Editor's note: With fantasy football content ramping up, we will only publish three fantasy baseball DFS posts a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (which will include some weekend picks, too).
Thank you for understanding and I hope you continue to enjoy our content.
Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming...
For those who are unfamiliar with my thought process, I aim to add as many home run hitters as possible to my daily fantasy baseball lineups. One way of doing that is to look at a player's isolated power numbers (ISO). The ISO statistic removes singles and provides a larger weight for each extra-base hit.
I also use the weighted on-base average (wOBA) metric. This stat takes every positive outcome into consideration.
Last year, the league average was a .150 ISO and a .313 wOBA. So, when you see me list a player's ISO or wOBA, you know why I do it.
5 Things to Watch:
1. Here are the four highest over/unders for Monday, provided by OddsShark...
2. For the Labor Day schedule split, FanDuel has decided to go with two slates: 1:05 (six games) and 4:05 (seven games). Thus, removing the two late games (HOU/CLE and ARI/LAD). As for DraftKings, since they have the late-swap option, you can play all 15 games. (Editor's note: You can play in a FanDuel contest with all 15 games, but I wouldn't recommend it. Your lineup locks at 1:05 and a majority of MLB lineups won't be posted that early.
3. Max Scherzer and the Nats are a massive favorite today (-350). Surprisingly, Scherzer has a 4.66 ERA in three starts against Atlanta this season (10 ER in 19.1 innings). However, he is 2-0.
4. Pomeranz gets his former club, San Diego, on Monday. This season, he is 4-3 with a 2.64 ERA at PETCO Park. Pomeranz has also notched at least eight punch outs in back-to-back outings.
5. For the BvP readers: Victor Martinez is 19-42 (.452) with four home runs against Chris Sale, David Ortiz is 9-22 (.409) against Edwin Jackson...Also, Carlos Beltran is 6-11 (.545) with four extra-base hits against Felix Hernandez.
Yesterday's recap:
D.J. Foster provided a great must-start on Sunday. Danny Salazar went 5.2 innings and struck out 11.
Must-Start of the day: Brandon Belt, SF
First, and foremost, he's playing at Coors Field. He has a .352 AVG and eight home runs in 28 starts in Colorado. Secondly, Belt has a .190 ISO and a .361 wOBA against righties this year. Finally, he is 7-13 (.538) with two extra-base hits against Chad Bettis.
Deal of the day: Byron Buxton, MIN
He is on a roll. In the past week, Buxton is 9-16 (.563) with three home runs and three doubles. On FD, he's priced at $2,700 and only $3,500 on DK.
Avoid of the day: Matt Kemp, ATL
He is 3-32 (.094) with nine strikeouts against Max Scherzer.
Stack of the day: Oakland Athletics
Seeing Jered Weaver on the docket makes any DFS player smile. Sure, he's had two decent outings recently, but Weaver still boasts a 5.21 ERA. I'm adding any A's in the top five of their lineup today: Stephen Vogt, Marcus Semien, Danny Valencia, and Khris Davis.
Starting pitchers:
Max Scherzer, WAS - He's tallied at least 10 Ks in back-to-back outings and has allowed only two total earned runs during that span. Also, since the All-Star break, Mad Max is 5-1 with a 2.60 ERA.
Kyle Hendricks, CHC - He's kept the ERA low by allowing no more than two earned runs in six consecutive appearances. Today, Hendricks gets a Brewers club that has struck out more than any other team this season.
Kenta Maeda, LAD - He has at least six strikeouts in two of the past three starts. Also, this was Maeda's stat line in his last outing against Arizona (July 29th): 6.1 IP, 2 ER, and 5 Ks.
Drew Pomeranz, BOS - (See "5 Things")
Catchers:
Stephen Vogt, OAK - He has a .318 AVG in the past week and is part of our "stack of the day."
Nick Hundley, COL - He has a .215 ISO against southpaws this season.
First basemen:
Brandon Belt, SF - "Must-start of the day."
Kendrys Morales, KC - He is 8-25 (.320) with two home runs in the past week.
Stephen Cardullo, COL - He is batting .500 with two home runs in the past week.
Second basemen:
DJ LeMahieu, COL - He has a .408 wOBA against lefties this season.
Daniel Murphy, WAS - He has a .267 ISO against righties this year.
Trea Turner, WAS - He has a .213 ISO against righties in 2016.
Third basemen:
Nolan Arenado, COL - He has a .248 ISO against lefties this year.
Danny Valencia, OAK - "Stack of the day."
Shortstops:
Asdrubal Cabrera, NYM - He has seven hits in the past week (.333 AVG) and three of those were home runs.
Brandon Crawford, SF - He has a .194 ISO against righties this season.
Marcus Semien, OAK -
Outfielders:
Hunter Pence, SF - He has a .320 wOBA against righties this year and two home runs in the past week.
Ryan Raburn, COL - He has a .241 ISO against southpaws this season.
Byron Buxton, MIN - "Deal of the day."
Khris Davis, OAK - "Stack of the day."
Jay Bruce, NYM - He has a .284 ISO against righties and a .400 AVG in the past week. Basically, he's my second-best must-start of the day.
Yoenis Cespedes, NYM - He has a .256 ISO against righties this season.
Curtis Granderson, NYM - Yes, all the Mets' outfielders are in play today. The Grandyman has a .231 ISO against righties this year.
