The man who used to eat donuts before and in between games, will now try to fill up the scoreboard with them. If you aren’t familiar with Kevin Gausman‘s love for donuts, he had a ritual throughout college and even early on in his pro career in which he would eat donuts before each start. He even took it as far as eating 3 powdered donuts in between innings. What a great story it would have been if the ump checked the ball for banned substance and it was just a little Hostess Powdered Sugar. Well hopefully he can use the powdered sugar tonight for some extra grip on the ball as he takes on the Cincinnati Reds. Gausman and the Orioles are a decent favorites at -165, so he should be in line for a win. He is coming off his best start of the season at Toronto (6IP, 1ER, 3Ks) and a trip to the national league could add to those sweet strikeout numbers. As for the rest of the slate, some good stacking opportunities are available. Lets take a look at the picks.
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Max Scherzer, P: $24,900 – Won 4 out of his 5 starts last season versus the Atlanta Braves. The Braves actually don’t have the worse numbers against him but he is always a threat for double digit strikeouts .
Chris Davis, IF: $9,300 – Gets Bronson Arroyo in one of the best homerun hitting parks in the league. Arroyo has already allowed 3 HRs in 10IP this season, Davis should continue to stay hot in this great matchup.
David Freese, IF: $6,000 – Has absolutely crushed Mike Leake in his career (15/28 1.302 OPS). He is also off to a great start in 2017, hitting .344 with a couple HRs.
Fransisco Lindor, IF: $9,200 – Starting to become a house hold name if he wasn’t already. Lindor has been tearing the cover off the ball in 2017, and has hit 3 of his 4 HRs vs. RHP. Has a great match up vs. Phil Hughes.
Brian McCann, IF: $6,400 – BvP is not always the best thing to use in DFS but when you have a guy with the results McCann has vs. Angels starter Ricky Nolasco, it stands out. He is 23/68 with 8 HRs in his career against Nolasco. He could prove to be one of the biggest bargains of the night.
Seth Smith, OF: $7,200 – RHP versus Baltimore? Plug in Seth Smith. As I mentioned earlier, Baltimore is squaring off vs. Arroyo and they should be able to put some runs on the board. Smith has a woBA of .436 and 1.037 OPS vs. RHP this season.
Nelson Cruz, OF: $8,400 – Boom Stick is starting to warm up, hitting .391 in his last 7 games. Gets to face Wei-Yin Chen who has been getting clobbered since moving to the Marlins, righties carry a .432 wOBA off Chen.
Jay Bruce, OF: $7,200 – Crushing righties to start the 2017 season, has an OPS of 1.089 vs. RHP. Gets Phillies RHP Zach Eflin who gives up 1.7HR/9.
Mitch Haniger, OF: $6,800 – A popular sleeper coming in to the season, Haniger has started to live up to the hype he had when he was touted one of the top prospects in baseball. Has a good matchup on Tuesday night vs. Marlins LHP Wei-Yen Chen, hitting .391 and 1.109 OPS in his last 7 games.
Stacks to Consider
Pittsburgh Pirates: Mike Leake has been fantastic through two starts this year (.60 ERA .73 WHIP); he gets the Pirates on Tuesday night. I believe the regression fairy is taking a little trip to St. Louis. Leake failed to make it out of the 5th inning in two of his four starts last season vs. PIT. He had a 5.81 ERA in those 4 starts, allowed 14ER and 31 Hits in 21 2/3 innings of work. Some bats to consider stacking are David Freese, who is 15/28 and has a 1.302 OPS. Starling Marte is 11/44 with a HR, Andrew McCutchen is 19/77 with 2 HRs. Jordy Mercer is 9/27 vs Leake.
Baltimore Orioles: They get Bronson Arroyo in Great American Ball Park. Yes Arroyo is still pitching in the big leagues in 2017. In his two starts so far this season he has allowed 11ER in 10 innings, as well as allowing 3 HRs. We will have to see what line-up Buck Showalter throws as they wont have the DH in play, but Manny Machado, Mark Trumbo and Chris Davis should all be worth the price. Trey Mancini could be a value play as all he does is hit HRs, already has 4 in 22ABs this season. Jonathan Schoop is starting to heat up after his slow start, 9/22 with 2 HRs last 7 days.
New York Mets: Zach Elfin will be making his season debut on Tuesday for the Philadelphia Phillies. He posted a 5.54 ERA last season in 11 starts, also allowed 1.7HR/9. What’s not to like about a pitcher who is susceptible to the long ball versus the team that currently leads the league in homeruns. Yoenis Cespedes, Asdrubal Cabrera, Jay Bruce, Lucas Duda and Neil Walker are players to consider.
I’m Only Happy When it Rains
CHI/MIL game looks to be the only game dealing with some iffy weather. 30% chance of rain and some thunderstorms might come and go throughout the game. This is a game you should monitor closer to game time
Doing Lines in Vegas
Chicago Cubs with Brett Anderson on the mound are the biggest favorites of the night at -170. Washington Nationals are on the road vs. the Atlanta Braves are -168. Max Scherzer will take the mound for the Nationals; he won 4 of his 5 starts last year vs. ATL and Nationals won all 5 games. Some offense is expected between MIN/CLE, the O/U is sitting at 9 runs. That is the highest run expectancy of any games on the slate. Another game with some fireworks expected is the CLE/MIN, the O/U is 9.
