Well, last night was a dud. Chris Sale and Jose Fernandez got knocked around a bit. Andrew Cashner was phenomenal, and pretty much everyone I recommended performed rather poorly despite their match-up advantages. Here’s to hoping today is a little more fruitful.

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It’s ace day! Jose Fernandez (my personal favorite), David Price, Yu Darvish, Madison Bumgarner, Chris Sale, and Felix Hernandez all take the bump today. If none of those guys make you feel all tingly then you can watch one of the other fantastic hurlers (Teheran, Ryu, Cueto, Cashner, etc.) instead. Seriously, tonight is stacked with phenomenal pitching. And I’m not sure about your interests, but pitching is my absolute favorite part of the game.

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Brad Johnson, an author here at Fangraphs that you’ve probably read numerous times, wrote a little bit about luck the other day. It’s definitely more prominent in daily fantasy than the standard roto setups that we all normally play. Daily fantasy is fun. We get to draft a new team every day, perhaps win a little money, and scoreboard watch. However, it can also be so, so maddening.

For example, one night last week I entered a tournament on Draftstreet and missed winning anywhere from $300-$500 (depending on my ultimate finish) by 1.5 points. Brad Miller gave me zilch, but it wasn’t his fault. The combination of the terrible playing surface in Oakland and the error in judgement made by the groundskeepers, probably cost me. But, on the bright side, at least my lineup construction got me close in the first place?

To echo Brad once more, you’ll likely have nights where you barely lose. You’ll have a few nights where you play matchups and definitely have the edge, but someone of the Kevin Correia ilk will toss a shutout and completely blow up your chances. That doesn’t mean you’re terrible at picking a lineup; you just got a bad beat. Keep pushing and playing the right matchups and you can definitely make some money. And hopefully we can help you do that.

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We’re a little over a week into the season at this point, and while it’s still much too early to draw any meaningful conclusions from the games that have been played, we might as well have a little fun.

If you had asked me at the beginning of the season which teams I’d be inclined to choose opposing pitchers against. I likely would have chosen: Miami, Houston, Philadelphia,  & Minnesota. San Francisco wouldn’t have made the cut, but I wouldn’t have been terrified to plug in a pitcher against them. Here we are, after 8 or so games, and those offenses are ranked first, twenty-third , eighth, fourth, and second, respectively, in runs scored. At least I would have been correct on the Astros? I’m not sure that counts for much, though.

Going forward, I’m not betting on any of the five above offenses to continue producing at a high level, except for San Francisco. The Giants offense can be scary when Posey and Co. are hitting on all cylinders, and I wouldn’t be shocked if they were a well oiled machine for most of the remaining season. Although, I’m pretty sure Brandon Hicks won’t do his best Babe Ruth impression all season.

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The first weekend of all day viewing is upon us, and it’s only fitting that we’ll have an opportunity to see multiple aces in action.  It’s also fitting, and quite welcoming, that weather forecasts today look fantastic.  The only game with a better than nominal chance for rain takes place in Houston, which has a retractable roof, so yay. And thankfully to the new television rules, you can tune in to any out of area game today on MLB.tv.

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So, Wednesday didn’t quite go as planned, but it was still a moderately successful day. I took a small shot at Aaron Harang, and he subsequently threw 6.2 innings of shutout baseball. I also recommended two Tigers – Miguel Cabrera and Ian Kinsler – because Jason Vargas usually fairs poorly against righties. Kinsler performed well, but other than his home run Vargas outperformed my expectations. Baseball is as unpredictable as ever and I, for one, am glad to see its wonky ways are back in my life.

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On the third day of the season, we’re graced with some fantastic matchups. After two days filled with pitching studs, we’re making our first pass into pitchers that we can expect to give up runs at a higher clip. So long, Justin Verlander. Hello, Aaron Harang.

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