Shohei Ohtani is really good at baseball. Everyone has seen the Tungsten Arm O’Doyle joke by now about how each day Ohtani and Mike Trout achieve some fantastic feat, and then the Angels still lose the game. Is there such a thing as a post-meme sleeper? Ohtani continues to pile up outrageous stats. Going into today, he leads the league in slugging, is second in home runs, and is third in strikeouts thrown. It’s incredible and deserves to be celebrated every day by baseball fans. He’s the odds-on favorite in the AL MVP race and only lost last season to Aaron Judge because of Judge’s historic hitting season.
If we want to add Ohtani to our DFS picks today, we have to do it on the mound. The DraftKings slate features 7 games, and Ohtani comes in toward the top of the pitcher salary list at $10,700. He also comes in at the top of the Razzball projected points in a tough matchup against the Rangers. Our opponents will be tempted to avoid the tough matchup for cheaper pitchers with better matchups, and this combination of things makes him a great play tonight.
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Shohei Ohtani, SP: $10,700 – See above.
A.J. Smith-Shawver, SP: $5,500 – Today’s common build will have mid-priced pitching combinations like Marcus Stroman and Sonny Gray. There is always risk in throwing an inexperienced young pitcher like AJ, but the matchup and salary make him a great option to pair with Ohtani.
Donovan Solano, 1B: $2,000 – Potentially leading off against the lefty, Matt Boyd, Donovan gives us a cheap hitter on a team with a decent run total that will get lost behind flashy options at the 1B position like Matt Olson and Freddie Freeman.
Jose Altuve, 2B: $4,900 – As Altuve works back from injuries, we need to capitalize on his salary before he’s mid $5,000s.
Ryan McMahon, 3B: $4,600 – In lineups without A.J. Smith-Shawver, there is reason to target established veteran hitters against inexperienced pitchers. The Colorado stack isn’t great, but picking pieces can help us get players that have little ownership.
Carlos Correa, SS: $4,000 – If you combine the matchup of Donovan Solano with the yet to take off pricing of Jose Altuve, you get Carlos Correa. Play him as the anchor in your Minnesota stacks.
Kyle Tucker, OF: $5,100 – With Yordan Alvarez on the shelf, Kyle Tucker has taken over the clean-up spot for the Astros. I’m not afraid of the lefty on lefty matchup with MacKenzie Gore, and I’ll be building stacks around the Altuve and Tucker combination.
Willi Castro, OF: $2,300 – Another salary saving piece to add to our Minnesota stacks if he ends up with a good lineup spot.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
A relatively cold night with winds blowing in at Wrigley, and slow moving storm concerns in Atlanta. Keep an eye on the weather there closer to lock.
Doing Lines In Vegas
Staying on theme with this article, the Angels’ moneyline is interesting to me at plus money with Ohtani on the mound.
