DFS Alerts
Long Balls Tonight
Yes, the San Francisco Giants are a shell of a team compared to those incredible World Series runs that we saw just 5, 7, and 9 years ago, but tonight a lefty is on the hill. With this comes the ability to roster one Evan Longoria. A known lefty “masher”, he should be in line for a solo shot or 2. I say solo shot because there may not be anyone on the base paths besides him taking the HR Stroll. Last season he was able to compile a .206 iso to lefties and an outstanding 14.4% K rate. He should be able to put some wood on the ball tonight, and when he does it should travel a “long” way from home plate.
Keeping the Offense "Grounded"
On a slate where you won’t find any true “ace” pitchers it’s always advantageous to take a look at some value and that’s exactly what we have here. Woodruff may not be a household name but should definitely be in consideration on this slate. Woodruff is right where we want him to be in terms of what we look for in value. He is limiting hard contact to both sides of the plate with a .091 iso to lefties, and .145 iso to righties. Additionally he is keeping the ball on the ground 52.6% of the time. If you combine these two things with a 26.6% K rate and a 3.50 xfip, it’s easy to see why Woodruff should be your top value play of the night at pitcher. He will be pitching in one of the best hitting environments in baseball, but he should be able to keep the Cardinals “grounded” for a good portion of this game.
Upside Arm Tonight
Pitching tonight is tough, and finding someone with some upside towards the bottom is even tougher. Felix Pena is a guy who I am looking at in tournaments, even though he gets a tough Oakland lineup to go against. Pena’s strikeout rate to right handed batters was 26% last year, and he gets an Oakland team with most of their power bats coming from the right side. Of course there is risk involved, but I do see upside at a cheap price.
The BREW Crew
The Brewers get a match up against Dakota Hudson, who has a small sample size in the majors. In 52 plate appearances to left handed batters last season, he has a 21 percent walk rate, which is extremely high. The Brewers have a great group off left handed bats with lots of power. I will definitely be looking at guys like Travis Shaw, Mike Moustakas, and Christian Yelich to stack up in GPPs.
The BREW Crew
The Brewers get a match up against Dakota Hudson, who has a small sample size in the majors. In 52 plate appearances to left handed batters last season, he has a 21 percent walk rate, which is extremely high. The Brewers have a great group off left handed bats with lots of power. I will definitely be looking at guys like Travis Shaw, Mike Moustakas, and Christian Yelich to stack up in GPPs.
The BREW Crew
The Brewers get a match up against Dakota Hudson, who has a small sample size in the majors. In 52 plate appearances to left handed batters last season, he has a 21 percent walk rate, which is extremely high. The Brewers have a great group off left handed bats with lots of power. I will definitely be looking at guys like Travis Shaw, Mike Moustakas, and Christian Yelich to stack up in GPPs.
Contrarian Bats to Stack
Yu Darvish was very up and down last season, and now he gets to face his old squad in Arlington. Yu had a strong strikeout rate to righties (32%), but struggled a little more to the left side of the plate, posting a 21 percent strikeout rate. The Rangers’ power bats mostly come from the left side, and they are good. I think people may take one-offs from this game, but I don’t know how many people will stack the Rangers bats up. So in tournaments, I like this contrarian stack, with Joey Gallo, Sinn Soo Choo, and Rougned Odor being my three favorites.
Contrarian Bats to Stack
Yu Darvish was very up and down last season, and now he gets to face his old squad in Arlington. Yu had a strong strikeout rate to righties (32%), but struggled a little more to the left side of the plate, posting a 21 percent strikeout rate. The Rangers’ power bats mostly come from the left side, and they are good. I think people may take one-offs from this game, but I don’t know how many people will stack the Rangers bats up. So in tournaments, I like this contrarian stack, with Joey Gallo, Sinn Soo Choo, and Rougned Odor being my three favorites.
Contrarian Bats to Stack
Yu Darvish was very up and down last season, and now he gets to face his old squad in Arlington. Yu had a strong strikeout rate to righties (32%), but struggled a little more to the left side of the plate, posting a 21 percent strikeout rate. The Rangers’ power bats mostly come from the left side, and they are good. I think people may take one-offs from this game, but I don’t know how many people will stack the Rangers bats up. So in tournaments, I like this contrarian stack, with Joey Gallo, Sinn Soo Choo, and Rougned Odor being my three favorites.
Goldy In GPPs
Paul Goldschmidt is the guy at first I will be paying up for in tournaments. He is coming off a three Home Run game in which he looked really locked in. I love using great hitters when they do not have the platoon advantage because they usually are under-owned. Goldy has .230 ISO and a .394 wOBA to right-handed pitching, so look for him to stay hot, especially with the Brewers’ bullpen struggling to start off the season.
PIT-CIN will delayed due to rain Saturday
The start of the matchup between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds on Saturday afternoon will be delayed due to rain. There’s yet to be any confirmation of an official start time, and the Reds have not committed to a specific timeline for providing further updates. The confirmed late start is potentially better news for the prospects of starting pitchers like Sonny Gray not being pulled from their starts early because of a mid-game delay, but as Kevin Roth detailed in the latest update to his MLB weather forecast, this game carries substantial postponement risk even with models predicting a slightly more positive outlook than was originally forecasted.
As reported by: the Cincinnati Reds via Twitter
CHW-KCR will be delayed due to inclement weather
The start of the matchup between the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals on Saturday afternoon will be delayed due to inclement weather currently in the area. As of the now, the first pitch is scheduled for 2:45 pm eastern time, but the Royals have not committed to a specific timeline for providing further updates. The confirmed late start is potentially better news for the prospects of starting pitchers like Jakob Junis not being pulled from their starts early because of a mid-game delay, and as Kevin Roth detailed in the latest update to his MLB weather forecast, this game is likely to be completed even though conditions still won’t be ideal once the precipitation ends.
As reported by: Jeffrey Flanagan via Twitter Preferred SP2
Cash game lineup construction on Saturday night should follow this outline: High priced SP1 (my preference is Eduardo Rodriguez), low-priced SP2, and 3+ Cubs hitters. Pena is my preferred low-priced play as he has the best combination of matchup, park, and upside. Pena flashed his strikeout potential at times last season, including a 12 strikeout performance against the Diamondbacks and is coming off a strong Spring Training finale in which he struck out 9-batters over 3.1 innings.
No Surprise
It’s not a big surprise – the Chicago Cubs are clearly Saturday night’s top offense to target, and your cash game lineups should prioritize getting as much Cubs exposure as you can. Rizzo and the Cubs hung 12 runs on the Rangers on Opening Day, and now will get a favorable matchup in Arlington against the 35-year old Edinson Volquez who is coming off Tommy John surgery. Volquez is the owner of a .333 WOBA and 4.56 xFIP against lefty hitters for his career and has generally had a difficult time generating soft contact (15.8% soft hit rate) against them.
Strong Price, Favorable Lineup Spot
Another main slate, another day with very little short stop value. Enter Paul DeJong, who hasn’t had the strongest on-paper matchups the last couple of days but has still been the main cash game option simply due to his price tag (especially on DraftKings) and positional scarcity. DeJong’s value is largely derived from a favorable lineup spot for a healthy offense in a strong hitting environment. As long as DeJong continues to hit third for the Cardinals, he’s a must play for me at his $3,400 tag on DK. DeJong is still a preferred cash game option for me on FanDuel, but I’m open to saving even more salary at the position if a low-$2K option opens up.