Agents of Fantasy - Heroes Who Can Take Down an MLB DFS Tournament: May 20th
TJ Zwarych is one of the top up and coming Daily Fantasy Sports players in the world. Not only is he a long time RotoGrinders member, but he is also the Editor-In-Chief of TV & Film media outlet the Agents of Fandom and host of their podcast. The Agents of Fantasy are a brand new segment where TJ brings his love for Fandom into the Daily Fantasy Sports circle, to help you take down tournaments.
May 20th
Each segment, the Fantastic Four will include my top 4 pitchers for tournaments on FanDuel and DraftKings. At times, they’ll include plays who are picking up ownership if I feel like the rostership still doesn’t reflect their upside. Typically, if there is a cash game lock and someone who is pushing 50% rostered, these pitchers won’t get mentioned. However, sometimes on smaller slates, four pitchers won’t be an option.
The Fantastic Four – Best MLB DFS Picks
Robbie Ray 8000 DK / 9100 FD – Robbie Ray typically isn’t what we think of when looking for safety, but oddly enough I feel safest in his hands tonight. He’s heavily underpriced on DK where he is my top overall option, and on FD at 9100 I think I would maybe find myself gravitating there in single entry lineups as well. While Ray is susceptible to being hit around on occasion, his strikeout upside and high pitch count allow him to fight back to solid fantasy scores, even after struggling to open games on occasion. In the upper tier on FD and mid tier on DK, Robbie Ray is my top option against Boston.
Chase Silseth 7800 DK / 6400 FD – Where I love Ray on DK, my affinity to Silseth on FD is even higher. If multi entering, I’m going to have a tough time tonight not having Silseth in 50% plus of my lineups. Although Oakland could have a better handle on his skillset this time around, Silseth is still an intriguing prospect who is incredibly underpriced, facing the worst offense in baseball. His price is far too cheap on FD, the matchup is spectacular, and although the field will be getting to him, I don’t think they are near enough.
Eric Lauer 10400 DK/FD – If I’m not saving salary with Ray or Silseth, I want to make sure I’m targeting elite strikeout upside. Lauer struggled his last start but still managed to make it through 5 innings and tally 7 strikeouts. With a 35.5% K rate so far this season, Lauer has tournament winning upside. The Washington Nationals have had their powers ZAPPED against left-handed pitching this year, with not a single player having over a .100 Iso. While the sample size is obviously too small to care about too much, it still adds fuel to my fire in playing Eric Lauer tonight.
Tarik Skubal 9500 DK/FD – Similar to Lauer, my reasoning for enlisting the heroics of Skubal tonight land on strikeout rate. Skubal has shown a serious improvement in his stuff this year, leading to a 28.3% strikeout rate. Among the four pitchers listed, Skubal is without a a doubt the one that comes with the most risk. Although Cleveland has some easy outs, they still boast a few hitters with serious power, and don’t have many Ks throughout the lineup. Having said this, these are all factors that will keep his rostership down. Skubal makes for an intriguing high-upside option that most of the field won’t be getting to.
Earth’s Mightiest MLB DFS Stacks
There was an idea, Dave Potts knows this, called the Stacking Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of of remarkable baseball players, to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them, to hit Home Runs with people on base, like we never could.
With Coors Field crossed off the board, the Yankees not only project as the top offense of the slate, but the most played team tonight as well. I absolutely can’t fault you for playing Judge, Stanton and the rest of this stack, however we will highlight some options that share similar upside, that the field won’t be playing at near the same frequency.
Los Angeles Dodgers – The Dodgers aren’t the 2012 Avengers, they’re the 2019 Avengers. This isn’t a team with 1 or 2 heavy hitters that rely on their top dogs to get the job done. They’re a group with power and skills of the highest order, throughout the entire lineup. This entire team isn’t picking up much rostership tonight, leading you to be able to roster the likes of Betts, Turner and Freeman without worry. However, even though I love those plays, my interest lies in the middle to back half of the lineup. Justin Turner, Chris Taylor, Will Smith all make for inexpensive options throughout the infield, allowing you to stock up on heavy hitters in the outfield.
Toronto Blue Jays – With an 11 game slate, it’s easy to find ways to target high upside teams that aren’t being played abundantly. Luis Castillo hasn’t been sharp yet this season, and the Blue Jays mash right-handed pitching. The top of the lineup make for one of the most powerful stacks you can find regardless of the matchup, and tonight they line up well, while not picking up much rostership. Springer, Bichette, Guerrero Jr and Hernandez are top tier options, while players like Collins, Chapman and Gurriel can be mixed in to save salary.
Philadelphia Phillies – The Phillies are an incredibly fun team to target against left-handed pitching, as they pose threats in the contact department, and are on another level for power. Rhys Hoskins has been a destroyer of worlds, smashing Home Runs left, right and center. Hoskins is my favorite low-played Home Run call tonight, and I love the Phillies stack following him. The trend of the day, teams with power that the field isn’t getting at a high enough rate.