Welcome to another wonderful day of MLB DFS! Below I’ve included a discussion on tonight’s slate at DraftKings with analysis on the potential pitching selections, the best teams to stack from, as well as a set of individual player rankings.

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Forecast

As of right now it appears that there will be no weather issues tonight.

Pitching Perspective

Luckily enough for me, the days I’ve been scheduled to do this piece, I always seem to get paired up with Johnny Cueto and Chris Sale starts. I’m not complaining though, because that makes my job that much easier. Cueto and Sale are both options tonight, but I’ll give the starting nod to Chris Sale. I’ve mentioned in the past just how much upside he possesses because of his ability to strike out hitters (he’s striking out nearly 12 hitters per nine innings), and his matchup with the Red Sox shouldn’t inhibit his ability to do so. You’ll pay a pretty penny, but it’s well worth it. Players of Sale’s caliber present you with a very safe ceiling thanks to DraftKings scoring (strikeouts wipe out any earned runs) and also a high enough upside.

Cueto on the other hand has a tougher matchup, but he comes with a more accessible salary. He’ll be facing the Baltimore Orioles who are experiencing a fairly significant negative park shift with the move away from Camden Yards. As I’ve mentioned in the past, Cueto fits the mold of the exact type of pitcher you want to roster in DFS. A guy that has the potential to rack up strikeouts, while getting lots of ground balls and not giving up free passes. The downfall for Cueto is that there are plenty of other options with slightly better matchups around his price tag tonight. This makes him a solid tournament option.

A notch above Cueto in terms of matchup and salary tonight is Chris Archer. Archer has been a sensation this year, busting out and putting himself in the running for an AL Cy Young Award. If his price tag didn’t say enough, he’s pitching to a 2.67 xFIP while striking out nearly eleven hitters per nine innings. While the Twins are an underrated offense, drawing them away from their home ball park and into Tropicana Field plays greatly into the hand of Archer. Not to mention, the Twins are in the bottom five in the league in terms of wOBA against right-handed pitchers (.300).

Others around Cueto’s salary are Shelby Miller and David Price. Price will be pitching on the road against the Texas Rangers while Miller duels the Colorado Rockies at home. On paper, Miller draws the better matchup, taking advantage of the Rockies away from their home ballpark, which is the only place they need to be feared. Miller has actually been really good this season so don’t let his win and loss record fool you. He’s striking out nearly eight hitters per nine innings while increasing his ground ball percentage from 39.9 percent to 50 percent this season. The best part about Miller is that his price tag is super accessible, allowing for you to pay up for another stud and get exposure to other bats.

Price, on the other hand, is slightly more expensive than Cueto, but comes with a higher upside. His strikeout rate is down, his groundball percentage is down, and his xFIP is up, but he’s still well above average. Nothing really jumps off the page about the Texas offense, so I’m not opposed to using Price, but his salary is keeping me in check for cash games. I see him as a really solid tournament option.

Stack Options

Without a full slate and with plenty of decent pitching options, the offensive side of the game will be difficult to gauge tonight. However, we’ll have to scratch out value at every turn to save up for the big guns and still get enough offense to win.

1. Toronto Blue Jays – It doesn’t really matter who or where the Blue Jays play, they seemingly always find their way into the best stack options. The team matches up better against left-handed starters, but the offense is too powerful to overlook against the horrid Colby Lewis. It’s a slight negative park shift away from the Rogers Centre, but it’s where everyone will be focusing tonight. Lewis has typically been dominated by left-handed hitters, and while the Jays are primarily right-handed you might be able to find value with spot starters Justin Smoak, Ezequial Carrera and Dioner Navarro to go along with Ben Revere.
2. Los Angeles Dodgers – The Dodgers finally won a game last night! What looked like it might be an offensive outburst sputtered and they only scored five runs, but it’s a step in the right direction. They’ll once again be seeing a below-average left-handed starter in a great ballpark for offense. This gives us plenty of value to choose from with players like Justin Turner, Scott Van Slyke and Yasiel Puig (yes, Puig is super valuable at $3.6K). Their implied run total is hovering around 4.5 runs, but I’d be willing to be the over.
3. New York Mets – I’ve found a lot of time to brag about my Cubbies this season, but the only team to outscore them in the second half (in the NL) is the New York Mets. The Mets just blistered a team record amount of home runs and continue to pound the Phillies pitching staff into the dust. Jared Eickhoff was really solid in his major league debut, and was part of the prized return the Phillies got for Cole Hamels, but I’m still on board with loading up Mets right-handers. Wilmer Flores, Yoenis Cespedes, Michael Cuddyer and company provide plenty of value and are in a good spot today.

Player Rankings

Catcher

1. John Jaso -$3,100 – Tampa Bay Rays
2. Dioner Navarro -$2,900 – Toronto Blue Jays (if starting, if not insert Russell Martin)
3. Yasmani Grandal -$3,300 – Los Angeles Dodgers

First Basemen

1. Edwin Encarnacion -$4,600 – Toronto Blue Jays
2. Jose Abreu -$4,900 – Chicago White Sox
3. Miguel Cabrera -$5,500 – Detroit Tigers

Second Basemen

1. Justin Turner -$3,700 – Los Angeles Dodgers
2. Wilmer Flores -$4,000 – New York Mets
3. Jason Kipnis -$4,200 – Cleveland Indians

Shortstop

1. Troy Tulowitzki -$4,600 – Toronto Blue Jays
2. Jimmy Rollins -$3,300 – Los Angeles Dodgers
3. Jhonny Peralta -$3,800 – Arizona Diamondbacks

Third Basemen

1. Carlos Santana -$3,900 – Cleveland Indians
2. David Wright -$4,400 – New York Mets
3. Aramis Ramirez -$4,000 – Milwaukee Brewers

Outfield 

1. Jose Bautista -$5,400 – Toronto Blue Jays
2. Yasiel Puig -$3,600 – Los Angeles Dodgers
3. Scott Van Slyke -$2,800 – Los Angeles Dodgers

Pitchers

1. Chris Sale -$13,000 – Chicago White Sox
2. Chris Archer -$12,800 – Tampa Bay Rays
3. Shelby Miller -$9,500 – Atlanta Braves
4. Johnny Cueto -$10,800 – Kansas City Royals
5. David Price -$11,800 – Toronto Blue Jays
6. Gio Gonzalez – $7,500 0 Washington Nationals