 It is very possible that I am a curse, which makes me very nervous because over the past probably 10 or so days I have had Jacob DeGrom, Tyler Glass now, Max Scherzer, and then Jacob DeGrom again It's either my number one or number two pitcher of the night on days where they have left the game early due to injury Tonight my top guy is Shohei Otani and as someone who would do anything to protect Shohei Otani It makes me very nervous and also feel kind of guilty to put him number one on my list But I feel like when I look at this slate, I kind of got to do it So whatever manifestation vibes you can send send out the good vibes to show Hey, Otani keep him safe from the gym curse let's lock him in for DFS for tonight. Welcome on into the solo shop That's right here on the fan dual podcast network and number fire.com. My name is Jim Sonis I am a senior writer and analyst for number fire.com here to preview tonight's eight game at main slate What locks that for 707 this evening. There is nothing big to note from a weather perspective for today No super outlier ish temperatures. So we should be good to go for tonight's slate also make sure you tune back in today at 4 p.m. For our Q&A session final one of the week We do not have a Q&A session on Friday because Dr. Disrespect gonna swing by the Fandall YouTube page She'll be on Friday afternoon. So Final stream of this week is today that'll be at 4 p.m. Eastern Fandall YouTube Twitch Facebook and Twitter pages Make sure you tune in there get your questions in about tonight's MLB DFS slates Maybe said additional good vibes to Otani through the comment section there as well Also, make sure to check out the number fire daily fantasy podcast feed because of course We have our this podcast there every day But also tomorrow USC with Austin Swain and a NASCAR podcast for Nashville Those will be in your podcast feeds tomorrow So make sure you subscribe to the number fire daily fantasy podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts It is always exciting when a player scores a goal in the euros But this year it is twice as exciting because Fandall is playing or paying out double the winnings when you bet on a player To score during a Euro 2020 game Just sign up for Fandall Sportsbook and pick your goal scorer for a shot at two times the payout in a tournament Featuring some of the best goal scorers in the world You'll have plenty of options to choose from but no matter who you pick Fandall will double your payout up to $250 and you'll have your bonus in less than 72 hours There's no better place to bet Euro 2020 than Fandall Sportsbook must be 21 plus and present in Colorado, Iowa Indiana Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia or West Virginia new users only first real money wager only $10 first deposit required bonus issued as a non withdrawable set credit that expires in seven days max bonus $250 restrictions apply see full terms at sportsbook.fandall.com gambling problem call 1-800 gambler in Colorado call 1-800-522-4700 in Iowa 1-800 bets off in Indiana 1-800-9 with it for confidential help in Michigan 1-800-2707 1-1-7 in Tennessee call the red line 1-800-889-9789 or in West Virginia visit 1-800-gambler.net pitching preview for the Thursday main slate Shohei Otani is the highest salary pitron Fandall for today He checks in at $11,000 for followed by Brandon Woodruff at 10-8 Marcus Strowman is $9,900 Dylan Cease facing the Astra is $92 Hermon Marquez facing Brandon Woodruff at Coors Field is $9,000 then we have Kyle Hendricks Joe Musgrove Rich Hill and Charlie Morton as the others $8,000 are higher and with Otani I have been hesitant to use him at pitcher all year long. It's a combination of a lot of things It's been low pitch counts. He's been ineffective with a lot of walks at times So the injuries have been there too, and I've been I've been wary from as a pitcher But I think I'm finally gonna do it tonight. I like him a lot against Detroit Hopefully again the curse stays away the matchup is a part of it for sure the Tigers against righties have a 90 WRC plus with a 27% strikeout rate That is the second highest strikeout rates on the main slate and Otani himself is getting plenty of those I think it's most relevant to look at Otani in the games since his loss He did because it's a lot different average 94 miles per hour on the fastball the 97 in those four starts If you look at Otani in those four starts since the V low and down He still has a 31% strikeout rate his skill interactive era is 3.37 and his swinging strike rates have been at least 14% each of his past two starts the pitch count has been fine in that time as well. He's gone 93 76 and 86 76 is not ideal And that is that's rough But the 93 means they will let him go if he's pitching well enough and in the 76 pitch game He still went six innings and got 10 strikeouts He basically went to Grom and that one which is a scary parallel here But if they give Otani a full leash tonight by full, I mean 90 plus pitches I feel like he could have an upside game for sure There aren't a lot of pitchers on this slate in great situations And it makes me feel like this is the ideal time to unleash Otani from a pitching perspective in DFS he's fun to root for and DFS is supposed to be fun. So I think it'll be profitable too So tonight's the night where I finally lock in Otani as a pitcher and I am pumped to do so Hopefully the curse stays away because I really enjoy watching him and would not want that taken out of our lives Let's just send the good vibes out to show. Hey, Otani for tonight As far as the other pitching options for today it's a little bit muddy and There are a lot of issues like two of the best pitches in the Slater of course field I if I'm looking for a second pitcher, I feel pretty okay about this And I feel pretty firm and saying that Joe Musgrove is my number two guy That's despite the fact. He's been pretty wild recently He had a start against Milwaukee where he had a no hitter in the fifth inning and then Absolutely imploded and didn't even finish that inning He has not been going super deep into games, but he's still been effective the peripherals here are great And that's enough for me to be on Musgrove for tonight. He is facing the Reds. That is a very tough matchup They have a 112 WRC plus versus righties tons of power and they're not a big strikeout team either But if I'm gonna use a pitcher against Cincinnati, I Wanted to be in a pitcher's park to help rain that power in and San Diego is that Temperature is 72 degrees for tonight That's not gonna nullify their power But it does at least reduce the impact of it Musgrove isn't the same pitcher He was when he threw his no hitter earlier this year He's lowered his cutter usage since that time But even in the eight starts with fewer cutters Musgrove has still had awesome peripherals He has a 2.92 skill interactive ERA with a 32% strikeout rate and a 5% walk rate He has led ups and impactful contact But it's not bad his 38% of hard hit rates and 35% fly bar They're actually both slightly better than the league average when you pair that with the plate discipline numbers. That's a good pitcher Musgrove with 99 pitches to start to go. He should have the length that we need And I think it's enough to put him second behind Otani for tonight If I had alternatives like if if Woodruff were facing the Rockies in Milwaukee I wouldn't put Musgrove number two, but he's not so to me I think that Musgrove does deserve to be the number two pitcher on tonight's slate for the third pitcher I think you could consider both the guys at Coors Field Technically Musgrove counts as my value play for tonight 8,500 dollars. So that's Woodruff and Marquez I want to talk about them and I will talk about them and things to watch My preferred route though is actually another value play in Charlie Morton. He is 8,200 dollars He is at home against the Cardinals and it hasn't been a great year for Charlie He has a 4.50 ERA through 13 starts, but the underlying numbers here are better He has a 3.78 skill interactive ERA with a 26% strikeout rate It does seem like he's tinkering trying to make some strides out there over his past seven starts Morton has thrown fewer sinkers and more curveballs and Things have still been pretty similar in that split to his overall numbers 3.73 skill interactive ERA 26% strikeout rates, but in that time, he's also allowing just an 18% fly ball right So killing a lot of worms the hard hit rate against him is 32% and he's done that against some tougher offenses He did in that span face the blue jays the red socks and the Dodgers And he didn't let up more than three runs to any of those teams He had seven innings of one run ball with nine strikeouts against the red socks So basically when you look at the walk numbers you look at the batted ball numbers Morton is a good overall pitcher who can get some strikeouts That's a good recipe when the guy's at home in a decent matchup And I think that is enticing especially when his salary is 8,200 dollars. So I think that Morton is definitely behind Musgrove for me But if I were choosing between Morton and the guys at Coors Field, I'd give the edge to Morton. So to me it's going to be Otani one Musgrove two Morton three we'll talk about Woodruff and Marquez in things to watch Let's go to the stacks first though And two of my favorite stacks tonight are actually in the exact same game That isn't Buffalo for the blue jays and the Yankees the blue jays facing Michael King and he's had a rough schedule so far He had his first start against Detroit. That was his first full start and that's not a bad matchup But since then he faced Boston in Minnesota two pretty good offenses now It stays rough as he faces the blue jays So I think we should stack Toronto here and see if the struggles for king will continue He has had some rough numbers in those three starts a 4.96 skill interactive era with an 18 strikeout rate He has led up a lot of hard contact and enough fly balls for us to get by for stacking That's in line with what happened when king was a reliever earlier in the year And it's also line of what we saw last year Overall king doesn't look like someone who will be overpowering Which means that he needs to be a standout with his bad at ball data to get by as a a viable big leaker It doesn't like he will do that the game isn't Buffalo not super warm there for tonight But I still like the jays quite a bit here and i'm fine putting them at the top of my list for stacking We should be able to get to vladimir grero junior as well I know it's tough with otani at 11,000 But I was able to get to akunya and freeman with uh jacob digram last night So I think we can make vlad work and there's a lot of value in the middle part of this order Randall gritchick is 3300 dollars, but we have tailscar hernandez and rowdy talez Likely batting five and six gritchick is 2700 dollars. We have uh talez at 2300 dollars All three of those guys are fly ball hitters and none of them have a restrictive number of strikeouts So hopefully talez is in there because if we get him and gritchick in the mid 2000 range That's going to make it a lot easier to get to vlad. It does mean we'll need value elsewhere But I think we should be able to get that for tonight So the blue jays my top stack of the day and number two is in the opposing dugout That is the yankees facing tj zoek. Zoek is coming up for a spot start here And it looks like a matchup We will want to attack zoek was in the big leagues earlier this year He had a 6.35 skill interactive er a across 12 innings And the results are rough too not just the peripherals So zoek got sent down to the miners as a result of what happened there And things didn't get a ton better for him in triple a He had a 4.37 er a there his strike area was just 16 percent and he led up a ton of balls in play There are Just two things that pushed me to rank the jays higher between these two teams The first one is that zoek will get some ground balls It's not enough to push me off But it's at least a consideration here and second the blue jays are just a better offense right now than the yankees I just trust their offense more They have a better wrc plus against righties better power numbers. They're at home But that's truly picking nits like i'm just saying why i'm ranking the the blue jays higher and not saying you shouldn't use the yankees as a result of those things The yankees would be the top stack on a lot of slates They just happen to be in the same game as the jays and I prefer the jays for tonight So these would be my top two stacks of the night the blue jays versus the yankees And I think both are really solid standout slates Across or standout stacks across even larger slates One time on gary sanchez here for a second Seems like he's making some pretty big strides of the plate I used to use him just against lefties because the strikeout rate would go down a lot versus them And I might be willing to use him against righties now too finally his strikeout rate is still at 32 versus righties So it's high But I would say it's manageable it comes with a 41 fly ball rate He gets a boost against a low strikeout pitcher like zoic as well So I am warming up to sanchez. I haven't been super into him personally But it gives me a viable play in the mid range when stacking this team So I do think that they were that he works geo or shella weirdly has had better numbers versus righties is here from a peripheral perspective So I think that we should be able to get some value from the yankees and sanchez Not a value play But he is not high salaried either and someone I am warming to as we get further into the year For our third stack we talked about otani earlier and because he is a pitcher for today We can't use him as a hitter It's just a pitcher on fandal But I would like to use his teammates because they still benefit from otani being in the order even if he's not We can't use him for stacking every time he gets a base hit that means it extends the inning Gives more volume gives more run scoring and rbi chances for his teammates They still benefit from otani being there even we can't use him as a hitter on fan dual for today They're facing matt manning the angels are manning is a big prospect for detroit's and he's getting a call up here The promotion for manning wasn't due to what he was doing in triple a he was actually struggling quite a bit down there Across seven starts. He has an 8.07 er a with a 4.36 x-fip. His strikeout rate was 25% That's even with strikeout rates being Largely very high across the miners this year And we've also we also saw manning lose some of the batted ball skills He had back in 2019 in 2019 his ground ball rate was 47% that was in double a this year It's 36% in triple a so manning is getting a promotion But it's not like he forced their hand and made them promote him the tigers Honestly have nothing to lose like why not, you know, he's a he's a good pitcher probably long term Might as well see what he has and throw him out there But I think We should look to stack against him right away here, which means stacking the angels tonight even though we cannot use otani There's still plenty of guys we can use in this lineup. I love jared walsh. Nothing has changed there He's still tremendous Justin Upton Weirdly good against radies this year kind of similar to sanchez where 205 iso for just an upton a lot of fly balls And I think we can also use max stasi stasi is a guy You know, we think of mostly versus lefties, but he's putting up good numbers against righties, too So we can make it work even if it is a bummer. We'll have to skip over otani So I would say check out upton walsh stasi see what they've got so hopefully anthony randone's healthy enough to go But the angels pretty good stack for today If you're going with muskrove or morton, you can get to all those guys we discussed without straining yourself elsewhere Let's finish up with things to watch for this thursday slate I do think that both brandon woodruff and erma marquez are worth considering a course field The reason I didn't get to woodruff above morton is salary related woodruff is 10 8 and That's pretty outrageous for a picture a course field and a lot of times we think when there is a picture a course field We'll get them at a roster rate discount That didn't happen with u darvish when he was at course a couple nights ago I think he was like the third or fourth Most rostered player you can find the roster rates up on number fire dot com That's a pretty big bummer because that's one of the appeals of using a picture of course is decreased popularity Didn't get that with u darvish So woodruff in play but does get dinged because probably not going to get him at a roster rate discount and Definitely not at a salary discount marquez pitches really well at home and the brewers still strike out So i'm down for for both these guys, but that's why they're ranked fourth and fifth for me with woodruff being fourth marquez being fifth That's the reason they're not higher, but I still think they're both in play So if you're filling out a lot of lineups, you want to differentiate a picture You're worried about otani worried about muskrove totally fine I think both those guys would be viable options you could turn to after those other options There are a couple other stacks. I think are worth considering here. The first one is arrays I think the rays are actually like On most slates, they'd be a top three stack. They're just they wind up being fourth for today But that's because they're good stacks elsewhere the rays are facing just and done in seattle So it's not a good park factor but done Struggled last week in coming off the injured list He let up five earned runs in that game his spin rate was way down and it could be Due to the sticky stuff I feel like it's probably more likely it's due to the injury he was coming off of But either way it happened and it led to an effectiveness So I think stacking the rays is worthwhile here another good offense versus righties So that's comforting to have Some good offenses on our stacking list for today. The other one to consider is the braves. They're facing john gants who is potentially the most frustrating picture to stack stack against he gets a ton of ground balls And it's just it's it's miserable to stack against him But because of the plate discipline numbers against gants, you can still get big outings against him He let up five runs across one and two-thirds innings last time out He let up seven earned runs the time before so I would rank the braves fifth behind the blue jays yankies angels and rays But the rays are still firmly on my radar. So it's a really good night for stacking We've got these five options. I feel pretty good about four. I feel great about if you add the rays in there, too so overall good night for stacking and given the Viability of muskrove and morten you can stack pretty much whoever you want I think that's going to lead to some fun line-ups for today We can talk more about that which studs to prioritize today During the 4 p.m. Stream on youtube twitch facebook and twitter So make sure you tune in then get your questions in and let's have some fun for tonight in mlb dfs Do not forget to subscribe to the number fire daily fantasy podcast feed on apple podcasts spotify stitcher google podcasts tune in radio dot com no matter where you get your podcasts You can find us and while you're there leave us a rating and review as well If you have questions for me before 4 p.m. 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 calvin theobald our video producer for running the video broadcast for today Thank you cal as always and thank you to everyone for tuning in good luck to you for tonight We'll talk to you once again tomorrow This has been the solo shot right here on the fan dual podcast network