Below we’ve got a discussion of the starting pitching situation as well as the best teams to use for stacks for Friday night’s ten-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.

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PITCHING PERSPECTIVE

The state of pitching is fairly gross in this Monday eight-game slate on DraftKings. There are four hurlers priced over the $10,000 plateau, but just three of them (Smyly, Zimmermann, Happ) figure to take the bump this evening due to the high probability of the Red Sox (Porcello) and Royals (Ventura) contest being postponed.

Among the middle priced arms, Adam Conley ($8,700) figures to be one of the better values on the night. The Marlins come into this tilt with the Phillies as a decent -140 favorite with a run total of just 7.5. The Phillies implied run total sits at just 3.3 according to RotoQL. Philadelphia whiffs 21.9% of the time against lefties which is 11th most in baseball and their .290 wOBA and 85 wRC+ against southpaws are both seventh-worst in the first division against left-handed pitchers. Conley’s velocity, swinging strike rate (SwStr%) and K-BB% are all trending up nicely for the Marlins’ hurler, so I’m really interested in Conley for both cash and tournaments on this tough night for pitching.

Another cash and tournament option for me is Kenta Maeda against the Angels in Los Angeles. The Dodgers are a -185 favorite with a game total that is sitting at just 7.5. The Angels’ implied run total is 3.4 per RotoQL. The Angels strike out just 18.8% of the time against opposing right-handers — sixth-best in the bigs — but their wOBA (.309) and wRC+ (99) are rather pedestrian. With the exception of Kole Calhoun, the Angles are very right-handed. Maeda has limited right-handed bats to a .255 wOBA and a 35% FB, which helps with the wind blowing out towards right-center field.

Jose Berrios figures to be a popular tournament play due to his reasonable price ($8,000) and ability to induce strikeouts, but others could be scared away because of the weather and the high run total in the game (8.5) while being a decent underdog (+127). The Tigers whiff the eleventh-most in the league against right-handed hurlers (20.9%), but they also own a .319 wOBA and a league-average wRC+ of 100 against righties. I’m not willing to risk Berrios in cash, but he’s a tournament play when I’m not stacking against him.

STACK OPTIONS

Tigers – Just after I talked myself out of Jose Berrios, I think it’s important to stack against him with the high run total (8.5) and team implied run total of (4.7). With Justin Upton dropped to sixth in the order, I can see a 1-5 run of Kinsler, JD Martinez, Victor Martinez, Miguel Cabrera, Nick Castellanos and even using Jarrod Saltalamacchia in the eight hole. If you need to go four man to meet the site’s limeup criteria, drop VMart out first. Also keep an eye on the weather.  

Rays – The Rays get invincible J.A. Happ at the Rogers Centre with a game total of 8.5. The Rays have an implied run total of 4.4 and are slight dogs (+114), but they’ll get very right-handed tonight to get the platoon advantage against Happ. The Rays own a .305 wOBA, 95 wRC+ and are tied for the third-worst strikeout rate (22.3%) against southpaws in baseball. But individually, Steve Pearce, Brandon Guyer, Evan Longoria and Steven Souza, Jr. all carry healthy wOBAs and ISO rates against lefties, so running those four out in a tournament makes a lot of sense. On the other side of this, feel free to mix-and-match all of the right-handers on the Jays for GPPs.

Rangers – A right-handed Rangers’ stack against rookie Sean Manea makes a ton of sense given the high run total and Manea’s relative struggles in the early part of his big legaue career. Adrian Beltre, Ryan Rua, Ian Desmond are a reasonable trio to start with.

Yankees/Diamondbacks – Get on both side of this game in tounrnaments.

PLAYER RANKINGS

DRAFTKINGS

Note: I’ve left off all Royals/Red Sox players due to the high probability of a PPD.

CATCHER

1. Yasmani Grandal – $3,400
2. Carlos Ruiz – $3,700
3. Jarrod Saltalamachhia – $3,000
4. Tyler Flowers – $2,800

FIRST BASE

1. Miguel Cabrera – $3,900
2. Paul Goldschmidt – $4.800
3. Steve Pearce – $3,100
4. Edwin Encarnacion – $3,700
5. Justin Bour – $3,700
6. Billy Butler – $3,200

SECOND BASE

1. Starlin Castro – $3,300
2. Ian Kinsler – $4,000
3. Chase Utley – $3,200
4. Derek Dietrich – $3,500
5. Jean Segura – $4,200

THIRD BASE

1. Jake Lamb – $3,600
2. Maikel Franco – $3,800
3. Josh Donaldson – $4,300
4. Evan Longoria – $4,200
5. Adrian Beltre – $4,100
6. Justin Turner – $3,400

SHORTSTOP

1. Marcus Semien – $3,800
2. Corey Seager – $4,400
3. Troy Tulowitzki – $3,700
4. Freddy Galvis – $2,800

OUTFIELD

1. Giancarlo Stanton – $5,100
2. Gregory Polanco – $4,500
3. Andrew McCutchen – $5,200
4. Christian Yelich – $4,600
5. Khris Davis – $3,600
6. Jose Bautista – $3,700
7. Brandon Guyer – $3,200
8. Ian Desmond – $4,000
9. Steven Souza, Jr. – $3,700
10. Joc Pederson – $4,000

STARTING PITCHER

1. Adam Conley – $8,200
2. Kenta Maeda – $9,600
3. Jose Berrios – $8,000
4. Drew Smyly – $11,100
5. Jerad Eickhoff – $6,700
6. Jordan Zimmermann – $10,300
7. Jonathan Niese – $5,800
8. J.A. Happ – $10,900

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