I can’t believe I am even writing this, but you have to love Jeff Samardzija today. Samardzija has struggled over the majority of the last two seasons, but the month of May has very kind to the man they call “Shark”. Samardzjija is sporting a dazzling 1.41 ERA in five starts this month, while allowing exactly one ER in four outings and exactly two ER in the other. He’s striking out nearly a batter per inning in this stretch while averaging 28.38 DraftKings points per game in the process. Today he will battle the woeful Braves who own the league’s worst wOBA this season and their well-documented power struggles have them ranking dead last in homers (by a mile).
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If you’re looking for some better value, Josh Tomlin is piquing my interest. Tomlin has scored at least 22 DraftKings points four of his eight starts this season, including two straight games of 26.4 and 27.7 DraftKings points. Tomlin isn’t going to rack up a ton of strikeouts, but he’s been an innings-eater for the Indians, pitching at least six innings in five straight games. He’s an interesting contrarian play against the Rangers who are significantly worse on the road than at home. The Rangers rank 25th in wOBA on the road this season while scoring the fourth-fewest runs in the process.
The struggles for Jeff Locke continue. Locke’s 4.97 xFIP is second-worst on the slate and he’s surrendered 26 earned runs over his last 40.2 IP, good for a 5.75 ERA. No pitcher on this slate is walking more batters per nine innings than Locke and he’s going to have to face a sneaky good Marlins team today. Miami ranks eighth in wOBA versus LHP this season. The Marlins have five players batting over .309 versus lefties this season (Ozuna, Ichiro, Yelich, Dietrich, Realmuto)
That’s all folks! Be sure to follow me on Twitter for more player analysis and news as starting lineups are released! Commentary based on DraftKings strategy and scoring.