FantasyScore Daily Fantasy Baseball Primer: Tuesday 5/26/15
Season-long fantasy baseball leagues can be tiresome. You have to set your lineups each day, play the waiver wire for new players, and when it's all said and done, you still might be out of it by the All-Star break.
Fortunately, we've got an alternative to your season-long fantasy baseball woes: FantasyScore.com.
FantasyScore has tons of games to choose from and compete in for real cash prizes every single day. All you need to do is sign up, enter a lineup based on salary restrictions, and join contests against baseball fans just like you.
With an interesting slate going on tonight in baseball, it's a perfect time to try it out. And to help you, we're giving out our FantasyScore optimized lineup, which you can find below.
| Player | Salary | FP | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clayton Kershaw (SP, LAD) | $9,000 | 14.9 | 1.66 |
| Jacob deGrom (SP, NYM) | $7,300 | 12.62 | 1.73 |
| Paul Goldschmidt (1B, ARI) | $6,200 | 5.01 | 0.81 |
| Josh Donaldson (3B, TOR) | $5,800 | 4.61 | 0.79 |
| Dee Gordon (2B, MIA) | $5,600 | 4.14 | 0.74 |
| Russell Martin (C, TOR) | $5,100 | 3.95 | 0.77 |
| Alcides Escobar (SS, KC) | $3,700 | 3.36 | 0.91 |
| Angel Pagan (CF, SF) | $2,800 | 3.94 | 1.41 |
| Norichika Aoki (RF, SF) | $2,600 | 3.81 | 1.47 |
| Danny Valencia (LF, TOR) | $1,900 | 3.45 | 1.82 |
Today's optimal lineup spit out what should be the consensus top pitchers in Clayton Kershaw and Jacob deGrom.
Kershaw will face Atlanta in Los Angeles, giving him nice plus matchup. The Braves are striking out at a 22.0% rate against lefties this year, which is ninth worst in baseball. And their .274 wOBA against southpaws ranks only ahead of the Brewers, Athletics and White Sox. Though Kershaw has a 4.32 ERA this year and is just 2-3, don't let those numbers fool you -- his FIP is still a solid 2.90, and his K rate is actually higher than it was last year, sitting at 11.26. Even if his ERA is high due to a worse batted ball profile, the strikeout potential in this game combined with the Braves' poor hitting against lefties make Kershaw an obvious play.
deGrom may not be as obvious, but he probably should be. The Mets will face the Phillies tonight in New York -- Philadelphia has a reasonable strikeout rate against right-handers this season, but their .275 wOBA ranks dead last in baseball. The Phils will see a negative park shift, which is a plus for deGrom, too.
deGrom has been pretty strong to start the year, pitching to a 3.41 FIP and 8.73 strikeout per nine rate. Considering his 9.09 career K/9 average (which, mind you, isn't a massive sample), there could be some positive regression coming. His FIP is a little higher than his career average, meaning he could also see better numbers there as well. But regardless, given the matchup tonight, he's a strong play.
The lineup also features some Blue Jays, which makes sense considering they're going up against lefty John Danks. Danks hasn't been good this year -- he's got a 5.28 FIP, he's walking 3.27 batters per nine, and he's surrendering 1.64 home runs per nine innings as well. The Blue Jays mash left-handers -- against them so far this year, the team has a .373 wOBA and .183 ISO, both the best in baseball. It could be a long night for Danks.
The algorithm also spit up a couple of Giants in Angel Pagan and Norichika Aoki, which makes a lot of sense considering their matchup in Milwaukee against Matt Garza. Garza's struggled this year with a 16.3 home run to fly ball percentage, all while pitching to a 5.12 FIP. The park shift from San Francisco to Milwaukee is a big one, which should favor the Giants' bats, too.
