Below we’ve got a discussion of the starting pitching situation as well as the best teams to use for stacks for Wednesday night’s twelve-game slate. We’ve also added a few quick tutorials for you to check out from our partners at RotoQL to help guide your research for today’s games. To learn more about RotoQL or to take a look at the packages they have to offer, please follow this link – it will truly help you become a better daily fantasy baseball player.

The weather outlook isn’t as bad today as it was yesterday, but be sure to check your sources for weather updates prior to lineup locks to make sure all of your players will get some play. Many times you can follow each team’s Twitter feed, but I think Kevin Roth really does a fine job and think you could give him a follow if you don’t already.

PITCHING PERSPECTIVE

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With a twelve-game slate on the docket we have more than a handful of fine pitching options to select from. There are only four pitchers that come in at more than $9,000, so there shouldn’t be too much of a problem mixing-and-matching your way to an optimized lineup in tonight’s slate.

Carlos Carrasco and Stephen Strasburg appear to be the chalk with their strikeout upside and low run totals according to Las Vegas. Unlike Carrasco, Strasburg is a heavy favorite at -250 (at the time of this writing), so while he’s a good bet to earn the win, he faces the Braves who don’t strike out a ton. Carrasco faces a Rays’ squad that does whiff considerably more against RHP, but is actually an underdog (+105) on the road against Drew Smyly. Both pitchers are in play for cash and tournaments as some players may be trying to trim that fat out of their pitching salaries to fit in some heavy bats elsewhere in the slate.

Mike Leake doesn’t like to strike batters out, but he’s one of the biggest favorites on the slate at -173. The lack of strikeouts makes him more of a tournament than cash play. John Lackey is the second-highest favorite on the slate at -220, so he should be considered more in cash than in tournaments, but can be played in both. Colin Rea and Jerad Eickoff along with their reasonable price tags make for tournament plays in Philadelphia, but may their ownership may be a bit higher than normal as some will recall Robbie Erlin’s success yesterday in Philly as well as some looking for ways to make room for Coors. Ryan Vogelsong is a huge favorite against the Tigers, so he’s a tournament play if you dare to run him out against that Detroit lineup. Alex Wood in tournaments.

STACK OPTIONS

Los Angeles Dodgers – The Dodgers hold an implied run total of over four runs at home tonight against Rubby de la Rosa and the Diamondbacks. Lefties on the Dodgers have an ISO of .181 and a wOBA of .332 against left-handed pitchers since the start of last season. Over his career, lefties own a .378 wOBA against de la Rosa with an above average hard hit rate (Hard%) of 32.2%. You get the point, Dodgers’ lefties are in play: Chase Utley, Adrian Gonzalez, Joc Pederson and Corey Seager will be considered.

Baltimore Orioles/Boston Red Sox –  Joe Kelly doesn’t really have a pronounced split between lefties and righties — he’s equally bad against all hitters. Chris Davis, Manny Machado and Jonathan School own the best wOBA against RHP, so I’d start there. Mark Trumbo own’s a better wOBA and ISO against lefties, but he’s on a tear right now and I’d be hard-pressed to leave him out of a potential stack. Joey Rickard makes for a cheap option from the right side in the outfield as well at just $3,300. The Red Sox have the higher projected total of the day, so if you want a piece of that you could look at lefties David Ortiz — one of my favorite plays of the day — along with lefties Travis Shaw and Brock Holt. Pablo Sandoval has a nice history against Ubaldo Jimenez if he happens to make the starting lineup.

Chicago Cubs – Another staple of our daily offerings — the Cubs. Get used to it. Zobrist, Heyward, Bryant, Rizzo and Russell are my favorite targets of the day. Even though the wind is blowing in at Wrigley, Alfred Simon is still not good at throwing baseballs and we need to exploit that in both cash and get some exposure in tournaments.

New York Yankees- The right-handed bats against J.A. Happ is where I’m looking to go. Alex Rodriguez, Carlos Beltran and Starlin Castro are my top targets from the Yankees.

Rockies/Giants at Coors – Hate to take the easy way out on this one, but with a total of 11 at Coors Field, all bats are in play. Pricing reflects such, though, so you’ll need to be shrewd while selecting your pitchers and singletons. The Giants have the higher projected team total, so I’ll look at Joe Panik, Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford from the let side with the platoon advantage, or the left-handed outfielders along with Ben Paulsen if you’re looking to get cheaper exposure to the run line on the Rockies’ side.

Braves/Phillies/Padres – Each of these represent potential tournament plays. Stephen Strasburg is one of the heaviest favorites of the evening, so game theory may lead us to believe the Braves will be lesser owned during this slate. BvP truthers will point out Freddie Freeman’s success against Strasburg, so he along with Nick Markakis and A.J. Pierzynski (if in the lineup) appear to be a decent mini-stack that should also allow you to get some shares of Carlos Carrasco and Coors Field into a lineup. Strasburg is scratched, but the Braves stack is still in play against Tanner Roark. 

PLAYER RANKINGS

DRAFTKINGS

CATCHER

1. Yan Gomes – $3,100
2. Jonathan Lucroy – $3,800
3. Nick Hundley – $3,600
4. Buster Posey/Trevor Brown!
5. Yasmani Grandal – $3,300
6. Salvador Perez – $3,700
7. Francisco Cervelli – $3,300

FIRST BASE

1. Chris Davis – $4,800
2. Freddie Freeman – $4,100
3. David Ortiz – $4,600
4. Adrian Gonzalez – $4,100
5. Brandon Belt – $4,800
6. Paul Goldschmidt – $5,300

SECOND BASE

1. Joe Panik – $4,300
2. Addison Russell – $3,400
3. Daniel Murphy – $4,200
4. Scooter Gennett – $4,000
5. Jonathan Schoop – $3,500

THIRD BASE

1. Manny Machado – $4,400
2. Nolan Arenado – $4,900
3. Alex Rodriguez – $4,000
4. Corey Seager – $3,900
5. Daniel Murphy – 4,200
6. Pablo Sandoval – $3,700

SHORTSTOP

1. Corey Seager – $3,900
2. Francisco Lindor – $3,500
3. Brandon Crawford – $4,300
4. Greg Garcia – $2,800
5. Alcides Escobar – $3,700
6. Carlos Correa – $4,700

OUTFIELD

1. Mike Trout – $5,300
2. Jeremy Hazelbaker – $3,500
3. Bryce Harper – $5,200
4. Mookie Betts – $5,100
5. Carlos Gonzalez – $4,700
6. Joc Pedereson – $3,600
7. Corey Dickerson – $3,200
8. Charlie Blackmon – $4,700
9. Matt Joyce – $2,100
10. Colby Rasmus – $3,300
11. Jason Heyward – $4,300
12. Rajai Davis – $3,100

STARTING PITCHER

1. Stephen Strasburg – $11,300 – Scratched. 
2. Mike Leake – $8,100
3. John Lackey – $8,300
4. Carlos Carrasco – $11,900
5. Alex Wood – $6,900
6. Colin Rea – $7,000

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