MLB

3 Daily Fantasy Baseball Players to Avoid on 7/20/17

The Baltimore Orioles have a high implied team total, but Adam Jones could struggle against an improving Cole Hamels. Who else should you avoid in tonight's FanDuel contests?

Madison Bumgarner ($11,200) should thank the scheduling gods, as he gets the San Diego Padres for his second start in a row since coming off the DL.

The first round resulted in an underwhelming DFS performance (31 FanDuel points), but allowing 3 earned runs in 7 innings with 5 strikeouts isn't entirely discouraging after a long layoff. While it's worth noting his velocity was down, which is no small matter, the Padres' active roster strikes out to southpaws at a near shocking 28.8% rate and have a mere 2.98 implied team total, so with some minor strides he should have a more fruitful round two. Through five starts, Bumgarner has a 3.69 SIERA, 23.7% strikeout rate and 4.3% walk rate.

Other than Bumgarner, the most logical pivot is Luis Severino ($9,400), who provides a solid discount. A matchup against the Seattle Mariners isn't great, but Severino has the strongest marks in SIERA (3.29) and strikeout rate (28.1%) on the slate.

It's worth mentioning that yesterday's #YOLO play, Kevin Gausman, ended up with 49 points, a sign that he's turning his season around. So why not try this again today, and point out that Cole Hamels ($9,000) could be in the midst of a turnaround himself.

Over his last three starts, Hamels has a 3.61 SIERA, 22.7% strikeout rate and 2.7% walk rate. Although the punchout rate isn't that noteworthy, and the Baltimore Orioles can be a dangerous opponent, their active roster strikes out to lefties at a 25.0% clip. On a slate with few pitching options, it could be worth taking a shot with Hamels in a tournament. And at the very least, it should give you pause before loading up on Orioles against him.

Since there are only five games tonight, it could be a good slate to skew towards tournaments. Here are three guys to consider fading this evening.