Welcome to the Sunday edition of the DFS Primer. Like last Sunday, I will just focus on the main slate. There is actually a decent number of games for the afternoon slate to make it worth your while but remember there is more to life than just playing MLB DFS such as watching the NBA playoffs, playing golf, or Happy Hour with your buddies! Of course you should save a sliver time for your family, cleaning the garage, or meal planning for the week ahead. Happy wife, happy life!
Pitchers
I am a big fan of the reverse Coors effect. My Best Bets article on April 12 goes into the finer details of that phenomenon. Bottom line, play the pitchers going up against the teams fresh off a series in Colorado. Of course that includes the Rockies who usually struggle at the start of a road trip. Yesterday is a great example. Tarik Skubal pitched a gem for Detroit yesterday: 6 IP, 5 hits allowed, 6 Ks, 0 BBs, 0 ERs, and the W. Tyler Alexander is cheap ($7.1K on DraftKings and $7K on FanDuel) and should have a decent start. If we get 5 IP, 0-1 ERs, 3-4 Ks, and a W from Alexander, we should get about 30 fantasy points in FanDuel. Works for me!
If you are playing DraftKings, I like Logan Webb as my other pitcher. He is expensive but the Giants have resumed their winning ways from last year. A win is very likely for Webb and so is 6-7 IP and 7-8 Ks. In fact, Webb had an outstanding start against San Diego 11 days ago. Finally, the Nationals have only managed 6 runs in the last 4 games. Expect Webb to dominate as the Giants wrap up their long east coast road trip.
Batters
There are two stacks I love today: Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros. Since we are saving a lot of salary with Alexander, we can roster the 1-2-3-4 hitters for Atlanta and the 1-3-4-6 hitters for Houston. So why roll with these stacks? Let’s start with Atlanta.
Jesus Luzardo pitches for Miami and he was awful last season. He started 2021 with Oakland and had a 6.87 ERA. Then he was traded to Miami where things did not get much better with an ERA of 6.44. The Braves offense was solid yesterday and with Albies, Olson, Riley and Ozuna on board, I think we have ourselves a slate breaking stack.
Now, why go with Houston? Because they are Houston and they are facing a weak pitcher in Yusei Kikuchi. Bregman, Alvarez, and Gurriel have all gone yard against him and there is no reason why they can’t do the same today. The Houston offense has struggled lately but the best way to snap out of a funk is to beat up on a gas can pitcher. Ownership might be low which is good for us.
Here are some sample lineups featuring the players discussed in this article. Each of them have some money leftover which makes for a unique roster construction.
DraftKings
P: L. Webb
P: T. Alexander
C: T. d’Arnaud
1B: M. Olson
2B: O. Albies
3B: A. Bregman
SS: J. Pena
OF: Y. Alvarez
OF: M. Ozuna
OF: A. Duvall
FanDuel
P: T. Alexander
C/1B: M. Olson
2B: O. Albies
3B: A. Bregman
SS: J. Pena
OF: Y. Alvarez
OF: K. Tucker
OF: M. Ozuna
UTIL: A. Riley
Enjoy the spring baseball and clean that garage before your significant other locks you out! Good luck!
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