Welcome to the Core 4! My name is Michael aka @MadnessDFS on Twitter, make sure to give me a follow as I’ll occasionally make updates to the article throughout the day as news breaks and lineups come out. But, you’ll mostly find me in our VIP coaching forums where I provide detailed lineup maneuvers and answer all lineup questions. With that said, let’s get it started!
Purpose of the Core 4: These four players are guys that I want to get high exposure to in my cash game lineups and if doing multi-entry, using the Domination Station to either lock them in or set high exposure percentages to them. These are players that I see as underpriced, in great matchups, good conditions, or simply just have a hunch. I also need to mention that these plays are normally geared toward Draftkings pricing and scoring, however, the stats and reasoning behind liking them stay true no matter the site. Be sure to compare this article with the players mentioned on our Coaches Notes/Player Picks every night to get a sense of where you stand and to get multiple coach’s outlooks on the slate. With that said, let’s jump in!
While you’re here, go check out the NFL Draft Kit, which has you covered for all of your draft day needs!
-> NFL DRAFT KIT <-
CORE 4:
Luis Castillo (SP) – $10,000
Castillo draws one of the best matchups that a right-handed pitcher can ask for. He goes on the road to Miami to face a Marlins offense that holds an implied run total of just 3.2 runs here. Marlins Park is a pitcher’s paradise and Castillo has already pitched well here this season, in his lone start in Miami he went seven innings with eight strikeouts on his way to 34 Draftkings points. The Marlins strikeout 25.7% of the time against right-handed pitching on the season and Castillo has an elite strikeout rate of 28.5%. Strikeouts are king when it comes to picking pitching for DFS and this is a game where I can see Castillo flirting with that double-digit number. The Marlins have an xwOBA of just .283 against righties this season to go along with a .119 ISO… that’s right .119! He has gone for at least 20 Draftkings points in four of his last five outings, so we will look for him to keep up the solid starts here against a weak Miami lineup. Castillo will be my core pitcher play and is a cheaper option than Verlander, Giolito, Corbin, etc. Nilly’s Carnage Report isn’t out at the time I’m writing this, but be sure to give it a look and check out where he ranks!
-> NILLY’S CARNAGE REPORT <-
Aaron Judge (OF) – $4,500
I’m going to continue to ride the Aaron Judge hot train tonight in Seattle. As I write this, he has 8 Draftkings points on Monday night, but before Monday, he had gone for double-digit fantasy outings in seven of his last eight games and is averaging 8.7 Draftkings points per game over his last ten. Not only is he hot, but he gets a matchup with Yusei Kikuchi who is a very weak left-handed pitcher. As we know, Judge destroys lefties. On the season he has a .600 slugging percentage, a .454 wOBA, and a .275 ISO. I’m hoping people are run off of Judge because of Kikuchi’s last game in which he threw a complete game out of nowhere, but I’ll let people chase the boxscores on that one. He’s given up a hard contact percentage of 37.1% on the season to go along with his 5.19 era. Give me all the Aaron Judge here and let’s hope he stays hot.
Christian Yelich (OF) – $5,800
So, I hate to go so expensive here, but I can’t pass up this spot on Christian Yelich. He draws a matchup with Miles Mikolas and the Cardinals at home. The Brewers have an implied run total of 5 runs here and Miles Mikolas is much worse against lefties on the season and visa-versa for Yelich. Against righties on the season, Yelich has an insane .789 slugging percentage, .401 wOBA, and a .295 ISO. I’m also expecting the roof to be open in Milwaukee due to the weather being sunny in the mid-’70s. The wind is expected to be blowing out at near 15 mph if this is the case. Yelich hasn’t homered in nine games, and this is a bit of a gut call by me, I think he has a massive game. He is averaging 11.2 Draftkings points per game in his last ten games, yes that includes an outlier game where he went for 50 Draftkings points, but that just proves the upside that he provides. He’s expensive, but I think we can get there if we save at SP2 with a couple of guys that I like on the slate such as Houser, Plutko, and Masahiro Tanaka.
I’m going to continue to drive home the coaches notes/player picks here, these are something you need to look at before submitting your lineups! Often times we don’t have enough time to write big long write-ups on every single player on our coaching sheets, but trust me the research is there behind every pick! The Coaches Notes have a little bit of everything no matter what type of player you are. They have Draftkings notes, FanDuel notes, Showdown slate notes, and CashKeg’s Main Slate cash notes (see results below). Take these and compare them to the rest of the tools we offer on the site and you have already strengthened your chances of doing something like bobbywow did here when he won $50,000.
Chad Pinder (2B/OF) – $3,400
As many of you know, I like to go cheap with our last spot in the core especially with some expensive guys at the other three spots. Pinder does just that, he also provides some multi-position eligibility as he is 2B/OF eligible. I am expecting him to hit around the five hole here against Mike Montgomery in Kansas City. Montgomery has been better as of late but fell off a cliff in his last start in which he gave up three home runs in five innings pitched. Pinder is a guy that I love to target when he is facing a lefty. He’s not in the greatest of form as of late, but check out these numbers against left-handed pitching on the season; .504 slugging percentage, .356 wOBA, and a .229 ISO. It’s hard not to like those numbers at his incredibly cheap price tag.
Simple Coaching = Simple Results
Our coaches build their sheets with their own “Core” plays in them (blue in color). You can use these to form your own foundations, or as a consensus across coaches to solidify your own thoughts. However, I definitely recommend upgrading to a Full VIP member so you can access our coaching discussions in rooms like, #cash-keg-allsports where our coaches explain when and why they change some of their thoughts based on late lineup confirmations. These pivots dramatically increase your edge as a player!
As always I appreciate everyone who gave the article a read! Feel free to mix it up with me in our coaching forums as news breaks and lock approaches. Let’s win some cash, whaddya say?!
