 When you check out the main slate for Friday in daily fantasy baseball You're gonna see pretty much right away that Clayton Kershaw and Brandon Woodruff our our top two pitchers of the night on Fandal and I love both those guys look great in their debut is this year generally very good pitchers as well But both of them have one key I would say major flaw in their profile and our job is to decide does that push us off them? How does that alter our ranking of these two guys and where else do we go if we don't want to go Kershaw and Woodruff? We're gonna break down all that also talk about some top stacks And give you some brief thoughts on the early only slate on Fandal for today welcome on into the solo shop That's right here on the Fandal podcast network and Number fire calm. My name is Jim Saunas. I am a senior writer and analyst for a number fire here to break down the main slate over on Fandal with lock set for six 40 p.m. Eastern it is a six game main slate will break down that one here first later on though I also will touch briefly on the early only slate I'll do just one picture and two stacks and that one very quickly if you're tuning in closer to 410 p.m. Eastern you want to get some line ups in for that early only slates I put the time stamp for when that that discussion begins in the episode description on Spotify Apple Podcasts etc etc so you want to jump ahead to that and then come back here for the main slate Feel free to do so but lock for that is at 410 p.m. Eastern the early only slate is a four game slate Whether for the main slate for today there is a chance of rain later in the day for the braves and the Padres I think they should be good to play but it is worth noting there is some rain potentially in the forecast there So check back on the timing of that weather to make sure you will not interrupt the brace and the Padres We'll dive in to the pitching preview on this main 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 podcasts NBA DFS via Tom Vecchio for today the daily ISO will still be up I don't believe running during the playoffs, but still a more slate there We've got PGA every week USC for Austin Swain for the big slates. 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It's a very difficult matchup I like Kershaw a bit more despite the repeat matchup It is not something I love as we'll discuss but I think it does the overall profile does favor Kershaw by a bit Let's talk about him first then we'll dive in to Woodruff later on I don't like repeat matchups because the opposing team is familiar with what that pitcher is doing They prepared for him just a week ago. They know what he's throwing. They saw him in person That's in place here with Kershaw facing Arizona But Kershaw was very good there. He is a good matchup So I'm gonna go back here despite those reservations around that The Diamondbacks aspect of it is pretty big here because they have just a 95 WRC plus against lefties On the current active roster since the start of last year very little power and Kershaw buzzed through them last week He had nine strikeouts and six innings of one run ball He induced a 15.8% swinging strike rate and he needed just 76 pitches to get through six innings. I have Kershaw projected to go up to 88 tonight I had his projection. I think a bit higher than 76 last week So he's more stretched out than what he went last week and 88 may be enough to keep pace with guys like Woodruff The matchup here very good Kershaw has been effective for a pretty long while now He's been throwing more curveballs for his past 16 starts dating back to last year And in that time of 2.87 skill interactive era with a 29% strikeout rate His skill interactive era is best on the slate Very good that a ball dated to So it is suboptimal to have a repeat matchup. I don't like that But I am still fine with it here I think it's good enough where Kershaw will be my top guy the night edging out Brandon Woodruff in number two I think that the reason we can feel good about Kershaw and Woodruff 1-2 despite the fact both have flaws is They are a tier above everybody else from the effectiveness perspective Which is why I'm okay with Woodruff despite a really tough matchup He's facing the Cardinals who have a 120 WRC plus against righties They have a low strikeout rate as well. And that's a big part of why Kershaw is higher for me But Woodruff very very good pitcher. He's been throwing fewer sinkers his past 14 starts His era is 2.38. So good results 2.91 skill interactive era good peripherals 31% strikeout rate that strikeout rate is the highest on the slate for tonight The one issue Woodruff has had is fly balls He's letting up a 42% fly ball rate with a 39% hard hit rate So that's concerning the results have been fine, but my worry is that The batted ball concerns may be more apparent in a tough matchup, which is what he have has I've got Woodruff with the highest strikeout projection on the slate at 7.25 Part of that is pitch count because he's at 97 whereas Kershaw is at 88 So I don't mind if you want to go Woodruff, but just know that it is a tougher matchup for him than Kershaw I think they are a 55-45 kind of split. You know, you give me 100 lineups. I probably go 55 Kershaw 45 Woodruff They're both very close of you have a lean towards one I would say go with it because both those guys to me are very very fun Now for the third slot in the value slot, I think you could go Patrick Sandoval there But he's facing the Jays, which is a very tough matchup despite the changes on their roster so instead I want to go with the other guy in the 8000 range and that's Zac Eflin and We saw a lot of encouraging stuff with Zac Eflin in his first start with the rays And I think it makes him viable here A big part of it is the matchup because Eflin is at home facing off for the A's with a 92 WRC plus on their active roster since the start of last year Minimal walks for the A's that helps keep the pitch count and check which keeps things more efficient And that's good for Eflin Well, I don't think is fully stretched out as of yet Eflin in that debut looked way different than what he did last year He's cut back on his sinker usage, which is always good instead throwing more curveballs and more cutters And he's working in his change up a bit more and that change up was really nasty 83% whiff rate on nine pitches according to baseball savant curveball is good too for Eflin Spin rate for him was up across the board and all this led to A 17.3 percent swing strike rates now that did come against Detroit But the A is not a super stiff matchup either The one concern you could have with Eflin is pitch count because he went 75 in that start I haven't projected for 85 for tonight, which means his strikeout projection pretty modest when he compared to Woodruff and Kershaw but I think that there is upside in that projection because again He did look really good in that first start. He made tangible changes that led to us believing there was an actual change in what he was doing So the projection could be very wrong could be underselling Eflin based on what we saw in that first start So I still like Kershaw and Woodruff more But I will definitively have Eflin in my player pool tonight based on this matchup based on what he did in that first start Because I think there was enough there to believe that it could wind up being legit So to me Zach Eflin the top non-Kershaw or Woodruff starter for tonight As for stacking if you listened to yesterday's slate, I was high in the course field game and It was that as low scoring as could possibly be so that's not ideal And I can understand if you are wary going back there for today, especially because One of the pitchers in this game is better than either pitcher going yesterday I do still think that course field is the top two stacks of today's slate I prefer the Rockies. So let's start there. They're facing Mackenzie Gore and gore had good results in his first game this year He went five and a third innings let up one run that came against the braves and the braves are a very tough team against lefties And also in that game Gore's velocity was up from the end of last year He had good bad at ball suppression and given how talented Mackenzie Gore is that's very noteworthy He could have turned a corner because I wouldn't ease a good pitcher who had a full all season to improve as at a young age But gore did walk four batters there He's that course field for tonight. So it is entirely possible. He's turned things around but I just want to see It happen more than once before avoiding him in dfs, especially when it's that course field So I will be on the Rockies for tonight I think that it's worthwhile to do so despite what gore did despite what happened at course yesterday, but I think it's a good spot to hedge a bit Where you don't go as hard as at course field as you would on a typical slate Still have it as a top stack But maybe not as big of a runaway as it typically would be specifically on the rocky side To account for the fact that gore may be living up to his potential right now This does seem though like a good spot to buy into chris bryant's where bryant basically had a lost year last year But he hit the ball pretty well in the spring With good power numbers. He has run in the past 10 stolen bases back in I think 2021 Not sure if he'll get back to that this year or not, but it could happen We I really want guys who will run this year an mlb dfs because it's a big boost He's facing the lefty So I think it's a good spot to check out chris bryant for tonight, but again, just be cautious I would say in your rocky's exposure because of the changes gore has made Other side of this game is the nationals and I would love to not use them here because they're the nationals I think they're off in stakes But they're facing hosie arania and I feel like that doesn't leave us with much of a choice here arania made his first start this year on the road and Really tough start there four walks no strikeouts two and a third innings He let up four earned runs and all the 12 balls in play. He allowed half of them were hard hits It's the same thing that we saw last year with arania He has made 18 starts since he joined the rocky's rotation back in june His skill interactive era is 5.01. He has a 15 strike area, which is the lowest in the slate and letting up balls and play can be dangerous Anywhere it is especially dangerous at course field arania letting up a 40 hard hit rates on those balls and play across this larger sample and again It was 50 in the game last week. So in an ideal world. I love to not stack the nationals here I think that'd be great. I just don't think I can do that with with the pitcher being arania So the nationals I think we kind of had to go there despite the fact we may not really want to now lefties did hit arania a lot harder than righties last year so That's a good thing here to keep in mind when stacking the nationals Plenty of lefties here a lot of switch hitters kaibara rees one of those switch hitters He had four steals versus righties last year. So he's a catcher who will run He had a 38 fly ball rates minimal strikeouts Didn't hit for a lot of power this spring But he's been fine to open this year. So Ruiz is a guy I'll be high on assuming he does play again with catchers always kind of risky, but With kaibara rees, I think that if he does want to being in there He'll be a guy I'm high on for daily fantasy for today For this third spot for stacking there are a lot of contenders and again, no things to watch for today because Talking about the early only slate later on I will list off the other considerations So should you dislike cores or should you dislike the third stack other contenders? I would consider here for stacking. I like the angels. Uh, chris bassets Really struggled since the start of spring his velocity was way down his first start that puts the angels in play Padres facing jared shoester. It's a decent weather in atlanta. I don't mind that Nick martinez could struggle against the braves. So, uh braves Padres angels and then the rays the rays facing ken walde chuck I think all of those teams are in play, which means you have alternatives if you don't like course field Cool, you can go elsewhere. That's totally fine but You got a lot of alternatives. I used to like course most but if you want to go again Angels pod rays braves rays other alternatives My top alternative though is going to be the dodgers I have a hard time not putting them third against madison bum garter and the big appeal here is the hard contact bum garter Has been allowing mad bum has reduced his cutter usage over his past 16 starts and in that time He's letting up a 40 hard hit rates with a 42 fly ball rate We saw that bite him in the butt last week against the dodgers the same offense Five earned runs in four innings And his velocity in that game was also down from where it was last year. It wasn't like A concerning amount, um, but like it was it was down couldn't think it was cold in la Temperature does impact velocity. So maybe not a huge concern yet, but it was down I think that is at least somewhat noteworthy in that game the dodgers couple barrels against him 5.9 swinging strike rate that's down from 7.4 percent In the other games the fewer cutters towards the end of last year and again the dodgers just saw him last week If i'm gonna be concerned about kershaw in this spot, I should probably be concerned about bum garter as well so I do think the dodgers are number three But again a lot of good options to consider here as far as other stacks on the main slate Within the dodger stacks There are a couple guys here get pretty sizable boosts against lefties JD Martinez I don't tend to use against righties ever at this point in his career Just don't see the appeal a lot of other guys in this lineup. I'd rather use but martinez has a 270 iso versus lefties Since the start of last year that's playable So I can use that trace thompson just more likely to play against the lefty which gives him a boost Obviously does strike out a bunch But really good power numbers both against righties and lefties But should bat sixth or seventh somewhere in there for tonight and that could be high enough For thompson be viable and then also megal vargas hit lefties really well in triple a last year He's missed the past couple of games. So not sure if he'll play But if vargas is in there his salary is $2,500 and I am very into that as a way to Save some salary and make it easier to get to both kershaw and woodruff for tonight Do you want to do some dinger picks here for the main slate only? I'll talk about some for the early only slate too because why not but uh, the boring one and the fun one kind of blend together because Neither of them is like super super super boring, but we're going to go with kairi wies and east side paredes Ruiz aqueous field. So pretty boring there But facing guy lets have a lot of hard contact and fly balls for wies I didn't guess power if not he can steal some bases for us. So good dfs play regardless So kairi wies one of them issa paredes Didn't go yard for us a couple days ago when the rays were very kind to us But i'm back on once again for today. So paredes and ruiz are the two home run calls for the main slate If you're listening after for uh, 10 p.m. Eastern feel free to go on about your way We'll talk to you once again monday, but let's talk a bit now about this early only slate which locks at 4 10 p.m Eastern it is a four game main or a four game slate Pretty limited no big weather concerns for today on this early only slate. So it should be good to go Also temperatures pretty truncated. There's not a huge gap between the highest temperatures and the lowest temperatures My favorite pitcher on the early only slate is going to be lucas geolito I am willing to check out erin savalli Logan gilbert alex cob But coven savalli have pitch count issues and savalli and gilbert are both facing the same teams They faced last week and as discussed with kershaw not a big fan of that gilito Was a guy i was very awful of last year But he looked okay against the astros He now gets the pirates who have a 24 strikeout right against righties So i will go to gilito tonight But again the other guys are at least worth considering here So gilito would be my favorite pitcher on the early only slate The two favorite stacks for me on the early only slate are the white socks and the giants White socks for facing rich hill, which means they get a lefty which is always good for them Maybe not as much as in the past with hosie a brain you've gone But like still a good thing for them to face a lefty We did see Hill get some strikeouts in his first dart But not many withs let up a lot of barrels a lot of hard contact in that game So i think the white socks can handle him the white socks and gilito both to me Good options for this slate the giants other stack I like facing brad keller who i don't mind i think he's okay get some ground balls, but Does let up a lot of hard contact San francisco not as much of a pitchers park this time of year due to cold weather elsewhere The reason that san francisco stinks generally is because it's so much colder than everywhere else But that's not the case on this slate in fact. It's a bit warmer than a couple spots So it's not as big of a pitchers park as it otherwise would be relative to other parks So san francisco the giants. I think that they are in play I also don't mind the twins against hosie or kitty, but I will go at the giants all right above them Dinger calls for the early only slate again just for fun Because it's a small slate But yoan moncada actually hit for a little bit of power against lefties last year and has looked really good to open this year So we'll go moncada against rich hill and then talking about the twins against rickety Let's have a lot of fly balls trevor larnick Hitting the middle part of that order has shown power in the past I'm willing to ride at that so dinger calls for the early only slate yoan moncada and trevor larnick That is all that we have here for today on the solo shot and across this entire week But do want to thank you all for tuning in for today. We are back once again next week with a full week of the solo shot So make sure you are subscribed to the number fire daily fantasy podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts If you have any questions for me if you need Substitute dinger calls if one of my guys isn't in the lineup or you have questions about terminology MLB DFS in general hitting me up on twitter at jim sonnis j i m s a n n e s And you can also follow the fan dual podcast network at fan dual podcast want to thank you all for tuning in for today Good luck to you with your lineups for MLB DFS for today. Have a fantastic and safe holiday weekend for all of you up there Celebrating holidays and we'll talk to you once again on monday. This has been the solo shot right here on the fan dual podcast network