 With Max Scherzer pitching tonight in a game the Dodgers want to win We want to try to find ways to get to Scherzer in daily fantasy baseball The problem is that Scherzer salary is eleven thousand five hundred dollars Now it's not gonna scare me off because I love Max Scherzer, but it is a massive consideration You know you are building out a different roster if you have a pitcher at eleven five versus one down to nine thousand dollars So our job for today is to try to find ways to make Scherzer's salary more affordable Namely by trying to identify low salary hitters of a path to upside So that is our edict for today try to find out those guys So we can allow ourselves to have some fun and basket Max Scherzer's glory welcome on into the solo shop That's right here on the fan dual podcast network in number fire.com. My name is Jim Sonnis I am a senior writer and analyst for number fire calm here to break down Wednesdays 13 a game main slate with lock set for 705 p.m. Eastern 4 to night and there is no real weather to know for today I would say that temperatures are starting to give it lower in a lot of places Which means at least to me the bigger takeaway is That we can feel better using stacks out west and I'll be taking the advantage of that tonight With the stack out west so it's less penalizing to use a poor park That usually is also true of like indoor parks stuff like that So whether being cooler elsewhere Basically just bumps up the other parks compared to where they're usually at that is the one that weather note for today Other note from a scheduling perspective for today is that our MLB Q&A is at 4 instead of 4 30 today because there is no NFL stream So if you want to chat about tonight's MLB DFS slate Make sure you swing by at 4 p.m. To 4 30 on the fan dual YouTube twitch Facebook and Twitter pages will be there breaking down The main slate and taking your questions live on air back to 4 30 for Thursday and Friday Following the NFL streams on those days Hey soccer fans this season fan dual and captain Morgan are teaming up to give you a one-of-a-kind soccer contest Introducing captain Morgan soccer pick them a weekly fantasy contest that is entirely free to play the contest is simple All you got to do is make quick predictions for Saturday games this soccer season You learn points for each correct pick and compete for a chance to win up to $3,000 in prizes every single week head over to Fandal and to the captain Morgan soccer pick up today must be 21 plus to participate for more details as Fandal.com or download the Fandal fantasy app Eligibility restrictions apply don't forget to make your game day more delicious and sub in the captain Pitching preview for this Wednesday main slate as mentioned Max Scherzer is the highest sourgon Fandal checking in at $11,500 Garrett Cole's 11,000 Carlos Rodan is 10-3 Frankie Montas is $9,900 Jose Borreos is 97 facing off with Garrett Cole Aranola is 92 facing Max read at $9,000 So we have Nathan Yavaldi, Sunny Gray, Luis Garcia, Meryl Kelly, Zach Plissac and Adrian Houns are the others at $8,000 or higher now again It's really tough me to put anybody above Max Scherzer for today and it is a lot, you know, 11-5 but He kind of checks every box. The big thing is motivation this time of year We don't know how long pitches will go in games with a lack of motivation That is no concern for Scherzer. So the motivation is high Dodgers trying to win the NL West and He's a disgusting pitcher Scherzer has made 10 starts with the Dodgers He's been throwing more change ups and curveballs in that time and clearly it is working because with the Dodgers He has a 2.53 skill interactive ERA with a 36 strikeout rate and a 3 walk rate Scherzer was very good with the nationals He's been much better with the Dodgers this year. He's also letting apart contact just 29 of the time That has all led to a 1.43 ERA Even with a bit of a rougher outing at Coors Field last week He's had a lot of strikeouts here Scherzer had 13 against the Cardinals and we want all that Now the matchup is not the best from a DFS perspective because the Padres are a low strikeout team We want to seek out Teams that strike out because we need those strikeouts or DFS But the Padres when they phase Scherzer have not been a low strikeout team He has faced them twice since he joined the Dodgers He has 19 strikeouts in 15 and 2 3rd innings He's allowed just three hits and no earned runs They have faced him twice in the past five weeks. So there is some familiarity here But I don't really know if I care. I feel like it just doesn't matter So I feel like max Scherzer is too good to pass up I'll put Scherzer at the top of my list and not look back and I will Mold my stacks mold the players I use within those stacks around Trying to get to Scherzer's salary of 11,500 for tonight That's not to say that Scherzer is the only guy you consider I do think that uh, that Frankie Malthausen play the a's are still fighting for a playoff spot too They're technically not eliminated. They still their elimination number is two to get one of the wildcard spots So so they should give Frankie Malthaus a full leash tonight So I do like him in this spot Malthaus has shown over a long sample that he's worth his salary of $9,900 He's been throwing a bunch of splitters now for 18 stars. So he's basically half the year So a large sample here and he said very good numbers his skill interactive. He already is 3.69 He has a 29 strikeout rate with just a 32 hard hit rate allowed It's not a perfect profile because Malthaus has issued too many walks and that does Lower the ability to go super deep in games. He's letting it more hard contact or more fly balls And you like But the other numbers have made up for it. His ERA is 2.92 in this time and again It's a pretty long sample of 18 starts We see Malthaus go seven innings in two straight starts and in five of his past seven the length is there He's facing the Mariners the Mariners also are fighting for a playoff spot So definitely not an easy matchup But they will strike out the Mariners have a 25 strikeout rate against righties, which gives Malthaus upside I can't put him above Scherzer. I can't justify that given how well Scherzer's pitching Scherzer's at home, etc Etc, but I can't put it in my player pool with a decent amount of confidence given how well he's pitched given The matchup being good given the motivation I think that all does line up to make Malthaus a solid consideration behind Scherzer for tonight As far as our value play it is tough to go back to Nathan Yovaldi after last week He scored negative 13 fandal points. He had no strikeouts. He left seven earned runs It was really bad and we're definitely not going to feel good about doing this and there are reasons for concern like Letting up your scoring negative 13 fandal points not alone is pretty concerning But I do think that among the value plays he is the top option At $8,800 maybe that's just extra incentive for you to spend up if you want to avoid Yovaldi But let's talk about either way. He's facing the Orioles tonight. That's not a bad offense, but they're not the Yankees That's a good thing They have a 91 WRC plus against righties and the biggest thing that the Orioles do in terms of boosting Yovaldi is that they do increase strikeouts They have a 25 strikeout rate, which is the third highest mark on the slate Yovaldi faced them two starts ago He did let up three runs and five innings. So again, there are concerns here But he also had eight strikeouts his swing strike rate there was 20.5 percent The highest it has been in 11 starts since his curve ball velocity started to decline In those 11 starts Yovaldi does have a 4.6 to yirei and he's had blow up outings So the results are not great, but he's also three games With seven plus innings pitched and seven games with at least seven strikeouts So he has upside even the floor is again negative 13 points So I don't blame you. You don't want to use it tonight. Totally fine. I can't blame you for a second You definitely don't have to you can just go with guys like Scherzer Montascare Cole, etc, etc But I if I'm going to go down for a pitcher tonight, it will be him So to me Yovaldi the top value that doesn't mean you have to use him I think you can just go with Scherzer with Montas Rodin Maybe barrios as well like you can go with those guys instead. That's totally okay But if you're forcing me to pick a value Nathan Yovaldi would be that guy for me Let's do move now to stacks and in stacks We have to try to find ways to make Scherzer's salary more affordable The red sox may not seem like a team that would do that But there are a couple guys we'll talk about at the end here who can Really move the needle in terms of making Scherzer work. I think they're a good stack once again tonight They are facing zack lauther lauther shut down texas last week with five shutout innings seven strikeouts So it was a good join by lauther there But even including that one start as peripherals are underwhelming the big leagues and the four outings Since he joined the rotation for good. He has a 5.15 skill attractive era, but a 12 walk rates He's letting up a lot of hard contact strikeout rate is 21 percent which is Is You know higher than we usually stack against not super high that's higher than we usually stack against But it's important to keep in mind most of the strikeouts came against the rangers This is a very different matchup for tonight because the red sox have just a 21 strikeout rate Versus leptis. I think they will get to him here Which puts the red sox at the top of our list in terms of stacking for today Obviously the preferred value option here on this team is going to be bobby, uh, bobby dollbeck He is 30 or $3,000 we can make with that work with scherzer, but also I think the question is whether we can justify jose glaceus at $2,300 And I think we can if we need to his iso against leptis is 154. It's okay. It's acceptable, but not great But since joining the red sox he has a 196 iso overall He's not totally devoid of upside I Don't like using value plays where I don't think they can realistically get me 20 points Like that's just not something I really want to do I think he glaceus can do it specifically because he's played well since he joined the red sox so If I need to use the glaceus to get to scherzer I will do it and I think that I will for tonight. So he glaceus is in play dollbeck in play Prefer them over some of the other uh lower salary guys in the scene the catchers mostly I think that those guys are preferred options here doll beckony glaceus over the red sox catchers for today We can get more value from cleveland. They're facing daniel lynch and they're the number two stack here It is a risky spot because cleveland is not good against leptis. They're wrc plus is 93 And it's always scary to utilize a bad offense and cleveland qualifies as being that I just like the match up here a lot lynch is facing cleveland for the second straight start And last time out they scored four runs off him in six innings The fact that lynch lasted six innings means it was not a disaster by any means He did hold them to a 31 hard hit rate But there were some other issues when you look at the data in that start lynch didn't get a lot of whiffs His swine strike rate there was 8.1 percent and cleveland put the ball in the air a ton They had a 53 fly ball right versus in there. They just weren't quite hitting the sweet spot They were you know popping things up a bit and if they if they can hit the sweet spot now after having just seen him Things could go pretty well for cleveland here lynches strike you out right in his past six starts with his change of usage down Is 18 percent but a 10 walk rate. That's not a great combination So it is risky to go cleveland here given their struggles overall versus lefties and it could blow up in our faces But I think there is enough working here to make it a good spot for tonight And it really does help that cleveland brings good value. I like you chong. I like oscar marcado I think that herald ramirez works as well all three of those guys $2,700 or lower chong has a 178 iso versus lefties a 42 fly ball rate that totally works Marcado's iso is 138 in 91 played appearances against lefties But his iso in september is up to 200. He's not great outside of that He's I mean his overall numbers are pretty bad in september, but like hey, he's sitting for some power I'm okay using chong and my sherser lineups. I'm okay using narcado ramirez Like if you use those three guys you can stack the red socks with sherser Probably self-deasy glaciers in there, but like I think you can make that work So if you want like a true value stack for today Get from the arrays in there, but then gets three value plays from cleveland and see what you can do with your second stack I'm gonna put the giants third on my list They do get a big downgrade with no brain and bell because he's a great hitter and it's a rough bat to lose But they have a deep lineup They've got dudes in the bench who would be starting for a lot of teams and I think that that means although it's a downgrade It doesn't mean they're out of consideration. So I do still think they're worthy of a stack today facing maryl kelly Kelly has made two starts since they came off the il He had seven strikeouts in one of those starts. So that was good But he's also let up 10 total earned runs across the two starts and you can see why when you look at the peripherals If you look before the injury kelly has been leaning more on his changeup again over his past seven starts His skill interactive erra is 4.70. That is not terrible But that's mostly because his walk rate is low. His strikeout rate is 18 percent Which means he's letting up a lot of balls in play And 42 percent of those balls in play have been fly balls That's a dangerous combination against a team With this much power even when we account for the fact that there's no belt in this lineup I don't tend to stack the giants much when they're at home because it's a wretched park But again, it's cooler elsewhere. So that means that the relative disadvantage of stacking At in san francisco is lower than it usually is So I think we can feel good about the giants in this spot and stack them for tonight The only issue is that the giants were just at course. So a lot of their salaries are super high right now They've got a bunch of dudes in the mid-range though, at least uh, lamont wade We got micah stremsky tami lastela at the longoria all 33 hundred dollars or 32 hundred dollars lastela's banged up might not play so That could lead to wilmer floris playing and I would use floris if he were to play but I think this is a team where well to kind of hawks in value like if Get dickerson in there if we get uh, if we get floris in there feel okay about those guys But otherwise live in the mid-range here use a lower salary stack like cleveland with them to make it work with scherzer for today Let's go now to things to watch and we'll just focus here on Other spots we can go to to try to get some value for one offs And maybe many stacks for tonight one of those spots is the rangers They're facing jensen junk and we've targeted junk plenty since he came up his ira 3.75 But his expected ira baseball savans is 7.21 So i'm fine going here willy calhoun is a great one-off He is minimum salary and probably bad at a high levered spot in the order So calhoun if you're looking for a dude just like at literally minimum salary Really calhoun is that guy for tonight In that same game you can use jack mayfield and x stasi as lower salaried one-offs They're facing taylor herne Definitely a guy we can use bats against right now, but it's not a good lineup So i can't really go with a full stack on the angels Mayfield and stasi have both shown they have some pop against lefties They're 2400 and 2100 respectively I prefer calhoun among the three value plays in this game But i'm okay with stasi calhoun mayfield all three of those guys are fine for today if you need to save some salary Finally one more place to go where i don't think people will go is the marlins The base in taiwan walker who is really struggling right now He's letting up a 49 fly ball rate with a 40 hard hit rate in his past nine starts with fewer with fewer sinkers The marlins have some young lefties who can bang i think two of them went deep last night I think that uh sanchez and dias both did but jas jas works too. So uh jas jas jas Hazel sanchez lou and dias all fine by me It might be a bit too much to go with a full stack of miami or a three player stack of miami But like i'd at least give it some consideration. You know, uh chism's 33 sanchez 3000 And then we have dias down at $2,300. So uh from a true value perspective I think dias probably the top guy there brinton's $23 as well. So Don't mind the marlins. Maybe not for a full stack, but definitely for some one-offs for today Let's finish up with the dingard calls for two night and for me I do want to go back to boston. They are facing uh louther louther probably projects to be a guy who let up a lot of home runs So it's a lefty, which means we got to go hunter renfro as the boring home run call for today hunter renfro Uh the boring home run call on the red socks as far as the fun one I do want to go back to cleveland facing daniel lynch again a guy who left a lot of hard contact recently So let's go with you chong uh chong Probably gonna hit sixth or seventh or so for tonight, but he's shown some good pop. Um I think it's a good matchup and a good spot. So the home run calls for today both and went deep last night We had trevor story and uh gavin sheets So we'll try to run it back one more time tonight with hunter renfro and you chong as our home run calls for wednesday That is all that we have here for today on the solo shop But once again, we are back later on today for p.m For the mlb dfs q&a for p.m Eastern swing by on the fan dual youtube twitch facebook or twitter page get your questions in let's chat about tonight's mlb Dfs slate we also have uh here on the number fire daily fantasy podcast feed Branding and doula previewed this week's pga contest You can find that by searching for the number fire daily fantasy podcast feed Wherever you get your podcast while you're there uh hit subscribe so you get our our week four dfs preview podcast Right as it goes up tomorrow morning recording on youtube at 10 a.m Up on the number fire daily fantasy podcast feed after that If you've got 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 everyone for tuning in for today Good luck to you tonight. We'll talk to you once again tomorrow to break down thursday's slain This has been the solo shot right here on the fan dual podcast network