The second day of the 2021 Major League Baseball season is upon us, and we already have a scheduling quirk. The Boston-Baltimore game was postponed from Thursday, so pay attention if it is included in your DFS slate — it is not for both DraftKings and FanDuel.
Elsewhere, we’ll see most teams’ ‘number two’ starting pitchers on the mound. The easy assumption is that we will see more offense than we had on Thursday with most ‘aces’ pithing. Not so fast. Now is a perfect time to play on this expectation and already find value early in the year.
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Friday’s Starting Pitcher Strategy
There are competing schools-of-thought with how to handle the most expensive pitcher on Friday’s slate. One option is to fade Trevor Bauer entirely because he is pitching in the hitter-haven of Colorado. The other play? Go the contrarian route of paying for Bauer and expecting him to dominate regardless of where the game is being played. Essentially, if you are buying into Bauer anywhere, then you really are buying into Bauer anywhere.
The second day of the 2021 Major League Baseball season is upon us, and we already have a scheduling quirk. The Boston-Baltimore game was postponed from Thursday, so pay attention if it is included in your DFS slate — it is not for both DraftKings and FanDuel.
Elsewhere, we’ll see most teams’ ‘number two’ starting pitchers on the mound. The easy assumption is that we will see more offense than we had on Thursday with most ‘aces’ pithing. Not so fast. Now is a perfect time to play on this expectation and already find value early in the year.
Win cash playing in FanDuel’s MLB Squeeze
Friday’s Starting Pitcher Strategy
There are competing schools-of-thought with how to handle the most expensive pitcher on Friday’s slate. One option is to fade Trevor Bauer entirely because he is pitching in the hitter-haven of Colorado. The other play? Go the contrarian route of paying for Bauer and expecting him to dominate regardless of where the game is being played. Essentially, if you are buying into Bauer anywhere, then you really are buying into Bauer anywhere.
Personally, I’m leaning on Blake Snell as the centerpiece for my pitching lineups. The San Diego Padres went out and acquired Snell. They almost certainly won’t place the same short leash on him that we saw in Tampa Bay.
After Bauer and Snell, we have the personification of what I mentioned in the introduction. That is, salaries for the ‘number two’ pitchers are a significant step down from what we would expect with an ‘ace’ starting. Take advantage with someone like Yusei Kikuchi or Pablo Lopez at a massive discount — despite the obvious risks.
Cash Game Recommendations: Blake Snell, Trevor Bauer
GPP Recommendations: Yusei Kikuchi, Pablo Lopez
Not surprisingly, if I’m targeting the Dodgers and Astros as stacks, they are going to be featured heavily in my cores. The problem? They aren’t cheap. It’s fairly impossible to stack either team easily, so prepare to have moderate exposure to either offense, at most. Otherwise, if you’re fading Bauer — or, at least, not expecting complete domination — then Trevor Story is a great way to double-dip — knock down those who have Bauer on their roster while gaining points if Story thrives. The same is true for Jose Abreu against Andrew Heaney.
Thankfully, the Seattle Mariners’ stack is relatively inexpensive, so we can use hitters from Seattle either to round out a roster or as the foundation — which would allow for pricier players to slide into the lineup. I’m also somewhat cheating with Austin Barnes, as he isn’t completely free — not on DraftKings, anyway — but, if he’s starting, he’s an inexpensive way to play someone from the Dodgers in Colorado.
Friday’s Hitter Strategy
Overall, I’m starting any lineup I make with a stack of either the Dodgers or Astros — it’s obviously too expensive to use both. I am also pairing Snell with one of the listed GPP pitchers in DraftKings, but this will definitely be a popular approach. The key to this slate is probably the Mariners as, if they win easily, we will probably gain on the crowd from both Kikuchi and hitters from Seattle.
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Mario Mergola is a featured writer at FantasyPros and BettingPros and the creator and content-editor of Sporfolio. For more from Mario, check out his archive and follow him @MarioMergola.
