Fantasy Baseball: Friday’s DFS Advice – CBSSports.com

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Baseball is back, and not a second too late. After four days out in the cold we welcome baseball back with a trio of aces and more than a couple excellent value plays.

The interesting thing about Friday night is that unless you use one of the two most expensive hitters you may not feel particularly motivated to find cheap value plays. A vast majority of my top hitters are below $4,000 in cost on FanDuel. Nonetheless, people love the sub-$3,000 play that goes off in a big way, so here are a few that I like on Friday. As always, this is coming out before lineups and cheap players are the most likely to be subject to last minute lineup checks.

As you’ll see below, the Reds are my top stack and just about any hitter in their lineup below $3,000 should be considered. I’m particularly intrigued by Tucker Barnhardt because catcher is a position without a lot of top options I’m interested in.

The Nationals didn’t make the top stacks, but they were close. I would expect Trea Turner to get the start against lefty Francisco Liriano. Turner would have a high probability of multiple times on base with good steal and run potential.

Jarrett Parker should be in the lineup for the Giants against Andrew Cashner. Cashner has gotten crushed this year, and Parker has an OPS over 1.000 vs. RHP.

You don’t have to use all three of these value plays but any two should allow you to play whatever stack you like.

Starting Pitchers

Madison Bumgarner ($11,900, $11,100)

Yes, the Padres have been better against lefties. No, they probably don’t have a shot against Bumgarner. The Giants lefty ace has a 1.94 ERA and the highest K/9 of his career (10.1). This Padres lineup has gotten two cracks at him already this season. They’ve mustered 3 runs on 11 hits while striking out 20 times in 15.2 innings. Bumgarner is easily the top pitcher on DraftKings, but pricing makes it a little bit more interesting on FanDuel.

Carlos Carrasco ($10,400, $12,300)

I rarely discount full season numbers for recent form, but it’s tempting in the case of Carrasco. He got off to s slow start due to a lower body injury but has been lights out as of late. Since June 13 he has a 1.60 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP. He’s also struck out 44 over 39.1 innings. The Twins’ recent form has also been better, but there is still a ton of strikeout potential in that lineup.

Anthony DeSclafani ($7,200, $9,600)

Anthony Desclafani has been one of the few bright spots in the Reds rotation this season, and he gets a gem of a matchup against the K-prone Brewers. Milwaukee’s 26.3 percent K rate vs. RHP leads baseball by more than a full percent. As you’ll see below, I expect DeSclafani to get plenty of run support and so does Vegas. DeSclafani is the third biggest favorite of the day.

Stack Attack