These short slates are tough with one ace priced well above everyone else. However, there is one player below that I think could come close to matching the $13K top dog in raw points tonight, making him my favorite tournament play of the night. If you’re looking for a rundown of each game on the main slate, check out the MLB Strategy Video from this morning. Awesemo will update this article later with his thoughts, so make sure to check back before lock!
Dylan Bundy ($9,800 DK/$9,700 FD)
This may seem like a steep price for Bundy, but he’s been nothing short of fantastic to start off 2018, ranking 6th in Whiffs/Swing% and is striking out righties at an over 40% clip. He had trouble with lefties last year, but he’s striking them out at a 22.5% rate and allowing 32% hard-contact so it appears Bundy has made some strides early this season. Going up against this Rays team that has a 23.4% strikeout rate against right-handed pitching this season, Bundy should have no problem racking up Ks and is well worth his price on both sites in my opinion.
Chris Sale ($13,000 DK/$11,400 FD)
You’ll have to break the bank for Sale tonight on both sites, but I prefer him on FanDuel because of his price and the fact that he’s got a great chance to be the highest raw-point scorer on the slate. On DK, he makes the bats a lot more difficult to fit in, but there are a couple pay-down options that are viable. Sale should get 8-9 right-handed bats tonight, and he’s striking them out at a 36.5% rate and is allowing under 27% hard-contact to them on the year. There’s no getting around that Sale is a great play in all formats even though I do think Bundy could rival him in raw points tonight.
Kyle Hendricks ($6,900 DK/$6,800 FD)
Hendricks is not a very exciting play tonight, but at this price it’s hard to ignore him because of the $13K guy that everyone wants to jam in. The Brewers aren’t a great matchup for Hendricks as they do have both power and speed, but Hendricks has been great at limiting hard-contact, allowing just 22.7% to right-handed bats on the year. No Eric Thames in the lineup is just another lefty bat that Hendricks won’t have to worry about, so if he can navigate Yelich and Shaw at the top of the lineup, he should be able to have a really nice start even if he doesn’t have great strikeout stuff in general.
Awesemo’s Notes
I agree with Jake on all three of these plays tonight which should give a lot of flexibility building lineups with different priced batters tonight.