 I think you could view tonight's slate for MLB DFS in one of two ways. The first one is that we are down to each team's fourth or third or fourth starters. And a lot of them are not guys we're typically going to turn to in MLB DFS. That can make things pretty tough given that the crux of our decisions revolve around pitcher. The other way is that there's a lot of ambiguity. There are ways to play this slate be different without being dubbed. And those should be, I think, our favorite slates for daily fantasy baseball. And I think that's why I settled on this one. I think there are some good routes to play this. There are some pitchers I might not talk about again. The entire rest of the year for pitching sections who I think are viable for today. So we're going to break down the 11 game main slate for Monday night and get you ready, which should be a fun one once again. Welcome on into the solo shop. That's right here on the FanDuel podcast network and numberfire.com. My name is Jim Sonnis. I am a senior writer and analyst for a number fire here to break down this 11 game main slate on FanDuel for tonight with locks out for 705 p.m. Eastern for today. Let's dig into what the weather is saying about the slate given a highlight. Once again, the colder games on the slate. So 11 game slate, five of them have temperatures in the 50s for tonight. Those games are the Phillies at the Yankees. We've got the Pirates at the Red Sox and the Guard or the Diamondbacks of the Padres, A's of the Guardians and Rockies at Dodger. So a lot of the games actually out West pretty cool. I said A's at Guardians actually in Oakland for tonight. But a lot of the games out West actually colder for today along with Phillies, Yankees, Pirates, Red Sox. So I downgrade bats in those games as a result of what is pretty cool weather for today, I would say there are still good stacks in the games out West specifically, but keep that in mind when building your lineups. In Washington for the Rays and the Nationals, wins are out to center at 10 miles per hour. It is 69 degrees, not bad for hitting this time of year. And then in Kansas City for the Blue Jays and Royals, wins are in from center at 10 miles per hour, slight downgrade to bats there. But again, the weather in terms of temperature, not too bad. We'll dig into the pitching preview for this slate in just one second. But first, a reminder to make sure you're subscribed to the Number Fire Daily Fantasy podcast feed wherever you get your podcast coming up later on today on Monday, our master's preview for PGA DFS on Fandall will be up. It'll also be live on the Fandall YouTube page. If you want to watch along with myself and Brandon Cadulla as you fill out your lineups for Augusta, head over there. The Fandall YouTube page, 3 p.m. Eastern to check out that and this will go up on the Number Fire Daily Fantasy podcast feed after that as well. So I just go search for the Number Fire Daily Fantasy podcast feed wherever you get your podcast, hit subscribe. And if you like what you hear, leave us a rating and review as well. We appreciate all those five star ratings already. Whether your bracket is busted, still alive, or you're just looking for another way to get involved in March Madness, Fandall has you covered. That's why Fandall and Xfinity Mobile are partnering to give you a chance to win a share of $10,000 for the national championship game. All you have to do is answer proper pick on questions around in-game action, inclusive of Xfinity Mobile themed questions. The best part is it is free to play fans that answer the most questions correctly when a share of the $10,000 grand prize. The contest locks tonight at 9 30 p.m. Eastern. So go to Fandall.com now to get in on the action to enter go to Fandall.com slash free slash contest slash Xfinity Mobile pick-em roll. No purchase necessary age and location restrictions apply. Void reprimanded. Seafold terms at Fandall.com Xfinity Mobile has not sponsored or offered this promotion in any way. Again, the URL there is Fandall.com slash free slash contest slash Xfinity Mobile pick-em roll. Pitching preview for this Monday main slay. Nesta Cortez comes in with the highest salary on Fandall. He's $10,500. Drew Rasmussen is 10-2. We've got George Kirby up at $10,000 facing the Angels. John Gray is 97. Reed Dettmers facing Kirby at 96. Charlie Morton, the Ageless Wonder is 94. Brady Singer, 92. Hunter Brown is 91. Jose Barrios is 9000 with Kyle Bradish and Taiwan Walker as the other guys at $8000 or higher. Now, on this slate, again, I think there are a couple of different ways you could play things as far as your top picture. I think that Cortez is viable. I think that I do like Reed Dettmers a decent amount. Just a pretty tough matchup for him against the Mariners. I think when it all comes down to it, though, my favorite guy is going to be George Kirby. And Kirby is not always a guy who I was super into because there were stretches last year where Kirby let up a lot of hard contact. But that did improve down the stretch and he did this. He made these gains while keeping the strikeouts high. I think we can use Kirby against the Nationals for tonight. The big shift for Kirby was throwing more sinkers across his final 14 starts. And the goal typically there is to improve your batted ball data. Throwing more sinkers does that. And it did seem to do that for Kirby, because in that 14 start sample, he had a 36 percent hard hit rate allowed with a 36 percent fly ball rate. Good enough numbers for sure. And it's also a large in a sample of 14 starts. We can be pretty encouraged. The strikeouts in that time still totally fine. So better batted ball data while not sacrificing strikeouts. I'll take that every time. Twenty six percent strikeout rate. It all led to a three point two two skill interactive ERA, which is the best mark on this slate for each pitcher's most relevant sample. Not really sure what the pitch count will be for Kirby, because the reports were that they would monitor his innings early in the year. But in his final public spring start, Kirby went five innings and had nine strikeouts. So likely a pretty good pitch count there seems long enough to feel good about him at least, even if we can't feel entirely confident. Kirby's facing the Angels. That's a pretty dangerous lineup, but it's not a low strikeout lineup. I have Kirby projected for six point two two strikeouts. That is the highest mark on this slate. And I want to bank on that and put him at the top of my list for today. So George Kirby to me, the top pitcher for MLB DFS for tonight. I do think that there is some risk with master Cortez, which is why I consider putting redead Merse here. And I think the debt Merse is very much in this discussion. But there's also risk around debt Merse, given the matchup. And I feel like there's enough here for me to go Cortez. But if you wanted to go debt Merse, if you think that he will be lower rostered or very low rostered, I think debt Merse could be a very good tournament play for tonight. Let's talk about Cortez as my number two option, though. He was not lights out this spring. He's also facing the Phillies who can hit lefties pretty well. So it's not perfect, but I do like Cortez enough. One key aspect of being OK with Cortez is that the Phillies will strike out. Maybe 25 percent strikeout rate against lefties since the start of last year on their current active roster. That is a second highest mark on this later time for the second highest mark. And Cortez can get plenty of strikeouts himself as well. He had ups and downs last year. But over his final 11th start, it seemed to figure things back out. Trim back on his cutter used in that time. Strikeout rate went to 27 percent in that stretch. And he led up just a 31 percent hard hit rate. He was not as lights out as he was to begin the year like in May, but he was better than he was in the early summer. We saw Cortez go 74 pitches on March 28th. I haven't projected for 85 for tonight. And that gets into five point nine four projected strikeouts. It's not a huge number, but it does rank third on the slate behind George Kirby and Reed Detmers. So I will take that. I think that Cortez is a fine play. But I do think that if you're thinking strictly from a tournament perspective, I do find Detmers pretty, pretty tempting. So I'm going to go Kirby one feel good about that. Either Cortez or Detmer, Reed Detmers number two for the pitchers is for tournaments for tonight. I do think there is a value play you can feel pretty good about here. And it's mostly because we may not see a ton of upside. Typically, one of the big issues with a lower salary picture is that there is a lot of opportunity costs. I can't hang with the big guns on a slate. But that opportunity cost is lower for tonight. So I'd actually consider Cutter Crawford against the pirates. He's only $7000 and Crawford not typically a big strikeout guy. He had just a 23 percent strikeout rate last year, despite spending a good amount of time in the bullpen. But the match up here is really nice. The pirates have a 25 percent strikeout rate against righties that's tied with the Phillies for the second highest mark on the slate. They have a 96 WRC plus and Crawford is stretched out because he went 83 pitches on March 23rd. So I think it's very easy to talk yourself into 90 pitches for Crawford here. His big issue is long balls because he lets up a lot of fly balls, lets up enough hard contact to hurt him. But it's just 50 degrees at Fenway for tonight. This is one of the lower temperature games. That's actually the coldest on the slate at Fenway, which will help neutralize the balls and play at least a bit for Crawford. So I'm not likely to target Crawford again the rest of this year, unless he makes some pretty major tweaks early on the rotation. But I think the stars align here to make him viable at seven thousand dollars. Good match up, good weather, not a lot of super stars on the slate to make him, you know, a major downside as far as strikeout. I have a 5.65 for tonight, which is not bad. So Cutter Crawford to be very viable and a guy I'm willing to use in MLB DFS for tonight. So Pitcher is pretty open. Let's talk about stacks here, which I think are also open enough in large part because my favorite options are in some weather games that does begin with our top stack and that's the Dodgers. They are in a game with lower temperatures and that does matter. And it is it is a downside, but I still think we have to have them at the top of our list. The Dodgers facing Ryan Feltner, who does avoid course yield for today, which is always a plus. But Feltner struggled on the road last year, too. He did start throwing more sinkers down the stretch last year in an attempt to probably neutralize scores a bit. In that time, 4.51 skill interactive ERA for Feltner led up a 39 percent hard hit rates with a 42 percent fly ball rates. And this came with five of his nine starts being on the road. He led up multiple earned runs in all five of those starts. He lived three plus runs in all but one. So he struggled even when he was on the road in his most relevant sample. Now, Feltner is still young. This is his age, 26 seasons, so we could see improvements. But I want to see it before assuming it happens. So I think everything here combines to make the Dodgers the top stack of the night, despite the fact again, it is a little bit colder than you would like out there in Los Angeles. We don't need to worry about platoon splits with Feltner because he lets up plenty of power to righties and lefties, which to me always makes Will Smith kind of like the apple of my eye. The problem is that like his salary is actually up there now for once. Smith's salary, thirty seven hundred dollars. Mookie Betts is four thousand. So Smith has the exact same salary as Freddie Freeman. So I still like Will Smith just kind of bummed that the salary is up there. But I think that I wouldn't gloss over him. So you're looking at Freeman, looking at Smith, both catcher slash first base. You're probably going to have the salary to use both if you want. But I wouldn't gloss over Smith here just because he is a rightie whereas Freeman is a lefty. I think it's important to note that for tonight. For the second stack, not really sure how good Arizona's offense will be this year. And there's not a ton of big names there. The Trader Way Dalton Varshow, I think he rules. That was pretty sad, but they do get a good matchup tonight. And that matchup might be enough to make the Diamondbacks a good stack. They're facing Ryan Weathers, who spent most of last year in the Miners and really, really struggled down there. A 6.73 ERA, a 6.54 X-Fip in AAA. He lit up five home runs in 14 and two thirds innings in public spring training games. So did struggle in the spring as well. So I'm not sure the issues that plagued him last year are gone now. I don't have my expectations for Arizona. I think they could be kind of bad. The guys on the active roster had just a 129 ISO against lefties since the start of last year. So this could be pathetic. It's very possible. But again, not a ton of elite stacks tonight. Even this one's in some rough weather as well. But I think we can justify taking a swipe at them and seeing what happens. Very low salaries. If you want to stack the Dodgers, they're a good combo with them because the low salary is here. So I think that the Diamondbacks do great out well, despite my reservations around how good the offense will be this year. There are some fun pieces here. You know, individually, Catel Marte, Christian Walker, the big ones. Evan Longoria should start. He's gone all nine innings once and then eight innings in his two starts so far this year. So there is some pinch hit risk once the lefty leaves. But I don't think that risk is high enough to totally rule him out. And as for Corbin Carroll, you do downgrade him against the lefty because he didn't have very much power against lefties in the minors last year. But the speed is a main appeal. And I think that he's fast enough where he'll probably run on a lefty, too. So Carol works, despite the lefty and lefty matchup. Kyle Lewis likely hit leadoff. He's played the full game in both the gains he started hit for a decent amount of power in the spring. He's healthy, which is not. That's kind of the big issue with Lewis's health. And he's healthy right now. So I think between Marte, Walker, Longoria, Carol, Lewis, there should be enough guys here on Arizona to feel OK about them for stacking. It's not risk-free because they could stink. But I think given the matchup, they are a fine option for tonight. Now, with all the pitchers on the slates, you know, looking at Kirby with a salary that's pretty respectable. Cortez is 10-5. It's a little high, but not terrible. Got Crawford there, too. I think we can afford to spend up at hitter between the Dodgers. And now I think for our third stack as well, that's the Braves. And I think that they are a good third stack for us for tonight. The Braves face in Jake Woodford, who is moving into the rotation to start this year. He was a reliever last year, and in that time as a reliever, his ground ball rate was 52 percent. We don't typically want to stack against a guy with a 52 percent ground ball rate because it's harder to generate upside in that situation. It's a lot higher we want. But that was his reliever. He's now a starter. And when he was a starter back in 2021 in the starts he made, Woodford let up a 38 percent ground ball rate. So a lot lower there. I'm not sure he'll get to that low, but he might not be what he was in the bullpen last year either. Woodford had a solid spring, get 18 strikeouts compared to five walks, let up just one home run in 17 and two thirds innings, which is why the Braves are not higher on my stacking list. But the Braves, a 111 WRC plus against righties. They have a 195 isa, which is tied for third on this slate. So it's not perfect by any means. But I do think it's good enough for a slate where the stacking options are just OK, I would say. So I'll rank the Braves third behind the Dodgers and the Diamondbacks. But I think both the Dodgers and Braves could spots to spend up on if you have excess salary, whether it be due to Crawford, whether it be to the Diamondbacks, whatever it may be. If you have salary to burn, I think that's where I'd want to burn it personally. And we can also trim back that ground ball rate for Woodford by upping lefties. He had a 47 percent ground ball rate allowed to lefties last year, whereas righties were a 54 percent. So I think that helps. It's not helping enough where I'm going to be super high in any Rosario. But Matt Olson gets bumped up. Ozzy Albies, Michael Harris, they all get bumps up for me. So bumping up to lefties who are viable. I don't think Rosario is quite there for me, but the other guys definitely in play and definitely guys I'm willing to use for tonight. So the top stack for tonight, the Dodgers, Diamondbacks and the Braves. Let's go now to things to watch. Talk about a couple of pitchers I am lower on specifically due to pitch count. Most guys are Drew Rasmussen and Hunter Brown. Both those guys have a very good matchup. So I understand why if you look at the initial slate, maybe you're drawn towards those guys. Rasmussen getting the Nats, Brown facing the Tigers. But Rasmussen through 56 pitches on March 20th had just one start to warm up before them. So probably around 75 or so tonight. Brown had a lower back tightness in his final start or before his final start. So yeah, that one scratched out. And I did throw a sim game, but it sounds like they're very likely to have Brown on a pitch count to open the year. So Brown, Rasmussen, not guys who are considerations for me, unless we get word that their pitch counts be higher than expected. I have Rasmussen for 75, Brown for 70 right now. If we get word that's higher, maybe they're in play. But for right now, I'm OK. Looking elsewhere, a pitcher. There are a couple spots where I think that we can get left-handed bats and get a lot of upsides. So maybe some mini stacks here if they're looking for one offs. I would say those are the Royals and the Cardinals. The Royals are facing Jose Barrios, who has really struggled with left-handed batters for quite a long time now. He had very low strikeout numbers in the spring as well. So Vinny Pasquantino, M.J. Melendez for the Royals, the main targets here to benefit from these struggles Barrios has had with lefties. Cardinals are facing Charlie Morton, who struggled this spring. He struggles on the road, struggles against lefties, and all those factors are combined here against St. Louis. Now, not a ton of lefties here, but Brennan Donovan. There was talk in the offseason about him changing his swing, and it kind of looks like that's legit based on spring, based on the first couple of games this year. So I'll find buying in for $3,100. Sure, you can talk me into it. Also would be a plus for Lars Newtbar. He did miss the past couple of games, the thumb injury. So not sure if he'll go, but if he does, I'd be OK going there. So Royals, Cardinals, lefties, spots that be looking for one off against Barrios and Morton, given the issues they've had with lefties and for Morton also on the road. Let's finish up with the Dinger calls for today and let's stick on that Cardinals offense because the Fun Home Run call for today is going to be Donovan. I do believe in swing changes. I think that they can be things that lead us to buying in on guys before things totally react like Will Smith was one of the guys who had a big swing change led to him unlocking. I think it's final year in the minor. So I believe in Donovan, maybe that's stupid, but I'm OK buying in on small samples personally. Donovan 31 of Fandall, I think he is a Fun Home Run call for today. The boring one, I will go for Freddie Freeman. I know I discussed how Will Smith is more viable against this righty than other righties because the platoon splits. But it's Freddie Freeman. So we'll go with Freddie Freeman as the boring home run call. So Freddie Freeman and Brennan Donovan, the two home run calls for today. That is all that we have here for today on the solo shop. But a lot of good stuff here elsewhere on the Fandall podcast network because in a bit we're going to record covering the spread to break down at the men's national championship game between Yukon and San Diego State. Dr. Ed Fang will join me for that to break down. What his numbers say about tonight's games if you want some action on that check out covering the spread. And as mentioned, the Masters podcast for the heat check coming up today, live at 3 p.m. Eastern on the Fandall YouTube page and up on the Number Fire Daily Fantasy podcast feed after that. 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 Fandall podcast network at Fandall podcast. Want to thank you all for tuning in for today. Good luck to you with your MLB DFS. Lot of us for tonight. Have fun watching the national championship and more. We'll talk to you once again later on today to talk the Masters. This has been the solo shot right here on the Fandall podcast network.