Hello Everyone! I go by “Thunder Dan” around here and you can find me @ThunderDanDFS on twitter. I’m a history teacher by day, and DFS analyst and consultant by night. Or in today’s case on the weekend…
This morning I am going to give you a good idea of where to start building your lineups for today’s, slate including both pitching and hitting. This article will be styled in much the same way as Chop’s Chin Music is during the week and I hope I can fill in admirably for Chop on the weekends, these are big shoes to fill.
The Early, but not too Early slate…
So two game slates are for the birds, but I did want to make a few suggestions for the three game slate that locks at 4:05 on Fanduel. Unfortunately Draftkings has only a two game slate at the same time since they didn’t include the Toronto-Tampa game.
I’ll keep it short and sweet. None of the pitchers on this slate are entirely safe, and I wouldn’t really recommend cash games on such a small slate, but if you want to take a few tournament shots go for it.
At pitcher, Tanner Roark is the largest favorite and has been ok, but not great all season and the Phils are scuffling of late. I’d be fine playing him, but the most upside would be in rostering Jake Faria against Toronto. He has flashed his ceiling a few times this year and I like using right handed pitchers against the Jays who can be had for some strikeouts. I’ll likely use Faria and savie some salary for hitters.
Speaking of hitters, FADE BRYCE HARPER AT YOUR OWN PERIL. I was all over Harper against my beloved Pirates and after he stunk on Thursday I did not play him last night. He crushed homers in his first two at bats, and luckily I still cashed a bunch of lineups without him on such a big slate. On a small slate, I would not recommend trying to build a lineup without him. The man is locked in and he happens to be 5-6 off Velazquez in his career. I think the Nats stack is in play and probably the chalk, but play them anyway. The other pitcher I want to pick on is Jordan Zimmerman with some Royals bats. The Soler, Moustakas, Perez 234 stack is fast becoming one of my favorites.
Main Slate Pitching
Let’s start by looking at who we want to build around at pitcher tonight. I always start my process with pitching first, then fill in with hitting. How many times have you had a stack go off but you’re stuck with 10 points from a pitcher? Look at what Gerrit Cole did last night, he put up 85 points on Fanduel! Edwin Encarnacion and Mookie Betts both hit 3 home runs the other day and neither of them got to that number. Let’s take a look at who’s popping in our DFS ARMY RESEARCH STATION.
I hope some of you took advantage of #FreebieFriday yesterday and experienced the RS firsthand. It is by far the most important tool that I use on a daily basis when researching a slate. I can’t really do it justice with just a screenshot. Become a premium member today and have access to the RS, as well as our Domination Station optimizer and our premium slack chat where you can talk about the slates with me and the rest of our MLB staff.
It should be too much of a surpise that we see Kenta Maeda and Charlie Morton at the top of this list. These are your safe cash game options tonight, I would almost always recommend to pay up for pitching in cash games. Maeda has the best match up today against the Padres. Last time out he struck out 10 Pads in only 5 and 2/3 innings on his way to 41 FD points. He saves you 1400 in cap off Morton on Fanduel if you want to fit a few more good hitters. However, don’t sleep on Uncle Charlie. After one bad start against the Angels, he bounced back with a stellar performance against the Yankees striking out 10 in 7 and 2/3 innings for a cool 60 FD points. He’s been great all season and he just may be worth paying up for tonight against Arizona who struck out 16 (no that is not a typo) times against Gerrit Cole last night.
Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about Trevor Cahill, who is sandwiched in our rankings between Maeda and Morton. I am a Cahill believer! I really think this guy figured out how to pitch somewhat late in his career. He is a great ground ball pitcher, and while he is only an average strikeout guy, he gets an excellent match up against k-happy Baltimore at home. I wouldn’t use him in cash on FD, but as an SP2 on DK he is one of my favorite plays.
Main Slate Hitting
A quick glance at the RS tells us that Bryan Mitchell and Ty Blach are likely the two worst pitchers on the slate tonight. The Dodgers bats have been hot of late and I’d be starting my Dodger stacks with Yasmani Grandal and Cody Bellinger. But don’t forget about Chris Taylor, who will likely lead off and can hit righties as well as lefties. He is also now SS eligible on Fanduel which is awesome for roster flexibility. Joc “Jams” Pederson is way too cheap tonight at only 2200 on Fanduel and is projected to hit second. I love that Dodgers 1-4 stack right there.
Roster the Braves tonight against a bad pitcher? You won’t have to twist my arm. The Braves offense is formidable and you can stack it up in any number of ways. Ozzie Albies is a switch hitter who leads off and is having a huge breakout. Robert Acuna Jr. is a right handed top prospect who has taken the league by storm. Don’t be afraid to use the Atlanta lefties Freddie Freeman or Nick Markakis to your stacks either. And why stop there? Kurt Suzuki absolutely destroys left-handed pitching and if Jose Bautista or Johan Camargo crack the lineup they deserve consideration as well. This Atlanta team has a .390 WOBA against left-handed pitching this season – stack ’em up!
Outside of those two stacks, we can use the RS to locate some other spots to attack or individual hitters in good spots to use as “one-offs”, meaning they are the only hitter from the team you will use.
Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story are always in play against a lefty and Steven Matz has been very hittable this season. They usually hit in the 3 and 4 spots, so I don’t mind them as a mini two-man stack there.
Mookie Betts is a top play against Cole Hamels with the platoon advantage (did I really just type Mookie Betts is a top play? You probably knew that) But further up you’ll see that his new teammate JD Martinez is the guy who absolutely destroys left-handed pitching, and is on fire this season as well. I have no problems attacking Cole Hamels who is HR prone and not the pitcher he once was.
Nelson Cruz against a lefty? Yes, please. Cruz is always among the league leaders in ISO and WOBA against left handing pitching. He’s homered off Skaggs twice already.
Oh and there is another guy who hits lefties pretty well, his name is MIKE TROUT. I would recommend playing some Mike Trout tonight.
Which stats are our favorites for DFS MLB? Read: Top 3 Stats
Dong Calls
Arenado, Betts, Martinez, Cruz, Trout and….JOC PEDERSON! Did you think I was going to only give obvious ones?
Final Thoughts
It’s a nice slate tonight. For cash games lock in a higher priced safe pitcher and mix in some value with your favorite stud hitters. In tournaments, find a lower priced arm like Trevor Cahill, Tyler Mahle, or Caleb Smith and mix in your favorite stacks with some of these big name bats. Good luck in all of your contests!
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