Good morning folks! Welcome to another weekend edition of Daily Fantasy Baseball Strategy. It’s often the case on Saturday that the night slate features more games, so that is typically my focus, but today it is the opposite. Since there are more games in the early slate, that will be the focus of my analysis, with the late slate sprinkled in.

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Forecast

Unfortunately, weather looks like it is going to play a factor in your decision making again today. The
games in Colorado, Minnesota, and Washington all appear to have some sort of rain, or chance of rain today. Please monitor these games closely before locking in all your lineups.

Pitching Perspective

There is a good chance yesterday’s slate was the worst pitching slate in the history of MLB DFS. Maybe that is a stretch, but maybe not. Today’s looks a little bit brighter.

In the early slate you’ll want to lean on some good pitchers in bad ballparks. Madison Bumgarner gets the negative park shift pitching against the Phillies in Citizens Bank Park, but he’ll get to exploit their left-hand heavy lineup. Bumgarner hasn’t been quite as good as his playoff run, but he’s been solid enough to use consistently in DFS. He’s posted a 3.67 xFIP with a 7.92 K/9, and gets a sweet matchup with the team with the leagues worst overall wOBA at .280. At $10,500, you’ll find Bumgarner as the above and beyond pitcher on the early slate, but he’s worth paying up for. Start your cash games with Bumgarner.

The slate drops off a little bit after Bumgarner, but I’m looking to Andrew Cashner to try and square up a solid staff. Cashner was,well, weird last time out. He was recorded strikeouts for all his outs, but every ball in play was finding a hole, or finding a place over the wall. He’ll get a fairly extreme negative park shift to Great American Ballpark, but his 46.9% groundball rate should help buffer that move. Besides, Cashner is in our bank for his great strikeout potential. With a K/9 approaching 10, you’ll be greatly rewarded using him today. He’s a preferred tournament option.

Just above Cashner in pricing is another strikeout king, Danny Salazar. I speak a lot about K% and K/9, because it’s so important to DraftKings scoring as a strikeout is worth 2 points, while the out nets you an additional .75. So even a “mediocre” start can look amazing with one of the aforementioned guys at the helm. Salazar’s K/9 is over 11, and his xFIP is an outstanding 2.80. More good news is that he’s dragging the Orioles away from Camden Yards to a park that results in a negative park shift. Salazar should be the secondary option for your cash games, with Cashner noticeably behind.

I’m just going to briefly touch on the late slate, as that’s not the bulk of the analysis today. You’ll have plenty to choose from with Clayton Kershaw, David Price and Felix Hernandez on the mound. All three have excellent matchups and they should be the center of all your cash game lineups. I know it will be difficult to fit two of the three into your lineups so if you’re looking for a cheaper alternative, I’m on board with using Julio Teheran against the Pirates, although it’s not as safe as the previous three I mentioned.

Stack Options

Note: Again there is a game in Coors Field today. It is one of the games with potential weather concerns, so make sure you’re aware of all that is going on before locking all of these players into your games. Giancarlo Stanton is getting a huge park shift (not that he needs it) and gets a cake matchup with a left-handed pitcher. He is far and away the top player of the entire day, so look to fit him in. Cheaper options can be filtered in from the Marlins side (Prado, Ozuna, Baker), but also don’t forget about the Rockies left-handers against David Phelps. I’m in favor of using anyone from this game if it goes.

The Giants are one of the most underrated teams every single year. Their offense is never “star-studded” but it seems to get it done. Today they have a nice matchup with a great park shift in their favor. Severino Gonzalez isn’t anything to worry about, and the Giants are in the top-5 in the league in terms of wOBA. All the guys near the top of the Giants order, namely Joe Panik, Hunter Pence, Buster Posey and Brandon Belt make excellent plays, and Brandon Crawford becomes a preferred shortstop option.

Brett Oberholtzer has been frustrating to stack against so far this year, but I’d be ok with doing it again today. Oberholtzer travels to the Rogers Centre in Toronto to take on the Blue Jays. The Jays are historically a bit better in their home ballpark and have a frightening lineup anywhere they play. The problem with stacking them is the fact that they’re all fairly pricey, but if you can find a way to do it, they are a great tournament option. Even if not full stacking for tournaments, a mix and match of Blue Jays right-handers will make a great option in cash games. You’ll be able to grab cheap exposure by using Chris Colabello or Danny Valencia.

Don’t overlook the Cleveland Indians. Historically Ubaldo Jimenez has been worse against left-handed hitters, and the Indians lineup is filled with them. They’re a great full stack option because they have the ability to get all left-handed and provide a deep lineup with the platoon advantage. There are some plays here that are better than others (Brandon Moss, Jason Kipnis, Michael Brantley), but you’ll also be able to get cheap exposure by plugging in one of Lonnie Chisenhall or David Murphy.

The night slate has less options, but they’re more obvious. Pick on John Danks, Bartolo Colon and Chase Anderson. Mixing and matching the players facing those starting pitchers will leave you in a good spot in cash games, as well as tournaments.

Player Rankings

Catcher

1. Buster Posey -$4,500 -San Francisco Giants

2. Nick Hundley -$3,900 – Colorado Rockies

3. JT Realmuto -$3,900 – Miami Marlins

First Basemen

1. Jeff Baker -$3,300 -Miami Marlins

2. Brandon Belt -$4,300 – San Francisco Giants

3. Brandon Paulsen- $3,800- Colorado Rockies

Second Basemen

1. Jason Kipnis -$4,900 – Cleveland Indians

2. DJ LeMahieu -$4,400 – Colorado Rockies

3. Joe Panik -$4,200 – San Francisco Giants

Shortstops

1. Troy Tulowitzki -$5,300 – Colorado Rockies

2. Brandon Crawford -$4,400 -San Francisco Giants

3. Adeiny Hechavarria -$4,100 – Miami Marlins

Third Basemen

1. Josh Donaldson -$5,200 – Toronto Blue Jays

2. Nolan Arenado -$5,100 -Colorado Rockies

3. Martin Prado -$4,300 – Miami Marlins

Outfield 

1. Giancarlo Stanton -$5,700 – Miami Marlins

2. Charlie Blackmon -$4,900 – Colorado Rockies

3. Marcell Ozuna -$4,600 – Miami Marlins

4. Jose Bautista -$4,900 – Toronto Blue Jays

Starting Pitchers

1. Madison Bumgarner -$10,500 – San Francisco Giants

2. Danny Salazar -$8,800 – Cleveland Indians

3. Andrew Cashner -$7,800 – San Diego Padres

4. Drew Hutchison -$7,000 – Toronto Blue Jays (GPP)