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I'll get this out of the way right now. Justin Smoak tonight. You're welcome. 💨 💨 💨

“Price Wasn't Right”. No beat writers in Cincinnati have probably thought of that headline as the Reds manager Bryan Price made it just 18 games (3-15) into the 2018 season before being put on the chopping block. That is a very contrasting start compared to the Red Sox, who are just the 7th team since 1900 to start a season 16-2 or better. Boston scored another notable feat as they gave Shohei Ohtani another first yesterday – the first time he struck out 3X in a game. As for DFS, after a small 5 game market yesterday, the Gods have befelled us with a gigantic 15 game slate tonight. There's a lot of options out there today, and it's the perfect date on the calendar to smoke them if we've got them.

The Pittsburgh pitcher had us drinking his namesake after Jameson Taillon had what may be his worst start of all of 2018 giving up 5 ER in just 1.2 IP. Jake Arrieta meanwhile allowed 1 hit and struck out 10 in that same game. Matt Harvey got rocked again (6ER, 6.0 IP) as kind of expected and no pitcher wants to face the Boston offense right now as they plated 27 runs in their three game series with the Angels. There's 30 possible pitchers available tonight, so variety will indeed be the spice of life.

Power Pitching Targets ⚾️

1. Justin Verlander ($ 12,000 DK, $ 11,100 FD)JV is on fire in his last two starts, allowing just 1 ER over 15 IP while sending 20 batters to the bench with a big 'K' in the books. He's up against the White Sox tonight who Verlander is very familiar with from his time with Detroit. Chicago scored 11 runs two days ago against Oakland, but had just 5 runs total in the 4 games prior. The White Sox have a 25.2% K rate against RH this year, but have a modest .257 career average against Verlander.

2. Clayton Kershaw ($ 12,200 DK, $ 11,500 FD) or Max Scherzer ($12,500, $11,400 FD)It's Kershaw vs. Scherzer tonight from Chavez Ravine and it really is a toss up between both stud pitchers. Kershaw is coming off 12 SO, 2 hitter while Scherzer has 21 SO in his last 2 starts. The opposing K rates are percentage points off (WAS 23.7 vs LH, LAD 23.3 vs RH) as are the batting averages against these two (WAS .170 vs. Kershaw, LAD .180 vs. Scherzer). There's a reason the O/U for tonight is a whopping 6.

Value Pitchers

1. Drew Pomeranz ($ 7,500 DK, $ 7,200 FD)This is a play on potential if anything. Pomeranz is making his first start of 2018 but is coming off a 17-6, 3.32 ERA season a year ago. The left hander is up against Oakland, who scored 30 runs across a 3 game set vs the White Sox but Pomeranz was 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in two starts against the A's last year. Boston manager Alex Cora is supposedly giving Pomeranz up to 100 pitches tonight so he should be able to compile some decent numbers.

2. Felix Hernandez ($ 6,800 DK, $ 6,200 FD)You know it's a deep slate of games when King Felix is the 15th costliest pitcher on DraftKings. Hernandez did have a couple rough outings with 11 ER surrendered to SF and KC over 9.2 IP. He looked much better the last time out though, including regaining command of his fastball to the tune of 7 K's over 6.1 IP while allowing 2 ER to a top 7 Oakland offense. Hernandez isn't pitching in the best location (Globe Life Park in Arlington) but the wind is blowing in at 14 MPH. Texas strikes out nearly 30% of the time against RH pitching and are hitting only 200 against Hernandez in 76 AB.

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Stacks on Stacks 🥞

You can do the contrarian stack against guys like Kershaw, Scherzer, and Verlander today but a great pitching performance is a much higher probability than an offensive outbreak in each of those games. Stacking Atlanta against Syndergaard might not be a bad bet, if only for the fact that Thor hasn't pitched past the sixth in any game this season. Some other solid options include:

• LAA – Pujols / Trout / Upton – SF's Samardzija making 1st start of the season coming off a right pectoral injury.

• CHC – Bryant / Baez / Rizzo – Cubs head out to Coors Field with a .340 wOBA against RH pitching.

• BOS– Betts / Martinez / Moreland – Red Sox hitting just .160 against Oakland's Graveman but this offense is on another level right now.

• SEA– Cruz / Cano / Segura – A contrarian stack with value considering the wind is blowing in at 16 MPH in Arlington tonight. Texas' Minor allowed 5ER in 5.0 IP his last outing.

The “It's 4/20 But Don't Forget About Beer” Stack?

• MIL – Thames / Braun / Cain – The Brew Crew hung a 12 pack on Miami last night and have a .320 wOBA against RH pitchers.

There's tons of options out there tonight which is a great way to head into the weekend. It's a perfect night for tournament play since there's so much diversity between lineups starting with 5 or 6 ace pitchers on the slate but with some very capable 'second tier' guys like Dylan Bundy, Sonny Gray, etc. On a day when kids around the U.S are supposedly walking out of school, we prefer to walk up to the DFS payout window. Enjoy the weekend, baseball friends.

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