You might not know it from the daily fantasy baseball lineup picks below, but there are five games during the early slate today. That means there are players from 10 teams to choose from when looking for value picks and sleepers, but the strategy we’re going with is stacking heavily from two teams.
Clearly, we’re focusing on the Tigers (vs. Jonathon Niese) and Cardinals (vs. Taylor Jungmann) to supply a ton of offense, as six of eight offensive players come from those two teams. We’re also leaning heavily on the Red Sox, paying up for David Price (the highest-priced SP in what is actually a decent collection of starters) and hoping Hanley Ramirez can keep the good times rolling back in Fenway.
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You could go a lot of different routes with your roster this afternoon, but here’s who we like as we start the second week of the season.
Daily fantasy baseball lineup picks
P David Price, Red Sox vs. Orioles ($10,500). Baltimore was bottom five vs. LHP and bottom five on the road in 2015.
C Victor Martinez, Tigers vs. Pirates ($2,800). Martinez isn’t exactly scorching out of the gates, but he crushed lefties to the tune of a .348/.398/.472 line last year.
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1B Hanley Ramirez, Red Sox vs. Orioles ($3,200). Ramirez is hitting everything right now, so get him while he’s healthy.
2B Ian Kinsler, Tigers vs. Pirates ($3,400). Kinsler is 8-for-19 with a HR so far this season, which includes a 5-for-8 mark vs. LHPs in 2016. He’s a career .307 hitter vs. southpaws.
3B Matt Carpenter, Cardinals vs. Brewers ($3,400). Taylor Jungmann struggles on the road with a .336 wOBA. Carpenter has been on base five times with a homer in the past two games, plus he has an OPS of .960 in day games
SS Eduardo Escobar, Twins vs. White Sox ($2,800). SS is awful in the day slate. Escobar is the best lowest-price option other than Iglesias, and Escobar actually has more upside.
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OF Justin Upton, Tigers vs. Pirates ($3,400). He will get better hitting in front of Cabrera. April has historically been his best month of his career. Niese has given up 18 HRs in 98.2 interleague innings.
OF Stephen Piscotty, Cardinals vs. Brewers ($3,000). He hit .346/.378/.551 at home last season and is 7-for-21 with five BBs in first five games this season.
OF Jeremy Hazelbaker, Cardinals vs. Brewers ($2,300). Hazelbaker is a typical Cardinals grinder who has been hitting second. He’s a cheap price on all sites who is 6-for-14 with two HRs and two SBs in first five games.
