Everybody plays at 7:05pm (EST) or later and I'm back from Vegas. Let's make some money on your daily fantasy baseball sites tonight!
5 Things to Watch:
1. First things first, here are the three highest over/unders for Friday, provided by OddsShark...
2. Weather is a concern for MIN/WAS and CHC/CIN tonight. Keep an eye out if you plan on starting Jon Lester.
3. Seven games tonight have an over/under of at least 8.5 total runs. Look for a lot of offense tonight, especially from these games. When lineups are released, aim for punts and other stacks from those games.
4. Coors Field will host the LAD/COL game tonight. The Rockies have scored the third-most runs in baseball (81 runs) and the Dodgers have scored the eighth-most (73 runs). Also, Colorado has scored 38 runs in six home games this season. With neither team as the heavy favorite, it could be wise to make a double-stack from these two clubs.
5. For the BvP crowd, Evan Longoria has a large sample-size against CC Sabathia: 24-64 (.375 AVG) with six home runs and 14 extra-base hits. Carlos Santana doesn't have a great batting average against Justin Verlander, but he makes the contact count. He's 11-53 (.208 AVG) with six home runs.
Yesterday's recap:
John Halpin is three-for-three when it comes to picking must-starts who hit home runs. Three-consecutive Thursdays! Can't wait for that streak to extend next week. Make sure you check out his pick for that day.
Must-Start of the day: Corey Seager, LAD
Seager will bat towards the top of the orrder and he had a solid .259 ISO and .437 wOBA last year against righties.
Deal of the day: Ryan Raburn, COL
He loves left-handed pitching and is playing in a homer-friendly park. Raburn is batting .400 this season against southpaws.
Avoid of the day: Jason Kipnis, CLE
He struggles mightily against Justin Verlander. In his career, Kipnis is 4-42 (.095) with 14 strikeouts against the Tigers ace.
Stack of the day: Houston Astros
The Dodgers and Rockies will likely be in a high-scoring affair. However, there isn't a clear-cut favorite between the two. So, I'll look at the other high over/under games and choose the team with a high projected run total. Houston is about a -140 favorite and should produce some runs against Steven Wright. I'd add Carlos Correa, Colby Rasmus, and potentially any more cheap, right-handed bats in the starting lineup.
Starting pitchers:
Jon Lester, CHC - The Cubs starter on Friday is an expensive arm, but he could be worth every penny. Jake Arrieta pitched a no-hit bid against the Reds on Thursday. Now, Lester gets his turn against Cincinnati. In his last outing, Lester punched out 10 Rockies.
Gio Gonzalez, WAS - He's only allowed one combined earned run in his first two outings of the season, and it was a home run (Carlos Ruiz). Last year, at Nationals Park, Gonzalez was 6-4 with a 3.35 ERA. His opponent, the Twins, have struck out the ninth-most times this season (130 Ks).
Aaron Nola, PHI - He's a cheap option who has 10.9 K/9 this season. The Brewers have also struck out 138 times this year (fifth-most).
Andrew Cashner, SD - In your two-starting pitcher DFS sites, Cashner is a solid salary relief player. In three games this year, he's struck out at least five batters. The Cardinals have the eighth-most strikeouts of 2016 (131 Ks).
Catchers:
Yasmani Grandal, LAD - He had a .185 ISO against righties last year and the Dodgers should score plenty in Colorado.
Welington Castillo, ARI - Last year, he had a .228 ISO against lefties. Castillo also took Thursday off, so he should start on Friday.
Tony Wolters, COL - Add him to your Rockies stack.
First basemen:
Paul Goldschmidt, ARI - In 2015, he had a whopping .256 ISO against southpaws.
Adrian Gonzalez, LAD - He had a .230 ISO against righties in 2015.
Chris Davis, BAL - He had an amazing .350 ISO against RHP in 2015.
Second basemen:
Jose Altuve, HOU - Great addition to the Astros stack.
Jonathan Schoop, BAL - Could be a decent pick to save money. He had a .262 ISO against righties last year.
Third basemen:
Justin Turner, LAD - I'm looking for as much exposure to LAD/COL as I can get. Turner had two ABs yesterday, so he should be back in the starting lineup today.
Kris Bryant, CHC - Last year, he had a .215 ISO against righties.
Evan Longoria, TB - (See "5 Things")
Yasmany Tomas, ARI - In the past week, Tomas has a .379 AVG with three home runs. He hits lefties well, too.
Shortstops:
Corey Seager, LAD - "Must-start of the day."
Carlos Correa, HOU - You almost can't have an Astros stack without including Correa.
Outfielders:
Joc Pederson, LAD - Moved to the cleanup spot yesterday. Last year, he had a .214 ISO against righties.
Colby Rasmus, HOU - He hit two home runs last night. In 2015, Rasmus had a .243 ISO against RHP.
Carlos Gonzalez, COL - More bats for LAD/COL. Scott Kazmir also struggles against left-handed hitters.
J.D. Martinez, DET - Detroit is the sleeper stack of the day. Martinez had a .248 ISO against righties last year.
Justin Upton, DET - Continuing with Detroit, Upton had a .227 ISO against righties in 2015.
Ryan Raburn, COL - "Deal of the day."
