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Daily Fantasy Baseball Strategy: August 1, 2015

Woah. It’s already August! I feel like I say this a lot, but the season is flying by. We’ve got two full months left of MLB DFS, and we better make the most of it. As always, below I’ve included a look at the pitching options, the best teams to stack from and a set of individual player rankings for tonight’s slate on DraftKings.

As always, there is still time to join DraftKings using the link to gain more access to this content!

Forecast

It appears as if some scattered showers at Fenway Park might be the only weather that we’ll have to deal with today. It doesn’t look like any threat of cancellation though.

Pitching Perspective

It’s Kershaw Day, but unfortunately, we won’t be able to use him in this slate. However, there are a pair of aces on the mound that we can take advantage of. One of those top arms is right-hander Gerrit Cole. Cole is turning into one of the games top pitchers, and has a matchup with a diluted Cincinnati Reds lineup. He’ll be dealing with a negative park shift, but I don’t think it’ll give him any troubles. He’s getting more than 50% ground balls and striking out nearly one hitter per inning. The Reds have an implied run total of around 3.7 runs, but I don’t see them touching that mark.

Another stud right-hander in a better matchup is young Jacob deGrom. deGrom has been flashing some electric stuff and has a matchup with a Nationals’ lineup that still isn’t at full health. He’s striking out more than one hitter per inning, and like Cole, is getting a healthy amount of groundballs. He gets the advantage of pitching at home Citi Field, and the Nationals are currently sitting at a implied runs total of around 2.9 runs. deGrom is about more expensive than Cole, but I think he’s a tad safer for cash games.

Vegas also really likes left-hander Dallas Keuchel, who started this year’s all-star game for the American League. Keuchel is an awesome pitcher in terms of run prevention, but his strikeout prowess isn’t where it should be for a pitcher of his salary. With that being said, Keuchel has increased his K/9 by over a full hitter this season, but it’s still not at an elite level (only 7.87). If you’re looking for a pitcher to work deep in the game, and aren’t particularly worried about upside, Keuchel is your best bet. He’s going to work a solid game.

After the top three, the farthest I’d dip down in cash games would be St. Louis Cardinals’ righty, Lance Lynn. Lynn is the cheapest of the bunch I’ve recommended, and he has a matchup with the Colorado Rockies away from Coors Field. The Rockies are now without star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, and are experiencing a huge negative park shift. Lynn has historically been really good at home and he’s really picked up his strikeout totals this year, striking out nearly 9.5 hitters per nine innings. His ground ball percentage has dipped a bit this year, but with an uptick in command and the increase in strikeouts, I can live with it. I’m sold on Lynn tonight.

Stack Options

1. John Danks obligatory stack notes today. Danks has been stupid good at combatting our opposing stacks, but it’s not going to work out for him today. The Yankees offense has been on fire, and shouldn’t slow down against Danks. Look to use Alex Rodriguez and Chris Young as value options, and any other right-handed Yankees that find their way into the lineup. I don’t mind you using Yanks left-handers in tournaments as well, because Danks yields a lot contact.

2. In recent days the Orioles offense has shown why I love them so much for tournament stacks. For some reason they always seem to “fly” slightly below the radar, but their offense is deep and always tournament worthy. They get a matchup at home with Anibal Sanchez, who has been torched by home runs and gives up a ton of flyballs. I love all the Orioles today.

3. Much like the Orioles offense, the Twins typically fly under the radar, but are excellent for tournament stacks. Today they get to face left-handed Mike Montgomery at Target Field (which rates better for hitters than the general public believes). The Twins are set up to better handle left-handed starters, and are one of my favorite contrarian tournament stacks tonight.

Player Rankings

Catcher

1. Matt Wieters -$2,900 – Baltimore Orioles

2. Buster Posey -$4,300 – San Francisco Giants

3. Kyle Schwarber -$3,500 – Chicago Cubs

First Basemen

1. Chris Davis-$4,400 – Baltimore Orioles

2. Anthony Rizzo -$4,900 – Chicago Cubs

3. Prince Fielder -$4,500 – Texas Rangers

Second Basemen

1. Brian Dozier -$4,900 – Minnesota Twins

2. Neil Walker -$4,000 – Pittsburgh Pirates

3. Jimmy Paredes– $3,300 – Baltimore Orioles

Shorstop

1. Carlos Correa -$4,800 – Houston Astros

2. JJ Hardy -$2,900 – Baltimore Oriole

3. Cesar Hernandez -$3,000 – Philadelphia Phillies

Third Baemen

1. Manny Machado -$4,400 – Baltimore Orioles

2.Alex Rodriguez-$5,000 – New York Yankees

3.Kyle Seager -$3,600 – Seattle Mariners

Outfield

1. Chris Young -$3,100 – New York Yankees

2. Adam Jones -$4,000 – Baltimore Orioles

3. Andrew McCutchen -$4,800 – Pittsburgh Pirates

Starting Pitchers

1. Jacob deGrom -$11,800 – New York Mets

2. Gerrit Cole -$10,600 – Pittsburgh Pirates

3. Dallas Keuchel -$11.200 – Houston Astros

4. Lance Lynn -$10,200 – Houston Astros

5. Joee Ross -$7,500 – Washington Nationals

 

 

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