Matchups
White Sox (Michael Kopech, RHP) @ Orioles (Grayson Rodriguez, RHP)
Nationals (Josiah Gray, RHP) @ Blue Jays (Kevin Gausman, RHP)
Astros (Cristian Javier, RHP) @ Red Sox (Chris Sale, LHP)
Rangers (Jon Gray, RHP) @ Mets (Tylor Megill, RHP)
Guardians (Xzavion Curry, RHP) @ Twins (Kenta Maeda, RHP)
Padres (Blake Snell, LHP) @ Cardinals (Adam Wainwright, RHP)
Brewers (Wade Miley, LHP) @ Cubs (Jameson Taillon, RHP)
Pirates (Johan Oviedo, RHP) @ Royals (Zack Greinke, RHP)
Braves (Bryce Elder, RHP) @ Rockies (Austin Gomber, LHP)
Athletics (TBD) @ Mariners (Bryan Woo, RHP)
Reds (Andrew Abbott, LHP) @ Giants (Kyle Harrison, LHP)
D-backs (Zac Gallen, RHP) @ Dodgers (Bobby Miller, RHP)

Favorite Teams

• Braves (vs Austin Gomber)
• Orioles (vs Michael Kopech)
• Red Sox (vs Cristian Javier)
• Astros (vs Chris Sale)
• Padres (vs Adam Wainwright)
• Mariners (vs A’s)
• Brewers (vs Jameson Taillon)
• Pirates (vs Zack Greinke)
• Rangers (vs Tylor Megill)
• Rockies (vs Bryce Elder)
• Twins (vs Xzavion Curry)

Pitching Preferences

• Kevin Gausman
• Blake Snell
• Grayson Rodriguez
• Kenta Maeda
• Zac Gallen
• Andrew Abbott
• Bryan Woo
• Johan Oviedo

Good Monday morning! We are kicking off the semi-finals tonight in best ball. It’s been a gruesome playoffs thus far for your boy. Having zero Julio Rodriguez shares and plenty of dead Roansy Contreras + Oneil Cruz played a large part in my downfall. I’m up to one Perfect Game and two Dingers left, but nobody cares about my best ball teams.

Today is a large-ish slate, but they won’t be this big for long. Starting in September, most east coast teams will be starting their games a half hour earlier, so we’ll have “better” slates to draft in a few days. For these next few days, we’ve got the Braves at Coors Field against a lefty. Gulp.

All of the Braves go extremely early today, as they should. They feel awful to fade today. Seemingly no possible outcomes exist where they don’t score 6+ runs today. There’s no amount of fangraphs sorting that can lead you to paint a pretty picture for Austin Gomber today. Have a plan before you enter drafts about what you want to do about the Braves. If you’re looking for options outside of them today, let’s take a look at who I’ll be targeting.

Pirates @ KC vs Zack Greinke
I am on record as saying that Zack Greinke is underrated by fantasy players who want to stack against him. While that is still true to me in seemingly smash spots, facing the Pirates is not one of those. Because of this, I think this is a great time to stack Ke’Bryan Hayes with various teammates today. I’ve written about Hayes improvements in previous articles, and he’s continued to improve with every PA since. He’s tapping into a power stroke and continues to hit the ball very hard. The most intriguing thing about Hayes right now is how he is pulling the ball much more often than he was last year.

These are good signs. Draft Hayes today.

Astros and Red Sox

A beautiful run environment with two mystery box pitchers. Both of these teams can be drafted for pennies in drafts today and have as good a range of outcomes as any team playing on the main slate. Chris Sale has not been bad this season, but I’m betting on the Astros getting the best of him today. Cristian Javier lost his mojo and never recovered it. You can take anyone on the Red Sox you want today against him. Including Pablo Reyes, who has been a great story for Boston this year.

I’ll be back before lock with some individual player ranks today. For now, enjoy the lobbies, and best of luck with your remaining best ball squads!

Nez