Below we’ve got a discussion of the starting pitching situation for the tonight’s late slate as well as the best teams from which to pick hitters.

There are a few games to keep your eye on in terms of weather today. The most notable game appears to be the late game between the Reds and Cardinals, but also the Padres/Cubs, Twins/Indians and Athletics/Royals have enough weather that you will want to monitor the situation.

Pitching Perspective

Matt Harvey ($9,900) finds himself once again as the top pitcher on the slate. It appears that his ability to record the strikeout has not left him and he’ll be facing a right-hand dominant Marlins team at home today. Much of the same reason I liked Jacob deGrom yesterday translates into the analysis for Harvey. There is no reason to believe that Harvey can’t do the exact same thing deGrom did to this Marlins team yesterday, although living up to his current 12.75 K/9 might be a difficult task. Systems all go for Harvey in cash games. I like his upside in GPPs but feel that he’s going to be highly owned. If you’re looking to use multi-entry, take a shot without him on a team or two.

As many times as Stephen Strasburg ($10,100) has burned me in the past, I still have to include him in this analysis. He’ll be facing a weak Phillies lineup in his home park, which is a big negative park shift for the Phillies left-handed hitters. He is priced pretty fairly given his strikeout potential for both cash games and GPPs and I believe he will carry quite a bit of exposure in both game types.

The reason I think you can stray away from Strasburg is the middle tier. If you don’t want the anxiety attacks that come from using Strasburg, look to Garrett Richards ($9,000), Jon Lester ($9,200) or Gerrit Cole ($8,400) or Michael Pineda ($8,100). All four of these guys have great strikeout potential and carry a nice price tag that allows you to grab hitters from the games you want. Pairing one of them with Harvey would be my plan of attack for cash games, but using any of them in any manner is perfectly acceptable. Of the four, Lester might carry the most question marks because of the weather and his less than ideal performances early in the season, but I think he’ll be just fine.

Stack Options

With a full slate of games, there are a lot of different routes you can go, as there are a lot of mediocre pitchers taking the bump. The Toronto Blue Jays carry the highest team total at 4.5 and are at home against Shelby Miller. For his career, Miller has compiled a less than average GB%, making him an awesome target for hitters. Seemingly every Blue Jay has homerun upside, especially at the Rogers Centre. I feel like this will be one of the more popular stacks of the day, but they are certainly cash game and GPP viable. DraftKings did not stretch their prices too much for this game, so Jose Bautista ($5,400) becomes one of my favorite plays of the day.

If you’re willing to wait out and see what the weather will bring, a mixed Indians/Twins stack might play out advantageously today. Trevor May and TJ House are the starters in this game, far from scary matchups for any of the hitters. Michael Brantley ($4,400) is back for the Cleveland Indians and will take the platoon advantage against May. I like Brantley as more of a cash game option due to his limited upside and ballpark hindrance. Carlos Santana ($4,600) and Brandon Moss ($4,200) are tournament options as they both carry homerun upside. The Twins side of this points to Brian Dozier ($4,300) being a solid middle infield play on DraftKings as he’ll have the platoon advantage over House. Unfortunately the Twins don’t have much in terms of right-handed power, so they may be more or less a plug and play type team.

Both the Red Sox and the Orioles project as solid tournament options today. A pair of right-handers, Rick Porcello and Miguel Gonzalez take the mound today giving a solid platoon advantage to a bunch of left-hand power bats in this game. Chris Davis ($4,600) homered yesterday and is a great tournament option with multiple homerun upside. Alejandro De Aza ($4,200) appears to be a little to pricey for me in cash games, but if you’re running a Baltimore stack would fit quite nicely in a stack, assuming he’s near the top of the order.

The Red Sox side of this game is the one I’d lean to. David Ortiz ($4,600), Mookie Betts ($4,700), and Pablo Sandoval ($4,700) are the significant platoon advantages against Miguel Gonzalez, but I like all of the other Red Sox in the 1-6 spots as well. The Red Sox are both cash game and GPP viable today.

The final stack option which might fly under the radar today is the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers have a team total of 4 as they square off with left-hander Jose Quintana today. The southpaw gives a significant number of Tigers the platoon advantage, including: Miguel Cabrera ($5,300), Ian Kinsler ($4,400), Yoenis Cespedes ($4,500), JD Martinez ($4,400), Rajai Davis ($3,900). The Tigers typically feast against left-handed pitching, and although they’re not in a particularly great ballpark for stacking, they’re one of the best bets to pay off. I like them in all formats and especially as an under-owned GPP stack.

Player Rankings

Catcher

1. Carlos Santana – $4,600 – Cleveland Indians
2. Russell Martin – $3,800 – Toronto Blue Jays
3. Buster Posey – $4,000 – San Francisco Giants (safe play for affordable price)

First Base

1. Miguel Cabrera – $5,300 – Detroit Tigers
2. Edwin Encarnacion – $4,500 – Toronto Blue Jays
3. David Ortiz – $4,600 – Boston Red Sox

Second Base

1. Brian Dozier – $4,300 – Minnesota Twins
2. Ian Kinsler- $4,400 – Detroit Tigers
3. Dustin Pedoria- $4,300 – Boston Red Sox

Third Base

1. Pablo Sandoval – $4,700 – Boston Red Sox
2. Josh Donaldson – $5,500 – Toronto Blue Jays (gpp preferred)
3. Chris Davis- $4,600 –Baltimore Orioles

Shortstop

1. Hanley Ramirez – $5,300 – Boston Red Sox
2. Troy Tulowitzki – $4,600 – Colorado Rockies
3. Danny Santana – $3,800 – Minnesota Twins

Outfield

1. Jose Bautista – $5,400 – Toronto Blue Jays
2. Mookie Betts – $4,700 – Boston Red Sox
3. Yoenis Cespedes- $4,500 – Detroit Tigers
4. JD Martinez – $4,400 – Detroit Tigers
5. Rajai Davis – $3,800 – Detroit Tigers
6. Adam Jones – $5,000 – Baltimore Orioles
7. Dalton Pompey – $3,800 – Toronto Blue Jays

Starting Pitcher

1. Matt Harvey- $9,900 – New York Mets
2. Stephen Strasburg – $10,100 – Washington Nationals
3. Garrett Richards -$9,000 – Los Angeles Angels
4. Gerrit Cole – $8,400 – Pittsburgh Pirates
5. Jon Lester – $9,200 – Chicago Cubs
6. Michael Pineda – $8,100 – New York Yankees