 We are back off the All-Star break and I definitely did enjoy some downtime getting to, you know, not grind through a couple of days and then they'll be DFS, but I gotta admit that once I got to start digging into Friday Slate, I was pretty ready for that All-Star break to be done because we're coming back with a lot of big names on the bump for today. Sherser, birds, Otani, guys like that all going at the same time. And I think they're all very viable for DFS. We're gonna break things down, let you know my ranking of those guys, how I view them for today and hopefully try to identify some big upside there and try to find some bats we like too for this Friday Slate of MLB DFS. Welcome on into the solo shop, that's right here on the FanDual Podcast Network and NumberFire.com. My name is Jim Sonness. I am a senior writer and analyst for NumberFire.com. Here to break down Friday's 13 game main slate with lock set for 7.05 p.m. Eastern for today. There is no rain note for today but a big weather note is the heat because on the East Coast it is crazy, crazy hot. The coolest game in the Eastern time zone it's 86 degrees for today, so the West Coast games including spots like Arizona where the roof be closed you're gonna wanna downgrade bats relative to the bats on the East Coast. The problem is there aren't a lot of East Coast teams we may wanna stack for today. There is one I like quite a bit but it is a bit dicey for sure. So bump up the hitters on the East Coast, bump down pitchers inherently as a result of that as well and bump down bats in the West Coast. Like there are some stacks I like in cooler games. The opportunity cost of stacking them is higher today than typically is. So be aware of the weather specifically with how warm it is for the East Coast games for tonight. We'll break down what that means for stacks later on but also talk about those stud pitchers in just one second. But first a quick reminder to make sure you are subscribed to the number fire daily fantasy podcast because we have not just the solo shot back every weekday but also USC NASCAR PGA podcast every week over on the heat check side of things. So search for the number fire daily fantasy podcast wherever you get your podcasts hit subscribe and if you like what you hear leave us a rating and review as well. Fandals kicking off the second half with a big contest to welcome MLB DFS back. Tonight's squeeze contest includes $222,000 in total prizes, 40,000 of that will go to first place and 22.7% of the field will get paid. Best of all, just a $4 entry for tonight. So you could turn $4 into $40,000. To get yourself entered go to fandall.com or download the Fandall fantasy app eligibility restrictions apply. Pitching preview for this Friday main slate. Max Scherzer is the highest salary to pitch on Fandall checking in at $11,500. We have Corbin Burns checking in at $11,300. Next up is Shohei Otani at $11,000. You Darvus is 10-2 followed by Kevin Gauzman at 10-1. Charlie Morton facing Otani is 9-8. Logan Webb also 98. Nathan DeValde against the Blue Jays checking in at 92. Jameson Tyone is 91. Lucas G. Alito also there. Then we have Tyler Anderson, Cal Quantrell, Jose Arquiti, Marco Gonzalez, Brad Keller, Drew Rasmussen, Tyler Wells and Zach Gallin as the other guys at $8,000 or higher. Now there are a lot of good starters on the bump for today but my favorite, at least from a median 70th percentile perspective is Max Scherzer. Scherzer is going to be my top arm of the night. He's at home here facing the Padres and that's not a great matchup. The Padres have just a 21% strikeout rate versus righties in their current active roster with a 105 WRC plus. So I'm not actively seeking out guys facing the Padres but I am actively seeking out Max Scherzer. He has looked fantastic since he came off the IL and he's using a slider a lot which we saw a bit before he got hurt. So that does a couple of things. It ups his strikeout rate. He's had 11, nine and 11 strikeouts in those three games and that does stretch further back before the injury too but I think the bigger thing is leaning on that slider tells me Max Scherzer is fully healthy, he's confident and that is a big thing from a DFS perspective. The strikeout rate across the past starts for Scherzer with more sliders is 34%. That ranks third on this slate. He doesn't walk anybody, does a decent job of suppressing hard contact. I've got Scherzer projected for 8.7 strikeouts for tonight which is a really good number for a guy who also brings a quality floor to the table. Scherzer has not faced the Padres yet so far this year. So there's no familiarity issues here. I find no reasons to be too worried about Scherzer on this slate. I love him, I love the situation that he's in. I think the salary is fine given the stacks I want to use. So Max Scherzer to me definitively, the number one pitcher despite this being a very, very good slate. I'm gonna put Corbin Burns seconds. I do like Shohai Otani and Charlie Morton. We'll talk about then things to watch but Burns to me holds a slight edge over those two guys. Similar to Scherzer, it's not the most elite matchup here for Corbin Burns. He's facing the Rockies who have a 21% strikeout rate. It's pretty mediocre but their WRC plus is 85. They have a 33% fly ball rate. So similar to Scherzer, I think that Burns has a very high floor as a result of the matchup but he himself has a high ceiling. The most relevant sample for Burns is his past 11 starts. He's thrown a couple of fewer curveballs in that time. He has a 2.96 skill interactive ERA with a 32% strikeout rate and really good bat at ball data as well. So honestly, I think he's pretty similar to Scherzer and he's similar in terms of upside too. We've seen Burns at double digit strikeouts in two straight games. He's done in three of his past five and part of that is the strikeout rate that obviously does matter a lot but he's also going super, super deep into games. We've seen Burns go seven plus innings in four of his past five starts. He said 110 pitches twice in this 11 start stretch and he said 105 in three others. It's gone 95 or more in 11 consecutive starts. It's only 11 to have in my sheet is for him is those past 11. He's gone 95 plus in all those. So no, it's not a high strikeout matchup and that doesn't matter but Burns because of the length because of how good he is is projected for 8.0 strikeouts. That's a really good number. So I like him for sure. I will put him a hair above Otani and Morton but they're solid too. We'll talk about them in Thanks to Watch because they are worthy of, I think, being in your player pool for tonight as well. For the value play, I think you could consider either Jose Quintana or Braxton Garrett but Garrett just faced the pirates. He was awesome in that game but just saw them. Quintana not the biggest upside guy. So I'm gonna talk about Zach Gallin here and Gallin hasn't been a high upside guy so far this year. His strikeout rate is fine at 23%. He has hit double digit strikeouts but he was just in one game. He had nine in another but those are his only games with more than seven strikeouts. So I'm not as into Gallin as I have been in the past because he hasn't shown the same upside this year but value is pretty thin. He's a good pitcher. His matchup is okay based on the Nationals here with a 97 WRC plus and a 34% fly ball rate. That should help him quite a bit. Gallin also does get boosted from being at home. He has a 25% strikeout rate at home this year versus 21% on the road. Pitchers like the league average dip in the strikeout rate on the road is about one percentage point from where they are at home. So he seems to have a slightly bigger gap between those two. And that's even with the 11th strikeout game for Gallin coming on the road. So he's been more consistently high-ish strikeout at home than on the road. I think he's fine. He's not someone I desperately want to use. Gallin that is. I wouldn't be shocked if I just focus on the studs. I think that with the teams I want to stack I can probably just focus on Scherzer, Berthes, Otani and Morton feel good about that. So I'll probably just wind up omitting Gallin but if you want to go for some value plays for tonight try to load up on Giancarlo Stanton era judge spoiler alert. I would say that Gallin would be my favorite. Of the value plays available to us. Let's go now to the stacking discussion for today. We'll talk about the Yankees in the second and first. Let's talk about the Brewers here. They're facing Antonia Sinsatella. I mentioned that the East Coast is very warm. I am betting though the roof open in Milwaukee it's about 84 degrees there. So not bad from a weather perspective despite the fact they are in the Midwest for tonight. This game is not a course. So no bump in stacking against Sinsatella from that perspective, but we can still do it here. Sinsatella is making his first start off the IL which means there is always some extra uncertainty there but Sinsatella was not great in his lone rehab start. He led up four runs across four innings. So that's one thing working in Milwaukee's favor. Sinsatella also lets up a lot of balls and play. Now to his credit, his strikeout rate has been on the rise because before his trip to the IL we saw Sinsatella throwing fewer sliders across his previous seven starts. The strikeout rate was up quite a bit but it's quite a bit for him. Usually around 11%, he was at 18% this time but they 5% walk rate. So even with the gains in the strikeout rate Sinsatella was still letting up a ball and play about 77% of the time. It's a pretty big number. 41% of those were hard hit as well. We saw Sinsatella face the twins on the road in this time. So that's not a course field and he led up four runs in that game. Now facing the Brewers and they're not as potent of an offense as the twins but they're not bad either. They have a 183 ISO, they have a 106 WRC plus. They can definitely do some damage. So I'll be in on the Brewers here because Sinsatella even with the gain being in Milwaukee not a course field and not on the very, very warm east coast still warm enough in Milwaukee assuming the roof is open for today. Sinsatella does not have big platoon splits so we can kind of go at anybody here. Rowdy Tlaez probably the top option. Willie Adamus is solid too but I want to talk about Colton Wong. I think that he is underrated at $2,500. He has a 197 ISO against righties this year. He's also stolen 10 bags and that's really good. For $2,500 you're getting two paths to upside and he's utilized both so far this year. So I'll be heavy on Colton Wong. He also feels second base which has been a nightmare for the most part this year. So I think Wong is one of the focal points of this slate which is why I feel confident in putting Max Scherzer at the top despite the fact his salary is $11,500. So Colton Wong and the Brewers a fun, fun stack for tonight. The Yankees talked about them before. I think they are going to be a primary focuser tonight and they're facing Tyler Wells who's had a very good year. He has a 3.38 ERA. He has a 3.41 expected ERA but there are some issues in his profile especially against a powerful team playing in hot weather. So I'm down a sec against Wells for tonight. The biggest issue for Wells or biggest issues I should say are his fly ball rates and his lack of strikeouts. The fly ball rate is 46%. The strikeout rate is 17%. So he's letting up a lot of balls in play and a lot of those are in the air. That can get you in trouble in the wrong spots. I think that against a team like the Yankees in warm weather, it is the wrong spot. So no, I don't think what Wells has done so far is fluky. I think that he is a pretty good pitcher. He's a precious hard contact. That's all very good. And it's probably sustainable in the right situations. I just don't think this is the right situation. The Yankees have faced Wells three separate times this year. He didn't really dominate any of those starts. So I feel okay about this despite the fact that I respect Wells as a pitcher. It might not be the safest stack because of that but I like the upside. So I feel good about stacking the Yankees here tonight. We do want to bump up the righties here because Wells has some pretty extreme reverse platoon splits compared to most righties. He lets up, gets fewer strikeouts against righties. Let's have more fly balls. So that obviously boosts judge and Stanton but also Laborator is Josh Donaldson. They get bumps up. D.G. Lemay, he was fine at 31. I typically don't use him but the salary is better than usual at 31. So I guess I can go there but I prefer Torres and Donaldson over him at the respect of salary. So the righties for sure are the key stacking points on the Yankees for tonight. For the third stack I do think the Ray is great out well. I just don't know who they're facing. It seems like it's Brad Keller but it seems like Zach Rankies also listens to the spots. Probably going to be Keller so we'll focus on him but if it does for some reason wind up being cranky I'd be okay with the Royals in that situation as well or the rays I should say. Keller's bat of ball numbers pretty good. He's been using more foreseamers and fewer sinkers in his past eight starts. In that time, even with the emphasis on the foreseamer he's still letting up just a 34% hard hit rate and getting a decent number of ground balls. So typically I don't want to sack against that but he's faced a lot of bad teams in this stretch. He got Detroit twice and he got Oakland twice. If you look at the other teams he's faced in that time we saw some struggles. Keller led up four runs to the Astros, five to the Orioles, three to the Blue Jays and four to the Guardians. So when we've seen Keller face decent teams things have definitely been tougher for him. The rays not phenomenal. They have a 102 WRC plus against righties and their current active roster. So I think that they're like not ideal but they could do well in this situation. I'm willing to stack them here on a slate where stacking is overall pretty tough. So the rays to me, a high quality stack for today. The splits against Keller are pretty even. I don't worry too much about righty versus lefty here. We can kind of just go with the guys we like the most. And the fun thing is that with Wander Franco being out we could downgrade the rays but Brandon Lau being back does help them quite a bit. Lau looked pretty good in his first two games back off the IL before the all-star break. He had a barrel in there, he had three hard hit balls. So I'm willing to use Lau right away despite the fact he is fresh off an injury. I saw enough in that two games that two games didn't where I can feel pretty good about him. So it helps make up for the loss of Wander Franco definitely do downgrade this offense without Franco but having Lau there at least smooths things out a bit the extent where I am okay. Stacking them for tonight. Let's talk about things to watch here and talk about why I love Ohtani and Morton. I mean, Ohtani should be obvious but my strikeout numbers love Morton too. So from a projection perspective these guys have really, really high upside and they've been racking up strikeouts. The Angels and the Braids are both teams that will strike out as well and both Ohtani and Morton go deep in games. So if you are worried about roster rates for Scherzer and for Burns I think you're very okay to pivot to Ohtani and Morton for tournaments. Again, only for tournaments. Prefer Scherzer and Burns by a wide margin for cash gains but Ohtani and Morton could very easily wind up being the top two starters for tonight. So I'll put them below Scherzer and Burns even for tournaments but I'm okay pivoting there if you're worried about roster rate on those other two guys. There are a couple of spots where I'm okay with one offs but don't really wanna do a full stack. One of those is the Royals based in Jurasmussen who struggled a bit recently with some batted balls. So that's a fine matchup just not a super potent lineup. Bobby Whitz there, Hunter Dozier, MJ Melendez they all have decent power numbers versus righties. So I like them for one offs, I think they're fine there or potentially a mini stack just, I don't know I don't feel great stacking the Royals in any situation. So mini stacks are one offs of the Royals. The other spot for one offs is Arizona. They're based in Patrick Corbin most likely not officially announced yet which would be a revenge game for Patrick Corbin of course facing off against Arizona but letting up a lot of hard contact still he's not great against lefties which is why you could potentially go for a full stack here but I'd be highest on the righties here. Carson Kelly since he came back a 221 ISO he's only $2,200. If you want a one-off to save you a lot of salary Carson Kelly is probably that guy. I do like Wong too but I think that Kelly right up there with him as well from a value play perspective. So Carson Kelly, a key one-off facing Corbin for tonight. Let's finish up here with some Dinger calls for this Friday slate, the boring one. Again, I kind of have to go as boring as possible go there a judge. I know that like again, it's can't get worse than that but facing a low strikeout pitcher who lets up a lot of fly balls. It's very warm. I'm going there a judge. I'm sorry, it's very boring but I need to do it. For the fun one, I will go Colton Wong. I think that like, I don't know. Maybe it's just me but I kind of overlooked how good he's been this year. And I think people have broadly too with the salary being $2,500. So he's only at six home runs so far this year but he's hitting for power overall. He's making decent contact, putting the ball in the air. I like that a lot. Maybe we can inside the park home run with Colton Wong for tonight. He's got four triples so far this year. So maybe we'll get that instead. But either way, Colton Wong if the judge one was too boring, hopefully this helps make up for it. So Colton Wong, the fun home run call for today. That is all that we have here for today. Coming off the MLB All-Star break. If you want more DFS action for this weekend though, do not forget to check out our NASCAR podcast or Pocono. That is up on the Number Fire Daily Fantasy podcast already. We got UFC this weekend via Austin Swain. That'll be up later today on Friday. So get all that by subscribing to the Number Fire Daily Fantasy podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts. Pretty fun slave for tonight with all the good pitchers. I think it's a good night to spend up a pitcher and just bask in having these fun, fun guys back in our lives once again. 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 FanDual Podcast Network at FanDual Podcast. Big thank you to everyone for tuning in for today. Good luck to you with your MLB DFS. Linus will talk to you once again on Monday for another week, a full week of MLB DFS. This has been the solo shot right here on the FanDual Podcast Network.