Hello again for another full week of MLB DFS!
We hope you enjoyed some time with your mothers and your wives on Sunday, but now it’s back to focusing your efforts to fantasy baseball, right?
Let me help you with tonight’s 7-game slate.
Before we get to my favorite stacks of the day, let me pour one out and have a moment of silence for the death of Arcade Mode on DraftKings…
Thank you.
Tonight we have a few stud pitchers to pay up for and some awful ones to jump all over.
Two of my stacks on today’s edition of the stack are likely the chalk of the evening, but we will have to see how all of that plays out.
The remaining stacks might fall under the radar a bit, including one game we can stack up to fit in a couple of the top-tier arms.
Are you ready? May the force be with you…
GAME STACK – TAMPA BAY RAYS @ KANSAS CITY ROYALS
Tampa
1. C.J. Cron – $3,600
2. Wilson Ramos – $3,900
3. Johnny Field – $3,500
Kansas City
1. Jorge Soler – $4,100
2. Whit Merrifield – $4,400
3. Salvador Perez – $3,800
Justification – We can’t exactly stack this all the way up and down on DraftKings (go to FantasyDraft to use multiple catchers). But it does offer two of the better catching options on the slate. The weather is the lone deterrent here, but this far out, it doesn’t appear it’s going to be too much of an issue. However, keep that in mind closer to lock. Anyway, we have two lefties taking the mound as the Rays get to face Eric Skoglund to start this game while the Royals will see Ryan Yarbrough, and much of the Rays’ bullpen most likely. This game’s total has an O/U of a 9 and the favorite goes to the Royals, but at a pick ’em line. All 6 of the guys listed above are proven lefty mashers this year, most have been for multiple years. Both starting pitchers are running pure against RH bats. Skoglund is offering up nearly 50% hard contact to righties while Yarbrough has yet to give up a HR to a righty this season. Both stacks should go overlooked by most of the field.
COLORADO ROCKIES
1. Trevor Story – $4,700
2. Nolan Arenado – $5,100
3. Ian Desmond – $3,800
Total Cost – $13,500
Percentage of Salary Cap – 27%
Combined 2018 Home Runs – 24
Opposing SP HR/9 vs. L (2018) – 0
Opposing SP HR/9 vs. R (2018) – 1.59
Justification – I’ll take the Rockies against a lefty in any stadium, not just in Coors. Yes this game is in San Diego, but all three guys on this part of the list have the chops to make the ball pop. Story has been on a tear in the last week with 7 hits and 3 HRs in his last 6 games. Arenado is Arenado – .519 wOBA, .388 ISO, 48% hard contact vs. lefties. Desmond completes the stack and should go overlooked. He’s had some bad luck this season, but his peripherals are there against lefties – 43% hard contact, .333 wOBA..220 ISO. Going up against Lucchesi offers high strike out potential, but he’s been prone to RH bats this season, allowing 42% hard contact and 1.59 HR/9
BOSTON RED SOX
1. Mookie Betts – $5,800
2. J.D. Martinez – $5,000
3. Hanley Ramirez – $4,000
Total Cost – $14,800
Percentage of Salary Cap – 29%
Combined 2018 Home Runs – 29
Opposing SP HR/9 vs. L (2018) – 0.71
Opposing SP HR/9 vs. R (2018) – 1.08
Justification – The most expensive stack on the evening for me runs through Boston. The Red Sox, as a team, are at the bottom of the totem pole against lefties this season. However, the three on this list have been able to get it going against southpaws all year. Mookie is the lefty stud – .555 wOBA, .568 ISO, 36% hard contact AND he has BvP against A’s starter Sean Manaea – 4-for-11, 1 3B, 2 HR, 1 BB. J.D. Martinez and HanRam each had wOBAs at or near .400 and hard contact rates of 42% or more this season against lefties.
CLEVELAND INDIANS
1. Yonder Alonso – $3,500
2. Jose Ramirez – $5,000
3. Francisco Lindor – $5,300
4. Michael Brantley – $4,500
Total Cost – $18,300
Percentage of Salary Cap – 36%
Combined 2018 Home Runs – 38
Opposing SP HR/9 vs. L (2018) – 3.38
Opposing SP HR/9 vs. R (2018) – 0.95
Justification – The most popular stack of the night will likely go to the Indians. They have been red hot lately and many people will see how well they have performed, thus put them in their rosters. Tonight they get Mike Fiers of the Detroit Tigers. It’s a bit odd that I am recommending 4 power lefty bats against Fiers, considering that he has been a reverse-splits pitcher for most of his career. But not this season as Fiers has been getting lit up against lefties, most notably that 3.38 HR/9 allowed. He’s also allowed a .403 wOBA. Yonder has the best BvP of the group with a .429 average, 3 walks and 3 RBI. Lindor and Ramirez have 7 hits against Fiers in their careers, and both are laying waste to opposing pitching of late. Brantley has been hitting in the four hole and will likely carry low ownership along with Alonso.
