For this particular slate of daily fantasy baseball, the studs are out in full force, Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Josh Donaldson.
On Tuesday night there is plenty of pitching. Out of the 14 games, at least nine of the ballparks are considered “pitcher” friendly ball parks.It doesn’t get any better for pitching tonight. We have four aces and they are ether in a pitcher’s park or against a weak lineup. With pitching being strong tonight, it is important that we find hitters in good matchups (like usual).
Personally, I am on a cold streak and tonight will be the night that we all win some money. Good luck everyone.
Starting Pitcher:
Paying up for starting pitching tonight would be smart. Clayton Kershaw ($12,900) and Zack Greinke ($12,200) are not in great matchups but there isn’t a lineup that these two can’t shut down. Both have been arguably the two best pitchers in the NL and I will try to squeeze both in a lineup together tonight. David Price ($10,100) is in the best matchup of the night going against the Philadelphia Phillies and it will be hard to ignore him. If you decide to stay away from top two aces, David Price is a great choice to start your pitching around tonight.
Jason Vargas ($8,300) has a great match up against the San Francisco Giants. The Giants are in the bottom half of team average, OBP, home runs and slugging percentage against lefty pitchers. The numbers say Vargas is in an elite matchup tonight. Tyler Chatwood is almost automatic when he is on the road. Now he gets to pitch in the very pitcher friendly ballpark at PNC field. In 2016, Tyler Chatwood had a league best road ERA of 1.69 last year and in 2017 he has a respectable ERA of 2.53. The Pittsburgh Pirates don’t have a great lineup and Chatwood could thrive tonight.
Other dart throws that have high upside are Joe Ross ($7200), Scott Feldman ($7000) and Buck Farmer ($6900). Pitching is deep and there are plenty of options tonight. You can pay up with some aces or decide to pay up for hitting and get high upside pitchers such as Tyler Chatwood and Buck Farmer.
Catcher:
Gary Sanchez ($5100)- Gary Sanchez has been on fire lately and I wouldn’t blame you paying up for catcher. It scares me that he is away from Yankee Stadium but his power plays in any ball park and not many catchers have his upside.
Tony Wolters ($3000)- Gerrit Cole has been off lately and lefties are hitting .299 off him this year with ten home runs. There are not many catchers that are batting .300 this year but Tony Wolters is one of them. He doesn’t have much power upside but a couple of hits will be enough for him to reach value for us.
First Base
Logan Morrison ($4300)- Logan Morrison has two big factors going for him tonight. First, he has good numbers against Marco Estrada. He is batting .313 with four extra base hits and two homers off him. Second, over the last three seasons when he plays at the Rogers Centre he has a .371 batting average and has three home runs there. He will go low owned but he has great power upside.
Tommy Joseph ($3400)- If you decide to pay up for pitching, Tommy Joseph is a good cheap option at first base. Many players like to pay up at first base but there are a plenty of power hitting first basemen like Tommy Joseph that can give you great upside at a low price. Tommy Joseph hits well of lefties. He will go low owned because of the matchup against David Price.
Second Base:
Wilmer Flores ($3100)- Wilmer Flores is a lefty killer. He is now facing a good one in Jon Lester but Jon Lester hasn’t been his usual ace self over his last three starts. Flores will go low owned because of the matchup vs Jon Lester but because of his past versus left handed pitchers, he is worth the play tonight.
Jose Pirela ($3100)- Who? I’m not going to act like I saw this coming with Jose Pirela but he has been hitting the cover off the ball over the last week since being called up. He is batting leadoff for the San Diego Padres and at his low price and hot bat, he is a solid play tonight with great upside.
Third Base:
Josh Donaldson ($4700)- I ended up trading Josh Donaldson in the off season in my main fantasy league and it still hurts to this day watching him play. Donaldson is good at baseball. He is a .311 hitter at home over the last three seasons and has 46 homers over that span. If you are paying up for third base, Donaldson would be my choice.
Yunel Escobar ($3300)- Yunel Escobar has limited upside but he has great numbers against C.C. Sabathia. He is 14-41 (.341) and has seven extra base hits and two home runs. He will go low owned because of the limited upside but he should be a solid choice for a couple of base hits and if he can drive in a run or score some, he will return great value.
Shortstop:
Corey Seager ($4200)- Corey Seager has been hitting the ball well over the last week. He has five double digit scoring games and he is too cheap tonight. He is the ninth highest priced short stop and there are not many short stops that have his upside. If you are looking for a mid-price short stop with good upside, Corey Seager is the guy.
Erick Aybar ($2900)- Erick Aybar was a solid MLB player from 2010-2015 but tonight he is going to go virtually un owned but he will be a great option to free up salary. He is 16-36 which is good for .444 average and he has five extra base hits off Zack Greinke. If you are going to punt at a position, short stop is a good place to do it. He is the ultimate tournament play because he has a better chance to get us zero points than score double digits. He does have three double digit DK point scoring nights in his last six games so he has been playing well.
Outfield:
Corey Dickerson ($4500) Corey Dickerson has been an under the radar fantasy superstar this year. He is batting .328 and has 14 homers on the year. Whenever Tampa Bay is on the road in a hitter’s ball park, I like to stack them because they usually go low owned. He also has good numbers against Marco Estrada with a .357 average and has hit a bomb off him. Dickerson has a safe floor tonight and he has good upside.
Mark Trumbo ($3400)- DraftKings messed up tonight on the pricing of Mark Trumbo. He has been struggling but tonight he will homer off Derek Holland. In his career versus Derek Holland he is 15-47 which is a .319 average and he has eight extra base hits to go along with five homeruns. Trumbo has some of the best power in the league and tonight he can easily get us double digit DK points. At his low price he is as close as a must play that there is tonight.
Howie Kendrick ($4100)- Whenever Howie Kendrick faces a lefty, I try to find a way to get him into my lineup. He has been good this year and he should take advantage of playing in Boston and using the green monster. He won’t be a popular pick like his teammate Tommy Joseph because of the matchup versus David Price but he has good upside and he is a professional hitter. With his consistency, and his low ownership, he will be a good tournament play.
