Rain, snow, frigid temps and ice through a roof…
These are the reasons for all of the postponements we’ve seen in MLB over the past few days.
Seems like this has been one of the craziest openings to a baseball season due to weather that I can remember, especially since I started playing DFS in 2014.
Luckily for today’s 12-game main slate, it doesn’t appear we have a ton of weather to worry about. What we might have to worry about is previous snowfall and its fallout affecting mobility of people to get to stadiums and some cold weather.
Keep an eye out, but things seem to be normalizing in the weather department for today.
Stacking looks a little difficult for today. On the surface, there are very few teams I could narrow down and feel comfortable with. I found a lot of one-offs I like for today (Adrian Beltre, Starling Marte, Bryce Harper, George Springer, C.J. Cron, to name a few), but figuring out stacks was a little more difficult. But here we are!
Good luck and may the force be with you…
MILWAUKEE BREWERS
1. Travis Shaw – $4,100
2. Eric Thames – $4,600
3. Ryan Braun – $4,600
4. Lorenzo Cain – $3,800
5. Domingo Santana – $3,000
Total Cost – $20,100
Percentage of Salary Cap – 40%
Combined 2018 Home Runs – 11
Starting Pitcher HR/9 (2016-18) vs. L – 0.96
Starting Pitcher HR/9 (2016-18) vs. R – 1.13
Justification – Beware of this stack as Braun and Thames could sit. Either way, I like all 5, so no matter who isn’t in the lineup, any of these five guys against Sal Romano will be on my board tonight. It’s an expensive stack, but you can fit Corey Kluber and a cheap pitcher Romano has allowed a .336 wOBA to lefties and a .343 wOBA to righties in his career while allowing at least 30% hard contact to both sides of the plate. The ballpark is a big boost and the Brewers get to tee off at home against a young, inexperienced below average pitcher. Shaw, Braun, Thames and Santana all have at least a .196 ISO versus RH pitching since 2017. Cain’s ISO is low, but his wOBA of .342 still shows he can pound RH pitching. Word to wise, Santana has 8 hits in his past 6 games, but is still homerless for the season. I am putting in my call that he ends that drought today.
CHICAGO CUBS
1. Anthony Rizzo – $4,300
2. Kyle Schwarber – $4,400
3. Ian Happ – $3,900
Total Cost – $12,600
Percentage of Salary Cap – 25%
Combined 2018 Home Runs – 6
Starting Pitcher HR/9 (2016-18) vs. L – 1.27
Starting Pitcher HR/9 (2016-18) vs. R – 0.83
Justification – I lied, there is a game where we have to worry about weather. It’s the Cardinals and Cubs. But it’s not the weather you have been used to the past few days. This time around, it’s the wind, which is supposed to be blowing double-digits out to right center field. It will be really cold, so that could stump some long balls, but the wind has to be weighed as a factor today, especially for lefty bats (see more later). Rizzo is coming off the DL and his price is ridiculously low while Schwarber and Happ will help anchor this lineup. I don’t think anyone should be scared of the downside of Adam Wainwright’s career. He’s not the pitcher he once was. Against lefties since 2016, Wainwright has allowed .357 wOBA, 32% hard contact and a 1.07 HR/9.
