Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Alek Manoah during a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Saturday, July 9, 2022, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
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Opponent - KC (Zack Greinke) Park - TOR
FD - 35.78 DK - 19.12
The Royals brought a skeleton crew up to Toronto for this series because they have so many players on the restricted list, but it didn’t seem to matter all that much on Thursday. They still beat the Blue Jays 3-1. That being said, it’s not likely to repeat for the series and Alek Manoah is in an incredible spot just like Gausman was last night. He’s a -356 home favorite, a number you simply don’t see these days except in extreme examples, and will be tough to not play in cash games based almost solely on this number alone.
Opponent - LAA (Patrick Sandoval) Park - LAA
FD - 38.71 DK - 21.05
He’s more expensive with worse win odds than Manoah, but we should talk about Kershaw here. The dude is having a fantastic season with a 2.40 ERA and a 2.91 xFIP that isn’t too far behind. He’s got a 5.8:1 K:BB ratio and is putting down batters at a 28% clip. The elite control has him going close to six innings per start on the season and some of that is even low because the pitch counts never get too crazy. On a normal day, he’d probably be the top cash pitcher but there is wackiness going on in Toronto.
Opponent - PIT (José Quintana) Park - PIT
FD - 16.56 DK - 12.45
Cron has put together a fantastic season with an .892 OPS and 20 home runs already. He has Coors to thank in a big way with a 1.064 OPS in the friendly confines of Coors. He could add to it today. He’ll face off against the lefty Jose Quintana and for his career Cron has been significantly better against southpaws. The Rockies have the highest run line of the day and though they are expensive could be popular plays on this slate.
Opponent - TEX (Matt Bush) Park - TEX
FD - 14.35 DK - 10.94
France has an .829 OPS on the season with 10 home runs. All well and good, but he makes for a solid cash game pick on almost a day-in-day-out basis because he’s so patient at the plate. For the season he is only striking out 14% of the time and has a .375 OBP. The Mariners have a solid (for them) 4.7 implied run line against Matt Bush and France doesn’t break the bank on either site.
Opponent - COL (Germán Márquez) Park - COL
FD - 11.29 DK - 8.51
The Pirates are making their way to Coors Field for the weekend and that is good news for wanting to maybe stack them in cash. While they don’t have the highest run line of the day, it’s still above their team average and it looks like Josh VanMeter will hit leadoff for the Buckos. He’s not all that dynamic of an offensive threat but it’s really all about the lineup placement and price here. He’s coming sub-$3K on both sites which is almost too good to pass up in this situation.
Opponent - CIN (Hunter Greene) Park - CIN
FD - 10.14 DK - 7.75
I prefer VanMeter to all other options if he’s in the Pirates’ top spot, but I think I want to get out of second base on the cheaper side no matter what. Gorman should be hitting fifth for the Cardinals and they have a solid 4.9 implied run line facing off against Hunter Greene. The former has been striking out a bit too much in his rookie season, around 30% of the time, which could be a problem against Greene. But the latter has some control issues as well. Again, Gorman isn’t my top option here, but he won’t cost a ton either.
Opponent - KC (Carlos Hernández) Park - KC
FD - 12.69 DK - 9.77
The Blue Jays have one of the highest run lines of the day at 5.7 against Carlos Hernandez and we are going to want to try to find ways to get them into lineups. It won’t come cheap. Though Bichette has an OPS in the low-700s, he does still rate from a fantasy perspective because there is the implied power/speed combination. It hasn’t totally played out this season following a 29 home run, and 25 stolen base campaign in 2021, but I’m still buying at these prices in this matchup.
Opponent - WSH (Patrick Corbin) Park - WSH
FD - 13.35 DK - 10.19
The Braves are another team with a high run line (also 5.7) and Swanson projects to hit second when facing off against the lefty Corbin. Swanson has 14 home runs and 14 stolen bases and is actually putting together the power/speed stuff we mentioned with Bichette. Corbin isn’t as bad as his 5.70 ERA would suggest, but he’s not exactly great either. And Swanson, for his career, has been better against lefties. It is close between him and Bichette considering they are coming at basically the same exact price points.
Opponent - COL (Germán Márquez) Park - COL
FD - 11.55 DK - 8.91
Hayes is still struggling to find consistency at the plate and it’s led to an OPS sitting under .700 right now. But for our purposes, I think we can play him at these prices hitting in Coors and not coming all that expensive on DraftKings. We’d much rather have him facing off against a lefty but will have to make due with what we get here considering the position, as a whole, is pretty weak. I don’t like the FanDuel price as much because it’s sitting in the middle tier and I just don’t think he has the power upside to get all the way there on average.
After Hayes, the pickings are pretty slim at this position. Of course, you can pay all the way up for José Ramírez (FD $4100 DK $5400) who is about as good a hitter as you’ll ever see. But he’s almost prohibitively expensive on both sites.
Matt Chapman (FD $2700 DK $3700) hitting lower in the Blue Jays order isn’t a terrible play, and is coming much cheaper on FanDuel.
Opponent - WSH (Patrick Corbin) Park - WSH
FD - 15.02 DK - 11.32
Speaking of expensive, we get Acuna here who is about as pricey as they come. But man is he a tough fade here. Though the power numbers haven’t totally translated, he’s making it up to some degree on the base paths where he already has 18 stolen bases. And even without tons of power, he’s still sitting right around an .800 OPS. And he’s been elite against lefties for his career with a .950 OPS, .400 wRC+, and 149 wRC+. That’s about as good as you’ll ever see in one side of the platoon. I love getting him into lineups here on Friday.
Opponent - KC (Carlos Hernández) Park - KC
FD - 14.02 DK - 10.53
Springer has the OPS over .800 on the season and has 17 home runs with nine stolen bases. The latter number is trending to be his best season yet on the base paths, something that’s really helping his fantasy floor. And Carlos Hernandez is one of the worst everyday pitchers you will see in the majors. He’s striking out fewer than five batters per nine this season and has a 6.27 xFIP as well. There’s a reason the Blue Jays are projected for a lot of runs.
Opponent - PIT (José Quintana) Park - PIT
FD - 11.45 DK - 8.72
Grichuk should hit sixth for the Rockies on Friday when they face Jose Quintana. The latter does have nine home runs on the season, though little else and the OPS isn’t looking great. But this is a guy who’s been better against lefties throughout his career and isn’t going to cost you all that much on FanDuel. I like taking the savings considering he’s going in Coors.
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