It’s Sunday, and as always, I’m here to get you prepared for your GPP tournaments with today’s Stack The Deck column.
If you’re looking for the biggest tournaments, you’re going to want to focus on the 10 game main slate that has a roster lock of 1:10 PM ET/10:10 AM PT.
So if you played DFS yesterday, you probably felt some of the wrath of the two postponements during the early slate, leading to an absolute mess from DraftKings who tried to move the start time of their early slate two hours later, only to not know the difference between AM and PM.
Weather wise, we’re going to have to keep an eye on Cincinnati (Rockies/Reds), Pittsburgh (Phillies/Pirates), and Atlanta (Nationals/Braves). The worst game definitely appears to be Phillies/Pirates, which has a forecast that looked a lot like Royals/Twins last night.
Nevertheless, I’ll take everything in consideration as I provide you with my top five GPP stacks of the day.
MILWAUKEE BREWERS
So here’s the deal with the Brewers. I actually liked Jake Arrieta yesterday, had he played, because the wind was blowing in, and the wind blowing in at Wrigley is a HUGE advantage.
One day later, it looks like the wind is going to be blowing out again, with 15 to 20 MPH gusts going straight out to right center field.
The wind has been blasting like crazy throughout the week, and we’ve seen both the Cubs and their opposition benefit from the wind greatly. Considering what we were able to see from the Reds earlier this week, I think it’s very clear that the Brewers are going to be underowned, while the Cubs are going to be chalky.
The Brewers are going through some tough injuries right now. Yes Ryan Braun is not going to be back in the lineup, but fortunately, the Brewers will have both Eric Thames and Travis Shaw back in the lineup. Both of these guys went ham the last time the Brewers visited Wrigley, and there wasn’t any wind helping them back then.
On top of that, there’s Eric Sogard, who has been getting opportunities from the Leadoff spot. While Sogard has never been fantasy relevant, he’s fundamentally sound. He knows how to be patient at the plate, and he has one of the highest contact rates in baseball. I know it’s a limited sample size, but he definitely looks like someone who can help the Brewers win ball games for the rest of the season.
Players to consider: Eric Sogard, Eric Thames, Hernan Perez, Travis Shaw, Jett Bandy, and Keon Broxton.
TEXAS RANGERS
If you’re playing the late slate, you will definitely want to take a CLOSE look at the Rangers. They got crushed last night but please understand that leading up to last night, they were coming off of a huge 10 game winning streak.
Virtually every component of the Rangers lineup is heating up, which isn’t a surprise because of how consistent they were in 2016, and how awful they were to start the season. This has led to many of the Rangers being lower in price than they normally would be.
If you’re unaware, Matt Boyd is not good. He showed some bits and pieces where he looked formidable, but just doesn’t show enough consistency to give the Tigers any type of stability. Worst of all, he’s definitely going to have to face Robinson Chirinos, who has hit two homers off of him in four at-bats, and someone who has gone 4-for-8 (.500 AVG) with a homer this season against southpaws.
Ryan Rua is also a notorious left-masher, who most people have probably forgotten about because he’s been so bad, but is coming off of two starts where he went 4-for-5 (.800 AVG) with a homer, double, three walks, and three RBIs.
Players to consider: Delino Deshields, Elvis Andrus, Ryan Rua, Robinson Chirinos, Mike Napoli, and Shin-Soo Choo
CHICAGO CUBS
I envision the Cubs being very popular DFS options today. It makes sense. Chase Anderson just has not been able to emerge as a consistent front-end Starter for the Brew Crew, and he gives up a lot of contact. Unfortunately for him, a lot of that contact tends to be elevated, and we’ve seen many times already that any elevated contact has the ability to go way out of Wrigley Field.
So in general, the Cubs are going to be better cash game options than GPP options, but I think they’re going to do some damage either way here. If you expect to take down a GPP today, you might want to vary other elements of your lineup, like taking a riskier pitcher (or two), or leaving salary on the table.
Anyone who is in the Cubs lineup is going to be in play. We’ve seen a few times earlier this week where the guys at the end of the lineup like Javier Baez have been able to do damage with this wind.
Players to consider: Kyle Schwarber, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Ian Happ, Willson Contreras, Ben Zobrist, and Albert Almora
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
DFS was off of the Diamondbacks last night because of a “tough” matchup against Luis Perdomo. Oops.
Not everything is what it seems, but I’m sorry, the Dbacks are for real, and their offense is one of the most confident offenses in baseball from top to bottom. They have absolutely humiliated the Padres the past two nights, and I’m sure Clayton Richard isn’t getting much sleep tonight knowing he’s going to be responsible for shutting them down.
While the Dbacks have been better against right-handed pitchers this season, they’ve improved in recent games against lefties. On top of that, our primary targets all have an outstanding history against Clayton Richard. In fact, Gregor Blanco, Chris Owings, Paul Goldschmidt, Yasmany Tomas, and Nick Ahmed have combined to go 24-for-56 (.429 AVG) with three homers, a triple, five doubles, 10 walks, and 15 RBIs against the southpaw.
Let’s not even forget about Jake Lamb, who might be the hottest player in baseball. Yes, lefty versus lefty, but I might take my chances on a low owned Lamb, who is in the middle of an eight game hitting streak, going 15-for-32 (.469 AVG) with four homers (four over his last four games), three doubles, seven walks, and 13 RBIs.
Players to consider: Gregor Blanco, Chris Owings, Paul Goldschmidt, Yasmany Tomas, Jake Lamb, and Nick Ahmed
TORONTO BLUE JAYS
If you’ve been playing Blue Jays throughout the week, you’re probably feeling awfully good about yourself. Like I’ve said before, when you have someone like Jose Bautista, who began the year as not only a non-factor, he was legitimately hurting his team because of how terrible he was.
Let’s simply just jump back less than two weeks ago on 5/10 when he homered off of the Indians. Starting with that game, he has gone 16-for-39 (.410 AVG) with five homers, four doubles, seven walks, and an impressive 13 runs and 13 RBIs.
There’s also Justin Smoak, who has gone toe-to-toe with Bautista for the team MVP since 5/10, having gone 12-for-34 (.353 AVG) with five home runs, two doubles, nine walks, and 12 RBIs.
I don’t even want to mention Devon Travis, who has five multi-hit games over his last six starts.
Will Wade Miley screw us again? Hmmmm, can’t be sure, but GOOD LUCK WADE!
Players to consider: Kevin Pillar, Jose Bautista, Justin Smoak, Ezequiel Carrera, and Luke Maile