Hello and Happy Friday everyone. We have an 11-game main slate today on both FanDuel and DraftKings. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM ET in Baltimore for the Yankees vs. Orioles. We have four dome games tonight and the seven others look pretty clear from rain at the time I write this; hopefully, the map stays dry for us. Yesterday I had the Pirates as my main stack at very low ownership, besides Brian Reynolds who came in at 20%. Having the Pirates put most of my 100 lineups in a good position to finish in the money. This is what I’m going to attempt to do for you, help you build good GPP lineups to finish near the top. OK, you ready to win some money? Let’s do it!
Starting Pitchers
We have 22 pitchers to choose from tonight and most of them I’ll be avoiding. There are a few unproven pitchers that will garner high ownership because of recency bias. Kyle Wright is one of them. You can take a shot on him vs. San Diego in GPPs but after Charlie Morton got knocked around last night, I’d stay away from Wright in cash games. We also have Carlos Ródon who had 12 strikeouts in five innings in his first start showing his 2021 campaign was not a fluke. Cleveland is red hot and leads the league in WRC+ and is third in WRC+ vs. LHP in this young season so it’s another play I can’t make with confidence. Here are my top three pitchers for tonight.
Top 3 SP
Cease is a sneaky favorite for many to win the AL Cy Young this year and is coming in hot. On DraftKings, I’ll use Cease as my SP1 in a majority of my lineups. Plesac is a cheap SP2 option while I really like Jordan Montgomery on FanDuel. Montgomery will be pitching in Camden Yards and it seems the new dimensions have helped pitchers so far. In the three-game series between Baltimore and Milwaukee, only 17 total runs were scored. Take that for what’s it worth. JoMO should have favorable ownership for a unique lineup too.
Stacks
We all need a little luck to bink a GPP but stacking gives you the best odds to finish at the top. Selecting a team to do well is easier than finding nine guys to hit a home run. On DraftKings, I like to get with a 5-3 or 5-2-1 depending on pricing. On FanDuel you can rock with a 4-4, 4-3-1, or 4-2-2 depending on the slate. Let’s take a look at my favorite stacks for tonight.
Houston Astros vs. Marco Gonzales
- Houston led the league in WRC+ vs LHP in 2021 and so far has the third-lowest strikeout rate vs LHP in 2022
- Houston has some cheaper pieces in Jeremy Peña, Yuli Gurriel (FanDuel), and Chas McCormick
LA Dodgers vs. Vladimir Gutierrez
- Gutierrez had an 8.5 K-BB%, and a WHIP above 1.4 in 2021
- The Dodgers put up 9 runs Thursday night vs Cincinnati whose bullpen has given up 5 HR (2nd most) and a 38% Hard hit rate this season
New York Yankees vs. Jordan Lyles
- Lyles gave up a league-leading 38 home runs in 2021
- I really like Rizzo and Higashioka, and Hicks should be back in the lineup
- If Gallo makes contact, he’s got a good chance of clearing the LF wall
- New dimensions won’t stop the Yankees from scoring runs against a Lyles
Detroit Tigers vs. Brad Keller
- Keller had a .301 BA vs LHH in 2021
- Meadows, Baddoo, and Baez are priorities with Reyes and Torkelson as cheap options
Value Bats
Here are some of the best value bats for tonight. If you see a guy on this list, it’s safe to play other players from their team. We will see more value pop up once lineups are announced so use this as a reference and pay attention to the news, as there are always one or two guys batting at the top of a lineup that are not there on the regular.
Good luck tonight and I hope to see some of your green screens tomorrow!
Design by J.R. Caines (@JRCainesDesign on Twitter and @caines_design on Instagram)