FRANCISCO LINDOR PUERTO RICO NARRATIVE DAY!!!
Ugh, I completely forgot about this when making lineups on Monday. Tilted.
Hopefully you made money off of it in some way. He was popular at shortstop on Tuesday.
As for Wednesday, we have two slates, as usual. So what we do for days like this, The Stack will provide all access to readers for the “brunch” slate and then go premium for the evening games.
Here are today’s recommendations. Stay strong and may the force be with you.
Early Slate
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
1. Tommy Pham – $4,700
2. Jose Martinez – $3,600
3. Jedd Gyorko – $2,900
4. Paul DeJong – $4,200
5. Marcell Ozuna – $4,100
Total Cost – $19,500
Percentage of Salary Cap – 39%
2018 Combined Home Runs – 12
Starting Pitcher HR/9 vs. L (2016-18) – 0.65
Starting Pitcher HR/9 vs. R (2016-18) – 1.22
Justification – I think it’s pretty clear the right-handed heavy Cardinals are the top stack of the early slate. Literally, there are 7 guys on this team that could crack the lineup that I would want to stack up and down in whatever ways possible. But these are the five of the seven that I would start with. Pham is at the top of the list considering Lester’s struggles with stolen bases in his career. Pham has 12 steals since 2016 against left-handed pitching, and he has two against Lester in his career. Pham also is a lefty-masher on this team, sporting a .384 wOBA and .244 ISO. Jose Martinez leads this squad in hitting against lefties as he owns a .512 wOBA and .364 ISO against southpaws in his career. Martinez also has a .364 average with 3 HRs already this season. As for Gyorko, DeJong and Ozuna, here are their numbers against lefties since 2016: Gyorko – .352 wOBA, .211 ISO; DeJong – .379 wOBA, .311 ISO; Ozuna – .357 wOBA, .203 wOBA. If the wind is blowing out in Wrigley, that’s a huge boost to an already ridiculous lineup. I certainly wouldn’t talk you off of Yadier Molina or Dexter Fowler here either.
BALTIMORE ORIOLES
1. Manny Machado – $5,000
2. Danny Valencia – $2,800
3. Trey Mancini – $3,700
Total Cost – $11,500
Percentage of Salary Cap – 23%
Combined 2018 Home Runs – 5
Starting Pitcher HR/9 vs. L (2016-18) – 0.49
Starting Pitcher HR/9 vs. R (2016-18) – 1.52
Justification – Outside of the Cardinals and Brewers, the Orioles should be one of the more popular stacks of the early slate. The Orioles facing Matt Boyd is arguably the best matchup of the day. Machado owns a .374 wOBA, a 41% hard contact rate and a .241 ISO against lefties. He’s also 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Valencia and Mancini, who is raking right now and leading off, can round out a small 3-man stack. You could add Adam Jones and/or Tim Beckham here, but Beckham is 3B eligible only. Valencia has been a valuable DFS platoonman against lefties in his career. He and Gyorko are both cheap, value 3B, but you can’t roster both. Boyd throws BP and it’s mind-numbing that he’s still a starter. He allows a .346 wOBA and a 34% hard contact rate to RH bats.
MILWAUKEE BREWERS
1. Eric Thames – 4,400
2. Travis Shaw – $3,600
3. Christian Yelich – $4,200
Total Cost – $12,200
Percentage of Salary Cap – 24%
Combined 2018 Home Runs – 9
Starting Pitcher HR/9 vs. L (2016-18) – 2.13
Starting Pitcher HR/9 vs. R (2016-18) – 0.39
Justification – The Brewers are my third-favorite stack of the early slate. Taking on rookie Tyler Mahle and taking on the Reds in Miller Park, the Brewers’ lefties are my targets of choice. Milwaukee gets a boost with Christian Yelich coming off the DL. Prior to his injury, Yelich was hitting an astounding .385 to start the season. Mahle has been getting crushed against lefties early in his career, allowing a .412 wOBA, 41% hard contact and he owns a 6.25 xFIP. Shaw, Yelich and Thames all have .350+ wOBAs and ISOs of .192 or higher. Thames has a 43% hard contact rate, Yelich has a 39.8% rate and Shaw has a 37.5% hard contact rate against RH pitching since 2016. Park factor, rookie pitcher and a struggle against opposite hands could mean a big day for your DFS lineups if this stack goes nutso.
