MLB DFS: Friday, July 19th has all 30 teams in action with an afternoon game between the San Diego Padres at Chicago Cubs and then a fourteen game set for our “main slate” at 7:05pm ET on Yahoo, DraftKings, FanDuel and FantasyDraft. Before you lock in your fantasy baseball lineups, make sure to check out Awesemo’s MLB rankings and projections. Not a member? Sign up HERE and use Promo Code: MLBSTACKS for 50% off any one month subscription.
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For Friday’s free Spotlight Pitchers article click here
Greetings Gamers! Welcome to the Friday slate, it is going to be hot and humid in most places east of the Rocky Mountains, so buckle up and get ready for some high scoring tournament action!
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Main Slate
New York Yankees vs LHP Kyle Freeland – 6.7 implied run total
A Coors Field total in a game against the Rockies… of course this one is taking place in Yankee Stadium. Sometimes there are gimme situations and this is one of them. This will be the second start for Freeland after returning from the minors where he was banished after accumulating a 7.13 ERA, 1.57 WHIP and SIXTEEN HOME RUNS in just 59.1 innings. In his half a dozen starts with AAA-Albuquerque in the Pacific Coast League aka the hitting friendly PCL, Freeland was putrid at best with an 8.80 ERA, 1.888 WHIP and 28 punchouts in his 29.2 innings with four home runs allowed. Last Saturday he was touched up for five runs on nine hits with just three strikeouts and surprisingly no home runs or walks allowed against the Cincinnati Reds in Denver.
The Yankees are loaded for bear and they have a seemingly endless stream of right-handed hitters, even with Giancarlo Stanton on the shelf. Yahoo, DraftKings and FantasyDraft have done a reasonable job of pricing the New York batsmen, but they won’t even cause a ripple in the pond on FanDuel with their lax salary algorithm.
Considering position eligibility, projected production and price, our preferred order of preference should be Aaron Judge, Luke Voit, Edwin Encarnacion, Gary Sanchez, D.J. LeMahieu, Aaron Hicks, Gleyber Torres and of course Didi Gregorius and Brett Gardner can hold their own in lefty/lefty matchups.
Evening Slate
Minnesota Twins vs RHP Chris Bassitt – 5.9 implied run total
This matchup is fine on the full-slate as well and it is not likely to fly under the radar with the 5.9 implied run total for the Twins. RHP Chris Bassitt is solid against same-handed hitters, but his struggles with lefties both with a 9.5 BB% and a .223 ISO this season do not portend good things happening particularly with the nearly 90-degree temperatures in Minnesota.
Focus on the lefty bats first with Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco, Eddie Rosario, Jake Cave, Luis Arraez and Jason Castro who has solid pop for a catcher when he has the platoon advantage. Marwin Gonzalez is a fine salary saver depending on your DFS site of choice. TO maintain some differentiation, skipping Nelson Cruz and Miguel Sano from your full-stacks will increase the odds of being unique and while they are solid against same-handed pitching, the hope is the Bassitt keeps them in check… of course one pitch hanging over the plate by him or a reliever is all it will take to muss up this gambit.
Late Slate
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at RHP Mike Leake – 5.6 implied run total
This will be the fourth time that 31-year old RHP Mike Leake is facing the Angels this season and he has struggled through his 13.2 innings with a 6.59 ERA, 1.61 WHIP and six home runs allowed with just eight strikeouts. Since the beginning of last season, Leake has allowed 47 home runs which is fifth in the league with 31 to righties (1.78 HR/9) and 16 to lefties (1.00 HR/9).
While it is rare for me to reference BvP in this space, the Halos certainly have it against Leake:
Mike Trout .538 on 14 of 26, 3 HR, 7 DBL, 4 BB, 4 Ks
Justin Upton .424 on 14 of 33, 2 HR, 1 DBL, 1 TPL, 4 BB, 4 Ks
Andrelton Simmons .412 on 14 for 34, 1 HR, 4 DBL, 0 BB, 0 Ks
Albert Pujols .364 on 8 for 22, 1 HR, 1 DBL, 3 BB, 1 K left last night’s game with hamstring soreness
Shohei Ohtani .462 on 6 for 13, 1 HR, 1 DBL, 2 BB, 2 Ks as the lone left-handed batter on this list
The Mariners have allowed the most runs in the league this season with 597 which is 6.03 runs per game and 14 more than Baltimore, 41 more than Colorado and 81 more than Texas. Kole Calhoun is in the mix as he his poised to top his season best home run mark and if Albert Pujols is out with hamstring soreness, then we could see recent callup Luke Bard as Justin Bour and his slumping light tower power we sent to AAA-Salt Lake on Wednesday.
As always, you can reach out to me in Awesemo.com Premium Slack or on Twitter @EMacDFS if you have any questions.
Good Luck Gamers! ~ EMac
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