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5 THINGS TO WATCH FOR: FRIDAY, APRIL 30

All Smiles in Dunedin: Toronto is just 24th in baseball with a .660 team OPS against left-handed pitching coming into Friday’s date with the Braves and LHP Drew Smyly. The journeyman has a 7.20 ERA through three starts, with a career-worst 40.0 percent fly-ball rate and 57.8 percent hard-hit rate. The Blue Jays are getting an MVP-caliber start from 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr., OF George Springer (quadriceps) made his much-anticipated debut Wednesday, and OF Teoscar Hernandez (COVID-19) is expected to return as the Jays begin a set in their 2021 home park.

Bumgarner’s Encore: The 31-year-old southpaw is coming off a resurgent 7-inning complete-game shutout of the Braves Sunday. He allowed just one solo home run over 12 innings in his last two starts combined and needed a total of 178 pitches. Friday, he draws a Rockies squad with a ninth-ranked .754 team OPS against lefty pitching but a more meager 22nd-ranked rate of hard contact in the split.

Gerrit Cole’s Pitching Clinic: Friday’s 15-game slate is full of elite pitching matchups, but the main draw will be at Yankee Stadium. Cole enters his sixth start of the season with a 1.71 ERA, and he leads the AL in both BB/9 (0.9) and K/9 (14.2). He had at least 10 strikeouts in three of his first five starts and will pad his numbers against a Tigers team with the third-worst strikeout rate against righties at 27.5 percent.

Seeing Reds: Daily fantasy players need to look no further than Great American Ball Park for their Friday stacks. The Reds are second in SLG, third in OPS and wOBA, and fifth in wRC+ against right-handed pitching. They’re also seventh in hard contact percentage and third in fly-ball rate in the split. They draw Cubs RHP Jake Arrieta, who has coasted to a 2.57 ERA on a .260 BABIP, despite a 34.2 percent fly-ball rate and 40.5 percent hard-hit rate with a 90.6 mph average exit velocity.

Mets To Keep Phillies Grounded?: New York is 4-2 against its NL East rivals coming into their third three-game series of the season. The pitching matchup greatly favors the Mets with RHP Marcus Stroman (3-1, 2.25 ERA) facing Phillies RHP Chase Anderson (0-3, 6.48). Both clubs are in the bottom half of the league in most major metrics against righties but the edge goes to New York. The Philly offense has the third-highest ground-ball rate at 48.5 percent and may remain without OF Bryce Harper (face) and SS Didi Gregorius (ribs). Stroman has a hard-hit rate of 50.0 percent, but 60.6 percent of batted balls have stayed on the ground.