Pitchers
On the early slate, the top option is Gerrit Cole. He’ll face the Tigers in Minute Maid Park. It’s a great matchup for Cole, but he’s expensive at $12,000 on DraftKings. Even at his price, I will personally have Cole in my cash game lineup.
Aaron Nola is the next best option against the Marlins in Marlins Park. There’s a favorable umpire in this game and the Marlins have the fourth worst wRC+ in the league. Nola will hold the platoon advantage against the majority of the batters, but is priced at $11,500, too close to Cole for me to justify paying down for Nola in cash games. In tournaments, Nola is a quality option.
For SP2, Danny Duffy is my favorite option. He’ll face the White Sox who have the second highest strikeout rate in the league. There is another favorable umpire in this game, helping Duffy’s stirkeout upside. He may give up a few runs, but the strikeouts should be able to pay off his $5,800 salary.
If you need an extra $1,100 to grab one more bat, Trevor Richards is a great salary saver. He’ll face the Phillies in Marlins Park. I was on Wei-Yin Chen yesterday against the Phillies, and it worked out better than I expected. Richards is in the same price range as Chen, and the Phillies have the third highest strikeout rate in the league. They also take a huge park hit in this game, especially if the roof is closed.
On the main slate, pitching is a disaster. I’m currently considering pitching both Jeff Samardzija and Jon Gray. Samardzija is my “favorite” pitcher on the slate, but he projects for fewer than 15 DK points. At $5,400, that’s probably good enough on this slate. Gray will face the Mariners in Coors Field, but his talent level is simply higher than most of the other options, and he’s priced reasonably. If you don’t want to play Gray in Coors, I’m considering Luis Perdomo against the Cubs, but mostly for tournaments.
Hitters
On the early slate, I’m going to end up with five Nationals in my cash game lineup. For whatever reason, the entire Nationals team is underpriced. They’ll face righty Zack Wheeler, so I’ll start by plugging the lefties into my lineup. I’ll also look at Trea Turner and Anthony Rendon to fill out my cash game rosters.
From that same game the Mets are underpriced against Austin Voth who will make his major league debut. Michael Conforto is the top Mets bat from this game, and will be locked into my cash game lineup at $3,700 on DraftKings. Wilmer Flores is too cheap if he’s batting in the top five at the order and would be a value in cash games. Finally, Devin Mesaraco is an option in tournaments.
On the main slate, it’s all about the Rockies. They’ll face Wade LeBlanc and have the highest team run total of the day. Nolan Arenado, Trevor Story, Ian Desmond, Chris Iannetta and even lefty Charlie Blackmon are locks in cash games. The problem is, almost all DFS players know about Coors and will have the same Rockies bats.
Mike Trout is also a near-lock at $4,800. I’m not completely convinced Trout is healthy, but at his price with the platoon advantage, it’s hard to pass on him.
While they don’t stack up to Coors bats or Mike Trout, the Rangers and Orioles are very interesting in tournaments. On the off chance the Rockies offense is underwhelming, I think both of these teams can win a GPP for you. The Orioles are my favorite stack against a weak lefty, Martin Perez, who hasn’t played since April. The Rangers have the better cash game options and I will likely use a few to fill out my roster. I’m currently considering Shin-Soo Choo, Nomar Mazarra, and Rougned Odor in cash games. Joey Gallo is a good value, but his boom/bust nature is better left for tournaments.
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