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.

There is some weather around the league, so 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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We have a super fun slate tonight for those ready to show off their skill. Just three arms come in over the $10,000 mark — Max Scherzer, Felix Hernandez and Masahiro Tanaka — with two more ace-ish pitchers priced over $9,500 (Cole Hamels and Jacob deGrom). Of the five, Scherzer faces the team with the lowest projected implied run total — the Cardinals with 3.26 runs according to RotoQL, but he’ll cost you a cool $13,000. The Cardinals have whiffed the 10th most in baseball against right-handed pitchers since the start of ‘15 but have posted a reasonable .320 wOBA over that same time frame. It may be worth paying up to be a bit contrarian while chasing the strikeouts in both cash and tournaments.

Masahiro Tanaka will find his way into most of my cash and tournament lineups my favorite play above $10,000. He’ll get the Rays in Tampa Bay that have an implied run total of 3.47 according to Vegas. Since the start of ‘15, the Rays have struck out the second most in baseball against right handed hurlers at a whopping 23.4% clip. He’s fanned a minimum of four batters in each of his nine starts this season but has allowed 11 earned runs over his last three starts — this should drive his ownership down for tournaments.

Down a bit you have John Lamb facing the Brewers in Milwaukee at just $7,400. The Brewers 24% strikeout rate against left-handed pitchers is the third-worst in baseball. They’ve also posted just a .299 wOBA versus southpaws since the start of ‘15, ranking them 26th in baseball. There’s an over/under of 9 on this game so this play doesn’t come with risk. Also in that same tier is Mike Fiers taking on the Angels in Anaheim with a game total of 7.5 and an implied run total of 3.7. The Angels don’t strike out all that much and own a .334 wOBA vs. RHP, so like Lamb above this play comes with some risk for tournaments.

STACK OPTIONS

Tigers – Vegas suggests the Tigers will scored 4.7 runs in Oakland against southpaw Sean Manea. The Tigers own a .344 wOBA against lefties — the third best mark in baseball — to pair with a .162 ISO which is 9th best in baseball versus southpaws. Ian Kinsler, JD Martinez, Miguel Cabrera and Nick Castellanos are the four to roll out here, but a wraparound stack could be in play with Cameron Maybin, James McCann and Jose Iglesias at the bottom of the order.

Coors – Both teams, all players in play. No need to discuss.

Pirates – A nice implied run total of 4.9 to go with the game total of 9 in Arlington. Chance of rain here, so keep a close eye, but the righties from Pittsburgh — Mercer, McCutchen, Kang, Marte — make the most sense. Sean Rodriguez at the bottom of the order makes sense if you want to get a piece of the action a bit cheaper and a bottom-half stack like Cervelli, Marte, Harrison and SRod is definitely in play against the southpaw Cole Hamels.

Brewers – Villar, Braun, Lucroy and Carter against lefty John Lamb with a nice run total in Milwaukee. Won’t cost you too much, either.

Padres/Marlins – Sneaky stacks? No stacks are sneaky anymore, but these are some teams to look for good values at potentially lesser owned options in tournaments. The right-handers from San Diego — Myers, Upton, Kemp and Norris against lefty Robbie Ray make a ton of sense.

PLAYER RANKINGS

DRAFTKINGS

CATCHER

1. Buster Posey – $5,300
2. Jonathan Lucroy – $3,600
3. Yan Gomes – $3,900
4. Wellington Castillo – $4,100
5. Russell Martin – $3,100
6. Evan Gattis – $3,200

FIRST BASE

1. Miguel Cabrera – $5,400
2. Freddie Freeman – $3,300
3. David Ortiz – $5,000
4. Joey Votto – $4,100
5. Chris Davis – $4,200
6. Brandon Belt – $4,800

SECOND BASE

1. Robinson Cano – $4,900
2. Daniel Murphy – $3,700
3. Joe Panik – $4,900
4. Brian Dozier – $2,900
5. Brandon Phillips – $3,500
6. Jason Kipnis – 4,800

THIRD BASE

1. Luis Valbuena – $3,500
2. Josh Donaldson – $4,300
3. Nolan Arenado – $5,500
4. Matt Duffy – $4,700
5. Manny Machado – $4,800

SHORTSTOP

1. Jonathan Villar – $3,700
2. Jordy Mercer – $3,100
3. Corey Seager – $3,500
4. Xander Bogaerts – $4,500
5. Carlos Correa – $4,200
6. Trevor Story – $5,400

OUTFIELD

1. Carlos Gonzalez – $4,500
2. Andrew McCutchen – $4,100
3. Mike Trout – $5,000
4. Cameron Maybin – $3,900
5. Starling Marte – $3,900
6. JD Martinez – $4,700
7. Nelson Cruz – $4,800
8. Charlie Blackmon – $4,900
9. George Springer – $4,300
10. Mookie Betts – $4,900
11. Bryce Harper – $4,900
12. Ryan Rua – $3,300

STARTING PITCHER

1. Max Scherzer – $13,000
2. Chris Archer – $7,900
3. Jacob deGrom – $9,900
4. Felix Hernandez – $11,900
5. John Lamb – $7,400
6. Mike Fiers – $7,100
7. Robbie Ray – $8,700
8. Michael Fulmer – $7,300

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