*Chris Durell*

DFS MLB Fanduel Draftkings Lineup – Friday, May 5

Welcome back to another day of daily fantasy baseball featuring your MLB Fanduel Draftkings Lineup with LineupLab. Today we get just one early afternoon game between the Yankees and Cubs and Wrigley and one late afternoon game between the Giants and Reds. 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.

This season, new with our MLB Subscription Package we offer Daily Fantasy Graphs. We wanted to create a tool that gives users the ability to visualize data points for Hitters and Pitchers by showing DFS salaries/fantasy points over time. If any of you come from the world of Stocks or Equities Trading, you will immediately understand the usefulness of these charts. Just as price and volume are essential in understanding a stocks movement, points and salary are core for DFS.

**STARTING PITCHERS**

Stephen Strasburg
Opponent – @ PHI
Park – Citizens Banks Park(Neutral)
Vegas Favorite (WSH -165)
Vegas Total (8)

The combination of more viable starting pitching options and a big 13 game main slate is going to help level off the ownership for pitching tonight. This is great news as Strasburg is not only an elite option, but he comes at a bit of a discount from what we have been used to the last few days. While the ERA and xFIP are right in line with what he has been doing for multiple years, Strasburg has seen a big dip in his K rate(7.97 K/9) early in the season. I am chalking it up to a small sample size as he has recorded eight or more strikeouts in three of his five starts. He should be able to build on those K number tonight in a matchup vs. the Phillies who strike out over 24% of the time vs. right-handed pitching and have a wRC+(95) that is 5% below the league average. The Phillies have also been struggling lately losing three straight and six of their last seven games. Fire up Strasburg in all formats.

Kenta Maeda
Opponent – @ SD
Park – Petco Park
Vegas (LAD -155)
Vegas Total (7.5)

Maeda’s price on FanDuel has been pretty constant in the high $7K, low $8K range all season but on DraftKings it has really bounced around. It has been in large part to his high-end skill set but disappointing start where he allowed 17 earned runs and seven home runs in his first four starts of the season. Good news is that he seemed to find something in his last start where he went a season-high seven innings striking out eight Phillies and picking up his second win of the season. The strikeouts should continue to come as he has recorded a swinging strike rate greater than 10% in four of his five starts and sits with an elite 14.3% for the season. Tonight he gets an elite matchup in one of the best pitchers parks in the league (Petco Park) vs. the Padres who rank 25th in wOBA (.300) and 24th in wRC+(85) vs. right-handed pitching and strike out more than any other team (25.6%). He is an excellent SP2 on DraftKings and nice GPP pivot on FanDuel.

**OFFENSIVE STACKS**

Arizona Diamondbacks @ Colorado Rockies(German Marquez)
Park – Coors Field(Hitter Positive)
Vegas (ARI -110)
Vegas Total (10.5)

Hard to talk stacks and not start at Coors Field tonight. As usual, it boasts the biggest overall total of the night and the Vegas line is currently sitting as a pick em. I lean the D-Backs simply because Greinke is a much better pitcher than Marquez and more likely to get out of his start without being beaten up too badly. Marquez, on the other hand, did not fare well in his first start at home for the Rockies giving up eight earned runs to the Nationals in just four innings while striking out just two and walking three batters. It won’t get any easier today as he will face a Diamondbacks team that sits just outside the Top 10 in hitting vs. right-handed pitching and have scored the second most runs(150) behind only the Nationals through 30 games in the 2017 season. Center your stack around Paul Goldschmidt who is off to a hot star hitting .311 with a .422 wOBA, five home runs, 21 RBI, and 22 runs scored. He also has a secret weapon that not many first basemen possess, speed. He has already stolen eight bases in 2017. Surround him with leadoff hitter AJ Pollock and then pay close attention to the lineup cards coming out as David Peralta should be back near the top of the order as a left-handed hitter and Yasmani Tomas and Jake Lamb are nice power upside, middle of the order hitters.

New York Mets vs. Miami Marlins(Tom Koehler)
Park – Citi Field(Pitcher Positive)
Vegas (NYM -110)
Vegas Total (8.5)

There are many other ways to go tonight, but I am going to try and target a stack that will be low-owned. Enter the New York Mets. It starts with an elite matchup vs. Tom Koehler who is having an extremely hard time keeping the ball in the park this season. He has given up at least one home run in each of his first five starts and sits with a 5.40 ERA and xFIp of 4.62 which suggests things aren’t getting too much better for him. The 25% HR/FB rate is not likely to continue but with a 37% hard-contact rate against, I don’t see the positive regression happening tonight. The Mets don’t stand out as a strong candidate vs. right-handed pitching and combine that with the weather threat tonight and you have yourself a 5% owned stack with upside as they sit 10th in total runs scored on the season. Target the left-handed bats for the Mets (Bruce, Conforto, Cabrera, Walker) as Koehler has struggled mightily with a wOBA great than .500 against left-handed batters.

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*Chris Durell*

Welcome back for another all-day Thursday set of games in Major League Baseball. The schedule is front end loaded with eight games in the afternoon and finishes off with a smaller five-game slate later tonight. 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.

This season, new with our MLB Subscription Package we offer Daily Fantasy Graphs. We wanted to create a tool that gives users the ability to visualize data points for Hitters and Pitchers by showing DFS salaries/fantasy points over time. If any of you come from the world of Stocks or Equities Trading, you will immediately understand the usefulness of these charts. Just as price and volume are essential in understanding a stocks movement, points and salary are core for DFS.

**STARTING PITCHERS**

Early Slate

Kyle Freeland
Opponent – @SD
Park – Petco Park(Pitcher Positive)
Vegas Favorite (COL -103)
Vegas Total (8)

First of all, Max Scherzer is an elite play even though he let us down in his last start. He has the highest upside of any pitcher on the slate but is also a bit risky as the Diamondbacks sit 3rd in wOBA(.346) and 10th in wRC+(107) vs. right-handed pitching. This brings me to one of the top value pitchers on the slate due to his matchup vs. the K heavy Padres in one of the best pitchers parks in the big leagues. The game is a pick em as I write this late Wednesday night but I have a feeling the tables will turn in the Rockies favor as we get closer to lineup lock. Freeland has been very impressive in his rookie season with a 3-1 record and has limited his opponents to one earned run or less in four of his five starts. The K/9 upside isn’t quite where we would like to see it(5.2 K/9) but he will get a big boost tonight as the Padres have struck out 26% of the time over the last seven days. The Padres also rank 28th in wOBA(.263) and wRC+(61) vs. left-handed pitching. Freeland is a cheap SP2 on DraftKings and GPP play on FanDuel which allows you load up on bats.

Main Slate

Adam Wainwright
Opponent – vs. MIL
Park – Busch Stadium(Pitcher Positive)
Vegas (STL -140)
Vegas Total (7.5)

The options on the five-game main slate aren’t quite as inviting so I will dip down into the value range and roll with Adam Wainwright. He was scheduled to start yesterday for the Cardinals, but the game got rained out early enough where it shouldn’t affect him at all. It has been a rough start to the 2017 season for the veteran right-hander but things are looking certainly looking up moving forward. He has won two straight starts, striking out 13 batters and walking just one over 11.1 innings despite giving up six earned runs. For the season, he is running a 6.12 ERA, but the good news is the xFIP (much better indicator of future ERA) sits at just 3.18 so far through five starts. The other significant indicator that stood out to me when looking deeper at Waino’s numbers was the BABIP that is running at a crazy high .439 right now while his career average of .298 is much lower. He is a better value on DraftKings in the mid $7K range but in play on both sites, whether playing the All Day or Main Slate.

**OFFENSIVE STACKS**

Early Slate

Houston Astros vs. Texas Rangers (AJ Griffin)
Park – Minute Maid Park(Pitcher Positive)
Vegas (HOU -152)
Vegas Total (8.5)

While Minute Maid Park is more favorable for the pitcher, the Astros rank 10th overall this season with a 115 wRC+ which accounts for park factor. They also sit second behind only the Yankees in wRC+(123) vs. right-handed pitching and get a matchup vs. one of the weakest pitchers on the slate. Yes, there are worse pitchers but none getting rocked as hard as Griffin. He leads all pitchers tonight with a 48.7% hard-contact rate against and has been producing just 25% ground balls thus far. His 4.11 ERA also looks to be a bit lucky as he is currently running a .167 BABIP that is close to 100 points lower than his career mark. This is not good news for Griffin tonight but great news for us DFSers as the Astros could be one of the highest scoring teams of the night. The top of the order is the place to be in Houston and Jose Altuve should be the centerpiece in your stack as he can contribute in all areas and hits out of the three hole. Carlos Correa hits right behind him in the cleanup spot and George Springer leads off. Keep an eye on the lineups in the morning as Marwin Gonzalez makes a great play if he is in the Top 5 of the lineup. He is 9 for his last 19 with two doubles, five home runs and has driven in 13 runs.

Main Slate

Seattle Mariners vs. Los Angeles Angels(Daniel Wright)
Park – Safeco Field(Neutral)
Vegas (SEA -130)
Vegas Total (8.5)

The Red Sox are going to be the chalk on the five-game main slate so I love the idea of pivoting to the Mariners with lower expected ownership and similar upside. They are coming off a huge 8-7 win last night and sit Top 10 in overall runs scored through 27 games. Tonight they get an even better matchup than last night vs. rookie Daniel Wright who has been less than impressive to start his career. Through two starts, he has walked five batters while striking out just three and while he has only allowed three earned runs in nine innings, his 6.25 xFIP suggests will not enjoy the regression that is forthcoming. The Mariners, on the other hand, will be licking their chops for his 90 mph fastball as they are a Top 10 team in wRC+(109), wOBA(.318), and ISO(.175) vs. right-handed pitching. Start your stack at the top of the order with Jean Segura who has heated up big time with hits in seven of his last eight games with three doubles, two home runs and two stolen bases. The M’s shuffle their two-hole around but if it is again Ben Gamel he makes an excellent punt and has hits in four of seven games this season. Then you fill in your power upside with Nelson Cruz who has always been known as a lefty masher but is hitting righties a bit better to start the season. Hitting in front of Cruz is Robinson Cano who hasn’t totally got it going yet with a .270 average but picked up his fifth home run of the season last night and now has driven in 21 runs 27 games.

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*James Leer & Luis Herasme*

DFS MLB Lineup Picks for 05/03/17

Welcome to Lineup Lab’s DFS MLB Lineup picks article, where we feature our top players for our MLB Lineup Optimizer on Fanduel and Draftkings. Put your favorite players 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.

This season, new with our MLB Subscription Package we offer Daily Fantasy Graphs. We wanted to create a tool that gives users the ability to visualize data points for Hitters and Pitchers by showing DFS salaries/fantasy points over time. If any of you come from the world of Stocks or Equities Trading, you will immediately understand the usefulness of these charts. Just as price and volume are essential in understanding a stocks movement, points and salary are core for DFS.

**STARTING PITCHERS**

Jake Arrieta vs. Philadelphia Phillies
Park – Wrigley Field

It’s true, the Arrieta of yesteryear seems to have evaporated. However, it is the Phillies and he is at home. Despite his high ERA (4.66) he has still managed to go 3-1, with a 10.55 K/9 over his past five starts. While there isn’t much of a sample size to go on the Phillies haven’t fared too well against Arrieta, hitting just .170 over 29 at bats. Eickhoff is pitching for the Phillies, who has had recent trouble commanding his curveball. Giving up five runs in 5 2/3 innings pitched on Friday versus the Dodgers. This is the kind of pitcher that can get in trouble early, allowing for a nice Cubs cushion for Arrieta to gain back his confidence to get the 2017 season back on track.

Drew Pomeranz vs. Baltimore Orioles
Park – Fenway Park

Pomeranz certainly does not have trouble with his curve. In his last outing versus the Cubs, the southpaw threw 95 pitches. Out of those 95, 58 of them were curveballs. He received the win over the Cubs, giving up two earned runs over six innings pitched. If he can do this to the Cubs, just imagine what he will do the Orioles. The Baltimore Orioles have a high strikeout rate against lefties (23.5%). Over 53 at-bats the O’s are hitting .230 against Pomeranz. This aligns right with what they have been averaging all season long against lefties (313 at bats).

**OFFENSIVE BATTERS**

Here are a few of my favorite offensive hitters that I am going to build my lineups around. The players that I have the most exposure to will be in bold.

*CATCHERS*
C-Russell Martin
C-Salvador Perez

*FIRST BASEMAN*
1B- Anthony Rizzo – consistent and has a good matchup advantage vs. Eickhoff
1B-Eric Hosmer
1B-Edwin Encarnacion

*SECOND BASEMAN*
2B-Robinson Cano – has put up some solid numbers vs. Nolasco. .400/.400/.867. Two Homeruns in only 15 at bats.
2B-Jonathan Villar

*THIRD BASEMAN*
3B-Miguel Sano – Flaming HOT! Has averaged 35.2 Fantasy Points in his past three games.
3B-Nolan Arenado
3B-Evan Longoria

*SHORTSTOP*
SS-Corey Seager
SS-Addison Russell

*OUTFIELD*
OF-Jay Bruce – Crushed yesterday with a 51 Fanduel point perfect lineup performance. Top 5% hitter vs. RH pitchers.
OF-Charlier Blackmon
OF-Carlos Gonzalez
OF-A.J. Pollock
OF-Mookie Betts
OF- Michael Conforto

*James Leer & Luis Herasme*

DFS MLB Lineup Picks for 05/02/17

Welcome to Lineup Lab’s DFS MLB Lineup picks article, where we feature our top players for our MLB Lineup Optimizer on Fanduel and Draftkings. Put your favorite players 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.

This season, new with our MLB Subscription Package we offer Daily Fantasy Graphs. We wanted to create a tool that gives users the ability to visualize data points for Hitters and Pitchers by showing DFS salaries/fantasy points over time. If any of you come from the world of Stocks or Equities Trading, you will immediately understand the usefulness of these charts. Just as price and volume are essential in understanding a stocks movement, points and salary are core for DFS.

**STARTING PITCHERS**

Mashiro Tanaka vs. Toronto Blue Jays
Park – Yankee Stadium

Tanaka has been a beast, in his last three performances he has averaged 42.7 Fanduel points per game and that’s not all, folks; his average at home goes up over the past four games (43.8 FPPG.) In his dominating, shutout performance last Thursday against the Red Sox he allowed just three hits after only 97 pitches through 9 innings. I quite like the match-up against the struggling Blue Jays, who are hitting just .170 through 83 at-bats versus Tanaka.

Ervin Santana vs. Oakland Athletics
Park – Target Field

Ervin Santana, the mythical monstrosity of the Minnesota Twins. Coming into the game this season, he has 35 IP with only 3 ER’s a WHIP of .66 and 26 K’s. All five of his starts this year have been Quality Starts, averaging 43.6 Fanduel points per outing and making the perfect lineup twice. Does the 34-year-old Dominican continue to dominate or does he regress is the question? My forecast says, no regression today (83.1%) as he goes up against the lackluster A’s. Currently tied for second to last in runs scored (91) for the season the A’s are hitting just .190 versus Santana in 43 at bats. The A’s will fall, it’s just a matter of how hard will they hit the ground?

**OFFENSIVE BATTERS**

Here are a few of my favorite offensive hitters that I am going to build my lineups around. The players in bold are ones that I have the most exposure to.

*CATCHERS*
C-Salvador Perez
C-Evan Gattis
C-Jason Castro

*FIRST BASEMAN*
1B- Matt Carpenter – Carpenter has been on fire, scoring 25.2 Fanduel points over the past two games. He is also crushing Peralta over 48 plate appearances he is hitting .465 AVG with a .814 SLG.
1B-Freddie Freeman
1B-Jose Abreu

*SECOND BASEMAN*
2B-Daniel Murphy – Murphy is in the top 5% when it comes to hitting against RH pitchers. No surprise for the lefty who’s team is currently number one by a large margin in runs scored this season (170).
2B-Brian Dozier
2B-Starlin Castro

*THIRD BASEMAN*
3B- Miguel Sano – Sano is hot like molten lava. Right in the middle of a heater, averaging 38.55 over the past two games.
3B-Evan Longoria

*SHORTSTOP*
SS-Trea Turner
SS- Francisco Lindor

*OUTFIELD*
OF-Charlie Blackmon – Though Blackmon has cooled down considerably over the past three games it was against the Diamondbacks. Tonight he faces a different team in the Padres, the matchup screams rebound.
OF-Jay Bruce
OF-Billy Hamilton
OF-Brett Gardner
OF-Bryce Harper

*James Leer & Luis Herasme*

DFS MLB Lineup Picks for 05/01/17

Welcome to Lineup Lab’s DFS MLB Lineup picks article, where we feature our top players for our MLB Lineup Optimizer on Fanduel and Draftkings. Put your favorite players 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.

This season, new with our MLB Subscription Package we offer Daily Fantasy Graphs. We wanted to create a tool that gives users the ability to visualize data points for Hitters and Pitchers by showing DFS salaries/fantasy points over time. If any of you come from the world of Stocks or Equities Trading, you will immediately understand the usefulness of these charts. Just as price and volume are essential in understanding a stocks movement, points and salary are core for DFS.

**STARTING PITCHERS**

Clayton Kershaw vs San Francisco Giants
Park – Dodger Stadium

Every time that Clayton Kershaw is on the mound he is most certainly worth considering, that is if you can afford him. A strategy that I employ is to build one of my lineups starting with the offensive batters first; then if I have money left to afford Kershaw then I plug him in. Last time out versus San Francisco, He allowed one earned run, six hits and a walk with seven strikeouts over seven innings. He may produce another quality start today, being at home versus the Giants, but is he worth the price point?

Luis Severino vs Toronto Blue Jays
Park – Yankee Stadium

Luis Severino, my favorite pitcher of the slate tonight. There is a bit of bad blood with Severino and the Blue Jays. Who could forget the bench-clearing brawl last year facing each other? Hopefully, all of that is over with and the past won’t hinder his performance. This season, Severino is currently supporting an 11.0 K/9 with a 0.78 WHIP. The Toronto Blue Jays haven’t looked the same this year, as they currently sit third to last in runs scored (89), and fifth to last in home runs (22). There aren’t too many batters that pose a real power threat versus Severino except Jose Bautista and possibly Kendrys Morales.

Also consider: Julio Teheran & Trevor Bauer – These two pitchers have both underperform early in the season but have faced opponents multiple times during their careers. Bauer this season is supporting a 10.9 K/9, with no Miguel Cabrera (groin) until Tuesday I would take a GPP risk on Bauer. Teheran “owns” the Mets over his career. I like him at home vs. an injury-plagued Mets team. I think he is a safe play; I would play him in almost every format.

**OFFENSIVE BATTERS**

Here are a few of my favorite offensive hitters that I am going to build my lineups around. The players in bold are ones that I have the most exposure to. Also, it’s important to note that The Cubs will be a bit chalky tonight. 20 MPH winds are blowing out to centerfield. Play them at your risk.

*CATCHERS*

C-Salvador Perez
C-Brian McCann

*FIRST BASEMAN*

**1B-Freddie Freeman** – Top 5% versus RH Pitchers, has averaged 15.6 DraftKings points in his past four games.
1B-Carlos Santana

*SECOND BASEMAN*

**2B-Starlin Castro** – Power slugger for the Yankees. .549 SLG, .947 OPS.
2B-Jose Ramirez
2B- Jose Altuve

*THIRD BASEMAN*

**3B-Evan Longoria** – Facing a fly ball pitcher in Chen. Has two career home runs against him in 40 at bats.
3B-Michael Franco

*SHORTSTOP*

**SS-Francisco Lindor** – Lindor went 2-for-5 Sunday with his 7th homer of the season and finding his way into the perfect lineup. We find out tonight if the hot streak is real.
SS-Addison Russell

*OUTFIELD*

OF-Matt Kemp
OF-Mookie Betts
OF-Andrew McCutchen
OF-Rickie Weeks (Punt)
OF-Michael Brantley

*Chris Durell*

DFS MLB Picks – Thursday, April 27th

Welcome back for another Thursday of DFS MLB Picks. We have a  bit of a whacky one today with a six-game early slate and four-game main slate.

**Starting Pitchers**

Noah Syndergaard
Opponent – vs. ATL
Park – Citi Field(Pitcher Positive)
Vegas Favorite (NYM -220)
Vegas Total (7)

Whether you are playing the Early or All-Day slate today, Thor makes an elite play on both sites. He tops the salary ranks on FanDuel but comes in just behind Chris Sale on DraftKings making it even more enticing. He was scheduled to start yesterday but was pushed back to Thursday to keep the Mets rotation in check. He gave up a season-high seven hits and three earned runs in his last start but also had a season-high ten strikeouts vs. the Phillies. Thor has yet to walk a batter in four starts and has an elite ERA of 1.73 and backs it up with an equally elite xFIP of 1.92 on the season. Thursday he faces a Braves team that ranks 22nd in wOBA(.299) and wRC+(85) vs. right-handed pitching. He is an elite play in all formats.

EDIT:  As of this morning Thor has been scratched, feel free to replace him with Matt Harvey.

Julio Urias
Opponent – @ SF
Park – AT&T Park (Pitcher Positive)
Vegas (LAD -135)
Vegas Total (7.5)

After making three starts in the Triple-A to start the season, the Dodgers have called up Urias to join the rotation for the rest of the season. In his three minor league starts, his numbers were very close to what we saw in his limited stint with the Dodgers last season. He was striking out about 9.5 batters per nine innings but struggled with control and posted a 5.79 BB/9 in his three starts. He was able to keep the ERA in the sub 2.00 range which won’t be realistic in the early going if he continues to walk batters at a high clip. The good news is he is only 20 years old with a ton of raw talent and K upside that is perfect for DFS purposes. In his first start with the Dodgers tonight he gets a plus matchup vs. the struggling Giants who are 8-14 on the season and rank 25th in wOBA(.282) and 24th in wRC+(79) against left-handed pitching. Urias makes an excellent boom or bust GPP play tonight.

**Stacks**

Arizona Diamondbacks
Park – Chase Field(Hitter Positive)
Vegas (ARI -155)
Vegas Total (10.5)

While fading one of Coors or Chase Field is a great idea for GPP’s, fading both can absolutely kill your upside on a given night. I lean the Diamondbacks tonight at home for one simple reason. They get to face Jered Weaver who probably shouldn’t have an MLB starting job in 2017, but that’s just my opinion. I mean, as a DFS player I love it as he is nothing but a gas can and perfect target to stack against. So far in four starts this year he has given up 11 earned runs(10 earned) in just 23 innings pitched while striking out just 13 batters(5.09 K/9). That is not going to strike fear into any opponent, especially the power hitting D-Backs led by Paul Goldschmidt. Weaver has also given up SEVEN home runs already. Look for that number to grow tonight as the D-Backs have been operating with a .238 ISO over the last seven days with ten home runs.

Cleveland Indians vs. Houston Astros(Mike Fiers)
Park – Progressive Field (Hitter Positive)
Vegas (CLE -170)
Vegas Total (8.5)

It’s time for another Fier sale tonight. That’s right, My top stack outside of Coors Field will be the Cleveland Indians tonight who get to face one of the worst pitchers on the slate in a hitter friendly park. Fiers has a slightly above average K rate(7.8 K/9) but has allowed six home runs and a 40%+ hard contact rate in each of his first three starts. That is perfect for targeting the Indians today as they rank 4th overall in wOBA(.340) and wRC+(122) vs. right-handed pitching. If you are looking for some separation in your lineups, it is a great night to target the Indians with very high totals in at both Chase Field and Coors Field.

*James Leer*

Welcome to Lineup Lab’s MLB Daily Fantasy Stacks article, where we feature our top stacks 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 favorite players from the MLB Player Lab.

This season, new with our MLB Subscription Package we offer Daily Fantasy Graphs. We wanted to create a tool that gives users the ability to visualize data points for Hitters and Pitchers by showing DFS salaries/fantasy points over time. If any of you come from the world of Stocks or Equities Trading, you will immediately understand the usefulness of these charts. Just as price and volume are essential in understanding a stocks movement, points and salary are core for DFS.

**STARTING PITCHERS**

James Paxton vs Detroit Tigers
Park – Comerica Park

Before last week’s kerfuffle James Paxton was pitching perfect ball; having not allowing a single run in 21 innings (three starts). While the Tigers are a solid team against righties they are a middle-of-the-road team against lefties. Insert Paxton, a pitcher who has shown a lot of promise early in the season. Currently carrying a 1.78 ERA, .87 WHIP and a 35-5 strikeout to walk ratio. With the wind blowing in at 10MPH and the Tigers having a 28% strikeout rate vs. lefties it should help to limit the threat of the long ball today.

**STACKS**

Chicago Cubs vs. Tyler Glasnow (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Park – PNC Park

When the Cubs offense is on, it’s hard to stop them. Give them the right pitcher on the right day and they will easily score double-digits. Today could be one of those days. Glasnow has yet to receive his first win of the season over 11.1 IP he has ten earned runs with a 7.94 ERA and a 2.29 WHIP. Looking at pitchers in Playerlab he has the worst 30-day xFIP of all of the starters rostered today (5.20). I see a lot of damage being done by the middle of the batting order for the Cubbies.

Possible players to stack: Kris Bryant, Ben Zobrist, Addison Russell.

Seattle Mariners vs. Daniel Norris (Detroit Tigers)
Park – Comerica Park

A sneaky stack with some significant GPP upside are the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners are a team that can put some runs up on the board, for the 2017 season they are 8th overall in runs scored (99). Versus lefties they have a .342 wOBA, a .174 ISO and have a low 18.3% strikeout rate. In 17 innings pitched (three starts) Daniel Norris has seven earned runs and a 3.71 ERA. He has only struck out 11 batters while walking 9.

Possible players to stack: Nelson Cruz, Robinson Cano, Danny Valencia.

*James Leer*

Welcome to Lineup Lab’s MLB Daily Fantasy Stacks article, where we feature our top stacks 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 favorite players from the MLB Player Lab.

This season, new with our MLB Subscription Package we offer Daily Fantasy Graphs. We wanted to create a tool that gives users the ability to visualize data points for Hitters and Pitchers by showing DFS salaries/fantasy points over time. If any of you come from the world of Stocks or Equities Trading, you will immediately understand the usefulness of these charts. Just as price and volume are essential in understanding a stocks movement, points and salary are core for DFS.

**STARTING PITCHERS**

Danny Duffy vs. Chicago White Sox
Park – Guaranteed Rate Field

Danny Duffy has been stellar this year; his only problem is lack of run support. In his last outing versus the Rangers he held them to just four hits over 7 1/3 shutout innings. The lack of runs on either side ended up as a no-decision for Duffy. The Royals don’t need to score a lot of runs to get the victory for Duffy. He hasn’t allowed any more than two runs in any of his four starts. His K/9 is third best today as he visits the WhiteSox, a team that he decimated in the 2nd half of the last season. Scoring an average of 28.7 DraftKings points over the course of his last three outings. The wind is blowing in tonight at 11 MPH, not that the WhiteSox have been able to hit the ball out of the park a lot this year (third to last in home runs for 2017 so far). I think that tonight Duffy brings the pain, whether or not the Royals offense responds is a different story.

Ervin Santana vs Texas Rangers
Park – Globe Life Park at Arlington

Ervin Santana, the mythical unicorn of the Minnesota Twins. Does he continue to prevail or does he finally regress? Coming into the game this season, he has 28 IP with only 2 ER’s a WHIP of .61 and 20 K’s. All four of his starts this year have been Quality Starts, averaging 26.3 DraftKings points per outing and making the perfect lineup twice. Does the 34-year-old Dominican continue to dominate is the question? Well, the plus side is that he is going against Andrew Cashner who has yet to have a victory this season for the Rangers.

**STACKS**

Cincinnati Reds vs. Zach Davies (Milwaukee Brewers)
Park – Miller Park

Zach Davies has had a rough go at it so far this season, with an ERA of 8.24 and a 1.98 WHIP. The 24-year-old still has a lot of maturing to do. He currently sits fourth in the National League in earned runs and is tied for 2nd in allowed hits (29) after 19.2 innings pitched. The Reds are a team that can pile on runs when turned up to full speed, having a .341 wOBA and a .169 ISO vs. righties.

Possible Players to stack: Joey Votto, Zack Cozart, Eugenio Suarez.

Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Clayton Richard (San Diego Padres)
Park – Chase Field

The Arizona Diamondbacks are crushing baseball this year. Currently sitting number one for runs scored in the league (112), number one in hits (193), number one in triples (7) and number one in RBI’s (105). All of this and they are 1.5 games behind the NL West leaders Colorado Rockies, What an insane division this year. Even though his last outting at home was a win versus the Diamondbacks, Clayton Richard has shown a propensity to struggle at Chase Field, with a career ERA of 5.20. After giving up nine hits in the game, he somehow managed only to give up one run. He currently averages 25.5% less Fantasy Points while away, I’m thinking the trend continues and the Diamondbacks will prevail.

Possible Players to stack: Yasmany Tomas, Paul Goldschmidt, A.J. Pollock.

*James Leer*

Welcome to Lineup Lab’s MLB Daily Fantasy Stacks article, where we feature our top stacks 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 favorite players from the MLB Player Lab.

This season, new with our MLB Subscription Package we offer Daily Fantasy Graphs. We wanted to create a tool that gives users the ability to visualize data points for Hitters and Pitchers by showing DFS salaries/fantasy points over time. If any of you come from the world of Stocks or Equities Trading, you will immediately understand the usefulness of these charts. Just as price and volume are essential in understanding a stocks movement, points and salary are core for DFS.

**STARTING PITCHERS**

Jason Vargas vs. Chicago White Sox
Park – Guaranteed Rate Field

Jason Vargas has been the most impressive pitcher on the Royals this season, winning all of his three starts with over 20.2 IP while only giving up 1 earned run. He currently leads the league with a low ERA of just .44 and his whip is only .77 (5th best in the league). Over the course of his last two starts, he has struck out 17 over 14 2/3 scoreless innings. Over his last three starts, he has averaged an insane 52.7 Fanduel points. The only question is, does he still continue to get the run support that he needs? Kansas City currently sits last in total runs with only 46 over 18 games, the team that’s second to last… you guessed it the Chicago White Sox.

 
Zack Greinke vs. San Diego Padres
Park – Chase Field

Greinke against the Padres at home? Super chalky, right? More than likely. Does he come through and become the top pitching point-getter for the night? I’m leaning 81.4%, yes. The Arizona Diamondbacks currently lead the league in runs scored while San Diego is sitting 4th to last. In his last start (which was oddly enough vs. the Padres) Greinke ended up hurling an eight-inning complete game while only giving up one run. Total domination for the win, right? No. It results in a tough-luck loss for Greinke who gave up the games only run on an Aybar homer in the 8th inning. However, he did score 43 Fanduel points in the process, certainly not something to turn your head at.

**STACKS**

Texas Rangers vs. Phil Hughes (Minnesota Twins)
Park – Globe Life Park in Arlington

The Rangers, currently sitting 3rd in the league in homeruns (28) are on most nights boom or bust. Against Phil Hughes, I’ll be taking the boom. Hughes, in his last outing versus Cleveland only pitched 3 1/3 innings and gave up four earned runs. So far in 2017, he has 15 innings pitched and has given up nine earned runs with a WHIP of 1.40. Hughes curveball is the kind of pitch that Rangers star Joey Gallo will mash. Currently tied for 3rd in most home runs in the league (6), Gallo can hit the ball way out of the park as we’ve seen this year. Averaging 11.70 Fanduel Points per game in the last 15 home games, I’m expecting big things from him tonight.

Possible Players to Stack: Joey Gallo, Robinson Chirinos, Carlos Gomez.

 
San Francisco Giants vs. Hyun-Jin Ryu (Los Angeles Dodgers)
Park – AT&T Park

I’ll start with a heed of warning; the Giants are not the same team that they were a couple of years ago. Having said that, this could be a relatively low-owned stack. With the wind blowing out 12 MPH at AT&T Park the Giants lineup when on their game, can certainly have a field day against the unimpressive Hyun-Jin Ryu. Things could get awry for Ryu quickly, so far this season opponents have hit six homers off of him in 15 1/3 inning.

Possible players to stack: Joe Panik, Brandon Belt, Nick Hundley.

Chris Durell

DFS MLB Optimizer Stacks – Friday, April 21st

Another work week is coming to an end but for us DFS players, the grind never stops. We have an all evening main slate of 15 games including a start of a three-game series at Coors Field. You know what that means. Trying to fit at least one or two players from those two teams into your cash lineups and then trying to decide if you are stacking or fading the game in tournaments. Let’s jump right in and take a look at my favorite GPP pitchers and stacks for tonight’s slate.

Starting Pitchers

Corey Kluber
Opponent – @ CWS
Park – Guaranteed Rate Field
Vegas Favorite (CLE -145)
Vegas Total (7.5)

Let me start off by saying this pick is not for the cash game folks out there. We all know the upside he possesses but has not had the start he was hoping for. He is coming off a win but gave up six earned runs and twice this season has given up five or more in a start. That alone should keep some people off him tonight. If you are willing to take a risk, let me tell you why he is a great play. Looking deep at his numbers from this season and comparing them to the pitcher we have known for four plus years, there are some numbers that jump off the page. First of all, he is only generating 30% ground balls and is sitting at just over 44% for his career. Next up is the hard contact rate of 50% this season (that is bad!) which is almost double his career average of 27%. The next thing I wanted to check was his BABIP which was right on par with his career average (not getting unlucky) and then I turned his pitch velocity. Not even a half mph drop in fastball velocity tells me he is just not getting the ball down in the zone and by leaving it over the plate, is getting rocked at the moment. Good news is that the K upside is still there and the White Sox rank 28th in wRC+ (67) vs. right-handed pitching.
Bartolo Colon
Opponent – @ PHI
Park – Citizens Bank Park
Vegas (ATL +105)
Vegas Total (8)

As you can probably already tell by the first couple days of my picks this season I am mainly a GPP player. I love targeting one of the projected lower owned big names on a given night and pairing him with a value target that has risk but upside PTS/$ as well. Enter 43-year-old Bartolo Colon who continues to amaze the world that he is still pitching in the majors and quite effectively I might add. He is coming off his fourth straight 14+ win season and through three starts in 2017, has put together two impressive starts and one dud. He gave up a solo home run and that is all to both the Mets and Padres while striking out six each time and walking just one. He struggled in his second start vs. the Marlins and couldn’t get the ball down and ended up only going four innings and giving up six earned runs. Tonight he faces a Phillies team who he has held to under a .200 average (current roster) while attacking them for a 24% K rate. Once again, he is not a safe option for cash but has been low owned all season and has 25-30 points upside on DraftKings and 40-50 point upside on FanDuel.

Stacks

Milwaukee Brewers vs. St. Louis Cardinals (Adam Wainwright)
Park – Miller Park (Neutral)
Vegas (-105)
Vegas Total (8.5)

When it comes to stacks tonight, the popular choice is going to be one of the two teams playing in Coors. I am just not sold on the upside that you achieve by investing in that game. The Rockies have been the worst team in the majors when looking at wRC+ (56) at home and sit third to worst with a .207 batting average at Coors Field. That doesn’t even make sense but until they show some life, I will avoid the high ownership trap, especially against Johnny Cueto.

I will turn to the Brewers tonight who are coming off a beatdown of one of last night’s top DFS pitchers, Carlos Martinez. While continuing to strike out a ton, they did manage two long balls and five earned runs against Martinez and ended up winning 7-5. Those seven runs, they need lead the majors with 83 runs on the season on sit just a half game out of first in the National League Central Division. Tonight they get to face (and I hate to say it) gas can Adam Wainwright. While he showed signs of the old Adam Wainwright last season going 13-9 he still posted a poor 4.62 ERA and it has gotten worse in 2017. Through three starts, he has gone 0-3 while giving up 11 earned runs (7.74 ERA), striking out just 13 and walking six batters. To make matters worse (or better for us stacking Brewers), he is giving up a 38% hard-contact rate and is giving up more fly balls than ever before in his career. Jonathan Villar has been struggling as of late so if you want to avoid him, target the two through five hitters and center your stack around Ran Braun who has had the most success vs. Wainwright in his career. And don’t forget about Eric Thames who has made a triumphant return to the Majors after five years and some time in the Korean league. He is hitting .414 coming into tonight with eight home runs and 14 RBI. He is under $4K on both sites. Ride the hot streak and value price.

Tampa Bay Rays vs Houston Astros (Mike Fiers)
Park – Tropicana Field (Neutral)
Vegas (TB -105)
Vegas Total (8)

Seeing as the #1 thing we are looking for is runs from our offense, I am going to turn the team ranked right behind the Brewers in runs scored this season. They have been pretty balanced when looking at the splits as they sit 7th in wRC+(119) vs. left-handed pitching and 12th(106) vs. right-handed pitching. The reason they sit ahead of a few other teams (Rangers, D-Backs, Giants) is they have been excellent at home with a 7-2 record and sit 6th in wRC+ (127). Tonight they get a matchup vs. the Astros in a potentially high-scoring game where Mike Fiers will take the mound. Long story short, he walks way too many batters (3.6 BB/9) and has been punished giving up three home runs in two starts with a 5.40 ERA. If the Rays should get to him early, they will get to face a bullpen who might be a bit lucky ranking in the middle of the pack in ERA (3.66) as they have given up a league-high 37 walks. Start your stack at the top of the lineup with Corey Dickerson who got the night off on Thursday and has a hit in 12 of his first 13 starts with seven multi-hit games. Kevin Kiermaier has been hitting primarily out of the two-hole and comes in red hot with hits in five straight including four multi-hit games. Evan Longoria hasn’t fully heated up yet with a .234 average but has a ton of upside in the middle of the lineup. Hitting cleanup with a mid $3K price tag on both sites is Brad Miller. He comes into tonight with hit in five straight and six of his last seven games with two doubles, two triples and a home run.