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On Saturday FanDuel is offering 3 early games, 5 afternoon games and 7 evening games to choose from and that means opportunity abounds to win three times on Saturday.
There are some interesting opportunities on Saturday's slate and here's what I'm thinking about.
Saturday Early and Afternoon Contests
As you've probably already figured out my philosophy is to roster a top tier pitcher as I believe there are or at least will be plenty of value sticks available for me to put together a roster that I feel can win for me on any given night. The other thing I'm looking for is value; I want to get at the very least 1 point per $1000 dollars spent.......now that you understand my philosophy here is what I'm looking at tonight.
We have Stephen Strasburg, Chris Archer, David Price, Collin McHugh, Matt Harvey and Francisco Liriano in the top tier and each of them has their upside as well as their downside.
David Price ($12,300) and Chris Archer ($12,000) do battle against each other and at the price you will be paying you are better off popping some popcorn, cracking your favorite beverage and enjoying this one as a fan rather than rostering either of these 2 on Saturday.
Stephen Strasburg ($11,000) is at home against the Phillies and I think this is going to be a good one to exploit. Strasburg has a solid record against these current Phillies including an 8 inning 14 strikeout performance against these same Phillies just 11 days ago. Over his past 5 starts he's striking out 13.08 while walking just over 1 and has allowed 1.67 bombs per nine innings pitched. The Phillies have a 20 percent strikeout rate with a .294 wOBA and wRC+ of 82 against righties this season and this one is a no-brainer for me on Saturday.
Matt Harvey ($10,000) is expensive and he probably won't pitch more than 5 innings as the Mets are limiting his innings to save him for the playoffs. Over his last 5 starts he's striking out 11.30 per nine, walking less than 2 and allowing 0.63 bombs per nine. The Reds strike out 19 percent of the time with a wOBA of .310 and wRC+ of 92 but I still am staying away from Mr. Harvey on Saturday.
Collin McHugh ($9,000) has an interesting matchup at home with the Texas Rangers. The Rangers have done well against McHugh and over his last 5 starts McHugh is striking out 9, walking 2.90 and allowing less than a bomb per nine innings pitched. McHugh has also gone 6 innings or more in 3 of his last 5 starts. The Rangers have a 18 percent strikeout rate, wOBA of .322 and wRC+ of 98 against righties this season.
Francisco Liriano ($9,600) has been very good in his career against the current Cubs and over his past 5 starts he's struck out 10.94. walked 4.44 and allowed just over a bomb per nine innings pitched. He's also gone six innings or better in 3 of his last 5 starts and he'll be facing a Cubs team with a 25 percent strikeout rate, wOBA of .304 and wRC+ of 89 against lefties this season. The price and the strikeouts are sure hard to resist aren't they?
Stacking Opportunities for Saturday Early and Afternoon Contests
San Francisco Giants right handed bats such as Matt Duffy ($3,000), Marlon Byrd ($3,400), Angel Pagan ($3,000( and Buster Posey ($3,400) against the Athletics Barry Zito.
New York Yankees right-handed bats Chris Young ($2,400), Alex Rodriguez ($3,100), Robert Refsnyder ($2,200) and Carlos Beltran ($3,600) against the White Sox John Danks should work as right-handed hitters have a .375 wOBA when Danks is pitching on the road.
Value Picks for Saturday Early and Afternoon Contests
Wilmer Flores ($2,600) of the Mets has a great matchup with the Reds John Lamb. Against lefties this season Flores has a wOBA of .460 and a wRC+ of 240 against lefties on the road this season.
Adam Jones ($2,500) has another lefty matchup this time in Fenway against the Red Sox Craig Breslow. Righties have been slugging .434 with a .319 wOBA against Breslow at home this season.
Saturday Evening
Felix Hernandez ($11,000) has been solid against this collection of Angels and he faces them again in Anaheim on Saturday night. Over his last 5 starts he's striking out 8.35 per nine innings while walking nearly 3 and allowing 1.47 bombs per nine innings pitched. He's gone 6 or more innings in 4 of those starts and he'll face an Angels team with a 19.5 percent strikeout rate, .305 wOBA and wRC+ of 97 against righties this season.
Jaime Garcia ($8,800)has an interesting matchup with the Brewers in St Louis on Saturday night. Garcia has been brilliant over his career against the present Brewers roster and over his past 5 starts has been striking out just over 6 hitters per nine, walking 2.32 and has allowed 0.29 bombs per nine innings pitched. Garcia has also gone 6 or more innings in 4 of his last 5 starts. Against righties this season the Brewers have a 20 percent strikeout rate with a wOBA of .310 and wRC+ of 90.
Julio Teheran ($8,600) hasn't made my DFS column once this year and that's surprising to me. Over his past 5 starts he's striking out 7.76, walking 4.02 and allowed 1.44 bombs per nine innings pitched and he's gone 6 innings or better 3 of those 5 starts. Teheran has had plenty of success against the Marlins and with their 19 percent strikeout rate, .293 wOBA and wRC+ of 82 he should have success on Saturday night.
Josh Tomlin ($8,600)has been incredible for the Indians and over his past 5 starts he's striking out 8.42 per nine innings, walking less than 1 and has allowed 1.24 bombs over his last 36.1 innings pitched. Tomlin has pitched fairly well against the current Kansas City Royals team who this season have a 16 percent strikeout rate with a wOBA of .323 and wRC+ of 103 against righties this season. Tomlin has 2 complete games in his last five starts and has gone 6 innings or more in 3 of his last 5 starts including a complete game victory over these Royals just 11 nights ago.
Stacking Opportunities for Saturday Night
St Louis Cardinals bats against the Brewers righthanders Tyler Wagner should be extremely profitable. Wagner has only pitched 3.2 innings and allowed 5 runs so this could be a big night for the Cardinals bats no matter what side of the dish they are eating from.
Los Angeles Dodgers left-handed bats Joc Pederson ($3,300), Carl Crawford ($2,300), Chase Utley ($3,500) and Andre Ethier ($2,900) against the Rockies Kyle Kendricks. Lefties against him have been slugging .491 with a wOBA of .355 this season.
Value Picks for Saturday Night
David Murphy ($2,300) has 4 bombs in his career against Felix Hernandez and against righthanders this season he has a wOBA of .321 with a wRC+ of 105.
Good luck on Saturday Fantasy Baseball owner!!
On this edition of Phil's Fantasy Sports Phil is giving away a 25 dollar pre-paid Visa card to one lucky listener per week for signing up at his new Daily Fantasy Sports site Draft Dragons. Rotowire NHL writer Brian Rutherford and Phil discuss Fantasy Hockey mid-tier forwards, Fake Teams Ray Guilfoyle joins Phil and the guys try and figure out who will be the #1 Fantasy Baseball player taken in next seasons draft as well as several Cubs players and pitchers and their possible 2016 values. Draft Kings Playbook writer Jason Walker joins Phil and the guys share their FanDuel and Draft Kings Fantasy Football picks and Rotowire NBA writer Alex Rikleen and Phil discuss Fantasy Basketball sleepers and busts at the Center position. You can download the show from my site or listen below.
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