Playing Hardball: Use Your Fantasy Skills to Win Cash

Featuring picks and comments by Rob Dudek

When you have an unlucky week in Head-to-Head leagues, there’s not much you can do. In deep Roto leagues, the whole season is relatively static, with trades and a few free agents the only way to improve. Daily fantasy sports is a different ball game. If you use a rookie SP like Brandon Maurer who gets rocked, that ruins your night — not your week — and the next day, a new “season” begins, with a brand new draft and renewed optimism. These daily salary cap games don’t replace traditional fantasy leagues, but they are fun, exciting and can be quite lucrative.

Picking winners is an inexact science. In baseball, you need to be right on at least two starting pitchers to finish in the money and one or two extremely hot hitters can put you over the top.

Today, there is a full slate of 15 MLB games. Leagues that close at 1:05 include players from all of them; other leagues close at 7:05 will be limited to eight games. More than usual, weather is a concern. A band of storms stretches from Texas to the Great Lakes. Expect delays and a possible cancellation in Detroit, with home games for the Rangers, Indians and Cubs also affected. Even the Phillies and Red Sox have some rain in the current gametime forecast. Follow Rob Dudek on Twitter; when our morning picks change during the day, he provides updates.

It’s always free to join DraftStreet and you can start by joining free leagues. Once you’re ready to start winning, make a deposit — use the code SHHOOP to get a 30% bonus — and choose your level of play, from $2 entry fees up to $420.

Best Bets (Pitchers)

Mike Minor ($13,404) looked good in his first starts and faces the sad-sack Marlins in a pitcher’s park. He’s at the top of both our lists tonight.

For such a talented arm, Matt Moore ($11,658) is very tempting. “Not a favorable matchup against the Rangers at Arlington,” warns Rob, “but Moore is nearly unhittable at the top of his game. The price is right if your risk tolerance is high.”

Yesterday, Dudek touted Anibal Sanchez but I liked Brandon Morrow in the same game; it’s only one result but it doesn’t encourage me to go against my colleague’s expertise the next time we disagree. Besides, my Jeremy Guthrie beat his Mike Pelfrey. Nobody’s perfect. When the old Coach and a statistical analyst do agree on a player using our different methods, that is a positive sign.

Best Bets (Hitters)

Robinson Cano ($11,170) is on fire. No hitter is a “sure thing” but he has been launching rockets all over the yard the last two days; his confidence and swing simply couldn’t be better. However, the weather in Cleveland won’t be ideal and we still don’t know who will start the game for the Tribe. If it’s a righty called up from the minors, and the forecast looks OK, ride the hot stick.

There are two solid picks if the Jays-Tigers game isn’t rained out. Miguel Cabrera ($9,927) is in a groove now. “Mark Buerhle will not give him much to hit unless he blows up completely, but then there is the Jays bullpen. All those hard-throwing righthanders will be tempted to throw one in Miggy’s hitting zone.”

Melky Cabrera ($7,680) is rounding into form and bats between speedster Jose Reyes and slugger Jose Bautista. Against the less-than-awesome Rick Porcello, Melky could be right in the middle of a couple of big innings. Weather permitting.

We could put Mike Trout in the “bargain bin” at a mere $7,527 but he’s in our lineups as a best bet. Against a young lefty who uses guile more than overpowering stuff, Trout is as close as you’ll get to a must-start.