What you need to know for Monday's MLB Games

[biggins]

• Monday marks the first time an AL East competitor is scheduled to cross the border to challenge the Toronto Blue Jays. Players failing to meet vaccination protocol are ineligible to make the trip. Teams aren't reporting the affected players, but it will be clear as each team visits Rogers Center. It has been announced that Boston Red Soxstarter Tanner Houck will not be heading north, requiring Garrett Whitlock to make a start later this week. The repercussion is the Red Sox bullpen will be short one arm, aiding an already potent Blue Jays lineup. Keep an eye on the Monday lineup for Boston, if it's missing some key components, Jose Berrios becomes a more attractive DFS play, as well as a less risky starter in traditional fantasy leagues.
• After three starts, Kyle Gibson has a career-high 27.5 K% with the spike supported by a personal best 16.3% swinging strike rate. The caveat is his velocity and pitch mix hasn't changed appreciably from past seasons. He is throwing his cutter and slider a bit more with fewer four-seam fastballs, but not enough to account for the marked increase in whiffs. Gibson should still be started on Monday at home against the Colorado Rockies, but don't get too confident with DFS play or strikeout props based on the early jump in punch outs.
• Monday is one of the poorest slates thus far for streaming pitching. It's a typically abbreviated card with a slew of front of the rotation hurlers on the bump. The top option is Michael Lorenzen (10% rostered in ESPN leagues). Lorenzen's conversion to starter has been a mixed bag as he dominated the Miami Marlins in his opener, then was hit hard by the Astros in his follow-up. Angels Stadium is a good place to pitch while the visiting Cleveland Guardiansare out over their skis. On another day, Lorenzen would be the fourth or fifth best spot starter, but on Monday he leads the pack.
• To be contrarian or not to be contrarian, that is the Philadelphia Phillies facing Kyle Freeland question. DFS GPP players aim to differentiate their lineup. On Monday night, the Phillies are going to be chalk at home against the Rockies southpaw. The Phillies lead the league in wOBA facing lefties, which is insignificant this early, but will still drive heavy rostership. Even so, fading righties Jean Segura (now leading off), Rhys Hoskins, Nick Castellanos and J.T. Realmuto is likely a mistake.
• Those looking for a lesser rostered stack, or batters to stream should look to Arlington where the Texas Rangers right-handed lineup will face their second straight lefty starter with Framber Valdez taking the hill for the visiting Houston Astros. Being in the lineup on consecutive days should help Marcus Semien, Mitch Garver and Adolis Garcia in a stack while making Nick Solak(1%) and Charlie Culberson (0%) solid choices to fill holes in traditional fantasy formats.

 

[carolinakid]

thanks for the info

 

[biggins]

Starting pitcher rankings for Monday​

Pitchers are ranked in order of their Forecaster/Daily Notes projected fantasy points, using ESPN's standard scoring system (5 points per win, minus-5 per loss, 3 per inning, 1 per K, minus-1 apiece per hit or walk allowed, minus-2 per earned run allowed).

T: The pitcher's handedness. OPP: Opposing team. ML:Caesars Money Line. O/U: Caesars Over/Under for runs scored. W%: Starting pitcher's win probability. For the projected stat line, IP is innings pitched, ER is earned runs allowed, BR is baserunners allowed and K is strikeouts.

If a team is planning on using an "opener" to start their game, but will rely on a "bulk pitcher" to follow him on the mound after 1-2 innings, we will list the bulk pitcher and indicate with an asterisk.

FPTS	TEAM	PITCHER	T	OPP	ML	O/U	W%	IP	ER	BR	K
16.3		Corbin Burnes	R	SF	-210	7.0	41.9%	5.7	1.8	5.8	7.4
15.2		Max Scherzer	R	@STL	-150	7.0	39.9%	5.9	2.0	6.1	7.0
14.8		Shane Bieber	R	@LAA	-115	8.0	38.7%	6.0	2.3	6.7	7.5
12.6		Walker Buehler	R	@ARI	-185	9.0	39.8%	5.7	2.3	6.7	6.1
10.7		Jose Berrios	R	BOS	-125	8.0	34.5%	5.7	2.7	7.1	5.8
10.6		Kyle Gibson	R	COL	-200	8.5	37.2%	5.6	2.6	7.2	5.7
8.3		Miles Mikolas	R	NYM	130	7.0	25.0%	5.3	2.5	6.8	4.4

 

[Over Under]

Thank you sir.

 

[BobbyFK]

Thank you!