Good morning everyone! The weekend has arrived and there is baseball to be played. Mother nature is creeping back into the picture today so be aware before setting your lineups.

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Weather

CHW/CLE – Showers up until first pitch.

TOR/PIT- Few showers up until and throughout first pitch; low percentage chances.

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Positional Breakdown

Starting Pitchers

I think it’s safe to say that Masahiro Tanaka has the type of stuff to make it in in America. Hitters are yet to figure him out and I don’t see it happening today. Tanaka has been incredible thus far, compiling a 11.61 K/9 which results in nearly a 33.1% strikeout percentage. The disappointing statistic in his matchup today is that the Rays only strike out at a 17.5% clip, near the best in the league in that category. I think that goes up today as Tanaka has the stuff to send Rays’ hitters back on the bench and should do it a handful of times.

The last two times I’ve mentioned pitchers against my Cubbies, it hasn’t’ fared well for the pitcher. I’d be a fool to not let you in on Michael Wacha against them today. Wacha is thriving on striking out hitters, the most important statistic for daily fantasy players. While the Cubs played well against him in his first start this season, he really only has to get through a couple of hitters to ease his way around this lineup. One other note of concern is the wind appears to be blowing out to right at Wrigley, something to keep your eye on. Although Wacha isn’t my favorite matchup today for multiple reasons, he’s someone you need to be aware of because of his potential to be very highly owned.

Cuetoooo! Cuetooooo! I love Johnny Cueto and love him even more than usual today. The Brewers struggle pretty mightily against right-handed pitchers and shouldn’t be much of a match for one as high-caliber as Johnny Cueto. Cueto currently holds a WHIP of 0.77 and a K/9 of 9.57, two full K’s above his total last year. This game has the lowest over/under of the day, so Vegas isn’t expecting much scoring either. Target Cueto with confidence.

Others to consider: Hisashi Iwakuma and Julio Teheran.

Catcher

Catcher seems to be difficult again today, so I’m going to give you guys some cheaper, punt plays with favorable matchups. Mike Zunino hasn’t quite turned into the stud he was expected to be just yet, but he’s got time to grow. Zunino is swinging it at .333 against left-handers this year and I don’t think Dallas Keuchel can keep up his hot start this year. For some reason, Keuchel has found an ability to get right-handed hitters out this year, but his success should regress sometime soon as historically he has been hit better against right-handers. Take note that Zunino also gets the bump in park factor playing at Minute Maid today, take a chance on him.

Two straight days I’ve mentioned Travis d’Arnaud and I’m going to do it again. He’s an extreme value play who gets to face a left-handed pitcher at Coors Field again today. Right-handed hitters have been very good off of Morales this year and the trend should continue tonight. If you plug in d’Arnaud or Zunino you leave yourself a lot of salary relief for another position.

Others to consider: Salvador Perez and Brian McCann.

First Basemen

Miguel Cabrera has to be at the top of most lists today as he gets to face Danny Duffy. Duffy has been in the pen for the Royals but gets to make a spot start today. Miguel hasn’t homered in the last week but will enjoy a chance today as Duffy is hit harder from right-handed hitters. Cabrera just needs one game to get going for the rest of the year, let’s hope it’s today.

Justin Morneau has continued his resurgence this year and picked up another two knocks in last night’s game. Any chance he gets to play at home in Coors Field against a right-handed pitcher he’s a viable option. He meets that criteria today as he’ll face Jenry Meijia. Meijia tends to get a lot of groundballs, but should be putting balls right in a left-handed hitters sweet spot today. He’s allowing just under one homerun per nine innings, but hasn’t been afforded the luxury of pitching at Coors Field yet.

Others to consider: Mike Napoli and Albert Pujols.

Second Basemen

Dustin Pedroia finally homered! An encouraging sign for Red Sox fans and daily fantasy players alike, Pedroia smashed his 100^th career homerun last night. If he can get it going, he becomes one of my all-time favorite daily fantasy second basemen. Pedroia gets matched up with lefty Tom Milone today at Fenway Park and can hopefully keep it going. Milone actually possesses reverse platoon splits in his career, but Pedroia has fared much better against left-handed pitching. For his price, I think he becomes an intriguing play, especially if he shows some potential for the long ball.

Living in Pittsburgh, I can’t help but hear tons of stories about Pittsburgh’s son, Neil Walker. Walker has found a power surge this year and matches up with R.A. Dickey tonight. Dickey has given up 28 homeruns on his knuckleball since the beginning of 2013 (from ESPN) and faces a Bucs team that possess some power from the left side. I prefer to use Neil when he’s facing right-handed pitchers and you have to love the homerun upside today. He won’t be highly targeted so he becomes a definite tournament play.

Others to consider: Brian Dozier and Dan Uggla (GPP only).

Third Basemen

Manny Machado is back in action. One of baseball’s youngest superstars, Machado is also one of my favorite players. The best part about Manny Machado is his extra-base hit upside. Machado doesn’t hit a lot of homeruns just yet, but he is a doubles machine. Doubles lead to runs batted in and runs scored, helpful statistics in daily fantasy. The other plus is the fact that Machado gets to face an awful right-handed pitcher in Kevin Correia. Correia is another one of the Twins right-handers with extreme reverse splits, so feel free to use Machado and other O’s righties.

David Wright let this be the last time I recommend you if you don’t hit a homerun today. At least Wright managed a couple of knocks in last night’s game as he’s burned my column a bit in the past couple of days. I’m going to run him out there tonight against Franklin Morales and hopefully this Mets’ lineup can put something together. Wright has historically been better against left-handed pitching and Morales has been bad against right-handed hitters, a win-win.

Others to consider: Josh Donaldson and Pedro Alvarez. 

Shortstop

#1: Troy Tulowitzki. Moving on there are very few shortstop plays I like tonight, but one jumps out the most to me. Xander Bogaerts has been a sneaky play in daily fantasy linepus all year long against left-handed pitching and he’s given the matchup tonight against Tommy Milone. Bogaerts is still very young and his growing in to his power, but he has been very good against left-handed pitching this year. His price is low enough so you can take him as a viable “punt” option, yet his production and potential in tonight’s game screams otherwise. His one homerun this year came off of a left-handed pitcher, and his 1:1 K/BB ratio against lefties is an encouraging sign that he puts together much better at-bats against southpaws. Feel free to roster him to afford the big guns today.

Outfield

Carlos Gonzalez stated that he was confident about returning to today’s lineup despite missing last night’s game. Keep your eye on this situation, but if he does play, he instantly becomes my favorite outfielder. CarGo is still a solid value at DraftStreet and provides an unlimited upside when he is playing at home against a right-handed pitcher. His teammate Charlie Blackmon is also an incredible option tonight against Meijia.

If you decide to take a chance on some guys away from Coors Field, let your eyes wander to Giancarlo Stanton. Giancarlo hits the ball very, very hard and very, very far. Tonight he gets to face southpaw Paul Maholm an ideal matchup for Giancarlo, not for Paul. If you’re wondering why it’s such a great matchup, consider Giancarlo’s .307 ISO against left-handed pitchers in his career. Uhm, yeah, use him.

A couple of outfielders are battling for my last spot in the outfield, so I figured I’d put all of their names out there. Adam Jones against the crazy, whacky reverse splits of Kevin Correia, Carlos Beltran against young right-hander Jake Odorizzi and even Andrew McCutchen against homer-prone Dickey are guys I’m considering using today.

Others to consider: Juan Lagares, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jay Bruce, Jonny Gomes, any other J names.

Mini Stacks

Coors Field – CarGo, Tulo, Wright, Morneau, Dickerson, Blackmon (any combination of these guys will be fine)

BAL – Jones, Machado, Wieters, Hardy

PIT – McCutchen, Walker, Alvarez, Davis (sneaky, GPP)

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