Chalk Stack(s)

 

Seattle Mariners vs. Jaime García

After getting off to a pretty decent start this season, Garcia has fallen off of a cliff in his last couple of outings. He’s allowed eight or more base runners in three straight starts while allowing 13 earned runs and four home runs. Garcia’s 2.4 HR/9 is horrendous and so is the 3.90 BB/9 he has this year as well. There’s constant traffic when Garcia’s been on the mound and pair that with all the bombs he’s given up, a 0-0 game could turn into five, six, even seven zip in the blink of an eye.

From top to bottom of the Mariners lineup, they have guys that can flat out rake against left-handed pitching. If you want to simply start at the top, left-handed hitting Dee Gordon is batting .324 against southpaws on the year. It’s obviously harder to run on a LHP, but Gordon’s speed is in play no matter who is on the mound. If he gets on and steals a base, Jean Segura will be right there to drive him in like he’s done all year long. Segura already has 24 RBI this year since moving to the two-hole. He, like Gordon, is hitting over .300 (.308) against southpaws on the year and is currently saddled with an excellent price tag of 4K on DraftKings.

Mitch Haniger , Ryon Healy and Nelson Cruz are all guys that are going to be REALLY hard to ignore in this spot. Haniger and Cruz have .424 and .429 wOBA’s against southpaws this season respectively and Healy posted an .873 OPS last season against LHP as well. So all three can really, really mash lefties and it just so happens that Jaime García has allowed a .383 wOBA and a 39.7-percent hard hit rate to righty batters.

A couple of sneaky plays from this Mariners stack would be Robinson Canó . Many DFS players, including myself will be all-in on the right side, but Garcia’s splits indicate that may not be wise. Hitters from the left side against Garcia are slashing .313/.364/.742 with four bombs and a .462 wOBA.

Primary Option(s): Mitch Haniger , Nelson Cruz , Jean Segura , Dee Gordon , Ryon Healy

Secondary Option(s): Robinson Canó , Kyle Seager
 

Contrarian Stack(s)

 

Boston Red Sox vs. Masahiro Tanaka

If we look at essentially every stat we can when we begin building our lineups and doing our research, we saw that the Red Sox lead baseball in every single category against right-handed pitching. AVG, OBP, SLG, wOBA...literally every single one. I will say this, Masahiro Tanaka comes into this game pitching well, posting three straight quality starts but two of them were on the road. That said, he’s had problems with right-handed power, which is what the Red Sox come at you with. He allowed 19 bombs to RHH in 2017 and has followed that up with six already this season -- the only six he’s given up. It’s been a big difference in the hard-hit department as well, allowing just a 25-percent rate to lefties but a very bad mark of 39 against right-handers.

Right off the top, Mookie Betts and J.D. Martínez stand out like sore thumbs. Betts has been lighting the world on fire posting a 1.421 OPS with 10 extra-base hits, five leaving the yard, and 11 runs scored just over his last 10 games. Martinez hasn’t been too shabby either, slashing .415/.467/.707 over his last 10. And if that wasn’t enough, Martinez is 7-for-12 with three homers and a...wait for it…. .887 wOBA against Tanaka.

After the two most obvious pieces of this Boston stack, Hanley Ramírez , Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers check in as my next favorite Sox to use. Devers is the cheapest of the bunch and you’re going to need to save some salary somewhere if you’re trying to fit in both Betts and Martinez. Devers has belted three bombs over his past 10 games and has a solid .331 wOBA versus righties on the year. Bogaerts is mighty expensive, but if we’re sticking with the right-handed bat theme against Tanaka, this is another way to go. He’s hitting .310 with a .390 wOBA vs. RHP and has a 42.6-percent hard contact rate against them as well. Han-Ram  is the wild card. Who knows if he’ll even get the nod tonight with Mitch Moreland absolutely raking and Ramirez sputtering a bit, but I want the righties which is why I prefer Ramirez.

Primary Option(s): Mookie Betts , J.D. Martínez , Hanley Ramírez , Xander Bogaerts

Secondary Option(s): Rafael Devers , Mitch Moreland , Eduardo Núñez

 

San Francisco Giants vs. Nick Pivetta

Everyone and their mother’s seemingly jumped on the Nick Pivetta bandwagon mighty early this year and he’s beginning to revert back to the guy we saw essentially all of last season. He’s allowed 10 earned runs in his last two starts and four homers in his last three. If we take a dive into Pivetta’s numbers, we see that left-handed hitters are his worst nightmare right now. Lefties are slashing .328/.403/.532 with a .399 wOBA off of Pivetta. He’s also only striking lefties out at a 16.7-percent clip, so everyone from the left side is putting the ball in play off of Pivetta and hard too, as LHH have a 30.8-percent hard hit rate.

The two Brandon’s -- Belt and Crawford -- stand out the most here. Both have been really good of late, Belt has an .849 OPS over his last 10 games while Crawford is hitting .333 over his last 10. The Giants are a very cheap stack and could allow you to get exposure to expensive team’s like the Red Sox.

A name that’s basically been forgotten and is being given to us for free essentially is Pablo Sandoval . Sandoval actually went deep on Tuesday and is hitting .333 over his last 10 games. His playing time has been limited, but he’s taking advantage when he does get the chance. As a matter of fact, he’s been great against right-handed pitching hitting .333 with a .431 wOBA.

Alen Henson and Gregor Blanco are two more cheapies that hit from the left side that could potentially be used here. Blanco has led off the last couple of games and should continue to do so with right-handed pitchers on the mound. Like Sandoval, Blanco is being shipped out for free. He has swiped two bags over his last 10 games, so he’s a threat on the base paths as well. Henson has filled in admirably for Joe Panik at 2B and has been far better from the left side of the plate (.951 OPS) than he has been from the right (.625).

Evan Longoria and Buster Posey are the two right-handed hitters I’d like to get exposure too as well. Pivetta was a HUGE reverse splits guy just a year ago and if any of those past struggles seeps into this start, Longo and Posey could be in line for big games.

Primary Option(s): Brandon Belt , Brandon Crawford , Gregor Blanco , Pablo Sandoval , Alen Hanson

Secondary Option(s): Evan Longoria , Buster Posey