Best MLB Draftkings Lineup for Tonight – 06/08/2017
*Chris Durell*
Best MLB Draftkings Lineup for Tonight – June 08
Welcome back to the best MLB Draftkings lineup for tonight, today on tap we have another short-slate Thursday. I will be covering my top pitching options and my top stack to target for tonight’s eight-game main slate.
Put your favorite stacks from the article below in our lineup optimizer and hit calculate. You can let it fill in the rest of the spots for you or choose your personal favorites from the MLB Player Lab.
**STARTING PITCHERS**
Lance McCullers
Opponent – @KC
Park – Kauffman Stadium (Neutral)
Vegas Favorite (HOU -190)
Vegas Total (9.0)
McCullers is the second biggest favorite on the slate to Jon Lester and the Cubs but has the better matchup today. While Lester and Price face Top 5 offenses in the Rockies and Yankees, McCullers gets a date with the Royals who sit second to last in overall runs scored this season and rank 26th in wOBA and 27th in wRC+ vs. right-handed pitching this season. For McCullers, it has been a very positive start to the season with a 6-1 record and while he has given up some home runs (18% HR/FB rate), he sits with a 2.71 ERA and slightly lower 2.68 xFIP. Even more good news is that he has cut his walks almost in half from last season’s disaster while keeping the swinging strike rate above 12% and the K/9 rate above 10. He is the clear choice for me on FanDuel where the Top 3 are only separated by a couple hundred bucks but on DraftKings there is a case to be made for the other two options who come at a sizeable discount. I still trust him in all formats.
Jake Odorizzi
Opponent – vs. CWS
Park – Tropicana Field (Pitcher Positive)
Vegas Favorite (TB -166)
Vegas Total (8.0)
For tournaments, I love taking a shot with Jake Odorizzi tonight for a few reasons. First of all, he is in the exact same price range as Edinson Volquez who is coming off a no-hitter against the Diamondbacks which should have people chasing points. Not that I won’t have a few shares but I feel Odorizzi is a perfect pivot with projected lower ownership. He strikes out just over league average batters per nine but that should get a boost tonight as he faces a White Sox team who ranks right near the bottom of all offensive categories vs. right-handed pitching including a 23.7% strikeout rate. There is definitely downside to Odorizzi (not safe in cash) as he has had issues keeping the ball in the park (18% HR/FB rate) but he has been much better at home with an ERA of 2.90 vs. 4.50 on the road.
**STACK OF THE NIGHT**
Baltimore Orioles vs. Joe Ross (WSH)
Park – Nationals Park (Pitcher Positive)
Vegas – (BAL +142)
Vegas Total (9.0)
The Nats actually come in as early favorites in one of the highest projected Vegas totals on the slate. While Joe Ross has been a disaster this year, Alec Asher has not been any better is clearly the worse overall pitcher. Back to Joe Ross. While he does present some issues with his above average strikeout rate (8.5 K/9) he has been getting hit extremely hard this season to the tune of a 39.4% hard contact rate against. This has led to 22.5% of his fly balls to leave the yard, giving up nine home runs in his first six starts. The fact that the Orioles are also likely to be without Manny Machado tonight, after injuring his wrist last night, leads me to believe that they could come under-owned in tournaments. I think it is a mistake to overlook them as they come with a ton of power, even without their elite third basemen.
Top Stack – Seth Smith, Adam Jones, Mark Trumbo, Chris Davis