Welcome back for another week of baseball! Today we will go over the April 8th 9 game main slate for Draftkings. We will have a few big decisions to make today as we get the Dbacks in Coors vs the Kyle Freeland, Blake Snell back on the mound, and an ace in Zac Gallen underpriced but at Coors. Let’s get started!

No PPD risk for this main slate. Slight delay chance for LADvMIN but I am not concerned.

I am not seeing any standout spots for hitting weather. It is starting to warm up on the west coast, so those games are more interesting than they were a week ago. As for pitching weather, if there is no delay in MIN, the weather certainly favors the pitchers.

Pitchers

As I mentioned earlier, we get Blake Snell back. But the real question is how many pitches will he throw? And we need to see if there are any affordable pitchers to make a Dbacks or Braves stack possible. There really isn’t a Tier 1 today, just a lot of pretty good, so I will highlight the main group of pitchers I am interested in.

Darvish vs CHC:

Darvish has been solid so far this season with an elite 39% K rate to lefties. I doubt he continues at that clip, but at the price of $8.4k, Darvish makes for the best pitcher you can take and still afford the best Dbacks.

Morton vs NYM:

First off, the $10k price tag on Morton is steep. Morton looked great his first start but it was against the White Sox. The Mets are a tougher matchup K-wise, plus it will only be “slightly” warmer in ATL than it was on the frozen tundra Morton faced last start. With the high likelihood of the W, I think Morton will be in the 18-25 point range. If thats enough at $10k, remains to be seen.

Gallen vs COL:

I hardly ever advocate for a pitcher in Coors, but this spot for Gallen calls for it, especially at $8.2k. The strikeout numbers are down slightly so far for Gallen, but its still early and this COL lineup will help with those strikeout numbers. Being in the same division, I would suspect Gallen has a good idea of what it will take to be successful in Coors. He is firmly in play.

Snell vs WSH:

If Snell was stretched out, he would certainly be worth $10.3k against the Nats. But this being his first start of the season, I would expect 85 pitches tops. For Blake Snell, he is capable of 5 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BBs, 10 Ks on 85 pitches. But he is also capable of 3 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 5 BBs, 5 Ks. If you pay up for Snell and fade Coors, its a boom or bust spot, but I don’t hate it as this will be his lowest ownership all season.

Others that are interesting and will be in consideration:

Castillo vs TOR: Hasn’t been off to the best start but an ace of his caliber is always interesting when flying under the radar.

Paxton vs MIN: Great sign for Paxton going near 100 pitches his first start. Could be great pitching weather in MIN as well.

Anderson vs TB: Anderson pitched solid his first start and this TB lineup is striking out even in Coors.

Mikolas vs PHI: If you need to go cheap, this might be where you land. Its certainly uncomfortable, but Mikolas is capable of 6 fairly clean IPs with low Ks. Is it likely? No. But capable, yes.

To Coors or not to Coors.

Tier 1:

ARI vs Freeland:

We would love ARI if they were playing on the sun vs Freeland. So the fact they get him in Coors is amazing. The only thing I can say is ARI will be very highly owned so make some adjustments with the rest of your lineup to be unique.

ATL vs Teheran:

This Braves offense is clicking on all cylinders right now so I fear for what Teheran is walking into. This may be unique spot where we get the Braves slightly underowned because of ARI. If so, I would certainly have them in my mix. Go ahead and put me down for a Money Mike blast and Kelenic’s first HR as a Brave.

Others:

SFG vs Williams:

SFG is always interesting as they have some great bats, just play in such a terrible park for hitting. I really like the heart of this order today with Soler, Conforto, Chapman.

HOU vs Heaney:

HOU is in play versus anyone and they will certainly fly under the radar here making them a solid play. Also, why is this series still going on a Monday?

I am very likely to play one of those teams, but I could see myself mixing in TB or LAA as well. Best of luck today and I will see you at the top!