We get a hearty slate on Monday with 10 games. The main slate locks at 7:05 p.m. ET. Weather does not appear to be a concern in any game as of Monday morning.
Pitchers
A trio of pitchers top FanDuel’s pricing:
- Gerrit Cole $11,400, NYY vs LAA
- Kevin Gausman $10,300, SF vs NYM
- Frankie Montas $9,400, OAK @ CHW
Gerrit Cole makes his return from the COVID-19 list to face the Los Angeles Angels. The concern with Cole is time off and recovering from the virus, but it is difficult to imagine Yankees management would deploy him without covering all their bases health-wise. The Angels are a middle-of-the-road offense away from home and took two of three from the Yankees in the Bronx at the end of June. Cole can rack up strikeouts and will face the team with the lowest walk rate against right-handed pitching on the road. The Yankees are the largest moneyline favorites tonight.
Kevin Gausman welcomes the New York Mets after New York was embarrassed on Sunday Night Baseball by the Dodgers. Gausman leads all projected pitchers with eight Pro Trends on FanDuel and DraftKings. Trusting the Cy Young candidate comes with some concern as he has failed to meet Bales Model projections in four of his past five starts. Two of them came against the Dodgers and Astros, but he also was hit hard by the Pirates and Diamondbacks. What works in Gausman’s favor is despite a 3.21 home ERA, he has a lower slugging percentage against pitching by the bay. The Giants are strong favorites in a game with a projected run total of 8.5.
The Chicago White Sox have been vulnerable against high strikeout pitchers as the season has worn on and possess the seventh-highest rate in August. Frankie Montas may not seem like an ideal option on the road against Chicago, but he has pitched six-plus innings in each start since July (six) and has three double-digit strikeout games over that time. Run support is also on Montas’s side; the Athletics face Dallas Keuchel and have the second-best road Weighted Runs Created Plus against southpaws.
Value
Griffin Jax has had three straight encouraging starts for the Twins. Minnesota welcomes Cleveland, a bottom-10 road offense with a top-10 strikeout rate. Jax’s best start came August 10 at home against the White Sox. He went six innings, allowed three earned runs and struck out 10 batters.
Fastballs
Tampa Bay and the Dodgers are expected to have bullpen games.
Targeting the Cubs will get you a highly owned starting pitcher, but Wade Miley is in line for a strong start without being overpriced. The Cubs have averaged 11.71 strikeouts per game in August.
Notable Stack
Colorado is where we go for our top stack:
- Manny Machado (R)
- Jake Cronenworth (L)
- Fernando Tatis Jr. (R)
- Adam Frazier (L)
Total Salary: $16,900
A heavy price for the Padres, but San Diego has the highest projected team total (6.6) in the game with the highest projected total (12). Replacing Tatis with Eric Hosmer is a salary-saving way to stack the Padres.
Other Hitters
It is great to see Tatis back, but his matchup against Rockies starter Antonio Senzatela is not ideal. He is hitting .250 against him with three singles.
Matt Chapman has had a forgettable 2021 but likes facing Keuchel. He has six hits (four for extra bases) in 15 at-bats and has a 1.371 OPS against the lefty.
Buster Posey is hitting .500 (20 at-bats) against Rich Hill with only one strikeout.
Photo Credit: Ben Green/Getty Images
Pictured: Kevin Gausman
