Tastefully curated M-F by LineStar fantasy experts.

It's another rare day where there aren't any real weather issues in the main 8 game slate tonight, so one less thing to have to worry about on your Monday to get things started on the week! There are some sweet hitting conditions at some stadiums though, including OAK@TEX, MIA@LAD, and WAS@SF all with warm temps, high humidity, and light winds blowing out. There's also another series going at Coors with the Rockies and Padres.

Last Friday's newsletter left us a little underwhelmed as Clayton Kershaw was not himself at all, giving up 4 earned runs and only 4 strikeouts over 7 innings pitched, but we'll give him the benefit of the doubt in a tough matchup versus the Nationals. Felix and Verlander fared ok, but Drew Pomeranz was disappointing in his first start of the season. We'll try to do bettter tonight!

Power Pitching Targets ⚾️

1. Carlos Carrasco ($11.7k DK, $9.6k FD) [@BAL]Carlos Carrasco has looked great to open the season, sporting a 2.60 ERA and very clean 0.80 WHIP. He's due for some regression eventually, mostly because he hasn't yet faced an opponent in the top 15 runs scored yet this season. Luckily for him he's facing yet another mediocre opponent as the Baltimore Orioles have only scored the 23rd most runs on the season. They've only put together 6 runs over the last 3 games, look for Carrasco to live up to his salary tonight.

2. Masahiro Tanaka ($8.8 DK, $9.1k FD) [vs MIN]Tanaka's stats aren't as clean as Carrasco's, but he's got a great history versus the Twins. The Twins do have some nice power bats but they've only scored 68 runs on the season, 27th most in the league. Tanka has a lot going for him tonight, including a much better history while pitching at home (3.22ERA versus 6.48 Away last season). Weather conditions with low humidity and the wind blowing in slightly should favor him as well.

Value Pitchers

1. Walker Buehler ($6.2k - DK only sorry FanDuelers!) [vs MIA]Buehler? Buehler? The Dodgers top prospect will be taking the mound tonight versus the Miami Marlins, which should give him a good chance to start off his first start of 2018 on a positive note. He went through 3 different minor leagues last season, sporting a 3.35 ERA, 1.11 WHIP with 125 strikeouts in 88.2 IP. He's got huge upside with this strikeout rate, and assuming the nerves don't get to him tonight, he's worthy of taking a chance on.

2. Trevor Cahill ($7k DK, $6.6k FD)Trevor Cahill impressed in his first start versus the White Sox, putting up 8 strikeouts in 7 innings without allowing an earned run. Cahill has swing and miss stuff and gets another sweet matchup tonight versus the Texas Rangers who already have 208 strikeouts on the season, 7th most in the league and only the 21st most runs on the season. Texas has the bats to make a pitcher pay for poorly located pitches, but as long as Cahill is making them swing and miss they'll have a hard time getting guys on base tonight.

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Stacks on Stacks 🥞

There are plenty of options today, the top offenses include the Astros, Angels and Yankees all in the top 6 of runs scored. The Astros and Yankees are facing mediocre pitching options while the Angels are facing Gerrit Cole who has been amazing this season, and could be worthy of a contrarian stack as well.

• SEA – Haniger / Seager / Cano – Look for Seattle to destroy Carson Fulmer tonight.

• SD - Villanueva / Hosmer / Cordero– Padres looking forward to some Coors batting practice.

• HOU– Springer / Bregman / Altuve – Altuve and the world champions are getting rolling.

• SF– McCutchen / Longoria / Posey – Contrarian stack of sorts, facing a hot Gio Gonzalez, not many people are going to want to stack against him.

The “Bring Matches versus the GasCan” Stack?

• CLE – Naquin / Ramírez / Brantley – Gausman is prone to allowing blowup games if he doesn't bring his A game, or the right catcher to the field (Caleb Joseph). (NOTE: Naquin is out of the starting lineup, Consider: Alonso/Zimmer instead)

For a smallish 8-game slate there are tons of options to go with tonight. You've got a mix of bad pitching, and hot teams and some players that are finally starting to come alive this season.

Catch us on LineStar MLB Chat!