It’s a relatively full slate tonight with 11 games on FanDuel and 12 on Draftkings with the second game of the Dodgers-Cubs double-header on the slate. There are weather concerns all over the slate too with a fair amount of delays being likely in New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and possibly still Chicago.
Both Sites
Nick Pivetta RHP BOS - Pivetta gets the Tigers offense today and that’s a boon for Pivetta. The Tigers have been horrible on offense after the first week of the season and have posted a 29-percent K-rate. Meanwhile Pivetta has been quite good for the Red Sox with a 2.81 ERA and 1.25 WHIP in 25.2 IP. The downside here are the walks, but Detroit doesn’t draw that many walks right now.
Kyle Tucker , OF HOU - Tucker has been off to a slow start this year in terms of average with a .188 mark but he does have five homers and two steals. The Astros are in New York tonight and Yankee Stadium has always been a good place for lefty power hitters. Tucker has been solid against RHPs with four homers and a .331 wOBA. If you’re looking to get a piece of the Astros’ offense tonight, Tucker is the cheapest one but perhaps the one with some of the most power upside.
Josh Harrison , 2B WAS - Harrison has been the most consistent bat in the Nationals offense this year and he’s been hitting in the middle of the lineup as well. Against RHPs he’s hit .346 with a .396 wOBA which are both the best marks on the team. While Huascar Ynoa has been good he’s still hittable and Harrison hit him earlier this year. The wind is also blowing out which should help the ball carry at Nats Park.
Mitch Haniger , OF SEA - Haniger paid off well in the Hitting Coach yesterday with a homer, which was his third in the last four games. The Orioles’ starter Jorge López hasn’t been great this year and Haniger has a .337 wOBA against RHPs this year, the second-best on the team. He should be leading off again and that’s hard to turn down at this point.
DraftKings
Mike Zunino , C TB - Zunino is the guy he’s always been, hit for power and not for average as he’s hitting .204 on the year but with five homers and a .342 wOBA. Against Alex Cobb in prior meetings, Zunino is 5-for-11 with a homer and nine RBI and this year while only hitting .114 versus RHPs, half of his hits are homers. Cobb has been hit hard by righty hitters as well. He only really makes sense on DK where he gets a catcher spot to go into rather than a combo C/1B spot like on FD.
Joc Pederson , OF CHC - Yes it’s a tough match-up to be sure with Trevor Bauer expected to be on the bump for the Dodgers but this will be Pederson’s first time facing his old team and that should give him some motivation. This is simply a narrative play here that he should be in the middle of the Cubs’ lineup with a chance to do damage against his former team and get out of the slump he’s been in as well.
FanDuel
Andrew McCutchen , PHI OF - McCutchen is 5-for-8 off of Eric Lauer in prior meetings and he’s been hitting southpaws to the tune of a .345 wOBA with four RBI in 29 at-bats. The Phillies’ offense has been pretty good LHPs the last couple of weeks as well being top-10 in wOBA and wRC+ along with AVG, OBP, and OPS. Why not get the leadoff hitter for a top-10 offense in a matchup like this?
*UPDATE* Freddy Galvis , SS BAL - DeJong was in this spot but without deGrom on the mound, we’re putting a shift in and rolling with Galvis. He’s hit a homer off of Dunn previously and has been hot of late. He also has a .342 wOBA and three homers off of RHPs this year. Galvis is a switch-hitter and that bodes well as well since Dunn has been hit harder by LHHs than RHHs. His teammate Cedric Mullins is also cheap and leads the league in hits to this point and just keeps being involved in all of the runs the Orioles are scoring.
Player News
Rangers released LHP Walter Pennington.
Pennington was cut loose by the Rangers after passing through waivers unclaimed following his removal from the club’s 40-man roster last week. The 27-year-old lefty made 16 relief appearances last year between the Rangers and Royals in his first taste of the big leagues. There should be some interest on the open market, but he’ll likely have to settle for a minor league contract.
Nick Kurtz is not in the lineup for Monday’s contest against the Rangers.
Kurtz takes a seat with lefty Patrick Corbin on the mound for Monday’s series opener at Globe Life Field. The 22-year-old top prospect is hitting .250 (4-for-16) with three RBI through five games since being promoted last week to the big leagues. Some initial turbulence isn’t unexpected as Kurtz acclimates to life in the majors less than a calendar year after being selected fourth overall in the draft. It’ll be Tyler Soderstrom at the cold corner on Monday night in his place.
Cole Ragans (groin) is uncertain to make his next start on Wednesday against the Rays.
Royals manager Matt Quatraro and Ragans were noncommittal on Friday when asked if he would make his next start. The positive takeaway here for fantasy managers is that the 27-year-old fantasy ace has been diagnosed with a “very mild” left groin strain after undergoing a precautionary MRI following an early exit from last Thursday’s start against the Rockies. It doesn’t seem like he’ll require a trip to the injured list, but he’s likely going to have his next start pushed back to later this week.
Jeremy Peña is leading off again on Monday against the Tigers.
Peña finds himself in the leadoff spot for the second consecutive contest with Jose Altuve hitting second after sitting out Sunday’s series finale against Kansas City. The Houston Chronicle’s Matt Kawahara notes it’s the first time Altuve hasn’t led off since June 17, 2023. Peña, who has moved around between several lineup spots this season, is hitting .255 (25-for-98) with three homers and five steals through 27 games.
Josh Jung (finger) is in the lineup for Monday’s series opener against the Athletics.
Jung is back at third base and batting sixth for Monday’s series opener at Globe Life Field following an early exit from Sunday’s showdown against the Giants with a right finger laceration. The fact that he’s already back in the lineup seems to indicate that the Rangers aren’t too concerned, which has to give fantasy managers confidence ahead of weekly lineup locks.
Colton Cowser (thumb) hasn’t been cleared to resume baseball activities.
Orioles general manager Mike Elias told reporters a couple weeks ago that Cowser was likely to return in late May or early June. He hasn’t experienced any setbacks in his recovery from surgery to repair a fractured left thumb. He should be ready to head out on a minor league rehab assignment in a couple weeks.