The first weekend of MLB's regular season is now in the books and we enter the first real week of baseball. Monday provided us plenty of fun action with some strong pitching and hitting performances, of course it came with some good calls and bad outcomes along the way. It's all part of a process in DFS and it's something we love to do, so let's learn from it and get excited about Tuesday's slate of games for DFS action.
Whether you're looking for a main slate GPP contest, an early slate 50/50 or perhaps an evening slate pick 'em contest, DraftKings has you covered with those and so many more options to fit your needs. Of course, the key to winning these contests is putting the right lineups together and maximizing your lineup with a mix of value plays, mini stacks and studs to help propel you into the green to finish the day as a winner.
Let's now get it all started with our DraftKings' DFS lineup for Tuesday's main slate of games.
Pitchers:
Clayton Kershaw, LAD @ ARZ, ($12,200)
Kershaw is a fairly obvious selection, so instead we'll just highlight two reasons why we like him as our SP1 on Tuesday. First, if you want to win in GPPs, carrying a Cy Young-caliber pitcher on 'ace day' around the majors is one of the best starting points. Few pitchers in baseball are capable of the point production we've seen on countless occasions from elite strikeout artists who can single handedly help you cash, but he is one of those guys.
Second, the Arizona Diamondbacks bats did not perform well against southpaws last season. As a team, Arizona ranked 26th in wRC+ (85), 20th in wOBA (.313) and finished seventh in strikeout percentage (24 percent), so this is a matchup clearly in Kershaw's favor and one even more worthy of the high price tag. While we aren't seeing the effects of the humidor at Chase Field as much, it should add just a fraction of benefit in Kershaw's favor and make him even more trustworthy in this hitter-friendly park.
Jack Flaherty, STL @ MIL, ($6,000)
We aren't going to pull off two aces and roster some of the hitters we want on Tuesday's main slate, so we make some savings in exchange for some risk for our SP2. Flaherty is a 22-year-old, right-handed pitcher who will receive his second taste of the majors to start the 2018 season. He briefly came up for the St. Louis Cardinals last season and struck out 20 batters with a 13.1 percent swinging strike rate in 21 1/3 innings pitched. Unfortunately, inconsistent command led to 10 walks and a 46.7 zone percentage over that same span.
He gets a crack at starting thanks to Adam Wainwright being placed on the disabled list, so the young righty should see this as an opportunity to prove he is ready for a rotation spot on a contender. While the Milwaukee Brewers strikeout rate) (16.9 percent) is amongst the 10 fewest thus far in 2018, the team still possesses plenty of bats who carry a fair amount of swing and miss to their game. Flaherty will feature his fastball and slider heavily against Milwaukee, but offers a curveball and changeup to keep hitters off balance. Given his strikeout ability and minor league track record, Flaherty is a risk/reward player we're willing to take gamble on as a pair with Kershaw for some GPP lineups.
Other Options: Justin Verlander, HOU vs. DAL, ($11,600) and J.A. Happ, TOR vs. CWS, ($7,900)
Catcher
Welington Castillo, CWS @ TOR, ($3,400)
We find a catcher right in the range of 'savings' and potential productivity. While Castillo isn't all the way into the bargain tier, catchers typically priced at $3k or fewer, $3,400 for his bat and this matchup is considered a value. Throughout his career, one thing Castillo has always done is hit left-handed pitchers. In 592 career plate appearances against southpaws, Castillo posted a .202 isolated power, 128 wRC+ and .848 OPS. A trip to the Rogers Centre provides favorable park factors in his favor and lefty J.A. Happ enters with a career 29.8 percent hard-hit rate and 1.08 HR/9 in his career. Pair that with Happ's lesser numbers versus right-handed hitters than left-handed hitters last season, which is shown in his .317 wOBA and 1.17 HR/9, it further solidifies Castillo as a catcher to target.
Other Options: Yasmani Grandal, Jorge Alfaro
First Base
Freddie Freeman, ATL vs. WAS, ($4,600)
When the Atlanta Braves built SunTrust Park, they made it with Freeman in mind. A park constructed to perfectly mold around Freeman's spray chart and maximize his power, Atlanta dreamed of matchups like this one against A.J. Cole. In 50 career innings at the major league level, Cole is routinely picked on by left-handed hitters. Of the 242 faced in his young career, the 26-year-old allowed left-handed batters to post a .379 wOBA, .517 slugging percentage and record a 1.89 HR/9 against him. Freeman is off to a hot start this season, especially when runners are in scoring position, so don't sleep on the fact that two left-handed hitters will also be hitting in front of him. Tuesday should provide Freeman with an excellent opportunity to drive in runs, get on base and potentially send one over the wall.
Other Options: Marwin Gonzalez, Edwin Encarnacion
Second Base
Ozzie Albies, ATL vs. WAS, ($3,600)
Albies, highlighted above as one of the left-handed hitters who will bat ahead of Freeman in Atlanta's lineup, will take advantage of his switch-hitting ability to take advantage of Cole's weaknesses. While Albies is off to a slow start this season with just two hits in 19 plate appearances, Tuesday presents an opportunity to correct the course and get back on track against a below average pitcher. Let's not forget this is a 21-year-old with one of the best hit tools amongst players under the age of 24 and could quickly emerge as one of the best contact hitters in the majors. A combination of a great approach, quick bat and speed on the base paths show all of the tools you could ask for and are something DFS users should take advantage of on Tuesday with a Braves' trio stack.
Other Options: Chris Taylor, Jason Kipnis
Third Base
Nolan Arenado, COL @ SD, ($4,600)
When you read that Tyson Ross is back with the organization where he flourished at the start of his MLB career and now hopes to regain his old form with the same team, it can tug at your heart strings. Unfortunately, it's mind over emotion in baseball and this story likely won't end as Ross and the Padres would like it to. The 30-year-old is a shell of his former self and we saw it throughout the 2016 and '17 seasons. He relies almost exclusively on his fastball and slider, which became significantly less effective after multiple surgeries to his throwing arm. All of this is a recipe for Arenado to explode in this game and could lead to Arenado taking Ross deep for the third time in less than 23 at bats.
Other Options: Matt Davidson, Adrian Beltre
Shortstop
Trea Turner, WAS @ ATL, ($4,800)
We have to hope the Washington Nationals and manager Dave Martinez have found internal wisdom and will keep Turner as Washington's leadoff hitter. He is a menace on the base paths and consistently finds way to get to first base, whether it's through a walk, base hit into the outfield or a little squibber where his speed lets him just beat out the throw. Once he is on base, Turner is one of baseball's greatest threats to steal a bag and with how quickly he can turn a trip to first into being in scoring position, he creates his own runs. While BvP are usually tough to trust when such a small sample size five hits in nine at bats against Julio Teheran is miniature "ownage". Tuesday should be a fairly high-scoring game and we love what Turner can bring, though we may have to look elsewhere if Washington foolishly pushes him back down to sixth in the batting order.
Other Options: Trevor Story, Francisco Lindor
Outfield
Marwin Gonzalez, HOU vs. BAL, ($3,600)
Gonzalez delivered for us in a big way on Monday and he now faces an even more favorable matchup today. As a switch hitter, Gonzalez is able to pick the favorable matchup based off splits or preference he wants on any given day. So with a matchup against righty Mike Wright, who in his career owns a 1.97 HR/9 to left-handed batters and allowed batters from the left side to post a .402 wOBA against him, this is a scenario where Gonzalez will hit from the left side. An added bonus, though it's due to injury, Carlos Correa could miss Tuesday's game and thus push Gonzalez even higher up in Houston's batting order.
Ender Inciarte, ATL vs. WAS, ($3,700)
We'll be brief with Inciarte as many of the same factors that we liked about Freeman and Albies, tie in with Inciarte as well. Instead, we'll look at Inciarte's strong start to the 2018 season. In 19 at bats, the 27-year-old collected six hits, drove in five runs, scored twice and stole a base. Now he has a great matchup on tap and with a very reasonable price, Inciarte hits all the marks we're looking for to complete our stack play. While he may not hit a home run, a two-hit game with a stolen base and two runs scored would result in a lovely 15-point performance.
Josh Reddick, HOU vs. BAL, ($3,300)
Reddick will complete our mini-Astros stack and comes at a bargain rate. Houston will be needing more production offensively with Correa potentially out and Yuli Gurriel sidelined, which is exactly where Reddick comes in. As a left-handed hitter, he is in a favorable matchup against Wright Jr. and performs significantly better in his career against righties than southpaws. Houston will likely hit him in the top five of its batting order, which paired with the park factors and Wright's numbers against left-handed hitters, Reddick checks all the boxes to be viewed as an excellent OF3 and bargain play.
Other Options: Mike Trout, Rhys Hoskins, Khris Davis