Searching For the Free Square
In the game of Bingo, every card gets an empty spot in the middle called the “Free Square”. Since it’s the middle square, the free square is essentially the ideal spot from which to build lines around. In DFS we define the Free Square as the player to build your line-ups around. Generally, this player represents the closest we can find to a sure thing for the slate. This column is all about trying to identify the free square for a particular slate. We are going to be searching most often for one SP, one OF, and one IF. The type of player we are looking for that allows us to load up the rest of our lineup with high salary studs. Occasionally it will be a high priced stud in a great spot, The goal of this column is to use quantitative data to identify the free square for the days Daily Fantasy Baseball slate. Each slate we will take a deep look at three or four players which represent outsized value on the day’s slate of games and choose the one which best represents the top value and floor play to earn the title of the slates Free Square of the night.
Want to try a free month of DFS Army VIP Membership? Find out how!
Tonight
I hope everyone had a good weekend as we start off the week with a really short 7-game slate on this Monday night. On the pitching side of things, we are led by Alex Wood, Cole Hamels, and Gerrit Cole. On the hitting side of things, the teams with the highest implied totals are the Baltimore Orioles, Minnesota Twins, and the Cleveland Indians.
Want to try a free month of DFS Army VIP Membership? Find out how!
Free Squares
- Tyler Skaggs SP LAA ($6,700)
- Tyler Skaggs and the Los Angeles Angels will take on the Texas Rangers tonight at Angels Stadium. The Angels are currently -147 favorites and the Rangers have an implied run total sitting at right around 3.90 runs. Skaggs hasn’t pitched in a ton of games this season but he has been pretty solid through those starts. He has the following advanced numbers on the season: .278 wOBA given up to lefties, .341 wOBA given up to righties, 23.1 K%, 8.6 BB%, .339 BABIP, 28.6 Hard%, 4.24 SIERA, and a 4.04 xFIP. He will face the Rangers tonight who have been averaging right around 5.11 runs per game this season. They have the following ranks against left-handed pitching on the season: 19th in BB%, 5th in K%, 22nd in OPS, 20th in ISO, 21st in wOBA, and 24th in wRC+. The Rangers have struggled all year against left-handed pitching and I think Skaggs is simply priced too low tonight. It’s a great spot for him tonight at a very affordable price. I love him as an SP2 tonight.
- Manuel Pina C MIL ($3,400)
- Manuel Pina and the Milwaukee Brewers will take on the San Francisco Giants and pitcher Chris Stratton tonight at AT&T Park tonight, The Brewers have an implied run total sitting at right around 4.43 runs. Pina has had a pretty solid year so far and I love his matchup against Chris Stratton tonight. He has the following numbers vs. right-handed pitching this season: 5.8 BB%, 20.8 K%, .770 OPS, .187 ISO, .305 BABIP, .328 wOBA, and a 96 wRC+. He gets to face Chris Stratton tonight who has the following numbers this season against right-handed batters: 23.4 K%, 7.8 BB%, .233 BABIP, 3.31 xFIP, and a 29.6 Hard%. Stratton’s numbers may look solid but he has not thrown many innings this season and it is skewed by one solid outing and a low BABIP vs. righties. I like going low at catcher and I think Pina provides solid upside for his price tonight.
- Trey Mancini 1B/OF BAL ($3,900)
- Trey Mancini and the Baltimore Orioles will take on the Oakland Athletics and pitcher Chris Smith tonight at Camden Yards. The Orioles have an implied run total sitting at right around 5.95 runs. Mancini has really solid numbers against right-handed pitching this season and is one of those guys who has reverse splits. He has the following numbers vs. right-handed pitchers this season: 6.9 BB%, 23.4 K%, .912 OPS, .265 OPS, .337 BABIP, .381 wOBA, 137 wRC+, and a 34.3 Hard%. He gets to face Chris Smith tonight who has the following numbers vs. right-handed batters on the season: .450 wOBA, 2.70 HR/9, 6.3 BB%, 6.3 BB%, .308 BABIP, 6.66 xFIP, and a 14.3 Hard%. I think Baltimore is going to score a ton of runs against Chris Smith tonight and Trey Mancini will get plenty of opportunities for fantasy production tonight. Throw him as a one-off in the outfield or first and you need to include him apart of your Orioles stack tonight.
(Sign up for a DFS ARMY VIP MEMBERSHIP today!)
Really short slate to start off the week but I still think we can find and edge tonight . I hope we narrowed down a few places or players we can target tonight. We have tons of tools and content available at the DFS Army this year for MLB so don’t miss out on all of those opportunities to make some money. Click the link “DFS Army VIP Membership” and sign up and join the Army today! With my free square pick, I am going to go with Orioles outfielder Trey Mancini tonight! Good luck Army!
Do you want access to the most advanced Daily Fantasy Basketball MLB tools in the industry? How about the chance to talk player picks and lineups with our MLB DFS Pros and like-minded players? DFS Army VIP Members get all of that PLUS access to our best in the industry projections and optimization tools. Go to DFS Army VIP membership and join the Army today! You won’t find a better deal or a better DFS team to join!
