Whether or not you have a case of the Mondays we are here to be sure that your DFS rosters see green tonight! It is a ten-game slate with a decent mix of solid high end and pitchers at other price points that you can trust. Tonight certainly looks like a slate where you can go a couple different ways with your builds, whether you want to spend up for pitching or try to save some money for a stud hitter or two. Let’s get right to it and take a look at my favorites at different price points. 

Top Tier

Gerrit Cole, NYY – He hasn’t pitched since July 29th due to a Covid absence, and we do know that Cole has been a little less of a sure thing since “the sticky stuff investigations” started. However, he had struck out ten or more guys in three of his last four starts and 41 total in those four. The Angels are a middle of the road offense in terms of both runs scored and batting average as a team, but right now outside of Shohei Ohtani and Jared Walsh, there isn’t a lot to worry about in their lineup. There is a small chance that Cole could throw less pitches than we are used to, but I think he will have a regular start and come out and continue this strikeout roll that he is on. 

Kevin Gausman, SF – For a while I was waiting for the wheels to fall off for Gausman in this spectacular season, but now since it is mid-August, I have to accept that he is having his best season. He is facing the Mets who are coming off getting swept this weekend by the Dodgers and only scoring ten runs. In fact, only the Pirates have scored fewer runs in all of baseball than the Metropolitans. They are also hitting just .230 as a team against right-handed pitching and it seems like the perfect spot for Gausman to lead your pitchers today. 

Touki Toussaint, ATL – It has only been five starts, but in four of them he has been pretty good! Outside of a game against Milwaukee, Toussaint hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs and struck out five or more in four of those five starts as well. The Marlins have scored a decent number of runs this season but have the fourth most strikeouts in all of baseball and are hitting .238 as a team. 

Mid-Tier

Wade Miley, CIN – He wasn’t great his last time out and it was just the second time all season that he allowed five earned runs. However, Miley has been solid all season long. He did allow three earned runs over just 4.1 innings on July 26th against these same Cubs, but that was before they traded away their three best hitters. The Cubs have scored just 27 runs since August 7th and ten of those came in one game. Their team stats against left-handed pitching don’t look bad, but that was also in large part to Bryant and Rizzo killing lefties all season. Miley’s ERA is just 2.56 at home as opposed to 3.39 on the road and his K/9 is also .6 higher in Cincinnati. He should have little trouble with the dumpster fire that is now the Cubs batting order. 

Cal Quantrill, CLE – While his team doesn’t offer him a ton of run support, Quantrill hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs since July 105h and has allowed just one home run in his last six starts. Coincidentally, one of his last poor games was against the Twins, but that was nearly two months ago and Nelson Cruz is gone. Quantrill is a better play on DraftKings as his salary is lower and you need two pitchers, but you can use him on either site. 

Value Tier

Carlos Hernández, KC – I am not in love with the matchup against the Astros, but if you are going to go down to the value area of tonight’s slate, Hernandez is likely your best bet. His ERA is nearly a run and a half lower at home, and he has a 10.0 K/9 on the season. He hasn’t allowed more than one earned run in any of his last three starts and two of those were against the White Sox and one against the Yankees, so he has contained solid offenses before. He has been pitching deeper into games lately, and at worst he should get five or six strikeouts and get you some points that way.