I think any one of us that spent their 20’s seeking inebriation and adventure had to deal with their share of Sausagefests. You know the ones where your buddy did a great job of collecting all of his brethren to come over on a Saturday night and play Beirut, pound brews, and act like the cocky jerkwads we all are. The problem with these casual get togethers was always the same. Said friend, let’s call him Fred, overlooked one major component of any good college party. Girls! No one wants a 5 to 1 pee-pee to va-Jay-Jay ratio, not even the va-jay’s. Because the bottom line issue is no one wants to spend all night competing for the attention of the same 6 girls. It leads to redundancy and an overall lack of what we all seek, adventure. The same is true for Draftkings. I think we’ve all had nights where the pitching options are thin. Nights where there’s one Clayton Kershaw and a whole crap ton of Felix Doubront’s and Francisco Liriano‘s. On these nights it makes it incredibly difficult to break away from the pack in GPP’s because there’s not enough quality options to put your faith in and dollars behind.
Well my friends you’re in luck, because today is the kind of party you’ve been waiting for. Saturday is a Sexy Soapy Sorority Party of Pitching Delight. A roster of options packed to the gills with randy tight arms in sexy Halloween costumes. Just look at these names Max Scherzer, Jon Lester, Chris Sale, Sonny Gray, Jeff Samardzija, Mark Buehrle, Zack Greinke, Alex Cobb, Andrew Cashner, Ervin Santana, and Roenis Elias. That’s 11 startable options! When the hell does that ever happen? It should be easy to find a 1-2 combo with tons of upside, that will allow you to rack up the points and still have room to grab some bats. Today would be a great day to start playing Daily Fantasy Baseball at Draftkings if you haven’t. You can Play your first game for free with us by clicking Draftkings.
Without further ado, my picks for Today’s Draftkings contests:
Alex Cobb, SP: $9,000 – I love Alex Cobb I pretty much own him everywhere, and a price of $9,000 today certainly has me buying in. It also doesn’t hurt that he gets the Mariners at home, who have become one of my lineup targets in daily fantasy the last month or so. Other than the early season injury, Cobb has been as promised through the 6 starts he’s made this season. Posting a k/9 of 7.9 and a BB/9 of 2.5. I think he’s the best pitching buy on the board today.
Jeff Samardzija, SP: $8,800 – Fantasy baseball’s pity prince is another excellent buy today as he gets the Marlins at Wrigley. Though Miami’s offense has been better than expected they haven’t been great away from the Crayola Crayon. Maybe they’re inspired by the monstrosity out in centerfield. It must have some sort of black magic ability because they have been pretty bad on the road. Just look at their home and road batting average differential. At home Miami hits .279, the third best mark in the majors, but on the road they’re hitting .245, 15th in MLB. This should setup nicely for Samardzija to come away with a tidy 7IP, 8K performance. If the Fantasy Baseball Overlord sees fit he may even grab a win for the second time this season. It’s too bad he pitches for the Cubs because if he was doing this on a contender or even a middle of the road club he’d be in the Cy Young race. Well if you can be in the Cy Young race in early June. BTW if you don’t trust me the Steam-o-nator has him ranked 3rd overall on the day at a price value of $19.9.
Andrew Cashner, SP: $8,300 – He’s been on the shelf for a few weeks now and it looks like he somehow avoided the elbow monster. BTW am I the only one that pictures the elbow monster like the smoke monster from Lost? I know thank 2009 for my Lost reference! Anyway Cashner can be dominate when he’s on and I think a Petco matchup with Washington plays very nicely. Washington is another team that isn’t great on the road, and that coupled with the Petco effect makes Cashner a good buy.
Jose Abreu, 1B: $4,900 – El Dano Grande (the large damage) has continued his power hitting ways since returning from the DL earlier this week. Thus far he’s hit 2 HR’s in his 15 AB’s and we’re talking about a player that’s hit 17 dongs and driven in 47 in his first 48 MLB games. The man is an animal and he gets Matt Shoemaker tonight. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him hit a dong or two. In fact he’d be my first pick in a dong of the day contest. Wow that sounds like a very dirty calendar a sorority might have, or John Travolta.
Travis D’Arnaud, C: $2,600 – This is totally a punt play but I wanted to use it to hammer home the point that punting catcher plays even better in draftkings than in H2H and roto leagues. This is best place to save a couple of bucks to reinvest in the rest of your offense. He hasn’t been good but I’m just looking for a cheap option that’s in the lineup. There are literally a handful of other Catchers that could have been here instead. The DFSBot likes D’Arnaud enough giving him a positive value of 1,007.
Tommy La Stella, 2B: $3,100 – He’s hit .427 since being called up to the bigs and the price is really nice. At $3,100 if you get a hit and run you’re making a solid profit. If he adds another hit and say a steal you’re made in the shade.
Erick Aybar , SS: $4,200 – The last two weeks Aybar has been on a tear hitting .320/5/2/11/.920. He faces Chris Sale today which is no easy task, but I still like his chances of a solid performance. Plus none of the other SS options in the night games strike my fancy.
Troy Tulowitzki, SS: $5,700 – For the early set I’m all over Tulo at Coors. Sure he goes against Zack Greinke but as previously discussed, everybody for the most part is facing solid pitchers today. Greinke has also been pretty meh in the last few weeks. Though Trouble T-Troy hasn’t been as off the charts as his early season self he’s still been very good.
Ryan Braun, OF: $5,600 – Braun has hit and run well against Edinson Volquez in the past (12/34, a homer, and 5 steals!). I don’t see that changing today. The price is steep but he’s a worthwhile buy. I’d totally advocate a Brewers stack today, Volquez stinks.
Alex Gordon, OF: $4,300 – Over the last month their haven’t been many hotter players in baseball than Gordon. He’s gone 17/5/17/4 with an OPS of 1.008 and he faces David Phelps today. It’s a good matchup and the price is cheap for such a hot bat.
Brandon Moss, OF: $4,900 – Moss has taken another step forward this season and jumped into the upper tier of outfield power bats. With a line of 15 homers, 49 RBI’s, and an OPS of .947 he’s a top 25 player in all formats. The fact that he gets Kevin Gausman who hasn’t been yet able to get it together has me salivating at the mouth.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
There are two games today with a threat of potential showers. One being the Colorado vs. Dodgers game which is at about 30% chance of rain and the other is the Astros at the Twins which is about a 40% chance. I’m not sure I stay away from either. I typically need a higher percentage to get nervous. I’m a real risk taker!
Doing Lines in Vegas
NYY vs. KC the total is at 8 and I love the over in this one. While neither offense is a juggernaut I still like them to have pretty good offensive days against Duffy and Phelps
Chicago White Sox vs. LA Angels the total is at 7.5 and I like the under and the White Sox. Sale is a monster and I fully expect 1 to 2 runs max on the home side of the board. The White Sox will score but I think it’s a 4-1 type of game.
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