Hello everyone, and welcome back to the MLB cash academy! I go by nillyJay in the DFS Army where I coach and contribute content for MLB, NASCAR, and all things cash games related (such as proper bankroll management and cash ladders). You can find me on Twitter or in our Slack channels @nillyJay.
The purpose of these articles is to show an easy way to identify players to use MLB cash game lineups. While I do provide some player names, the idea is to show what I’m looking for so that you can use some of that same thinking to help aid your research for building lineups.
The basics
Please refer to the original article here if you’re unfamiliar with any of the stats or terminology used in the notes below.
Yesterday’s results
Jacob deGrom: Did not play
Marco Gonzales: 55 FD, 34.55 DK
Yonder Alonso: 3 FD, 2 DK
Randal Grichuk: 9.5 FD, 8 DK
Tim Anderson: 0 FD, 0 DK
Kole Calhoun: 3.5 FD, 2 DK
I expected more out of Anderson, but it happens. How about Gonzales though? What a game for him!
Pick’Em results
I don’t normally include these (though maybe I should), but do you remember the freebie from yesterday? Were you wondering how the rest turned out? Well…
I’d say it turned out pretty well! But wait, nobody was on the Nationals yesterday, and I took two of them in my cash games. That’s just dumb luck, right? Well, you be the judge:
Click me, I expand!
That makes four profitable days in five for me, and plenty of others have been smashing Pick’Em with me as well. If the rest of you in the DFS Army aren’t playing MLB Pick’Em with us, you’re missing out. For those of you on the outside, you’re REALLY missing out. Anyway, on to today!
Cash players – 6/30/2018
Chris Sale (BOS P: $12,000 FD | $13,000 DK) – There aren’t a ton of great pitching options on the main slate today, but we do have Chris Sale. Not only are the Yankees a little strikeout prone, but Sale has been mowing down batters recently. He has a ridiculous 37.4% strikeout rate over his last handful of starts, we know he brings his A-game when he’s facing the Yanks. His carnage rating of 2.22 and combined wOBA of .197 are both elite numbers and are by far the best on this slate.
Trevor Wiliams (PIT P: $6,800 FD | $7,900 DK) – I normally go for better Vegas support, but there isn’t much to love on this slate, so here we are. Now, you could also go with Felix here, but I’m giving a slight edge to Williams today. They both have very low carnage ratings (2.47 for Felix, 2.67 for Williams) but Williams has the better wOBA (.339 vs .297), and there are more BvP concerns for Felix than there are for Williams. If you value Vegas support more, go with Felix (his -189 moneyline is huge) instead. Either way, I would use one of these two as a cash SP2 today.
Gorkys Hernandez (SFG OF: $2,800 FD | $3,400 DK) – Ignoring yesterday’s pinch-hit appearance, Gorkys has a 6-game hitting streak going. That brings his wOBA to .397 and ISO to .333 against righties, and he faces Miller who gave up .382 wOBA to righties in his only start this season against Miami. Gorkys saw double-digit fantasy scoring in 4 of his last 6 games, and think he gets there again today.
Leury Garcia (CWS OF: $2,100 FD | $3,400 DK) – I love a good value play, and Leury fits the bill today. While his .332 wOBA against righties isn’t the highest out there, he matches up well against Colon’s .457 wOBA and .286 ISO. Not only that, but he’s only failed to score fantasy points three times since early May, and recently had 9 hits in 5 games. He didn’t have a good game yesterday, but I like him to bounce back today and start a new hitting streak.
Kurt Suzuku (ATL C: $2,700 FD | $3,700 DK) – Kurt has been fairly hot lately and finds himself in another spot to keep that going. His .474 wOBA against righties is fantastic, as is his super-low 6.25% strikeout rate. Weaver has been giving up .370 wOBA to righties and has only been striking out 19.8% of his batters, so I like Kurt’s chances today to continue his string of solid performances.
Josh Bell (PIT 1B: $2,600 FD | $3,500 DK) – Another underpriced batter, Bell has been producing fantasy points all month long. His .355 wOBA against lefties stands up well to Lucchesi, who has been getting knocked around for .450 wOBA and .500 ISO lately against the right side of the plate. There’s not much strikeout potential here (13.04% strikeout rate for Bell), so I’m looking for him to keep things rolling today.
And that’s going to do it for today! As always, be sure to check out the rest of our MLB content coming out today, and if you haven’t already, check out my NASCAR Xfinity preview article for the Chicagoland race today. We’ve been hot all season long with NASCAR and we look to continue that this weekend. If you like what we’re doing but haven’t joined up yet, this would be a great time to do it, because prices will be going up soon enough once NFL season rolls around. Just be sure to use promo code NILLY to lock in that 10% savings for the life of your active membership. Good luck today!!
