On DraftStreet, you get $100,000 to build a team of nine hitters and three pitchers. There are a lot of varying approaches but I go about building my lineups like this:
-Avoid any games with significant chance of rain, this one is a no-brainer
-Avoid closers at all costs, even if that means having to buy a few $3K infielders
-There are plenty of split stats we can look at but nothing is more reliable than past track records
With that in mind, let’s take a look at today’s DraftStreet slate and find some optimal matchups for our lineups.
Games to Avoid:
Reds at Phillies (60-80 percent chance of rain)
Padres at Rockies (50-60 percent chance of thunderstorms)
Pirates at Yankees (postponed)
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Lineup:
C- Miguel Montero vs LAD ($6.1K): Montero is a career .333 hitter with two home runs in 18 at-bats against Greinke.
1B- Edwin Encarnacion vs TEX ($7.4K): Encarnacion is 5-of-12 against Darvish with two home runs, four RBI, and three walks.
2B- Danny Espinosa vs NYM (4.4K): Espinosa is a cheap play and is 5-for-10 in his career against Jon Niese.
3B- Matt Carpenter vs ATL ($6.6K): In his lone career game against Ervin Santana, Carp went 2-for-3 with a home run and a walk. He also has RBIs in back-to-back games.
SS- Yunel Escobar vs LAA ($3.3K): Yunel has reached base in six consecutive games and is 4-for-8 with two doubles, an RBI, and two walks in his career against Jered Weaver. It doesn’t hurt that he’s one of the cheapest options on DS.
OF- Wil Myers ($5.4K): Myers only has three career at-bats against Weaver but he homered in two of them and has a cheap price tag.
OF- Matt Holliday ($5.8K): Holliday is 4-for-9 in his career against Ervin with two home runs and a double and Ervin has been tagged a bit in two of his last three games.
OF- Alex Gordon ($5.8 K): Gordon is 3-for-9 against Chris Tillman in his career with two homers and three RBI. Tillman has allowed three or more runs in each of his last five games.
U- Miguel Cabrera ($9.8K): Cabrera owns Jon Lester, batting 10-for-19 against him with a home run, a pair of doubles, three RBI, and five walks.
SP- Jon Niese vs WAS (16.7K): Over his last five games, Niese owns a 1.65 ERA, .220 BAA, and 27 K/8 BB. Couple that with the fact that the Nats have scored the fewest runs of any team over the past week (16!) and you have a strong DFS play.
SP- Tanner Roark vs NYM (15.5K): I don’t like to start dueling pitchers but Roark faced the Mets back in April, allowing just two runs over six innings while striking out five. The Mets have scored a whopping zero runs over their last two games and have struck out the second-most times in the league over the last week so Roark is a good bet at his price tag.
P- Chris Young vs MIN (12.4K): The Twins’ lineup is quite bad and they’re in the top 10 in strikeouts over the last week. Meanwhile, Young has allowed just four runs over his last three starts. He’s not a big strikeout arm but he may be able to get you five Ks against this lineup.
