I don’t think anybody has been better than Madison Bumgarner ($12,200) in the last month. Despite a poor showing in Coors (can you blame him?), he has still averaged 28.67 DK points per game in the last month, the highest on the slate. He gets a big time matchup with the strike out heavy Padres who are “K”ing at a massive 24.4% this week, the third worst rate in the league. Fire up Mad Bum in all formats.
I don’t need to see Jose Fernandez ($11,700) pitch before rostering him today. Fernandez is coming off the DL and hasn’t pitched in over a month. He showed up that he is a big time stud and has been dominant this season. He is going to take on a Nationals club that is ready to roll over and die this season. They now own the 4th highest K rate in the league this week. This game is being played in the very friendly confines of Marlins Park. Outside of the “rust factor”, there is very little risk here and Fernandez is one of my favorite cash game plays.
His counterpart, Ian Kennedy ($9,100) has been equally as impressive in the L30 days. 25.4 DK pts/gm in that span for Kennedy and he’s sporting the league’s highest K/9 (13.21) in the span. Unfortunately, I am not nearly as optimistic about Kennedy’s chances today. The Giants simply do not strike out. They have a 14.7 K% in the L7 which is the lowest in the league. His chances for a win diminish going up against Mad Bum in this one. I’ll be avoiding Kennedy and firing him back up in five days.
Besides the two above, the only pitcher on the slate with 10+ K/9 in the L30 is Mike Bolsinger ($7,400). That’s a small sample size of only 5 innings, but I chose to include him because he has flashed high strikeout ability all season long (almost exactly 9K/9 over his L11 starts). He will face off with the Diamondbacks who have the 8th highest K rate in the L7. Bolsinger makes for a high upside, GPP play.
If you need to save a little more, take a look at Dan Haren ($7,000). He’s coming off a nice outing against the cardinals for 24.4 DK points and he will get another struggling team in the Phillies. Only two teams have scored fewer runs than the Phillies this week and they own the 4th worst wOBA in the league in the span. The Cubs are large favorites, so Haren should be in line for the win bonus.
Jose Fernandez is back and Madison Bumgarner is facing one of the highest strikeout teams around! Commentary based on DraftKings strategy and scoring.