Both FanDuel and DraftKings have the same EARLY and MAIN slates today, which brings us a good set of site synchronicity and makes the analysis writing for me much easier.
Some rain potential in Texas for the Astros/Rangers game so the roof likely gets closed there, otherwise all games have full clearance.
Lance McCullers Jr
There are three arms today that I see going over 20 DK fantasy points and all are well in play on FanDuel as your primary pitcher too. They are Bieber (who I am not on), McCullers and Lopez (see below). McCullers is really having that complete break out season as he looks like he can stay healthy and is pitching great away from Minute Maid Park as well with a 2.00 ERA in road starts. Texas will be seeing him the second week in a row and they’re not likely to do much more than they did a week ago.
Pablo Lopez
Two things about Lopez, one he will get a ton of run support IMO today and two he’s facing what is basically a AA lineup after the top of the order guys. The Mets have one of the lowest team wOBA’s on this slate so attack them with Lopez.
Brady Singer
Singer is eligible to be used again as a value arm. His arm looked refreshed last start and he’s always done extremely well against the Tigers with the one exception being the last time he saw them when he just didn’t have any velocity after the 3rd inning. The young pitcher remains cheap on DK as an SP2 and is the best of the value choices today even though the Tigers are starting to hit better.
Nationals
Turner, Soto, Zimmerman, Castro
The big question with doing a Nationals stack comes down to deciding if we like guys like Josh Bell, Starlin Castro, Ryan Zimmerman, Yan Gomes, etc…. There’s never any real reason to be like “oh man, stack Nationals” when it’s just Trea & Soto because of their price and you can always consider them as one offs and move on. But it’s gonna be extremely warm in Nats Park this afternoon and Bruce Zimmerman isn’t really worthy of being someone to not attack with the mid level guys. I hope Zimmerman and Castro are batting 3-4 today because they should have fantastic games.
Pirates / Braves
Newman/Reynolds … Freeman/Ozuna
Hey look who scored twenty runs after everyone was complaining that they sucked for a week. In reality, paying up for Acuna/Freeman/Ozzie/Ozuna is what was killing you for the past week but Austin Riley is on an absolute tear and may have just finished himself off with a double dong last night but at $4200 he remains a great value given the streak he is on. The rest of the guys are gonna cost you and I don’t want to full stack the Braves but Freeman, Freddie is someone we gotta love against Mitch Keller today.
Pittsburgh is the side I see some great value on as Bryse Wilson is usually a guy to struggle with LH bats and the sandwhich of Frazier-Newman(R)-Reynolds(S) at the top of the order is the best value on this slate.
Royals
Merrifield, Perez, Santana, Soler
Kansas City’s turn to beat up on Matt Boyd and they will win this game running away today. Love Merrifield and Soler’s still cheap and due for that 2 HR game.
Marlins
Chisholm, Duvall, Dickerson, Anderson
Nobody will consider Miami given that they are at home and it’s just not the best park or team to be looking at normally — but if the Mets are starting Jordan Yamamoto then look for them to post a lot of crooked innings early in this game.
CATCHER
- Pedro Severino
- Yan Gomes
- Omar Narvaez
FIRST BASE
- Freddie Freeman
- Ryan Zimmerman
- Travis Shaw
SECOND BASE
- Whit Merrifield – Love Whit today vs Boyd
- Adam Frazier
THIRD BASE
- Jose Ramirez
- Starlin Castro
- Maikel Franco … Still expect him to homer in this series.
SHORTSTOP
- Trea Turner … Nothing about Bruce Zimmerman is something that should bother Trea, he’s the one National hitting change-ups this year too. He has a huge day today.
- Kevin Newman
OUTFIELD – Tier 1
- Eddie Rosario … Nobody and I mean nobody, is more underpriced than Eddie Rosario is here.
- Juan Soto
- Nick Castellanos
- Austin Hays
OUTFIELD – Tier 2
- Michael Brantley
- Jorge Soler
- Marcell Ozuna
- Christian Yelich
OUTFIELD – Value
- Max Kepler
- Adam Duvall
- Bryan Reynolds
- Anthony Santander
The Dongers Club
- Trea Turner – SS – Nationals – Chairman of the Dongers Club
- Maikel Franco – 3B – Orioles
- Ryan Zimmerman – 1B – Nationals
- Whit Merrifield – 2B – Royals
- Pedro Severino – C – Orioles
- Bryan Reynolds – OF – Pirates
- Michael Brantley – OF – Astros
- Eddie Rosario – OF – Indians
- BONUS …………………… Max Kepler – OF – Twins
LINEUP CONSTRUCTION THOUGHTS
Chalkiest Stacks
- Braves
- Astros – Love Michael Brantley, but Lyles is pitching better lately so I am not stacking Houston here w/ roof closed.
- Nationals
Team(s) with most upside getting overlooked and also not being attacked with a SP (i.e. Low owned secondary stacks)
- Royals – Royals vs Boyd in Kauffman. Royals win for sure and top of order carries them.
- Pirates
LEVERAGE PLAYS
- Twins – Cruz/Sano/Kepler/Donaldson
- Brewers
DK SE SP Recommendation
- McCullers & Singer
FD SE Recommendation
- Pablo Lopez
CORE HITTERS FOR SE
- Trea Turner / Ryan Zimmerman
- Whit Merrifield
- Pirates OF Value … Frazier/Reynolds
FAVORITE ONE OFFS
- Whit Merrifield
- Max Kepler
- Maikel Franco
BETS
- Royals ML
- Orioles/Nationals OVER 9.5
- Pirates/Braves OVER 9.5
- Marlins -1.5