1.60 | 0.366 | 55.3% | 25.2% | 2.19 | 0.418 | 0.313 | $7,300 | $7,000 | $6,050 |
| Jered Weaver | LAA | R | H | STL | 34.1 | 4.98 | 2.36 | 1.31 | 0.307 | 8.8% | 4.72 | 5.49 | 1.51 | 0.328 | 25.8% | 46.7% | 0.55 | 0.382 | 0.363 | $7,000 | $5,800 | $5,750 |
| Aaron Blair | ATL | R | H | PHI | 16.1 | 2.76 | 4.96 | 0.00 | 0.232 | 5.5% | 3.31 | 5.85 | 1.35 | 0.255 | 34.0% | 36.0% | 0.94 | 0.330 | 0.241 | $5,200 | $7,500 | $5,500 |
| Mike Pelfrey | DET | R | A | BAL | 30.1 | 4.45 | 4.45 | 1.78 | 0.344 | 8.2% | 6.23 | 5.12 | 1.95 | 0.355 | 49.1% | 26.8% | 1.83 | 0.459 | 0.366 | $5,200 | $4,400 | $5,850 |
Investing Heavily
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Clayton Kershaw, LAD – The Mets numbers against lefties this year are strong and their bats have been solid on the road. However, the numbers have dropped recently and they’re posting a 24-percent strikeout rate over the last seven days. You may not want to pay up for him too often, but he’s still the best pitcher on the board.
Zack Greinke, ARI – It’s about striking while the iron is hot and right now, the Giants are cold at the plate with a .285 wOBA and a .075 ISO over the last week. They’ve got better than average numbers usually against righties, but they’ve plated just seven runs over their last five games which allows me to consider Greinke for cash games.
Moderately Priced
Vince Velasquez, PHI – He’ll likely be chalkier than Kershaw given the match-up with the Braves here. You can probably expect the Braves to use the same lefty-heavy lineup they used yesterday against Jerad Eickhoff, but Velasquez is obviously a more-talented hurler. Look for big strikeouts against a bottom-feeding team that just won’t be able to put it together two days in a row.
Adam Wainwright, STL – With three quality starts in his last four outings and posting a 16:3 K:BB over that span, it looks like Waino is getting himself back on track here. His last outing was one of his best and that was against a strong Pirates club, so using him tonight against an Angels teams that owns a .280 wOBA against righties this year doesn’t seem too far-fetched. In fact, given the Angels’s .230 wOBA, .045 ISO and 20-percent strikeout rate over the last week, I’m using Waino in a number of GPP lineups as well as a second starter on Fantasy Aces.
Middle Class
Bartolo Colon, NYM – Facing Kershaw is always a daunting task and you need an amazing performance just to try and pick up the win. Hard to see Colon out-dueling the lefty ace, but he is certainly getting some help from a Dodgers offense whose wOBA is just .288 over the last week and an even more abysmal .270 at home. GPP tournaments only, folks.
Jimmy Nelson, MIL – It’s the Padres, people, and the price for Nelson on Fantasy Aces is just way too low to pass up. Sure, the Friars swept the Cubs last night but they still have a .278 wOBA and a 26-percent strikeout rate against right-handers this season. I’ll actually be putting together a few lineups with him as my second starter.
Bargain Basement
Aaron Blair, ATL – Well hot damn, if Williams Perez can post such a crazy-strong outing against the Phillies, it shouldn’t be that tough to see Blair doing something similar. He’s a little pricey for me on Draft Kings, but considering the Phillies’ .259 wOBA over the last week and their .281 wOBA with a 21.2-percent strikeout rate, why wouldn’t you throw him into a low-priced GPP?
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