Daily Fantasy Baseball Notes: FanDuel, DraftKings hitter sleepers for May 30 – Sporting News

Monday’s MLB schedule is packed with games starting at different times, so those in daily fantasy baseball contests will have to double-check every entry to make sure the players they want are available in that specific FanDuel or DraftKings tournament.

The late-afternoon contests have the most interesting splits (at least on FanDuel, where the Dodgers-Cubs and Rangers-Indians are included on that slate), with the Twins, Reds, Astros, Cubs, Indians and Rangers all presenting some unique stacking opportunities. 

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Daily fantasy baseball picks

EARLY AFTERNOON GAMES

Red = 1B; Orange = 2B; Yellow = 3B; Green = SS; Blue = OF; Purple = C

Mets OF Yoenis Cespedes is crushing lefties this year (1.472 OPS), and OF Juan Lagares (.862) has always been better against lefthanders, too. Both are in play against Jose Quintana .

Mike Foltynewicz hasn’t gotten the hang of pitching to lefties in the majors (.326/.373/.621), so give bumps in value to OF Denard Span, 1B Brandon Belt, SS Brandon Crawford, 2B Joe Panik, and even OF Jarrett Parker.

Carlos Martinez is great at limiting hard-hit balls, especially to righties, who only have a .231/.301/.300 line against him in his career. Don’t overpay for OF Ryan Braun or 1B Chris Carter.

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LATE AFTERNOON GAMES

Red = 1B; Orange = 2B; Yellow = 3B; Green = SS; Blue = OF; Purple = C

Kendall Graveman has really been knocked around by righthanded batters in his 167.1-inning major league career (.285/.326/.498), so 1B Byun Ho Park, OF Miguel Sano, and 2B Brian Dozier have a little more upside than usual.

Righties have also tagged Chad Bettis throughout his career (.297/.349/.494), and those numbers jump in Colorado (.337/.390/.542). You gotta like 2B Brandon Phillips, OF Adam Duvall, SS Zack Cozart, and 3B Eugenio Suarez today.

It’s always worth it to pay up for 2B Jose Altuve  against a lefty (career .353/.400/.501), especially one like Edwin Escobar, who’s making his first career start. Catcher Evan Gattis (.996 OPS vs. LHPs this year; .800 for his career), OF George Springer (.877 career OPS vs. LHPs), and SS Carlos Correa (.800 career OPS vs. LHPs) are also solid plays. Don’t bother with OF Colby Rasmus (.566 OPS vs. LHPs this year) if he plays.

Since the start of 2014, 2B Ben Zobrist has a .916 OPS vs. LHPs, and OF Dexter Fowler (.864) isn’t far behind. Along with SS Javier Baez, 3B Kris Bryant, and even OF Jorge Soler, you can put together a nice Cubs stack against Alex Wood. If you’re looking for a good reverse-platoon splits play, go with 1B Anthony Rizzo (.863 OPS vs. LHPs since 2014), but watch out for SS Addison Russell, who has a career .566 OPS vs. lefties.

Indians SS Francisco Lindor (.993 OPS) has continued crushing lefties since last year, and 1B Mike Napoli has hit lefties well his whole career (.911 OPS). Against Derek Holland, both are in play, and you can also take a chance with 3B Juan Uribe, OF Marlon Byrd, 1B Carlos Santana, and OF Rajai Davis, all of whom have hit lefties well in their careers.

Since 2013, Josh Tomlin has allowed a .215/.234/.395 line to lefties and a .273/.304/.499 line to righties. Keep that mind when picking Rangers for your DFS lineup.

EVENING GAMES

Red = 1B; Orange = 2B; Yellow = 3B; Green = SS; Blue = OF; Purple = C

Yankees 2B Starlin Castro is 12-for-29 with five doubles lifetime against Marco Estrada, but OF Brett Gardner has only managed three hits in 21 at-bats against him.

Marlins OF Marcell Ozuna is absolutely crushing lefties this year (1.513 OPS), and OF Giancarlo Stanton (1.036) isn’t far behind. If the latter is in the Marlins’ lineup, stack ‘em both against Jeff Locke. You can also use 3B Martin Prado, catcher J.T. Realmuto, and OF Christian Yelich, all of whom have hit lefties well throughout most of their careers.

Whenever the Pirates face a lefty like Justin Nicolino, OF Andrew McCutchen, OF Starling Marte, SS Jordy Mercer, catcher Francisco Cervelli, and 3B Jung-ho Kang all get bumps in value.

Justin Verlander has been dominating lefties this year (.198/.264/.330), which is basically what he’s been doing the past six years (.215/.276/.337). There’s no need to pay for OF Kole Calhoun.

* Stats as of 5/29