Houston Astros vs. Los Angeles Angels (Ricky Nolasco, R)

Jose Altuve, Brian McCann, Cameron Maybin, Carlos Correa, George Springer, Yulieski Gurriel

We all have all taken advantage of the fact that Nolasco doesn’t keep the ball in the yard very often, so why stop now? He trails Rick Porcello and Ariel Miranda by just one homer for the league lead, just we can almost jot a note that we will have a new league leader by the time Thursday’s contests are over. Right-handers are what he’s struggled with most all year long, allowing a .304/.355/.591 slash with a .393 wOBA. 

I understand we mentioned how bad Nolasco’s been versus righties, but some of the BvP numbers Houston’s lefties have against him are nuts. From both sides of the plate in all honesty. Here are just a few; Brian McCann 26-for-76 (.342, 9 HR), Carlos Beltran 20-for-57 (.351, 1 HR), Jose Altuve 7-for-14 (.500, 1 HR), and Cameron Maybin 8-for-13 (.615, 1 HR). The numbers back this Houston play and there’s no reason to think Nolasco will get through this unscathed. 

 

Washington Nationals vs. Atlanta Braves (Mike Foltynewicz, R)

Daniel Murphy, Matt Wieters, Adam Lind, Trea Turner, Wilmer Difo, Ryan Zimmerman, Alejandro De Aza

Foltynewicz has quite the home/road splits this year and the road splits are much uglier. He’s posted an extremely respectable 3.65 FIP at home while his road FIP sits at 4.95. His HR/9 rises from 0.79 to 1.54 on the road and it just so happens he’s been torched in Washington once this season already. During that start back in June, he allowed 13 base runners, eight earned runs and three homers. 

Daniel Murphy is clearly the top play from this game thanks to Folty’s .308/.384/.498 slash vs. left-handers and Murphy’s 7-for-16 off of him. We prefer the lefties due to that massive outlining fact, but righties like Ryan Zimmerman (3-for-8) and Trea Turner (4-for-8) have in fact had success, too. 

 

Miami Marlins vs, Philadelphia Phillies (Jake Thompson, R) 

Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna, J.T. Realmuto, Christian Yelich, Justin Bour, Dee Gordon

Thompson’s volatility makes him a prime candidate to stack against. Thompson’s faced Miami twice since August 24. One of those outings he allowed 11 base runners and five earned runs while the other he shined, allowing just three hits and one run over six innings. That said, Thompson’s coming off a terrible start versus the Nats his last time out. Thompson’s mainly been a reverse splits kind of pitcher, allowing a .317/.378/.605 slash to right-handers. His 2.79 HR/9 vs. righties is definitely a pause for concern seeing how the Marlins have powerful righty bats. He hasn’t been great versus lefties either, as he’s posted a .347 wOBA against them.

Those powerful righty bats we mentioned go by the name of Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna and J.T. Realmuto. It just so happens Stanton has a homer off Thompson in the past already. Ozuna is also in a great spot as he’s crushed right-handers all year posting a .390 wOBA. The Marlins 1-through-6 in their order are all extremely stackable.