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 all the NFL strategy we have at DFSArmy, which has you covered for all of your NFL fantasy needs.
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CORE 4:
Trevor Bauer (SP) – $9,100
This may seem like a surprise to some due to his recent form, which has not been great, I will admit that. However, this is DFS so we need to look past the recent games and focus on the larger sample size. Personally, I think Bauer is one of the best pitchers in the league. He gets a matchup with the Seattle Mariners here who have an implied run total of just 4.2 runs here. The Mariners are not an offense that scares me, they have a strikeout rate of 25.6% on the season to go along with Bauer’s 26.2% k rate. Both are above average in terms of league rankings. Not only does this set up nicely on paper, but Bauer has already crushed the Mariners once this season going for 28.2 Draftkings points over 6.2 innings of 8 strikeout baseball. The price is simply too cheap for the talent, I’m willing to ignore the recency bias on him and use him as my SP1 on this slate taking a discount on guys like Walker Beuhler and Zac Gallen. 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 <-
Samuel Hilliard (OF) – $3,800
I’m hoping that Hilliard draws the start here because this is an incredible spot for this kid at a very cheap price tag. Hilliard has proven the power upside that we thought he would have when he was called up to the big leagues. The game logs will scare you, but the price is what I’m looking at here. You’ll get exposure to Coors at a sub $4k price tag which isn’t something that you find all too often. Not only this but in his short big-league he has hit right-handed pitching very well, going for a .520 slugging percentage, .322 wOBA, and a .320 ISO. Finally, Michael Wacha is not a guy that I’m afraid, in fact he’s a guy I will go out of my way to target hitters against. He has a 4.98 era on the season and the Rockies have an implied run total of 6 runs here, this is a great spot to get some cheap exposure to Coors field.
Ronald Acuna Jr. (OF) – $5,300
After going relatively cheap at SP1 and getting a value OF with our first two core plays, we can look to spend some money on our last two guys. This is where Acuna comes into play against Jason Vargas in Philadelphia. Vargas is not a guy that I’m afraid of and has a 4.27 era on the season. In Vargas’s lone appearance against the Braves this season he had -10.3 Draftkings points in 0.1 innings of work, so clearly the Braves had no issues getting to him. Acuna is a guy that I love playing in DFS because of the many ways he can get value, he can get there hitting home runs, stealing bases, or simply knocking in some base hits. He is crushing lefties on the season with a .577 slugging percentage, .398 wOBA, and a .292 ISO. With the Braves having an implied run total of 5.4 runs here, I like Acuna a lot hitting leadoff.
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.
Paul DeJong (SS) – $4,800
We’re going to go back to Coors field here with Paul DeJong at shortstop. DeJong actually has some heavy reverse splits on the season with a .474 slugging percentage, .340 wOBA, and a .222 ISO. All of those values are a great deal better than his numbers against lefties which are – .356 slugging percentage, .295 wOBA, and a .144 ISO. Not only does he get a right-handed pitcher on the mound, but he gets a bad right-handed pitcher in Chi Chi Gonzalez. Gonzalez has a 7.29 era on the season and scored -1.7 Draftkings points against the Cardinals just a few starts ago. DeJong is in good form going for at least 16 Draftkings points in three of his last five games. Give me some DeJong in this spot.
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?!
