Welcome to another midweek edition of “Daily Fantasy Baseball Strategy.” We’re booking through the baseball season and with every day comes more and more meaningful games around the league.

As always, below I’ve included a look at the pitching options tonight, as well as the best teams to stack from and an individual set of player rankings.

Forecast

Be wary of the midwest again tonight, as storms look like they could roll around some games in the night slate. Be sure to monitor this closer to game time.

Pitching Perspective

The night slate has a ten game set, meaning there are twenty starting pitchers (duh), but there aren’t too many viable ones.

To start tonight’s research, I’ll be looking at Dallas Keuchel against the Tampa Bay Rays. A glance up and down the Rays lineup will leave you wondering how they even field a big league team…and win some games. Keuchel is a magician at run prevention, but this year he’s taken steps to improve his strikeout ratio, striking out nearly eight hitters per nine innings while getting an astonishing 63.2% ground balls. He’s the most expensive pitcher on the slate, but with good reason. I’d feel most safe rostering him in cash games.

Similar in style to Keuchel, Jaime Garcia will take the mound against the San Francisco Giants tonight. Garcia has been excellent since his return from the disable list, and Vegas really likes him again tonight. Without Hunter Pence this offense is a little bit less intimidating, especially against left-handers, but it’s still quietly a solid, and deep lineup. Garcia gets a ton of ground balls (67%) but he doesn’t strike many hitters out, and his price isn’t too reasonable. I don’t normally put guys in this section that I’m avoiding, but I’d be cautious with Garcia tonight, despite Vegas’ implied runs total of 2.9 for the Giants.

A trio of great arms will take the mound in not so safe matchups tonight, leaving us to pick and choose who will be best for cash games and which to roster in tournaments.

Jon Lester, Noah Syndergaard and Corey Kluber all take the mound tonight in less than ideal pitching conditions. Of the three, I’d rely on Kluber to bolster your cash game rosters. Despite the recent surge in offense from the Boston Red Sox, their susceptible as an offense, and Kluber has the type of stuff to shut them down. He’s a strikeout king on a site where strikeouts are heavily rewarded.

Lester has a tough matchup with the Detroit Tigers, who will load up the right-handers through the middle of the order. Lester has done a good job of keeping the ball in the ballpark this season, but the wind looks to be blowing out tonight, leaving him at risk. The other associated risk with Lester is guys on the base paths. The Tigers, although not very fast, will feature some speedy guys near the top of the order that could wreak havoc when getting on. Despite the huge favorite, and low implied runs total for Detroit, I’m reserving Lester for tournaments.

Syndergaard finds himself somewhere in the middle. His matchup with the Baltimore Orioles is great for strikeouts, as the O’s are fourth in the league in strikeout percentage (22%), but their lineup is deep and contains some dangerous sluggers. The price is right for Syndergaard to be worked into cash games or GPPs, and I’m ok with using him in both.

Stack Options

1. Coors Field – It doesn’t matter who is throwing in Coors, they’re always a target for bats. The Nats showed up last night and helped take down tournaments, regardless of how “chalky” their ownership was. Look to gain exposure to the right-handed value bats near the top of their order.
2. Chicago Cubs – The Cubbies, believe it or not, have the highest implied run total for a single team today. The wind will be blowing out against an extreme flyball pitcher, and the Cubbies have a lot of power. They’ll be an under owned stack, but one that could reap big rewards. Who is feeling a couple Kris Bryant homers?
3. Toronto Blue Jays – The Jays are on the road, but they get a cakey matchup with left-hander Adam Morgan.  Morgan has perhaps the worst skills of any pitcher on the slate and you’ll want exposure against him. Any of the Jays right-handers are in play, with an extreme emphasis on Troy Tulowitkzi at a shallow shortstop position.

Player Rankings

Catcher

1. Russell Martin -$3,600 – Toronto Blue Jays
2. Wilson Ramos -$3,800 – Washington Nationals
3. Nick Hundley -$3,400 – Colorado Rockies

First Basemen

1. Edwin Encarnacion -$4,400 – Toronto Blue Jays
2. Anthony Rizzo -$5,000 – Chicago Cubs
3. Ben Paulsen -$3,800 – Colorado Rockies

Second Basemen

1. Danny Espinosa -$3,400 – Washington Nationals
2. Ben Zobrist -$4,300 – Kansas City Royals
3. Jose Altuve -$4,900 – Houston Astros

Shortstops

1. Troy Tulowitzki -$4,600 – Toronto Blue Jays
2. Jose Reyes -$4,400 – Colorado Rockies
3. Ian Desmond -$4,500 – Washington Nationals

Third Basemen

1. Josh Donaldson -$5,900 – Toronto Blue Jays
2. Yunel Escobar -$4,600 – Washington Nationals
3. Kris Bryant -$4,700 – Chicago Cubs

Outfield

1. Jayson Werth -$3,300 – Washington Nationals
2. Jose Bautista -$5,500 – Toronto Blue Jays
3. Andrew McCutchen -$5,000 – Pittsburgh Pirates

Starting Pitchers

1. Dallas Keuchel -$11,400 – Houston Astros
2. Corey Kluber -$11,200 – Cleveland Indians
3. Noah Syndergaard -$10,200 – New York Mets
4. Jon Lester -$9,900 – Chicago Cubs
5. Jeff Samardzija – $6,800 – Chicago White Sox