Good morning everyone! It’s been a beautiful weekend of baseball thus far and I don’t see that stopping today. Kick back, relax, and enjoy America’s favorite pastime while winning some cash at the same time!

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Weather

Only a late game at Turner Field will have any chances of rain today. Small chances of isolated thunderstorms should keep you watching the radar in Atlanta, but otherwise another beautiful day of baseball.

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Positional Breakdown

Starting Pitchers

Once the season gets rolling and teams set their rotations for good, a lot of pitchers will end up always pitching on the same day for their respective teams. Today, that becomes a major plus as there are lots of arms to choose from. Masahiro Tanaka actually took his first loss since essentially birth at the helm of my Chicago Cubs in his last start. Tanaka is on the other side of Chicago now, but I still like him today. His 10.27 K/9 is enough for me to roster him on strikeout potential alone. Pair that with a lineup that has never faced him and no true threat to disrupting him and Tanaka is one of my favorites today.

Another guy the Cubs seem to hit well is Adam Wainwright. Luckily for Waino, he’s not pitching against the Cubbies today, but instead against a banged up Cincinnati Reds team. This Reds team did just activate Jay Bruce from the disabled list but is still without their main cog, Joey Votto. Wainwright has been exceptional all year long, minus his few starts against the Cubs and I see that trend continuing today. You’ll have to pay up for these guys, but you need to have one!

Some very solid options that won’t cost you as much today are Dallas Keuchel, Jason Hammel, Ian Kennedy, Madison Bumgarner and Hisashi Iwakuma. 

Catchers

Like I mention every Sunday, be aware of some starting catchers not starting today in favor of the backups on day games following night games. With that being said, it’s really difficult to recommend guys not knowing who is going to be in the lineup this early on in the day, however, I’ll do my best to give you a couple names to watch for.

The Yankees are still in a hitter friendly park at US Cellular in Chicago and despite not whacking around John Danks, I think they’ll get to Andre Rienzo. As a result, Brian McCann becomes one of my favorite plays should he be in the lineup today. The nice thing about taking an AL Catcher is the chance that he potentially starts as a designated hitter as well! McCann has thrived on right-handed pitching in his career, and Rienzo isn’t a righty to fear.

Should McCann not be in the lineup, hopefully Jonathan Lucroy is. I’ve mentioned in the past Lucroy’s abilities to hit left-handed pitching and now he gets to face former teammate, lefty, Randy Wolf. Wolf signed a deal with the Miami Marlins in the wake of the Jose Fernandez injury and is now adding a veteran presence and arm to the club today. I don’t see Wolf’s first start going all to well for him against the Brewers today, and Lucroy is one of my favorites.

First Basemen

I’ll go back to the Yankees again here and really try to take advantage of the park at US Cellular and the bad pitching of Andre Rienzo. Mark Teixeira is someone I love to take when he is swinging from the left and he gets just that today. Tex, as he’s affectionately known, has been swinging that bat fairly well this season and could be a nice daily fantasy option all season long should he stay healthy.

Drew Pomeranz has been exceptional thus far this season, but I feel like it’s almost an injustice to not mention Edwin Encarnacion at home against a left-handed pitcher. Edwin has been absolutely unreal in the month of May and he might be disappointed that the calendar is soon to flip to June. If you’ve been watching him play, you don’t even need to know that he carries a career .237 ISO against lefties.

Others to consider: David Ortiz, Miguel Cabrera, Chris Davis.

Second Baseman

Second base is normally one of the most difficult positions to fill, but today, one name in particular jumped out at me. I can’t argue with what Mike Leake has done in his recent starts,  but I’ve been all aboard the Kolten Wong train since his recall. Wong has hits in each of his last six games and provides awesome salary relief across the sites. He has the potential to disrupt the game with his legs and even adds some sneaky power to the mix at the top of the Cardinals lineup; use him to help fit the big guns.

Others to consider: Howie Kendrick, Rickie Weeks and Daniel Murphy.

Third Basemen

I didn’t think it would be fun to not recommend at least one player from a game I’m attending today, so I’m going to throw out Pedro Alvarez’s name. Pedro, as you know, has massive power and flexed that muscle a tad with a homerun on Friday night. Doug Fister who has only thrown 18 innings this year has already yielded four homeruns, two of which have been to left-handed batters. Factor in that left-handed hitters have a .378 wOBA against Fister this season and I can’t see any reason not to like Pedro today.

Should you be looking for perhaps a tad bit safer play at third base today, test your luck with Pablo Sandoval. Pablo has been hot, hot, hot, recently and hopefully will continue that against Ricky Nolasco today. Nolasco is one of the only guys in the Twins rotation who doesn’t possess reverse platoon splits, and Pablo will be swinging from the left side today. If you believe in hot streaks, go ahead and roll him out, otherwise, his porous numbers this season won’t be enough for me to be able to persuade you.

Others to consider: Evan Longoria, Chris Johnson, Mark Reynolds. 

Shortstop

Yowza! Once again struck on Troy Tulowitzki despite being away from Coors Field yesterday. Today I won’t be recommending Tulo, but after him, it becomes a deep, dark, slippery slope to find another shortstop I feel comfortable using on a daily basis. Today, Jed Lowrie will be my safest recommendation. Lowrie is a switch hitter that gets to face JA Happ in a very hitter friendly environment in Toronto this afternoon. Despite using most of his power from the left side, Lowrie is actually a better hitter for average from the right-handed batter’s box. That’s where he’ll be today, making him a nice cash game play.

Others to consider: Jean Segura and Starlin Castro. 

Outfield

I’ll mention again how difficult it is to narrow the outfield down to just a few guys, but I’ll give it a go once again. Yoenis Cespedes, Jacoby Ellsbury and Michael Brantley are my guys today. Yoenis, the Cuban star who has taken a back seat to Yasiel Puig, is still a very good baseball player and has a very nice matchup today against JA Happ at the Rogers Centre. Cespedes carries a career .226 ISO against lefties into his matchup today, as well as a .282 career average.

I always talk about Ellsbury and he hasn’t lived up to expectations since I’ve recommended him, but he went and hit a homerun yesterday and I’m hoping he does again today. I can’t get over the potential this guy brings to the table every day with the threat to hit a homerun and steal a base. Thanks to those two attributes, he finds his way into my top plays a lot, and today he’s going to work.

Brantley is a name perhaps unfamiliar to the common baseball fan, but season long fantasy grinders know him well. Brantley has flown under the radar quite well in Cleveland and this year he’s finally showing off his potential. Brantley is hitting at .303 on the season and already has nine homeruns; last year he hit ten. He’s been the main force in this Cleveland lineup since the injury of Jason Kipnis and it might be difficult to bump him out of the 3-hole when Kipnis returns. Use Brantley today.

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