Guys, I have bad news. There are just ten days left in the regular season. 240 hours until I’ll have to pack up my clown makeup for the next six months. How’s that song go? 14,400 minutes; 6,390 cups of coffee; $17.75 left in my FanDuel account; how do we measure success in DFS? How about looooooooooooooooooooove? Man, this is off the rails early and if you’ve never seen Rent, all of this is just, whooooooooosh, right over your head. Okay, let’s get to it. I’ll recommend a cheaper pitcher in a little bit because this VIP section is for aces only. We have Shane Bieber ($10,700), Jacob deGrom ($11,000), Clayton Kershaw ($10,400), Luis Castillo ($10,300), Charlie Morton ($9,500), and Zack Greinke ($9,200). That’s six aces on today’s slate, so how do we choose? Let’s look at what the pitchers are playing for. Castillo is the only ace who’s team is eliminated from the playoffs, so he’s booted. The Dodgers and Astros have their divisions clinched, so I wouldn’t expect Kershaw or Greinke to go as deep as they usually do – scratch them. That narrows it down to Bieber, Morton, and deGrom, all of which are on teams fighting for the Wild Card and in Bieber’s case, the division. Those are my three favorites on today’s FanDuel slate, so pick your poison. I’ll be going with deGrom myself.
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Anibal Sanchez, SP: $8,300 – Anibal is as low as I’m willing to go this time of year. The Nationals are still fighting for the Wild Card and get the Marlins.
Jose Abreu, C/1B: $3,700 – Abreu loves facing Jordan Zimmermann (who doesn’t?) and has gone 11/26 with four extra-base hits against him in 28 plate appearances.
Yuli Gurriel, C/1B: $3,600 – Yuli hit the 30 homer mark this year (previous high of 18) and the Astros face homer-friendly, Jaime Barria.
Ryan Zimmerman, C/1B: $2,700 – Tis the season for Ryan to be healthy, so play him while you can, he hits the ball hard. I swear, if you didn’t read this in a sing-song voice, you’re dead to me.
Ozzie Albies, 2B: $3,500 – Albies has had a really consistent season. He struggled in May, but never batted below .289 in any other month. Since August 1st, Albies has hit .312 with eight bombs and seven steals.
Rougned Odor, 2B: $2,900 – Sure, it took him all season to figure it out, but September is Odor’s month! He’s mashed six bombs in the last three weeks.
Jonathan Schoop, 2B: $2,700 – Schoop has crushed lefties all year, putting up a .295 ISO and .381 wOBA against southpaws. The Twins face my favorite lefty, Eric Skogland.
Yoan Moncada, 3B: $3,800 – I wish we would’ve had a full season with a healthy Moncada, but at least he’s scorching in September, batting .435 with 11 extra-base hits.
Miguel Sano, 3B: $3,600 – Like Schoop, Sano crushes lefties and faces Skogland.
Eduardo Escobar, 3B: $3,300 – Escobar is a switch-hitter who is better from the right side of the plate and gets a matchup with Eric Lauer today.
Francisco Lindor, SS: $4,000 – The Indians face Drew Smyly. That’s it, that’s all you need to know.
Jonathan Villar, SS: $3,600 – Villar gets to lead off against King Felix. Awwwww, remember when he was a mighty king?
Nick Ahmed, SS: $2,500 – Keep an eye on the lineup for this one, but Ahmed has destroyed lefties this year, making him a nice pair for Escobar.
Nelson Cruz, OF: $4,000 – I don’t know if I’ll be able to afford it, but this Twins stack against Skogland is juicy.
Mike Yastrzemski, OF: $3,300 – Yaz Jr gets out of San Francisco and into one of the friendliest hitter parks for lefties.
Joc Pederson, OF: $3,200 – I really wanted to figure out a way to get up to Cody Bellinger against Peter Lambert, but $4,500 is really expensive. Joc is my discount option.
Yasiel Puig, OF: $3,200 – The Indians righties come in as a close second to the Twins righties today, but I love getting them against Drew Smyly.
Willie Calhoun, OF: $3,000 – Since August 1st, Calhoun has found his power stroke, mashing 11 homers over the last 7 weeks. Oh, and it helps he’s facing Mike Fiers, who is in the middle of his regression tour.
Oscar Mercado, OF: $2,800 – Mercado is batting .323 in the month of September with eight extra-base hits. He’s also being more selective at the dish, as he has a 10.3% walk rate this month, his highest of the season.
Lourdes Gurriel, OF: $2,700 – I know, J.A. Happ’s been great of late, but the Yankees popped bottles last night and Happ with a hangover could get hit pretty hard. Gurriel has crushed lefties this year, putting up a .385 ISO against them.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
You know it’s almost fall when most of tonight’s games will be played in the high 70s. Only in Houston for the Astros/Angels game does the temperature stay in the 80s for the entirely of the game. No real precipitation in the forecast for tonight.
Doing Lines In Vegas
As of this writing there are four games without lines. Despite the lack of lines, there are six games in which the favorite is -200 or higher. Zack Greinke and the Astros lead the way at -345 and are followed by the Dodgers at -335. Then, there’s a big gap down to the Nationals (-215), Indians (-210), Braves (-200), and Brewers (-200). With the cool weather moving in and so many good pitchers going tonight, it shouldn’t be a surprise that there are currently no totals in double digits.
