MLB Pitching Pulse 7-18-17

By: Jason Guilbault, Updated July 18, 2017

Each day of the MLB season will bring us some major price differences among starting pitchers on all sites. These price discrepancies and the site's roster differences can alter the way we use pitchers on each site, as well as how the field of opponents will use them. Listed below are five of today's top pitchers, each with their salary listed as well as the cafe value that takes into account both the total salary cap on the site and points-per-dollar. We've also provided some betting info for you reference. The higher the cafe value, the better the points-per-dollar play is.

Clayton Kershaw

There is Clayton Kershaw and then there is the rest of them tonight. If you are playing cash games, he is an easy plug and play even at the higher salaries. Kershaw carries the least amount of risk on a slate that has a lot of it. The White Sox do rank fifth in wOBA against southpaws and have a 20.9% strikeout rate, but Kershaw is the best pitcher in the game. Unless the matchup is in Coors, he is always your top cash game option. However, at the higher price tags and big offenses on the slate you can make the case for fading. Kershaw has a 13.7% swinging strike rate, which ranks first on the slate. His 31.4% strikeout rate and 4.4% walk rate are also elite numbers on the season. He has the lowest SIERA on the slate (2.88), with the next next being 3.47 by Dinelson Lamet. Kershaw is a huge -292 favorite, and Chicago has the lowest total on the board, and by a wide margin.