Oh yeah, Opening Day was fun! It was even more fun if you took my Contrarian stack recommendation of the Dodgers including Yasmani Grandal. Now we can ride the high of Monday into Tuesday and start grinding out some DFS baseball with a solid eight-game night slate. I’m not too excited about the pitching options for Tuesday, I guess that’s what happens when all the Aces pitch on Opening Day. So, I’m focusing on pitchers who can get some Ks and hope for the best. My hitter stacks tonight include the first “game stack” of the season.
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Let’s mow down the competition 3 Up and 3 Down…
3 Up
Ace
Jake Arrieta (FD-$10,500 / DK-$10,400)
Arrieta took a step back in 2016 after a stellar Cy Young 2015 season. Despite the regression, he still struck out about a batter per inning and limited baserunners with a 1.08 WHIP. He has had success against the Cardinals over the last two seasons allowing just a .283 wOBA in 118 at-bats. With the Cubs’ Opening Day loss look for them to bounce back on Tuesday and Arrieta be the beneficiary of the Cubs’ offense.
Value
Lance McCullers (FD-$9,500 / DK-$9,500)
McCullers is a strikeout machine as he carries the highest strikeout percentage of the all the pitchers on the slate. The biggest concern for McCullers is his lack of ability to pitch deep into the game as he only exceeded six innings in three out of 14 starts last season and the Astros will likely take it easy on him to start the season. Although he might just need five innings to rack up 8-10 strikeouts.
Darkhorse
CC Sabathia (FD-$7,400 / DK-$6,900)
The Darkhorse choice came down to Sabathia and the Rockies’ Tyler Anderson but you’ll see in the Stacks section I like the Brewers’ bats tonight, so I’ll stick with Sabathia. He is facing a Rays’ offense that had the highest strikeout percentage (25.4%) when facing lefties last season and the Yankees enter the game as a small favorite. He comes with some risk as most Darkhorse candidates do but if you are looking to save some money for a high-priced hitter stack, you can roll with CC.
3 Down
Top Stacks
Astros vs. Hisashi Iwakuma
I like to pick on pitchers with low strikeout rates which Iwakuma had last season (17.6%) and high HR rates which Iwakuma also had last season (1.27 HR/9). He has equal struggles with hitters from both sides of the plate putting the entire Astros lineup in play.
Jose Altuve (FD-$4,100 / DK-$4,400) – Altuve hits everyone but had his best power numbers at home against righties last season hitting 13 of his 24 homers with a .225 ISO.
Carlos Beltran (FD-$3,200 / DK-$3,400) – Beltran can still produce from both sides of the plate hitting 20 homers in 401 at-bats against righties last season.
Josh Reddick (FD-$2,700 / DK-$3,200) – Reddick does most of his damage against righties with a career .187 ISO and .338 wOBA.
Rockies vs. Zach Davies
Davies put together a solid rookie season last year with a 3.97 ERA but his 1.25 WHIP and 1.10 HR/9 show he is still prone to a blowup. Davies also struggled more with the long ball in home starts allowing 1.25 HR/9.
Nolan Arenado (FD-$4,000 / DK-$4,800) – Arenado can hit anywhere and still had a .238 ISO on the road against righties last season including a home run off Davies in Miller Park.
Charlie Blackmon (FD-$4,000 / DK-$4,600) – Blackmon generates much greater power numbers against righties including a .313 ISO on the road last season.
Carlos Gonzalez (FD-$3,800 / DK-$4,600) – Gonzalez also does his best work against righties but does perform much better at home, if you leave a Rockies’ hitter out of this stack Cargo might be the one to skip.
Trevor Story (FD-$3,600 / DK-$4,100) – Story hit 18 of his 27 homers against righties last season including eight on the road.
Contrarian Stack
Brewers vs. Tyler Anderson
The Brewers don’t carry much national attention and are often a low owned stack even when they are in a good spot. They have the fifth highest implied run total on the slate and face a left in Tyler Anderson. The Brewers had the ninth highest ISO and sixth highest wOBA against lefties last season. Note that all four hitters are OF on FanDuel.
Ryan Braun (FD-$4,000 / DK-$4,700) – Braun had a .333 ISO and .512 wOBA at home against lefties last season.
Keon Broxton (FD-$3,000 / DK-$3,600) – Broxton came on at the end of last season and had a good Spring, power/speed combo upside perfect for a stack
Domingo Santana (FD-$2,900 / DK-$3,500) – Santana has performed much better against lefties in his career with a .232 ISO and .382 wOBA in 138 at-bats.
Hernan Perez (FD-$2,400 / DK-$3,200) – Make sure Perez is in the lineup before including him in the stack but if he is he provides a cheap option capable of hitting a homer, swiping a base or both as he did three times last season.
