Today I will be playing the MLB Moon Shot ($2 contest w/big prizes!). If you are new to @DraftKings Daily Fantasy Baseball, you can claim your Deposit Bonus here! I also will be playing the King of The Hill $1 challenge to win $50 (first place only is paid out, and up to five entries per person is allowed)

Before I get into my @DraftKings team of the day, here are some weather notes for tomorrow’s games. –Note rain percentages aren’t definitive and are best used as a reminder to check the weather status again on game-day before selecting a player from that game.

Potential rain concerns: OAK @ SEA (50-60% chance of rain), however the Mariners do have a retractable roof at SafeCo.

Wind Conditions of note:

PIT @ NYM – 16 mph wind blowing out to RF

MIL @ CIN – 17 mph wind blowing straight out to dead CF

CLE @ DET – 20 mph wind blowing out to LF

Windy games yesterday were PIT @ NYM (13 runs scored), CLE @ DET (13 runs scored), and MIL @ CIN (20 runs scored)

The most common winning strategy, especially in formats that are 1^st place or bust, is the one that involves taking an entire team that’s facing a pitcher that is an extremely good bet to get obliterated. So in honor of that, I give you todays’ options.

Pitcher: Roberto (Fausto) Hernandez | $6,600 vs. SD: Hernandez turned in a great start last time out against a tough Blue Jays lineup at home. He went six innings, allowed five hits and one earned run while striking out seven and walking just one. The Padres have been flailing all weekend at Hellickson and Cobb’s change-ups. Hernandez should turn in another gem. Not to mention, Eric Stults is one of the pitchers I am targeting for my stack the lineup card strategy. He’s going to get obliterated.

Pitcher: Hiroki Kuroda | $9,300 @ KC: Kuroda has been simply amazing this season. He currently sits with a 2.30 ERA and a 1.07 ERA, and although the strikeouts haven’t been there, he’s shown the ability to at least be streaky with them. He has three starts with three strikeouts or less (vs. Boston, vs. Toronto, @ Colorado) and two starts with seven or more (vs. Houston and @ Toronto). Kansas City strikes out a ton, and George Kotteras, a backup catcher is seventh on the team in walks. He’s played in two games.

Lineup Possibility #1:

Catcher: Carlos Santana | $5,100 @ DET: Porcello is going to get absolutely smashed by the red-hot Indians. Santana has three career HR against Porcello in his career too boot (in 24 at-bats).

First Base: Nick Swisher | $5,100 @ DET: .375/.444/.688 against Porcello (remember 20 mph winds will be present as well)

Second Base: Kelly Johnson | $3,600 vs. SD: Here is another target team, the Rays, against soft-tossing lefty Eric Stults. Johnson has been absolutely on fire.

Third Base: Mark Reynolds | $5,800 @ DET: .400/.475/.700 vs. Porcello with a HR in 10 career at-bats

Shortstop: Asdrubal Cabrera | $4,700 @ DET: .382/.447/.447 in 34 at-bats vs. Porcello

Outfield: David Murphy | $3,500 @ HOU: Murphy is 3-4 with a HR and 2 walks in 6 plate appearances against Houston righty Jordan Lyles, who is another great candidate to get pounded.

Outfield: Marcell Ozuna | $2,000 @ LAD: Money saving move here, and Ozuna has been hitting well (surprisingly)

Outfield: Ben Zobrist | $4,000 vs. SD: Zobrist is hitting .293 vs. LHP this year, (although he hits for more power from the left side).

Second possible Lineup (remember I’m still using Kuroda and Roberto “Fausto” Hernandez as my two pitchers.

Catcher: Brian McCann | $3,200 @ SF: McCann got the day off Saturday, so he’ll definitely play Sunday. He’s been on fire with two home runs in each of his past two games.

First Base: Joey Votto | $5,700 vs. MIL: Wily Peralta is young, prone to the HR, and pitching in conditions that will not be conducive to allowing the park to stay in the yard. There will be 17 mph winds blowing out towards center for this game. The rest of this lineup is loaded with Reds.

Second Base: Ryan Roberts | $3,400 vs. SD: Along with Kelly Johnson, Roberts is one of the few Rays with experience against Stults. Roberts is 2-6 against Stults (he saw Stults during his time with the D-Backs), and has mashed lefties throughout his career.

Third Base: Evan Longoria | $4,300 vs. SD: Red hot and insanely cheap, Longoria is an awesome choice today but more on him later in the daily notes section.

Shortstop: Zack Cozart | $3,700 vs. MIL:

Outfield: Jay Bruce | $4,200 vs. MIL: Bruce has struggled to hit for power so far this season, but he’s a streaky monster. He homered last night and has both of his two home runs now in the last three games.

Outfield: Shin-Soo Choo | $6,000 vs. MIL: Choo is the catalyst of this Reds offense that is the best in the National League. He has an absurd .458 On-Base-Percentage and seven home runs already. Fortunately Draft Kings doesn’t deduct points for terrible defense.

Outfield: David Murphy | $3,500 @ HOU:

News and Notes from Saturday in MLB

• Evan Longoria hit this walk-off HR for the Rays in the ninth inning against San Diego closer Huston Street. This is noteworthy because Street has a uncharacteristically low K/BB ratio so far this season, (10 K and 5 BB), and has been allowing quite a few hits this year too. His WHIP currently sits at 1.36. Street’s job security may be higher though than most “proven and reliable” closers because Street closes for the abysmally bad Padres and they will keep him in the role so that he has trade value later in the season. The closer market is thin this year, so for deep leagues that count holds or where middle relievers hold a good amount of value, Luke Gregerson makes for a solid speculative pick-up for the latter parts of the season. He’s widely available in all leagues.
• Paul Maholm got slaughtered against the Giants on Saturday, for no other reason than because I picked him yesterday in Daily Fantasy. In all seriousness, it looks like the chrome has come off the rims on the Paul Maholm tires. His ERA now sits at 3.94 after the eight hit, six earned run performance in 4.1 innings pitched. He struck out just three and also walked three. The sell high window has effectively closed.
• Jared Burton recorded a save for the Minnesota Twins on Saturday since Glen Perkins was unavailable due to left side soreness. This could be serious news for all fantasy owners, as coming into the season he was a favorite of mine as a set-up man that would eventually usurp the current closer ahead of him. Of course, that was more due to the fact that Perkins is a lefty, and the lefty-bias I felt was going to work against him. Nonetheless, Burton is incredibly intriguing and he’s worth a pickup in all formats for teams desperate for saves.
• Francisco Liriano made me look foolish by striking out nine, walking only two, and giving up just one earned run while scattering six hits in 5.1 innings against the hapless Mets on Saturday. However, I’m still not buying. Sure, Liriano gets to pitch in the National League for the first time in his career, but given that he plays in the same division as his opposite handed clone in relief pitcher form, Carlos Marmol, the NL Central should be well accustomed to pitchers that have no clue where their nasty stuff is going. I’d be leery of him.
• Jonathon Niese got smoked vs. the Pirates in his face-off against Liriano (that the Pirates won 11-2). His eight earned runs were a season high for him, but by only a margin of one. Niese has given up 15 earned runs in his last 8.1 innings. He’s fully droppable in 10-team mixed leagues right now.
• Adam Lind homered for the second time this season in a 3-4 effort against the previously red-hot Clay Buchholz (although the home-run was not against him). I’ve long been an Adam Lind apologist, possibly to the detriment of logic, so this performance excites me more than even the average Blue Jays fan. Lind has upside that I have been chasing, seemingly since the Hoover administration. All kidding and self-deprecating humor aside, Lind is worth a pick-up now in deep mixed leagues.
• Junichi Tazawa, the new Boston closer, wasted no time in proving his mettle, as he allowed a ninth inning tie-breaking home-run to the aforementioned Lind. Tazawa will give up his fair share of home-runs, giving me closure – pun intended? – that Koji Uehara will eventually end up with the job.  However, impatience is probably still a couple more blow-ups away for manager John Farrell, making Uehara not yet worth a pickup in anything but a pure speculative move in 16-team mixed and AL-Only (which he’s probably already owned in anyway). Casey Janssen picked up his tenth save in the 3-2 Blue Jays victory, giving him a sparkling 0.69 ERA for the season.
• Remember when J.P. Arencibia was being crowned as the next Mike Napoli early this season? Yeah, me neither. His OBP now sits at an eye-gouging .255. Yuniesky Betancourt is appalled.
• Nationals super-stud Bryce Harper was scratched from Saturday’s lineup due to an ingrown toenail. Yummy. He’ll be fine though, but Ryan Zimmerman and Adam LaRoche may not be, as they continue to struggle to hit their weight.
• Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder #417 Adam Eaton (seriously, do the Diamondbacks have one of those number taker gizmo’s in Kevin Towers’ office?) was sent down to High-A Visalia on Saturday to continue his rehab assignment as a DH (since Triple-A Reno won’t be able to use the DH this coming week), and Eaton isn’t ready to play the field – according to Jack Magruder of FOXSportsArizona.com
• Colorado Rockies outfielder Michael Cuddyer was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Saturday with a bulging disk in his neck. This benefits Charlie Blackmon, Eric Young, and possibly even Tyler Colvin.