Daily Fantasy Baseball News & Updates for FanDuel & DraftKings - 9/13/16

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

Personnel

• Matt Carpenter was removed last night after experiencing tightness in his back. Consider him day-to-day for now.
• It sounds like A.J. Pollock is going to remain on the shelf of the time being. He missed last night's game and the Diamondbacks are reportedly in no rush to get him back on the field as they play out the string.
• Miguel Sano left last night's game with a back issue and is expected to be out for a couple of days.
• Andrew Benitendi, who has missed the last three weeks with a knee injury, could be activated today.
• Justin Upton was removed last night with a calf injury. Consider him day-to-day.
• Starling Marte missed his seventh straight game on Monday as he continues to nurse a back injury. He's expected to return to the lineup soon, but there's no definitive timeline right now.
• Didi Gregorious could be getting another day off tonight to deal with some lingering, but relatively minor issues.
• Marcel Ozuna has a bruised knee after being hit with a pitch last night. He's considered day-to-day.
• Steven Pearce suffered a forearm injury last night and should be considered day-to-day until further notice.
• Dansby Swanson was forced out of last night's game with a groin contusion after getting hit with an errant warmup throw. Geez. There's been no further word on his status for tonight.
• Andrelton Simmons was scratched last night due to a hand issue. Consider him day-to-day.

We're proud to introduce a brand new partner (and player in this space), Fantasy Factor! DFSR readers can get a bunch of sweet freebies (including a $5, no strings, no drip bonus) by signing up now!

Tournament Stacks

Toronto Blue Jays

We've got the Blue Jays at home against a homer-prone lefty, so this one's pretty much automatic as far as the projection system is concerned, but probably less so for us humans who have been burned at times in this same scenario. Despite their perceived underperformance for DFS purposes, the Blue Jays still rank eighth in the MLB in wRC+, seventh in wOBA and fifth in ISO, so the offense is clearly producing. What's interesting is that even with an abundance of right-handed thumpers, their R/L splits are more or less neutral. Do with that information what you will, but we're not weighing it too heavily, given these hitters' individual track records and years of baseball data that tells us true reverse/neutral splits are exceedingly rare in the long run. The presence of Drew Smyly on the mound is also a major factor in this pick. He's a fly-ball guy with a history of home run issues that have only gotten worse this year (1.7 per 9) as his strikeouts of decreased significantly. He's still got the ability to miss some bats, but it's perhaps equally likely that he yields a couple of bombs, and that makes the Toronto power guys very enticing tonight.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Recency bias being what it is in DFS, we're likely to see a lot of Arizona stacks tonight after they blew up for 12 runs, 16 hits and three homers last night in a similar situation. That's unfortunate, and the pricing on FanDuel isn't helping matters if we're looking for low ownership levels, because it's going to make it very easy to grab any Diamondbacks bat you want. So if you want to fade over there, it's understandable. Our hope is that the higher prices on DraftKings will scare people away, because our algorithm is in lock step with DK's in that we're expecting another good night for the D-backs bats. They lead baseball in wOBA and ISO against LHP this year, so they're always a solid play at Chase Field, which is one of MLB's best hitting environments. Paul Goldschimdt is the obvious place to start building, and we're high on most of the righties, as lefty Jorge de la Rosa gives up a career .347 wOBA against opposite-hand hitters.

Sneaky Pitcher

Marcus Stroman

With a couple of upper-tier arms and GPP darling Robby Ray on tonight's slate, there's a chance Stroman flies under the radar, and that would be fine with us. Because while he's not our top-projected pitcher tonight, he's not that far off. Much of that has to do with Tampa Bay. They're a pretty average offense overall, but there's plenty of swing-and-miss potential in this lineup, and that helps make up for the fact that Stroman isn't a high-K guy. And his so-so 7.63 Ks per nine is virtually the only thing we don't like about the right-hander's profile right now. He gets loads of ground balls (60 percent) which helps minimize the Rogers Centre power-boosting properties, and he keeps the walks and homers to a minimum. Add in the fact that the Blue Jays are a heavy favorite (-201) and we're looking for a nice night from the young right-hander.

The "Every Lineup" Guys

Paul Goldschmidt

The lineup optimizer is locked in on a core of 3-4 guys that it wants in virtually every lineup tonight, and none is projected for more points than Goldschmidt. While his overall production is down a bit in 2016, he's still having a very good season with a .383 wOBA, 20 homers and a career-high 24 steals. And against lefties, he's been just as phenomenal as ever, with a .443 wOBA and much less of a dip in power (.236 ISO).

Josh Donaldson

Donaldson at home against a lefty is tough to fade, especially when that lefty gives up as many fly balls (50 percent!) as Drew Smyly. Donaldson's not quite going to be able to match last year's gaudy counting stats, but a closer inspection shows us that he's been almost equally excellent in 2016. His wOBA .402 and ISO .268 are virtually identical to last season's numbers, and he's striking out less and walking more, which is always a nice combo. The splits are a little less dramatic than his career numbers, but you won't find many guys better than a .417 wOBA and .263 ISO against southpaws.

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!