 We have got an early lock time for today in MLB DFS with the main slate on Fanduil locking at 12 12 p.m. Eastern, so we're gonna breeze through this podcast for today Let you know which plays I am zeroing in on over on Fanduil and get you on with your day to get those lineups in Before that early lock time welcome on into the solo shot That's right here on the Fanduil podcast network and number fire comm My name is Jim Sonness. I am a senior writer and analyst for number fire here to break down The seven game main slate here for Thursday with lockset once again for 12 20 p.m. Eastern This includes games through the twins and meriders game around 3 p.m. Eastern So those games included a main slate luckily no weather involved on that slate so we can play things pretty straight up We'll dive into top-pitching options and more here in just one second First a reminder to make sure you're subscribed to the number fire daily fantasy podcast feed wherever you get your podcast We were here every weekday talking to MLB DFS PGA DFS each weekend USC for the big events as well via Austin Swame Get all that by subscribing to the number fire daily fantasy podcast feed wherever you get your podcast And if you like what you hear leave us a five star rating on Apple podcast or Spotify The US women's soccer team is taking on the world and you can take home bonus bets every time they win with Fanduil because right now new customers Get 100 dollars in bonus bets guaranteed plus another 10 dollars in bonus bets for every team USA win Sign up between now and august 3rd then place your first five dollar bet to unlock your bonus bets That way you'll be all set to bet on everything from total goals to player props all tournament long However, you want to play don't miss your chance to get 10 dollars in bonus bets for every team USA win plus 100 dollars in bonus bets guaranteed make every moment more with Fanduil america's number one sports book Yeah, must be 21 plus and presidents like states first online real money wager only 10 dollar deposit required Refund issued is non-ladrable bonus bets that expire in seven days restrictions apply see full terms at fanduil.com Slash sports book fanduil is offering online sports wagering in kansas under an agreement with kansas star casino llc gambling problem call 1 800 gambler or visit fanduil.com slash rg in massachusetts hope is here gambling helpline ma.org Or call 800 327 50 50 for 24 7 support in new york 1877 8 open wire text open y in arizona 1800 next step or text next step to 533 42 in connecticut 1 888 789 7777 or visit ccpg.org such chat in indiana 109 with it in wyoming and kansas 1 800 522 4700 or in kansas ks gambling health com louis ziana's 1877 770 stop in maryland md gambling health.org and in west virginia Go to 1 800 gambler dot net pitching preview for this thursday main slate spencer strider checks in with the highest salary on family checks In at 11 400 dollars followed by andrew abbott at 10 8 blake snell is 10 6 with pablo lopez at 10 4 We got zack gallin at 10 2 facing the braves george kirby against the twins in 97 Corbin burns 93 chris bass at 9 000 flats with alex cob a taiwan walker michael lorenzen and michael copek as the others at 8 000 dollars per hire Now to me the top two pitching options today are obvious and those guys are spencer strider and blake snell The big question is how we rank them So what i'm going to do today is go through the pros and cons of both guides Then i'll discuss my view of them at the end as our top two studs of the day We'll start with strider who is at home against the diamondbacks, which is not a great matchup They have a 109 a wrc plus against righties with a 20 strike out rate and it's also 99 degrees Which is great weather for hitting and that's a downgrade for strider, but Strider has been using fewer change a few more change ups his past 11 starts And the results in the time have not been great He has a 4.5 o er a but the peripherals are still really nice 2.86 skill interactive er a 36 strike out rate Typically when you get situations where the results are much worse than the peripherals It says the bad at ball data is bad But that's actually not really the case here because striders let up just a 35 hard hit rate across his 11 starts So I think he's gotten a bit unlucky, honestly, but it is still a tough matchup in bad weather Snell's matchup is not great. Either he's facing the blue jays on the road jays have just a 19 strike out rate against lefties So both these guys are facing low strikeout teams But the jays also have just a 120 iso against lefties That's not as daunting as What striders dealing with and it's also only 74 degrees in toronto assuming the roof is open there And snell is also pitching great right now He's been using fewer forcing fastballs and more curve balls the past eight starts and in that time He has a 2.53 skill interactive er a with a 43 strikeout rate But his bad at ball data is also actually even better than striders He's letting up a 23 hard hit rate with a 28 fly ball rate and it's led to an o 57 er a Snell has double digit strikeouts in five of these eight starts So the results favor snell the matchup favor snell the weather favor snell But the venue because striders at home favor strider All things considered. I am going to go snell first Maybe that's dumb, but I care a lot about weather and in this instance The the weather does heavily favor snell. So snell will be my top guy striders firmly in this tier and to me They're all pretty well ahead of the pack. I think there's one more guy you could maybe consider two more guys We'll talk about them and things to watch but to me It's snell once strider two and then half a tier at least down to everybody else for the value play I'm gonna go taiwan walker. I do think you could consider alex cob here But walker is at home and in a better matchup and cob is in since natty tough park for pitching So that's enough to give walker the edge for me walkers facing the brewers who have a 90 w rc Plus against righties with a 139 iso at a 23 strikeout rate. So It's not an amazing matchup. They're not as high strikeout of a team as they are against lefties But it's definitely a good matchup regardless walker hasn't been consistently getting strikeouts But he's looked really good his past 10 starts in that time He's throwing more cutters and more splitters. He has a 2.25 era He has had some spike strikeout games. He said eight strikeouts and three out of those 10 starts But there have been some duds in there as well. That's fine. He's a value play for a reason The results have been good. The strikeouts can be there So it's kind of hard to nitpick to that that too much when his salary is 8400 dollars I would definitely rather pay for a snail or strider, but Um, I'm fine giving thought to walker if you want to go nuts the hitter So for me prefer to spend up a picture for today because we have two really good ones in good situations But if you want to spend down walker is my preferred option there Let's dig in now to the stacks. We've been all over the reds and giant series this week and It's didn't work out very well last night But did before that and I think we can go back there once again today Now this may feel a bit odd Given that Andrew Abbott has a second highest salary on Fandle and his era is 2.45 It may feel odd to stack against him But his bad at ball data says He's kind of flirting with disaster and I think that allows us to get here on a slate That's pretty tough for stacking Abbott has made eight starts so far and in that time He's let up a 61 fly ball rate and a high fly ball rate by itself Isn't a big issue if you get a lot of weak contact But Abbott is also letting up a 43 hard hit rate. That's actually tied for the second highest mark on this slate He's let up a 10.8 percent barrel rate, which is above average It just hasn't heard him always consistently yet He did have one clunker where he let up six run runs the Brewers two home runs there He also let up two home runs against the Brewers last week and he let up a three homer game at home against the Rockies So the bad at ball issues have shown up in spurts for Abbott and I think that could continue the Giants have a 101 WRC plus against lefties. I think they're pretty interesting here I like Abbott as a pitcher and I would not be shocked if we're Maybe using as a pitcher next time out potentially, but um, I don't mind stacking against him on this slate The Giants have been pushing Patrick Bailey up in the order against lefties The past three starts against lefties Abbott or Bailey has hit fifth fifth and third His early numbers against lefties are pretty good. So I get why they're doing that too and Because he's a catcher. He's less likely to get pinch hit for so less concern with the Giants giants thing in that regard And that's kind of what we should be looking for here. So if Bailey does play it's a day game after a night game for a catcher So that's always a concern But I think it's all played 29 a hundred dollars if he does play So Patrick Bailey a guy I want to turn to if I do wind up stacking against Abbott fourth day The Mets are facing Michael Kopeck and similar to Abbott. I like Kopeck quite a bit But he is in a massive massive funk right now He's walking a ton of guys Didn't get out of the first inning and his most recent starts and he could bounce back because he has good qualities inside him, but I don't think the Mets are a bad stack given the slide that Kopeck is in Seven starts ago Kopeck started to throw more sliders and it initially led to a big spike in strikeouts But the walks in this time have been insane. He has walked four plus batters in three of his past four starts Me walk three in another I don't know if he's fully right at the moment And we can see blow-ups when that's the situation and that's what we want for DFS We want those spiral games those games get out of hand and you know, you suddenly look up and it's 11 nothing Kopeck has had some issues with hard contact in the past as well So I think we need to proceed with some caution in case the form does return for Kopeck because it definitely could but I'm still on board with stacking against him here in case he continues to struggle Kopeck's biggest strength is strikeouts, but he gets fewer than against righties than lefties So for the Mets, that's the plus repeat Alonzo Tommy fam I think both those guys could be priorities here also good for Francisco Alvarez Especially as they continue to have him a bit higher up in the order So if he plays I think that Alvarez could work as well, but Just in general, I think the righties are pretty good options for today against Kopeck Assuming you're okay stacking against him now that caveat is big because Our top two stacking options are against Andrew and rabbit and Michael Kopeck Both these guys are good pitchers who can't get strikeouts Our third guy is currently the co-favorite to win the Cy Young and that's that gallon It feels a bit weird to Potentially stack against him given he is tied a strider as the best odds to win the NL Cy Young But very tough matchup. He looks a bit off right now and the weather is Great for hitting. So I do think we should be willing to stack against gallon here gallon started the year off scorching hot over the past 13 starts though He's been throwing more cutters with fewer curves and change ups and he's probably doing that for a reason but It's led to some weird underlying numbers across a pretty large sample of 13 starts In that time gallon has a 4.26 skill interactive era He has led up a 44 hard hit rate with a 41 fly ball rate. His strike out rate is also down to 22 percent The era for gallon is still 3.5 46. So it's much better than the peripherals But he has had some rough starts We led up five runs the tigers eight total runs with five earned the pirates Couple who runs the angels and all those stars were on the road gallons roady array this year is 5.11 compared to 1.48 at home And the strike area also does decrease on the road to 22 versus 30 percent at home This is a matchup on the road against a disgusting offense in very warm weather So it feels odd to stack against a guy who again could win the Cy Young this year and it might be dumb That's very possible But I do think it makes sense to stack against gallon tonight or today Given the makeup of this land. I'm willing to go there for tournaments personally similar to co-pack gallon has had a lower strike out rate against righties and also Let's have a higher ISO to them. So that benefits around the Cunha jr. Austin Riley, Sean Murphy, Marcelo Zuna and I think that you know if you're comparing these guys to Switch hitter Ozzy Albie's lefty Matt Olson. I think that might give the righties a small leg up in this dilemma so to me prefer in the righties over the lefties for today, but Pretty much of the green light for all braids because this offense good and again I know it's risky to stack against these really good pitchers But I think that's the way to play things on tonight's or today's slate things to watch here among the snug pitchers the guy who might be best able to give strider and snell a runner for their money is Pablo Lopez Corbin burns also in that discussion, but Burns gets the Phillies Lopez has the Mariners Mariners strike out more than the Phillies and have a slightly lower WRC plus so I prefer Lopez over burns among the rest of the pack But it's really about the top guys for me Jose Quintana is making his 2023 debut for the Mets revenge game here against the White Sox He pitched really well last year obviously though. He's coming off an injury He looked solid in his rehab starts, but not a ton of ground balls there I think the White Sox are a consideration for stacking here probably should have had them within the top three But decided to go have some fun uh stacking against good pitchers instead I think the White Sox much better offense against lefties 106 WRC plus realistically they probably should be in the top three, but I like the hard contact profiles of the three guys we did discuss Finally, the royals are facing Michael Lorenzen who has had decreased velocity over his past seven starts and His results have still been really good in that time, especially against lesser teams and the royals are obviously that as well But Lorenzen should let up a balls and play A lot of balls and play because it was a little strikeout rate The weather in Kansas City is good for hitting. So I don't mind them as another stack or potentially For some one-offs for today's the royals another team to consider that met the the White Sox team to consider as well If you don't want to go against really really good pitchers today, which I would understand for sure Dinger calls for this Thursday's slate the boring one mentioned Michael Kopeck's issues against righties reduced strikeout right there Peter Lanza is a righty in a big rut right now But I feel like Alonzo is about to perk back up here pretty soon So we'll go Peter Lanza as a boring one Manifesting this for uh some season long teams that could use uh Alonzo is surging back to live So we'll go Peter Lanza as the boring hormone call for today The fun one let's go Patrick Bailey again Bailey does seem to have pretty good numbers against lefties so far in a small sample moves up in the order I think that's intriguing. Uh, if he does not play I would go probably Wilmer Flores as the alternate option there Luis Matos kind of interesting too, uh for the Giants if he gets in there. So One of those fun Giants Bailey the primary one Wilmer Flores Luis Matos being the alternates within your giant stacks Within your dinger calls for today That's all we got here on the solo shot again lock is at 12 20 p.m. Easterns make sure you get those on it's in before then and uh, Has some fun throughout your thursday during work or whatever it may be if you got any questions for me I'm on twitter at jim sonnis j i m s a n n e s don't forget to find these podcasts up on The fan dual tv plus app as well on amazon fire apple tv and roku devices also over on the fan dual youtube page If you like what you hear leave us a five star rating on up a podcast or on spotify We'll talk to y'all once again tomorrow to break down friday's slate This has been the solo shot right here on the fan dual podcast network