New York Mets' Curtis Granderson (3) scores the go-ahead run on David Wright's seventh-inning single in the Mets' 4-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds as Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart, left, watches, in a baseball game Tuesday, April 26, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
Welcome to our new daily article breaking down some of the other pitching targets on this slate. We covered our system's top value plays in our daily picks article and our updates articles but here we will look at other dudes to consider.
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Stacking in DFS MLB is such an important concept if you’re looking to take down a big tournament on FanDuel or DraftKings. It’s also a good way to diversify cash games because the variance in baseball can mean wild swings (ahem) in the scoring on a particular slate. The concept is easy. You want to pile players from one or two teams into your lineups because those guys compound scores by helping each other score runs when the going is good.
New York Mets vs. Matt Cain (Giants)
Park - Oakland Coliseum
Matt Cain used to be a decent pitcher. Those days are over. Always a guy who seemed to run hot in the ERA department with the xFIP telling a different story, now the margins are thinner on his repertoire and he’s been pretty brutal over the last couple of seasons. He enters this game with a high 4’s xFIP and a less than 2:1 K:BB ratio. That’s going to be a real problem against a Mets team ranked in the top ten against righties this season in tem wOBA. You’ll see guys like Curtis Granderson, Michael Conforto and Lucas Duda near the top of the lineup along with Neil Walker. All hit righties significantly better for their careers and could give Cain real problems akin to what they did to Peavy least night.
Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Chris Rusin (Rockies)
Park - Chase Field
Chase Field is no Coors that’s for sure, but it isn’t exactly a pitcher’s have either. The park itself plays above average for power and this is a good spot to target some D-Backs. Chris Rusin is a low K, high GB% pitcher (the kind of guy the Rockies employ generally) but he’s been crushed by righty hitting for his career. Of course some of that stems from pitching half-time in a launching pad, but he’s more suited as a LOOGY than a starter. Arizona has a righty-heavy order with Paul Goldschmidt as the shining star but some other cheaper options like Jean Segura, Welington Castillo and Yasmany Tomas who are all better against lefties for their career. It’s no Coors, but we can still take a look at a Rockies games on this slate.
Baltimore Orioles vs. Mat Latos (White Sox)
Park - Camden Yards
Don’t be fooled by Latos’ sub 1.00 ERA. That is a lot of smoke and mirrors. The truth is really somewhere around his mid 4’s xFIP. Dude’s been striking out less than five batters per nine and living off of a .167 BABIP against early in the season. That simply cannot last. And while I don’t play the “he’s due” card really in any scenario, the simple logic suggests that he just isn’t going to put up CY Young style ERA numbers over the course of the season with these peripherals. The Orioles have a predominantly righty lineup, but guys like Chris Davis in the middle of the order is intriguing while Adam Jones and Manny Machado aren’t extreme splits guys and have hit righty pitching for their careers.
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View Comments
Where is the atl-chc game in the optimizer seems to be missing for fanduel
Atl-Chc game postponed
Thank you !
Vogt out of lineup
heavy on STL lefties today...not loving the wind blowing in at 20mph for DET game....
I really like Adams on FD. Free middle of the lineup and Ross is brutal against lefties.
Doug, I should have listened to you yesterday. I put Sean Manaea in my lineups and ended up losing by 11 points and .7 points. I am desperate now. I have won some money but I am losing more, thankfully not a lot more. I play tournaments but I am going to start doing 50/50's more. Would this be a good lineup to roll out in the early slate today for a 50/50 on FD?
P- J.Zimmerman DET
C- V.Martinez DET
1B- L.Duda NYM
2B- N.Walker NYM
3B-C.Coghlan OAK
SS-A.Cabrera NYM
OF-J.Martinez DET
OF-Y.Cespedes NYM
OF-J.Upton DET
I think it's an overpay on Zimmerman. He doesn't K enough guys and has an xFIP like 4 runs higher than the ERA. Go down from Cespedes to like Conforto or Granderson and up to Archer or deGrom (if that works)
Ok, thank you Doug. My line-up is now:
P- J.deGrom NYN
C- V.Martinez DET
1B- R.Zimmerman WAS
2B- N.Walker NYM
3B-N.Castellanos DET
SS-A.Cabrera NYM
OF-J.Martinez DET
OF-M.Conforto NYM
OF-J.Upton DET
It definitely looks better.
I need a good value pitcher for main slate today. Nicasio was a BEAST yesterday.
Yordano Ventura
Kevin Gausman - K potential, susceptible to the long ball
Rick Porcello - K potential, Gardner Ellsbury and Beltran are the only ones that have hit him well in his career.
Michael Pineda - K potential, susceptible to the long ball
Francisco Liriano - its the Reds and the two big bats Votto and Bruce haven't hit him well in the past.
Well Justin Upton in all top lineups looking great already
Though Jaime Garcia on DK going to be a big problem :)