Tastefully curated M-F by LineStar fantasy experts.

It's April 2nd which means the horrible baseball memes from friends trying to pull a fast one on you yesterday are over (see below). April baseball also means there's four days of games under the proverbially-expanded-after-Easter dinner belt. Some teams such as the Cubs, Astros, and Red Sox will be trotting out their fifth starters already today whereas the White Sox and Pirates are only at their third thanks to some weekend weather. Either way, let's enjoy this full first week of baseball.

TOP MLB Plays Today 4/2/18 📈

It's a very messed up schedule today with teams such as the Yankees and Brewers celebrating their home openers with early games and the Reds scheduling a random 4:10 ET start in their fourth home game of the year. There's a decent slate for the night games however and there's more value to be had now that we're getting a bit deeper into the pitching order and away from just the big name stars.

Power Pitching Targets:

1. Tyler Chatwood ($10.1k DK, $6.3k FD)Many teams would love to have Chatwood as their fifth starter but that's what happens when Jon Lester, Yu Darvish, José Quintana, and Kyle Hendricks make up the rest of your rotation. Chatwood is up against the Reds today who own a .410 career average against him, but you have to remember he's faced them twice the last two years, both times at Coors Field.

2. Charlie Morton ($11.1k DK, $8.5k FD)There's nobody in the MLB coming into 2018 riding higher as it was Morton who earned wins in both the ALCS Game 7 as well as in the clinching World Series Game 7 for Houston. Morton looks to build on a 14-7 campaign with his first start of 2018 and he definitely has the experience advantage as only two Orioles players have seen him more than 5 times – unless you count on TV last fall. Not to mention, he's up against a Baltimore offense that scored 5 runs in 3 games this weekend.

Value Pitchers:

1. Taijuan Walker ($9.4k DK, $7.9k FD)There's good value in Walker today for two reasons. One, the last time he faced the Dodgers allowed 4ER on 4 first inning hits with 2BB in a start that everybody remembers in Game 1 of the NLDS. The second reason is because the Dodgers offense looked especially bad this weekend, getting shut out the first two games of the year. The Dodgers will have a late game on Sunday Night baseball before heading out to Arizona which could also help the pitcher's cause.

2. Matt Harvey ($7.8k DK, $7.0k FD)Most people are writing off Harvey after he's been 4-10 and 5-7 the last two years after dealing with some blood vessel and nerve issues. The former Qualcomm pitch man says he's healthy heading into 2018 and his fast ball has reached 97 this Spring. The Phillies scored 12 runs this weekend – but it was against the Braves, who scored 27 so Harvey should at least have the benefit of pitching with a lead.

#HomeRunWatchlist 💥

>>> HRW brought to you by Daily Matchup Tool <<<

Just like watching soap operas, it's hard to remember how Friday's #HomeRunWatchlist ended. It was actually pretty good as Kris Bryant, Mike Trout, and Charlie Blackmon all went deep. Monday starts anew and hitting .600 on picks is good – but .800 is better.

Stacks on Stacks 🥞

Sometimes you have to dig deep in stacks as evidenced by this weekend when Atlanta put up 15 against Philadelphia. The top four players in the order accounted for 9 RBI. Let's find that same magic again tonight.

• PHI – Hoskins / Hernandez / Santana – One way to protect against the Matt Harvey pick being a bust is to go contrarian with the Phillies.

• HOU – Altuve / Correa/ Gattis – Surprisingly enough Houston didn't open the season at home. The offense will be ready to fire as they return to Minute Maid Monday.

• WAS – Harper / Eaton / Rendon – Offense came to life with 19 runs the past two games and faces the Braves Monday.

• OAK– Davis / Chapman / Joyce – The A's are favored over Colon and Texas which is interesting but the talent is there for Oakland in their fourth straight home game.

The Put Me In Every Lineup Play – or Don't

• Paul Goldschmidt – The Arizona slugger doesn't have a hit through 8 AB yet this year, but he has drawn 4 BB. He's got good past numbers against Monday's opponent Hyun-Jin Ryu hitting .429 with 2 HR in 21 AB. Do you take him?

So starts what should be a big week for MLB fans around the league. College hoops is ending and the NBA and NHL playoffs are nearing. It's a great time to be a sports fan (cc: everyday).

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