DraftKings FanDuel MLB Lineup Picks for September 7, 2017
*Chris Durell*
DraftKings / FanDuel MLB Lineup Picks for September 7, 2017
Welcome back for another night of daily fantasy baseball. Thursday brings us a smaller eight-game slate but is not short on elite pitching or top bats in great spots. Let’s dig in and take a look at a couple of the top pitchers and stacking options.
Starting Pitchers
Corey Kluber
Opponent – @CWS
Park – Gauranteed Rate Field(Neutral)
Vegas Favorite (CLE -250)
Vegas Total (7.5)
The decision at the top tonight is clearly between Corey Kluber and Clayton Kershaw. For me, it’s easy as Kershaw is likely to be on a pitch count still as the Dodgers have no reason to risk their ace with an 11.5 game lead in the National League West. I mean, sure Kershaw looked good in his last start but for the price it is hard to justify a 20%-30% decrease in innings pitched. For Kluber, his dominance continues as he has held opponents to two or fewer earned runs in four straight and 12 of his last 15 starts. He already elite K upside(11.85 K/9 & 15.8% swinging strike rate) gets a boost tonight facing one of the worst offenses in baseball in the White Sox. They rank 27th overall in runs scored and 28th in wOBA and wRC+ vs. right-handed pitchers. For those of you looking at the game logs, he has faced the White Sox three times this year and despite giving up seven earned runs has struck out 29 White Sox batters. Load up in all formats.
Tyler Mahle
Opponent – @ NYM
Park – Citi Field(Pitchers Park)
Vegas Favorite (CIN -110)
Vegas Total (9.0)
If you are planning on using Kluber or Kershaw or even Lester on a short slate, you are going to need to take a risk with your SP2. Enter rookie Tyler Mahle of the Reds who isn’t going to give us a ton of upside with strikeouts but can provide just enough value at his low price to make him a top SP2 tonight. He has faced the Pirates in both of his starts and after getting into some trouble with four walks and three earned runs the first time around, he looked better in the second start allowing just five hits, no earned runs and most importantly he didn’t walk anyone. He now faces a Braves team that sits in the bottom third in runs scored overall and wOBA and wRC+ vs. right-handed pitching. If he can once again keep the walks down I can see him going 5+ innings and more than that helps us get some top bats in our lineups with an elite arm.
Top Stacks
From a stacking perspective tonight, there are some hot teams that are in fantastic spots and it starts with the Cleveland Indians. They have been the hottest team in the league over the last 14 days(going into Weds night) winning 13 straight games and have led the league in wOBA(.400), wRC+(150), ISO(.249), and runs scored(94). They face off against Carlos Rodon who has been better lately allowing more than two earned runs just once in his last seven starts but continues to walk too many(4.02 BB/9) and has only struck out more than four once in his last five starts. I tend to lean the way of the hot team over the over performing pitcher. My top hitters are Francisco Lindor, Edwin, Encarnacion, Jose Ramirez, and Carlos Santana.
The other hot team in a great spot tonight is the Minnesota Twins. They aren’t too far off the Indians over the last two weeks with the 7th best wOBA(.343), 8th best wRC+(111), and 5th best ISO(.218). They will face newly acquired Sam Gaviglio who has been awful for the Mariners all season making 11 starts with a 4.62 ERA, 4.99 xFIP and has given up at least one home run in 10 of those starts. The only knock on this stack is the park as Kauffman Stadium is a Top 10 pitchers park but the price and possible ownership gap between them and the Indians make it worth the risk.
Thank you for reading and if you have any questions as lineup lock approaches please contact me via Twitter (@Jager_Bombs9)