 A lot of times in daily fantasy baseball, your preferred pitcher for cash gains will be the same pitcher you prefer for tournaments. That's because a lot of the same aspects that are good for one thing are good for the other, primarily strikeouts. Strikeouts are great for tournaments because you want that upside, but that's also how you generate a floor and give yourself cushion to allow someone runs and still be okay. So a lot of times my cash gain pitcher will be the exact same as the guy I like for tournaments. Tonight's different. I think that there is a guy who grades that well for cash gains, but I'm okay being lower on them for tournaments. And I think that there are really good pivots for tournaments as well, who are in tougher matchups, but have better upsides. So we're gonna break this down, let you know who fits which mold, who I like and how I'm viewing things for tonight's slate in MLB DFS. Welcome on into the solo shot. That's right here on the FanDuel Podcast Network in numberfire.com. My name is Jim Sonnis. I am a senior writer and analyst for numberfire.com. Here to break down Wednesday's nine game at main slate with lock set for 7.05 PM Eastern for today. The lone weather note on this slate is wind at Wrigley Field, but the problem is it is blowing in this time. That's for the Cubs and the Orioles. Winds are in from center at 12 miles per hour. That's a big downgrade to bats, which could push you on the pitchers, but the two guys there not high strikeout arms, so wouldn't necessarily be in on them despite this. So bumped down bats at Wrigley. You could have considered potentially stacking the Cubs. If not for that, we'll talk about that in things to watch, but the weather impacting things in a pretty major way there. We'll dive on into the pitching preview in just one second, but first a quick reminder that our PGA DFS podcast for the Open Championship is now posted via myself and Brandon Gadoula. Lock for that is tomorrow morning, pretty early, because it is in the UK. So if you wanna get this line of sin, check out the Heat Check Fantasy podcast via myself and Brandon. Get our thoughts on that if you want to place some bets for the Open Championship. We had Steve Hennessey of Golf Digest on covering the spread as well. Search for that wherever you get your podcast. Speaking of the Open Championship is set to tee off this Thursday and Fandall Sportsbook is making sure you have more ways to win with its major winner insurance. It is simple. All you have to do is place a pre-live bet on any golfer to win the 2022 Open Championship. If your bet loses, but your golfer finishes inside the top 20, you'll receive a refund up to $25 in free bets. This offer is only available until tee times on Thursday. So make sure you head to Fandall Sportsbook and place your bets today. Must be 21 plus and President-Select States refund issued as non-withdrawable free bets that expire seven days after receipt. Max-free bet $25. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fandall.com. Gambling problem, call 1-800-Gambler or visit fandall.com slash RG. In Arizona, 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXT-STEP to 533-4-2. In Connecticut, 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat. In Indiana, 1-800-9 with it. In Louisiana, 1-877-770-STOP. In New York, 1-877-8 HOPE-NY or text HOPE-NY. In Tennessee, call the red line at 1-800-899-789. In Wyoming, 1-800-522-4700. Or in West Virginia, 1-800-Gambler.net. Pitching preview for this Wednesday main slate. Shayne McClanahan, tough spot against the Red Sox but he is the highest salary guy in Fandall checking in. At $11,500, Zach Wheeler's salary is 10-6. Shohei Otani facing the Astros is 10-5. We got Joe Musgrove and Koura's a 10-4. Tony Gonsal in is 10-2. Christian Javier facing Otani, 9-7. Luis Severino is 9-3. Lucas G. Lee leading at 91. John Gray at 9,000. And then Josh Winkowski, Adam Wainwright and Paul Blackburn are the others at $8,000 or higher. Now we get a lot of elite guys on this slate. The problem is that a lot of those elite guys are in very difficult spots. The one guy who is not in a super tough spot is Luis Severino and I think that makes him the optimal cash gameplay for this slate. Severino's facing the Reds and we talked about this with Cole yesterday. It's a pretty much a no-thought spot to use a guy against them because they have a 93 WRC plus against Reds in their current active roster, a 143 ISO, a 23% strikeout rate. And Severino is very much a top tier-ish pitcher. We're up to nine starts in Severino since he started throwing more sliders. He has a 30% strikeout rate in that time. That's even with a couple of matchups with the Astros in that stretch. We saw Severino hit 10 strikeouts twice, nine in another and the two double-digit strikeout games for Severino both came at home. He is there tonight and I think that's pretty hard to pass up from a floor perspective. He's a good pitcher, he's at home, he's in a good matchup. That is a perfect cash game combination. I do think there is thought to fading him in tournaments though. Severino has not gone longer than six innings since June 4th. He's coming off an injury obviously last year I think and this is probably smart. The Yankees could be conserving him a bit so it's smart to do so but it's not what we want for DFS and we have ACEs we can turn to as alternatives. Unfortunately, they're in tougher spots. That's why they are the tournament plays whereas Severino is the cash game play for tonight. The tournament plays I like with Severino being the cash game play are Shane McClanahan, Shohei Otani and Christian Javier. Javier, I'm not as into him. He's on the road, facing the Angels for the second time in three starts. Let's up a lot of fly balls. I am okay being lower on him but McClanahan and Otani are both really fun options. McClanahan gets the Red Sox. It's a really tough spot but they will strike out of it. 22% strikeout rate versus the lefties. McClanahan hasn't faced them since April 24th so not a ton of familiarity there. Otani's facing the Astros. He has not faced them since April 20th. So again, no familiarity issues there and obviously Otani is on another planet right now with like historic levels of pitching that he's had the past month or so. The Astros also do get downgraded with Noyora Don Alvarez. It doesn't make it an easy matchup but it is better. Their WRC plus versus righties dips down to 108 once you take Alvarez off the active roster. So I'm going to use either of these guys. I've got Severino projected for 7.2 strikeouts. That's lower mostly due to pitch count because again, I'm worried they're conserving him. Otani's at 8.4, McClanahan 8.6. I won't likely wind up being highest in Otani for tournaments. He does have a salary $1,000 lower. I think that helps quite a bit. It is between him and McClanahan though for tournaments. I just think that I will take the salary savings down to Otani to break that tie there. So Severino, yes for cash games but then for tournaments either Otani or McClanahan and I'm leaning towards Otani at this moment. There was the third pitcher who could wiggle his way into consideration for tournaments as well. That guy is John Gray who is in a very much plus spot first. Now he needs a guy I am willing to use on this slate. Raise 9,000 facing off with the A's. That's definitely a big part of it. They have an 85 WRC plus against righties with a 132 ISO and a 6% walk rate which all adds up to this being an elite spot for a starting pitcher. And Gray's pitching well right now. He did struggle against the twins last week but overall we're up to eight starts on Gray since his velocity stabilized and he has a 3.11 skill interactive ERA in that time with a 30% strikeout rate and the data ball data is above average as well. Even in that twins game where he struggled Gray still got eight strikeouts. He is now at eight or more and four of the eight stars in that aforementioned sample with seven in another. That's with some lower strikeout teams in the mix there from an opponent perspective. The A's are about league average from a strikeout perspective but I think that it's not a positive or negative. The rest of their profile very much a positive. Gray's pretty solid. I'd have him right around Severino and he's also right around Severino's salary. I'd probably prefer Severino but it's very tight. If you want to not worry about Severino being conserved and want to go for the outside of John Gray, I'm okay with that. I think that he grades out really well. He's in a good spot. He's a good pitcher. So John Gray, if you want to put him about Severino no pushback here. He is your top value for tonight at $9,000. So interesting slate for tonight for sure a pitcher. I don't typically see things this way but I think for today we will see it that way. And part of the reason I was willing to take the discount with Otani and put him above McCleanahan is because of the stacks for today. So let's go there. The top two stacks to me are the Padres and the Yankees. And there are a lot of mid-range guys on those two teams but there aren't a lot of like pure value plays. And that's why I'm okay taking the salary savings with Otani at 10-5 versus McCleanahan at 11-5. Let's talk with the Padres here. I've been on them the past two nights and it hasn't worked out yet but you know, full me once shame on you, full me twice shame on me, full me three times. Not sure there's a saying for that. So let's just give it a shot and see what happens. I do think it makes sense though to try it again. They're facing Shad cool this time. Cools, peripherals, not ideal. And they are, they look worse when you put them at course field. We've seen cool using a sinker more for his past 10 starts. He has a 5.35 skill interactive ERA in that time. That's the worst number on the slate in each pitchers most relevant sample. He has a 14% strikeout rate. That is the lowest number on the slate. And it comes with a 42% of hard hit rate and a 44% fly ball rate. So despite the sinkers, not a lot of ground balls for Shad cool. Cool has sprinkled some good starts in there. Definitely had that one against the Dodgers where nine scoreless innings, couple of starts to go at course field. But he's led up four plus runs in each of his two start sense, both against Arizona. I don't think we should overreact to that one start against the Dodgers and abandon stacking against him just because he can't have a good game. Most pitchers can, you know? That's, and cool is in the big leagues for reading a good pitcher, but I think he's someone we can still stack against. And I will be doing that here with the Padres and they will be at the top of my list once again for tonight. For the second time in the past three nights, we do want to favor the lefties here for the Padres. Cool has led up a lot more hard contact to lefties than to righties. So again, the list there, Jay Cronenworth, no more Mazzara, Trent Grisham. I'm not ecstatic about it. Anybody individually, Cronenworth salary a little high. You know, Mazzara and Grisham have their flaws, but it's a good matchup. It's a course field. Pretty hard to nitpick that. So the Padres lefties get a bump up. And of course, Voighton Machado there to give you some righties as well. As for the Yankees, I do want to go back there and stack them again for tonight. They'll be number two facing Mike Minor. Minor is struggling since he got things started here with the Reds. We're up to seven starts on Minor in 2022. ERA is 6.63. Now that number is artificially high. It should be lower than that based on the way he has pitched. He has a 4.55 skill interactive ERA with a 4.70 expected ERA. So Mike Minor is a better pitcher than what his results say. But we can stack the Yankees against the Lefty with a 4.55 skill interactive ERA. The fly ball rate is 50%. And the fly ball rate being high is likely part of why Minor has struggled. His home park is one that is conducive to home runs. You don't want a big fly ball right there and Minor has had that. He let up three home runs and one of his home starts let up two in another and also did let up three on the road in San Francisco. Now he goes to Yankee Stadium. Another place where it's tough to let up a lot of fly balls. So it's rough circumstances for Minor. You do expect him to get better as the sample expands but maybe not starting for tonight. I wouldn't stack against Minor with every team but I will with this one. So the Yankees here are standouts tonight. I think that they are in the same tier as the Padres. And I think that everybody else in this slate is tiers below these two teams in terms of stacking. Gleiber Torres should be one of our primary building blocks of the night. I love him at $3,000. But I want to touch briefly on DJ Lamehue. Lamehue is not a guy I tend to use because not a big fly ball guy doesn't it a lot of home runs and it's hard to pay his salary for a guy who's not gonna give you multi-home or upside. But Lamehue is becoming more of that against lefties more tolerable for me against lefties. His ISO is 176. He's putting the ball in the air enough. The salary is okay at 34. So among the non-elite Yankees, I still prefer Gleiber Torres. I prefer Josh Donaldson, but Lamehue is a solid third of that group rather than being a reluctant third. And I think that's an important distinction to make. So Lamehue getting bumped up from me. If you need another mid-range play for the Yankees, totally okay with him. More okay than I had been the past but the Yankees overall, the number two stack of the night. The third stack is, you know, tough. There aren't a lot of great offenses for stacking for tonight because there are a lot of good pitchers here. The third stack to me will be the Rays. I think, again, they're pretty far behind the Yankees and the Pod Rays, just not a ton of great options here. And I don't think the Rays are a great option either with all the guys they're missing, a lot of key guys they're missing, but I think they should be third. They're facing Josh Winkowski who is still getting ground balls just like he did in the Miners, which is good for him annoying for us in terms of stacking. The fly ball rate for Winkowski in the majors is 30% across six starts. The rest of the data within his profile though is stackable. His skill interactive ERA is 4.65. That comes with a 15% strikeout rate, a 42% hard hit rate, and that's likely why his ERA is 4.35 despite getting the number of ground balls. He's expected the ERA is better. So maybe that number will come down as the sample expands, but, you know, it's not a stay away number regardless. Winkowski was very similar to this when he was in AAA, where he had good numbers there, but it was nothing that really made you super, super scared in terms of targeting opposing offenses. The rays have not seen Winkowski yet, so this is their first look at him that could give a Winkowski an edge in that regard as well, but I do still think they are a quality stack here on this slate. The issue with the rays is we had to be selective because with Franco, with Lau, guys like that being on the IL, they're missing some high upside guys. You wanna make sure you're not using low upside guys just because they may be at a good spot in the order. So guys I like here against righties, Jimon Choi, Isaac Perretis, Randy Orocerena, they're all yeses for me. Totally okay with all those guys. Josh Lowe, since coming back up, has cut back on the strikeouts a bit down to 28%. It's still kind of high, but better than it was his first time up. Bad at ball number is pretty similar. I'll use him low, but I would put him behind Choi Perretis and Orocerena given they're all pretty solid big leaguers and have more sustainable long-term data. Francisco Mejia and Brett Phillips, they are like the punty type guys who sell us some juice. They've got some homerun upside. Phillips has some stolen base upside too. So not a team I wanna stack really nilly, not a team I wanna roster everybody on it, but I think in this matchup on this slate where stacks are pretty thin, the rays definitely work. And those are the primary guys I would turn to when looking to stack them. Let's move now to things to watch for tonight. I wanted to touch quickly on Christian Javier more than I did earlier. My strikeout projections have Javier very high. They have a 9.2, which is a big number. It might be too high. So he should be in consideration for tournaments, but it's a really tough spot. He saw the angels in Houston two starts ago. They can't hit for some power and Javier lives in the air. Lot of fly balls light up. So I like risk. As you know, if you listen to this podcast a lot, I like high risk, high upside plays. And Javier is that, but I think the odds that it's a ceiling are a little bit low for me to get too, too jazz, especially when I have Otani and McClanahan as alternatives. So there's logic behind it. If you are higher on Javier than I am, but that's why I can't quite put him above Otani or McClanahan or even Gray for tonight. As far as the Cubs go in terms of stacking, I would have stacked them today if not for the weather at Wrigley Field, which means you still could. It's a good situation. Just a really restrictive weather scenario for tonight. They're facing Spencer Watkins. Even since he came back up for the Orioles, the velocity has been low for him. It started to dip before he went on the IL and was down to AAA for a bit after he came back. And now back in the big leads for two starts and the velocity is still pretty low. Little concerning. He has a 5.24 skill interactive ERA in five stars since that velocity dip began. If the forecast changes, if the wind were to shift for Wrigley or to chill out a bit, then I'd put the Cubs above the rays. But I think they're in the same tier regardless. So Cubs for now are fourth to me behind the rays, but if we get some leeway in the forecast, I would bump them up. If you want a more exotic stack for tournaments, I would check out the Guardians. They're facing Lucas G. Alito, who has looked better as past three starts from a strikeout perspective, but his velocity is still fluctuating a lot, still down. And I'm not sure he's Lucas G. Alito right now. Like he's Lucas G. Alito, but is he Lucas G. Alito? That's kind of where I'm at with him right now. And I think that could open the door for Cleveland to be a fun stack at low roster rate. That is a risky one for sure, because G. Alito can shove. But I think there's a path to Cleveland being good, unfortunately, because I like G. Alito a lot. Just not sure he's fully on right now. So the Guardians, a potential tournament stack, if you want to deviate from the rays and the Cubs. Let's finish up here with some Dinger calls for this Wednesday slate. The boring one, we'll go to Coorsfield. We'll talk about Luke Voight. Again, we want to prefer lefties against Shaq Koole, Voight is obviously a righty, but hasn't bothered him too much so far this year, his numbers against righties and ISO above 200 against them, lot of fly balls, at Coorsfield. I didn't want to go Jake Cronenworth for the Dinger call since I did him on Monday. It did work, but didn't want to go back. So we'll go to Luke Voight as the boring home run call for tonight. The fun one, stretching the definition of fun here, but I'll go with Gleiber Torres. Again, I think that he is a focal point on this slate because his fly ball right against lefties are on 52%. Basin guy lets up a lot of fly balls. He had a long double last night, Gleiber Torres, I think underappreciated after the struggles he had the past couple of years. And I've been very into him this year, be into him tonight as well. So home run calls for today, Luke Voight and Gleiber Torres. That is all that we have here for today on the solo shot. Again, I think it's a fascinating slate because stacking is kind of tough. You got some options that pitch or depending on how you want to play things, depending on your style, I like that kind of slate. So for me, pretty exciting one to send us off into Wednesday night. Do not forget to fill out your PGA DFS lineups. Check out our open championship preview on the Number Fire Daily Fantasy podcast feed. Wherever you get your podcasts, we also have a USC and NASCAR podcast coming up later on this week via Austin Swame and then via myself or NASCAR to preview New Hampshire. So get those by subscribing to the Number Fire Daily Fantasy podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts. If you have 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 FanDuel Podcast Network at FanDuel 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 preview Thursday Slate. This has been the solo shot right here on the FanDuel Podcast Network.