Welcome to the first edition of Sriracha’s MLB Game Theory. In this article, I will outline my favorite plays at each position for MLB’s Opening Day. You can find all of Karma’s staff cores through our MLB Premium Package . Without further ado, here’s my favorite Opening Day plays at each position.
| Pitcher | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF |
| Verlander | Santana | C. Hernandez | J. Ramirez | Lindor | J.D. Martinez |
| Nola | Muncy | J. Altuve | Devers | Bogaerts | Springer |
| Flaherty | Y. Gurriel | K. Wong | Bregman | Correa | Benintendi |
| Montas | R. Nunez | Chavis | Chapman | DeJong | F. Reyes |
| Gonzalez | J. Aguilar | Soler |
*If you don’t already play 3 lineups and 3 max entry contests daily, try using the teams provided in the stacks above to maximize upside and correlation in your MLB lineups.
Slate Thoughts:
- Opening day should be filled with a ton of interesting lineup builds. Some players are just getting going again, some have been hot in the intrasquad scrimmages, and some are just getting their timing back. I really can’t go out and say fade this team or this team. A lot of teams are made up of completely new faces, and I can’t go against stacking any team today. However, I will go over the teams that I am targeting particularly for cash games, and my top 3 pitchers. Let’s get right into it.
- Justin Verlander is ranked #1 for me vs a pretty abysmal Seattle lineup. They could put up some runs but that lineup is quite weak and just screams Ks. The only issue here is how are we going to fit JV? He’s the most expensive on both sites, and for a good reason. I’ll be going over two pitchers who I think can definitely match his upside today below.
- Aaron Nola and Jack Flaherty. Two of my personal favorites to watch. Nola faces Miami who has done a bit to improve their roster with major additions in Corey Dickerson and Jesus Aguilar. But other than their 1-4, their 5-9 poses no threat. Flaherty has an even better matchup, at home vs the Pirates. The Pirates will struggle this year, losing Marte. Their lineup isn’t anything special either, besides Josh Bell and at times Adam Frazier/Moran. Flaherty should have an easy win and QS, but the SOs might be lower compared to Nola/JV. Let’s go over some bats.
- We have the Boston Red Sox who get to tee off vs Tommy Milone on opening day. This is Milone’s 5th team in 4 years. He’s not “awful” but he’s pretty bad. Righties should feast, I’m targeting JD, Bogaerts, and Chavis. I also like the lefties (Benny and Devers) which should garner some lower ownership today, and in addition Milone has let lefties actually have more success vs him than righties in his career (more Hr/9 and FIP). I am not expecting there to be an immense amount of chalk with this many games. The Red Sox are rated #1 on my board today at home in Fenway. I do want to mention that I sort of like the Orioles in this matchup to be the “1% owned” team of the day. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this game be “over” in terms of betting.
- Next, my second stack is the Cleveland Indians. They should find success vs Danny Duffy who’s been dealing with injuries and inconsistencies over the last couple seasons, and I really love the righties in this lineup. The Indians have a nice balance of power and speed in their lineup and I like this lineup from top to bottom. I would focus on getting 1-4 and trying to fit in Franmil somewhere in there.
- Good luck tonight! This should be a very fun slate and I can’t be opposed to any stack you go for. There are so many ways to go, but my two main teams in cash are CLE and BOS. In GPPs, I’m touching HOU, PHI lefties, STL, BAL, and LAD.
This was my first ever MLB GT article. Any suggestions on how to improve? Shoot me a DM!
