Atlanta Braves vs. Jason Vargas

On the year, the Braves are fourth in OPS, fourth in wRC+ and fifth in wOBA versus left-handed pitching. This does NOT bode well for Jason Vargas . Vargas has an 8.30 ERA on the year -- not kidding -- and has allowed righties to hit .338 and lefties .304. He’s faced the Braves twice this season and has given up six earned runs over 9.2 innings including three homers, so the ball could be flying out of Citi Field on Thursday.

Starting right up at the top with Freddie Freeman and Ozzie Albies is the rout I want to take. Both have hit over .300 versus southpaws this season, Albies .302 and Freeman .341. Albies isn’t exactly coming into this one hot, but he does at least have one hit in four of his last five games. Freeman on the other hand is hitting over .300 over his last 10 games, so he has that going for him.

Ronald Acuna Jr. has struggled against left-handers this year, but he’s been en fuego of late, so I’m not sure much it matters. He’s homered in two straight games and four times over his last 10 contests overall. Let’s add in the fact he’s swiped three bags over that same 10 game span and he’s a dual threat, elite play right about now. I like Acuna slightly more than Nick Markakis , but Markakis is a little cheaper and has the resume against left-handed pitching, batting .317 with a .384 wOBA.

Two more really enticing names here are Johan Camargo and Tyler Flowers . Both of these guys love hitting left-handed pitching. Flowers is hitting .421 with a .553 wOBA off of southpaws this season. He should start here and if he doesn’t, Kurt Suzuki is definitely in play as well with his .356 wOBA vs. LHP. But back to Camargo, the young third basemen is hitting .316 over his last 10 games with three home runs. I did mention he hits lefties well too, right? .294 AVG on the year with a .399 wOBA are pretty damn good marks.

Primary Option(s): Freddie Freeman , Ozzie Albies , Johan Camargo , Ronald Acuna Jr.

Secondary Option(s): Nick Markakis , Tyler Flowers , Kurt Suzuki


 

Yankees vs. Red Sox Game Stack

OK, I know what you’re thinking. Expensive as S%^&! Yeah, I get it, but both offenses are in great spots here. The Yankees rank first in the entire Major League’s against left-handed pitching and the Red Sox have a number of guys with very good history against CC Sabathia . Both Brian Johnson and Sabathia have struggled against right-handed hitters this year. Johnson has allowed a .313 AVG and .342 wOBA while Sabathia’s same marks sit at .263 and .330. Sabathia has faced the Sox twice this year and it’s been a mixed bag of results. His last outing against him was a seven inning, one-run gem, but the first game was ugly as he allowed four earned and was only able to get through four innings. Johnson on the other hand shut down the Yankees in their only meeting over 4.2 frames. But it’s hard to replicate that against this years Yankees.

Starting with the away team, the New York Yankees, the build obviously starts with Giancarlo Stanton who gets a southpaw. Stanton has been one of the best players in baseball against left-handed pitching this year hitting .366 with 10 home runs and a .483 wOBA. After Stanton, you go right to some of the baby bombers in Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar . Torres homered twice on Wednesday and is hitting .289 since returning from the DL. Torres also happens to be hitting .338 vs. LHP, so that’s another reason why he’s an elite play in this Yankees stack. Meanwhile Andujar just continues to hit no matter who is on the mound. Andujar had two more hits on Wednesday giving him 15 over his last 10 games and raising his average up to .400 over that span. Nobody can get the young third baseman out right now.

Rounding out my Yankees portion of the stack, Aaron Hicks , Neil Walker or even someone like Austin Romine are all in play. Walker has been the hottest of the three hitting .429 over his last 10 games. He’s on the cheaper side too, and we can’t just spend up for everyone here. Same with Romine but he’s been more productive than Walker for the entirety of the year as well, so you get cheap and productive with the Yankees catcher. Hicks has been hitting smack dab in the middle of the Yanks lineup with Aaron Judge going down and is always a power threat. Don’t forget he had an .800+ OPS against LHP last season, so he has the ability to rake lefty pitching.

Moving on to the Sox, J.D. Martínez and Mookie Betts are obviously the top dogs. Betts is 12-for-28 off of Sabathia and is hitting a cool .356 with a .490 wOBA versus left-handers. We saw in 2017 Martinez have one of the best seasons in recent memory off of left-handed pitching and if you can believe it, his .333 versus lefties this year is way lower than what it was in ‘17. You’re probably going to have to pick one or the other, especially if you’re already spending up for someone like Stanton on the other side of this game.

Steve Pearce has been a notorious lefty thrasher his entire career and it hasn’t stopped in 2018 hitting .306 with a .448 wOBA. Pearce also has faced Sabathia a ton over his career and has gone 11-for-36 (.308) with two home runs. The ability to play him at two positions on DraftKings is very valuable.

If you didn’t know, Blake Swihart has begun to turn it around at the dish. Over his last 10 games, he has a 10-game hit streak and is slashing .387/.441/.613 over that span. He’s really cheap on every DFS site and could be a crucial part of this stack if you want to make it work. Another Red Sox player who’s been on fire is Ian Kinsler . Kinsler has one upped Swihart so to speak hitting .429 over his last 10 games. He himself is 12-for-43 off of Sabathia so their history runs deep as well. One more value play that may surprise you is left-handed hitting Brock Holt . If Holt can crack the lineup, he’s amassed a .357 AVG vs. LHP this year. The Red Sox definitely have more value than the Yankees do, so be sure to include some of their value when building this massive game stack.

Primary Option(s): Giancarlo Stanton , Mookie Betts , J.D. Martínez , Steve Pearce , Gleyber Torres , Miguel Andujar

Secondary Option(s): Aaron Hicks , Blake Swihart , Austin Romine , Ian Kinsler , Brock Holt , Neil Walker