We have a sizable split-slate today that should be a lot of fun! Speaking of fun, who expected the mighty Seattle Mariners to have the third highest runs scored per game at 7.1 rpg and the anemic Houston Astros offense to be languishing with the third lowest at 2.3 rpg. #Baseball
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EARLY SLATE
Washington Nationals at Steven Matz – 3.7 implied runs
For those of you new to this series, I just want to highlight that the featured stacks are not always going to be among the highest implied run total. As we have seen already this season, silliness can abound on any given day and teams can go on “streaks” that get lost in the mix as the data sets become larger and larger with each game.
LHP Steven Matz has had issues against opposite-handed hitters with a 1.78 HR/9 allowed across the last 750 he has faced and his 15.9% soft contact rate is not doing him any favors. The Nationals could get lost in the shuffle as they no longer are taking the field with Bryce Harper, Daniel Murphy and the injured Trea Turner. However, they still have a lineup full of hitters that profile well against southpaws with Anthony Rendon and Ryan Zimmerman leading the way with twin .300+ ISO since the beginning of 2017 and new acquisitions Brian Dozier and Yan Gomes both topping .200+ ISO in the same time frame. Add in 20-year old wunderkind Juan Soto who has a career .371 wOBA and a .207 ISO in lefty/lefty matchups and we have the makings of an excellent complimentary stack that will in all likelihood be overlooked by The Masses.
MAIN SLATE
Houston Astros vs RHP Aaron Brooks – 4.8 implied runs
Across his four major league seasons (spanning six years which includes 2016 and 2017 where he never even made it up to The Show for a cup of coffee) RHP Aaron Brooks has pitched 66.2 innings in 19 appearances with a 7.29 ERA and a 1.62 WHIP and a career 6.3 K/9… YIKES!
It is hard to see the Astros batsmen remaining quiet for much longer so we should give strong credence to their top five hitters with the preferred order of preference considering potential, position and price being George Springer, Alex Bregman, Michael Brantley, Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa. Robinson Chirinos is fine as a discounted catcher with power upside and Yulieski Gurriel and Josh Reddick are fine roster fillers.
As always, you can reach out to me in Awesemo.com Premium Slack or on Twitter @EMacDFS if you have any questions.
Good Luck Gamers! ~ EMac
