Welcome to Saturday’s daily fantasy post! Remember that you can find our posts on the brand-spanking new DFS home page, as well as the fantasy page. Bookmark those sites now!
Let’s get to today’s interesting facts, using DraftKings prices.
Five Things to Watch:
1. Here are the three highest-projected over/unders, provided by OddsShark…
BOS-NYY: 9.5
MIL-CIN: 9.5
NYM-PHI: 8.5
2. Weather: Should be all clear for Saturday.
3. You down with BvP? Evan Longoria has seven homers in 57 lifetime at-bats against Chris Tillman. Jose Altuve is 14 for 32 against Hisashi Iwakuma. Adam Jones is 12 for 31 with three homers against Matt Moore. Matt Wieters is 8 for 23 with two homers against Moore. Alcides Escobar is 8 for 20 against Mike Pelfrey. Marwin Gonzalez is 10 for 19 against Iwakuma. Jay Bruce has three homers in 18 at-bats against Jimmy Nelson.
4. Your three biggest pitching favorites for the night: Jeff Samardzija (-168) against San Diego, Adam Wainwright at home against the Marlins (-163) and Matt Shoemaker (-141) against the White Sox.
5. Sneaky stack options: The Angels get James Shields, who has been handing out home runs like candy on Halloween. The Brewers should be able to knock around lefty John Lamb in a game with a huge projected run total. CC Sabathia has been good this year, but Vegas sees an implosion happening soon.
Must-Start of the day: He’s the biggest favorite on the board, but his price is awfully affordable at just $8,200. Considering he’s going against an opposing pitcher who is the lowest-priced option of the day (Luis Perdomo), Samardzija has a good chance to notch a win and look good doing it at Petco.
Deal of the day: Evan Longoria, TB
There’s owning a pitcher, and then there’s whatever Longoria does to poor Tillman. Longoria has smacked a ton of homers against Tillman, he’s hitting .333 over his past 10 games and he’s incredibly cheap at just $3,200. This is a no-brainer.
Avoid of the day: Brian Dozier, MIN
You can pick on Trevor Bauer a bit, but not with Dozier. He’s just 2 for 20 against him lifetime.
Stack of the day: Kansas City Royals
Danny Duffy is the highest priced pitcher on the board, and it’s not because he’s some kind of amazing ace. He’s just one of the best bets for a win, as Mike Pelfrey and his 1.71 WHIP is taking the hill for Detroit. This is projected to be high scoring, so I’m loading up with Royals.
Starting pitchers:
Jeff Samardzija, SF: “Must-start of the day”
Adam Wainwright, STL: He’s been much better as of late (3.22 ERA, 1.14 WHIP) and he’s back to being a strikeout-per-inning guy. He’s affordable and a big favorite against an average hitting team in Miami.
Matt Shoemaker, LAA: He’s had one of the more surprising turnarounds in baseball this year, as he owns a 2.67 ERA and 1.08 WHIP over his past 10, including 75 strikeouts in 67 innings. The run support should be there against Shields.
Catchers:
Matt Wieters, BAL: Wieters is 8 for 23 with two homers against Moore.
Salvador Perez, KC: Stack against Pelfrey.
First basemen:
Albert Pujols, STL: Good chance to go deep against Shields.
Eric Hosmer, KC: Royals stack and way too cheap ($3,600).
Second basemen:
Jose Altuve, HOU: Altuve is 14 for 32 against Iwakuma.
Jonathan Schoop, BAL: Cheap power bat and can be used in a righty-heavy stack against Moore.
Third basemen:
Evan Longoria, TB: Longoria has seven homers in 57 lifetime at-bats against Tillman.
Nolan Arenado, COL: A little too cheap given his power and matchup.
Shortstops:
Alcides Escobar, KC: Escobar is 8 for 20 against Pelfrey.
Xander Bogaerts, BOS: Sabathia has been better this year, but you can still pick on him with good right-handed bats.
Outfielders:
Jay Bruce, CIN: Bruce has three homers in 18 at-bats against Jimmy Nelson.
Adam Jones, BAL: Jones is 12 for 31 with three homers against Moore.
Ryan Braun, MIL: Always hits southpaws hard (.986 OPS this year).
