Price: $11,500
Pitching is absolutely stacked on tonight's 14-game slate, but Chris Sale still manages to stand out as the day's top arm. With shaky matchups against the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees, respectfully, Justin Verlander and Jacob deGrom both see their value take a hit with their opponents' team totals sitting north of 3.50. Stephen Strasburg doesn't draw a great matchup either, as the San Francisco Giants rank top 10 in wRC+ against righties.
Sale is up against the Chicago White Sox, who have the day's lowest implied total (3.02), and the Boston Red Sox are the day's biggest favorites (-295 moneyline) in this one.
Sale has been his usual dangerous self this season, opening 2018 with a 2.70 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA), 34.0% strikeout rate and a career-high 15.4% swinging-strike rate through 13 games. The White Sox rank only 24th in wRC+ against southpaws, while their 27.7% strikeout rate is the highest in the majors by a big margin (1.4%).
It's little surprise that this matchup leaves Sale as Friday's top-projected pitcher.