Pitchers

Madison Bumgarner has a K/9 of 7.42, his lowest since 2011 and 1.36 lower than his career average. DFS players who have rostered Bumgarner are likely playing him due to his name recognition rather than his current talent. The A’s have a plethora of righties, so Bumgarner will only have the platoon against one or two bats. I’m avoiding Bumgarner at his price, but he does get a bump with the A’s traveling to the National League where Edwin Jackson will bat.

Noah Syndergaard will make his first start since coming off of the disabled list. It’s difficult to know how effective Syndergaard will be in his first start back, but it’s also likely he’ll have a depressed pitch count. There is no way I’ll pay $11,000 on DraftKings for Syndergaard tonight.

Dallas Keuchel is my favorite option today. He’ll face the Tigers in Minute Maid Park. I’m never thrilled to roster Keuchel because he has a lower strikeout rate than most of the top pitchers, but he should be able to go deep into this game. The matchup is solid against the Tigers who have the sixth worst wRC+ in the league. I’ll take the $3,000 discount from Bumgarner and play Keuchel as my SP1 on DraftKings.

Wei-Yin Chen looks like an important value play on the slate. He’s priced at $4,800 and faces the strike-prone Phillies in Marlins Park. I’m never thrilled to roster Chen either, but a pairing of Chen and Keuchel can get you all of the bats your want on this slate. In cash games, I’d be surprised if any umpire data or lineup changes would move me off a Keuchel/Chen pairing by the time lineups lock.

Hitters

Outside of the Coors Field game, only Boston and Texas have team run totals at or above five. I’ll have $4,600 per bat to use in my cash games, so I’ll get as much exposure to the high run total in Coors. I prefer the Rockies to the Mariners in this game so wherever there is a close decision, I’ll lean toward the Rockies bat. This puts players like Jean Segura, Mitch Haniger, and Kyle Seager off of my cash game team at their position. Charlie Blackmon and Nolan Arenado are the top plays from this game with Trevor Story and Mitch Haniger projected in the next tier. If Nelson Cruz draws a start, I’ll likely play him, but it seems like he’ll be a pinch-hitter in this series as the Mariners travel to the National League and lose their DH.  Segura, Seager, Carlos Gonzalez Ian Desmond, Chris Iannetta, and Ryon Healy form the next tier, and I will basically fill my roster with these bats depending on their lineup position.

Boston is the top stack outside of the Coors Field game, but I won’t play the Red Sox bats in cash games.

The Royals are my favorite tournament stack. They’ll face James Shields and have a team run total of 4.5.

The Yankees will face Shane Bieber. There are a lot of Bieber fans in the DFS community, so I’d assume some will avoid the Yankees bats. If we can get the Yankees at depressed ownership when they have a team run total of 4.5, the power in the lineup could win a GPP.

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