Daily Fantasy Baseball Advice – 8/3/2016
Welcome back to another split slate Wednesday in daily fantasy baseball. Today we have three games in the early slate and 12 games on the main slate starting at 7:00 PM et tonight. Outside of Max Scherzer in the early slate there are some tough decisions to be made on the pitching front today, especially due to the fact that we have to make Coors Field decisions. Let’s take a look at some top pitchers and stacks for today!
Pitchers
Max Scherzer FD 11600 DK 13200
Opponent – ARI (Godley) Park – @ARI
FD – 42.66 DK – 27.87
If you want a piece of Scherzer today you will have to get in on the three game early slate or all day slate, which I only recommend on DraftKings with the late swap feature. On the surface it appears to be a tough matchup but the Diamondbacks have struggled against righties ranking 19th in wOBA with a 23.3% K rate(5th worst in Majors). Scherzer has been pitching at an elite level lately limiting opponents to one earned run or less in five of his last six starts with a 10.67 K/9 rate and 1.09 ERA. The park downgrade isn’t great but I will take my shot with extremely high strikeout upside Scherzer brings to the table in this favorable matchup.
Steven Matz FD 9500 DK 8800
Opponent – NYY (Nova) Park – @NYY
FD – 28.45 DK – 18.73
I absolutely love this spot for Matz tonight. The Mets are currently slight -120 favorites on the road and taking on a Yankees team that has pretty much given up on the season. They traded away one of their best hitters, especially against left handed pitching. Their rank of 26th in wOBA and 28th in Isolated Power is likely going to get worse and that makes Matz a strong consideration in any format today.
Stacks
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Cody Reed (Reds)
Park – Great American Ballpark
The Cardinals are in a great spot to snap out of the slump tonight in Cincinnati vs. a struggling southpaw Cody Reed. He has strikeout upside(9.34 K/9) but lacks control and dishes out a ton of free passes(3.53 BB/9). This is a big problem when you struggle to hold runners on and give up a 40% hard contact rate. The 32.3% HR/FB rate is alarming and opens up a huge opportunity for the Cards. They won’t cost a ton with value plays like Thomas Pham and Jedd Gyorko hitting near the top of the lineup and even Stephen Piscotty and Matt Holliday are not overly expensive in this terrific matchup.
Colorado Rockies vs. Brock Stewart
Ballpark – Coors Field
Another night. Another Coors Field decision to make. With Kenta Maeda pushed back until Thursday, the Dodgers have called up Brock Stewart to make another spot start. He did show some strikeout upside in his first start with 7 K’s against the Brewers but did give up eight hits and five earned runs. Things will not get any easier for the young pitcher as the park factor gets even worse as he travels to the thin are in Colorado. He is a three pitch pitcher(Fastball, Slider, Changeup) and if he is slightly off on any of them it can have a huge impact on the rest. Look for the Rockies to teach the kid a lesson in his first trip to Coors. The top of the lineup for the Rockies(Blackmon, LeMahieu, Arenado, Cargo) will be extremely chalky once again. If you want to differentiate yourself you can take a stab with some of the lower lineup value plays in Dahl, Reynolds, or Descalso.