Welcome to another edition of Sriracha’s MLB Game Theory. In this article, I will outline my favorite plays at each position for the MLB Slate. You can find all of Karma staff’s cores through our MLB Premium Package. Without further ado, here are my favorite plays at each position:
| Pitcher | 1B/C | 2B | 3B | SS | OF |
| M. Scherzer | Freeman | LeMahieu | Rendon | Rosario | Judge |
| G. Cole | L. Voit | E. White | Urshela | Torres | Stanton |
| D. Keuchel | N. Lowe | L. Urias | Kiner-Falefa | Correa | Ramirez |
| Odorizzi | Y. Diaz | L. Rengifo | India | Galvis | Soler |
| Skubal | Alonso | Schoop | Suarez | Semien | Harper |
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*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.
Welcome to another MLB DFS Game Theory for the 2021 season! This year we have a good amount of overlap between the NBA & MLB season, so there is lots of money to be made. This article will highlight my top plays at each position, and in the analysis portion of the article, we will highlight my top pitchers and stacks for the day.
Top Pitchers:
Decent sized slate today with two aces on the board in Max Scherzer and Gerrit Cole, but outside of them, there aren’t many mid-tier pitchers I like on the slate. Let’s talk about how we are going to go about this slate. AGAIN- SUNDAY ANALYSIS IS SHORTER. STRAIGHT TO THE POINT. I KNOW YOU GUYS ARE UP EARLY FOR THIS SLATE. I WILL MAKE THIS A SHORT AND EASY TO READ ARTICLE!
CASH GAMES:
Max Scherzer/Gerrit Cole- I find it tough to not play at least one of these studs in cash games today. The amount of pitchers that can match these ceilings on this slate? 0. Scherzer and Cole have the best numbers on the slate, and I know it’s a Sunday morning so I’m gonna keep it short and sweet, for your sake and for mine. In cash games, roll Cole and Scherzer. They will undoubtedly see ownership across all formats. If you choose to only roll one, I prefer Scherzer. The other two pitchers I would consider for cash games and honestly will come in under-owned is Patrick Sandoval and a more contrarian Jake Odorizzi. Sandoval brings his streak of 6 consecutive starts of less than 3 runs allowed into this matchup vs the Rays. Sandoval has shown some consistency, going 5 starts straight pitching 5+ innings and he’s looking for a third consecutive win. Jake Odorizzi is a more GPP play, he’s still trying to get deeper into games, his pitch count has been all over the place but he had a stellar start vs the Orioles last time out. He is definitely a more GPP alternative at SP2. He hasn’t pitched much this year, but he still owns a respectable 35:9 K:BB ratio and he’s looking for his second straight win. He should see little ownership today.
Catcher/1B:
Since we are going to fit in two studs at pitcher, we have no choice but to punt C. I want the cheapest catcher today no matter the matchup. It’s worked a lot in the past and it just fits the “game theory” aspect of my lineups. As long as the catcher is cheap, preferably 2,000, he will fit in these double spend up lineups. If I were to pay up for a C, it would be Max Stassi, who’s had a great June with .383/.464/.731 with four homers, 11 RBI and 15 runs across 14 games.
If I pay up, Freddie Freeman is my guy. In lineups where people do not run double spend up at pitcher, Freeman will definitely be popular. I project his ownership to be around the 20s today. He’s had a great month of June and there is value to get him in if you don’t pay up at both SP positions.
My more affordable cash 1B is Luke Voit- I think I will likely run him tomorrow in my cash games. He will see some ownership for sure. I like that he’s still around the 4-4.5K range. I also like Nate Lowe– he’s hit safely in 7 of his 8 last games, going 11-28 in that span. Both are good options for cash and tournaments.
2B:
CASH:
DJ Lemahieu- Yankees will see ownership tonight for sure. DJ is very expensive but in lineups where you don’t double spend up he is a good option.
Luis Urias- 9 game hitting streak, cheap bat that is second in RBIs for this Brewers team, good cash game value option
Luis Rengifo- FD option- cheap value play, not very productive but he allows you to spend up elsewhere, more of a tournament option for me
Eli White- I like him for FD more than Rengifo- manager Woodward has a lot of confidence in him and has talked very highly of him as of late. 3 of his last 5 games have been multi-hit games. Great for FD cash games.
3B:
Rendon (FD OPTION)- Super cheap, 4 game hit streak. Injuries has set him back but trying to get it going right now.
Isaiah Kiner Falefa- (GPP) very cheap option today as well in which should be one of my favorite low owned stacks- the Rangers! He’s a good source of SBs along with RBIs.
Gio Urshela- (CHALK) should be very popular today in the featured Yankees stacks. Prior to shin injury he was hitting 8-20 in the 5 games prior. 3 XBHs and four RBIs in that span.
SS:
Gleyber Torres- should also be pretty chalky tonight in this Yankees stack, good cash option
Amed Rosario- my personal pivot today. I love him way more than Torres and I like the matchup vs Happ slightly more as well. I like this ownership pivot.
Stacks:
My favorite stacks include –
Yankees- Judge and Stanton should be in a good amount of lineups today especially on FanDuel.
Royals/Rangers- I like this game stack to be low owned and underlooked, guys like Merrifield, Gallo, Soler will all be very low owned in a smash spot for both sides
Indians- My personal low owned pivot stack from the Yankees. JA Happ hasn’t lasted longer than 5 innings in his last 5 trips to the mound, giving up an insane 3.4 HR/9 over the last 23.2 innings! I love the Ramirez(s) here and Rosario as an elite pivot to Torres today.
Again, sorry for the short article. Feeling really sick and it’s a Saturday night at 3 AM. See y’all on the next one.
GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!
