 We have a very unique slate tonight and daily fantasy baseball because Max Scherzer is on it That is not unique by itself But it is a slate where Max Scherzer is involved in Scherzer might not be my top guy for DFS for tonight. In fact, he's not when I rank them out and That's pretty rare. It doesn't happen very often but I think it's because we have really good options for today and One of them is a little bit lower salary than Max Scherzer and may Surpass him as my top armor the night will break down who that is where I'm raking Scherzer and much more to get you set for Monday night's slate welcome on into the solo shop That's right here on the fan dual podcast network and number fire comm My name is Jim Saunas. I am a senior writer and analyst for number fire comm here to break down Monday's nine a game main slate with lock set for 705 p.m. Eastern for today Weather for today, there is a chance of raining Cleveland for the Guardians and Diamondbacks It appears as though the rain will be moving out around first pitch But check back on the timing of that later on today also in Chicago for the White Sox and Royals Wins are out to center at 10 miles per hour That's not as drastic there as it would be a wriggly field But you know winds out to center never a bad thing and might want to look at some bats there Potentially we'll talk about that in things to watch later on I don't think one of the offenses is totally totally out of play all that and more coming up later on But first a quick reminder to make sure you are subscribed to the number fire daily fantasy podcast feed coming up to later on this week We've got our PGA DFS breakdown for the final events before the FedExco playoffs We got NASCAR and USC here every week as well NFL just around the corner now one month away kind of frightening kind of exciting though So a lot of good stuff here on the number fire daily fantasy podcast feed search for that wherever you get your podcast Hit subscribe and if you like what you hear leave us a rating and review as well Fandals World Fantasy Baseball Championship for 2022 is coming up this September and there are still chances to get yourself qualified This year's live final will be in Chicago in September the live final features two million dollars in total prizes with half a million dollars Go into first place To get yourself entered into a qualifier for that event go to Fandal.com or download the Fandal fantasy app eligibility restrictions apply Pitching preview for this Monday main slate match sure as our course is the highest salary picture on Fandal coming in at $11,500 Logan Web is 10 for with Liz Garcia 10 to John Gray comes in at $10,000 of Tara scuba at 98 Andrew Heaney back off the IL for his second start is 94 with Cal Quantrell Mike Cleven shirt Nathan E of Aldi Zach Davies Michael Kopeck and Brad Keller as the others at $8,000 are higher So almost every time sure as is on a slate It's going to mean sure as will be my top arm of the night And as stupid as this may be that is not the case tonight because I think I'm going to put John Gray number one at $10,000 and it's nothing against sure sir. I just like Gray a lot He's facing the Orioles at home and the Orioles are playing good ball So it's not a super plus matchup, but they do strike out at a league average clip It's a better matchup from that perspective than sure as ours and Gray Really pitching well right now He's been using fewer forcing fast balls across his past 11 starts and in that time He has a 3.15 a skill interactive ER a with a 30% strikeout rate Both of those numbers are second on the slate behind sure as are among guys who are fully stretched out and gray Also adds up with a 34% hard hit rate So he gets strikeouts so pressing hard contact getting some ground balls That's an elite combination across the board We've definitely see the impact of this in this time because Gray has double digit strikeouts twice He's the eight plus strikeouts and six out of 11 games and that's even while being at home For just four of those 11 starts. He is at home tonight. I love the upside for John Gray The floor is not that bad I'm going to be very high on him here All things considered because of how good the situation is because of how good he's pitching I think John Gray is worth that and I want to react by making him my number one guy by a hair above sure as are again Nothing again sure as are just because I like gray a whole lot for tonight. I will put sure as a second though It is a revenge game here versus the Nationals So birthday narrative last week for sure as are revenge game this week It's a good matchup to 95 WRC plus versus right is that a 19% strikeout rate and the matchup could get a lot better If one so to winds up being traded before this game is played. We'll know that before Lock so, you know, we'll know what that situation is, but it could get better And it would make a a lineup that is already not great Make it pretty brutal Even if they don't strike out a whole lot and sure as are pitching really well right now We're up to seven starts on him with his flotties being above 20% And he has a 31% strikeout rate in that time with a 2.80 skill interactive era a 3% walk rate He leads the relevant guys in the slate in all three of those categories We've seen shares or had double digits strikeouts twice in seven games He had nine in another and sure last week against the Yankees He didn't light it up from a strikeout perspective with just six strikeouts there But he went seven innings. He allowed no runs against that lineup pretty freakin good So I have no issues with Scherzer. He's like gray I think that I like gray more in that he saves me some salary, but Scherzer is a very firm second. It's really it really is about gray putting gray first It's about what he offers more so than what Scherzer does not bring So gray is one for me max Scherzer is number two the top value for me is my Clevenger But he'll be fourth in my list for pitcher overall because at least Garcia We'll be above him too. We'll talk about him in things to watch But Clevenger is facing the Rockies. They have an 88 WRC plus versus righties with a 33 percent fly ball rates We can definitely use batters who are facing that Clevenger is a bigger question here He's been fine this year with a 2.76 skill interactive era a 3.38 era a 24% strikeout rates It's fine and it's good enough to be considered We have seen Clevenger making some tweaks here using fewer cutters and flatters across his past six darts and Fewer wipeout pitches does tend to drag down a strikeout rates And that's been the case for Clevenger. His strikeout rate is down a bit in this time, but The results been really good And he's you know, I think that that is probably gonna mean that he'll keep those cutters and flatters lower In the future, which might be a slight dent to his strikeout which does hurt my enthusiasm form a tiny tiny bit We have seen Clevenger benefit from some plus matchups in this time And he did face the Rockies in this time So it's a repeat matchup But that game against the Rockies was before the all-star break which makes it less of a concern for me And also we saw Clevenger face the Diamondbacks three times in a five-star stretch and In the third start in that time yet eight strikeouts. So Clevenger can overcome this. He ranks fourth for me. He's tops among the value plays I might not get there, but I'm also not fully opposed because there is plenty to like here So Clevenger top value fourth overall for me. We'll talk about Garcia and things to watch but for me It's John Gray one and Max Scherzer number two Let's dive into the stacks here for tonight going back to the Mets So all in on the Mets hurt tonight because they're facing Patrick Corbin and Corbin got blasted his last time out He's letting up a ton of hard contact right now I think we'd be silly not to build around the Mets here from a stacking perspective Corbin got his two outs in that most recent game He let up six runs on ten hits and we have seen Corbin have some spikes He's had big strikeout games, but the runs have still been there despite the increase in the strikeouts He has let up four plus runs and four straight games and most that is due to the amount of hard contact He's letting up we've seen Corbin mixing in more sinkers across his past 12 starts And that has helped him increase his groundfall right, but his hard hit rate allowed is 43 percent That is the second highest mark on tonight's late And you're seeing the impact of that because you're right in this time is 6.42 He's facing the Mets tonight. They have a 107 WRC plus against lefties They're not the world's best lineup, but They're definitely a solid one here And I'm willing to stack them as a result of this spot here facing off with Patrick Corbin first night Within these Mets stacks I'm curious if we'll see Eduardo Escobar here playing against lefties because obviously his playing time has been cut with all the additions They've made but Escobar did hit 6th the last time they faced lefty He has a 274 ISO versus lefties this year with a 49% fly ball right I still think he's very usable if he plays so I'm hoping he's in there personally because I think that's a guy We can definitely use so Eduardo Escobar if he does want to playing a guy I will use for DFS because he still has a lot of pop against lefties and has had that even in a Down year for him in 2022 For our second stack last week we talked about Spencer Watkins He was facing the Rays in that time and I was super wishy washy on that Rays offense because Watkins was limiting hard contact going into that game The Rays did not blow up there, but the just three runs, but they did Get a lot of hard contact against Watkins with a 62% hard hit rates Now Watkins back out there tonight and facing the Rangers and I'm gonna stack the Rangers because of the way things stack up here The Rays in that game against Watkins had 13 hard hit balls part of that was The high number the high hard hit rate, but also they put 21 balls in play There were just four strikeouts there No walks for Watkins and in five starts since Watkins came back to the big leagues He has a 19% strikeout rates with a 4% walk rate So he's leading up a lot of balls in play Now that hard hit rate in that time is up to 40% and the fly ball rate is 43% That's a profile we could stack against now Watkins has had success in this time He has a 1.93 er a he's let up just six total earned runs and you know Three of them came last week before that only three and runs and four starts But I think we can still stack against him And I will do so with this Texas Rangers lineup fortune as my number two stack here behind the Mets I do want to be high on the righties in the process here because righties have a 508 slugging percentage versus Watkins this year and a lot more fly balls So at least Garcia the top priority on this team Marcus Semi and second that Prioritization ladder is made easier by the fact that Corey Seager is not fully healthy right now It might not play I'll get to the lefties after that lefties and switch hitters. I should say but To me Garcia and Semi in the top two priorities within this Rangers stack because of the numbers Watkins has had versus righties so far this year as far as our third stack goes I feel pretty obligated to rank the Astros here. They're facing Nathan e of Aldi and It's looked pretty rough for him recently and I don't think the roughness is fluky the velocity has been down here for e of Aldi and velocity is important for everybody, but I think it's potentially more so important for a guy like e of Aldi And this is something that happened in his final start before he hit the injured list because That kind of foretold was going to happen there and He hasn't fully bounced back yet though. The velocity was a bit better last time out In four starts with the rough velocity. He has a 15 strikeout rates He's letting up a 41 hard hit rate and not surprisingly of all these getting hammered He's made three starts since he returns and he's let up 16 earned runs in those three starts He's let up at least three earned runs and all those starts Part of that is tough matchups, but he had Cleveland last week They're not a super imposing offense and the astros also very tough. So the tough matchups thing does not change here It's possible e of Aldi gets the velocity back tonight if he does all back off going forward, but He wasn't necessarily like lights out even before the hard contact or before the velocity dip The velocity again was better last time out, but he had just one strike out there and still got knocked around initially So i'm going to keep on stacking against e of Aldi for now, especially when it's in offense as good as this one Both the righties and lefties are in play here. He e of Aldi lets up more fly balls to lefties So i'll prefer them. They'll be my top guys, but he also can see where strikeouts versus the righties. So to me In terms of ranking out the guys to prioritize within the the astros I'll be highest in alvarez and tucker to get the lefty stuff in there But the righties are also fully fine So lefties highest for me then the righties after that Within this astros stack righties are fine. I just prefer alvarez and tucker in general because they're pretty fun But uh same thing is true for tonight as well Let's stick with the astros here and talk about their starting pitcher Luis Garcia here and things to watch even scherzer and gray going I do want to talk about Garcia because he's really good too. He's facing the red socks It's a pretty good match up right now with all the injuries They've got and Garcia has a 27 strikeout rate has crossed his past 10 starts He's led up a 30 heart hit rate. It's very good. He's at home I've got him projected for 6.5 strikeouts for tonight That's about one behind bull scherzer and gray So not quite as high as them, but it's high enough to be at least worth mentioning and I think that Garcia pretty fun So Luis Garcia number three for me tonight above my clevenger Who would be number four? The Yankees are facing marco glanzales and he's led up a 3.78 e r a since he's been filtering in more sinkers in his approach and That's pretty good But he led up three home runs to the astros two starts ago That game was in seattle and now he goes to Yankee stadium Not a huge ground ball guy. So the Yankees definitely work here. I will love labor. Torres once again I don't quite put them in the top three I want to go with the Mets the rangers and the astros above them But the Yankees as always a pretty rock solid stack for today as well We talked about using guys against michael copek in the past and i'm still open to that the problem is he's facing the royals and You know the royals offense has been a bit depleted But I kind of think that they've got some fun guys here with their new look offense Engie melendez is look good in the majors Vinnie pascantino And nick prado both had good numbers in the minors prado actually has some speed too. So Whether it's melendez pascantino prado is like a three-man stack with Salvador pares on the right hand side Or if you just want to go with like some one-offs between those three slash pares I kind of don't mind it. I think the royals are interesting Which feels really weird to say now that we're in the month of august, but You know i'm kind of on board so the royals interesting for one-offs potentially uh an off-the-wall kind of stack I'm not opposed to seeing how things go for tonight's the royals a team to to monitor especially those young lefties for today Speaking of the royals, let's go here to our Dinger calls for tonight. We'll get to the boring one in a second, but I kind of think I want to go with Vinnie pascantino as being The fun home run call for tonight because in the minors pascantino Did not strike out 12 strikeout right in triple a and he had a 296 iso He had a 43 fly ball rate in a small sample in the majors. He has an 11.6 percent barrel rate so He's hitting the ball hard. It is not translated to power yet. He has just three home runs, but I think he's making the kind of contact that could eventually the dingers winds blowing out so Vinnie pascantino Welcome to the Dinger call section for the first time in your career for this monday slate So pascantino the fun one will go pita lanza for the boring one We'll end on a low note, but uh, alonzo. He's good. So, you know, don't mean much more explanation Hopefully having pascantino as being the fun one will make up for alonzo being pretty boring as our boring home run call for today That's all we got here for this monday slate of mlb dfs should be a pretty fun one again It's it's nerve-wracking to not our shirts are first, but I just like john gray a lot of a lot of both so it's not going to matter too much, but They should be a delightful slate for tonight Once again, do not forget to subscribe to the number fire daily fantasy podcast for you wherever you get your podcast Also, if you watch this over on youtube when it goes up on there on the fandal youtube page hit subscribe there Hit the notification bell as well. Hit the like button all that does help us out a bunch And we appreciate those of you who have done so already If you've 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 the fan dual podcast network at fan dual podcast big Thank you to everyone for tuning in for today. Good luck to you with your mlb dfs lineups We'll talk to you once again tomorrow to break down Tuesday slate This has been the solo shot right here on the fan dual podcast network