Good morning!  If you’re like me, you’ve finally woken from your ‘Free Slurpee  on 7/11’ induced coma and you’re ready for some DFS plays. Let’s take a look at today’s slate, and see where we can exploit the match-ups! You can find me on twitter @RyNoonan if you have player specific questions.

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Game times and Weather

The first pitch of the day happens at 3:05pm ET in Cleveland with the Indians hosting the White Sox. The games are a  50/50 day and night split today. You’ll want to watch rain in Colorado and Cincinnati.

Positional Breakdown

Starting Pitchers

Two of the big aces on the board today go head to head in Philly, as Stephen Strasburg and the Nationals take on Cole Hamels and the Phillies. It’s not something that I’ll avoid every time, but I’m always hesitant to use a starting pitcher that is facing a divisional opponent. At times you can’t over-think it and it’s difficult to avoid, but unless the pitcher has shown a history of success against the team, or the opponent’s offense is ice cold, I tend to look elsewhere. Today it’s unavoidable, as nearly all of today’s action is happening in the division. As good as Adam Wainwright, Strasburg and Hamels are, I’d rather save a bit of my budget to load up on bats today, so I’ll target the next tier of starters and my first choice is Rick Porcello.  Coming off of a rocky start against the Rays, I like Porcello to bounce back against the Royals, and I think the probability that he gets a win today is high. If you stayed away from Strasburg/Hamels and need one more, Hisashi Iwakuma has limited the damaging against him in his previous starts against Oakland, he gets them at home tonight.

Catcher

The catcher position is one place that I typically like to ‘punt’ and spend as little as possible on, but Buster Posey is the no-brainer start today. His Giants are at home, and face left-hander Wade Miley, who Posey has a .529 career batting average against.

First Baseman

If you’re a tried and true DFS stacker, than the Tigers are your team today. The Tigers face James Shields, who’s facing a lineup full of hitters that carry a BA north of .300 against him. It starts with their anchor, Miggy Cabrera. Obviously, he comes at a high cost, so Freddie Freeman also makes for a nice play if you need to save $1k+ in cap space.

Second Baseman

The one Tiger whose had no success against James Shields is Ian Kinsler, so stay away. Second base is a place to save money today. I like the cost of Aaron Hill, who has plus numbers lifetime against Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong. Hill has disappointed his fantasy owners thus far, but you only need him for today and he’s 11/22 lifetime against Vogelsong.

Third Baseman

Rarely should you ever start a player that’s facing Adam Wainwright, but it’s worth noting the .404 lifetime average that Aramis Ramirez has against the Cardinals ace. The only problem here is, it’s hard to expect a lot of production from the other Brewers in the lineup. You should almost never expect a lot of productions from the Mets lineup, but few players at the hot corner are swinging a hotter bat than the Mets David Wright.

Shortstop

It’s a light day for options at shortstop, but my play today is Elvis Andrus. Batter vs. Pitcher sample sizes are typically small, but Andrus has over 70 career plate appearances against Jered Weaver, and he’s hitting .333 for his career. This increases the likelihood of a stolen base or two, along with run scoring opportunities in that Texas lineup.

Outfield

As mentioned earlier, a Tigers stack could pay dividends today, and that wouldn’t break your bank. The trio of Torii Hunter, Austin Jackson, and J.D. Martinez are all worth a look. If you have money to burn still, get Jose Bautista on your team. Joey Bats has hit five career home runs off of David Price, and the long ball has been Price’s enemy in 2014. If you don’t believe in Iwakuma tonight, than you might find Yoenis Cespedes to be an interesting play. He’s the lone Athletics hitter with strong career numbers against the Mariners starter, he’s 8/18 with three home runs against Iwakuma. Jered Weaver is going to be Shin-Soo Choo‘s slump buster. Despite the season-long struggles, I think Choo gets on track today and he’ll come at a nice discount.

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