Welcome to the MLB DFS Roses of the Day, a column highlight some MLB picks for FanDuel and DraftKings.
My name is Chris Randone and if you ever watched The Bachelor or The Bachelorette, then you know getting a rose means everything. It symbolized the guy or girl giving them out has an interest in you. When you get a rose, it means you survive to keep fighting for love.
Well in daily fantasy sports it’s no different. We go through a list of players deciding who will survive and make the cut into our lineups. These players fight to help us win. A true definition of love. I’ve learned being on the show that you never give out roses just for fun, there has to be a meaning behind it. We’ll take that same approach here. Tonight’s rose ceremony I’ll give my Top Stack, Top Pitcher, Surprise Pitcher, & Surprise Stack of this main slate.
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Surprise Stack
Houston Astros, will you accept this rose?
The Astros face a struggling right-hander in Anthony Desclafani tonight in Cincinnati. The Reds hurler is a natural at giving up the long ball. Desclafani has given up 14 home runs in only 54.1 innings pitched. He currently owns a 4.97 ERA and 5.57 FIP in those 54.1 innings. Desclafani faces an Astros team that ranks top five in ISO (.196), wRC+ (115), and home runs (87) against right-handed pitching this season. Houston currently owns a 5.2 run implied total and Awesemo’s projected ownership has the Astros very low owned in the single digit percentile.
Top Stack
Chicago Cubs, will you accept this rose?
The Chicago Cubs have a nice matchup tonight at home against Ivan Nova. The White Sox righty has had a horrible 2019 campaign. Batters own a .387 wOBA this year against Nova which ranks bottom of the league for the Sox pitcher. He’s striking out a putrid 14.9 percent of batters and holds a 6.28 ERA. Nova will head into Wrigley and faces a Cubs lineup that ranks top ten in ISO (.195), wRC (300), wOBA (.334), and home runs (87). The Cubs own a 5.4 run implied total and outside of Schwarber look to be low owned in Awesemo’s current projections.
Surprise Pitcher
Adrian Sampson, will you accept this rose?
The thought of rostering a pitcher against the highest run implied total team on the night sounds blasphemous. The Cleveland Indians hold a 5.9 run implied total and look to be chalky going into tonight’s matchup against Texas right-hander Adrian Sampson. But the Rangers pitcher has come into his own as of late. Sampson has won five of his last six starts where he’s posted a 1.99 ERA while giving up only three walks and two home runs. Surprisingly, he’s been great at home where the ballpark doesn’t favor pitchers often.
Sampson has struck out 39 and is 4-1 with a 2.70 ERA in those five starts. The Indians ranks bottom ten in ISO, wOBA, and wRC+ against right-handed pitching this season. Sampson has given up three home runs all year to left-handed hitters. The Indians are projected to roll out seven left-handed hitters where five of those batters own a strikeout rate of 26 percent or higher on the season.
