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It’s Nola Day, and he should be in all your DFS lineups for the 1:05 slate
8 Games- 1:05 PM ET
Must Play SP: Aaron Nola, PHI ($24,600) vs. CHC
It’s an extremely shallow slate of pitchers in this session, as Jon Lester is the second most expensive pitcher in this slate. There’s no matchup nor performance volatility history that would lead me to believe there’s a chance Nola isn’t the top pitcher of the day, so you need to slot him into your lineup.
Honorable Mention: Anthony DeSclafani ($17,600)
Value SP: David Hess, BAL ($13,200) @ KC
If I’m recommending a pitcher that’s facing the hottest offense in baseball and he’s not a top 15-2o guy, then you know the available options are really unappealing. Hess has surprisingly tossed three quality starts in his last four outings, and in the one he failed to do so went 5.2 with only three earned runs. His K% and BB% are a bit concerning for sustainability, but I’d rather take a shot on him than James Shields or Junior Guerra.
IF: Gleyber Torres, NYY ($8,700) vs. DET (Matt Boyd)
Another batter with the beautiful SLG of 1.000 in this week’s slate of games, Torres has the second highest wOBA for batters with at least ten plate appearances in the last week. In Boyd’s most recent outing, he was knocked around for five earned runs through six innings, and he doesn’t have a strong enough track record to just expect him to bounce back no problem. As the final point to convince you, Torres has a 155 wRC+ against lefties this season.
Honorable Mention: Jose Peraza ($8,100)
OF: Mookie Betts, BOS ($11,400) @ CWS (James Shields)
“Big Game James” made a brief resurgence in early August, but is now back to the Shields we’ve been used to seeing for the past couple years. Betts is the highest rated outfielder at the plate over the last week, and yesterday he went 2-for-5 while putting the ball in play four times. I know I double down on OF for a weekend a lot, but if the results are there I don’t think it’s a bad move to keep playing them.
Honorable Mentions: Andrew McCutchen ($8,000)
Value Hitter: Ian Happ, CHC ($6,600) @ PHI (Aaron Nola)
One of the less reliable Cubs hitters for DFS, Happ has struck out a whopping 38.5% of the time in the last week, but his soft contact is only hovering around 14-15% in the same time span. Choosing anyone facing Aaron Nola just seems wrong, but the contact just needs to fall right for Happ given how hard he’s been hitting the ball.
Honorable Mention: Scott Kingery ($6,700)
Stack: Cincinnati Reds @ St. Louis Cardinals (Luke Weaver)
It’s Weaver’s first game back as a starter after serving the Cards in the bullpen for the last few weeks. The Reds have the third lowest ground ball % over the last week of games, and past the third inning Weaver could just be off from only having pitched four innings or more once in August.
Honorable Mention: New York Yankees vs. Detroit Tigers
Chen started last night.