MLB DFS: Welcome to the Friday Yahoo DFS MLB strategy guide. As we head into the holiday weekend, do not forget all the fantastic Awesemo content, so before you lock in your baseball lineups, make sure to check out Awesemo’s MLB rankings and projections. Not a member? Sign up HERE.
For Friday’s free Spotlight Hitters and Stacks article click here
For Friday’s free Spotlight Pitchers article click here
Greetings Gamers! Let’s see what sort of fun we have on tap today!
Act fast as Yahoo is running a $4,500 prize pool contest with no management fee for just $3 per lineup with a maximum of ten that is rapidly filling up – they also have their marquee $15,000 with $2,000 top prize for Friday as well!
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We will utilize this series to point out the different nuances, tips and tricks to building a solid Yahoo! tournament lineup.
Salary Cap
Yahoo! has a similar roster setup as most of the two-pitcher formats, but their salary cap is quite a unique puzzle to tackle each day. It’s worthwhile to spend some time trying out different roster combinations – playing with how much of the salary cap you are allocating to pitching and hitting. The savvy gamer will be able to find some gems among the hitters in the $7-10 range which is crucial to working in some top-shelf talent.
Scoring System
For those of you new to the site, please note that the scoring has been tweaked since last season. When compared to the other popular scoring formats it’s more punitive for pitchers allowing base runners and is less rewarding for “team stacking” (i.e. taking three or more hitters from the same team in adjacent or nearly adjacent spots in the batting order). Yahoo offers discounts for runs and RBI, compared to individual batter scoring of slightly more points proportionally for extra base hits, walks and hit by pitch categories.
Basic Strategy
In the past, I’ve found that even though the Yahoo! format allows us to roster as many as six players from the same team, their unique pricing and two-pitcher format have somewhat muted the need for team stacking and as detailed above, the slight changes to their scoring system will continue to encourage that trend.
Target Pitchers
For those of you new to Yahoo!, learning how to read into the pitcher pricing is key to building competitive lineups. The minimum price for pitchers is $25 while we can see some of the top-shelf aces like Chris Sale, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander crest just over $60 depending on their recent performance and matchup.
RHP Dakota Hudson at San Francisco Giants ($39) – 4.1 implied run total
For Friday, I want to focus on the mid-tier pitching range as this will allow us to freely decide which of the 5-6 man stacks we are looking at (YES I did say six-man stacks as that is allowed on Yahoo).
If you are looking for your “cash game” or “league” (aka 10-20 group contests) then there will be the clear cut top-shelf hurlers which can be rostered with the discount dandies that are highlighted below for our batting options.
Since the beginning of last season RHP Dakota Hudson has been solid with a 51.2 GB% against left-handed batsmen and the 69.5 GB% across 266 righties is &%*#~! elite. When we consider that the Giants have an 88 wRC+ (weighted runs created plus is an advanced metric that neutralizes ballpark factors and creates a league-wide scoring efficiency benchmark of 100) which means that San Francisco scores 12% less runs than the average team and this is the third lowest number in all of the MLB this season.
While they also do not strike out a lot at a middle-of-the-pack 21.6 K%, that is not the strong suit of Hudson so I will take the tradeoff of the #25 .173 ISO which indicates limited power.
RHP Drew Pomeranz vs St Louis Cardinals ($34) – 4.5 implied run total
While this implied run total is a little higher than I would have expected for an Oracle Park adventure with a first pitch temperature in the mid-50s, I am still good with southpaw Drew Pomeranz for his current price point on Yahoo.
Let’s take a closer look at the home/road splits for LHP Drew Pomeranz who has an unsightly 6.25 ERA and 1.72 WHIP so far this season in 8 home starts and 7 road starts keeping in mind that the ninth year veteran has a career 4.11 ERA and 1.38 WHIP even with 137 innings at the beginning of his career in Coors Field and then 317 innings with Boston and in the hitter friendly parks of the AL East which account for more than half of his career innings pitched…
HOME: 8 starts, 35.2 innings, 4 HRs, 49 strikeouts with a .271 batting average against, 3.53 ERA and 1.51 WHIP
AWAY: 7 starts, 27.2 innings, 11 HRs, 28 strikeouts with a .336 batting average against, 9.76 ERA and 1.99 WHIP
Yeah, I am cool with this as well as the Redbirds numbers against lefties, considering they have a boatload of right-handed batters: 97 wRC+ #22, 9.1 BB% #11, #20.4 K% #21 and .177 ISO #19… so yes, not a complete garbage show, but a team that is not going to scare anyone either.
Other Options:
Brad Keller at Washington Nationals ($29) – 4.6 implied runs
Cheap and he literally does not allow power, but it is going to be a warm one on Friday in our Nation’s Capital so there is baked in risk with this bargain price point.
Dylan Bundy at Toronto Blue Jays ($35) – 5.4 implied runs
Yeah, Bundy has been horrible, but he still has decent strikeout numbers when he is not allowing home runs and the Blue Jays are a young team on the whole and can disappear at times.
Discount Dandies
As mentioned above, it is important to know how to find discounted hitters in solid situations and also understand what the “opportunity” cost may be by giving up a key power hitting position like 1B/3B for a discounted option who may not have a lot of power. For this purpose we will target the $7-$11 salary range.
C – Omar Narvaez vs LHP Brett Anderson ($9)
This is a nice contrarian play as he is solid against southpaws and LHP Brett Anderson is mediocre against same-handed hitters. Otherwise there do not seem to be many standout discounted backstops, so look to include one in your 5-6 man stacks for the differentiation factor or if we are lucky one will pop – but then they will be popular and is that really worth the +/- dollar or two?
1B – Jesus Aguilar at LHP Steven Brault ($7)
While I do not want to punt my 1B slot, there is some intrigue against LHP Steven Brault who is facing the Brew Crew for the third time this season and while Aguilar has been pretty much ASS this season, he has a track record of power in opposite-handed matchups.
1B – Paul Goldschmidt at LHP Drew Pomeranz ($11)
This is a phrase that I am not fond of, however Goldy is just “too cheap” for a matchup against a southpaw when we consider his track record in opposite-handed matchups.
2B – Nicky Lopez at RHP Austin Voth ($8)
While the youngster has not been great, damn he is a buck shy of the minimum in a decent offensive environment and can help us roll with some of the “top shelf” pitching options.
3B – Neil Walker at RHP Julio Teheran ($7)
Well Walker is priced to move at the minimum and likely in the heart-of-the-order for the Metropolitans against a hurler that struggles with opposite-handed hitters. This is a realistic dart throw that could pay off with an extra base hit.
OF – Alex Gordon at RHP Austin Voth ($11)
Ugh, not exciting, but if RHP Austin Voth picks up any steam as an SP2, this is a nice leverage play as one of the two or three lefties in the Royals lineup.
OF – Jarrod Dyson vs RHP Antonio Senzatela ($11)
Well at least he is cheap… please do note that the Chase Field roof will be closed, so we are hoping for a stolen base or runs scored here.
OF – Lorenzo Cain at LHP Steven Brault ($11)
Everything depends on his spot in the batting order as this could be great if he is at the top of the lineup, or contrarian if he is in the bottom half.
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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