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*Austyn Varney*

MLB Fantasy Lineup – July 5, 2017

Welcome to Lineup Lab’s Best MLB Fantasy Lineup for July 5th, where we feature our top players for our MLB Lineup Optimizer on Fanduel and Draftkings. Put your favorite stacks from the article below in our lineup optimizer and hit calculate. You can let it fill in the rest of the spots for you or choose your personal favorites from the MLB Player Lab.

Starting Pitchers

Alex Wood
Opponent – Vs. ARI
Park – Dodger Stadium
Vegas Favorite (LAD -220)
Vegas Total (8.5)

We saw Clayton Kershaw dominate these D-backs last night, going 7 innings, striking out 12 and grabbing the W. I’m by no means comparing the bottom-line talent of these 2, but Wood and Kershaw have a lot in common. They are both funky lefties with weird deliveries and dominant 5-pitch arsenals. Wood has picked up a lot from Kershaw and I’m sure the NL West foes are very appreciative. Wood is 26 years old and has been in the majors for 3 years, though never showing this type of consistency and production. He’s striking out over 10 batters per 9 innings and walking barely over 2. He’s been able to pinpoint his fastball and hold better command of his offspeed, which is his 2-strike out pitch. He’s holding a .220 wOBA against righties and a .217 against lefties. There is no reason to dislike this kid as a pitcher and I will argue that he is top 10 right now in the league. The match-up tonight with the Diamondbacks tonight is good, but not great. The D-backs hit lefties better as a team, but also lose Peralta and Lamb, who are big reasons for their overall success.The D-Backs also see a ballpark downgrade from Chase to Dodger Stadium, where the ball dies in the outfield. Wood is inherently risky to a degree, but still the safest on this slate and at his price, don’t be scared in any format.

Trevor Bauer
Opponent – Vs. SDP
Park – Progressive Field
Vegas Favorite (CLE -215)
Vegas Total (9.5)

Trevor Bauer is not a highly-valued DFS pitcher. He’s not going to dominate a good team and he’s never going to burst out as one of the league’s top pitchers. He is Trevor Bauer and you know the risk you get with that name. He will still walk his batters and go 3-2 a bunch of times. Giving up big innings after that is really the only way he gets lit up. He’s been pretty average against both lefties and righties, though a 2.96 xFIP against righties suggests positive regression going forward. He’s also striking out nearly 10 batters per 9 innings and holding batters to a dub 32% hard contact rate. He faces the Padres, who got absolutely obliterated by Corey Kluber last night. As a team, they hold a .301 wOBA against righties and strikeout at an astronomical 25.6% rate. Vegas only projects 2 teams to score under 4 tonight and that’s the Padres and Diamondbacks. If that turns out to be true, we’re certainly in a perfect position. Speaking of pricing, Bauer is pretty cheap. You can use that to your advantage on a slate that has some very nice and expensive offenses to choose from.

Offensive Stacks

Cleveland Indians Vs. San Diego Padres (Luis Perdomo)
Park – Progressive Field

Luis Perdomo is used to pitching in pitcher-friendly Petco Park, so this move into Progressive Field is something he surely isn’t looking forward to. He’ll face off with the Indians, who are one of the more lethal offenses in the game. The Indians are currently projected to put up 5.75 runs and trail just the Rockies in terms of implied team totals. Perdomo has struggled against lefties more so in 2017 (.380 wOBA), but flipped that in 2016 with a .355 wOBA against righties. His BABIP is slightly lower however, so we should start to see righties put up some numbers. The problem with the Indians is that they almost have too much to choose. Starting at 1B, you’ll have to pick between a and Edwin Encarnacion. It will come down to batting order on that one. Next, you move into Kipnis and Brantley, who are the safest of the bunch. They hit righties well and should be right at the top of that order. Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez seems like they should be mainstays of the stack, but it’s just not a reality. Both FD and DK will cap you, forcing you to roster a max of 4 or 5 of these guys. All in all, the offense is not at all concentrated and you can;t be surprised to see production come from anywhere.

Main Stack – Jason Kipnis, Carlos Santana, Michael Brantley, Jose Ramirez
Sneaky Stack – Jason Kipnis, Francisco Lindor, Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Ramirez

Colorado Rockies Vs. Cincinnati Reds (Scott Feldman)
Park – Coors Field

I know, I’m getting a little too sneaky with this one. All jokes aside, the Rockies are projected to put up 6.33 runs and that’s not something you can ignore. They face off with Scott Feldman, who has gone through some weird times as a major leaguer. He’s bounced from to bad and back about 4 times, while sitting right in the middle right now. He’s allowed a .320 combined wOBA and hasn’t gotten blown up very often. However, I don’t think it’s going to last much longer. He has actually seen a severe dip in velocity and that may be why hitters are struggling. He held a .380 wOBA against leftie sin 2016 and I expect that number to return there by the time it’s said and done. As for the Rockies offense, they aren’t nearly as deep as the Indians, and especially with the injury to Desmond. Blackmon and CarGo are the 2 obvious ones and I don’t see stacking the Rockies without both. After that, Arenado and Reynolds are next. They are both safe and the 2 guys I would stick in my cash game stack with Blackmon and CarGo. Moving a bit lower in the order, keep an eye out for Raimel Tapia and Trevor Story. They both hold some very solid upside in this match-up and very well deserve a spot on some GPP’s. In terms of ownership, I think it will be relatively low for Coors Field. Take advantage.

Main Stack – Charlie Blackmon, Carlos Gonzalez, Nolan Arenado, Mark Reynolds
Sneaky Stack – Charlie Blackmon, Carlos Gonzalez, Mark Reynolds, Trevor Story