Take a look at our Daily Fantasy Sports Lineup Tips for August 28, 2018:
Pitchers
This slate is full of top pitching options today. Most of the top priced guys are very viable base on your particular playstyle so I will try to key in on a few things that I believe separates them for me.
Let’s start with the top option and the highest priced pitcher Max Scherzer. Scherzer gets a matchup with the Phillies, who aren’t a bad offense, but they do strike out a ton. Max Scherzer has proven this point multiple times this year striking out double-digit Phillies in his last 2 starts against them.
I think Scherzer projects to have the highest realizable ceiling in GPP’s and will get so many strikeouts that he will generate a nice floor regardless of the Phillies power potential.
This lines up to be a smash spot for Scherzer and I like him a lot more with all of the top options on the board today. When there are not many top-tier options, I tend to fade them if there isn’t one I love in an attempt to diversify my lineups and take advantage of people chasing talent over matchups.
Today, a top tier pitcher will post a really good game because there are like 10 of them. One of them is bound to go for a game that vaults you ahead of the field and I think paying the slight premium for Scherzer is worth the upside.
Jack Flaherty is my second favorite option in the top-tier of pitching. Flaherty gets a matchup with the struggling Pirates in a decent park. The Pirates have been a team I have targeted all year from a pitching perspective because they seem to lack big game potential. This lack of power and high scoring games really allows me to feel pretty safe that my pitcher against the Pirates won’t be getting absolutely blown up tonight. I think Flaherty probably gets you 25 DK points, but he is talented enough to get more just based on his stuff tonight. If he comes out with his A+ slider, he may end up being the top pitcher on the night, which only helps his availability in cash games and GPP’s.
My favorite mid-tier pitcher is Lance Lynn. I have been on Lynn for the past 2 months due to his general lack of ownership. Lynn started off the season so poorly that everyone thought Lance Lynn was a horrible pitcher. In my opinion, it is obvious that Lynn saw the struggles that he did due to a lack of spring training.
Lynn wasn’t signed until late into spring training and almost everyone who was in this situation was much worse than expected to start the year. Eventually, most have figured it out and I believe that Lynn is one of them. He is coming off of 2 bad starts, but in the Miami one, in particular, he probably shouldn’t have allowed as many runs as he did.
The Yankees bullpen was banged up and Lynn was asked to go further than he should have, which resulted in 3 additional runs. Lynn has flashed upside against the White Sox this year already and I don’t think that much has changed to think he can’t do it again.
The bottom-tier of pitching is pretty bad. I have listed my top options in terms of GPP’s below, but none of them are plays I WANT to put into my lineups.
Felix Hernandez (He plays the Padres, that’s enough to get consideration)
Jose Urena (Not for the faint of heart, but a play I kind of like down here. Very good against RHB)
Junior Guerra (more talented than most in the range)
Ariel Jurado (I think this kid is horrible, but he is somehow listed as the Rangers’ #3 prospect, so I guess the talent is hidden somewhere under there?)
Stacks
The Mariners are one of my favorite stacks on the slate unless they are a really popular one. Jacob Nix is bad and the Mariners have quality hitters throughout the lineup that should be able to take advantage of a bad pitcher like Nix. He has shown me nothing to suggest that he is capable of getting swings and misses and the Mariners will hit the ball hard if you let them hit it. I love the Mariners stack for GPP upside tonight.
I also love the Dodgers tonight against a pitcher that I’ve already mentioned. Look, Jurado can’t K my grandma and that’s a problem when you get to the major leagues now. So many guys are trying to crush the ball that eventually, they will if you always let them hit the ball. Jurado seems to be not ready for the majors yet and the Dodgers are another team that loves to hit home runs if the pitcher isn’t able to strike them out. I think a full stack is a great option for homerun upside tonight.
The Yankees face James Shields tonight in Yankee Stadium, Shields has been better as of late with his swinging strike rate, but I think this is a spot where his lack of overall stuff gets exposed. The Yankee offense has too many weapons against an aging Shields and a few of them should be able to take advantage of him tonight. I like mini-stacks of Yankees power or full stacks while including the cheaper part of the order to get in top-end pitching.
Secondary Stacks: Cardinals, Rockies, Astros, and Brewers