Week 7 Daily Fantasy Baseball Advice: D-backs’ Drury ready to strike – Sporting News

If you took my daily fantasy baseball lineup advice last Tuesday, you received three home runs from Lorenzo Cain and Kevin Gausman’s nine Ks. As long as you didn’t fill in the rest of your roster with zeroes, you should’ve been able to cash in either FanDuel or DraftKings contests.

On the flip side, if you listened to my warning and avoided Gregory Polanco all week, you dodged his miserable 14 at-bats which produced just three hits (only one for extra bases) and zero RBIs. Trevor Story overcame his high price in Week 5 and delivered a .320/.370/.600 slash last week, making him worth the high salary, while he Cubs exploded for 18 runs against the Pirates over the weekend as the team to target.

MORE: Fantasy Alarm DFS Playbook Pro | Play FanDuel!

Now, it’s time to dig deep once again for Week 7 and give you the names to saddle up with and the ones to leave behind in the stable. Here are the trends, matchups and information you need to know in the world of DFS. 

FanDuel and DraftKings strategy

PLAYER AT PEAK SALARY:

Ben Zobrist, 2B, CHC ($4.2K FanDuel/$5.2K DraftKings)

The historic pace of the Cubs doesn’t mean we have to lose our minds altogether on every player with a C on his cap. In no universe is Zobrist a $5K-plus player on DraftKings. Once upon a time when there were negative points for outs on FanDuel, perhaps you can justify a higher rate for the OBP master. Those days are gone. Despite Zobrist’s great slash to start the year (.317/.441/.492), his fantasy-points-per-game average is 9.9 on DK. That’s comparable to Ian Kinsler ($4.5K), Daniel Murphy ($4.1K) and Dustin Pedroia ($3.9K) — all of whom cost significantly less. If you’re going to pay up at second, you may as well roster Jose Altuve and go all out.

PITCHER PRICED BELOW VALUE:

Zack Greinke, ARI ($8.3K DraftKings)

Yes, it’s been a rocky start to Greinke’s Arizona career, but he’s still a true ace in terms of talent. He struck out eight batters in two of his past three starts and draws the Yankees at home in his first start this week. New York is 27th in the league in team OPS (.683), and they’ll be minus a bat with no DH in the NL ballpark. The cherry on top of this sundae is that Greinke faces Michael Pineda on Tuesday, who has a 6.00 ERA of his own and an alarming nine home runs allowed in his seven starts. Start No. 2 this week at St. Louis should also be viable. Greinke has an ERA under 3.00 at Busch Stadium in five career starts. As the weather heats up in Arizona and that roof closes, Greinke’s ERA will trickle back down to his career average levels. 

HITTER PRICED BELOW VALUE:

Brandon Drury, OF, ARI ($2.5K FanDuel/$3K DraftKings)

With David Peralta on the DL, Drury is slated for more regular at-bats this week, and considering his ratio of productivity/price, he’s looking like a real jewel. He’s been hitting sixth in the batting order and has a .357 BA and .400 OBP over his past seven games. With names like Michael Pineda, Nathan Eovaldi and Mike Leake on his schedule, Drury has the opportunity to tally at least two times his value on DraftKings and three times his FanDuel salary. His power (six HRs) is not a fluke. 

MORE: Fantasy Alarm DFS Playbook Pro | Optimal DFS lineup | Play FanDuel!

Daily fantasy baseball hitter strategy

The Cubs are getting too obvious right now, but it does bear noting this week they face the worst team ERA in baseball in the Brewers. The Cubs are third best in runs scored on the road, so you do the math. Expect big totals from Chicago at Miller Park.

The Astros have the worst road team ERA with an eye-popping 6.24 mark. Traveling to hitter-friendly U.S. Cellular Field is not an ideal situation for Astros’ pitchers, but it’s certainly a plus for White Sox hitters.

The Angels rotation has been obliterated by injuries. They take on the Dodgers and Orioles, so buy shares of those offenses in Week 7 when you can.

The Twins are another dreadful pitching staff to square off against. The Tigers are playing for their manager’s job this week and have too much offensive talent to not turn things around eventually — which we saw on Monday. Then the Twins get the Blue Jays in the weekend series. Both the Jays and Tigers have premium sluggers who could be poised for big nights based on what the Twins are rolling out there on the mound. 

Daily fantasy baseball lineup picks

Finally, here’s a look at Tuesday’s Relative Position Value per Dollar Lineup (RPVPD) for DraftKings. RPVPD is the Fantasy Black Book’s DFS player evaluation tool, which is only available to Fantasy Alarm subscribers. For more optimal lineups, DFS tools like RPVPD, and season-long rankings and advice, head to FantasyAlarm.com for the DFS Playbook and much more!

Joe Pisapia (@JoePisapia17) is the seven-time best-selling author of the Fantasy Black Book Series for baseball and football. He hosts Fantasy Sports Tonight on Sirius/XM Fantasy Sports Radio and the Dear Mr. Fantasy Podcast.