Welcome to another day of baseball here at The Fantasy Fix. Below I’ll be discussing the entirety of today’s slate with brief analysis on the pitching situation as well as the best teams and players to stack with. Because I am diving into the entirety of the slate, and not just the early or late, the analysis on both of the slates will be a tad more brief than usual, just a heads up.

Forecast

Be wary as weather is an issue all over the place today, but there doesn’t appear to be any game that is in danger of postponement. Make sure to monitor these games all throughout the day but since the majority of the slate is made up of day games, teams should get games in.

Pitching Perspective

Another day of baseball, another slate chalked full with pitching options.

In the early slate, have fun deciding between Felix Hernandez and Gerrit Cole. Both Cole and Hernandez are among the best pitchers in baseball and have plus matchups today. Cole will be at home facing a mess of a Marlins team, while King Felix takes the ball in the quiet of Tropicana Field. Cole’s price point is a little bit easier to tolerate but I love both pitchers for GPPs and cash games based on their immense upside and consistency.

Noah Syndergaard is the next option that I’d look to in cash games. He provides a lot of savings ($7,600) and gets to face the hapless Phillies team away from Citizens Bank Park. Using Syndergaard with either Cole or King Felix would be my preferred lineup construction in cash games.

For GPPs, look to the strikeout potential of Carlos Carrasco and Chris Archer. Both Carrasco and Archer have the ability to rack up the strikeouts and provide immense upside for tournaments. Because of all the options in the early slate I think you’ll see a diverse set of ownership percentages, so don’t even be afraid to dip to Michael Pineda, who although is facing a solid Royals team, could dazzle at low percentage owned.

In the night slate, it’s all about Max Scherzer (even if he is facing my Cubbies). Scherzer will strikeout a ton of Cubs and will be a difficult guy to fade even at his high price. Jon Lester will take the ball on the opposite side of this game and is also a solid option, but one that I’m reserving for GPPs. Because of the nature of the Nationals I think they get a lot of hype for being a “solid” offense, but no one outside of Harper scares me all that much. Lester might be key in GPPs tonight.

Oh, don’t forget about Zack Grienke. You saw what Clayton Kershaw did to a Braves team that was out of its element in Chavez Ravine last night. Grienke is priced for the part and makes for a useful cash game play below 10K. I think it will easier to be able to pay for him and Scherzer than one might expect tonight.

Stack Options

Again, despite the abnormal amount of pitching options there are still offenses to be leaned on today. In the early slate, focus on all the Cleveland left-handed hitters against Colby Lewis. This will be the second time this team has faced him, and they got to him the first time. There is plenty of value to be had in Lonnie Chisenhall and David Murphy, and studs a plenty with Brandon Moss, Carlos Santana, Michael Brantley and Jason Kipnis.

If you aren’t into the Indians, look towards the Rogers Centre and the Chicago White Sox against Marco Estrada. Estrada typically reeks of home runs and although White Sox are away from US Cellular, things don’t get much worse for them. I love Jose Abreu and Adam Laroche today, and wouldn’t be against using Adam Eaton or Melky Cabrera near the top of this order. Anyone in this lineup has a chance to take Estrada deep.

The Reds, while old and not a very fun team to watch always have nice prospects in DFS because of their ballpark. Today they’ll get to face Kyle Kendrick, and I can already see Jay Bruce, Joey Votto and Todd Frazier licking their chops. I really like that trio for tournaments, and love both Votto and Frazier for cash games.

In the night slate, the Cardinals get a chance to meet Josh Collmenter. Unfortunately for St. Louis, it’s at home, and they might be without Matt Adams who pulled up lame last night after hitting a double. Still, even without Adams, the Cardinals run a pretty deep lineup and will pose a threat to Collmenter’s integrity.

The late slate is fairly shallow, but take a chance on some Dodgers hitters against Alex Wood. The Dodgers should throw out Alex Guerrero and Scott Van Slyke to provide some huge value to go along with Howie Kendrick and Justin Turner.

Player Rankings

Catcher

1. Carlos Santana – $4,100 – Cleveland Indians

2. Brian McCann -$4,000 – New York Yankees

3.Buster Posey -$4,800 – San Francisco Giants

First Basemen

1. Joey Votto -$4,700 – Cincinnati Reds

2. Jose Abreu -$4,700 – Chicago White Sox

3. Brandon Moss -$4,300 -Cleveland Indians

4. Adam Laroche -$4,300 – Chicago White Sox

Second Basemen

1. Jason Kipnis -$4,700 – Cleveland Indians

2. Neil Walker -$4,200 – Pittsburgh Pirates

3. Kolten Wong -$4,100 – St. Louis Cardinals

Third Basemen

1. Todd Frazier -$4,800 – Cincinnati Reds

2. Matt Carpenter -$4,600 -St. Louis Cardinals

3. Chris Davis -$4,100 – Baltimore Orioles

Shortstops

1. Troy Tulowitzki -$4,400 – Colorado Rockies

2. Jung Ho Kang -$3,800 – Pittsburgh Pirates

3. Zack Cozart -$3,500 -Cincinnati Reds

Outfield

1. Andrew McCutchen -$5,400 – Pittsburgh Pirates

2. Michael Brantley -$4,900 – Cleveland Indians

3. Jay Bruce -$4,700 – Cincinnati Reds

4. Matt Holliday -$4,100 – St. Louis Cardinals

Pitcher

1. Felix Hernandez -$12,000 -Seattle Mariners

2. Max Scherzer -$11,100 – Washington Nationals

3. Gerrit Cole -$10,500 –  Pittsburgh Pirates

4. Zack Grienke -$9,500 – Los Angeles Dodgers

5. Carlos Carrasco -$9,800 -Cleveland Indians