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- Top MLB Plays 8/19 | Shooting for the Moon
Top MLB Plays 8/19 | Shooting for the Moon
**No freeroll on Sunday, but if you were a 1st, 2nd or 3rd place winners in a previous freeroll, Make sure to DM us @LineStarApp to claim your prize!
Yesterday was good. Hopefully you all profited as well. But that said, remember that the DFS gods don't care if you won yesterday or didn't. Sunday is a new day, and a great day to turn it around.
I do have one problem with Sunday slates though. Usually the last game on the main slate (often seems to be a game in Colorado or Texas) gets cut off the FanDuel main slate. This week LAA-TEX was left off the FanDuel main slate. So I'm not going to mention either team much. Both make for decent stacks on DK, and the Angels should have some interest since they're facing King Bart. So with all that said, let's focus on the other 10 games.
Pitching: Spending Up
J.A. Happ, NYY (vs. TOR) (DK: $10.7K, FD: $9.4K)
Looking at the slate, there are really only two top-tier pitchers to choose from: J.A. Happ for the Yankees and Mike Clevinger for the Indians. However, I don't think you really need to spend up for either pitcher on this slate. If you're going to, I would go with Happ. His consistency over the past month is one of the best on the slate. He has one of the better kRates on the slate and is facing a team with a 23% kRate. Yankees are expected to win as well, which would mean the addition of that precious win bonus.
Pitching: Value
Luis Castillo, CIN (vs SF) (DK: $7.6K, FD: $6.8K)
Looking at the slate, there are 3 pitchers in this bucket that I like: Taillon, Marquez, Castillo. I'll be totally honest too, I was leaning Marquez initially. However, it really started to boil down to my confidence level in rostering a pitcher against a Braves offense or a Giants offense. I'm sure that Castillo will be a little higher owned, but I'm ok with that if he can put up a quality start.
Pitching: Punt
Yefry Ramirez, BAL (@CLE) (DK: $4.4K, FD: $6K)
If you missed yesterday's issue, here are a few things I think of when picking a punt pitcher:
Who can get me the most innings?
Who can get me some strikeouts?
Who are other people likely to play?
Why Yefry Ramirez? Ugh. Look at his numbers. They're not good. I'll be dead honest. I'm just hoping that he can catch a Cleveland team that's been in a bit of a rut this week and at $4.4K on DraftKings, I'm just hoping he can stay in the positive.
#HomeRunWatchList 💥
If you’re new to the article, this is (@glandry's) section where he picks an outfielder, corner infielder, and middle infielder or catcher to hit a long ball today. Happy to play along on this. Make sure you are utilizing the LineStar Daily Matchup Tool when looking for hitters with a lot of home run potential.
Jose Abreu, CWS: 1B (DK: $4.6K, FD: $3.7K)
I almost went back to the well with Zimmerman, but I really like Abreu at 1B today and he's probably one of my favorite plays on the slate. He's in a great spot to rack up points today and I wouldn't leave him out of any White Sox stacks.
Teoscar Hernandez, TOR: OF (DK: $4.1K, FD: $3.1K)
Teoscar is one of the reasons I don't want to roster Happ today. He's got great recent statcast numbers and wOBA+ISO numbers against lefties.
Paul DeJong, STL: SS (DK: $4.5K, FD: $3.4K)
I didn't list them in the stack section, but I do like St Louis a lot today. Love the matchup, recent Statcast numbers and spot in the order for DeJong. If you're spending up at SS today, I think DeJong is worth spending up for.
Value Bats
Similar to the home run watch list, in this section, I’ll provide an outfielder, corner infielder, and middle infielder or catcher who are priced in the value tier. If I can find someone under priced on both sites, I’ll highlight them. But in some cases, it could be site specific.
Joey Rickard BAL: OF (DK: $3K, FD: $2.1K)
Rickard doesn't have a lot going for him today in terms of matchup or his spot in the order (assuming he makes the lineup) but he does have good Statcast numbers over the past couple of weeks here. He's really a boom or bust kind of player. He'll either hit a home run, or he'll go 0-4.
Jim Adduci, MIN: 1B ($3.4K, FD: $2.4K)
Nothing really jumps out about Adduci except that he gets a decent matchup and his Statcast numbers have been trending up over the past 2 weeks for hard contact, exit velocity, and line drives. When I talk in chat about looking for outlying indicators - these are the kinds of trends I look for.
Tommy La Stella, CHC: OF (DK: $2.8K, FD: $2.0K)
La Stella is the true definition of a point today. He's someone that I could roster without much regret because he's probably going to allow me to fit in a higher-priced pitcher or bat. The good news about him is he's leading off, so you just have to hope that he can pick up a few points by getting on base and having some of the more potent Cubs bats knock him in.
Stacks on Stacks
For anyone that's read my NHL newsletters, you'll remember that I don't like pointing out the obvious. Stack Braves, Twins and Red Sox to your heart's desire today. You shouldn't need me to tell you why. Let's look at a few other options
Washington Nationals (vs. MIA )
This isn't a case of forgetting to make a change in the article. I'm on them again for the same reason. Go to the Daily Matchups page, filter by pitcher, and scroll to the bottom. That's right, but instead of Chen, they get Urena. So there's that narrative as well.
White Sox (vs. KC )
Take away Minnesota, Washington, and Boston, and this is my favorite stack on the slate. Fillmyer's Statcast numbers are trending up and KC's bullpen is no better. I'll have plenty of White Sox shares today.
Baltimore (@CLE ) *Biscuit Stack*
Baltimore kept popping up in my model, and Clevinger is getting a lot of love in LineStar, so like I said, out of principle I'm going to stack Baltimore today. Again, it doesn't make sense and I can't back it up with any solid numbers, but that's my biscuit stack today.
The Bullpen Report
Good luck today! Tag me in the LineStar Chat @ZeroInDenver if you have any questions or feedback on the daily newsletters and hit me up on Twitter (@ZeroInDenver).
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