The San Diego Padres are bad at baseball, but that makes them amazing for DFS purposes, at least when digging for a starting pitcher. Michael Wacha ($15,300) gets to reap the rewards of facing the Padres in Petco tonight. The Padres are owners of such tantalizing stats such as a team OPS of .661, second worst in all the majors. The Padres are also tied for the league lead in strikeouts. As I’ve said many a time in these articles, strikeouts pay the bills in DFS and Wacha should be in line for plenty of them. The Cards are only slight favorites against Tyson Ross and the Padres, but I think they should be more heavily favored. The over/under for the game is only 7.5, so Wacha should be safe for cash and a great piece for a GPP lineup as well. Now, Wacha this way for a few more picks for tonight’s slate.
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Charlie Morton, SP: $25,000 – The price is a bit outrageous, but Morton is the top dog tonight. Syndergaard would normally garner some attention but not with way he’s looked lately. Morton has has a couple of rough outings himself, but he completely dominated the Rangers last time out (6 IP, 12Ks). I’d look for more of the same tonight and Morton is definitely the top pick for cash games.
Mike Soroka, SP: $14,600 – I love the pairing of Soroka and Wacha for a GPP lineup stacked with Coors bats. Soroka has looked totally ready for the show; poised on the mound and doing his thing. His thing by the way is an 8ish k-rate and a 2-ish walk rate. Tonight he’ll get to face the Marlins in Crayola Canyon. The Marlins have the league’s worst team OPS. Soroka should cruise.
Jesus Aguilar, IF: $7,700 – The Brewers have been doing a lot of mixing and matching lately. It’s been hard to predict when Aguilar, Villar, Perez and Braun are in going to be in the lineup or not, but we’re targeting whatever cheap righties we can squeeze in there tonight against Kyle Freeland. If Aguilar is out, Villar makes a nice pivot at the same price.
Josh Bell, IF: $7,200 – I know Bell hasn’t exactly been a world beater to start the season, but this is more about his opponent. Jeff Samardzija hasn’t exactly been great-shakes either. Puke Soup has earned a 6.61 ERA in his first 17 IP and has looked like hot garbage. Maybe I’m just looking for revenge for having drafted him in redraft leagues, but I’ll be looking to sneak a hitter or two into lineups whenever he pitches until he proves me wrong.
Cody Bellinger, IF: $9,100 – We’ve got a couple of cheap plays, now let’s work in some more pricey options. Bellinger gets to tee off on Homer Bailey tonight. Homer won’t strike you out and with an ERA (5.61) that’s actually lower than his FIP (6.28) there should be plenty of points to be had.
Alex Bregman, IF: $7,500 – Back to the cheaper options, Bregman hasn’t had a giant point outburst yet, but he’s been steady as they come. Hitting 4th or 5th in a stacked Astros lineup will do that for you. A big game could be coming and he’s worth a shot at the price.
Ian Desmond, OF: $7,600 – Sure, you could go with Charlie Blackmon, but that price tag ($10,700) is not pretty. We should also note Chase Anderson actually has reverse splits. Despite being a righty, RHB have clobbered Anderson, the difference in OPS (.809 for RHB vs. .679 for LHB) is pretty startling. So while most folks will just mindlessly go through and select all the Rockies lefty outfielders thinking they are going with the platoon advantage, Razzball DFS readers will know better. While people spend up for Blackmon, you could grab Desmond and pay up in the infield for Arenado.
Lorenzo Cain, OF: $8,900 – This seems really cheap for one of the better hitters in this Coors field game. Don’t ask me why, just grab and collect those points.
Eddie Rosario, OF: $8,300 – Rosario has been hot fiyah of late. The Twins are facing Nick Tropeano who is fresh off a DL stint and therefore could be a little rusty. Rosario eats rust and spits out DFS points. At least that’s the rumor.
Michael Conforto, OF: $7,400 – Conforto has been struggling, that I know, but it’s always fun to be on a guy when he breaks out of those struggles. This could be the night for Conforto. Grey has been talking up Eflin quite a bit, but what if that’s just small sample size? Lefties for his career have a .911 OPS against him, so I might err with the side of history and see if we can get lucky in a GPP lineup.
I’m Only Happy When It Rains
Lots of rain troubles to watch out for tonight, what a bummer. A rainout could occur in Pittsburgh where the Giants are visiting. A delay looks likely in Philly for their tilt with the Mets and the Rockies game could get wet as well.
Doing Lines In Vegas
STL@SD, as mentioned above has the lowest game total at 7.5. Meanwhile, the Coors field effect has the over/under for the MIL@COL game at 11 runs. The biggest favorite tonight is Charlie Morton and the Astros at -260. Intriguing is Ross Stripling and the Dodgers checking in at -190 vs. the Reds. If I could be confident in Stripling pitching deep, he would be a very interesting play at $8,200. Three IP would be a big downer though.
