Thank God Apollo Creed was played by Carl Weathers and not Khris Davis. The reason I say this is because when Balboa Switched to Southpaw in the last round of Rocky 2 Davis would have killed him! Khris Davis (OF, $4,100) is a cyborg sent to Earth to destroy lefty pitching. (A Cyborg huh? That’s a bit overly dramatic don’t you think?) No seriously he is!! Allow me to explain. This season Davis has a .452 wOBA against lefties with 6 homers, 16 Rbi’s, and a wRC+ of 191. Davis’ wRC+ against lefties is more than double what it is against righties. Lucky for Davis, The Brewers, and most esspically us Daily Fantasy Players he faces a lefty tomorrow….a bad one. Christian Friedrich is a lefty who in 17 career starts has an ERA of 6.15. He also has a HR/9 of 1.49 to go along with a tidy 3.28 BB/9, what I’m more or less saying is the Brewers stack is very much in play today. The only way this matchup could setup any better for the Brewers is if the game was played in Coors with metal bats filled with super balls. I think Carlos Gomez (OF, $4,500), Jonathan Lucroy (C, $4,600), and Aramis Ramirez (3B, $4,900) are all solid plays today. I’d suggest Ryan Braun (OF, $5.600) but his price tag is too high considering his numbers against lefties are the worst of all the Brew-Crew members named.
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Without Further Ado my Draftkings picks for June 26th 2014.
Ryan Vogelsong, SP: $7,400 – I’m not the biggest fan of Vogelsong but he’s been useful on a couple of teams that have cashed for me on Draftkings thus far this year. The stream-o-nator likes him today coming in at #7 on their daily rankings, and who can argue with the price? He gets Cincinnati outside of Great American Ballpark and in the friendly and roomy confines of AT&T park. Vogelsong is a total homeboy with a home ERA of 3.33, which is nearly 2 runs lower than his road ERA.
J.A. Happ, SP: $6,100 – I know this is risky but the Streamer likes this one too placing Happ one spot behind Vogelsong at 8th. I’m sure much of what the streamer is seeing comes down to Happ being a lefty and the fact that the White Sox do not hit lefties well. Despite being a top ten offense across the board, they’re 23rd in team wOBA against lefties with the 4th worst strikeout rate against them in the majors. So the matchup sets up nicely for Happ who hasn’t been very good of late (or ever?). He only costs $6,100 so I’m willing to give him a whirl. Not for the faint of heart!
A.J. Ellis, C: $3,000 – He’s batted .296/.457 since returning from the DL. At that price point I’m perfectly fine taking my chance with Ellis against Adam Wainwright. I believe in a few things: Santa Claus, The legalization of Marijuana, and punting catcher in Draftkings. I got a home run out of Caleb Joseph earlier this week with this strategy, so I’m going to try it again with Ellis.
Miguel Cabrera, 1B/3B: $6,000 – He is very pricy but some things are worth the price, like nice bed sheets or a high class escort. In other words, you get what you pay for at first base. More often than not, my highest paid hitter is manning first on my imaginary daily teams. If you went Edwin Encarnacion here I’d be fine with that too. I like Miggy’s matchup a little better so I’m going with him.
Daniel Murphy, 2B: $3,800 – Murphy kills Vance Worley, having gone 12/17 lifetime. I talked about Worley’s improvement since resurfacing last Saturday, but Murph’s numbers against him are nuts. Danny Boy’s BvP stats vs. the Vanimal are tough to ignore, so I’m giving him a roll at the keystone. Let’s hope he doesn’t take a paternity day to piss off Boomer and Mike Francesa. Then again, I’m pretty sure most anything will enrage the curmudgeons on New York Sports Talk Radio.
Troy Tulowitzki, SS: $5,500 – The best part about going cheap with pitching is getting Tulo into the same lineup as Miggy and Carlos Gomez. He Faces Wily Peralta today who’s been pretty solid thus far this season putting up a 3.02 ERA. The ERA isn’t supported by his FIP and xFIP, which sit at 3.94 and 3.50, respectively. Since the calendar hit June, Wily has started to regress back to those numbers putting up a 3.81. Though Tulo has hit less homers in June than he had in the two months prior (7 in both April and May, 4 in June). He has continued to hit for average posting a .349 this month.
Justin Upton, OF: $4,600 – Upton is getting his usual Upton on by streaking like crazy as his numbers have gone down significantly as each month has passed. He’s in the midst of a wretched June, hitting .191 with 3 homers and 9 Rbi’s. I like him to get off the schneide tonight against Jarred Cosart. If you choose to spend the $4,500 elsewhere, though, I wouldn’t blame you.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
Of the 10 games on the board for tonight only the Braves vs. Astros game in Houston has a chance of rain and they’re only at 40%. But much like Terry Crews, Houston has a retractable dome so not much to worry about here.
Doing Lines In Vegas
Vegas is setting the U/O in the Braves vs. Astros at 8. I like the under in this one.
Detroit vs. Texas is at 10 and I like the over in this one. I expect some crooked numbers on both sides of the board.
Finally give me the over at 9 in the Brewers vs Rockies game.
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