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.
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Recap
For our pitcher free square, we had Eduardo Rodriguez who ended up with 29.90 DKFP which was right around 4.5x value! For our infielder free square, we had Matt Carpenter who ended up with 19 DKFP which was good enough for 5.6x value! For our outfielder free square, we had Andrew McCutchen who ended up with 5 DKFP which was good enough for right around 1.3x value.
Tonight
We have a solid 12-game slate ahead of us for Tuesday night. On the pitching side of things, we are led by Max Scherzer, Ervin Santana, and Yu Darvish. On the hitting side of things, the teams with the highest implied run totals are as follows: Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners, and the Texas Rangers. Let’s dive into the slate:
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Free Squares
- Marcus Stroman SP TOR ($7,700)
- Marcus Stroman and the Toronto Blue Jays will take on the Baltimore Orioles tonight at the Rogers Centre. The Blue Jays are currently -105 favorites and the Orioles have an implied run total sitting at right around 4.18 runs. Stroman has had quite the up and down season but he draws a favorable home matchup tonight against the Orioles. He has the following advanced numbers on the season: .296 wOBA given up to lefties, .321 wOBA given up to righties, 20.0 K%, 7.0 BB%, .313 BABIP, 31.3 Hard%, 3.81 SIERA, and a 3.56 xFIP. He will face the Orioles tonight who have been averaging right around 4.77 runs per game this season. They have the following ranks against right handed pitching on the season: 30th in BB%, 14th in K%, 16th in OPS, 15th in ISO, 18th in wOBA, and 18th in wRC+. Stromans advanced numbers are better than you with think and this Orioles team does not really scare me all that much. With his price and his matchup tonight I think Stroman makes a great SP2 on Draftkings tonight.
- Mike Zunino C SEA ($3,400)
- Mike Zunino and the Seattle Mariners will take on the Texas Rangers and pitcher Martin Perez tonight at Globe Life Park in Arlington. The Rangers have an implied run total sitting at right around 5.53 runs. Zunino has always been one of the better hitter catchers in the league and he gets a great matchup against Martin Perez tonight. He has the following numbers against left handed pitching this season: 8.0 BB%, 38.3 K%, .797 OPS, .241 ISO, .350 BABIP, .338 wOBA, 113 wRC+, and a 36.7 Hard%. He gets to face Martin Perez tonight who has the following numbers vs. right handed batters on the season: 1.17 HR/9, 12.4 K%, 7.8 BB%, .333 BABIP, 5.05 xFIP, 34.9 Hard%. The Mariners have one of the highest implied totals of the night and that is good news for Zunino tonight. He has a favorable matchup and a great price with a ton of upside tonight.
- Shin-Soo Choo TEX OF ($4,300)
- Staying in the same game Shin-Soo Choo and the Texas Rangers will take on the Seattle Mariners and pitcher Mike Leake tonight at home in Globe Life Park in Arlington. The Rangers have an implied run total sitting at right around 5.47 runs. Choo has been solid all year and he has been absolutely crushing righties. He has the following advanced stats on the season vs. righties: 12.0 BB%, 21.9 K%, .786 OPS, .176 ISO, .301 BABIP, .340 wOBA, 107 wRC+, and a 40.6 Hard%. He gets to face Mike Leake tonight who has the following numbers vs. left handed batters: 1.02 HR/9, 11.0 K%, 6.7 BB%, .306 BABIP, 4.52 xFIP, and a 34.1 Hard%. I love a ton of batters in this guy and Choo is a guy who is at the top of my list tonight. Lock in him the outfield or as part of a Rangers stack.
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Really nice slate we have ahead of us for this Wednesday. The MLB season is winding down so let’s take full advantage of each slate. 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 Rangers outfielder Shin-Soo Choo tonight! Good luck Army!
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