MLB Stacks & Plays from CheatSheetPros!
QUICK NEWS AND NOTES:
Monster night last night as my Padres stack netted me around +$1,500 on DK. If you read the article I said to “fade” Yastrezemski at 5800 because he has since cooled off and to move down the lineup. When 5 of us were at the top of the GPP they all had Yastrezemski and I did not and that is what shot me over them! Using the MLB Cheatsheet to find “hot” and “cold” players along with BVP is critical to success in MLB! Baseball blitz day 4 is here so let’s get started!
PITCHERS I AM LOOKING AT:
Pitching isn’t great for the main slate today. You have 4 guys who are coming off injuries and we don’t know if they will be rusty or come back strong. All of the other players are boom/bust type of guys who can go from a 5 point start to 25 points. Focus on stacks and getting the players you want tonight and then fit in what pitchers will work.
MAX SCHERZER – Right at the top of the list is MadMax coming in at 10400 on DK and tonight I don’t mind paying it because of the weak options. I want to focus on his last 5 starts where he put up 34, 6, 24, 25 and 1 DK points. Now what jumps out at me is the 6 and 1 DK point starts were at HOME, kind of odd?!?!? The most recent start of 34 points was 6.0 innings, 1 ER and 11 Ks was on the ROAD, his prior 24 and 25 point starts were both also on the ROAD. Tonight Max is on the ROAD so I think we can play with some confidence.
WALKER BUEHLER – He missed one rotation due to a blister on his finger. If you think Max will be high owned then you can pivot down to Walker Buehler at 10200. He has been up and down but coming off a great start of 6.0 innings, 1 ER and 11 strikeouts for 35.1 DK points.
ZAC GALLEN – Has a tough matchup vs. LAD and I typically don’t play pitchers against the Dodgers but we are tight on options. In his last 6 starts he has no less than 17.3 DK points in any starts and has not given up more than 2 ER in any of those. He has already faced the Dodgers once on 7/31 and put up 23.3 points going 6.0 innings with 2 ER and 9 Ks. Priced at 9400 he saves you a grand off Max.
CHARLIE MORTON – Sliding down to the 8500 range we find Morton who is coming off the IL that he has been on since August 10th. At the end of last year he faced the NYY (who are ice cold right now) and put up 33.1 DK points going 6.0 innings, 0 ER and 9 Ks. In that matchup he was priced at 11,000 on DK and now he is only 8500 with limited options so we are putting him in the pitching pool but he comes with some risk because he may be on a limited pitch count.
TRISTON MCKENZIE – So we need some cheap options to mix in with our studs so we can afford some solid stacks. McKenzie is going up against a Royals team that really has done much lately. McKenzie has 2 starts this year and that first one he faced DET and went 6.0 innings with 1 ER and 10 Ks, Wow! The second start was only 7.4 DK points @STL but went 4.0 innings 2 ER and 3 Ks but walked 3 batters. At only 6700 with 10 K upside I don’t mind him tonight.
JOE MUSGROVE – At only 5700 (punt pricing) on DK is Joe Musgrove. He has been on the IL since August 11th due to triceps inflammation. Before he went on the DL he only last 3.1 innings vs. MIN and gave up 5 ER, 5 BB and only 2 Ks for -5.10 DK points. Prior to that he had put up a respectable 18, 16 and 15.5 DK points pushing 3x value. Those 3 starts he went a total of 14.1 innings, 6 ERs, 7 BBs and 20 strikeouts. Not a bad punt.
STACKS TO CONSIDER:
ATLANTA BRAVES VS. MIKE KICKHAM – Braves ranks 4th in the last 10 game power rankings and over the last 14 days they are 4th in runs scored, 5th in team batting average and 5th in OBP+ISO. The key here is Kickham is a LHP and ATL has a wRC+ that drops from 118.2 to 76.4 vs. LHP. Freeman (5300) and Ozuna (4300) are keys to this stack as they have a wRC+ over 100 vs. LHP. Bullpen behind Kickham ranks 19th so they are definitely susceptible to giving up some additional runs. They have a WHIP of 1.54 and allowing a .277 average. Stack is also dirt cheap at 3700 per person for the top 5 man stack!
CLEVELAND INDIANS VS. JAKOB JUNIS – Cleveland ranks 7th in last 10 game power rankings and they are jumping off the page for me on our MLB cheatsheet. They have faced Junis for 106 team Abs and they are hitting a whopping .387 off him with a very low 14% strikeout rate. Junis has a 5.25 xFIP this year, 1.58 whip and allowing a .306 batting average. Lindor (5000) is 16 for 32 (.500) off Junis with 4 HRs, Santana (3900) is 7 for 14 (.500) off him, Naquin (2500) is 7 for 17 with a HR. Stack cost is also cheap at 4040 average per person for the top graded 5 man stack.
SAN DIEGO PADRES VS. JULIO TEHERAN – Padres will be chalky but I LOVE THEM tonight and I’ll differ elsewhere in my lineup. They are #2 in the last 10 game power rankings and they rank #1 in last 14 runs per game, team batting average (.324), OBP+ISO and wRC+ (156). Wow! Julio Teheran is an ERA over 9 this year but his xFIP is 5.93, whip of 1.70 and allowing a .319 batting average. In his last 4 starts he has allowed 3, 4, 4 and 5 ERs and hasn’t topped 3 Ks in any start. Eric Hosmer (4200) is 4 for 11 with 2 HRs of Teheran. Stack is fairly priced at 4380 for the top 5 man stack.
ONE-OFF PLAYERS TO FILL YOUR LINEUPS:
RONALD GUZMAN (2100) – He has 13, 3 and 28 Dk points in his last 3 so he a decent punt play at min price on DK.
ERIC HOSMER (4200) – Solid BVP history as you can see from the Padres write up. Also has put up 12, 21, 3, 22 and 10 DK points in his last 5.
JASON HEYWARD (2100) – Put up 10, 32 and 18 Dk points across his last 3 and min priced.
KEVIN KIERMAIER (2600) – 16, 18 and 20 DK points across his last 3 starts.
LINEUP BUILDING:
If you find a few stacks that you like try to mix them together. For example, today we like Padres, Indians and Braves. If you are stacking 5 Padres try to get the other holes filled with Indians and/or Braves. Even if you need to leave some salary on the table but it allows you to get 3 players from that secondary stack that is great. Last night you saw the Padres explode and anyone in that lineup got several Abs.
Thanks for reading,
Haze