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!
I just want to give a quick shoutout to BoomersDaddy for the Chris Sale core call last night, the man ended with 46.8 Draftkings points after scuffling a bit over his past couple starts! —-> Coaches Notes/Player Picks
Core 4:
Drew Smyly (SP) – $5,800
You probably weren’t expecting to see Drew Smyly on this list, were you? Well, here we are! Smyly draws a great matchup against a Giants team that I see scuffling here down the stretch. Not only does he get a great matchup with the Giants, but gets this massive ballpark that is a pitchers best friend. The Giants are beating up on Aaron Nola as I write this, but I’m going right back to the well here. Smyly just started a game against the Giants two starts ago and he scored 26.8 Draftkings points over 7 innings. Smyly has a pretty impressive 30.3% strikeout rate since coming to the Phillies. This likely will regress, but it’s not crazy to think he’ll be around that 23% number. The big thing with Smyly here is the price. I will be attacking some expensive offenses on this slate like the Astros and Red Sox, so freeing up that extra salary will be important in getting those bats jammed in. 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 <-
Hunter Dozier (3B) – $4,400
Dozier is coming off of a massive night last night where he scored 30 Draftkings points while hitting two home runs against this Tigers pitching staff. He has now scored at least 11 Draftkings points in three straight games and he gets a matchup with Edwin Jackson here who is a certified gas-can. Jackson has an ERA of 11.13 on the season and is averaging -0.3 Draftkings points per game, is that good? Dozier is crushing right-handed pitching on the season, he has a .543 slugging percentage to go along with a .371 wOBA and a .266 ISO. The best part about this stack is when they chase Edwin Jackson early they will get this Tigers bullpen that has given up the fourth-most runs in the league. The Royals are one of my favorite stacks on the slate and Dozier is one of the best pieces of it.
Alex Bregman (3B/SS) – $5,400
Since we have already used up our 3B slot on Hunter Dozier, we will need to use Bregman at our SS position which isn’t a huge deal. Bregman is on some kind of heater right now, over his past ten games he is averaging 11.8 Draftkings points per game and has scored at least 12 Draftkings points in five of his last six games. He gets a matchup with Dylan Bundy and that Orioles bullpen. I touched on how bad that Tigers bullpen is, well the Orioles is even worse, they are allowing the most runs in the league. Bregman has a .516 slugging percentage, .399 wOBA, and a .252 ISO against right-handed pitching on the season and Bundy is no stranger to giving up hard contact, I like Bregman a good deal here.
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.
Yordan Alvarez (OF) – $5,700
I normally like to get a cheap option as the fourth member of the Core 4, but we already did that with Drew Smyly. Like I said rostering him really allows us to do what we want in terms of bats. Alvarez is expensive, but for good reason, he gets the same matchup as Bregman here as the road team heading into Baltimore. Alvarez is absolutely destroying right-handed pitching on the season. He has a .658 slugging percentage, .451 wOBA, and a .325 ISO against righties on the season. This ballpark is very friendly to left-handed power, which Alvarez is. Rostering these four guys gives you $4,783 left per player and still allows you to pay up for an SP1 which I really like. The Astros are my favorite stack on the slate so getting to the meat of the order with Alvarez and Bregman correlates well. Alvarez has 11 hits in his last six games and is just one of the best bats in the AL, give me all the Alvarez I can get here and I’m hoping this hefty price tag keeps ownership down.
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?!
