 We've got five games tonight in daily fantasy baseball. And honestly, despite there being just 10 pitchers, a handful of them are pretty solid options for pitching. I could honestly justify using five of these guys, five of the 10 pitchers, I think are justifiable plays for DFS. The problem is all five of those guys carry high salaries. So we're not getting to a value play for today. And so we're going to focus on my favorite three plays of pitcher just regardless of salary breakdown those guys dive into stacks with an emphasis on finding salary savers there. But I don't think that'll be too tough. I think you can get to the stacks or the pitchers you want to use along with the stacks you want to use and make things work. So not a bad slate for today. Let's dive on it and get you ready for Thursday night. Welcome on into the solo shot. That's right here on the Fandall podcast network. My name is Jim Sonnis. I am a managing editor of digital media for Fandall research here to break down Thursday's five game main slate with lock set for 705 p.m. Eastern for today. There are a couple of weather notes on the slate. There is a good chance of rain in Pittsburgh for the pirates in the Cubs. I check back on that later on as it could actually be a bit of an annoyance for this game. Maybe I'm just gun shy after the Dodgers Guardians game last night. But it could be dicey. Same thing in Baltimore for the Orioles and Blue Jays though. Weather looks like it arrived a bit later there. So I check back on that one later as well. In Chicago for the White Sox and the A's it is 90 degrees and humid with winds out to left at 12 miles per hour. Also chance of rain. But if they play upgrade batters for the White Sox and A's I know the two most splendid offenses we have ever concocted. But we got to bump up for today in DFS. We'll dive in and outline what that means and top pitching options in just one second. The first day reminder to make sure you're subscribed to the Number Fire Daily Fantasy podcast feed wherever you get your podcast two weeks from today. We'll be our first NFL heat check of the year breaking down the Week 1 NFL DFS main slate. Myself and Brandon Gedula will be breaking that down here on the Fandall YouTube page and on Fandall TV Plus. And as mentioned yesterday, Fandall TV Plus now available by going to Fandall.com slash watch. You don't need Amazon Fire, Apple TV or Roku anymore. You can watch on your desktop as long as you have a Fandall ID. You can log in, watch Fandall TV up in Adams live or you can check out our podcast there as well. Fandall.com slash watch. Get ready for the NFL season with incredible offers from Fandall America's number one sports book right now. New customers can bet $5 and get 200 in bonus bets guarantee. Plus all customers who bet $5 will get $100 off NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Now is the best time to join Fandall. 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Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts. Or call 1-877-8 Hope & Wire Text Hope & Wire in New York. NFL Sunday ticket offer ends 9-18-23. No refunds. Terms and embargoes apply $100 off NFL Sunday ticket not YouTube TV. YouTube TV base plan required to watch YouTube TV. Redemption requires a Google account and current form of payment. Commercial use is excluded. Pitching preview for this Thursday main slate. We've got Pablo Lopez checking in with the highest salary on Fandall's salaries $10,900. Followed by Justin Steele at 10-4. Merrill Kelly checks in at $10,200. Followed by Jose Barrios at 99. We have Cal Gibson at 99 as well. And then Andrew Heaney is the only other guy with a salary above $8,000. Now those five guys I listed Lopez, Steele, Kelly, Barrios and Gibson are the five guys I'm going to use for tonight in DFS. We're going to focus on just those five and outline my view of them for DFS and my top three for today. The top one is Pablo Lopez. Despite the fact he has a very tough matchup. He's facing the Rangers. They have a 116 in a WRC plus against righties, which is the highest number on the main slate for tonight. It's also very warm in Minneapolis. But I still might have to be on him here because there just aren't many great alternatives. And Lopez is good enough to overcome a tough matchup. He's been filtering in more curveballs over his past 17 starts now. And in that time, he has a 3.37 skill interactive ERA with a 29% strikeout rate. He's also letting up a 35% hard hit rate. And Lopez has had some tough matchups across that time. There's not a ton of them. He did hold the raise to one run across seven innings though. He had nine strikeouts against the Dodgers pitched well against the Mariners and back to back starts. And he's at home here. So there are downsides to Lopez. I'm definitely not as high on him as I usually would be, but his talent, I think it's clearly tops in the slate. And that does matter as well. So to me, I'm going to put Pablo Lopez one. I've got to project for the most strikeouts by a decent amount. But that's not everything. So I'm going to go Lopez one with the wiggle room to consider other guys. And to me, the top alternate consideration is Meryl Kelly. We're up to six starts now on Meryl Kelly since he came off the IL and he has had two clunkers in there, which has five combined strikeouts in those games. But he also had an 11 strikeout game and a nine strikeout game. So the upside is there and he is at home for tonight. So I don't mind putting Kelly in my player pool. He's facing the Reds and they're definitely a fun offense, but fun also translates to the fact they will strikeout. Got 26% strikeout rate against Reds, which is a boost for Kelly. He also does benefit a bit from being at home. His strikeout right there is 27% versus 24% of the road. So not a huge split, but I'll take everything I can get on this slate. And the Diamondbacks will let Kelly go deep in games. He threw 102 pitches last time out in Arizona needs him right now because their playoff odds are around 50%. And that's the kind of sense of urgency that I want in DFS this time of year. I have Kelly projected for 6.7 strikeouts that ranks second on the slate behind just Lopez at 7.2 and I'm going to rank them that same way. So to me it's Lopez won Kelly two at the top end for tonight. As mentioned, no value play for today. I can't justify anybody. So I'm not going to try to sell you on someone who I know I'm not going to use myself. Brandon Williamson is probably the closest. We'll talk about him and things to watch, but realistically, we're not going to do it. So let's talk about Justin Steele instead. Steele's salary is 10-4, so he is far from a value, but I'm just more likely to use him. So he's on the road facing the Pirates. Again, make sure you check back on the weather for this game because it could be a bit dicey, but it is a pretty solid matchup for a lefty. The Pirates have a 97 at WRC Plus against lefties in the current active roster with a 133 ISO and a 24% strikeout rate. Now the power numbers there at the low ISO, that's not an area where Steele needs a boost because he's really excelling in that department. Across the full season, Steele has led up a 36% hard hit rate with a 31% fly ball rate. The strikeouts haven't been super, super high for him, but they also haven't been low. He has a 23% strikeout rate, and this is also an important game for them, and Steele will go deep in games. So again, we're getting three pitchers on playoff hopeful teams for tonight who will go deep in games. And this time of year, that does matter quite a bit. At it all up, I have Steele projected for 6.1 strikeouts. That trails only Lopez and Kelly on this slate. So Steele won't save you salary, but I think he's a realistic option. I would say I feel pretty good about all three of these guys in Lopez, Kelly, and Steele. As far as Barrios and Gibson, I think they're both in play. I think they're both good enough pitchers to justify that. Just not as in their matchups with them facing each other. So Barrios getting the Orioles, Gibson getting the Blue Jays. I've got them projected about .3 strikeouts behind Steele for tonight. So that's why they're lower on the list, but they're at least considerations. And to me, it does revolve around this upper salary guys for tonight. Now, as we talk about the stature today, our first stack is one that does include a decent number of high salary guys, which is going to sound dumb, given what I said before about looking for value plays. But we'll get into value plays with these second two stacks. The first one to me is going to be the Cubs. And they're facing likely Andre Jackson tonight. They have not announced. The Pirates have not who their official starter will be, but probably will be Jackson or an opener followed by Jackson. Jackson getting a strikeouts in the rotation so far, but he's also letting up tons of hard contact, which to me makes the Cubs a quality option. We had two starts thus far for Jackson and his hard hit rate allowed is 52%. And it's led to pretty poor results, which is to me not a surprise because for the full season, when you include his time as a reliever, Jackson has led up a 46% hard hit rate this year. His strikeout rate is 26% with a 12.8% swing and strike rate. So he's getting whiffs and that has come with him in the rotation as well. And that might stick as a result. But I think the hard contact numbers will be there as well. Jackson doesn't get many ground balls, lets up a lot of line draws, a lot of fly balls. And he faces the Cubs tonight. They have a 115 at WRC plus against righties with a 181 ISO. They do draw walks and Jackson will issue those as well. So they should get base runners should get impactful contact. That's kind of all you're looking for when it comes to stacking. And I think that the Cubs as a result are going to be our number one option for tonight. Within this Cub stack, it does seem like they're gaining confidence and say a Suzuki once again. He had been sitting against righties just earlier on this month, but he had six against the righties just a couple of days ago and he earned that because he's been hitting a lot of home runs recently. His barrel rate is up to 12% in August. His strikeout rate is down a lot as well. So as long as they keep putting Suzuki in there at a quality spot in the order, I think we should be on him. His salary $2,900 for tonight. Totally fine with that. I think that's a justifiable for sure salary, easy access to the Cubs and means you don't have to go as bottom heavy on the other stacks that you have. You can say some salary elsewhere though, and that begins with the twins. The twins are facing Andrew Heaney. They're going to be our second stack and Heaney, not letting up as much hard contact right now as he used to, but he's also not getting as many strikeouts. The aggregate number of hard hit balls is probably pretty similar still. So I think the twins are a quality stack here. Heaney had scaled back on his slot usage for a bit. It's been back up for his past 14 starts though. In that time, his strikeouts are lower at 24%. And his hard hit rate allowed is still 41%, with a 41% fly ball rate. So he's gotten the hard contact on a bit, but it's come at the expense of his strikeout rate. He's had some especially weird starts recently. Heaney has thrown five total innings his past two starts, and he didn't get pounded in either, just like had too many guys on base early in games and got yanked. So the leash here is very short, which means we could be getting access to the twins against a lot of middle relievers. The twins definitely better against righties and lefties. Their WRC plus against lefties is just 99, but they do it for power, the 174 ISO. A ton of fly balls and they'll benefit from warm weather at Target Field for tonight. So I think there are enough positives for the twins to be a good stack for tonight. Obviously, Carlos Correa has not had a good year, tough year overall, but he has been better against lefties. ISO there is 196. And his overall hard hit rate in August is 56%. So Correa checking in with a salary of $3,000, obviously I think it's going to make a lot of sense. One thing I would say with the twins is be wary of some of their value plays who might start against their leftie, but then exit. Because they've got, they're probably going to Edouard Julien, that area is sitting on the bench. They might have Matt Walner on the bench or Max Kepler, one of those guys. So, you know, people like Jordan Luplo, if he starts, I don't know how long he'll play. I'd be very wary of him at $2,200, especially given that he needs hats and short starts. So Royce Lewis, Safe, you know, Carlos Correa, Jorge Polanco, those guys to me are safer options. And that allows us to be on them, even though we to be about wary of some of the other guys in this lineup due to the fact they will pull batters pretty early in games. The White Sox are going to be our third stack. And they're not a team I really want to stack right now, but the weather in Chicago is fantastic for hitting. It is 96 degrees, which is the warmest on the slate. It is humid and the wind is out. So I think we can go to the White Sox here. They're facing Ken Waldichuk. And Waldichuk himself is fine. He has made 23 appearances since he started to lean on his side or more. His skill interactive ERA is 4.71. He does walk too many guys and live up to a chart contact, but if it were just Waldichuk himself, we probably wouldn't stack here. But it's Waldichuk combined with the good weather and with the A's bullpen. And they're still easily the worst in the league. The A's have a 4.75 skill interactive ERA in their active roster bullpen. Second worst at 4.55. So 0.2 runs worse than any other team in baseball in their bullpen. And it leads to the opposing team having high run total projections in my model literally every day. And the White Sox are no different for its net. So I don't want to stack this team right now, obviously, but I do think we should in this specific spot. So the White Sox, very much a team I am okay stacking for today. And it does help the White Sox are very righty heavy. Luis Robert, Eloy Jimenez, Andrew Vaughn, the main targets here. Yolm Moncada has been a smidge better recently. Maybe he's in play. So it's not a deep team, but we can consider them regardless for tonight. So top stacking options for me. Gonna be the Cubs, the Twins and the White Sox. Things to watch for tonight. I mentioned before that among the value plays, the guy most willing to consider is Brandon Williamson. Williamson's based in Arizona and they're a super low strikeout team against the lefties, which is a big part of the why, the reason why I don't want to be here. But Williamson can't go deep in games. He's had decent results recently. So not totally barren. Just not quite enough for me to get there. I would also say if you want another stack, I don't mind Arizona against Williamson. Roof is closed for tonight, which does decrease temperature a bit, but they don't have AC there. So it's not like it's like crazy, crazy cold or anything. But you know, I think that the, I don't know if it's going to be as a picture, even though he's probably the top value for today. Other side that White Sox game is also at least worth checking out. That's the A's offense based in Jesse Shultans. Shultans, it's looked okay so far in the rotation, but I'd expect him to come back to Earth a bit, given the numbers he put up in the bullpen. The A's, not totally devoid of talent and offense. So I'm okay with them here as being another option with stacking for tonight. Dinger calls for this Thursday slate. The boring one, Luis Robert. He has tremendous skills and he is playing in Chicago with fantastic weather for hitting, basing off against Walter Chuck, who is more than happy to let up some fly balls and hard contact. So Luis Robert, I think, will put him down for home run number 34 of the season tonight. The fun one, let's go say a Suzuki. As mentioned, he's earning playing time and earning it. He's not just getting, he is earning it by playing good baseball better than he was earlier on this year. So say a Suzuki in this matchup, likely against Jackson with all that hard contact, I think, is a quality home run call for tonight. So we'll go with Luis Robert and San Suzuki as the Dinger calls for Thursday night. That is all that we have here for today on The Solo Shot. We'll be back with you once again tomorrow for a full slate of MLB DFS to get that as it is posted. Make sure you're subscribed to the Number Fire Daily Fantasy podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts. Also check us out on the Fandall YouTube page at FandallTV+. If you got any questions for me, I am on Twitter at Jim Sonnis, J-I-M-S-A-N-N-E-S. You can also follow Fandall Research at Fandall Research. Want to thank you all for tuning in for today. Good luck to you with your MLB DFS lineups and we'll talk to you once again tomorrow to break down Friday Slate. This has been The Solo Shot right here on the Fandall Podcast Network.