Daily Fantasy Baseball News and Updates for FanDuel and DraftKings – 4/16

Daily Fantasy Baseball News and Updates for FanDuel and DraftKings - 4/16

Welcome to the daily MLB updates and news article. We'll try and update it right up to line-up locks with as much information as comes across our desks. Let's get to it!

Last night's picks can be found here, so you can wrap your mind around what you need to be looking at before lineups lock today.

By the way - we keep our projection system updated with all of the batting lineup changes as they occur throughout the day right up until lineup lock. Every day. If you want access to that system so you can cut out a lot of the research element, click the button below!

What We Know

One small weather concern in Texas

While this doesn't look too serious at the time of writing this, weather can change in the blink of an eye. Make sure to keep an eye out on Twitter for any updates. We will update here if the game is postponed.

Note - Check back for updates as lineups are posted

Tournament Stacks

Chicago Cubs

The Cubs are in a great spot to bounce back from yesterday where they could only scrape together 1 run. Today they will be facing off with Christian Bergman and are certainly my favorite stack in the early slate. While the top 4 or 5 may be heavily owned, you don't have to stack all those guys. The Cubs are a unique lineup as all 8 guys can put up big numbers and keep a rally going. If you are looking to be contrarian, stack Rizzo, Bryant, Russell and Szczur. You will likely be the only Cubs stack with those 4. Bergman has displayed some reverse splits as he has given up a career wOBA of .425 to righties and .299 to lefties. This gives you the opportunity to use an edge against the average player that has no clue about those splits. This doesn't necessarily mean I am off the lefties as I think this whole offense goes nuts today.

Milwaukee Brewers

The Brewers will be taking on Jon Niese and the Pirates a night after they smacked around Jeff Locke, another weak lefty. While the park does concern me, Braun proved last night that he can get it out of the park. Niese gave up 16 homers and a .330 wOBA to righties in 2015. While that seems bad, his peripherals suggest he will only decline. I know the Brewers are not a very appealing team to roster but we have to accept that they have some righty power.I look for this stack to be under 8% owned tonight, which only adds to the appeal. I look for the Brewers to get to Niese early and often with the righties. My favorite Brewers are Lucroy, Carter, Santana, Braun and Santana. If you want to be super contrarian, go with an Aaron Hill or Villar.

 

Sneaky Pitcher

Shelby Miller

While everyone has been targeting righties against the Padres, I think Miller goes under owned tonight. While Miller is a pitcher expected to regress this year, this start should delay that at least 1 more week. The Padres have been shutout 5 times so far this season in only 11 games. I look for Miller to have success against the righties and squeak by the weak lefties. I certainly prefer Miller in tournaments as he has definite blowup potential.

Early slate - Josh Tomlin

 

The "Every Lineup" Guys

Chris Davis

Chris Davis is in a prime spot today against a poor righty in Colby Lewis. Lewis struggles to keep the ball in play and Davis is rather good at hitting it out. In 2015, Lewis gave up a .324 wOBA and 13 homers to lefties. This situation sets up very well for Davis as he will have almost every factor in his advantage. Davis is a player I am comfortable using in both cash game and tournaments.

Kris Bryant

Kris Bryant is another guy in a great spot, however, I expect Bryant to be much lower owned. Not many people will realize that Christian Bergman has reverse splits and is actually much worse against righties. Bryant has hit righties just fine as evidenced by his 140 wRC+ last season. This sets up to be a great spot where you may be able to get a guy in the perfect match up under 15% owned.

Stephen Vogt

Stephen Vogt is coming off a big game where he went 3 for 4 with a homer. He wiln now step into a match up against Chris Young, a pitcher that has trouble against lefties. Vogt has hit righties very well with a 128 wRC+ and 17 homers in 2015. While Chris Young has decent headline stats, his xFIP of 5.33 suggests he will regress greatly this year. Look for Vogt have an effective day at the plate against a right handed pitcher due for regression.

One other note: There are big differences between DraftKings and FanDuel pricing so the optimal lineups are looking quite different.

These are players that show up in each of the top 10 lineups as produced by our lineup optimizer. This doesn't necessarily mean that they're "safe," it just means that their projected weighted-mean point total is a solid building block for a great lineup foundation today.

Good luck out there today! If you want access to all of our numbers, get started with a free trial below of our lineup optimizer, on us!

image sources

Austyn Varney

View Comments

  • Well…I hate to say you’re right…but…FantasyAces premium L/U for early slate

    P Jake Arrieta 14.50 7,550.00
    P Adam Wainwright 4.00 6,650.00
    C Stephen Vogt 4.00 4,350.00
    2B/SS Ben Zobrist -0.50 4,800.00
    2B/SS Addison Russell 3.00 4,150.00
    1B/3B Anthony Rizzo 1.00 5,750.00
    1B/3B Kris Bryant 7.75 4,900.00
    OF Josh Reddick -1.00 4,200.00
    OF Chris Coghlan 0.00 4,000.00
    OF Miguel Sano 1.50 4,800.00
    Util Alcides Escobar 1.00 3,800.00

    • Everytime I use reddick or any a's not named Valencia I get goose egged or under 5pts.

  • The fanduel lineup optimizer has Kris Bryant priced at $4200 yet on Fanduel he is $4600. Hopefully this can be fixed before first pitch. Love the service. Thank you for helping us win!

  • Sorry for the pricing issues today everyone. Was pulling info from yesterday's FD prices. Apologies and it's been corrected.

  • Why did I go with Weaver??? Why?? Leave it to him to wake up the Twins bats...hurry up late slate, I have seen enough.

  • I'm stacking Brewers tonight because I think it's a sneaky stack.
    Opinions on another good stack?!?!

  • The obvious is Baltimore or Texas but think Dodgers are a sneaky stack