Let me introduce myself. I am a life- long sports fan and participant. I played baseball with former Yankee 1st Baseman Chris Chambliss and All Pro Football Defensive Back Willie Buchanan at Oceanside High School in southern California (same High School produced NFL Hall of Famer Junior Seau). At age 5, I saw my 1st baseball game on TV, 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers vs. the hated New York Yankees. I was hooked and mesmerized by the play Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider (who I met after he retired) and Don Newcomb. Growing up SOCAL allowed me to play all sports. Funny thing, Golf was not one of them. Later in life (age 30) my brother in-law took me out to play. I was so frustrated that day while shooting a 136. From that day forward I was determined to beat that brother- in- law of mine. Within a month I was whipping him really good and he no longer would play with me (still to this day we have not played but we will this summer). I have recorded 2 hole in ones (won a Ford Car at the John Wooden Basketball Classics).
Let’s get to baseball! I plan to provide readers with hot tips on Teams, Hitters, and Pitchers. I will be reviewing DFS data for charts and trends that will help you build those money making lineups. Let’s get started:
Hitters
It’s no wonder the Boston Red Sox lead the AL East. They lead all of Baseball, season to date
- #1 in MLB Batting with .295 BA, .487 SLG and OBP .359 stack your lineup in Red Sox Hitters when they play against weak pitching teams.
- #3 in MLB Batting in the last 7 days with .286 BA, .494 SLG, and OBP of .387
- Pittsburgh Pirates have been the Hottest over the past 7 days with .308 BA, .486 SLG, and .359 OBP
These guys are hot Season to Date Minimum 120 AB
- Daniel Murphy WSH – .395 BA, .621 SLG, and .426 OBP
- Xander Bogaerts BOS – .354 BA with a OBP of .405 (just had a 23 game hitting streak ended)
- Ryan Braun MIL – .351 BA, .583 SLG and a .424 OBP
- Ben Zobrist CHC – .351 BA, .538 SLG, and .452 OBP
- Victor Martinez – .345 BA, .529 SLG .529 SLG, and a .389 OBP
David Ortiz BOS has had a blazing start in this 2016 season, 2nd in HRs with 14, leads in RBIs with 47 to go along with a .337 BA. He has taken advantage of having the likes of Xander Bogaerts .354 BA, Jackie Bradley Jr. .331 BA, and Travis Shaw .299 BA. This lineup screams Stack Me!
The Chicago Cubs have a wrecking crew of hot hitters also.
- #3 in MLB Batting with a .263 and OBP .359
- Ben Zobrist – .351 BA with astounding .452 OBP
- Dexter Fowler – .316 BA with OBP .433
I would stack these guys with Anthony Rizzo (11HRs, 37 RBIs, .378 OBP, and .494 OBP) and Kris Bryant (11 HRs, 37 RBIs, .373 OBP, and .508 SLG).
Don’t go to sleep on Pittsburgh Pirates Over the last 7 days they have a team .295 BA, .487 SLG, and .359 OBP. They are being led by Gregory Polanco – .423 BA, .423 OBP, and MLB leading 12 RBIs and David Freese – .407 BA, .467 OBP, and .704 SLG.
Use your DFS spreadsheet to review Hitters vs. Pitchers and you will be mining Gold and Stacking winnings.
Pitchers
Picking pitchers to start is really simple. I look at average innings pitched, # of strike outs, and the team success rate (standings).
- Chicago Cubs – 2.60 Team ERA, 5 SHOs, .201 BAA
- Washington Nationals – 2.99 Team ERA, 4 SHOs, .225 BAA
- New York Mets – 3.19 Team ERA, 6 SHOs, .249 BAA
- Seattle Mariners – 3.36 Team ERA, 4 SHOs .232 BAA
- Los Angeles Dodgers – 3.36 Team ERA, 6 SHOs, .216 BAA
All of the above teams are at or near the top of their respective divisions. Great to Good pitching almost always defeats good hitting teams. Double down when these hot pitching teams play their weaker rivals to max your returns.
The list of individual pitchers could be the “Chicago Story” (Cubbies). MLB is being led by:
- Clayton Kershaw – LAD – 7-1 record averaging 12.2 SOs per 9 and 1.56 ERA
- Jake Arrieta – CHC- 9-0 record, averaging 9.8 SOs per 9 and 1.72 ERA
- Noah Syndergaard – NYM- 5-2 record, averaging 12.7 SOs per 9 and 1.87 ERA
- Madison Bumgarner – SF – 6-2 record, averaging 11.5 SOs per 9 and 2.12 ERA
- Jason Hammel – CHC- 6-1 record, averaging 8.7 SOs per 9 and 2.17 ERA
I want to spotlight the performance of Matt Harvey, NYM who pitched Memorial Day. He was virtually unhittable against the CWS for 7 shutout innings. He has struggle this year following Tommy John surgery and has a 4-7 record. He’s back, The Dark Knight Lives again in Gotham City!
Summary
Use you DFS sheets to find patterns and trends. Hitters vs, Pitchers is essential. There are Hitters who will wear out even the strongest performing pitchers. By the same token review all the weaker performing pitching teams to capitalize on their status. Next time I will take specific DFS Spreadsheet samples to show you where to “mine” for daily specific winners.
Rambo Out
Res07n8y@yahoo.com