Friday brings a 12-game main slate with first pitch at 7:05 p.m. ET.
As an early disclaimer, there is rain projected all over the East Coast and Midwest tonight. I would imagine at least one or two games end up postponed tonight. Refer to our Lineups page closer to lock to monitor the weather situation for every game.
Pitchers
What a smash spot for Gerrit Cole tonight. He is the favorite for the Bales Model on DraftKings, by a wide margin, and the third favorite on FanDuel.
Cole gets to see a Detroit Tigers lineup that has the highest K% in the league. Cole has “slowed down” with his strikeout performances in the month of May — with only 30 strikeouts in 27 innings. This feels like a great spot to rectify that tonight.
The Tigers have an implied run total of 2.8, which is the lowest on the slate. Cole should be able to have his way with them and I would feel very comfortable locking him into any roster.
Walker Buehler is really the only other big name starting pitcher on this slate. He faces the strong starting San Francisco Giants.
Buehler has been consistent in 2021. He has yet to record a loss and has pitched at least six innings in every start this season. That length is not being shown by many starting pitchers these days.
Last time out, he faced these Giants, he went seven innings of one-run, five strikeout baseball. While that is not an impressive strikeout performance last time, the Giants are the sixth-worst team in K%.
If you decide to go with Buehler, you are going to save some off of Cole for your bats. Clearly, the upside is not quite as there with Cole’s ability to rack up a large number of strikeouts — but Buehler should be able to avoid a blow-up game tonight.
I find Ian Anderson to be pretty intriguing tonight. He gets the New York Mets, who have so many injuries they are running out half of a AAA team. Their projected five hitter is Brandon Drury.
Anderson does not really have the strikeout upside of Cole or Buehler, but does still strike out more than a batter per inning.
He has notched a quality start in five of his last six starts and has only allowed three home runs on the season.
His issue can be control — as he has three starts already where he has allowed four walks.
Anderson is the Bales Model favorite on FanDuel for tonight. The Mets have an implied run total of 3.0 which is the second lowest on the slate.
I would continue to avoid Dinelson Lamet for now. Lamet has actually pitched really well in 2021 — to the tune of a 1.64 ERA. But, the San Diego Padres are using him as an opener at best.
His last two appearances have even been in relief. I really just do not know what the Padres are thinking with Lamet at this point and until he is a clear “normal” starter it would be unwise to roster him in daily fantasy contests.
Hitters
Notable Stack
The top stack of the night belongs to the Washington Nationals:
- 3. Ryan Zimmerman (R)
- 1. Trea Turner (R)
- 5. Kyle Schwarber (L)
- 2. Juan Soto (L)
This group is projected for 48.5 FanDuel points on a salary of $14,000. They get to face left-hander Brett Anderson of the Milwaukee Brewers. Anderson is a fine pitcher, but is a pitch-to-contact guy, who generally does not last long into games. In his last two starts, Anderson has given up three total home runs. The Nationals have an implied run total of 5.0 for tonight.
Just in case that game ends up rained out, the second-best stack is the Boston Red Sox. They face youngster Cody Poteet, who has looked excellent so far in his three starts. He has faced the Arizona Diamondbacks, Philadelphia Phillies, and Mets so far — with the best offense in terms of runs per game being the Diamondbacks.
They are 15th overall in runs per game. The Red Sox (and Fenway Park) will be a step up in quality. All of the Red Sox top of the lineup hitters, have at least five ProTrends going their way tonight.
Other Hitters
If he continues to leadoff, Josh Rojas is way too cheap. He had a six-game hitting streak snapped last night and still has an eight-game on-base streak working. He does not offer a ton of pop (nine doubles and two home runs in May), but has the capability to bring a multi-hit game to the table. That is a quality that not many guys bring to the table nowadays.
Jorge Polanco is a 100% Bargain Rating on the Bales Model tonight. He is having an odd season (so are most of the Minnesota Twins), but he just is not a .226 hitter. He is hitting .250 in May, so maybe he heats up as the season goes along. He will bat from the right-side tonight, and Kris Bubic should not be imposing fear in these Twins hitters. Hitting in front of Nelson Cruz should get you some pitches to hit.
Tommy Edman falls into the same category as Rojas. He is a top of the lineup bat that is coming in too cheap. He just popped two home runs on Wednesday (which is not his strength, as he has four on the year) and has a nine-game on-base streak working. He is 3-for-5 lifetime with a double and triple off of Madison Bumgarner.
Is anyone shocked that Willy Adames left the Tampa Bay Rays and began hitting? He is hitting .350 with an OPS of 1.008 since joining the Brewers in a very small sample size. With the amount of help the Brewers need, he could be locked in for awhile at the top of their order. Just yesterday, Adames was 4-for-5 with a double and a home run. He faces a left-hander in Jon Lester tonight.
Pictured above: New York Yankees starting pitcher Gerrit Cole (45)
Photo credit: Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
