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 lineups 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
Recap
Let’s take a look at how our free squares did last night. Our pitcher free square was Jon Gray who ended up with right around 30.75 DKFP which was good enough for right around 3.5x value. Our infielder free square was Devon Travis was out ended up with 0 DKFP. Our outfielder free square was Dexter Fowler who ended up with right around 13 DKFP which was good enough for right around 3.9x value.
Today
Let’s takes a look at the MLB slate for Thursday afternoon. The teams with the highest implied run total are the: Boston Red Sox (5.19), Oakland Athletics (4.82), and the Chicago White Sox (4.78). The highest priced pitchers on the slate are David Price, James Paxton, and Kyle Gibson. The highest priced hitters on the slate are Charlie Blackmon, Mookie Betts, and Nolan Arenado.
(Sign up for a DFS ARMY VIP MEMBERSHIP today before it’s too late!)
(Follow me on Twitter!)
Free Squares
- James Paxton P SEA ($9,500)
- James Paxton and the Seattle Mariners will take on the Minnesota Twins on the road tonight. The Twins have an implied total sitting at right around 3.95 runs and the Mariners are currently -109 favorites. Target Field was the 7th best hitters park last season. Paxton had the following numbers on the year last season: .210 wOBA given up to lefties, .273 wOBA given up to righties, 28.3 K%, 6.7 BB%, .300 BABIP, 30.3 Hard%, 3.45 SIERA, and a 3.25 xFIP. The Twins had the following ranks against left-handed pitchers last season: 11th in BB%, 19th in K%, 14th in OPS, 24th in ISO, 14th in wOBA, and 13th in wRC+. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a projection of right around 19.154 DKFP which would be good for right around 2x value.. Paxton had pretty fantastic numbers last season including a high K%. He gets a good matchup today against a Twins team who was a middling team vs. left-handed pitching. Load him up as either your SP1 or SP2 on Draftkings this afternoon.
- Kyle Seager 3B SEA ($3,400)
- Kyle Seager and the Seattle Mariners will take on the Minnesota Twins and pitcher Kyle Gibson on the road tonight. The Mariners have an implied total sitting at right around 4.05 runs and they are currently -109 favorites. Target Field was the 7th best hitters park last season. Seager is likely going to be batting 5th in the order tonight. Seager had the following stats against right-handed pitching last season: 9.6 BB%, 16.3 K%, .776 OPS, .199 ISO, .261 BABIP, .327 wOBA, 107 wRC+, and a 38.1 Hard%. Seager will face pitcher Kyle Gibson who had the following numbers vs. lefties last season: .358 wOBA, 16.2 K%, 8.7 BB%, .343 BABIP, 4.76 xFIP, and a 34.2 Hard%. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a DFS ARMY GRADE of 81.426. Seager fared well against right-handed pitching last season and Gibson was shaky at best against lefties. A nice hitters park boost and Seager should see a lot of opportunities hitting in the middle of the order this afternoon. Load him up as a mid-priced third baseman on Draftkings.
- Chad Pinder OF/SS OAK ($2,900)
- Chad Pinder and the Oakland Athletics will take on the Texas Rangers and pitcher Martin Perez tonight at home. The Athletics have an implied total sitting at right around 4.82 runs and they are currently -137 favorites. The Oakland Coliseum was the 6th best hitters park last season. Pinder is likely going to be batting 2nd in the order tonight. Pinder had the following stats on the season last year vs. left-handed pitching: 10.2 BB%, 26.5 K%, .738 OPS, .165 ISO, .310 BABIP, .318 wOBA, 99 wRC+, and a 31.2 Hard%. Pinder will face Martin Perez who had the following numbers vs. right-handed batters last season: .362 wOBA, 12.3 K%, 8.5 BB%, .327 BABIP, 5.12 xFIP, and a 34.5 Hard%. Taking a look at our Domination Station we can see that we have a DFS ARMY GRADE of 66.485. Oakland right-handed bats might be my favorite stack of the afternoon. Pinder has a solid matchup and should see a lot of at-bats in the 2nd hole today. Load him up as a cheaper outfielder or infielder on Draftkings tonight.
(Sign up for a DFS ARMY VIP MEMBERSHIP today before it’s too late!)
(Follow me on Twitter!)
Ultimate Free Square
We have a solid slate this afternoon with some solid tournaments across the industry. I hope I have narrowed down some guys that we can look to target. 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 ultimate free square pick, I am going to go with James Paxton tonight! Good luck Army!
Do you want access to the most advanced Daily Fantasy Basketball 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!
