Looking for MLB advice on the Opening Sunday of the NFL season?! You must be sick! But here it is! Commentary based on DraftKings strategy and scoring.
The Sunday Night game offers one of my favorite team stacks in the form of the Baltimore Orioles. Yes, the Orioles have been striking out a ton recently, but they own the 8th best wOBA in the league in the L7. They are a highly volatile team (great for GPPs) who will take on the “Ace” in Johnny Cueto. I put Ace in quotations because he has been anything but since coming over from the Reds. His ERA has nearly doubled from 2.62 to 4.86 after the trade and has been shelled in his L4 starts, sporting a 9.45 ERA. The Orioles faced him two weeks ago and put up 6 runs in 5 innings including 3 HRs. Camden Yards is also longball friendly, which could get Cueto in trouble again.
The Cubs and Miguel Montero ($3,400) continue to roll! Make sure he’s in the lineup on a Sunday, but if he is, roster generously. Montero is batting .379 in the L14 and has great career numbers off Aaron Harang. He owns a .600 batting average with 12 hits in 20 ABs including seven walks. Citizens Bank Park will add a nice boost as well!
We could see a slugfest in Baltimore tonight. Anytime Lorenzo Cain ($5,300) faces a LHP, he needs to be on your radar. A career .301 hitter vs. LHP and hitting .333 in the L14. He’s 8-18 (.444) off Wei-Yin Chen in his career. He’s the type of player to build your lineups around as he can do it all. Bonus: His KC teammate Ben Zobrist is 14-37 (.378) off Chen in his career.
I probably don’t need to tell you how good Edwin Encarnacion ($4,500) has been this season. He now owns the Blue Jays franchise record for most consecutive games reaching safely. He will face Masahiro Tanaka today which would normally make you shy away, but I don’t think that’s the case today. E5 is 7-15 (.500) in his career off Tanaka and will receive a nice boost from playing at Yankee Stadium, which surrendered 15% more HRs to RHB than the league average.
There’s not a ton of great BvP options, so I’ll point out a player who’s salary has come way down and that’s Brian Dozier ($4,000). Dozier’s price is rarely this low but it’s hit $4K with the combination of his recent struggles (.170 in the L14) and the matchup with Sale. Now might be the time to invest since Dozier is 11-36 (.306) career off Sale with 4 HRs and 4 doubles. We’ve talked that the Twins have Sale’s number, so this may be just the matchup Dozier needs to get a jumpstart.