Cover Photo: Adam Glanzman/Getty Images


​As the Braves try to hold on to their slim NL East lead, they’ll have to do so against baseball’s best team. The Red Sox will look to expedite their route to 100 wins, currently sitting at 95, in Atlanta.


Rick Porcello takes the mound for the Red Sox, and he’ll gladly turn the page on August as he went 2-3 with a 5.11 ERA over the month. Porcello has struggled against left-handed batters this season -- looking at the traditional numbers won’t tell you that, but he has allowed a .193 ISO and 40% hard-contact rate to lefties, and the Braves could potentially have six of them in their lineup.


Sean Newcomb will also be glad to get out of August as he was 1-2 with a 6.75 ERA during the month. He had a rough go of it against the Red Sox in his earlier meeting this season, allowing six hits, four walks and three runs over only three innings. Given his current form, it seems unlikely that things will improve anytime quickly. Newcomb has also been worse at SunTrust Park with a 4-4 and 4.63 ERA in 12 starts, compared to 7-3 with a 3.12 ERA in 14 starts on the road.

For the Red Sox, Mookie Betts is adding vindication to his MVP-caliber season, posting a .429 batting average over the last seven days while adding two doubles and two home runs in 26 plate appearances. He’s had plenty of help too; JD Martinez, Ian Kinsler, and Jackie Bradley Jr. are all hitting .333 or better over the last seven days, while Eduardo Nunez leads the team with three homers over that same span. 


For the Braves, Johan Camargo and Ender Inciarte both have an OPS over 1.000 in the last seven days, and that’s leading a team that also has studs like Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuna in their lineup. 


The ingredients are there for crooked numbers all over the scoreboard tonight. 

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Al Walsh is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Al Walsh also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username 14AdotWalsh. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.