Who is ready for some hump day MLB DFS? It’s hard to believe almost a week has already passed since Opening Day. Let’s get into the action; I will provide picks for the early and main slate cash games (appropriately labeled) and as always ask me any and all questions on Twitter (tournament picks if you’re playing)!
Cash Game Plays
(EARLY) Luis Severino (NYY) – $10,600
Sev may be the most obvious cash game play on the early slate with a home matchup against the mild Tampa Bay Rays, but he’s still worth talking about a little. Severino is the emerging ace of this exciting Yankees squad, and the leader of their youth movement. The young right hander has actually had worse statistics at home throughout his career, but with a career K/9 above 9.00 and a weaker Rays squad on tap, Severino should be a lock in your early double up contests.
(EARLY) Aaron Nola (PHI) – $8,500
Nola is one of everyone’s favorite hype trains coming into 2018, including mine, and I think Wednesday is a great opportunity to make some profit from starting him. He faces a Mets squad devoid of daunting lefties outside of Jay Bruce (Conforto still out), and unsurprisingly Nola has been more solid against right-handed batters over his career. There is a bit of risk here with him facing Thor and with manager Gabe Kapler pulling him early in his last start, but the strikeout/ratios upside is too good to ignore.
Sean Manaea (OAK) – $8,300
Manaea was stellar in his first start of the season against the Angels but was the bad luck loser, giving up one run across 7 & 2/3 with seven strikeouts. This is very impressive considering the Angels have a lot of feared righties in their lineup. As mentioned in previous posts, the Rangers should be a good team to pick on all season due to their strikeout prone lineup (Odor, Gallo), and lots of strikeouts are good for Fanduel lineups. No one Ranger, other than Andrus, has eye-popping batter vs. pitcher numbers versus Manaea so the Oakland southpaw should be able to navigate that lineup well. Use him in your main slate lines for some good return!
Other considerations: (EARLY) Dallas Keuchel (HOU) – $8,800, Jon Gray (COL) – $8,000, Felix Hernandez (SEA) – $7,500
Hitters
(EARLY) Nicholas Castellanos (DET) – OF – $4,000
Casty has gotten off to a scalding start to 2018, with seven hits in his first 17 at bats including two triples (!!). The Detroit third baseman turned outfielder has an OPS 100 points higher against southpaws than righties in his career, and he is matching up against Danny Duffy of the Royals who struggled in his first start of the year. Castellanos has a special place in my heart from some of my season long fantasy baseball leagues, but I highly recommend inserting him into your early only lineups (he does have a good matchup 🙂 )
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(EARLY) Edwin Encarnacion (CLE) – 1B – $3,800
We are all familiar with Encarnacion and his time with the Blue Jays, but he has continued his career nicely over in Cleveland the past few years. He is a perennial threat for 40 home runs, and he has the potential to add a tally to that total for 2018 heading to Los Angeles on Thursday. “E5” projects to matchup with Tyler Skaggs of the Angels, who has allowed a higher slugging percentage to right handed batters for his career. Even if he doesn’t hit a home run Encarnacion occupies a prime spot in that loaded Indians lineup, so he should be able to produce some counting stats regardless.
Robinson Cano (SEA) – 2B – $3,700
The former Yankee has a small sample of three hits in seven at bats against Thursday’s starter Johnny Cueto, which is nice but obviously he has much more robust career numbers. Over the last three seasons, Cano has had an .887 OPS against righties with 59 of his 83 home runs over that time coming against righties. Maybe Cano can smack his first long ball of the year in the warm SF weather for this early interleague matchup, you won’t want to miss out!
Other picks: (EARLY) Cody Bellinger (LAD) – $3,800, (EARLY) Gary Sanchez (NYY) – $3,400, Travis Shaw (MIL) – $3,900, Matt Olson (OAK) – $3,400
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