Nobody wins every day, which is why we call DFS a grind. I got crushed on Wednesday after a long streak of solid picks. A “sure thing” pitcher lost badly and only three of my hitters scored double-digit points. Bunching bad luck is OK, because it doesn’t carry over. Today is a whole new season — two, actually.
Early MLB handicapping is relatively simple, with only three games. Contests at DraftKings close at 12:10 Eastern. My advice is to play against the two highest-salaried pitchers and load up on bats. Pick two of Julio Teheran $7700, Chi Chi Gonzalez $5600 and J.A. Happ $6900.
Ten years ago, I sat one row in front of a very young Shaun Marcum $4500 while he charted pitches in Buffalo. Though I’ll always be a huge fan of his tenacity and pinpoint control, at 33 with a lot of injury mileage, there’s no longer much difference between his fastball and the change. With respect, I’m using up to five Mariners bats against him today.
We told you Yan Gomes $3500 was ready to “explode” on Tuesday (for $3100!) and he homered twice. There’s no reason why the Tribe won’t do some damage off Happ in the least-likely pitchers’duel. While I do like the Early pools, today’s focus (and featured contest) is on evening play, closing at 7:05 on the remaining six games.
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Garrett Richards $8900 is the top-priced pitcher tonight but is not in great form. There really isn’t a must-start arm; Chris Rusin $4900 gets the Marlins again, five days after holding them to hust two runs over 7 IP in Colorado. Tim Lincecum $8100 is much better at home (1.98 ERA) than on the road (5.06) but it’s hard to use Jonathan Niese $7200 with confidence. I might go with Tanner Roark $5400 over Matt Garza $7000 as my second SP.
Rain is a possibility in Chicago, where Tsuyoshi Wada $6800 matches up better against the Reds than Michael Lorenzen $4500 does vs. the Cubs. Runs are also in the forecast. Catcher Miguel Montero $3100 had three hits including a homer last night in a 12-run outburst. OF Chris Coghlan $3500 also went deep. Slugging 1B Anthony Rizzo $5500 and 3B Kris Bryant $4900 are almost always worth using; if you’re stacking there’s also Starlin Castro $4000 at SS and OF Dexter Fowler $4700 to consider.
Troy Tulowitzki $5900 and Giancarlo Stanton $5800 top the hitting salaries. One reason I’m partial to Rusin tonight is he struck out Stanton four times on Saturday; another is the likelihood of run support from Tulo and his mates against David Phelps $4300, who gave up homers to C/1B Wilin Rosario $4200 and Carlos Gonzalez $4500 while allowing nine ER in 3.2 IP. Going from Denver to Miami might keep those balls in the park, but Phelps is shaky at best.
Other batters I’m using include 2B Dustin Pedroia $4300 — slashing a cool .378/.440/.528 over his last ten — although Joe Panik $3600 is even hotter after taking the Dark Knight deep last night.
Going cheap on the mound leaves big bucks for every hitting spot, so we can afford the likes of Bryce Harper $5700 and Mike Trout $5400 in the OF for a change. However, if you spend more on SP, there are excellent values like CarGo, Charlie Blackmon $4400, Coghlan, Denard Span $4200 and Kole Calhoun $4200 in other price ranges.
| Pos | Premium | Bargain |
| SP1 | Garrett Richards $8900 | Chris Rusin $4900 |
| SP2 | Tim Lincecum $8100 | Tanner Roark $5400 |
| C | Wilin Rosario $4200 | Miguel Montero $3100 |
| 1B | Anthony Rizzo $5500 | Lucas Duda $3500 |
| 2B | Dustin Pedroia $4300 | Joe Panik $3600 |
| 3B | Kris Bryant $4900 | Evan Longoria $3500 |
| SS | Troy Tulowitzki $5900 | Starlin Castro $4000 |
| OF1 | Giancarlo Stanton $5800 | Dexter Fowler $4700 |
| OF2 | Bryce Harper $5700 | Denard Span $4200 |
| OF3 | Mike Trout $5400 | Ben Paulsen $3500 |
The Fantasy Spin features DFS advice every day of the NBA season and we’re turning out attention to baseball for the summer. Follow Kent Williams @SheridanFantasy for updates.