DFBC Finals Preview Part 2: Sunday's MLB Games

by Ethan Haskell (Ethan) Last Updated 2012-07-27 17:08:29

As important, if not more important, than the contestants themselves is the slate of games on deck for Sunday’s grand finale in the DFBC. Sunday is going to be a wild day for daily fantasy sports enthusiasts, as 15 competitors go toe-to-toe in an effort to take home $100 GRAND. I know I’m excited, so to get you even more excited we are here with a full breakdown on the Sunday games and will try to interpret how they might play a role in the DFBC daily fantasy players’ thoughts. Included in this breakdown will be a chart of all the starting pitchers and matchups, a bullet-point analysis of each game including some stats that might play a role, and a list of the top SP, teams to stack, infielders and outfielders for Sunday.

Here are your games and the probable starters as of today for each:

An asterisk (*) denotes a left-handed starting pitcher.

Detroit(Fister-R) @ Toronto(Cecil-L) 1:07 PM EST

• Doug Fister – He’s averaged 11.2 FPPG in his past 7 starts and has huge K potential. Not a great game against Cleveland in his last start, he will be looking to bounce back.
• Brett Cecil – 18 Ks in his last 16 1/3 Innings Pitched. Detroit’s offense could score a lot of runs but KO a lot as well.
• In the Blue Jays combined 74 ABs against Fister, they have hit 0 home runs.
• Since Jose Bautista hit the DL on July 17th, Toronto has scored 2 or less runs in 4 games.
• Miguel Cabrera is hitting .337 against lefties this season, but has only 2 HR’s in 104 ABs.
• Rajai Davis is 9-22 lifetime off of Fister with 2 doubles.

San Diego(Richard-L) @ Miami(Johnson-R) 1:10 PM EST

• Josh Johnson struck-out 9 hitters on his way to the W and over 17 Fantasy Points in his last start vs. the Braves.
• Clayton Richard has only 12 strikeouts in his last five starts over 35 1/3 IP.
• San Diego hitters are a combined 8-54(.184) against Josh Johnson with no homers.
• Carlos Lee, despite being a righty, is hitting only .169 with 2 HR in 71 ABs against left-handed pitching this season.
• Justin Ruggiano is hitting .418 with 3 HR in 48 ABs against left-handed pitching this season.

Oakland(Blackley-L) @ Baltimore(Chen-L)

• Travis Blackley put up over 17 fantasy points with 8 Ks in 7 IP his last time out against Toronto.
• Wei-yin Chen has averaged 10.7 FPPG in his last 7 starts but has just one score higher than 15.
• No Baltimore hitter has ever faced Travis Blackley.
• Jonny Gomes hits .017 points higher against lefties than righties. He is also 1-2 with a HR off Chen.
• Oakland exploded for 16 runs on Wednesday night in a game against left-hander Ricky Romero of Toronto.
• Adam Jones is hitting .309 against lefties vs. .287 against righties this year.

Philadelphia(Halladay-R) @ Atlanta(Minor-L) 1:35 EST

• Since coming off the DL, Roy Halladay has only struck out 9 hitters in 11 innings of work with a 1.27 WHIP.
• Mike Minor home ERA is 4.69 which seems great compared to his road ERA of 6.16.
• The Phillies won every game of a 3-game set against Milwaukee this week by the final score of 7-6.
• Dan Uggla is 10-36 with 3 HR career against Halladay and Chipper Jones is 8-16 lifetime vs. Roy.
• Carlos Ruiz is hitting an obscene .390 against left-handers this year with 4 HR in 77 ABs.

Pittsburgh(Bedard-L) @ Houston(Harrell-R) 1:35 PM EST

• Bedard got handed the loss in his last start against the Cubs despite throwing 7 innings with 11 Ks.
• Lucas Harrell has struck out at least 6 hitters in 5 of his past 7 starts.
• Erik Bedard ERA on the road this year is 5.90 as opposed to his 2.72 ERA at PNC Park.
• Andrew McCutchen is 2-3 with a 2-run HR in his short career vs. Lucas Harrell.
• J.D. Martinez hits .455 when batting 5th in the lineup vs. hitting .217 and .189 at 3rd and 4th respectively.

Washington(Gonzalez-L) @ Milwaukee(Greinke-R) 2:05 PM EST

• Zack Greinke has averaged just 11.74 FPPG since being ejected in the first inning on July 7th vs. HOU.
• Gio Gonzalez ERA during day games is 4.22(9 starts) while at night his ERA is 2.35(11 starts).
• Bryce Harper OPS has dropped every month since he came into the league in April. In July it’s just .676
• Adam Laroche has an OPS of .969 on the road versus an OPS of just .658 at home this season.
• Ryan Braun slugging percentage is .153 points higher against lefties than righties and .101 at home versus away this year.

Cleveland(Jimenez-R) @ Minnesota(Liriano-L) 2:10 PM EST

• Ubaldo Jimenez ERA on the road is 3.35 runs higher than at home. His ERA during the day is 2.35 runs higher than at night.
• Francisco Liriano had 6 consecutive starts scoring 12+ fantasy points before being rocked by Chicago this week.
• Asdrubal Cabrera is 12-22 with a HR lifetime against Liriano.
• Joe Mauer is hitting just .211 against Cleveland this season, his lowest against any team he’s faced over 3 times.
• Michael Brantley is hitting .037 points higher on the road than at home in 2012(.313 vs. .276)

St. Louis(Wainwright-R) @ Chicago(Samardzija-R) 2:20 PM EST

• Adam Wainwright ERA on the road is 3.81, .92 runs better than his 4.73 ERA at home.
• Jeff Samardzija has 29 K’s in his last four starts, but has two starts with 9 and 11 Ks and two with 4 and 5.
• David DeJesus is 7-16 with a HR lifetime vs. Adam Wainwright
• Allen Craig, Carlos Beltran, Rafael Furcal and Yadier Molina are a combined 34-89(.382) lifetime vs. Samardzija.
• Anthony Rizzo is hitting .368 against righties since being called up versus just .212 against LHP.

Cincinatti(Latos-R) @ Colorado(Cabrera-L) 3:10 PM EST

• Edwar Cabrera hasn’t lasted longer than 2 1/3 IP since being called up and averages just 1 FPPG.
• Mat Latos is holding right handed hitters to just a .209 BA this year versus .279 against lefties.
• Carlos Gonzalez is hitting .333 in 15 ABs vs. Latos with 3 HRs lifetime.
• Brandon Phillips hits .317 off RHP over just .250 against LHP in 2012.
• With Joey Votto out, the Reds have just two left-handed hitters on their roster(Jay Bruce and Xavier Avery).

Tampa Bay(Hellickson-R) @ LA Angels(Wilson-L) 3:35 PM EST

• CJ Wilson has a WHIP of 1.82 in his last two starts including 5 BBs against Detroit.
• Jeremy Hellickson has just one start with more than 10 FPPG in his last 6, luckily that was also his last start.
• B.J. Upton is 0-14 lifetime against Wilson with 6 strikeouts.
• Alberto Callaspo has only 1 HR of his 7 at home this season, despite batting nearly 60 points higher there.
• Mike Trout has hit 7 HR in July, one away from tying his entire season total before this month.

LA Dodgers(Kershaw-L) @ San Francisco(Vogelsong-R) 4:05 PM EST

• Ryan Vogelsong ERA at home this season is just 1.41. His ERA on the road is 3.35
• Clayton Kershaw has scored just 5 and 7.26 fantasy points in his last two starts vs. the Mets and Cardinals.
• The average ERA of both Kershaw and Vogelsong is just 2.7 earned runs per game with a combined 15 wins.
• Buster Posey is just 5-24 with only one extra base hit lifetime vs. Kershaw.
• Matt Kemp is 4-12 with a triple, home run and 3 RBIs in his career against Vogelsong.

Kansas City(Smith-L) @ Seattle(Hernandez-R) 4:10 PM EST

• Will Smith is averaging just 6.2 FPPG in his 5 starts thus far this season.
• Felix Hernandez ERA is 2.23 at home against a 3.48 ERA on the road in 2012. He also has 21 more K’s there in just 13 extra innings pitched.
• Alex Gordon and Billy Butler are 8-33 with 9 Ks in their careers vs. Hernandez.
• Jesus Montero is hitting .373 against lefties this year while just hitting .203 against RHP.
• Kansas City ranks #20 in the MLB in runs scored while the Mariners rank just 24th.

NY Mets(Dickey-R) @ Arizona(Saunders-L) 4:10 PM EST

• R.A. Dickey has just 16 K’s in his last 4 starts and has only averaged 8.5 FPPG in that span.
• Joe Saunders scored 18.27 fantasy points while K’ing 9 hitters in 7 IP in his last start vs. COL.
• Jason Bay is 5-10 with 2 HR in his career vs. Joe Saunders.
• Miguel Montero is hitting .307 against righties this year vs. just .202 against LHP.
• David Wright is hitting .390 on the road this year. He’s just .299 when at Citi Field.

Chicago White Sox(Floyd-R) @ Texas(Oswalt-R) 7:05 PM EST

• Gavin Floyd has just 7 K’s in his last 19 innings pitched over 3 starts.
• Since joining Texas, Roy Oswalt’s home ERA is 3.44 while his road ERA is 8.18.
• Josh Hamilton is 8-13 with 2 2Bs and a HR in his career vs. Floyd.
• Adam Dunn OPS is .150 points higher against right handed pitching than left.
• Paul Konerko is 3-6 with a HR in his lifetime against Oswalt.

Boston(Doubront-L) @ NY Yankees(Kuroda-R) 8:05 PM EST

• Hiroki Kuroda has averaged 15.1 FPPG over his last 7 starts, including a 9 K and 11 K game.
• Felix Doubront is 1-0 with a 2.92 ERA in 2 starts vs. NYY this season including 13 Ks in 12 1/3 innings pitched.
• Adrian Gonzalez is 8-26 with 4 doubles and 2 HRs in his time against Kuroda.
• Mark Teixeira is just 2-6 lifetime vs. Doubront, but both hits went for home runs.
• David Ortiz, who hopes to return for the series, hits .313 lifetime against the Yankees.

Top Team Stacks, Starting Pitchers, Infielders and Outfielders for the DFBC Sunday