Good morning everyone! We’ve reached another weekend in the baseball season and it seems to be going to fast for my liking. Let’s slow things down a little bit today and win some money over at DraftStreet.

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Weather

The east coast is once again in the way of some threatening rainstorms today. Games in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, New York and Cincinnati all need to be monitored closely.

Positional Breakdown

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Starting Pitchers

No way Jose! Yesterday we got to watch Jose Fernandez pitch unlike himself and get torched by the San Diego Padres. Thankfully, Yu and Masahiro, the other top pitching options were very solid picks and should have led you to some cash. Tonight doesn’t bring as many stud arms, but there are a couple top arms to choose from. Ervin Santana will be high on a lot of people’s radars thanks to his matchup with my Cubbies. Santana has flourished in the last two years and can’t really get a better matchup. The Cubs can’t seem to ever string together too many hits and have too many easy outs in their lineup.

I’m going back to Petco Park and testing my luck with Nate Eovaldi tonight. Eovaldi is another exceptional arm in that Marlins’ rotation, a flame-throwing righty who struck out ten in his last start against the Mets. This game has a 6.5 run over/under, letting us know Vegas doesn’t see many runs being scored tonight.

Staying youthful, Yordano Ventura is on the bump today against the Seattle Mariners. Despite the Robinson Cano signing, the Mariners offense has not gotten it going this season. After being shut down by Jason Vargas last night, I see a similar outcome tonight Yordano’s last start got ruined by a three run homerun by Yasmani Grandal, but his 10 strikeouts smoothened everything out; roster him confidently tonight.

Others to consider: Jeff Samardzija and Sonny Gray. 

Catchers

Outside of the pitchers I just mentioned, there aren’t many solid arms today so it looks like there could be plenty of runs scored. One team that scores a lot of runs against left-handed pitchers is the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers catcher, Jonathan Lucroy, fits the bill of a lefty smasher as well. Lucroy is a career .320 hitter against left-handed pitching and sees C.C. Sabathia tonight. He’s only hit one homerun this year, but gets a good chance to hit one tonight.

Give me some more Matt Wieters. I’ve been recommending Wieters a lot this year, but the guy is a stud and one of the best catchers in the league. Wieters gets to see the down to earth Colin McHugh, a pitcher who over performed in his first two starts. He’s been dealing with an injury and struggled through a hitless game last night, but he’ll turn it around tonight.

Others to consider: Yan Gomes and Jason Castro.

First Basemen

I don’t think I’ve gotten to recommend Paul Goldschmidt in this column yet this year, but I’m definitely doing so today. Goldschmidt is on a little bit of a heater and faces left-handed pitcher Jose Quintana in US Cellular. US Cellular is such a good hitters park, and Goldschmidt’s career platoon advantage against lefties is too much to be ignored; roster him confidently.

On the other side of this game, it’s hard not to love Jose Abreu. Abreu has been better than advertised this year and just absolutely mashes everything that’s thrown up at him. The fact that he gets to play in US Cellular for half of his games makes him an awesome yearly and daily fantasy league option. Wade Miley has pitched better of late, but hasn’t gotten to face Jose Abreu yet.

Others to consider: Brandon Moss and Joey Votto.

Second Basemen

I’ll be targeting the game in Chicago very heavily tonight against these two weaker left-handed pitchers, so I feel strongly about Aaron Hill tonight. Hill has struggled a little bit this year, but in his last seven he’s hitting .333 with a homerun. With not many other games to target offensively, Hill tops my second base list.

I also like Ben Zobrist tonight. Zobrist flies under the radar in DFS because of his limited upside. He doesn’t steal any bases, nor does he hit a lot of homeruns. Thanks to his price though, I feel like he’s a solid play against Zach McAllister tonight.  McAllister is a younger arm against a veteran hitter who gets to swing from the left side tonight and take advantage of the platoon splits. If you need to find value, you’ll find it with Zobrist.

Others to consider: Dustin Pedroia and Chase Utley. 

Third Basemen

The wind seems to be storming out in the Oakland Coliseum tonight, which leads me to like Josh Donaldson even more than I already did. Tanner Roark is nothing to be afraid of and I always love the A’s at home. They touched up Doug Fister in his first start off the disabled list, and should do the same tonight against Roark. Although Donaldson doesn’t have the platoon advantage, he should be hitting in plenty of plus situations tonight.

I haven’t gotten a chance to recommend too many Indians guys against Erik Bedard tonight, but I’ll take a chance with Carlos Santana. Santana has been a conundrum all year long and seems to do absolutely nothing when I take him, but I guess it’s back to the well tonight. He’s hitting .139 on the year but does possess quite a bit of upside. His price should be very affordable and he’s been better from the right side of the plate. Use him where you can to pay up for other spots.

Shortstop

So, Tulowitzki wasn’t on my board against Cueto and of course he homered. He’s too good, and is head and shoulders the best play at shortstop again today. The weather in Cincy is something to keep your eye on, but if you should decide you want to pay up for the explosion that comes with Tulo’s bat, do so, he won’t disappoint.

If you don’t want Tulowitzki, give me some Xander Bogaerts. Did you know Bogaerts is from Aruba? I did. Even though that doesn’t really matter tonight, he does get to face a left-handed pitcher and possesses the platoon advantage tonight. He’s going to be an excellent player, but the power just hasn’t come quite yet. I like his chances to get a long ball tonight against Martin Perez.

Others to consider: Asdrubal Cabrera and Jed Lowrie.

Outfield

Carlos Gomez will hit a homerun tonight. I can just feel it. I don’t roster CarGoLite a lot, but I just have this weird feeling tonight. CC Sabathia is no longer the pitcher he once was and I love to pick on him with guys who own a solid platoon split against left-handed pitchers. Gomez has not been as good against left-handers this year, but last season owned a .315 average with eight homeruns. He has a ton of upside with both the homerun and the stolen base.

Carlos Gonzalez, the other CarGo, gets my nod as my second favorite outfielder tonight. He’s still in a solid hitters park at Great American and faces a right-handed pitcher in Alfredo Simon.  His price has climbed back up on the sites, but with good reason. He’s one of the best outfielders and players in the game and has a plus matchup tonight. He’s actually been better against left-handed pitchers this year, but has hit five of his seven homeruns off of right-handers; use him with confidence.

If you want to go with a cheaper outfielder today, take Dayan Viciedo. Vicideo has absolutely mashed left-handed pitching in his career and faces Wade Miley at home in a perfect hitters matchup. He’s very affordable and possesses a top matchup a long with the rest of the hitters in this game.

Others to consider: Adam Jones, Shane Victorino, Khris Davis and Giancarlo Stanton.

Mini Stack

US Cellular- Goldschmidt, Viciedo, Hill, Abreu

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