Below we’ve got a discussion of the starting pitching situation for the tonight’s late slate at DraftKings as well as the best teams from which to pick hitters. We’ve also got projections derived from Dan Szymborski’s ZiPS projections, and we have rankings of the top plays at each position.

Note: This analysis is for the late games only and does not include the two games at 6:00 Eastern Time.

Pitching Perspective

Here are our projections for today’s starters. You’ll see each starter’s salary, the average number of fantasy points the starter is projected to score per game and how far above or below average his projection is compared to his salary in the value column. You’ll also see adjustments being made for matchup and ballpark. As for the colors, they rank as follows from good to bad: purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, burgundy.

As noted above, the analysis in today’s piece is only referencing the night slate, and the model reflects that change. Even with the smaller game slate, there are still plenty of starting pitching options tonight, even after being spoiled with a plethora of options last night. The top gun tonight is Felix Hernandez ($10,600). He carries the largest price tag, but it’s one that you can certainly bear. You might notice the model reflects him as a slight negative value, but relative to the other option, he’s certainly the best choice. For some odd reason Felix has had trouble with the Rangers in the past, but this is a completely different team. He’s experiencing a negative park shift from Safeco, but his above-average groundball rate, coupled with his 10.29 K/9 is enough to make that a moot point. Felix is a preferred option in cash games and GPPs.

Zack Grienke ($10,200) has been phenomenal this year and is a bear on right-handed hitters, making him my second favorite cash game play tonight. He’s the second most pricey pitcher, so if you’re only reaching up for one arm, make it Felix, but Grienke is a 1b type guy. Vegas currently has the total sitting at 7 as no one is really expecting much scoring in this one. Grienke’s K/9 is down so far this year, but I expect that to regress back towards his mean (this means it’s going to go up!); roster him and Felix with confidence. For what it’s worth, I think Grienke makes for a better tournament play than Felix just due to the ownership levels and the better ball park siding with Grienke.

The middle tier includes four fairly decent options that all sit well below the top two arms tonight. Gerrit Cole ($8,800) is a great arm that rates well with our model, but will be facing a tough, grind it out Cubs offense (this is actually true, I’m not just being a homer!). With that being said, I still really like Cole tonight, especially as a second option in cash games. He possess great strikeout upside and the Cubs as a team are still striking out a lot (second in the league).

Jordan Zimmerman ($8,600) and Alex Wood ($8,400) are squaring off against each other in Atlanta tonight. Last night’s game was really strange as both offenses exploded. They should probably come back down to earth tonight with two solid arms going for each team. I prefer Zimmermann to Wood, despite the love the model shows for Wood, but neither one of these lineups is very threatening. Both pitchers make for decent second starting pitchers options, but I’d prefer their presence in tournaments, as Cole gets the nod as the top second tier pitcher.

Last but not least, if you’re looking to pick on bad offenses, pick on the Phillies. Carlos Martinez ($7,700) has been rock solid in his time in the Cardinal’s rotation thus far, and the Phillies lineup is a mess. It does feature a lot of left-handed options, but none of them really possess much punch, with the exception of Chase Utley. Martinez would be as low as I’d go, and is a viable cash game option, but I’d stick to Cole and Felix in cash games.

Stack Options

Chase Field isn’t Coors, but it does start with a ‘C’ and provide offenses with a great run producing environment. Nothing changes today as Josh Collmenter and Jordan Lyles take the ball when the Rockies and Diamondbacks square off. The total is current sitting at nine, the highest of the night slate. As is typical when the Rockies play in a good run-scoring environment against a right-hander, all of their left-handed bats are in play. Corey Dickerson ($5,200) remains my favorite, especially if he stays in the 2-hole, but Charlie Blackmon ($4,600), Justin Morneau ($4,800) and Carlos Gonzalez ($4,700) are also great options in all formats. Don’t forget about Troy Tulowitzki ($5,100) who is always in play, regardless of the platoon advantage – he is the premier shortstop option.

The Diamondbacks flexed last night. Although Jordan Lyles generates a lot of ground balls (52.8 GB% this year) I still like Diamondbacks bats. If Ender Inciarte ($3,500) gets back to the top of the lineup, he becomes an instant value play. David Peralta ($3,900) shook off some rust with a towering home run last night, and is also a great play if he slots in behind Goldy. AJ Pollock ($4,500), Paul Goldschimdt($5,400) , and Mark Trumbo ($4,200) are also solid options, even without the platoon advantage.

The Mariners couldn’t strike against Ross Detwiler last night, but we can try them against Wandy Rodriguez. Nelson Cruz ($5,500) is almost on auto-play against left-handed starters and the same can be said tonight. Rickie Weeks ($3,600) is a great value if he’s hitting 1-6 again, and Justin Ruggiano ($3,800) is also if he’s near the top of the order. You can dip into Robinson Cano ($5,400) and Kyle Seager ($5,000) but only in tournaments, if you’re brave.

I’m not opposed to using Dodgers or Cardinals left-handers in cash game attacks, but I’d be wary of going overboard stacking in GPPs. See the player rankings for the guys that I like best, as neither one of these teams deserves a full write-up.

There are not a lot of great stack options outside of the aforementioned tonight, but if you’re looking to find some more values, check out our projections. The projections are an average of what each hitter is projected to do on a per game basis according to the ZiPS rest-of-season projections. The projections have then been adjusted for splits, quality of the opposing starting pitcher and ballpark.

Player Rankings

Catcher

1. Stephen Vogt– $3,700 –Oakland Athletics
2. Nick Hundley – $3,500 – Colorado Rockies (prefer if hitting 1-5)
3. Yasmani Grandal – $3,800 – Los Angeles Dodgers

First Basemen

1. Paul Goldschmidt – $5,400 – Arizona Diamondbacks
2. Justin Morneau -$4,800 – Colorado Rockies
3. Adrian Gonzalez – $4,900 – Los Angeles Dodgers
4. Matt Adams – $4,300 – St. Louis Cardinals

Second Basemen

1. Rickie Weeks -$3,600 – Seattle Mariners
2. Kolten Wong -$4,000 – St. Louis Cardinals (only if hitting 1-6)
3. Robinson Cano -$5,400 – Seattle Mariners (gpp only)
4. Dee Gordon -$4,500 – Miami Marlins

Shortstops

1. Troy Tulowitzki -$5,100- Colorado Rockies
2. Jimmy Rollins -$3,800 – Los Angeles Dodgers
3. Jhonny Peralta -$4,000 –St. Louis Cardinals
4. Ian Desmond – $4,100 – Washington Nationals

Third Basemen

1. Matt Carpenter – $4,600 – St. Louis Cardinals
2. Nolan Arenado -$4,400 – Colorado Rockies
3. Kyle Seager -$5,000 – Seattle Mariners (GPP only)

Outfielders

1. Nelson Cruz – $5,500 – Seattle Mariners
2. Corey Dickerson -$5,200 – Colorado Rockies
3. Ender Inciarte -$3,500 – Arizona Diamondbacks (If leading off)
4. Charlie Blackmon -$4,600 – Colorado Rockies
5. Justin Ruggiano – $3,800 – Seattle Mariners
6. Carlos Gonzalez -$4,700 – Colorado Rockies

Starting Pitchers

1. Felix Hernandez -$10,600 – Seattle Mariners
2. Zack Greinke -$10,200- Los Angeles Dodgers
3. Gerrit Cole -$8,800 – Pittsburgh Pirates
4. Jordan Zimmerman – $8,600 – Washington Nationals
5. Alex Wood -$8,400 – Atlanta Braves
6. Carlos Martinez -$7,700 – St. Louis Cardinals

Note: These player rankings are price sensitive.