 Tonight's pitching slate for daily fantasy baseball is quite simply gorgeous There are roughly half a dozen guys where if you walked up to me and said this pitcher is my favorite guy in the main slate I'd have a pretty hard time pushing back on that There are a lot of defensive plays toward the top including one of which who has a lower salary We're gonna break down how to rank all those good options where I'm seeing that value for today And also the top offensive stack on Fandall for tonight right now welcome on into the solo shot That's right here on the Fandall podcast network and number fire comm My name is Jim Sonness. I am a senior writer and analyst for number fire here to preview tonight's 12 game main slate When locks out for 705 p.m. Eastern for today weather notes on this slate in Cleveland for the Guardians and the Cardinals Wind is in from right at 10 miles per hour I would give a slight downgrade to the offenses for the Guardians and Cardinals as a result There is a decent chance of rain at Coors Field for the Rockies and the Mets Looks like they should be able to play probably gonna be scattered showers But definitely we're checking back on that later on and finally the roof will be closed in Arizona for the Red Sox and Diamondback so that'll mute offense is a bit because it is 90 outside would have been very nice to have the roof open but Still a plus spot for offense just not as plus as it is typically we're dive in the pitching preview stacks and much more here in Just one second But first a reminder to make sure you're subscribed to the number fire daily fantasy podcast scene wherever you get your podcast We of course have these daily MLB podcast But also PGA every week and USC for select events all in the same place So go search for the number fire daily fantasy podcast seed wherever you get your podcast hit subscribe And if you like what you hear leave us a five star rating if you're watching on YouTube Subscribe to the Fandal YouTube page and also leave us a thumbs up there We appreciate all of you as always make a fast break to Fandal during the NBA playoffs because right now New customers get a no sweat first bet up to $1,000 That's $1,000 back in bonus bets if your first bet doesn't win There's no better place to bet all the playoff action than America's number one a sports book Fandal Official sports betting partner of the NBA Must be 21 plus and presidents like states first online a real money wager only $10 deposit required a refund issued is non withdrawal bonus bets that expire in 14 days Restricts and applies see terms at sportsbook dot Fandal calm Fandal is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas star casino LLC gambling problem Call 1 800 gambler or visit fandal.com slash RG in Arizona 1 800 x step or text next step to 5 3 3 4 2 in Connecticut 1 8 8 8 7 8 9 7 7 7 7 7 or visit cc pg.org slash chat in Indiana 1809 with it in Wyoming in Kansas 1805 222 4700 or in Kansas KS gambling help calm Louisiana's 1 8 7 7 7 7 7 0 stop in Massachusetts gambling help line ma.org or call 800 3 2 7 50 50 for 24 7 support in a Maryland MD gambling help that org in New York 1 8 7 7 8 open wire text open Y in West Virginia go to 1 800 gambler net pitching preview for this Friday main slate again It is a good and with Mitch Keller at the top with the highest salary and Fandal his salary is $11,400 followed by Kevin Gauzman at 10 at 11 1 George Kirby is 10 6 with Hunter Brown facing the A's at 10 3 Chris Sale is out in Arizona at 10 1 Freddy Peralta at 10,000 Shane Bieber $9,800 with Jesus Elizardo at 96 Max Scherzer at coursefield 91 with Louie Varland John Gray Reed Detmer's and Patrick Corbin the others at $8,000 or higher a lot of names in the 9,000 range all them pretty Defensible pretty good for the most part and also one guy down there who we can like quite a bit now I think this is a unique slate where typically your cash game picture will be higher sour because you want that floor I think the best route to play things for tonight for cash games is to spend out and we'll talk about who that is in The value section but for the studs. I want a gun for upside and gun for guys who can post a massive score and Kevin Gauzman comes with a lot of risk. He's facing the twins. They're a good offense He's on the road, but the twins love to strike out So I think for tournaments Gauzman is worth the risk and he will be my top tournament pitcher of the night at $11,100 Gauzman again facing the righties or the twins here twins against righties and a 28 percent strikeout rate Who's the highest number on the main slate and Gauzman also leads the slate and strikeout rate himself and each guy's most Across 10 stars. He is at 32% which leads to a strikeout projection of 9.1 Strikeouts really big number obviously the highest number on the slate and you know We've seen Gauzman getting in trouble at times due to hard contact and the twins can supply that especially with their offense Starting to wake up bit at times. So if you want to go elsewhere Especially in cash games, I'm not gonna blame you again There are half a dozen guys you can put at the top of your list of tournaments I would not push back and for cash games. I don't want to go here either But for tournaments, we want to shoot for the highest ceiling and I think that Gauzman has that for tonight So I think he's worthy of being in your player pool Despite the risk that strikeout projection is where it is for a reason and I think that's what we should chase So Gauzman to me at 11-1 very very attractive now second behind Gauzman in my strikeout projections Is Mitch Keller but his salary is 11 for which is the highest mark on the slate and he's also on the road similar to Gauzman The third ranked guy in strikeout projection is Chris sale Chris sale also on the road, but his salary is a bit lower Down at ten thousand one hundred dollars I think I'm okay taking those savings and dipping down to sale here and making him the number two guy behind Gauzman Keller obviously in full consideration though sale facing Arizona and they're up to a 114 WRC plus against lefties on the current active roster, which is very good But they don't get a lot of fly balls. They don't draw many walks either and sale Seems to be getting back to his old ways as you know sale really struggled to open this year But four starts ago he pushed his forcing fastball usage way up and that's stayed up too And it's likely set up because it is working across those four starts sale has a 2.87 skill interactive RA which ranks second on the slate behind just Keller He has a 31 strikeout rate that ranks third behind just Keller and Gauzman He has a three percent walk rate and his hard hit rate allowed us 27 Which is the best number on the slate So in all the key categories sale is either first second or third basically for this slate It is just a four start sample, but those numbers are great and those numbers do tend to stabilize pretty quickly I think it's very clear sale is healthy from the effect in this but also because he is going super deep in game His pass two starts. He has gone 110 and 111 pitches. So I love Keller. I think he's legit No reason to push back there. He does have a higher strikeout projection than sale for tonight, but I'm okay saving salary Going to sale at 10 1 and give me myself more flexibility at hitter So to me it's gauzman 1 for tournaments sale to Keller 3 and again there are again about six guys you could justify for tonight As mentioned earlier, I think the idea way to play things for tonight is to dip down in cash games and save some salary there and I think there is a value play who stands out and honestly might have the potential to hang With all the studs on this slate that guy is read debt mers against the marlins and I do like him quite a bit debt mers salary 8300 dollars. So 1800 lower than sale well below both gauzman and Keller the marlins have hit lefties well this year They haven't struck out a whole lot either. So it's not a matchup based recommendation I just like debt mers quite a bit and his first start this year debt mers didn't throw many sliders It was just a 27 usage of that pitch in that game But it was 35 that lat the second time out and it's been 40 percent or higher in all but one start since So i'm going to toss out that first start because that's not the picture He is right now across the past seven debt mers has a 3.65 skill interactive era with a 30 strikeout right Which is at least sniffing the range of gauzman keller and sale debt mers has still had some hard contact issues But that's also why his salary is low. It's accounted for here for sure And we saw debt mers upside last week. He had 12 strikeouts against the twins But he does have a couple other starts with seven strikeouts too. So it wasn't just a one star boost for debt mers I haven't projected for 6.5 strikeouts tonight. That is More than enough to make him viable even on a slate with lots of good pitchers So for cash games, I actually do think the ideal way to play things here is to spend down on debt mers Lie yourself to stack course yield the mets if you want to get to the atlanta braze and stuff like that I do like that flexibility. So for tournaments love gauzman love keller love sale for cash games I think debt mers is going to be my top option Now I alluded to the stacks there and talking about debt mers and part of the reason why I find him so attractive is that We do have the mets at course field tonight as mentioned We have to check the weather because make we have to make sure that we're going to play that game But if we get the all clear, I think we should be high on the mets tonight The recent connor siebold who is getting stretched out into being a starter He has five outings so far with him going at a longer pitch count and The peripherals in that time not super encouraging siebold's skill interactive era 5.17 with a 15 strikeout rate And a 15 strikeout rate is going to lead to a lot of balls and play Which is not what you want anywhere, but especially not at course field Three of those five outings have come that course for siebold He's led up to her and runs In the shorter outing and then three and then four earned runs the three earned runs that he led up at course All came on solo home runs So that's not ideal his overall era in this stretch with the long routings is 6.33 His worst run actually came in arlington last week not at course field The mets 13 that don't strike out much, which means we're going to see a lot of balls and play in this game It's just a question of what happens on those balls and play So I think that puts the mets at the top of the stacking list here and a good stack for sure Assuming we get the green light on the weather here. I'm curious if we start to see mark vientos in the lineup more often against varieties I know this is like a uh season long kind of thing people are mad that vientos is the starting But he has started two of the past four games against righties and he crushed righties in triple a a lot of hard contact there as well and I think we saw a similar approach for the mets when Francis qualifiers came up to where they had him sit on the bench when he first got called up And kind of slowed played things, but then you know as he got more involved they steadily made him an everyday player I have no idea if they'll do that with vientos But I hope they do because his salary here is $3,100 and if we get him at that mark In this uh environment at course field I'm gonna be very high on that prep 80 salaries also very low. So I would say We know the young mets low salaries. I think they've got some power some upside for sure So hopefully vientos gets in there because I am willing to buy in the second He does get those starts For our second stack when we talk about the braves here taiwan walker is facing them pretty volatile pitcher He's made 10 starts so far this year. He's led up one or fewer earn runs three separate times Which does include his last time out. So three very good outings But he also led up eight runs in one start and has a 5.79 e r a overall He's facing the braves tonight and I think their upside is very good here that eight run outing Even though it's the reason that his e r a is high is also very relevant broadly because that was the start Where walker upped his splitter usage and he's kept it high Despite the bumps in that start in five starts with more splitters walker has led up a 49 percent hard hit rate He doesn't have awful play discipline numbers and i'm guessing that's why he's capable of having these really nice starts But that's also why the blow-ups aren't play all that hard contact You can have good bad at ball lock and work your way into a good outing, but you can also have Outings where that blows up in your face. The braves are a team that can blow it up in your face 185 iso against righties So I think we should feel good about stacking against walker here Even if he is unpredictable even is volatile has good outings I still think the braves make a lot of sense for tonight Now as I discussed here on the show, I oftentimes write out a lot of my notes the day before So was researching this stack yesterday before the braves game and was digging into austin riley It's like, okay, you know, he's barreling the ball 13.9 percent baroid the previous two weeks 50 heart hit rates I was like, okay cool I can bind austin riley and maybe people will not be super super enthused do so because I assume against righties is 109 And then riley goes out last night and double dogs so Secrets out austin riley hitting the ball really well right now as you know He can be a somewhat streaky batter. That's not a bad thing That's never a really bad thing. I don't think so Sure, you could be on it because of the two home runs last night, but I think there were signs He was heating up before that So I don't think it's no overreaction to do two last night's game to say that riley is a tremendous option I think that it he's in a stack that we like the signs were there So it may feel point chasey, but I'll be back in austin riley once again for tonight because I don't think those two home runs are the last ones he'll have here in this next little stretch Finally for our third stack this one was tough. I think that there were a lot of options But not a lot of great options for the third stack. So to me, there's a fall off after the mets and the braze I wound up settling on the red sox They're in arizona tonight the roof is closed. So Again, it's a downgraded park factor from what arizona typically is but They're facing brandon fought who is still struggling with hard contact I think we should stack against fought until he corrects the amount of hard contact He's allowing across four stars for fought in the majors He has a 7.65 era He's expected the array is 7.41 and that's mostly due to hard contact across those four starts fought has led up a 50 percent hard hit rate And that's tough always, but it's especially tough when your fly ball rate is also high at 44 percent The past two stars for fought have been much better He's allowed just four earned runs and 10 in one third innings and did have one star where the hard contact was low But last time out the hard contact back up to a 50 percent rate there So I don't want to overreact those two games I do think fought will figure things out eventually is a good picture But he's not there yet And I think that allows us to be on the red sox here and feel good about stacking them out in arizona The most interesting guy to me here is tristan casas. He has a 181 batting average this year As you know batting average is a stupid stat, but you know could be indicative You've passed on the player part player card over on fan duel people see that they get nervous I don't think we should be because the strikeout rate is fine at 27 percent His error rate is 13.8 percent his expected lobe is 344 as opposed to his actual about 300 So I think casas will turn things around here pretty soon. His salary is $2,600 I think he has plenty enough upside for us to be on him here and again Given the options we have here with the braves with the nets and with this red sox offense We want to save some salary. So that's part of why chris sale has attracted me. It's part of why I like redepmers I think that casas can be a rock solid value play. We can feel good about four tonight Thanks to watch on this Friday's slate. I really like what matthew liberator did in his first start this year I think uh, he made some gains to triple a and then carried them over into the major So I probably like him. I hate his matchup tonight, though He's facing the guardians who have a 19 strikeout rate against lefties, which is the lowest on the slate So I want to be on liberator eventually. We were on him for his debut, but not tonight I think uh, better better matchups I had for him and we'll be there assuming the cardinals don't put him back in the bullpen because You know, why would you want to do that? I don't mind some nationals for some value plays They're facing jordan liles who's letting up a ton of fly balls right now There aren't a lot of guys in this nationals lineup. You really want to use which is why I can't get to a full stack here, but But there's a single guy you like there has the speed has been a power I think that they do work for tonight. Finally for tournaments I think it's worth considering stacking the cardinals tonight They're facing shame beaver who was awesome last time out He went eight innings and it was tied to increased velocity in his curveball five stars ago So you could say okay Beaver good start last time out velo on his curve is up. Maybe he's turning things around But even in this five star sample with the increased velo He is still allowing a 54 hard hit rate. He left two barrels in that game last week where he pitched really well So I don't think beavers fully fixed yet the cardinals shouldn't be popular here but I think that they could be a good contrarian play on a large slate the wind is in which does downgrade this a bit but still Worth looking into at least uh for a cardinal stack for tonight Let's finish up here the dinger calls for today going back out to atlanta facing walker for the first one I'm gonna go matt olson. Uh ron the cunha jr. Is the better dfs play because of the stolen bases But if I'm just looking for like Rod bingers, I love what olson does puts the ball in the air a ton Gotta like that 14-ohm runs so far this year So the boring home run call matt olson at $4,100 the fun one I'm gonna go back to chris tristan cosas as mentioned He's making good contact. That's not striking out a ton facing fought who has had a lot of issues with hard contact So I think cosas is better than his numbers say thus far and could be due for some positive regression So dinger calls for today matt olson and tristan cosas That's all we got here for today on the solo shot no show on monday because of memorial day So back with you once again next tuesday breaking down mlb dfs We'll talk some pga dfs that same day as well So make sure you're subscribed to the number fire daily fantasy podcast for you to get those as they are posted 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 I want to thank you all for tuning in for today. Have a fantastic weekend. Be safe. Be healthy We'll talk to you all again on tuesday for more mlb dfs. This has been the solo shot right here on the fan dual podcast network